"Boom!"

"Ah...... Ah......h

"Well played! Well played! ”

"At least the sound of Nagato-class firing!"

"Just hit it like that!"

At dawn on September 5th, the remnants of the Japanese soldiers who were alive in the caves of Tarawa ignored the deafening sound of artillery, did not worry about their situation at all, and cheered like a group of demons dancing wildly - I don't know whether it was hysterical venting or the wanton madness after eating human flesh, in short, their eyes were now blood-red, and they looked extremely frightened. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Horikiyoshi, who was in charge of the Musashi, coldly looked at Tarawa, which was shrouded in a metal storm, and then at the North Carolina, which stood alone in the distance, with the superstructure blown into ruins, and asked, "Have all the reconnaissance planes been dispatched?" ”

"All 36 water scouts were dispatched, and the guerrilla fleet reconnoitred separately without interfering with each other."

"Good!" He nodded with satisfaction, "Now we clearly tell the Americans the location to see if Nimitz will come to bomb ......."

Tsukahara's main mobile fleet was 300 kilometers southeast of Tarawa, and some of the Zero Combat Reformers with auxiliary fuel tanks had taken off first -- they would be used to cover the artillery fleet, and the second group of fleet direct cover planes had taken off, and his mood was very calm, and he did not have the slightest tension before the big war.

Everyone on the bridge of the Essex was busy, and the communications staff hurriedly sent a telegram to Halsey: "Sir, the enemy forces are attacking Tarawa. ”

"Did the reconnaissance plane find out?"

"It's been dispatched, but the enemy hasn't been reported yet."

"Are there any reports of air strikes by enemy aircraft in Tarawa?"

The other party shook his head: "Not for the time being!" ”

Halsey was disappointed and lost in thought.

"Do you want to send out the carrier-based aircraft of Fleet A to attack? They are only more than 200 kilometers away from the enemy and have not yet been detected by the enemy. ”

"Nope! Wait, let Fleet A be ready to attack, but don't move yet, our target is enemy aircraft carriers. ”

Halsey gave the order and turned his gaze to Nimitz, who nodded his head in agreement.

But fifteen minutes later, the communications staff officer delivered a telegram of 100,000 urgent: "The defenders report that thousands of guns of more than 5 inches of caliber have opened fire on them, and they cannot parry them, and they have suffered heavy losses......

There was a sudden silence on the bridge, and everyone dared not imagine the scene.

Thousands of guns must be an exaggeration, because some of the ships still have to escort the mobile fleet, the actual Japanese artillery shelling is only more than 300, but because of the battleship's main guns of more than 15 inches in the middle, plus the situation of 4 heavy cruisers' 203mm naval guns firing at full power, the entire Tarawa fell into a sea of fire.

As for Nimitz's expectation that the Japanese aircraft attack would be even more nowhere to be seen—the Japanese were not Americans, and Tsukahara would not have used valuable carrier-based aircraft to support the landing force, and there was artillery fire and heavy bombers on Tuvalu to deal with the Americans.

As the minutes ticked by, everyone on the bridge of the Essex looked helpless.

The torment in their hearts can be imagined, the Japanese army in Tarawa has sufficient and complete underground fortifications, but the American army has nothing now, some time ago the main energy was used to repair the airport, even if the focus turned to the construction of fortifications in the past two days, there are only urgently excavated foxholes and trenches, at most there are some Japanese bunkers that have not been completely destroyed to use, and even some people hide on the abandoned North Carolina, but even so, it cannot accommodate a complete Marine Corps strength.

Only by putting oneself in a different position can one realize how difficult it was for the Japanese army to survive and defend under the fire of the US army.

It was only 6:25 a.m. in the summer, and the sky was already clear, and the situation was a little bad for the Pacific Fleet:

At 6:55 a.m., the first bad news came, the Marine Corps had lost nearly 20% of its strength in the artillery attack, and they reported that the Japanese transport ships and landing ships were moving forward, and there seemed to be a landing attempt;

At 7:18, the second bad news came, the position of the A fleet was discovered by the Japanese water reconnaissance plane, although the air defense fighters tried their best, but the distressed US military found that the AR-372 water reconnaissance aircraft actually ran fast, the F4F fighter chased for 15 minutes at the fastest speed, and still did not reach the distance that could be engaged, and the Japanese telegram had been sent in detail.

"Sir, reconnaissance aircraft No. 3 reported the discovery of an enemy fleet, 6 aircraft carriers, suspected light aircraft carriers, and some light warships, located 230 kilometers east of Tarawa."

Tsukahara smiled slightly: "The enemy is out, let's attack!" ”

"Get ready to attack!" Mitsuo Fuchida immediately carried out the order.

Kusaka Ryunosuke was very happy at first, but after a while, he suddenly came back to his senses: "Sir, isn't this right, the enemy only has light aircraft carriers, and there are no regular air carriers?" ”

"The enemy's fox tail is exposed, they must still have a force with a regular air carrier, but leave it alone, the carrier-based aircraft will take off normally, and if it is found, it is okay to change the offensive route halfway." Tsukahara smiled, "How can there be a reason for a light empty mother to send it to the door and not eat?" No matter how small the mosquito leg is, it is still meat. ”

A bunch of staff officers couldn't help but snicker, in the eyes of the commander, the 6 light air carriers are just mosquito legs?

From this relative position, the mobile fleet was about 400 kilometers away from Fleet A, and 750 kilometers away from Nimitz's Fleet B, and it was impossible to detect the opposing side, and even exceeded the offensive distance.

At 7:23 a.m., the third piece of bad news poured into the Essex, the Japanese bombed the island, but not carrier-based aircraft, all land-based 4-engine bombers, as for the model number everyone knew - mainly B-17 and B-24.

Halsey took a deep breath: "Sir, Fleet A may be forced to attack, and the enemy is estimated to have dispatched carrier-based aircraft to deal with them......"

"Then let's attack......" Nimitz sighed, almost wanting to cry with his head in his arms, and had arranged a line-of-sight attack - Fleet A attacked the Japanese fleet on the beachhead first and then fled, allowing the Japanese carrier-based aircraft to pounce into the air; At the same time, take advantage of the landing and reconnaissance horizons of the airfield on Tarawa Island to spot the Japanese fleet, and then ambush the B fleet to prepare for a pot. The whole routine and the tactics used in the Battle of Midway were almost inseparable, and the Japanese were exposed earlier than Midway, but unfortunately these arrangements were completely destroyed due to the incompetence of their own pilots -- the A Fleet that went out before the adventure could not escape the fate of being discovered.

"6 light aircraft carriers, the cost is not small." Horikichi smiled after receiving the telegram, "I believe Tsukahara-kun can deal with it, this is a pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres, and there is a big meal waiting for us." ”

Only then did he realize that Nimitz's capital was even stronger: not counting the unusable planes on the Tarawa, Nimitz's A fleet had 178 planes, and the B fleet had 213 planes, adding up to nearly 400 planes, while the entire combined fleet could actually use only 259 carrier-based aircraft, and Tuvalu had captured less than 30 new planes, which was actually less than the number of US troops.

Not to mention that the carrier-based pilots of the mobile fleet are all experienced in a hundred battles, and even the land-based pilots of the Japanese army in Tuvalu, who are the latest additions, are much more experienced than the rookies of the US carrier-based aircraft.

At this time, Minoru Genda and Ryunosuke Kusaka finally realized the correctness of attacking Tuvalu: if they did not fight, their own side would have 30 less available planes, but the US military would have more than 100 more planes, and the situation would be completely reversed after coming and going.

An even greater benefit of Tuvalu was the seizure of more than 20,000 tonnes of valuable high-octane jet gasoline. This is just a drizzle for the US military, but for the mobile fleet is a real relief in the snow, when fighting in Europe and Panama, the combined fleet used the highest grade C3 fuel of the German HNA brand, used too high-grade fuel, they no longer want to use Japan's own inferior, even the German B4 level can not reach the fuel oil, but the high-grade C3 fuel in Australia and New Zealand after a toss only a small half, with the US military of more than 20,000 tons of aviation fuel as the base, the mobile fleet immediately resurrected with full blood.

No wonder Horikichi wanted to give courtesy to the surrendered American troops: medical treatment was arranged, decent meals were arranged, and the captured officers were even given separate cabins - Major Mike really did a great job for the Combined Fleet!

The US military also has bitter words, how can they know that in their eyes 20,000 tons of fuel oil, which does not matter at all, is worth a Mutsu in the eyes of the senior officers of the Combined Fleet -- of course, this is the idea of the naval aviation faction, and if the fleet faction is changed, it must be scolded.

"Quick! Fast! …… Sortie! ”

Compared with the chaotic situation on the US Fleet A, the take-off process of the mobile fleet is full of rhythmic beauty: The Zuihe catapult will carry torpedoes, the heaviest Tianshan Mountain, into the sky one after another, and on the Xianghe next to it, the comets carrying aerial bombs will take off one after another.

At the same time, the Zero Combat Reformer, which was on a cover mission, had taken off synchronously from the deck of the light aircraft carrier Bolzano.

Twenty-five minutes after receiving the order to attack, 28 Tianshan and 34 Comets rushed to the northeast under the cover of 32 Zero Combat Formations, except for the 54 Zero Combat Formations covering the artillery formation at the Tarawa beachhead, Tsukahara only kept 32 Zero Combat Aircraft and nearly 20 other Tianshan and Comet Aircraft for himself -- this was because the German planes were relatively strong and the number was sufficient, and the Japanese army also learned to carry planes on the deck, otherwise according to the original routine, The hangars of two large and three small aircraft carriers simply cannot accommodate 259 carrier-based aircraft.

Minoru Genda didn't understand Tsukahara's practice of not sending all the planes, and asked Kusaka Ryunosuke softly why: "Didn't the commander emphasize the full-deck attack before?" ”。

"Six light air carriers don't need so many planes to deal with, and in case the enemy's main force is discovered in the middle of the report, this wave of planes can play a greater role with the guerrilla fleet -- Tsunoda-kun's planes are too few."

Minoru Genda immediately nodded approvingly. (To be continued.) )