The bomber group led by Qiu Gengbo approached Leysan Island at about 6:25 a.m. The bomber group still entered from ultra-low altitudes, and when it was less than 20 nautical miles from Lysan Island, the dive bomber group responsible for destroying American anti-aircraft artillery positions, radar stations, aviation towers, hangars and other point-like targets, as well as the fighters responsible for cover, began to climb. Horizontal bomber groups to deal with airfield shells, barracks, and other surface and linear targets are still flying at ultra-low altitudes.

The distance of 20 nautical miles is indeed too short, although the US radar station on the island immediately detected the bombers that were climbing, but there were only a few minutes left for them, and within a few minutes, the only thing the US military could do was to sound the air defense alarm, and before the anti-aircraft gunners entered the position, and when the pilots rushed to their fighters, the bomber group was already over Lysan Island.

This is the limitation of island airfields, which, although more robust than aircraft carriers, are also more vulnerable to surprise strikes.

It is precisely because of this that both the Tang Empire and the United States will definitely use the fleet as a support force when strengthening the airfields of the front-line islands. Without the cover of the fleet, without the supremacy of the sea, the airfields on the islands are very vulnerable. This truth has been proven countless times in battles, and island airfields, regardless of the side, are extremely vulnerable to a sudden attack by carrier-based bombers from aircraft carriers.

"Lao Qiu, it seems that there are no fighters on the airport, you see, there are some reconnaissance planes and transport planes parked there, and there are only about a dozen of them, and there are no bombers at all!"

"Damn, are we a step too late?" Qiu Gengbo also saw the enemy planes parked on the airport runway at this time, and he was secretly shocked in his heart. Immediately said: "Send the message back immediately and prepare the fleet for air defense." We continued to complete the bombing mission and get all the escort fighters back. Go back and help the fleet intercept enemy aircraft! ”

When the navigator sent the message back, the group also entered the sky over the island. The bombing began immediately. The fighters who had been hovering above the bomber group before all returned at the fastest cruising speed after receiving the order. And Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue received the news at 6:40.

"Did the radar spot it?"

The staff officer in charge of the air defense of the fleet shook his head at Hao Dongjue, and on the radar screen, there were only those air defense fighters hovering around the periphery of the fleet, and there was no trace of the enemy planes at all.

"Let the fighters on the aircraft carrier take off first." Tan Renhao walked over, "Contact Han Shaofeng."

Let the second batch of fighters of Hainan Airlines take off immediately and come over before half past seven. In addition, contact Qiu Gengbo, give us a detailed report after the bombing, determine whether we need to supplement the bombing, and let Yang Qinkai and them prepare for the take-off. ”

The "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier was the first to turn around, and the 36 fighters that were originally parked on this aircraft carrier also left the aircraft carrier one after another and joined the ranks of the fleet's air defense. Several orders were quickly conveyed.

There were no bombers on the US airfield, and there were only two possibilities, one was that they were flying towards the 1st Task Force. The second is to withdraw to Gardner Island. If they were coming towards Task Force 1, the American bombers would have arrived before eight o'clock, if they had not appeared after eight o'clock. Then the bombers of the US military must have been transferred to Gardner Island.

Tan Renhao quickly made a judgment, and he looked at Hao Dongjue. Hao Dongjue must have thought so, now he only needs to wait until eight o'clock, and he can spend more than an hour so quickly.

Just after seven o'clock. Qiu Gengbo sent back a telegram that the US airfield on Lysan Island had been destroyed and that there was no need for supplementary bombing. Tan Renhao ordered the cancellation of the bombing operation of Yang Qinkai's group, and at this time ordered the fleet to turn to 40 degrees, and sent the Xindi rendezvous point to Qiu Gengbo's group.

At half past seven, the second batch of fighters of the Navy arrived over the fleet, and at this time, there were four squadrons of fighters carrying out air defense patrol missions over the fleet, and the squadron escort fighters that followed the Qiu Gengbo group to bomb Laisang Island were also about to return, and before eight o'clock, at least five squadrons, or 180 fighters, were carrying out air defense missions over the fleet.

At 7:50 a.m., the escort group returned. But until this time, there were still no new discoveries in the radar of the fleet.

"The U.S. troops must have withdrawn, damn it, Nimitz will take the initiative to back down."

Tan Renhao gritted his teeth and said to the air defense staff officer: "Let the radar be turned off after fifteen minutes, the air defense patrol radius will still remain at 40 nautical miles, and if no enemy planes have been found by half past eight, let the first batch of fighters take off return to the fleet." ”

At 10 o'clock, the bomber group led by Qiu Gengbo returned to the sky over the fleet and began to land on the aircraft carriers one after another. By half past eight, there were still no US bombers arriving, and at this time Tan Renhao was also sure that all the US bombers on Laisang Island had been transferred, and he first let the fighters of the squadron that had previously carried out the escort mission return to the aircraft carrier, and then let the first batch of air defense fighters take off return to the aircraft carrier, and after filling up the fuel, they were ready to replace the second batch of air defense fighters. At nine o'clock, the fighters of the Navy left the sky over the fleet, and by this time the fleet had sailed about 60 nautical miles to the northeast and was out of the dangerous sea area.

"The speed is reduced to 18 knots, keep it in this direction." Tan Renhao gave an order to the navigation staff officer, "The fleet resumes radio silence and prepares to carry out the next battle plan. ”

The atmosphere in the fleet also dissipated, and in addition to the fact that the aviation crew was still busy refueling the fighters, the fleet returned to normal order. Tan Renhao also called Hao Dongjue outside the command cabin.

"At least, now we can be sure that Nimitz has withdrawn all the bombers to Gardner Island, or even further afield." Tan Renhao looked at Hao Dongjue, who looked tired, "You go to rest first, you have to come to duty at night." ”

"Don't worry, I'll go to bed after lunch. Are we still bombing Gardner as planned? Hao Dongjue took out a cigarette, he was indeed very tired.

Tan Renhao hesitated and did not speak. Now the situation is complicated, if Nimitz evacuates the bombers on Lesan Island to Gardner Island, then there will be more than 200 tactical bombers on the airfield on Gardner Island. And the threat of these 200 tactical bombers is not to be underestimated. If Nimitz still didn't have the confidence to hold off Task Force 1 on Gardner Island, or if Nimitz didn't think Task Force 1 would attack Gardner. Or if the Fifth Fleet wasn't ready to go, maybe Nimitz would have withdrawn the upper ground bombers from Lysan Island to a farther island, or even the bombers from Gardner.

These two situations are very different. If the US air on Gardner Island had not been strengthened, or even weakened. Then the bombing of Gardner Island was easy, and there was little difficulty at all. Conversely, if the U.S. air forces on Gardner Island were strengthened, the bombing of Gardner Island would be an extremely risky operation. This also has to take into account the threat of the Fifth Fleet, if the Fifth Fleet has already left Pearl Harbor. And if it's just waiting somewhere near Gardner Island, then Task Force 1 will be sent to death in the past!

"I'll go to sleep first." Hao Dongjue also saw that Tan Renhao was very embarrassed, "Come to you in the evening, and we will determine the specific bombing operation at night." ”

Tan Renhao nodded, and after watching Hao Dongjue leave, he returned to the command cabin. The staff officers were all working in normal order, Tan Renhao didn't bother them, and after asking Duchenne to make him a cup of coffee, Tan Renhao came to the chart table. Unlike in the past, there is now an extra barstool in the command cabin. In this way, Tan Renhao can sit and look at the charts without having to stand with a sore back every time.

Nimitz took the initiative to evacuate the fighters from the airfield on the island of Lysan. This is a direct manifestation of war avoidance, and it also proves that Nimitz knew that Task Force 1 would bomb Lysan Island, or rather, guessed that Task Force 1 would bomb Lysan Island. So the ground fighters on Lysan Island were withdrawn in advance.

This can prove that the operation of Task Force 1, at least the operation to Midway, has been detected by the American military. The most important and crucial thing is that it is impossible to determine whether there are many bombers on Gardner Island now, and whether the Fifth Fleet will remain at Pearl Harbor and will not leave Pearl Harbor until tomorrow. Especially the last point, which Tan Renhao is most worried about.

After lunch, Tan Renhao went to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier for a spin, he wanted to calm himself down. Now the strength of the Fifth Fleet is not as good as before, but Spruance is by no means an easy opponent to deal with, he still has enough striking power in his hands, and four aircraft carriers, one large and three small, can carry about 200 bombers, which is enough to take out the First Task Force. By the time he returned to the command quarters, the staff officers were still busy.

"Do you want to make another cup of coffee?" Du Xing also prepared tea for Tan Renhao.

"No, you go and rest." Tan Renhao smiled and nodded, "By the way, the evening meal should be lighter, you go and say hello to the kitchen." ”

After Duchenne left, Tan Renhao returned to the chart table. The fleet is still advancing according to plan, if the Fifth Fleet has been maneuvered in place, then tomorrow's battle will definitely be extremely tragic, whether it can defeat Spruance, Tan Renhao is not very sure.

"General, a telegram from the theater command, an urgent telegram."

Tan Renhao was taken aback and immediately took the telegram. The telegram was sent by Liao Hanxiang, but it was only forwarded from the theater command, and the intelligence provider was the Military Intelligence Bureau, and the content was only one point, the US warship in Pearl Harbor was preparing to leave! Then, Tan Renhao noticed the time of the information: ten o'clock in the morning of the 19th. But the problem is that there is no mention of the US aircraft carriers!

At this time, Tan Renhao is a little difficult, this is likely to be a transport fleet, but it mentions a large number of warships, the question is, where is the aircraft carrier? If the whereabouts of the US aircraft carriers cannot be determined, then the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet cannot be determined, in other words, this piece of information does not have much meaning!

But it was this piece of information that finally made Tan Renhao sure that Spruance had not left Pearl Harbor yet. Tan Renhao's judgment was very simple, if Spruance's purpose was to deal with the First Task Force, then he would not leave the escort warships at Pearl Harbor and only lead the aircraft carriers on the expedition, unless Spruance thought that Tan Renhao was easy to bully. And now most of the escort warships are in Pearl Harbor, which is enough to show that Spruance is still in Pearl Harbor, and the Fifth Fleet has not departed. In addition, judging by the movements of the American warships, the Fifth Fleet is preparing to depart, and most of them will leave Pearl Harbor this evening, or tomorrow morning!

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao laughed. This information came at a timely time, and although it was not very reliable, it at least provided more convincing evidence that the Fifth Fleet was still in Pearl Harbor and was preparing to leave after the bombing of Lysan Island.

Tan Renhao quickly marked several routes on the charts and quickly calculated the time for the US fleet to arrive at the attack area. If the Fifth Fleet had departed this evening, it would have been able to reach the attack area on the afternoon of 21 July, and if other factors were taken into account, the battle would have lasted 22 days at the earliest. If the Fifth Fleet had departed tomorrow morning, perhaps the engagement would have dragged on until the 23rd. In addition, the U.S. military can only determine the approximate range of activities of Task Force 1 after Gardner Island has been bombed, but it cannot be ruled out that Spruance has guessed that Task Force 1 will bomb Gardner Island.

By the end of the evening, Tan Renhao had already roughly considered several possible scenarios. If the Fifth Fleet were still at Pearl Harbor now, then he would have more chances. In the evening, Hao Dongjue rushed back, and Tan Renhao told him about the newly received telegram and new considerations.

"Then we will continue to bomb Gardner Island according to the plan, and strive to destroy the airfield on Gardner Island before the Fifth Fleet arrives!"

"Nimitz probably wouldn't have thought that we would bomb Gardner Island so soon, so the departure of the Fifth Fleet was delayed, perhaps because the repair work of the USS Franklin had not yet been completed, so the Fifth Fleet was not able to leave immediately." Tan Renhao called Hao Dongjue and walked towards the outside of the command cabin, "No matter what, as long as the Fifth Fleet is still at Pearl Harbor, then we have a great chance of winning this battle!" ”

"The problem is, we don't know exactly what is going on on Gardner Island."

"Tomorrow, we will arrange a reconnaissance plane to delay the bombing time by half an hour, organize two groups of bombers, and strengthen the air defense of the fleet." Tan Renhao stopped, "However, let's go to dinner now, how to fight, and then discuss it in the evening!" ”