By the afternoon, the Cunningham fleet had succeeded in reducing the distance between it and the broken fleet to about 1,200 kilometers, and after Turner's fleet retreated southward, the gap between the German forces remained at about 1,300 kilometers, and now roughly the three sides formed an equilateral triangle with a side length of 1,200-1,300 kilometers, but the main force of Ozawa's fleet was 600 kilometers after the German apex, and while the fleet was attacking the fleet, the fleet as a whole was still advancing eastward, that is, close to the coastline of the African continent, which will soon be due north of Cape Verde. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Cunningham sent a telegram to Ingersoll at about 5 o'clock, believing that the carrier-based aircraft attack circles of the two sides could be layered after early tomorrow morning, and everyone was very happy, but after receiving the army's emergency telegram, Turner's face froze suddenly, "Our army has suffered a devastating air attack, and if we do not rescue it, the whole army will be annihilated......

He gritted his teeth: "The army is all bastards, the Germans were bombed by us for a week in a row, and they couldn't stand it after only being bombed once?" ”

Ingersoll also expressed his wonder that judging from intelligence, the German army is more than 200 aircraft, and the number does not surpass the number of US air strikes, how can it be so disastrous? Intentionally or unintentionally, they ignored one point: The German army had a complete defense system and psychological expectations when it was bombed, and of course it had a strong ability to withstand it, while the American army was already demoralized because of repeated setback attacks, and it was of course a great setback to be attacked by such a round of air raids.

"This is just a continuation of their usual bitterness, but appropriate reassurance is to be given, telling them that the fleet will be reassembled tomorrow, and that if they endure for another 24 hours, our troops will regain the upper hand......," Turner advised, "I do not believe that the Germans will be able to bring the army to its knees with air raids and the few remaining forces on the island, and if this can be done, we will have achieved it long ago." ”

On the USS Zeppelin, Mashal and other senior officials are assessing the positive impact and conducting a sand rehearsal in an attempt to find a suitable strategy for the next phase.

"Since the enemy has avoided fighting us, it means that there are two problems, either they are afraid to fight because of their lack of strength, or they are not close enough to fight our army, and they have to wait for time, so that the direction of their next move is obvious." Ozawa's finger went directly to Sal Island from the position of the fleet, "Order to break the fleet, march at the highest speed, and strive to launch an artillery bombardment of Sal Island early tomorrow morning!" ”

"Shelling?!" Frank paused for a moment, and subconsciously asked, "Is the aircraft carrier going forward too?" ”

"A 200-kilometer assault forward is enough, and then tonight we will rely on the Night Stalkers to carry out a search and try to find the enemy as soon as possible! We could even consider launching a night raid! Ozawa sighed, "It's a pity that the reinforcements of the Marine Corps are not around, and most of the battleships are wounded, otherwise it will be very uncomfortable for the enemy to directly attack Sal Island with artillery fleets!" ”

"What's the worst chance of such a fight?"

"Tomorrow morning, the battleship force will be attacked by American carrier-based aircraft, but this attack can only come from the escort aircraft carrier force, and they cannot carry heavy bombs, so they can only damage the battleship but cannot destroy it, and their ability to hit the battleship means that our troops can attack them as well...... So! ”

It dawned on Machar that Ozawa's intention was to use the thick-skinned battleships as bait, and if he could spot the enemy fleet first, he would attack first, and if not, he could use the artillery force to lure it out and annihilate it -- if he thought about it carefully, it felt very similar to Horikichi's tactics in the South Pacific naval battle, which was nothing more than replacing the Yamato with the Richelieu. And this bait has to be eaten by the US military -- otherwise the US troops on the island will be suppressed first!

As the minutes ticked by, the battleship forces were advancing at high speed, and the terrified night owl troops of the American army were dispatched again - this time their goal was not to attack, but to search the 120-degree fan with a radius of 500 kilometers to the west and south of Sal Island, and find the American fleet in hiding!

The Americans were still anxiously waiting for the dawn to come, not knowing that the Germans had taken full advantage of the night. In the early hours of the morning, the night owl team arrived at the key sea area and used high-power radar to search, relying on a search range of 200 kilometers, 470 kilometers south of Sal Island, and finally found the warships on the periphery, and then more and more US warships came into the sight of radar soldiers, and the beating green dots fully demonstrated the scale and existence of Admiral Ingersoll's fleet.

"Sir, the radar has detected a German plane flying ......"

"Damn, you'll run into Germans after running so far." Turner cursed, "Probably their night fighting troops, be careful fleet!" ”

After finding out what they wanted, in order to avoid startling the snake, the German heavy bombers quietly flew away, and the American fleet saw that the enemy did not attack as before, so they were glad that they were not discovered, and Ingersoll and Turner also relaxed their vigilance, still thinking about how to cooperate with Cunningham tomorrow to gather and annihilate the German army......

At 1 o'clock in the morning, Machar got the exact news that part of the US fleet was distributed in the sea area 500 kilometers south of Sal Island, and he laughed: "Very good, I didn't expect you to hide here, why didn't you send fighter jets to the island to protect it during the day?" ”

"Sir, give the order." Koch was a little impatient.

Since the German aircraft carrier formation was divided into two places, the following dispatch was a little troublesome, but Ozawa was obviously confident, "The fleet is moving forward at full speed, and the Dunkirk will release all the combat aircraft to form the first attack wave half an hour later, and the Zeppelin and Harrier will fly the corresponding attack aircraft group, and some fighters will go out to cover, and then go to the Dunkirk for secondary fuel replenishment and form the second and third attack waves, and all the ship's spare planes will be activated!" Night bombers continue to monitor critical sea areas! ”

"Yes!"

At 2:15 a.m., the first German attack wave was formed and began to pounce to the south, while their opponent, the U.S. Navy, had just prepared all the preparations for the departure of the fighters......

At 3:18, the German second attack wave arrived at Dunkirk for a second replenishment, the advantage of the beveled deck suddenly brought into play, because all the combat aircraft have been emptied, now the deck is empty, two runways can play a role at the same time, one landed, one quickly released, the Germans used 45 minutes of time, formed a second wave of attack group, and at the same time Dunkirk completed all the aircraft accommodation.

Dunkirk was bold at night, with the lights on and the lights were brilliant, a risky gambling spirit that the German Navy had never had......