At a quarter past 7 o'clock, the American group of planes that had dropped the bombs was preparing to leave, but the shock wave prepared by Tsukahara arrived. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the continuous exchange just now, the two sides played a 71:14 exchange ratio, and the remaining Axis fighters had surpassed the US planes in number, and after the fighter reinforcements sent by Tsukahara poured into the scene, the Axis Army, which was reinforced by 34 fighter new forces, suddenly gained great momentum, and became the last straw that overwhelmed the balance.

But what frightened everyone was that there were more than 50 Japanese fighters tracking all the way unrelentingly, and even it was useless for the US military to disperse the formation, except for the B-25, every time the other planes dispersed, an Axis fighter followed and killed, until it flew out more than 200 kilometers, and there were 34 fighters in desperate pursuit.

These were all Tsukahara's winners, who took off with enough fuel and ammunition to pursue them for an hour if they wished. If the F4U and P-47 are bent on escaping the Axis pilots, they can't do anything, and even wish they could escape, so that the remaining attack planes will be all destroyed.

The fleeing US military found that it was even more troublesome, because the bombing of the beachhead just now was not effective, most of the planes used machine gun fire to strafe the ground, the same is true of the fighters, and even the SBD and TBF are the same, the US pilots just fought too happily, and used up most of the ammunition at once, plus they continued to fire in order to stop the enemy fighters during the pursuit, so far most of the planes have run out of ammunition, and almost all the US fighters have become lambs to the slaughter.

For the B-25, Japanese fighter pilots are generally not interested, but German pilots are different, many of them have experience in the air defense of the Western Front, and know what way to deal with this kind of aircraft, and the few SBD, TBF and A-20 that escaped by luck have become the target of desperate pursuit by Japanese pilots, and the P-47 and F4U are not strong enough even if they want to return to fight, and after the ammunition runs out, they don't want to shoot down enemy planes except for ramming. But ramming is also a technical job, especially the heavy P-47 to hit the light and agile BF-219, and in the end, only one P-47 successfully died with the enemy aircraft.

Axis fighters are like hyenas dealing with lions, each biting an enemy plane to fight, constantly bleeding the US military, the route from the landing site to Nicaragua is full of A-20, TBF and SBD that are constantly shot down, those F4U and P-47 pilots who have been frightened have seen such a tragic chase scene, and finally can only use their absolute speed to exceed the advantage of the BF-219 to escape, as for the rest of the comrades, everyone ask for more blessings.

When Admiral Cohen retracted the entire fleet, he found that his hands were shaking. Like yesterday, the TBF formation became a high-risk industry, and the whole army was wiped out again, the A-20 formation only flew back 2, one of which was full of wounds, and there was no need to fly anymore, the ground crew immediately sent them to the garbage dump, and the SBD formation only flew back 4, one of which was the landline of the commander Pester, who was hit by a 13mm bullet in the arm and abdomen, and was dying, and only had time to say a word to Cohen after landing: "Our army has severely damaged the Mutsu and the landing force ......" and died.

Most of the B-25s returned safely, but most of the crew members were depressed: they knew that their successful return was not because of their strong level, but because the enemy did not bother to fight them, and the surviving F4U and P-47s were trembling and frightened, and many of them did not even have the strength to climb out of the cockpit, and were supported by the ground crew. Cohen thought to himself: In this case, all the people who can survive are elites, even if they have seen the wind and rain, they can compete with the elite of the Japanese and German battles, but unfortunately the number is too small, there are only 2 fighter pilots who can come back alive after two consecutive days of sorties, and only 1 SBD can come back alive - it is the one where Pfister is, but unfortunately the pilot is still alive, but the commander is dead.

There were 124 planes during the attack, only 31 planes when they returned, and a full 93 planes were lost, with a loss of 75 percent, and the loss of the Axis was a total of 17 planes, but in the mouths of the surviving American officers and men, perhaps because of cover-up or nervousness, the number of enemy aircraft losses became more than 40 or 50.

Cohen thinks that the figure of more than 40 is basically credible - he has lost nearly 100 planes, and he can't replace the enemy with 40?

"Sir, we have won the counter-air raid." The planes that initially covered the landing site landed on the aircraft carrier one after another to replenish the fuel bombs, and the chief of staff of the mobile fleet, Ryunosuke Kusaka, excitedly reported, "The pilots reported that they shot down more than 80 US fighters, and with the shock wave you prepared, I estimate that at least more than 100 enemy planes can be shot down." ”

"Far from ......" Tsukahara 243 glanced at the wall clock of the command tower, it was only half past eight o'clock, and if the Americans wanted, they could launch 2 or even 3 strikes today.

"This ......" Kusaka Ryuyuki ran out of prepositions, and thought for a long time before he could find a reason, "They have suffered such a big loss, do the remaining pilots still have the courage to attack?" ”

"Don't underestimate the determination of the Americans, who are constantly increasing their forces to kill us with their forces in order to deal with us -- isn't that what they like to do the most?"

Tsukahara was right in guessing that the US military planes that took off from Florida in the early morning had arrived in Nicaragua one after another, and the strength of the base had recovered to more than 100, and it was expected that more planes would arrive one after another, but all the pilots and ground crews were all blue -- fighting here, the lives of pilots were not counted in years or months, but in hours and times, and the first thing all military personnel who arrived in Nicaragua did before setting off was to be asked to leave a suicide note.

When the battle report was transmitted back to Washington, there was silence in the command headquarters, 50 planes were lost yesterday, and 93 planes were lost this morning, and everyone's hearts were heavy, but when Admiral Kim heard that the Mutsu and beachhead landing forces had been heavily damaged and more than 40 enemy planes had been shot down, he stood up, gritted his teeth and said: "We must hold on to the end, we are very difficult, and the enemy has reached the end of the crossbow!" How many of these elite carrier-based aircraft pilots can they have? Even if you have an eye on the future of sea supremacy and the Azorean campaign, you must fight them out. ”

Everyone thought about it carefully and thought that although he said it was a little cruel, it was very reasonable: the Axis fleet lost more than 20 planes yesterday, more than 40 today, and nearly 70 planes, even if it can be replenished by nearly 20 reserve aircraft, at least 50 aircraft will be lost, and the total number of aircraft carriers of the enemy aircraft carrier will not exceed 300, and after deducting the attack group, there will be at most 50-60 fighters left, and then desperately pile up 1-2 times, the Axis warships basically have no fighters available, right?

"We have to grit our teeth and keep going. Admiral Ingersoll sent a telegram that his fleet was still 56 hours away from Panama and was currently moving at full speed, so ......" Admiral King issued an order with a cold expression, "The Nicaragua base is striving to launch a second round of air raids around noon, this time focusing on naval aviation, focusing on attacking the enemy fleet, be sure to damage some battleships, delay the enemy's retreat, and the primary target is the Mutsu...... In the afternoon, another attack was launched, and with the strength of the army and aviation, we tried to exhaust the enemy's combat strength before the Atlantic Fleet arrived on the battlefield. If it doesn't work, come back three times tomorrow! ”

Hearing this decision, Marshall could only smile bitterly: Yesterday, the air force of the seven states in the southern part of the East Coast was basically exhausted early this morning; In the afternoon, the troops that can be used are drawn from the 13 states in the northeast of the East Coast, and the posture must be exhausted; Then, tomorrow it will be the turn of the 16 central states, and the day after tomorrow it will be the turn of the 12 states on the west coast -- and Admiral Kim will probably try to pull down all the combat-capable troops of the army and aviation.

Henry Harry Arnold, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander-in-chief of the Army Aviation, was silent, his mind was now blank, and there was only one scene that was replayed repeatedly: moths lining up to rush to the flames...... In the past, he thought that this meeting was a description of the Eighth Air Force, which carried out strategic bombing missions in Britain and suffered heavy losses, but now he realized that he was very wrong, this meeting was in Nicaragua! It's in Panama!

Roosevelt also gritted his teeth and jumped wildly, he hated why he didn't build more bases overseas, why didn't he make the Nicaragua base a little bigger, why didn't he expand the Guantanamo base in Cuba into a standard air base, so that now it has become a standard refueling tactic, and he can only use a maximum of 150 planes to pounce on it at a time, and if 1,500 planes pounce at the same time, the Germans or the Japanese can still be so rampant?

Of course, this can only be imagined, the United States had a total of hundreds of thousands of troops before the war, and being able to station tens of thousands of troops in Panama is already a very important measure. Don't want to balance your finances? After the war began, the focus was on Great Britain and Australia, and who would want to build and build armaments in South America, the backyard of the United States?

However, he never relented when it was time to make a decision: "I am determined to carry out Admiral Kim's advice, do you have any objections?" ”

Everyone shook their heads: nearly 400 planes had been thrown in (the cumulative losses of Nicaragua, Panama, and Puerto Rico), and the Panama Canal seemed to be unsaved. Just like stud, although the card is ugly, there is still a chance to live, and if you give up, the previous bet will be taken by the winner.

Rear Admiral Cohen soon received the order, he frowned and read the telegram, and finally announced without hesitation: "Combat preparations will be completed before half past 10 o'clock, with the strength of the naval aviation as the mainstay, and the TBF will hang torpedoes, and we will go to the anti-ship ...... this time" (to be continued. )