"The Japanese Combined Fleet has a new commander? When did this happen? U.S. Admiral Chester William Nimitz looked at the intelligence and asked, "Is the source reliable?" ”

Soon after, the Japanese cabinet underwent a dramatic change, the former prime minister Hideki Tojo stepped down, and the former commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto, was promoted to Minister of the Navy, and then this person took Yamamoto's place. The Russian ambassador to Japan sent a secret telegram and shared it with our country, describing the recent political dynamics in Japan. ”

"No wonder Japan proposed peace talks not long ago." Nimitz suddenly realized, lowered his head and continued to look at the information, "The new commander is called Hori-T-Yoshi, why is this name so strange?" Do you have any information about him? ”

"Yes, but it was ...... 8 years ago," Intelligence Staff Colonel White looked embarrassed.

"What?" Nimitz was furious, "What did the intelligence services do?" ”

"This ......," White said embarrassedly, "it's not that we don't pay attention to it, it's that this general's resume is a bit odd -- he retired from active duty and turned to business after losing the political struggle eight years ago, and we have limited manpower and budget, and the active service is too busy to keep an eye on every retired general, and then we interrupted our follow-up observation of him." ”

"What?" Nimitz's eyes widened, "You mean, this guy hasn't fought in 8 years?" ”

"Not only did he not fight for 8 years, but he also didn't return to the army for 8 years, so his follow-up materials and archives were not at all, and now some information has been turned out from the historical archives, and I only know that he and Admiral Yamamoto graduated at the same time. When he graduated, he was ranked higher than Yamamoto, and when the London Naval Treaty was signed, he was cautious that he could agree with us. I heard that I have a good personal relationship with Admiral Yamamoto......"

"The Japanese are really strange in their thinking......," Nimitz sighed, "the front line is still inextricably fought, and suddenly through the Russian ambassador to submit the opinion of wanting peace talks, the combined fleet is the world's third navy, hundreds of thousands of tons of warships are powerful, just because this guy has a close relationship with Yamamoto, he easily handed over such an important position to a general who has been retired for 8 years - to put it in our country without being impeached to death by the Congress?" ”

"Sir, isn't that good news for us?"

"Good news? Right! Nimitz laughed, "Good news indeed. I'm just expressing my strangeness about the behavior of the Japanese. Sometimes I want to cut open their heads and see what's inside. ”

"Sir, our listening units on the front line have also intercepted a large number of radio signals, which have been code-code-coded and discovered through code-breaking of the code-named WK......"

"Is it Guadalcanal?"

"Nope! Kuah Island has a separate code. We've always had it. According to the analysis, this WK is likely to be Port Moresby on the island of New Guinea, where our troops are currently on the offensive, and the deciphered telegram mentions a large number of troops to be invested in the counteroffensive there, and at the same time requires the Navy to provide reliable support to the Army. The time may be 3 days later...... Synthesis of current intelligence analysis. The only place where the Japanese continued to invest heavily and showed signs of a counteroffensive was there, where there were already two divisions of nearly 50,000 troops, and General Halsey was informed of this. ”

"Keep tracking and find their flaws."

"Yes, but ......," White said, slurring, "it might be a little difficult. ”

"How?" Nimitz asked displeased.

"Shortly after the code was deciphered, the Japanese suddenly changed the code entirely, and the radio density was several times higher than before, indicating that there was a big operation to follow. At the moment these ciphers have a German style, which we are not very familiar with and cannot decipher......"

"Damn it......" Nimitz slammed the table. This must have been the Germans who revealed the news to Japan. ”

Although the destruction of the super-secret is classified to the outside world, Nimitz is very clear at this level. Although the super-secret itself does not involve Japan, Japan may also be wary of Germany's experience, which is not good news for the United States, which is now clearly broken thanks to the decipherment of the Japanese code that made the Battle of Midway so remarkably successful.

"Can I ask for support from the German team?"

White shook his head and said helplessly: "The situation of the German team is worse than ours, half of their experts were killed in the German raid last month, and the German side cannot decipher the code at the moment - they originally expected us to help them, new cryptographic experts are already being identified and recruited, but the most optimistic estimate is that it will take at least half a year to see results." ”

Nimitz's face quickly darkened, and after a moment of silence, he said: "Send a telegram to General Halsey, and ask him to make the decision to determine the enemy's situation and draw up a battle strategy—this decision cannot be made by us in Washington. ”

"According to the deciphered telegrams and the results of aircraft reconnaissance, the Japanese army is preparing a large-scale attack." At the Australian Frontline Operations Research Conference, Vice Admiral Halsey, a grumpy and known as the "Brute Bull," said, "The time can basically be determined to be three days later, but the key location of the operation is still unclear, and there are now two speculations: First, the Japanese devils are going to attack Port Moresby; The second is to strengthen the army force on Guadalcanal and counterattack, which is not only logical but also in line with the enemy's current disposition, and I would like to hear your thoughts -- General Nimitz asked us to make our own decisions and strike hard at the Japanese fleet. ”

There was a lot of discussion on the scene, opinions from all sides, but the conclusion was obvious in a nutshell - agreeing with the commander's judgment and hoping to know more about the situation.

"More often than not, the way to code-breaking is broken, and we can only rely on our wisdom." Halsey walked to the battle map and said, "Moresby and Guadalcanal are separated by 1,500 kilometers, and it is impossible for the Japanese fleet to take care of both directions at the same time. But there is a key point here - whether it is to support the port of Moresby or to support Kuah Island, the main force of the Japanese fleet must pass through the northern part of the Solomon Sea, and I am determined to deploy the main force of our navy there to beat them severely. So, I think we should deploy here. ”

He smashed his fist into the southern part of the Solomon Sea, and followed his fist to the left and right flanks, about 800 kilometers away from both flanking islands. Considering that the main combat range of the aircraft carrier formation is 200-300 nautical miles, if it is deployed in the Solomon Sea in the middle of Moresby and Kuah Island according to Halsey's order, once the enemy situation is discovered, it can quickly make targeted adjustments and responses, and everyone agrees.

"Now, I order: the main aircraft carrier formation will depart tomorrow, maneuver in the southern part of the Solomon Sea and seek to fight against the main force of the Japanese navy."

At present, the main combat forces of the US military are the TF16 aircraft carrier group (the core ships are the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier and the battleship South Dakota), the TF17 aircraft carrier group (the core ship USS Hornet) and the TF64 battleship group (the battleship Washington), with a total of 169 carrier-based aircraft (72 SBD-3, 27 TBF-1, 70 F4F-4) on the two aircraft carriers, and most of the pilots are veterans who have experienced the Battle of Midway or the Coral Sea. Vice Admiral Fletcher, the former commander of the Battle of Midway aircraft carrier, returned home to recuperate from his wounds, and the fleet is currently commanded by Rear Admiral Thomas Kincaid.

At dawn on November 2, 1942, just one day before Halsey issued the battle order, the commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, Hori Yoshikichi, who was in charge of the Yamato, issued the "Combined Fleet Operational Telegram Order No. 341", ordering the fleets near Truk to set off for the south. According to the order, the artillery fleet and the mobile fleet took two routes, of which the route of the mobile fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Tsukahara 243 was almost straight south, with the aim of preparing for the annihilation of the US aircraft carrier fleet northwest of Kuah Island; Horiyoshi himself led the artillery fleet to the southeast, preparing to turn southeast after making a large circle from the northeast of Kuah Island, with the purpose of shelling the defenders of Kuah Island; Finally, (on the evening of the 2nd), Mikawa Gunichi led the 8th Fleet and some transport ships from Rabaul to prepare for the retreat of the Army's 17th Army, which was currently on Kuah Island.

On the morning of 3 November, the U.S. fleet had arrived in the waters of the Solomon Sea, about 500 kilometers southwest of Kuah Island, to patrol and prepare to meet the Japanese fleet that might appear at any time.

Sitting in the Yamato's solid and heavy command tower, Hori Yoshichi was preoccupied: this time he took out the main force of the combined fleet and pressed it, although he was very calm and calm in front of everyone, but this was completely disguised to encourage his subordinates, and he didn't know how the battle would develop.

When he parted ways with Yamamoto before leaving, he said in the face of the prospect of the future war situation: "If the war in the South Seas does not go well, we should quickly sue for peace, and at all costs." ”

Yamamoto didn't express much surprise at this, and after a moment of silence, he only asked, "What is the bottom line in your heart?" ”

"The British and American colonies in Nanyang were completely abandoned, and only sought to preserve their pre-war rights and interests in Nanyang; The Chinese side completely withdrew from China proper, seeking only to retain Manchu and Mongolia. ”

"It's a throwback to the state of 1933." Yamamoto laughed, "In this case, you need to defeat it, and it's not enough to lose a small defeat, but you have to lose a big one." ”

"A small victory or a small defeat is a lingering breath, and the problem cannot be solved, and there must be a big victory or defeat to have a way out." Horiyoshi said, "In this way, there is still a glimmer of hope to launch the Indian Ocean Raid after the big victory, otherwise it would be better to surrender sooner, and the people will suffer a little less." ”

Yamamoto nodded in agreement

"So." He clasped Yamamoto's hand tightly, "Wait for the news of my triumphant return or suicide." ”

"Take care!" (To be continued.) )