The main force of the bombardment fleet was taken by Vice Admiral Pei, and in the early morning there were only a few warships that shelled the island of Sal, but among them were the powerful battleship Richelieu and the heavy cruiser Colbert, which also belonged to the French Navy, and also included four frigates of the Utopian class, these 3,100-ton destroyers were designed to have a speed of 37 knots, but in the actual sea trials, they could run an ultra-high speed of 40-42, which was almost equivalent to the torpedo boats of other countries. In addition www.biquge.info to its extremely fast speed, this class of ships is equipped with extremely strong armament (5 138mm main guns) and has a low silhouette, which can undoubtedly be ranked among the strongest destroyers in the world. Admiral Winnecke was one of the few gunnery experts in the German Navy and was very knowledgeable in artillery support.

What makes people even more reverie is that these warships are all part of the German-French naval deal, and they can be regarded as the French fleet as long as the flag is changed. In fact, the German Navy was also prepared in this way, in order to reduce the hostility of the French, all warships that originally belonged to France were not renamed, and even specially equipped with French flags, all of which were flown when entering the territory controlled by the French authorities and overseas ports, and even the orchestra was able to skillfully play the "Marseillaise", and Admiral Darlan even boarded the warship in style to "inspect" the French fleet, which was not currently part of the Paris authorities.

In order to rebuild the French navy, Petain and Darlan made frequent moves during this period, on the one hand, they contacted Germany about the construction of Axis-class aircraft carriers, and on the other hand, they did not hesitate to put down their positions and use some artillery and tank technology to exchange naval information from Japan, and each took what he needed. A batch of French tanks that were sold to Japan by Germany also collected as many spare parts as possible from the French mainland and sold them to the Japanese.

Hoffmann took a blind eye to the Petain government's moves, the level of communication between France and Japan could not be very high, and France's posture of rebuilding the fleet was conducive to suppressing the Italians, who were currently dominant in the Mediterranean, and the German side was naturally happy to see it, and not only France, but also Spain was trying to expand its navy, and also hoped to get a piece of the Mediterranean in the future.

On the one hand, according to Ozawa's arrangement, 36 anti-aircraft fighters were deployed on the artillery detachment to resist, and on the other hand, he was also ready to carry the air attack completely hard, and the 128mm electric turret deployed on the deck of the second half of the Richelieu quickly sprayed an anti-aircraft barrage, hoping to break up the US attack formation as soon as possible.

"Very good...... Let them fight! Colonel Sedelitz, who was sitting on the Dunkirk, nearly 300 kilometers northeast of the Richelieu, smiled, "The enemy is starting to take the bait, let the reconnaissance planes follow the enemy planes back, find their exact location as soon as possible, and then replenish the fleet and prepare to launch a second round of air strikes." ”

"The enemy fleet has air defense fighters?" Hearing the report from the front, Spruance muttered and gave a judgment, "This means that the enemy has an aircraft carrier within the range?" ”

"Let the attacking force split 12 planes to search, and be sure to find the enemy's position." Cunningham quickly made up his mind that "if the plane can't return, let the pilot parachute to Saal Island and have the U.S. ground forces rescue ......"

The 3rd and 5th Divisions of the Army were unlucky, first suffered a fierce air attack by the Germans on the afternoon of the 8th, and then were continuously shelled by German warships in the early morning of the 9th.

"Where is the Navy? Where are the planes? Are we abandoned by the United States? We have been dismissed from our posts, but we are not sinners, we are still fighting bloody battles with the Germans, and even if we are guilty, what is the guilt of the officers and men of the two divisions who landed on the island, and they need to be treated as such......" The telegram of just a few words struck Marshall like a hammer on his heart, and he immediately stood up and reproached Admiral King, saying that the attitude of the Navy and the measures taken were "extremely inappropriate!" ”

However, the latter was shocked by the news of the annihilation of the 11 escort aircraft carriers, and unceremoniously ridiculed each other: "The navy has dispatched 8 battleships, more than 20 escort aircraft carriers, and 800 aircraft to cover the army's attack on Saar Island, and now we have lost half of our battleships, all the escort aircraft carriers and aircraft, and even used up most of the ship's artillery shells. ”

Marshall wanted to say more, but when he found that none of his army colleagues around him had come forward to support him, and even his usual henchman Eisenhower was huddled in the corner and remained silent, so he was stunned and did not speak.

Li Hai, chief of staff of the president, said with a gloomy face, and said bitterly: "The battle of Cape Verde has entered a critical period, and who should bear the responsibility for the battle will naturally be determined afterwards. What would he think if he saw you like this? There is also the question of Congress, no one can escape it, and you must all brace yourself and do your best to strive for a decent result. ”

At this point in the battle, the situation is already obvious, with the army on Cape Verde, it is basically impossible to take the island again - the German defenders have not surrendered without supplies at home, without reinforcements from outside, and they are crumbling, and it is certainly unrealistic to expect them to give up now, and today the German army is shelling and bombing, which has brought urgent support to the defenders, and the island of Sal is by no means a short period of time. The only solution to the problem was to hope for the victory of the Cunningham fleet, not just a victory, but a great victory - to inflict heavy damage or repel the German fleet, but how easy was that said?

"The latest battle report, carrier-based aircraft attacked the enemy's artillery troops, the battleship Richelieu, and a heavy cruiser were heavily damaged, forcing it to rush to the beach and run aground......" The mood of everyone in the conference room was just a little relieved, and the second telegram came 20 minutes later, this will be the battle report sent by the army, "What the the navy is fighting, there are 2 times more planes than others, and as a result, not only were more than 40 planes shot down, but the bombed ships only blew up half of the enemy ships, and now the warships rushing to the beach are firing at close range at us, and those 8-inch guns can't stop it at all!" People are dying all the time, this is not war, this is slaughter! We ask for a retreat! ”

This is almost a broken jar and broken attitude, everyone was speechless for a while, but it can't be wrong, after the stranded Colbell is not in danger of sinking, the close-range fire deterrence has increased greatly, and there are Link's troops on the front to provide artillery fire observation, which is simply where to fight!

"Sir, the enemy aircraft carrier has been found...... Spruance said excitedly, "the aircraft group sent a report that more than 300 kilometers northeast of Sal Island, one enemy aircraft carrier was found, and it seems to be the strange-shaped aircraft carrier that broke on the Anglo-Canadian route!" ”

"Why is there only 1?" Cunningham wondered, "Judging from the posture of their neat sweep of Turner's 11 escort carriers, at least the size of three aircraft carriers, and what about the other two?" ”

"I guess hiding in some dark corner is going to give us a fatal blow."

"It's going to be hard." Cunningham sighed, "Prepare 100 planes to attack this fleet, and the rest of the forces are ready to attack the other 2 aircraft carriers." ”

Spruance could only shake his head and say nothing, now that the Japanese fleet is scattered, it is much more difficult to fight, and the fleet is forced to mobilize troops in batches to attack, while leaving a backhand to attack the opponent's main force, he now hopes that he will gather the strength of 5 aircraft carriers and the opponent's 3 aircraft carriers to make a final decision, so the chance of victory will be much greater, but it's a pity......

"Sir, the reconnaissance plane has discovered the US fleet, they are more than 400 kilometers west-northwest of Cape Verde, nearly 650 kilometers away from the Dunkirk, the distance between the two sides is still close, but the Dunkirk has also been discovered by the enemy......

Ozawa nodded: "It will take at least 2 hours from the time they complete their combat preparations to launch the assault, let the Dunkirk move in the direction of the flagship and lengthen the enemy's attack distance!" This time was enough for us to use! ”

A dazzling array of instructions followed:

1. The Dakar land-based fighters and the artillery fleet cover aircraft will be rotated as soon as possible;

2. The bombardment fleet direct cover aircraft went to Dunkirk to land and complete the replenishment, and coordinated with the ship's direct cover aircraft for defense;

3. The Zeppelin and Harrier attack groups took off at full speed, went to Dunkirk at maximum speed for refueling and replenishment, and formed an attack wave with some attack aircraft on Dunkirk......

According to Ozawa's control requirements, all actions must be completed within 90 minutes, and there must be no mistakes in the steps - if they do, not only will the deck of the aircraft carrier be blocked, but the attack group and the cover group will be in full combat.

Machar couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "It's just a broken aircraft carrier, and under Commander Ozawa, it can play so many tricks!" ”

Ozawa sighed helplessly: "Who wants to play tricks? And not because of the small number of aircraft carriers? If the main force of the Combined Fleet is here now, the Axis Navy doesn't need to make any effort at all, just gather a wave and rush over, not to mention those aircraft carriers, even the battleships that ran away last night I can kill them......"

As the minutes ticked by, the Dunkirk began to run at full speed in an orderly manner like a winding alarm clock, and the moment of decisive battle finally began.

At the same time, the five aircraft carriers in the Cunningham fleet are also rapidly releasing attack aircraft groups, and in order to ensure a smooth strike, Spruance took out a powerful combination of 34 F6F, 39 SBDs and 26 TBFs, leaving aside the fleet air defense fighters and more than 50 returning aircraft, and there are nearly 100 aircraft left behind......