In July 1944, Nimitz's Pacific Fleet attacked east and west in the Pacific Theater, and MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Fleet fought from south to north, and the two armies formed a pincer against the Philippines under Japanese occupation. However, on the question of whether to attack Taiwan first or the Philippines first, there was a fierce dispute between the armed forces and the navy.
Roosevelt had to drag the sick body to personally mediate the conflict between the two sides, and eventually supported MacArthur's plan, nimitz's Pacific Fleet supported MacArthur in the Philippine Campaign. Halsey's 3rd Fleet was sent to the front of Luzon, kicking off the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
To explain this, we have to start with Nimitz "taking care" of Halsey. As the war unfolded, the formerly "lively" South Pacific Theater became a rear area far from the front. Halsey's troops, which had belonged to the Army, were returned to MacArthur, and those belonging to the Navy were transferred back to the Pacific Fleet.
At this time Halsey's troops were "reduced" to garrisons, with nothing to do all day. At the beginning, because of the skin disease did not catch up with the Battle of Midway, he recommended the subordinate Spruance to take over his position, and now he has achieved fame, and more importantly, there is a battle, which makes him very anxious. Nimitz's "two shifts" solve the problem.
First of all, the friendship between the two was established from the time of military school, and although Halsey was one year older than Nimitz, their friendship was deep. Nimitz admired Halsey's daring style and sympathized with his situation at this time. After being discharged from the hospital, Halsey fought some battles with MacArthur in the South Pacific, but all of them were support missions.
Now that an experienced and capable senior general like Halsey is back in the Central Pacific Theater, how to play his greater role, but considering that Spruance is doing just like the sky, it is obviously inappropriate to replace him "without reason". So he decided to implement a "two-shift system", and Halsey had the same battle to fight.
Second, solve the problem of many talents. "Two-shift system" means the same naval fleet and subordinate unit, which are called the 5th Fleet and 58th Task Force when Spruance is under command, and the 3rd Fleet and 38th Task Force when Halsey is in command. To put it bluntly, it is two sets of command organs that take turns to lead the same unit to carry out tasks.
In doing so, not only did the command structure be too bloated and overstaffed, but these excellent generals had the opportunity to exert their talents, and they could also ease the tension of the war, get a full rest, and have time to fully demonstrate the operational plan of the next task.
What is even more amazing is that through the change of fleet number, the Japanese mistakenly believe that in the Pacific, the US military has two fleets, and the combat styles of the two are different, which makes the Japanese convinced that the strength of the US army is strong and can take turns to fight. So much so that during the war, many people thought that the US 3rd and 5th Fleets were two different fleets.
In September 1944, Halsey, who had been commissioned the task, could not resist the excitement in his heart, and immediately aboard the 45,000-ton battleship "New Jersey", led Task Force 38 to the Philippine Sea first, shelled and aircraft bombarded nearby islands, clearing the way for the subsequent landing campaign.
During the Battle of Palau, the U.S. army effortlessly occupied most of the islands and built airfields and military port anchorages here. However, the battle on Pelle Sulphur was extremely hard, with 10,000 Japanese troops hiding in caves and resisting, and the 1st Marine Division took a lot of effort to take the island for more than a month.
The U.S. military suffered more than 10,000 casualties, which is not unrelated to the chaotic command system of the U.S. military. For example, the 7th Fleet, which was responsible for transporting troops, was under the command of MacArthur, Halsey's 3rd Fleet was under Nimitz's, and the two of them were under the orders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, resulting in scattered commands, overlapping tasks, and lack of on-site command, resulting in heavy losses.
In order to be in unison and coordination, the Admiralty asked Halsey's 3rd Fleet to provide cover and support in the Southwest Pacific Fleet's capture of the Philippine Islands. Of course, as an official document, Nimitz's signature was required, and he signed the document without saying a word. With the Great War in the middle of nowhere, he would not have the same knowledge as MacArthur.
On 20 October, under the cover of nearly 100 warships of Halsey's 3rd Fleet, including 16 aircraft carriers, 738 ships carrying MacArthur's 180,000 landing forces landed successfully in Leyte Gulf. That afternoon, MacArthur waded ashore and announced to the Filipino people through a high-power radio: "I'm back!" ”
At this time, Nimitz's heart was full of mixed feelings, while he was happy to recover the lost land, macArthur was very angry, over-performing the "personal show", and taking all the credit for the restoration of the Philippines under his own name. It's not that Nimitz likes to sell fame and reputation, but that he should fight for the credit he has achieved for the Navy.
Fortunately, However, Roosevelt did not forget the efforts of the Navy in this battle, and while he sent a congratulatory message to MacArthur, he also sent a congratulatory award to Nimitz and Halsey. Task Force 38 continued its efforts, destroying more than 700 Japanese aircraft and sinking dozens of Japanese ships of various types in more than a month of support operations.
December 15 was a happy day for Nimitz. He was promoted by the President of the United States to five-star admiral in the Navy, the Navy's highest rank. In other words, his career has reached its peak. At the same time, MacArthur and 9 other people were promoted, and MacArthur was also extremely happy.
Also pleased for Nimitz were his subordinates, who spent the night with him, and these careful subordinates made him a collar badge arranging five stars in a circle overnight, which made him both happy and surprised. When MacArthur went to Nimitz's headquarters to discuss the next battle plan, he was annoyed to see that he was still 4 stars.
When MacArthur returned, he scolded his lieutenant and ordered him to wear his five-star rank the next morning. This also fully illustrates the character of the two men, MacArthur is arbitrary, and his subordinates are accustomed to obeying orders; while Nimitz has a harmonious relationship with his subordinates, and his subordinates naturally support him, and it is inevitable to make him a collar.
Operations to support MacArthur continued, with the mad Japanese carrying out a kamikaze attack, in which the U.S. lost 43 ships and suffered nearly 2,000 casualties in 10 days. Although Halsey's 38th Special Mixed Formation inflicted a large number of casualties on the Japanese army, it was also desperately counterattacked by the Japanese army, and the losses were not small.
On 25 January 1945, Halsey completed the rotation, Spruance took over the fleet, the 3rd Fleet was again changed to the 5th Fleet, and the 38th Task Force was correspondingly changed to the 58th Task Force. Meanwhile, Nimitz was plotting to move the command from Pearl Harbor to Guam.
First, as commander-in-chief of the fleet, he should command from the front, not in the rear, affecting morale; second, as the war at Pearl Harbor has expanded, the command has become overcrowded, inefficient, and administrative. What is even more uncomfortable is that it affects emotions and cannot fully consider the development of the war situation, which is the most intolerable thing for Nimitz.
Nimitz led a lean staff and established a "forward command" in Guam. Here, directing combat is an easy task, no longer have to think about wearing a tie to the unit, you can even wear standard shorts (also a kind of military uniform) to work, and what is more pleasant is that he also brought his dog to the island.
We often have such an experience in life, dry work can not be afraid of hardship, not afraid of tired, but to deal with things that are not related to work, such as a large number of meetings, processing incomplete report summary, etc., it does affect the mood of work. In World War II, many excellent generals chose to "hide" far away in order to get rid of the cumbersome administration. The purpose is one, to concentrate on fighting.
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Do you have similar experiences in your lives? Discussions and comments are welcome.
References: The Complete History of World War II, Knight of the Sea: Nimitz
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