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Although he didn't want to give up, Stark didn't lose his mind.

The most important thing at the moment is to find Task Force 41, at least to determine the whereabouts of the fleet, even if it is only in its location.

After the total annihilation of Task Force 53, Task Force 41 seemed to evaporate.

In the past few days, reconnaissance satellites controlled by the CIA have searched the waters around Yotun Island several times, but have found no trace of Task Force 41.

There wasn't even a clue about it.

It's been 4 days!

Theoretically, it would only take 5 days at the earliest for Task Force 41 to appear in any area where Task Force 51 could attack.

Where did Task Force 41 go?

There is no problem in keeping it hidden, the commander will definitely keep the fleet hidden.

But the problem is that the battle on the transit island has entered a white-hot stage, and it can even be said that at the most critical moment, can Bai Huawei still ignore it?

This is obviously impossible.

Even if Bai Huawei was worried that his troops would not be enough and he was unwilling to fight the Nuland fleet, then he should make adjustments after the arrival of the 61st Task Force.

If anything, that's what he's special about.

The reality is that Task Force 41 is still hidden, and even Task Force 61 is more than 1,000 kilometers away from the transit island.

Whether it was Task Force 61 or not, it has to be said.

If you are so cautious, you must have something else.

That's what Stark fears the most.

Even if Bai Huawei's ability is not as powerful as he boasts, he is also an excellent fleet commander, an opponent who cannot be underestimated.

So, where exactly is Task Force 41?

Seeing the communications staff officer striding over, Stark put down the coffee cup in his hand.

"Just received, confirmed."

Catching the message handed by the communications staff officer, Stark frowned after only one glance.

Although it was sent by the Pentagon, although it was not directly related to the Navy, it was the combat operation of the Air Force to bomb the Khowaii Islands, but for Stark, it was an extremely important and decisive telegram. In fact, Stark had been waiting for this telegram.

Beginning on the night of the 10th, the Air Force did not bomb the Khowaii Islands at night for three consecutive days.

Beginning on the 10th, the Liangxia Air Force mobilized hundreds of large strategic transport planes to launch a strategic airlift operation codenamed "Night Express."

As you can see from the name of the codename, it is mainly carried out at night.

On the first night alone, the Liangxia Air Force dispatched almost 500 strategic transport planes, airlifted about 40,000 tons of equipment and supplies to the Khowaii Islands, and picked up tens of thousands of wounded and military families on the return trip. This move greatly boosted the morale of the defenders and enhanced their combat effectiveness. Just by airlifting the equipment and materials that have passed over, hundreds of combat aircraft can be repaired and the aviation can restore its combat effectiveness.

On the night of the 11th, the scale of the airlift doubled, and about 1,200 transport planes were dispatched, delivering about 100,000 tons of supplies to the Khowaii Islands. If it weren't for the insufficient number of Y-10A, the much smaller Y-11 could only be used instead, otherwise more supplies could be delivered.

Because there were too many transport planes dispatched, it was impossible to land all of them, so some of the supplies were airdropped.

It wasn't until this morning that Stark received the exact message.

Most of these transport planes took off from the mainland of Liangxia, or the North and South Sadou Islands, and refueled in the air near the North Malaysia Islands and Isle Wai respectively, and carried out a second air refueling on the way back before they could fly directly to the Khowaii Islands and then return to the mainland of Liangxia.

The key point is that the preparations made by the Liang Xia Air Force in the North Malaysia Islands, Guan Dao and Wei Island are actually serving strategic airlift.

While marveling, Stark was also annoyed.

This incident illustrates a problem from the side, Liang Xia's previous actions, such as sending strategic bombers to deal with the Nuland army that landed on the transit island, were actually attacking the east and west, forcing the Nuland fleet to strengthen its investment on the transit island, thus ignoring the transport aircraft group that bypassed from the south.

The transport planes flew over the south side of Transit Island when Stark arranged for fighters to intercept the bombers.

Although given the situation at that time, even if he knew that the Liangxia Air Force had dispatched hundreds of strategic transport planes, Stark would not lead the fleet south, but he would definitely ask the Air Force to take action, such as focusing on bombing the airfields on the eastern islands of the Khowaii Islands at night that can accommodate large transport planes to take off and land.

Those are large aircraft weighing more than 200 tons, or even more than 350 tons, with a landing taxiing distance of between 2,000 and 2,500 meters when fully loaded, and a take-off taxiing distance of more than 2,000 meters, and they cannot take off and land on unpaved field airfields.

On the eastern islands of the Khowaii archipelago, there are only a handful of airfields capable of landing strategic transport aircraft.

As long as these airfields are destroyed, the strategic airlift of the Liang Xia army can be crushed.

In fact, the Nuland Air Force focused on bombing these airfields before, but the Liang Xia army had a very strong support capability, and in just a few days, the bombed-out runway was repaired, reaching the standard of barely allowing strategic transport planes to take off and land, and only then did this round of strategic airlift occur.

If action is taken in time, even if it is too late to stop the airlift operation on the night of the 10th, it can make the Liangxia Air Force taste the pain the next night.

It is a pity that the Nuland Air Force did not act at all.

Of course, the responsibility is not all on the Air Force.

In order to cover the strategic airlift operation, the shore-based air force of the Liangxia Navy launched a tactical counterattack on the night of the 10th, sending fighters to intercept all Nuland planes trying to approach the Khowaii Islands.

Interestingly, the Nuland Air Force did not cause alarm!

At the time, even Stark didn't think there was anything to care about.

In his view, Liang Xia's move was actually a death throes, trying to attract the Nuland fleet through a counterattack in the eastern part of the islands, so that the air force's bombers could launch a surprise attack at night, bombing the Nuland army on the transit island, and giving the troops guarding the transit island a chance to breathe.

The point is that no one knew at that time that the real intention of the Liangxia Air Force was to conduct strategic airlifts.

In addition, after the start of the assault on Transit Island, the Nuland Air Force rarely dispatched bombers at night to strike the islands in the eastern part of the archipelago with cruise missiles.

The reason is also very simple, cruise missiles are about to run out!

The remaining stockpiles will have to be used in the direction of the transit islands or to bomb military bases on nearby islands.

As far as Stark knows, there are about 1,000 air-launched cruise missiles left in the Air Force's warehouses, and even a campaign-level attack cannot be guaranteed.

As a result, from the 7th, the islands in the eastern part of the archipelago were bombed, mainly using short- and medium-range air-to-surface missiles.

In some cases, iron-hulled bombs were used, such as the bombing of the beach campsite in the northwest of Honu Island, which is suspected to be the Liangxia Marine Barracks, where 40 B-52Hs dropped 1,000 tons of 500-pound high-explosive bombs, and carpet bombing turned the entire beach into a sea of fire. Later, I found out that it was indeed a beach campsite, and it had been closed a long time ago, and the 1,000-ton bomb was thrown in vain.

Bombing operations are usually carried out during daylight hours using short-range missiles or iron-hulled bombs.

It was precisely because of this that after being intercepted by Liang Xia fighters, the Nuland Air Force canceled the combat operation on the night of the 10th, and even the reconnaissance planes were withdrawn.

On the night of the 11th, the Liang Xia Navy did the same.

Because there was really no need to take risks, the Nuland Air Force did not go out for three consecutive nights, and it was also called to let the officers and men of the front-line troops sleep well.

Herein lies the problem.

In these 3 nights, the Nuland Air Force did not send reconnaissance aircraft!

That is, there are about 10 hours of empty windows per day.

In these 10 hours, the fleet was able to sail more than 500 kilometers, even at a speed of 25 knots that a slower ship, that is, a fast combat support ship, could sail 400 kilometers. With the help of shore-based aviation, plus other methods, the fleet will be able to sail about 1,000 kilometers in two nights, and this is the width of the Nuland Air Force's patrol and alert area!

To put it simply, with Honu Island as the center, 1,000 kilometers to the east and 500 kilometers to the north and south are the key surveillance areas.

It was set at 1,000 kilometers because the fleet sailed so far in a day and night.

In the telegram sent by the communications staff officer, it was already mentioned that during the day on 11 July, due to various factors, the air force did not carry out reconnaissance and surveillance missions in strict accordance with the plan, that is, it did not send reconnaissance planes to search this sea area, let alone the coastal waters of the neighboring islands.

In addition, the Air Force focused on bombing the airfield and air base on Honu Island during the day on the 11th.

This arrangement was only to weaken the combat effectiveness of the shore-based aviation of the Liangxia Navy and ensure that it could continue to carry out bombing missions at night.

Unfortunately, in the evening of the same day, the Air Force did not resume bombing operations.

It was not until the morning of 12 June that the Air Force sent reconnaissance planes to search the key surveillance areas as planned.

That is, there was a window of almost 34 hours before that.

With all this time, Task Force 41 was able to sail 1,400 kilometers!

In other words, as long as it evaded reconnaissance during the day on the 11th, Task Force 41 would be able to enter the Guia Ocean from the east of the Khowaii Islands before dawn on the 12th.

Would Bai Huawei do that?

If anything, Stark never doubted Bai Huawei's guts.

In his understanding, none of the young Zhuang officers of the Liang Xia Navy were cowards, and this was a fine tradition inherited by Chen Bingxun and Bai Zhizhan.

As long as he sees the opportunity, Bai Huawei will definitely take risks.

In fact, this is what Stark worries the most.

The key point is that the strategic airlift that began on the night of the 10th, the simultaneous counterattack of the shore-based aviation of the Liangxia Navy, the previous bombing of the transit island, and even the focus on guarding the airfield and air base on Hono Island during the day on the 11th, is it just a coincidence?

This series of events seems to have been arranged a long time ago.

It looks so natural, but it makes Stark feel that there is something strange in it.

Take strategic airlift, is it really necessary?

The key to defending the Khowaii Islands is actually on the side of the transit island. Losing the transit islands, no matter how much equipment and supplies are airlifted to the islands to the east, will not help. The point is that this round of strategic airlift did not produce much positive help in guarding the transit island.

Restore the combat capability of aviation?

The defenders lacked not only equipment and supplies, but also more important things, such as experienced fighter pilots and fuel that could not be delivered by air. Besides, in a situation where regular airfields are basically paralyzed and can only rely on field airfields, even if there is enough fuel, the sustained combat capability of the aviation is very limited, and it is simply impossible to extend it by air.

On the contrary, this round of strategic airlift has worsened the situation on the transit island.

Because of the need to counterattack the Nuland Air Force, from the night of the 10th, the shore-based aviation of the Liangxia Navy did not come to harass the landing force again.

Every night before, fighters and attack aircraft of the shore-based aviation of the Liangxia Navy would arrive.

Although there were basically no results in such a petty fight, the officers and men of the landing force would not want to sleep well after tossing back and forth a few times.

Of course, it will also increase the combat burden of the task force, such as increasing the intensity of sorties at night.

The problem now is that if the transit island is not defended, the only value of strategic airlift is actually to evacuate tens of thousands of wounded and their families.

As for the equipment and materials that were transported, they had to be destroyed in the end.

In this case, why engage in strategic airlift?

To boost morale?

Until the fall of Transit Island, the morale of the defenders will not be too much of a problem. If you really want to boost morale, it is better to send some young and beautiful stars over and hold a few condolence performances. Besides, defending the transit island is the biggest encouragement, and there is no need for this to be done at all.

Obviously, this can only show one thing, strategic airlift is actually strategic deception.

It is worth engaging in such a big battle, or that it is necessary to devote so much force to engage in strategic deception, and the only possibility is to cover the 41st Task Force.

Last night, to be precise, today, that is, in the early morning of the 12th, after receiving the news that the Liangxia Air Force had launched a strategic airlift and that it had been carried out for two consecutive nights, Stark immediately thought that the 41st Task Force might fish in troubled waters and take the opportunity to enter the North and East Guia Ocean.

In order to find out this, he asked for the Air Force's operational report during these two days.

While Stark was carefully reading the message, the communications staff officer called the navigation staff officer on duty and marked the important information in the message on the chart.

Actually, Stark is not thinking about this problem now.

Task Force 41 alone in the North and East Looking North?

There is indeed a great threat.

As long as Bai Huawei seizes the opportunity, the 52nd Task Force, which bears the brunt of the attack, will definitely suffer a catastrophe.

Although, under normal circumstances, both sides rely more on strategic bombers from the Air Force, they still use carrier-based aviation to attack whenever they have the opportunity.

It's like taking a car when you go out, just because you don't know how to ride a bicycle.

However, the 41st Task Force, which was alone in the depths, also took great risks. If you don't do it, you may be wiped out.

The point is, is this judgment correct?

If Task Force 41 had not gone north from the east side of the Howai Islands, but had returned to the vicinity of Transit Island to join Task Force 61, and Stark had acted according to his wrong judgment, it would not have been Bai Huawei who had suffered the catastrophe, but himself.

And the Nuland Navy, and even the Nuland Republic!

The risk was too great for Stark to make a casual decision.

There is only one chance, and there is no regret about taking the wrong medicine.

How to choose?

While Stark was hesitating, the phone rang next to him, but it was from the communications center, calling the communications staff officer who had just arrived.