According to common sense, after seizing sea and air supremacy, the 6th team usually went ashore in the morning, and would never choose to board the 6th in the afternoon.

The reason why most of the 6 days were scheduled in the morning was simple, the first day of the 6th team's disembarkation was the most important, if it was not possible to consolidate the beach position on the first day and expand the 6th day, the defenders would counterattack at night, and the 6th team would be in danger of being driven out to sea. Choosing to board 6 in the morning can take advantage of the more than ten hours of the day to strengthen the defense of the beachhead, and these ten hours of time are extremely critical and important. If the 6 is chosen to be boarded in the afternoon, then the 6 squadron will have only a few hours of preparation time at most, not to mention haste, and in these few hours it will only be able to send two groups of troops ashore at most, and the strength will be seriously insufficient, and at night, it will be difficult for the troops to go ashore, and it will be difficult for the bombers and artillery fleets providing support to play an effective role at night. That's why Team 6 didn't choose to board 6 in the afternoon (and the tide will also determine the exact time of 6).

But this time, the U.S. military chose to board 6 in the afternoon. According to common sense, unless the defenders on the island are at an absolute disadvantage, and the artillery preparation in the early stage of the 6th is extremely sufficient, then the 6th team can choose to board the 6th in the afternoon. But the problem is that neither of these conditions are actually met. The 6th team of the Tang Empire on Wake Island has at least more than 8ooo people, and the 6th team of the US army can deliver up to two regiments at one time, and by the evening, even if it is the fastest degree, it can only send six regiments, and it is more likely to be four regiments, so the US army will not have more troops ashore than the defenders of the Tang Empire. In addition, the preparation time of the US army's artillery fire is only a few hours, which is simply not able to completely destroy the defense system of the 6th squad of the Tang Empire, and the 6th squad will face the most tragic battle after going ashore, which obviously does not benefit the US army in any way if the strength is not superior.

In fact, this is exactly the case, and in Han Shaofeng's subsequent telegram, there was no mention of urgent reinforcements of the fleet. Moreover, he is adjusting the deployment of the 6th Squadron, preparing to launch a large-scale counterattack after dark to annihilate the 6th Squadron of the US Army that has come ashore. It can also be seen from the telegram that Han Shaofeng is very confident, as a major general of the 6th team who is good at commanding offensive operations, I don't know how capable Han Shaofeng is in defensive operations.

Then, Tan Renhao received the third telegram within an hour, which was a telegram from Lei Shaoqing and Chang Zhuang, in addition to asking about the location of the First Task Force. He was still asking if he wanted to bomb the U.S. 6th Fleet.

"Lao Lei couldn't sit still, and the U.S. military unusually boarded 6 in the afternoon, which made us very passive." Hao Dongjue was also a little hesitant, "Ren Hao, do you want to let the Second Task Force knock out the US 6th Fleet first?" ”

"Don't reply to the telegram just yet." Tan Renhao tilted his head and glanced at his partner, and said, "The actions of the US military are too abnormal, this 6-squad must have come directly from Pearl Harbor, otherwise it would not have rushed over so quickly." But the question is, why did the US military board 6 at this time? ”

"This ......," Hao Dongjue thought for a moment. Perhaps it was Spruance who thought they had destroyed the island's defenses. Moreover, having seized sea and air supremacy, we will not be able to arrive for the time being, so the conditions for boarding 6 are ripe. Other than that. The U.S. military may think that we are undermanned on Wake Island......"

"It's that simple?"

Hao Dongjue was stunned for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders with a wry smile, even he couldn't believe these reasons.

"The artillery preparation of the US army is not sufficient, and we are not without experience in the operation of Deng 6. When the Second Task Force attacked Wake Island, the U.S. defenders on the island were even smaller than the troops we are deploying on now, and in the past few months, the 6th Squadron has strengthened the defensive positions on the island, and it took the Second Task Force two days to complete the artillery preparations, while the U.S. forces only took a few hours now. Do you think they will be able to complete artillery fire preparations? ”

Hao Dongjue shook his head, even if the strength of the US task force was more than twice that of the second task force, it would take at least more than a day to prepare for artillery fire.

"Secondly, will Spruance think that we do not have enough troops on the island? If he thinks so, then he's stupid. We've been strengthening Wake Island's defenses since we took Wake Island, and everyone knows how important Wake Island is, and Spruance knows how strong our defenses are on the island, and he thinks that there will be a maximum of three batches. More than 10,000 people, and more than 10,000 officers and soldiers who did not have heavy equipment and did not have enough combat materials to defeat Wake Island? ”

Hao Dongjue shook his head again, even if Spruance is not an expert in the operation of Deng 6, he should also understand the simple truth of the comparison of forces. Besides, Spruance must have staff officers under him who are proficient in the Deng 6 operation, and they will not be unaware of the difficulty of attacking Wake Island, otherwise there would be no need to mobilize a large number of transport ships to transport the equipment and war materials of the Deng 6 troops.

"Combined with the previous performance of the U.S. military, don't you think there is a problem in this?" Tan Renhao grabbed his partner's shoulder, "Spruance doesn't have any reason to let Team 6 ashore this afternoon, but why would he do that?" What is the purpose of this? Let's imagine Spruance's situation. ”

"Spruance's main goal must be to use the time difference before we reach the battlefield to destroy the second task force, and then kill us, and then, even if the fourth and third task forces rush over, he will have enough power to take out these two task forces. In this way, we are using the tactics of adding fuel, which will be broken by the US military in each case, which will eventually lead to the defeat of the campaign, the loss of sea supremacy, the great reversal of the tide of the war, and the US military grasping the initiative in the Pacific theater. ”

"It's the best outcome." Tan Renhao walked to the opposite side of the chart table, pondered for a while, and said, "As you said, Spruance's main purpose is to seize sea dominance, not to land on 6 Wick Island. Now let's think about it from Spruance's point of view. If I knew that Task Force 2 was operating in the waters south of Wake Island and was waiting for Task Force 1 to arrive, what could I do to force Task Force 2 to enter the battle early? ”

"This ......"

"First, I will take the initiative to expose the whereabouts of the fleet, and this may also have the intention of testing the specific location of the second task force." Tan Renhao walked to the chart table, "You see, the first time the U.S. fleet appeared in the waters northeast of Wake Island, according to Spruance's idea, if the second task force is active in the northwest waters of Wake Island." Then he will immediately move eastward, and he will let the fleet temporarily avoid the southeast, and at the same time send reconnaissance planes to search the sea areas to the west and northwest, try to try to appear in advance of the second task force, and then let the returning bombers go out to destroy the second task force in one fell swoop. ”

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly. "But in reality, Task Force 2 didn't show up there at all, and his search didn't yield any results."

"So. The U.S. bombers bombed Wake Island again at about 10 o'clock, but until we received the telegram, the U.S. bombers did not bomb Wake Island, which shows that Spruance had led the task force to withdraw from the battlefield, and this artillery formation was left in the waters of Wake Island to support the 6th Squadron to go ashore. Tan Renhao sighed, "So, where is Spruance now?" He could sail northwest and continue his search for the location of Task Force 2. But the prerequisites are: He determined that Task Force 2 was in the waters northwest of Wake Island. Alternatively, he would command the fleet south to the waters southeast of Wake Island. Waiting here, the premise is that he has determined that Task Force 2 is operating in the waters near Bikini Atoll, and because he is afraid of being attacked by our bombers on Kwajalein Atoll, he does not dare to rush west, but lays an ambush here. ”

"And wait for Task Force 2 to go and bomb the U.S. 6th Fleet?"

Tan Renhao nodded. "If the Second Task Force goes north to bomb the US 6th Fleet, then there will be no doubt that it will enter the Spruance strike range, and Shaoqing and Lao Chang will be finished."

Hao Dongjue sighed, and then looked at his partner. "It seems that the U.S. fleet is in the waters southeast of Wake Island."

Tan Renhao shook his head slightly. "It's just my analysis and speculation. Combined with the previous deployment, this guess is flawed. For example, isn't the U.S. military convoy from Midway a decoy? If Spruance had used the fleet as bait, he would have been ambushed north of Wake Island, or in the northwest sea, not in the southeast. ”

"So, you're not that sure?"

Tan Renhao smiled bitterly and shook his head. "If it's Fletcher, I'm sure he's in the northeast waters of Wake Island, if it's Halsey. Then he might be in the northwest waters of Wake Island, but I can't figure out Spruance's trick, he can choose one of these three directions, and he can surprise us in all three. ”

"Okay, so what do we do now?"

Tan Renhao walked around the cabin a few times with his hands behind his back. "Immediately send planes to contact the patrol planes on the nearby islands, especially the long-range patrol planes on the Kwajalein Atoll, focus on the southeast and southern waters of Wake Island, mobilize all the reconnaissance planes that can fly over, search in a dragnet style, and after dark, let the reconnaissance planes carry flares, and the search mission must be completed as soon as possible, even if Spruance's whereabouts are not found, they must scare him away." In addition, tell Lei Shaoqing to continue to wait for us, and in addition, the second task force must enter a combat state, beware of a sudden attack by the US troops, and not act rashly, and we will rush over to meet in the second half of tomorrow night at the earliest, and then decide on the combat arrangements according to the actual situation. ”

Hao Dongjue beckoned the communications staff officer over and asked him to record these orders and send a seaplane to deliver telegrams to the nearby islands.

"Also, contact General Han Shaofeng and ask them to launch the fiercest counterattack tonight, it doesn't matter whether they can drive the US troops into the sea, the important thing is to find out the strength and combat effectiveness of the US Army's 6th unit, determine the number of its troops, and then immediately tell us the information." Tan Renhao sat down, "If Spruance wants to create a trap for us, then we will drive him back, and then seek a chance to fight a decisive battle." ”

Fifteen minutes later, the seaplane left the large anti-aircraft cruiser "Li Jing" and two hours later arrived at the Ebonn Atoll near the fleet, sending out three telegrams.

Lei Shaoqing and Chang Jianxin were also relieved after receiving the telegram, at least the first task force was about to rush over, and they did not have any slackness, after dark, the fleet retreated to the southwest for the next day's air defense arrangements.

Long-range reconnaissance planes and seaplanes of the Don Empire on the islands such as Kwajalein Atoll were dispatched that night. Although the seaplanes on these islands are not under the command of the First Task Force and are directly under the command of the Theater Command, Liao Hanxiang has long issued an order that the seaplane units and the reconnaissance aircraft units must obey the orders of the commanders of the First Task Force and the Commander of the Second Task Force (there is a precedence, and if the orders conflict with each other, the commander of the First Task Force shall prevail).

The planes were loaded with flares, and at Tan Renhao's request, they dropped one flare for every 2o nautical miles they flew without radar. The reconnaissance significance of such an operation was not great, because the flares burning in mid-air could easily affect the pilot's line of sight, and the officers and men of the warships on the surface could see the flares twenty nautical miles away, the now illuminated reconnaissance plane, and then avoid the reconnaissance plane. Therefore, this serves as a far greater deterrent than reconnaissance.

Han Shaofeng also commanded the defenders on Wake Island to launch a fierce counterattack that night. Although the U.S. Army Deng 6 unit held the beachhead with the support of the fleet, but in the fierce battle all night, the U.S. casualties were very huge (the casualties of the Tang Empire's 6th team were not small), and the battle was fought until dawn, Han Shaofeng let the counterattack force withdraw to the defense line yesterday evening, and continued to confront the U.S. army, and he also at the end of the counterattack, the U.S. military situation, as well as his own analysis and judgment in the form of a battle report.

When all the troops were actively acting, Tan Renhao went to sleep well at night, which made Hao Dongjue have to admire Tan Renhao's psychological state. At this time, Hao Dongjue couldn't sleep at all, and sometimes even if he took sleeping pills, he couldn't sleep all night. At dawn, just when Han Shaofeng's telegram came, Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, and Hao Dongjue had been staying up for more than 20 hours.