In the early morning, 36 dive bombers, 36 horizontal bombers, and 36 Zero fighters of the Japanese 1st Strike Wave Group began to take off from four aircraft carriers at the same time, and 108 carrier-based planes under the leadership of Navy Chief Tomanaga Sho set off to attack Midway. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Admiral Nagumo ordered reconnaissance planes to search the waters to the east and south, and the second attack wave aircraft was brought to the flight deck to prepare to meet the American fleet. However, the two reconnaissance planes of the heavy cruiser Tone were delayed for half an hour due to a catapult failure, and one of the reconnaissance planes of the Chikuma malfunctioned again and returned halfway (this plane was supposed to be searching the sky over the US task force), thus laying the foundation for the Japanese fleet.

"At dawn, the "Catarina" reconnaissance aircraft sent by Midway sent back reports of the discovery of Japanese aircraft carriers, and Rear Admiral Spruance immediately reacted and prepared to attack the Japanese aircraft carriers (in fact, Frank??). Rear Admiral Fletcher was the commander-in-chief of the operation, but Spruance was the first to launch the air strike). The American fleet knew the enemy's plans inside out because it had cracked the communication code of the Japanese Navy "JN-25".

Early in the morning, Japanese carrier-based aircraft launched a fierce attack on Midway. All the U.S. fighter planes stationed at Midway Island also took to the skies to meet the invading Japanese fighters. U.S. bombers, including B-17 bombers, also fired back at the Japanese fleet.

At 7 o'clock, Captain Toonaga Shoshi led the first attack wave group to prepare for the return voyage, and sent a telegram to Vice Admiral Nagumo that a second attack was needed.

At 7:06 a.m., 117 fighters, consisting of fighters, torpedo planes, and dive bombers, took off from the 16th Task Force Hornet and Enterprise led by Rear Admiral Spruance and headed for the Nagumo Fleet 200 nautical miles away. At 8:40 a.m., 15 nautical miles away, Task Force 17 led by Major General Fletcher took off 35 warplanes from Yorktown.

At 7:10 a.m., the first batch of 10 US torpedo bombers that took off from Midway Island appeared in the sky over the Nagumo Fleet. U.S. planes lined up in a single line and pounced on the Japanese aircraft carrier. Under the interception of Japanese fighters and the heavy artillery fire of Japanese ships, 7 were quickly shot down. Tokunaga's report and the attack by the US planes convinced Vice Admiral Nagumo that the defense of Midway was still strong, so he decided to change the planes originally intended to be used against the US ships to carry out a second bombing of Midway. At this time, he still did not find the American fleet.

At 7:15 a.m., Nagumo ordered the Akagi and Kaga to send the planes that had torpedoes on deck off the hangar, unload the torpedoes and replace them with high-explosive bombs for ground attack.

At 7:30 a.m., Nagumo received a telegram from a reconnaissance plane of the Tone, which had been delayed by half an hour from its takeoff, that 10 US warships had been spotted in the sea about 240 nautical miles from Midway. Nagumo ordered the reconnaissance plane to continue to find out whether the enemy fleet had aircraft carriers, and at the same time ordered a suspension of the reloading of torpedo planes. Just as Nagumo was waiting for the reconnaissance results of the reconnaissance aircraft, the alarm sounded again in the air. More than 40 U.S. B-17 bombers and dive bombers that took off from Midway Island pounced on Nagumo's fleet. Because the U.S. bombers were not escorted by fighter jets, they were quickly repelled by the Zero fighters sent by Nagumo.

At 8:15 a.m., Nagumo finally received a report from a reconnaissance plane: There are indeed aircraft carriers in the US fleet. Nagumo ordered the ships to stop loading bombs, the planes were sent back to the hangar again to be refitted with torpedoes * , and there was chaos on the deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier, and in order to buy time, the unloaded bombs were piled up on the deck.

At 8:30 a.m., the first attack wave group of the air raid on Midway returned and flew over the Japanese fleet. And those fighters that protect aircraft carriers also need to land for refueling. Nagumo is in a dilemma. The commander of the 2nd Aircraft Carrier Squadron, Rear Admiral Yamaguchi, suggested to Nagumo that "immediately order the attack force to take off." The second batch of assault aircraft re-equipped with torpedoes has not yet been completed, and if the attack is launched immediately, there will be no fighter escort. And the runway on the ship is occupied by the take-off aircraft, then the first attack wave group with empty fuel tanks will fall into the sea. Nagumo decided to postpone the attack, first retracting the planes that had attacked Midway and intercepting American bombers, and then regrouped to attack the U.S. task force.

At 8:37, the returning planes began to land on the flight decks of four aircraft carriers one after another.

At 8:40 a.m., 35 warplanes took off from the USS Yorktown on the aircraft carrier of Task Force 17 led by Rear Admiral Fletcher.

At 9:18, all aircraft operations were completed. Nagumo ordered the fleet to sail northeast at a speed of 30 knots and approach the US task force to avoid the US planes from Midway that were attacking again, and to prepare to attack the US task force with all its might.

At 9:20, the fighters covering the Japanese fleet began to take off.

At 9:25, a formation consisting of 15 "Avenger" torpedo bombers that took off from the Hornet discovered the Nagumo fleet. Unfortunately, they are running out of fuel, and there are no fighter escorts. In the suicide attack, all but one of the 30 pilots were killed by Zero fighters and anti-aircraft artillery fire.

At 9:30 a.m., 28 US warplanes that had taken off from the Enterprise and Yorktown followed one after another and attacked the Canglong and Feilong. However, during the attack on Nagumo's fleet, it suffered heavy losses and lost 20 torpedo bombers, and none of the torpedoes dropped by the US planes hit.

At 9:37 a.m., when Tone-4 received a telegram at 30 a.m., "I am short of fuel, I want to return," and when Rear Admiral Abe ordered it to stay where it was, it said, "I can't do it," and allowed it to return.

At 10:00 a.m., the 13 test reconnaissance planes of the Soryu failed to locate the US aircraft carrier according to the wrong position reported by the No. 4 plane.

At 10:10, Major Reimsmassey's Yorktown 3rd Dive Bomber Squadron began attacking the Wyvern, and the commander of his 6 F4Fs, Major Joan Thatch, faced 15 Zeros for the first time with his "Thatch Shear" tactics, and although the results were impressive (1 lost, 5 Zeros shot down), 10 of the 12 TBDs were shot down, and the rest were forced to land at sea. None of the 5 torpedo* peeds fired at the Wyvern hit.

At 10:20, due to the attack of the US military, the deck of the aircraft began to carry out the refueling and bombing operation of the Zero fighters escorting the escort, and it was impossible to prepare a counterattack wave. Just as the Japanese fighters were busy driving away the American torpedo planes at low altitudes, 33 planes appeared in the sky above the Nagumo fleet. Major McCluskey leads a dreadnought dive bomber taking off from the Enterprise. At this time, the Japanese ship was turning around and turning to the windward direction, in an extremely vulnerable situation, and only a few Zero fighters were parked.

At 10:24 a.m., when the first air defense Japanese fighter plane to change its shift flew off the flight deck, the 33 "Dreadnought" dive bombers of the Enterprise were divided into two squadrons to attack the aircraft carrier Akagi and the aircraft carrier Kaga respectively (at this time the ships were not ready to release the attack formation), and the 17 "dreadnought" dive bombers that took off from the aircraft carrier Yorktown were specially attacking the aircraft carrier Soryu. The three Japanese aircraft carriers turned into three fireballs in an instant, and the planes, fuel and ammunition stacked on the deck caused a large explosion, and the flames soared into the sky, and in just 5 minutes, the three Japanese aircraft carriers were completely blown up.

At 10:40 a.m., Major General Tabun Yamaguchi, commander of the 2nd Air Force, who had taken over the command of air operations, launched a counterattack, and 18 attack formations consisting of Type 99 dive bombers and 6 Zero fighters took off from the aircraft carrier Flying Dragon. On the way to the target, they spotted a group of US bombers that were returning home, and quietly followed them. Because of this, the Japanese aircraft successfully found the Yorktown and immediately launched an attack. Three bombs hit the Yorktown, and although it was damaged, it was restored to navigation with the efforts of the American crew.

At 11:30, Vice Admiral Nagumo and his staff moved to the cruiser Nagara and began to assemble the remnants of the fleet.

At 13:40, 10 Japanese "97" torpedo attack planes and 6 "Zero" fighters flew from the Flying Dragon and launched a second attack on the wounded Yorktown (the Japanese side was commanded by Tomanaga. Since the Yorktown had been repaired, the Japanese pilots mistook it for another sister ship). The Yorktown was not so lucky this time, it was hit by two torpedoes, two large holes were opened near the port side, and the rudder was crushed. Rear Admiral Fletcher was forced to transfer command to Rear Admiral Spruance.

At 14:45, the US reconnaissance plane spotted the Japanese aircraft carrier Flying Dragon, and Spruance immediately ordered 30 "dreadnought" dive bombers of the USS Enterprise and USS Hornet to take off and attack the Flying Dragon.

At 15:00, the captain of the USS Yorktown, Buckmaster, was forced to give the order to abandon the ship. However, it did not sink, so the U.S. military returned to the ship and attempted to be towed by tugboat to Pearl Harbor.

At 16:45, the dive bombers of the USS Enterprise successfully attacked the remaining Japanese Wyvern. The Wyvern hit 4 bullets in an instant, and the ship was in flames.

At 19:13, the Soryu and Kaga sank one after another.

At 20:30, Nagumo 56 ordered the submarine I-168 to start shelling the AF's airfield at 2300 hours, and informed that the 7th Sentai (Kurita) would join the shelling later.

At 22:50, Nagumo reported: "The enemy still has 4 aircraft carriers, and our aircraft carriers are all destroyed." "The above is the full observation report of our observers."

"What about the casualties on both sides?"

"On the American side, 1 aircraft carrier (USS Yorktown"), 1 destroyer ("Harman"), 147 aircraft (mostly shot down), 307 people killed. The Japanese side lost 4 aircraft carriers ("Akagi", "Kaga", "Soryu", "Flying Dragon"), 1 heavy cruiser ("Mikuma"), 332 aircraft (including spare aircraft, about 280 aircraft carriers were blown up, only 42 were shot down), and 3,600 people were killed. ”

"That is to say, the Japanese Combined Fleet lost three aircraft carriers in only five minutes from 10:20 to 24 in the morning, which led to the total defeat of the Combined Fleet." Admiral Chen Jialiang* put down the report in his hand and asked with some surprise.

"Judging by the intelligence of observers, it is so. General Chen," replied an officer from the Directorate of Military Intelligence. "Chu Shuai, is there anything else you need us to provide?"

"Nothing, if there is, I'll contact you anytime. Great work! The intelligence officer retreated, and Chu Zhaodong was still standing at the window, looking at the 032 "Vietnam" aircraft carrier that was entering the port, which was a Guguo-class main aircraft carrier that had just been launched last year. But fate is often decided in these short five minutes, and the Japanese have been greatly damaged, and the Americans will not give up this good opportunity to beat the water dogs. Is the Chinese Navy ready to be a fisherman? The old marshal's heart was still uneasy.