Lieutenant General Buckner was completely unexpected.

Under the pressure of Nimitz and the navy, he personally went to the front line to supervise the battle. When he was observing the troops' advancement on a hill near the front line regiment headquarters, a Japanese shell flew over, and shrapnel and sharp gravel hit him in the head and died on the spot.

You should know that under the tactic of Niushima Manta, the Japanese artillery fire was extremely weak, especially during the day, when the Japanese army fired a shell at any time, it would attract a series of bombardment from the US army. Before Buckner arrived at this hill that day, there had been no shelling here for several hours. What is incredible is that the accidental shell actually killed the commander of the army, and Buckner became the highest-ranking general and position of the US military to be killed in the entire Pacific War.

Buckner's sacrifice made the originally improved offensive worse again. The Japanese army did not know where to get the news that Buckner was killed. They took the opportunity to make a big fuss and spread a leaflet titled "The Tragedy of the United States", claiming that the special attack would sink all US warships and make countless people orphans.

Manta Niujima even launched a counterattack. The Japanese army first used suicide attacks to blow up US tanks with explosives in the arms of suicide squadrons, and then launched a charge against the US infantry that had lost the cover of the tank. Under the impact of the Japanese army, the US army retreated step by step, with nearly 5,000 casualties and wounded nearly 5,000. It was entirely up to the heavy artillery and the superior firepower of the subsequent troops to curb the Japanese offensive.

But although it stopped the Japanese attack, the morale of the US soldiers was low. Many officers and soldiers, even naval commander Turner, were considering whether they should withdraw temporarily.

Turner's reason for considering withdrawal was: "It's obvious that we seriously underestimated the difficulties of this battle, and the goddess of luck was not on our side. I think we should be more prepared before launching an attack on Okinawa!"

In response, Nimitz retorted: "What kind of preparation do you think... should we make to be sufficient? When we are fully prepared, is Japan not more fully prepared?!"

This incident even shocked Roosevelt in Washington. He looked at the telegram handed over by Ernest and frowned and said, "Kin, we have lost the best time to take Okinawa after all!"

At this time, Roosevelt was already a little regretful. He should have heard the Chinese people take it down with a quick decision for an important place like Okinawa.

"Mr. President!" Ernest replied: "I don't think this is just a matter of missing the opportunity!"

"Oh! Then what do you think there is?"

"Tactics!" Ernest replied: "From the intelligence collected by the troops participating in the war, the Japanese changed their tactics!"

As he said that, Ernest took out several documents from the folder and handed them to Roosevelt, and then continued: "In fact, although the time for our attack on Okinawa is not the best, it is also appropriate, because the Japanese transferred the most elite 9th Division and a large number of air force from Okinawa to the battle of Leyte Bay. The Japanese local troops used to supplement Okinawa were also unable to arrive on time because of the losses of the Japanese in the battle of Leyte Bay! In other words, when we launched the attack, the Japanese troops in Okinawa were very weak, which also proves that your decision was correct!"

Ernest's last sentence was calm and flattering, and Roosevelt was obviously very useful... Roosevelt was a lawyer, but he became the president of the war, so what he was most worried about was that his military decisions were not appropriate enough and would affect his prestige or be attacked by his opponents.

"The reason why our progress is so slow..." Ernest explained as he looked at Roosevelt's document and read it: "As you can see, this is information from Colonel Will, the leader of the 17th Regiment. They were stubbornly resisted by the Japanese when they attacked the 391 Highland the next day. Colonel Will described... The Japanese defense was different from the defense methods they encountered in any previous battle on the Pacific battlefield. According to their interrogation of the prisoners, they learned that the Japanese used the defensive tactics learned from the Chinese, and they called it the 'reverse slope' tactics!"

"The 'reverse slope' tactics? What the Chinese learned? Are you learning from the Chinese Expeditionary Force?"

"No!" Ernest shook his head and said, "not from the Chinese Expeditionary Force, but from the Chongqing government's troops!"

Ernest's answer surprised Roosevelt because in his mind, he only knew that the Chinese troops were vulnerable at all, and such vulnerable troops... What can the Japanese learn from them?

But the fact is exactly the opposite. It is precisely because the Chinese troops have always been at an absolute disadvantage in equipment compared to the Japanese, so Japanese talents who are also at an absolute disadvantage in equipment compared to the Americans are more necessary to learn Chinese troops' tactics.

"In addition..." Ernest continued: "The Japanese tunnel tactics and guerrilla tactics on Okinawa... are likely to be borrowed from the Chinese tactics."

This principle is not complicated. Although Roosevelt did not understand military affairs, after reading the explanation in the document, he quickly understood the inspiration.

After thinking about it, Roosevelt held his chin and said, "Kin, what you said so much, are you telling me...we need Chinese people to solve the Okinawa problem again?"

Ernest nodded: "Mr. President, you know... Lieutenant General Turner does not trust our newly formed 24th Army. He believes that most of the 24th Army are army without much combat effectiveness, rather than marines who are good at landing operations and island operations. This is also one of the reasons why our army and navy have serious lack of trust and cannot coordinate!"

Roosevelt nodded slightly. Ernest was right. The US Army's performance on the Pacific battlefield has always been unsatisfactory. As mentioned before, the Army is accustomed to clearing obstacles before advancing, so that a few Japanese snipers could block their progress for a long time, and there were even many accidental mishaps.

Because of his previous performance, Lieutenant General Turner took it for granted that the Army had also committed the same problem on Okinawa this time. In addition, the pressure on the navy by suicide attack aircraft was on the navy, so he complained about the Army.
Chapter completed!