In charge of directing the artillery bombardment at the front was Brigadier General Wei Dongbei. Now Wei Dongbei has been promoted to commander of the cruiser formation of the First Task Force. In fact, this is just a fictitious position, or an administrative establishment, when fighting, the cruiser is dispersed to various battle groups, and the battle group (the shelling formation also belongs to the battle group unit) is the basic combat unit of the fleet, so it is impossible for Wei Northeast to command all the cruisers.

Tan Renhao didn't worry about the shelling, Wei Dongbei's experience was rich enough.

Originally, he recommended Wei Dongbei to serve as chief of staff in the Third Fleet, and perhaps he would still be promoted to brigadier general at most, but the future would be much brighter. Wei Dongbei himself rejected this recommendation, he just wanted to stay in the First Task Force, even if he didn't have any chance to become the captain of the aircraft carrier, nor did he have the opportunity to become the chief of staff of the fleet, but he was already satisfied, in his eyes, the First Task Force was not only a more promising place, but also a more powerful combat force, this was his home, it was the place where he fought and lived.

"A telegram from Northeast Wei." Hao Dongjue is now the busiest man in the fleet, not only in charge of aviation operations, but also in coordinating bombing and artillery operations to avoid repeated strikes. "The intensity of the shelling was so great that they probably withdrew in the afternoon, and during the night we had to arrange for another fleet to pass."

"Send the escort warships of the 'Xingkaihu' battle group, still under the command of Wei Dongbei." Tan Renhao turned around, "In addition, contact General Liao Hanxiang, our ammunition will last until tomorrow at most, and if the supply fleet cannot arrive tomorrow night, then we can only let the bombers drop aviation armor-piercing shells." ”

The telegram was sent out quickly. At this time, Liao Hanxiang, who was at the Guam Theater Command, was also like an ant on a hot pot. He sent out the supply fleet on the 10th, and it was the only rapid supply fleet in the Pacific theater at that time. The flotilla reached a speed of 24 knots and had more than a dozen ammunition and oil and water supply vessels. But the problem is. It would also take at least six days for this fleet to reach the waters near Midway, that is, it could only rendezvous with Task Force 1 on the night of the 16th, or even on the morning of the 17th, while Tan Renhao's ammunition would last until the night of the 15th at most. In other words, there will be a day in between, and Task Force 1 will run out of ammunition to use.

"Send the news out, and send out this newly received information as well."

Liao Hanxiang touched his forehead, "Contact Han Shaofeng and let them hold on alone for a day, if it really doesn't work, turn to defense." Immediately after seizing the airfield, the Marines airlifted the strength of two regiments from Wake Island. Other than that. Let Han Shaofeng know that before the 20th, the fleet carrying ammunition materials and heavy equipment will arrive. ”

The news spread quickly over the airwaves. When Tan Renhao received the telegram from the theater command again, he was a little crying and laughing, could it be that he really wanted to use aviation armor-piercing shells and torpedoes to bombard ground targets?

"One more copy. This is forwarded. Hao Dongjue noticed the telegram behind, "According to the information provided by the Military Intelligence Agency, the US warships that have recently entered service have left the ports on the east coast of the United States a few days ago, and are expected to enter the Pacific Ocean in the second half of the month, and will probably be able to reach Pearl Harbor by the end of the month.

In addition, our submarine spotted Task Force 51. ”

"Where?" Tan Renhao was startled and immediately turned his head.

"In the waters northwest of Johnston Island, three small aircraft carriers and several escort warships are now sailing in the direction of Pearl Harbor." Hao Dongjue sent a telegram to Tan Renhao, "Spruance has gone back to Pearl Harbor. ”

Tan Renhao quickly read the message, was stunned for half a minute, and then laughed.

Hao Dongjue took out a cigarette, looked at his partner's stupid appearance, and laughed.

"Spruance is really bold, he must have taken the route between Wake Island and Midway, and he must have crossed the northeast of Wake Island at night." Tan Renhao smashed his fist on the chart table, "We actually ignored this point and let him slip away."

"But Task Force 51 won't be coming over now."

Tan Renhao didn't rush to speak, pondered for a while, and said: "If the U.S. forces on Midway can hold out until next month, then Nimitz has no reason to send Task Force 51 out to take risks. Looks like we're going to have to rendezvous with the supply fleet. ”

"Then I'll contact Han Shaofeng and let the Marine Corps stay alone for a day."

Before Hao Dongjue could walk away, the communications staff officer sent a telegram from Han Shaofeng.

Hao Dongjue glanced at it, and then gave it to his partner. "General Liao Hanxiang has already made arrangements for us. The Marines will switch to the defensive tomorrow night. In addition, Han Shaofeng asked us to provide support to the Marines as much as possible before we go to join up with the supply fleet, otherwise it will be difficult for them to expand the landing ground by tomorrow night, and it will be even more difficult to establish a defensive line. ”

"Leave the destroyers escorting and let all the ground cruisers go up." Tan Renhao also made an immediate decision, "Tomorrow, the bombing campaign will be intensified, and in addition, the seaplanes on the cruiser must fully monitor the waters southeast of Midway." If Task Force 51 had come back with a reflexive kill, it would most likely come from this side. Carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft are responsible for monitoring the north-western direction. Tomorrow afternoon, the fleet will go into radio control, and at the same time be ready to receive supplies. ”

A series of orders were quickly issued, and the battle on Midway Island was at a fever pitch.

The officers and men of the Marine Corps, who have successfully landed, are working hard to expand the width and depth of the landing ground. The focus of contention between the two sides is the US military airfield. The fierce fighting continued for a quarter of an hour, and the American troops held back the advance of the Imperial Marines with a large number of fortifications, while the Marines relied on the artillery fire of the battleships and the support of bombers to stubbornly push forward. By the morning of 15 July, the Marines had taken control of a landing site about one kilometer wide and 500 meters deep. The engineers set up an improvised pier on the beach and began to deliver supplies from large transport ships to the beach. A few smaller, previously damaged boats washed straight onto the beach, allowing the Marines to unload their loads of supplies and equipment.

During the day on the 15th, Han Shaofeng threw in two regiments of troops to continue the attack on the airfield. The other regimental force built defensive positions in the rear. He has mobilized all the officers and soldiers who can be mobilized, the artillery without artillery, all the officers and lieutenants. The engineers who had no task, and the armored soldiers who had no tanks, all picked up their rifles. Even the crews of the stranded ships were armed.

The battle on that day was unusually fierce, and hundreds of officers and men of the two regiments of marines who attacked the airfield were killed. By four o'clock in the afternoon, Han Shaofeng had the Marines stop their offensive and all retreated to the defensive line. Before dark, the Marines set up a two-kilometer defensive line.

Minefields were set up within a range of 50 to 100 meters in front of the defensive line. Hundreds of machine-gun fire points were arranged on the defensive line, as well as a large number of temporary fortifications, and the trenches alone were dug several kilometers long.

At this time, Task Force 1 also withdrew from the battle and began to sail west at full speed, preparing to rendezvous with the supply fleet. At this time, except for those destroyers, the other warships in the fleet were not short of fuel, what was lacking was ammunition. This time, the replenishment was very difficult, and the fleet could only rendezvous with the supply fleet in the open sea. There are no suitable anchorage points nearby. The only good thing is that the central Pacific Ocean in July is very calm, not even wind. As long as the battleship is docked, the ammunition on the ground of the supply ship can be transported to the battleship.

The fleet and the supply flotilla met on the morning of the 16th, first to replenish the destroyers with fuel and ammunition, and then with the cruisers. Finally, the aircraft carrier was replenished with fuel and ammunition.

At noon, the first batch of cruisers and destroyers to complete the replenishment returned to the battlefield in an artillery formation, probably able to reach the waters near Midway Island in the second half of the night. The replenishment of the aircraft carrier was to continue until the night of the 16th, and the time to return to the battlefield was the morning of the 17th.

The whole replenishment work was arranged quite tightly, each supply ship resupplied two battleships at the same time, and the resupply work lasted six hours for destroyers, six hours for cruisers, and eight hours for aircraft carriers. The main thing is that it is very cumbersome to transport a large amount of ammunition, and just transporting ammunition from the supply point (the supply point of the aircraft carrier is on the main deck of the hangar) to the ammunition depot is a very heavy manual work.

News from the front line is also constantly coming. Before joining up with the supply fleet, the Americans launched a large-scale counterattack during the night, and the Marine defense line was broken through in several places, and it was difficult for the Marine Corps to keep the American troops out of the line without fleet fire support. The officers and soldiers on both sides engaged in brutal hand-to-hand combat, and Han Shaofeng even rushed to the front line, only to be dragged back by the guards.

The U.S. counterattack ended in the daytime, leaving thousands of corpses of officers and soldiers on both sides on the positions.

In the night's hours of fighting, the Marines lost more than 1,500 officers and men, while more than 2,000 Americans were killed, as well as captured.

During the day, the fighting was still raging. After discovering that the Imperial fleet had left, the commander of the American army made a frantic attack, hoping to crush the landing force when there was no support from the marines. During the daytime fighting, one of the Marines' ammunition stockpiles was destroyed, and hundreds of tons of ammunition (mostly small arms ammunition) were lost. By evening, more than 2,000 Marines had been killed or wounded. The losses of the American army were even greater, and in more than a dozen consecutive counterattacks, at least more than 3,000 people were annihilated.

When the aircraft carrier group separated from the transport fleet and was ready to return to the battlefield, the US counterattack continued. The Marine line had retreated two hundred meters and was almost to the beach. Both sides are desperate. If the Marines were to be evacuated to the beach, then their only end would be to be driven out to sea. And the U.S. military also knew very well that the fleet of the Tang Empire was going to replenish ammunition, and if they still could not defeat the landing marines before the fleet returned, then their counterattack would be a complete failure.

In the second half of the night, when the marines retreated to the last line of defense outside the beach, a large number of shells fell, and the shelling fleet arrived at the most critical moment. The heavy shelling immediately knocked back the advancing American troops. In an hour of covered shelling, at least a thousand American troops were killed. As soon as the shelling was over, Han Shaofeng ordered the Marines to rush forward, drive the Americans out of their positions, and restore to the line of defense where the fleet had withdrawn before dawn.

"The latest battle stats." After Hao Dongjue received the telegram from Han Shaofeng, he immediately went to Tan Renhao, "At least 6,000 American troops have been killed or captured, and more than half of the American troops on the island have been lost. But the problem is that we have also lost nearly 5,000 Marine officers and soldiers, and now there are still a large number of wounded waiting to be evacuated, and it is difficult for the Marine Corps to organize a large-scale attack. ”

"That is, it is very difficult for the Marines to take the airfield?" Tan Renhao glanced at his partner while putting on his clothes.

Han Shaofeng didn't mention this, probably he was preparing to attack. With the U.S. losing a lot of troops, the defensive line must be weak, and if the Marines can capture the airfield today, then we have a good chance of quickly taking Midway. ”

Tan Renhao nodded.

"Contact Han Shaofeng, the fleet will go all out to provide fire support, and now that we have all the ammunition, it depends on how far the Marine Corps can push the battle line."

Hao Dongjue nodded, and immediately turned around and prepared to send a telegram.

"Also, don't ignore the air defense of the fleet, there are reconnaissance patrols." Tan Renhao called out to his partner, "Task Force 51 may not have returned to Pearl Harbor, maybe looking for an opportunity to take out us." Now that the news of our return to the battlefield must have reached Spruance, I don't want to see American bombers appear over the fleet early tomorrow morning. ”

"I'll arrange it, I'll call you tomorrow morning."

"No, I'll go to the command cabin now, I won't be able to sleep anyway."

Both of them laughed, but at this time, Han Shaofeng in front of him couldn't laugh at all.

On the day the fleet left, the Marine Corps suffered the worst losses, the American counterattack was much more powerful than he expected, and the combat effectiveness of the American army was stronger than he expected, and the elite troops of the American army deployed on Midway Island must have been the elite units of the American army. In just one day of fighting, more than 3,000 officers and soldiers were killed and more than 2,000 wounded, and the problem of lack of medicine was already very serious.

Han Shaofeng did not stop the offensive, and he must not stop now, and before the US defense line is restored, he must take down the airfield as soon as possible, so that the troops in the rear can arrive quickly. Therefore, after repelling the last wave of counterattacks by the American army, Han Shaofeng immediately ordered the troops to attack at dawn and take down the airfield at all costs!