Chapter 1053: Morning Glory Tactics
Ozawa Jizaburo's heart was as uncomfortable as if it was being fried on an iron plate, the Yamato was the largest battleship in the empire, known as the "world's first battleship", "the savior of the island empire", and it was also the spiritual totem of the island navy, if it sank in his hands, even if he achieved the victory in front of him, he would become a sinner of the imperial navy, so no words could describe his anxious mood at this time. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info
Fortunately, this torment did not last long, ten minutes later, the carrier-based aircraft of the second assault fleet finally entered the airspace of the fleet, and launched a desperate fight with the Mi army fighters, although the Mi army Hellcat fighters are strong, but the number of locust fighters is multiple of them, at the same time, the hellcat also tossed over the locusts fleet for nearly half an hour, and the time in the air has reached the limit, so there is almost no entanglement with the locust army, covering the bombers to quickly withdraw from the fleet above the fleet.
Taking advantage of the situation, the locust aviation took advantage of the situation to pursue and shot down several Hellcat fighters and more than a dozen B-24 and B-25 bombers, achieving a tactical victory.
However, the Mi army's tossing and turning swept the locust army's attack formation to pieces, the locust army's offensive momentum was blocked, and the idea of a handful of achievements was completely broken by the Mi army, so the locust army suffered a strategic defeat again.
The battleship "Yamato" was not sunk by the US army's bombs after all, and although the bombers of the Chinese army carried a large number of heavy bombs, they threw them at high altitudes, and it was not a simple matter to hit the targets in motion; in addition, the concentrated strafing of the anti-aircraft fire of the locust warships made the air force even more inaccurate in the midst of the panic, and most of the bombs fell into the sea.
In addition to the damage to the Yamato, one destroyer was sunk, two cruisers were slightly damaged, other small ships, transport ships were sunk and damaged, about a dozen were damaged, and of course, the aircraft carrier Taiho was also slightly damaged, for such a large battle, this loss is almost negligible.
Due to the serious damage to the superstructure, the Yamato could no longer carry out its mission, so it had to withdraw from its combat position and retreat to the rear, and return to the base with the transport and supply ship to repair.
Jizaburo Ozawa probably never dreamed that it was precisely because of the damage and withdrawal of the Yamato ship at this time that he was able to survive and escape the fate of sinking to the bottom of the sea.
The commander-in-chief of this campaign, General Yamamoto 56, sent an urgent telegram, ordering Ozawa Jizaburo to immediately adjust his forces and re-attack, and to be sure to defeat the main force of the Third Fleet of the Mi Army before dark, and at the same time, the air force will also join the battle this time, striving not to give the Mi Army any respite, and to remove an important obstacle for the capture of Midway Island tomorrow.
After receiving the order, Ozawa immediately lined up his troops and prepared to attack again. At this time, it was already more than 6 o'clock in the afternoon, less than an hour before dark, and it was very difficult to hit a target more than 10 miles away at night; moreover, whether it was a fighter or a reconnaissance plane, it was also a very dangerous thing to take off and land on an aircraft carrier at night, and in order to accomplish the task assigned by General Yamamoto's 56 Congress, the only way to complete the task assigned by General Yamamoto was to seize these dozens of minutes, go to the front line at full speed, and quickly end the battle.
However, the Mi army seemed to have seen through their intentions, and just as the warships reopened their attack formations and pursued them with all their might, the fighters and bombers of the Mi army once again entered the airspace of the island fleet, and several fighters and reconnaissance planes at the outpost were caught up by the Mi fighters and shot down one by one before they could react.
Fortunately, Ozawa learned the lesson of the defeat just now, and the fighters on the aircraft carrier had already been in full position, and after learning that the enemy planes were coming, they immediately took off and met the Mi army aircraft group and fought hard to intercept it.
A large number of torpedo planes and bombers rushed into the airspace of the Mi fleet, and after a wanton and indiscriminate bombardment, they spread their wings and returned home.
But it took nearly half an hour to go back and forth, and when the locust army regrouped again, the Mi army took this opportunity to flee forward for more than ten nautical miles, and the locust army pursued all the way until it was completely dark.
Helpless, Ozawa had no choice but to reply to Admiral Yamamoto 56 in shame, but fortunately, Yamamoto 56 did not accuse him excessively, and only ordered him to bite the Third Fleet of the Mi Army, expand the search range, and strictly prevent the Mi Army from sneaking up at night.
At midnight, the Mi Army's "Hornet" aircraft carrier war room.
The tense busyness of the afternoon has returned to calm, and the staff officers and generals shuttled through it to perform their duties, their expressions relaxed and orderly.
Jiang Haoran and Nimitz sat at a small round table with an ashtray full of cigarette butts, an iron lighter, a shriveled cigarette case and two cups of unfinished coffee, and it seemed that they had been sitting like this for a long time.
At this moment, they were advancing in the direction of Midway Island at a speed of 20 knots, and they were already less than 700 nautical miles away from Midway, and the island army was chasing after them at a distance of less than 50 nautical miles.
The price paid by the Third Fleet was not very large, with 54 Hellcat fighters crashed, 36 bombers crashed, two destroyers and cruisers sunk, and nearly 20 other submarines, frigates, and other transport ships of various types.
If it weren't for the sinking of the battleship "Iowa", this damage would have been less than 30% of what Jiang Haoran expected.
And all this has nothing to do with the supreme military commander Nimitz, all of them are the credit of Jiang Haoran, a senior staff officer, the only decision Nimitz made was a wrong decision, he threw the "Iowa" under the enemy's naval guns, and almost caused an irreparable disaster, the critical moment is still Jiang Haoran trying to turn the tide, and his incompetence is becoming more and more apparent, which makes him, a veteran who has been galloping on the battlefield for decades, really embarrassed.
"Jiang, can I ask you a question?" Nimitz finally broke the silence, reached forward and pressed the cigarette butt in his hand into the ashtray, looked at Jiang Haoran and said seriously.
Jiang Haoran waved his hand very chic and made a "please" gesture, and said with a smile: "You're welcome, but everything I know, I know everything and say everything." ”