In the first half of the second point, it was also easy to reach a consensus, that the primary target would definitely be the enemy fleet aircraft carriers, but Roosevelt would have a difficult time deciding on the secondary target: whether the enemy's battleship force or the light aircraft carrier force was the secondary target, and the top level of the Joint Staff Committee was divided into two factions of debate. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Marshall and Arnold advocated a battleship force because the battleships were more famous, easier to build, and more accountable to the people, while Admiral King and Lehi advocated a light aircraft carrier formation on the grounds that the battleship force was the last and the slowest and could strike a strike if it was properly operated, while the aircraft on the light carriers posed a direct threat to their fleet.

Finally, after repeated arguments and persuasions, it was decided that the light aircraft carrier formation should be the secondary target, and the battleship force should be listed as the ultimate goal, and at the same time, a sentence was added at the end that Vice Admiral Fletcher, the commander of the aircraft carrier formation, was given full authority to freely choose to strike at what he considered important and feasible targets.

It's not just power, it's pressure!

After receiving the telegram, the chief of staff of the aircraft carrier formation, Cox, pouted and said: "Washington has been tossed crazy by the Japanese and Germans...... It's not a good thing to put all the treasure on us now. ”

Fletcher sighed: "The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility, who makes the United States now have not many troops left to fight?" If there is no major victory in this war, not only will we not be able to account for the American people, but the United States' position in the eyes of the Allies will be lost. ”

At 4 a.m. on April 21, 1943, 24 B-25s took off from the airport in Puerto Rico and were to arrive around sunrise in suspicious waters to reconnoiter and provide accurate strike directions for follow-up troops, while ground crews on five aircraft carriers under Fletcher's command were filling up attack aircraft groups with fuel, bombs or torpedoes. Everyone is ready to get ready for a fight.

Almost at the same time, on the decks of the four aircraft carriers of the Axis Fleet, all the fighters had been refueled and were ready to plunge into the blazing fierce battle, and a little earlier than them, a large number of water reconnaissance had been sent out in advance to reconnoitre, and the focus of their search was on the 160-degree sector in the north, and surprisingly, Tsukahara did not ask for the attack aircraft group to be prepared in advance - although there were not so many planes on the deck, and it was impossible for the ground crew to prepare so many planes at one time, but this tactic still made people feel extremely strange, Minoru Genda, Mitsuo Fuchida and others were also full of doubts, but they did not show it, but painstakingly coordinated the various formations and arranged the rotation order - the pilots who were rescued recovered after a day and a night of rest.

The two of them checked the equipment of each pilot one by one, in addition to the parachute is a life jacket, although several pilots complained that it was awkward to wear this thing, but Genda Minoru said with a heavy face: "You must wear it, whether your life can be saved after falling into the water depends on the thing, there will be no shortage of enemy planes today, everyone has the possibility of being shot down, we must survive - the Nanyang battlefield is still waiting for us to go back safely, how can we waste our lives at will?" As for the planes, don't worry, all the Germans who lost in the battle promised to make up for us, we have planes, but there are not enough pilots, so everyone must try to survive. ”

"Gentlemen, please!"

Now that there are German tyrants as the foundation, the Japanese Navy does not pay much attention to airplanes or anything, but it is extremely valuable to pilots. A few hundred planes is only a week's production of the Germans, but this group of elite pilots has been accumulated from before the war to the present, and without this group of elite pilots, the fleet would not have been able to withstand the repeated onslaught of the US Army Airlines in the first two days.

Time passed bit by bit, and the commanders on both sides held their breath, not daring to let go of any suspicious place.

At 4:45, Tsukahara released the first direct cover formation, and 16 planes roared towards the head of the shelling fleet; At 5:05, the second cover formation was released, and 12 German fighters flew towards the decoy fleet - now there were not only 3 light carriers, but also some transport ships, which looked even more realistic: at 5:45, the third cover formation was released, and a total of 24 planes flew over the heads of the mobile fleet. After the 52 fighters were lifted into the air, there were still 66 fighters left in the hands of the mobile fleet, but to the surprise of Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida, Tsukahara only asked the Aquila to prepare the attack aircraft formation, and the rest of the aircraft carriers were still ready to drop fighters, and they still required to mount auxiliary fuel tanks like direct cover aircraft.

Everyone didn't know the chief's intentions, so they could only calm down and wait patiently.

At a quarter past 6 o'clock, the sky began to shine brightly, and the three direct cover aircraft formations sent by Tsukahara were all in position, and there were a number of them in the sky over each fleet, except for the mobile fleet, which was still moving slowly at a speed of 23 knots, and the shelling fleet and the decoy fleet were moving eastward at maximum speed.

At 6:35, the heavy cruiser Mogami, which was on guard on the perimeter, was the first to report: "Two large planes have been spotted, coming from due north, and are expected to be Puerto Rican reconnaissance planes." ”

Subsequently, two more heavy cruisers reported the situation, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

"Genda, let the direct cover planes split 8 to intercept, and the course of the fleet will remain unchanged."

After Minoru Genda finished arranging the task, he reported: "Sir, the decoy formation has sent a warning that the enemy reconnaissance plane has discovered this fleet, and the plane has been shot down by the direct cover plane. ”

"Very good, the water detectives still haven't found out?"

"No, but there are no anomalies in the direction of Puerto Rico or near the Virgin Islands, and the water reconnaissance is ready to return."

Tsukahara nodded and stopped talking. A moment later, news came from the front, and the 2 mainframes confirmed that they were B-25s, which had been shot down by the direct cover aircraft, and a message was intercepted, but it was very short.

At the same time, on the USS Lexington, the flagship of the US aircraft carrier group, Cox was also reporting the enemy situation to Fletcher: "Sir, the No. 7 plane has transmitted information that it has discovered that the enemy's light air carrier formation is located 160 kilometers northeast of Caracas, Venezuela, 870 kilometers away from the current position of this fleet, about 750 kilometers from Puerto Rico, heading due east and speeding at 27 knots, but the plane was shot down after the report......

"The distance is still far away, is there any situation from other reconnaissance planes?" Fletcher asked.

"Not yet."

As soon as the words fell, a staff officer hurriedly handed over the message: "The Puerto Rican side reports that the No. 8 and No. 9 planes have lost contact one after another, and they are all missing in the sea area of X25. ”

"It seems that the enemy's main aircraft carrier should be lurking nearby." Fletcher frowned, "Ask them to continue to send additional reconnaissance planes to the area at all costs, I want to have accurate information." ”

As soon as Fletcher's order was given, six more B-25s rushed into the area...... (To be continued.) )