65438+February 10, Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser, Commander of British Pacific Fleet, established his headquarters in Sydney, Australia. Then, Nimitz received a large number of telegrams from London and Sydney, asking him to hold talks with Admiral Fraser. The telegram also informed Nimitz that Fraser and his staff had gone to Pearl Harbor. Nimitz was very uncomfortable about it. He wrote to King and said, "I don't need an urgent notice from Paul Revere. These telegrams are like battle orders to the occupying forces. Perhaps its intention is to make the British fleet an occupying force. "
Fraser and his staff arrived at Pearl Harbor on February 6th, 65438. Nimitz met him with courtesy and invited him to his apartment. They used to be old friends. 10 years ago, Nimitz met him when he was the captain of the Augusta in the Far East. At that time, both were colonels.
In the first meeting between Britain and the United States, Nimitz raised his greatest concern, that is, the endurance of the British fleet at sea. Fraser claimed that his fleet had its own logistics unit, which could refuel at sea. He guaranteed that his fleet could sail at sea for 8 days in 1 month. Nimitz smiled in disbelief.
In order to establish a forward headquarters near the war zone, Nimitz decided to move the headquarters to Guam. Going forward will enable him to push 1000 nautical miles into the war zone and get rid of the bureaucratic atmosphere. At this time, the establishment and number of US Pacific Headquarters increased greatly, which made him unable to do things freely and contentedly. Nimitz prefers to bring a capable staff team, and as far as possible, as long as those recognized as being related to operational planning and command accompany him. He also hopes to take some risks in his personal actions and war decisions.
Nimitz arrived at Guam's new headquarters on1October 27th, 65438+ 1945, and spruance took office in ulrich on the same day. On February 2nd, Nimitz flew from Guam headquarters to ulrich, boarded Indianapolis, the flagship of the Fifth Fleet, and discussed the upcoming battle of Iwo Jima with General spruance. Nimitz decided to abandon Taiwan Province Province, which was heavily defended by the Japanese army, and capture Iwo Jima and Okinawa, because these two islands are close to Japan and can be used as attack bases and emergency landing bases for fighters and bombers to go straight to Tokyo.
Iwo Jima is the main island of Iwo Jima in Ogasawara Islands, which is located on the ocean surface more than 700 nautical miles south of Tokyo. Aerial reconnaissance shows that this desert island, which is formed by lava and volcanic ash and filled with fog and sulfur gas all day, is a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Because the island is a key part of the Japanese "internal defense circle", the Japanese army has carefully built an extremely strong maritime fortress here. After studying the aerial photos, General Holland Smith declared that "this is the most difficult place for us to capture" and anxiously predicted that the American army would suffer 20,000 casualties.
1944 Since August, the air target attack on the island has not achieved obvious results, and the Japanese defense facilities have increased from 450 to more than 700. The original two airports on the island have been expanded to three. Obviously, the Japanese army built the fortifications into volcanic lava, and the black volcanic ash layer covered on the fortifications weakened the destructive power of bombs and shells.
No matter how hard the battle will be in the future, the significance of taking the island is very clear. The problem is how to carry out the attack. Spruance decided to use the 58th Special Forces plane to destroy the air base network in Tokyo to protect American ships near Iwo Jima from Japanese air strikes. This is the first 1 attack on Japan with an aircraft carrier since 10 minutes over Tokyo in April 1942. Spruance plans to finish the attack in more than two days. The fast aircraft carrier can complete the replenishment in ulrich and sail to the Japanese offshore on February 16.
After discussing with spruance, Nimitz flew to Saipan to inspect the troops attacking Iwo Jima for the last landing drill. The Marine Corps has three divisions to carry out this combat mission: the 4th and 5th divisions are responsible for the attack, and the 3rd division is the reserve division. After the tour, Nimitz flew back to Guam.
/kloc-at dawn in February, 2006, Nimitz anxiously looked forward to the news that Iwo Jima was bombed and Tokyo was attacked by air. At 7 o'clock in the morning, Nimitz learned from Radio Tokyo that American troops had attacked Tokyo airport. Almost at the same time, Nimitz got a report that the navy had started shelling Iwo Jima, and the B-29 bomber was flying to the north to carry out daily air strikes on Iwo Jima.
19 February, spruance reported to Nimitz the results of the two-day attack on Tokyo: 332 enemy planes were shot down in the air, and 177 planes were destroyed on the ground, and hangars, hangars and facilities of many airports and air stations were destroyed.
On the same morning 1 1, the US military began to attack Iwo Jima. The US military originally planned to take Iwo Jima in five days, but it took 36 days. The remnants of the enemy on the island were basically eliminated on March 25th. In the battle of Iwo Jima, the casualties of the landing side exceeded those of the anti-landing side. About 7,000 Americans were killed on land and at sea (including those who died after being injured), and 6.5438+0.9 million people were injured. Nimitz said: "Extraordinary courage has become the common virtue of the US troops participating in the war in Iwo Jima."
Iwo Jima is said to have been acquired by the US military at the highest cost in the Pacific War, and its value cannot be exaggerated or underestimated. The first B-29 bomber made an emergency landing on the island 12 days before the island was declared completely occupied. Less than three weeks after occupying the island, P-5 1 Mustang patrol fighters took off on the runway of the island to escort the B-29 aircraft that bombed Tokyo during the day; Within three months, 850 B-29 bombers were on the island of crash landing. This confirms the necessity of occupying the island. There is no doubt that without this vital base, most of these planes would be buried under the sea.