Chapter 1045: The First Air Battle

Looking down from the high altitude, it can be seen that this is a huge fleet consisting of more than 30 aircraft carriers, six battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, as well as dozens of other transport ships and troop carriers. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

At this time, on the aircraft carrier Daiho, the flagship of the Japanese First Assault Fleet, Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa, the commander of the fleet, stood on the bridge against the wind, and behind him were a group of staff generals, as well as a hunting sun flag.

After Nagumo Tadaichi's jade was shattered, Ozawa Jizaburo took over the responsibility of commander of the main fleet and became the vanguard officer of this campaign.

Although he, like Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, was a torpedo expert, Jizaburo Ozawa was known for his calmness and composure, and he was the premier aviation warfare expert in the island navy, and the essence of this battle was also an aviation battle beyond visual range.

The base camp's intention in planning the Midway operation was to further destroy the Mi fleet, so that the navy of the island nation could concentrate on consolidating its defense on the Pacific island chain, so as to ensure the stability of the entire Southeast Asian rear defense line, so that the army could sit back and relax and go all out to deal with the Burmese expeditionary force, and realize the strategic concept of the German-Japanese Indian division at an early date.

Because this was a decisive battle, and at the same time, they also learned of the important information that the US Navy was exercising at Midway Island, and all seven aircraft carriers of the United States were converging on the front line of Midway Island, which was an excellent opportunity to completely annihilate them, so tactically they did not play any tricks, concentrated all the naval forces that could be mobilized, and took the four aircraft carriers of the First Assault Fleet as the main attack, and the fleet composed of three aircraft carriers each of the Second Assault Fleet and the Third Assault Fleet, outflanked them from the left and right flanks, and made every effort to occupy Midway Island.

After the 1st Assault Fleet of Jizaburo Ozawa tore through the frontal defense line of the Mi Army, launched a large-scale air attack on Midway Island at the fastest speed, destroying the air power and ground protection of the Mi Army, more than 10,000 Locust Army infantry began to land on the island and fully occupy the Midway Atoll.

After completing the above-mentioned tactical actions, the aircraft carrier formation of the United States will inevitably counterattack with all its might, and at this time, the second assault fleet and the third assault fleet will outflank from the left and right flanks, and the three fleets will converge into one place, and the locust army will annihilate the remaining Pacific Fleet of the United States in one fell swoop with absolute superiority in combat effectiveness.

Although the preparation for this campaign was relatively hasty, in Ozawa's opinion, their plan itself was quite thorough, well-organized, and the timing was very well controlled.

Moreover, according to reliable information, compared with the powerful lineup of 10 fleet aircraft carriers, 15 battleships, 20 cruisers, and 46 destroyers that the Locust Army plans to put into a decisive battle, the US Navy has only 7 aircraft carriers, 6 battleships, 10 cruisers, and 20 destroyers. The warring sides are relatively close only in the number of large aircraft carriers, the number of aircraft available for mobilization, and the number of submarines. If nothing else, the locust army will have a huge advantage over the side.

While Ozawa Jizaburo was in a reverie, a staff officer of Nakasa hurriedly ran up to them and saluted and reported that the reconnaissance plane had just spotted the US aircraft carrier group at a distance of 250 nautical miles ahead, with about three aircraft carriers, two battleships, cruisers, and about 10 destroyers.

"Yo Xi!" Jizaburo Ozawa showed a wicked smile on his face, and immediately ordered the carrier-based planes to take off immediately and attack the aircraft carrier fleet of the United States with all their might, and all the ships advanced at full speed, ready to attack the enemy head-on.

In an instant, the terrible sirens sounded on the sea, the locusts on the ships began to enter a combat state, and the carrier-based planes on the aircraft carriers also flew off the deck one after another, forming a formation in the air and speeding westward.

Ozawa Jizaburo had no intention of giving the Mi army a chance to breathe, and this time he dispatched 56 bombers, 45 torpedo planes, 120 escort Zero fighters, and almost all the carrier-based planes on the four aircraft carriers to pounce on the Mi army aircraft carrier formation in three waves, intending to destroy their resistance in one fell swoop.

Because the air battle was 200 nautical miles away, it was beyond the visual range, and naturally it was impossible to intuitively perceive the air combat situation, so Ozawa Jizaburo hurriedly got off the bridge and entered the war room, although the distance had exceeded the contact distance of the intercom, but the airborne radio would still transmit the latest battle situation to the war room.

Although there was no smoke in the war room, Jizaburo Ozawa quickly felt the smell of gunpowder from the news that came back, and it was not the good news that the locust army was marching forward.

The first wave of attacking planes was intercepted by the Mi fighters 180 nautical miles away, and it was the F6F Hellcat, a new model of the Mi military in this exercise, that carried out the interception mission.

The locust army was at a disadvantage from the very beginning of the air battle, although the locust pilots occupied the advantage of military quality, but the Mi army obviously had a defense, the pilots had a clear division of labor, two or three planes to fight, and at the beginning of the war they had a tactical advantage, and the huge Hellcat was equipped with heavy armor in the two key positions of the aircraft fuel tank and the flight compartment, and the firepower was two 20 mm cannons and four 12.7 mm machine guns, compared to the four 7.7 mm machine guns of the locust army, their firepower was too powerful.

Based on these factors, coupled with the disadvantage in the number of fighters, the first wave of the offensive suffered heavy losses, and more than half of the forty Zero Battles were lost, but with the arrival of the second and third waves of fighters, the situation was not reversed by the Locust Army, the number of interceptor fighters of the Mi Army was too large, two to three percent higher than the Locust Army, plus they seemed to be completely familiar with the weaknesses of the Zero War, staring at the fuel tank and cockpit of the Zero War, and the Zero War without armor protection was shot down one by one, Although the locust pilots relied on their superb flying skills to fight with the Chinese army, they were still unable to tear through their defensive lines, and the purpose of covering torpedo planes and bombers to carry out strategic bombing could not be carried out.

Under these circumstances, Jizaburo Ozawa urgently stopped the attack, ordered them to return quickly, and at the same time ordered the naval forces to prepare for air defense, cover the landing of fighters, and be ready to strike at possible enemy bombers and torpedo planes at any time.

At the same time, Ozawa Jizaburo did not forget to report this emergency to Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku of the Third Assault Fleet in the rear, and asked the two fleets in the rear to quickly move closer to him in order to prepare for a large-scale air attack by the Mi Army.

Fortunately, what Ozawa Jizaburo feared did not happen, and the Mi Army Air Force decisively gave up the pursuit after entering the range of the naval guns, and all of them returned, and the carrier-based aircraft of the Locust Army also began to land on the aircraft carrier.