After all the fighters departed, Huang Xiaotian called Yan Yulong to have breakfast, it would take at least an hour for the bomber group to reach the sky over Wake Island, and now there was nothing for either of them to do, the most important thing was to fill their stomachs first. The staff officers also began to go to breakfast one after another, because the fleet had entered a combat state, so only a third of the staff officers went to eat each time, and the other staff officers continued to stay at their posts or something.

Yan Yulong sullenly coped with the breakfast in front of him, Huang Xiaotian knew that Yan Yulong was very dissatisfied with this combat operation, thinking that this was simply a waste of effort and a waste of the Imperial Navy's precious combat power. Huang Xiaotian didn't try to persuade Yan Yulong, and he didn't need to persuade the grandson of the marshal.

Nominally, the bombing of Wake Island was to disperse the American counterattack forces, forcing Nimitz to send a fleet to provide Wake Island with a batch of war supplies, living supplies, and even replenish Wake Island's troops when counterattacking. This reason is quite sufficient, but after careful consideration, it will be found that this is only a reason to be put on the table, and the more important purpose of the bombing of Wake Island, or the more direct motive, is that Liao Hanxiang wants to retaliate against the US military for the bombing of the Marshall Islands, which is a military operation with a retaliatory nature.

The word "revenge" is rare in the military, especially among high-ranking generals, and often appears in the mouths of front-line troops or politicians. For example, the bombing of the Japanese Emperor's Palace was a retaliatory action against the assassination of Prime Minister Xue Xiyue. For most military strategists, especially high-ranking generals who command thousands of troops, "revenge" does not mean much, and in order to pursue the ultimate victory in the war, it is not possible to waste personal grievances or precious military forces on some meaningless military operations for any other reason. After all. The war itself is not a matter of the "individual", but of the collective, the state. Even though the essence of war is "revenge" in many cases, "revenge" can never become the core of war.

After deciding to bomb Wake Island, Huang Xiaotian carefully considered this issue, and soon thought that Liao Hanxiang's decision to bomb Wake Island must be a retaliatory action, because just before that. The US military bombed the Marshall Islands "for no reason," and if the US military did not give it back color, it would have boosted the arrogance of the US military and undermined the confidence of the imperial officers and men, and would also make it impossible for Liao Hanxiang to give an account to the higher echelons. Therefore, the best thing to do is to give the U.S. military a taste of bombing, and the best target of retaliation is the U.S. military on Wake Island.

Fundamentally. The bombing of the Fifth Fleet did not inflict little losses on the Imperial Army on the Marshall Islands. At the time of the U.S. bombing, most of the pilots were doing early morning exercises, not staying in the barracks or in the hangars. Basically, they all escaped the ground bombs dropped by the US military, and very few pilots were killed, and only some aviation service personnel were killed or wounded. The largest losses were also in combat aircraft, with almost all warplanes on Kwajalein and Majuro Atoll destroyed, as well as much infrastructure and equipment used to repair and maintain airfields. But the loss of this hardware is not significant. Liao Hanxiang has no shortage of combat aircraft in his hands. There are more than 3,000 combat aircraft concentrated on the Mariana Islands alone. A few hundred aircraft were nothing to the Imperial Navy, the losses of almost any battle were on top of this, and there was nothing to be sorry for.

The biggest problem is that there is no justification for the US military to bomb the Marshall Islands. If the U.S. military continues to attack the Marshallow Islands, then Liao Hanxiang will not let Task Force 4 bomb Wake Island, and the Marshall Islands will become the focus of contention between the two sides. But it is obvious that the US military will not attack the Marshall Islands, and there is no plan to attack the Marshall Islands, so the US military will bomb the Marshall Islands. It was completely an "unreasonable" blow.

Liao Hanxiang must give a reasonable explanation for the loss of the Marshall Islands, and perhaps Gan Yongxing and Nie Renfeng do not need him to explain. But the Imperial Government certainly needed an explanation from him. In an unexplained situation, Liao Hanxiang's only option was to carry out a retaliatory bombing, a tooth for a tooth, and the US military would also suffer losses. And this is his interpretation, and it can also be used to deal with the reproaches of the imperial government.

It can be said that this is a sensitive period, the battle for landing in Australia is still ongoing, and the progress of both the Marine Corps and the Army is relatively smooth. Fighting on the continental battlefield is also underway, and the army has just won a big victory. At a time when there was a major turning point on both major fronts, Liao Hanxiang did not want to be a breakthrough point for those unscrupulous politicians who attacked the imperial government, and he could not tolerate defeat, or even a loss that did not mean anything.

Thinking of this, Huang Xiaotian understood Liao Hanxiang's intentions. It is precisely because of this that he needs to bomb Wake Island even more, even if the bombing of Wake Island is not very meaningful, he must let the bombers go over Wake Island to drop a few bombs, even if it is a bomb, Liao Hanxiang can confidently tell those who want to trouble him that he has made the enemy taste the bitterness and make the enemy pay the price for the bombing of the Marshall Islands. Anyway, all it takes is an excuse to shirk.

"You can go to sleep later, and I'll send someone to call you when the fleet turns around in the afternoon."

Yan Yulong raised his head, then shook his head with a smile. "No, I'm still in good spirits."

"Alright then, are you full?"

Yan Yulong put down his chopsticks, and then took out a cigarette. "Almost, shall we go back to the command cabin?"

Huang Xiaotian nodded, and left the officer's cafeteria first. He didn't explain to Yan Yulong, in his opinion, Yan Yulong would be able to understand the reason why Liao Hanxiang ordered the bombing of Wake Island sooner or later, how to say, Yan Yulong was also from an army family, and he must not know the relationship between war and politics.

When the two returned to the command cabin, news from the front-line bomber units was being sent back one after another.

The first thing to arrive was the news of Hao Ling Heng Group, they had successfully destroyed the number one target, and only four bombs blew up the desalination device into scrap metal. All 32 bombs that were "saved" were dropped on top of the ammunition depot that the US military had just built. Because the ammunition depot of the US military was built underground, it was difficult to quickly judge the effect of the bombing, and only after the two bombers who were in charge of reconnaissance and photographic work returned home and developed the photos, the intelligence officers were able to make a judgment.

Five minutes later. The news of Colonel Zhang Zhiyun's group was also sent back. The primary bombing target of Zhang Zhiyun's group was another desalination plant. They used eight 500-kilogram aviation armor-piercing shells to completely destroy the target. The 28 bombs that were "saved" were all used to bomb the US fuel depots as planned. Judging from Zhang Zhiyun's report, at least one fuel depot was directly hit, and the one that rose from under the ground. The pillars of fire, which are tens of meters high, are proof of this. At the same time, Zhang Zhiyun also roughly judged that this was an aviation gasoline depot, not a fuel depot for storing diesel.

The third report was sent back by Changsun Hong, whose fleet concentrated on bombing American food, fresh water, and ammunition depots. Of the more than a dozen targets listed, nine were completely destroyed, and while the other five were not completely destroyed, they were certainly badly damaged. It takes a long time to repair.

Reports from the fighter fleet were also sent quickly, and the fighters of the three squadrons were tasked with suppressing the American anti-aircraft guns on the island and destroying all exposed soft targets. Many pilots also exceeded their mission, and after dropping their bombs, they poured shells from their 20-mm guns on the panicked American troops, and perhaps none of the fighter pilots thought of returning to the aircraft carrier with the shells, which had a large number of 20-mm artillery shells anyway. They don't need to worry about ammunition at all.

The three squadrons of torpedo bombers were the last to reach the island, because the primary purpose of this bombing was to destroy the equipment and supplies of the US military, not to kill or injure US personnel, so 108 torpedo bombers with incendiary bombs were arranged last. "Slowly" flew over Wake Island, and then dropped 216 large 500-kilogram incendiary bombs aimlessly near the target area, turning one-third of Wake Island into a sea of fire. The fire burned until the group left the sky over Wake Island, and the three pilots who led the team only judged that they had burned down at least two-thirds of the US camps, and could not accurately judge how many US officers and soldiers had been killed.

"The fleet is returning home, and the fighters will be back over the fleet in about 1 hour."

"Let the fighter land first. The bombers first circled over the fleet, waited for the fighters to refuel and ammunition, and then let the bombers land and arranged for the two squadrons of fighters to take to the air. Huang Xiaotian made a new arrangement, "Let the aviation crew prepare as soon as possible." When all the bombers had returned, the fleet turned north, and it seemed that we would not have to wait until noon. ”

Yan Yulong quickly arranged the relevant work, and then re-set the course with the navigation staff. The bombing was a complete success. The purpose of the bombing has been achieved. The fleet will all be back in the fleet by about 9 o'clock, so. The fleet will be able to turn around half past eight.

The last torpedo bomber landed on the carrier at about 8:50 a.m., and the pilots were unusually excited. During the entire combat operation, only two fighters responsible for bombing anti-aircraft artillery terraces were shot down, the fighters made a forced landing in the open sea, the pilots both successfully parachuted, and now the seaplanes are rushing to rescue the two pilots. In addition, more than a dozen fighters were injured, all of which could be repaired on the aircraft carrier and would not affect future combat operations.

Huang Xiaotian was quite satisfied with this result, the loss of two fighters and the minor injury of three pilots were basically not a loss. By noon, the intelligence officers made a final judgment on the results of the battle using the photographs taken by the reconnaissance planes, and more than 80 percent of the targets were destroyed, the accuracy rate of the bombs dropped was more than 70 percent, and a large number of US officers and men were also eliminated. The most important targets, including two desalination plants, a gasoline depot, a diesel depot, two ammunition depots, and more than half of the barracks, were bombed with equipment and supplies to repair the airport. This even exceeded Huang Xiaotian's estimate, which made him believe that those pilots in the fleet were the best pilots!

The two lost fighters will be replenished by shore-based forces on the Midway side. In the beginning, the Imperial Navy, like the U.S. Navy, used different combat aircraft from shore-based aviation than carrier-based aviation, mainly because it lacked equipment for landing on aircraft carriers, and the fuselage structure was much weaker. But later the Imperial Navy discovered this problem, if the losses of carrier-based aviation needed to be replenished in the rear, it would not only be time-consuming, but also delay the fighters. Thus, from the end of 24 onwards, at least a third of the fighters of the shore-based aviation of the Imperial Navy were in common with the carrier-based combat aircraft of the Navy. In this way, carrier-based aviation can be replenished at the front. In the heat of war, the HNA will even use all carrier-based combat aircraft. In fact, the US Navy has also recognized this and has followed the practice of the Tang Imperial Navy by deploying a number of much more expensive carrier-based combat aircraft on front-line airfields to supplement carrier-based aviation at any time.

At this point, the bombing of Wake Island was over, and it was more like a warm-up game for the pilots of Task Force 4, allowing them to stay in combat condition at all times and not forget how to fight because they had not carried out combat missions for a long time. But for the U.S. military, this is definitely not a good result.

With the bombing of Wake Island's living infrastructure, Nimitz had to consider sending much-needed equipment and supplies to the U.S. forces on Wake Island once again. Nimitz was not short of equipment or supplies, but he needed to readjust his transport forces and distribute his transport fleet. This will have a small and no small impact on the upcoming counterattack.

Perhaps this bombing campaign was nothing, Nimitz would not have been in much trouble, Task Force 4 had no losses, and the Imperial Navy still could not have taken Wake Island. But in any case, this is a signal sent by the Fourth Task Force, an extremely clear signal, which is to tell all Americans that the Fourth Task Force has not left the battlefield, is still operating on the battlefield, and can deal a fatal blow to the US military at any time!

The significance of this signal is far more important than the bombing itself, it is more like a challenge signal from the 4th Task Force, it is Huang Xiaotian telling Spruance that the 4th Task Force is ready for a decisive battle, and the 5th Fleet has the courage to fight a decisive battle with the 4th Task Force?