Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 993 Evil Act
未来3月内，舰队还可得到9艘舰龄旧式战列舰、2艘旧式防护巡洋舰和2艘新式侦察巡洋舰逐舰雷艇以及9潜水艇的支援。

Secretary of the Army Vance did not take this seriously. In his opinion, the withdrawal of the six dreadnoughts is not fundamentally different from the Navy's abandonment of the entire Pacific Ocean.

"Now is not the time to make sarcastic remarks. It has been almost a month since the start of the war. Is the Army still not sure about defending the homeland?" McNamara counterattacked.

"Well, are you sure?" President Johnson spoke, and Vance could only wink at Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Leonard Wood.

"Your Excellency, please allow me to report." Lieutenant General Wood took over the conversation wisely.

"As of last week, 59 regiments originally in the Philippines have been deployed to the west coast, 7 regiments have deployed to Panama, and 6 divisions have been deployed in California, the center of defense on the west coast. To the north, Washington state has deployed 1 division and 4 independent regiments, They will cooperate with His Majesty's Canadian Army. Two divisions will be deployed in Oregon, where the terrain is complex and difficult to land, and another 2 regiments will be deployed to the west coast. At that time, the regular army on the west coast will have the strength of 10 divisions."

"In addition. In just 3 weeks, we mobilized 20 reservists, Oregon raised its own weapons and supplies, and volunteered to undertake tasks such as coastal guards and warehouse guards. The morale of these patriots was high and gave the Army an extremely powerful support, but lack training and organization, the Army will give them proper guidance, and in fact, the mission of hunting down the enemy's nationals can only rely on our loyal and enthusiastic local militia."

The so-called "task of searching for aliens from enemy countries" originated from the "Wartime National Security Act" passed by the Congress two weeks ago. The bill stipulates that the nationals of the Chinese Federation in the mainland and Panama should be "centralized" during the war, that is, sent to concentration camps. .However, not long after the Imperial Pacific Fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, there was a wave of persecution against Asians in the United States.

In San Francisco, thousands of Asian residents’ houses were destroyed, and white gunmen wandered the streets in groups. They could not help but shoot when they saw yellow-skinned and black-eyed people. The police not only did not stop them, but warned white residents not to harbor their Asians Neighbor.In Los Angeles, mobs packed captured Asian nationals into linen bags, doused them with gasoline and set them on fire, leaving the victims screaming and rolling, and onlookers applauded.

On the outskirts of Seattle, a row of gallows was set up on the beach, and the bodies of yellow people were hung. The mob declared: "Let these piggies say hello to their fellows on the other side of the ocean!"

As a devout Christian, more importantly, considering that China may take extreme retaliatory measures, President Johnson cannot sit idly by such atrocities. Under the suggestion of Secretary of State Rusk, the President urged Congress to pass the wartime national security law amendment case, placing Asian nationals in concentration camps under guard during the frantic persecution of "certain out-of-control radicals".On the one hand, it prevents the spread of atrocities and damages the national image of the United States. On the other hand, it serves as a bargaining chip for exchanging American nationals who may be detained with China.

At this moment, President Johnson has no interest in the fate of the hundreds of thousands of "enemy aliens". What he needs is reassurance.

"General Vance, do you mean that even if the enemy comes here now, the army is capable of driving them into the sea?"

"It depends." As soon as the substantive question was asked, Vance immediately became hesitant.

"What kind of situation can be done?" the president asked.

"It depends on how many troops the opponent can invest in a short period of time, and also on the location of the landing. Specifically, the most likely situation is that if the opponent sends 10 heavy armored divisions to California within a week, we will not be able to They drove them to sea, and of course they couldn't beat us. What follows will be a protracted war in which the forces of the enemy and the enemy will grow, and many towns in California will be reduced to ruins in the process, but one day, we will The power above will be far greater than the enemies entrenched in a small part of our land. At that time, we will launch a full-scale counter-offensive, cut off their retreat, surround them, and water our farmland with their blood." Vance insisted Scalp pretended to be bold and said.

"In addition, based on various intelligence sources, China's most elite troops are entrenched in the Middle East, and they may not be able to spare so many troops for a while. Moreover, Pearl Harbor and Honolulu Port have been blocked by our military with sunken ships, and they are recovering. Before the functions of these ports, it was difficult for the enemy fleet to continue to operate along our coast, and it was impossible to support such a large-scale landing operation."

Johnson listened and turned to Sims: "How long will it take for the other side to restore the functions of the Hawaiian port?"

"Estimated two to three months."

Johnson nodded, then turned back to Wood and asked, "How long do you think the Philippines can last?"

"The Philippines, which cannot receive reinforcements, can last for three or four months at most. If Britain, France and the Netherlands do not provide follow-up strong support, the entire battle in the South China Sea is estimated to end soon."

"It needs to be emphasized that during this period, the Panama Canal may be attacked at any time." This is not the first time Sims has expressed concerns about the Panama Canal in front of the president.

This canal shortened the voyage between the east and west coasts by almost half, which also made it possible for the main US Navy fleet to quickly station in Hawaii.You know, from New York on the east coast to San Francisco on the west coast, if you bypass Cape Horn, the voyage will take [-] nautical miles.

Judging from the situation after the war between China and the United States, if the canal is destroyed, the sailing time of American ships between the east and west coasts will inevitably double, which will have a negative impact on the defense of the west coast and future counterattacks in the Pacific region.Although the U.S. Army and Navy have begun to build military bases in the Canal Zone since the Canal Zone was acquired through the "Hay John Elda Treaty", until the completion of the canal, the Army has only stationed less than one regiment in the canal, and the Navy has only been stationed in the Canal Zone. A small number of naval installations were built in the ports of Colon and Panama with the assistance of private companies.

After the Morgan Act was implemented, the military threat from China became increasingly prominent. As the main force of the naval fleet moved from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, as the most convenient and efficient reinforcement and supply channel for the fleet, the importance of the Panama Canal cannot be ignored, and the strengthening of the defense of the Canal Zone It was also on the agenda.

The navy's plan is to build a coastal defense fortress and naval base on the Pacific side of the canal, and deploy heavy artillery, torpedo boats, submarines and seaplanes.However, due to changes in the situation, the plan for a permanent coastal defense fort was cancelled, and a number of temporary coastal defense forts were built instead. The modernized naval base planned to take more than ten months to complete was replaced by the existing facilities in Panama Port as much as possible.

The army formulated a comprehensive plan to control the entire territory of Panama when necessary and prevent the enemy from outflanking and landing. It planned to station in Cologne and Panama City within a week after the outbreak of the war, and occupy all key points in Panama within a month.

By the eve of the Pearl Harbor incident, the navy had started construction of 26 coastal defense batteries on the Pacific side of the canal area. It was planned to install a double 1-inch fortress gun, a naval gun, a 14-inch naval gun, and a number of 3-inch field guns. In fact, there were only 8 Inch guns and 6-inch guns are installed.The Army increased the garrison in the Canal Zone to 6 artillery companies and 3 cavalry companies. In contrast, Panama, which is "protected" by the United States, has only a 60-member National Guard and hundreds of soldiers. police.

Immediately after the fall of Hawaii, the army "peacefully entered" the entire territory of Panama, and within a month the garrison was increased to seven infantry regiments and artillery companies.The navy stepped up the construction of fortifications.Completed the installation of all 1-inch guns and single-mounted guns within one month, and deployed a batch of anti-aircraft weapons originally prepared for the defense of Hawaii, including 7-inch anti-aircraft guns and 10-inch anti-aircraft machine guns, and concentrated them on the ship lock and Gatong Near the dam.

In addition, the land-based aircraft of the Army's 1st Air Force under the command of Colonel William Mitchell, the former Army Aviation Director, and the seaplanes of the 1st Mixed Wing of Naval Air Forces under the command of Brigadier General William Fletcher also completed their missions in Panama a few days ago. deploy.

Even so, Sims was still concerned.There are three known methods for the opponent to destroy the canal: landing, shelling, and air strikes.The terrain of Panama is dominated by mountains. The highest peak, Chiriqui Volcano, is densely covered with rainforests, dangerous passes, and steep cliffs along the coast. Districts are also likely to be outweighed.

With the strength of the 3rd Fleet, it is obviously impossible to stop the enemy's main fleet from entering the Bay of Panama, but even if the opponent uses 14-inch battleship main guns, it is not easy to destroy the canal waterway dug in the rocky mountain.The weak link is on the two ship locks connecting Gatun Lake with an altitude of 2 meters and the Pacific Ocean. However, the ship locks are not built at the seaport. The nearest secondary ship lock on the Pacific side is more than 60 kilometers inland, and it is blocked by mountains. However, even if the warship ventures to the shore to bombard, it may not be able to hit accurately.

Air raids are the most worrying thing. Once the Gatun Dam on the Atlantic side is destroyed, the Gatun Lake will be emptied, and the entire canal will be paralyzed. Repairing the dam will not be done overnight.Fortunately, some experts have argued that to destroy the gravity dam-type Gatun Dam, it is necessary to explode close to the dam below the waterline, that is to say, to use a 35-ton giant torpedo or bomb. However, the bomb load of the enemy ship's attack aircraft is only 500 catties, and the seemingly weak ship lock gates are actually made of steel, each weighing more than one meter, and their strength is stronger than that of a battleship hull.

There are difficulties, but God knows how many secrets the Chinese have hidden.Before the Pearl Harbor incident, who would have expected that the mighty battle fleet would be defeated by those inconspicuous little flies?Sims would rather believe that the opponent has the ability to overcome those difficulties. Since the fall of Hawaii, it has become Sims' habit to think about the worst in advance.

(End of this chapter)