When Chang Jiexin received a telegram from Task Force 1, Vice Admiral Gu Zhenyun of Task Force 6 also received a telegram with the same content five minutes later. At this time, Task Force 6 was northeast of Task Force 3, about 45 nautical miles. Like the 3rd Task Force, the 6th Task Force had also accelerated to 31 knots, and the 6th Task Force did not lose any losses in the battle before retreating at full speed in the southwest direction of the Strait, so its speed was a little faster than that of the 3rd Task Force!

After sinking two British battleships, Gu Zhenyun quickly calmed down. He reacted even faster than Chang Zhixin, because at this time the Sixth Task Force was deeper into the Channel, closer to the southeastern area where the British mainland airfields were concentrated, so the threat to the ground was greater. Similarly, Gu Zhenyun also knew very well that the squadron and fighter planes sent by the Second Task Force did not have a big covering effect, and if the British Royal Air Force was determined to kill the Sixth Task Force, then the British bombers would soon arrive and make the Sixth Task Force pay a heavy price. Gu Zhenyun also realized that it was the weather, not the escort fighters, that could really protect the fleet. He also pays special attention to the weather changes in the interior of the strait. But there was one difference: he sent out the weather reconnaissance plane at 6:35 a.m., which was exactly 20 minutes later than the 3rd Task Force!

The so-called geometeorological reconnaissance plane is actually a seaplane carrying an officer who understands the weather around the fleet to observe the changing weather conditions. At that time, weather radars did not appear. Therefore, the means of judging weather changes are quite limited. In addition, because there is no specific theoretical support, the ability to predict the weather is quite limited, and in many cases, a good meteorological officer relies not only on ability, but also on talent. This is where Task Force 6 is relatively poor.

When the Sixth Task Force was established, most of the key officers were assigned by the Third Task Force, after all, the two task forces were mainly battleships and were relatively similar in nature. Obviously. The best officers remained in Task Force 3 and were assigned to Task Force 6, all of which were ordinary officers who had no room for development in Task Force 3 and could not have a better future. Meteorological officers were no exception, and at that time, the best four meteorological officers were all left in the 3rd Task Force, and they were assigned to the 6th Task Force to be the deputy of these four officers, and they were not the most effective deputies.

Because of the above two reasons, Task Force 6 has a different weather judgment than Task Force 3. By 6:50. When Gu Zhenyun got the first weather forecast report, the meteorological officer thought that there would be no thunderstorm clouds in the inner waters of the strait. According to this weather forecast, Gu Zhenyun could only let the fleet flee to the southwest at full speed. And without taking into account the fact that thunderstorms are forming in the waters northwest of the strait, which is the most ideal hiding place for the fleet.

By about 6:55, that is, when Chang Jiexin ordered the fleet to turn to 340 degrees, directly towards the southwestern waters of the British mainland. Gu Zhenyun received a telegram from the Third Task Force. This telegram was also sent to Task Force 1. and several task forces elsewhere. After receiving the telegram, Gu Zhenyun was very surprised, he thought that Chang Jianxin was going to die, but at the same time, he was a little skeptical that the weather officer's judgment was correct. Therefore, he did not immediately turn the fleet to catch up with the third task force. Rather, let the meteorological officer make a meteorological forecast again.

Precious time is being delayed little by little. Just after seven o'clock, the First Task Force sent a telegram, asking Gu Zhenyun to immediately catch up with the Third Task Force and rendezvous with Chang Jianxin. Gu Zhenyun had already begun to hesitate and waver at this time. He also knew that the quality of the officers and men of the 3rd Task Force was much better than that of the 6th Task Force. But he was not reconciled, after all, Chang Jianxin was taking risks. If the fleet continues to retreat at full speed in the southwest direction. Then it will be able to leave the strait at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and the probability of escaping is about half. If the judgment of the new land is wrong, and there is no bad weather in the northern part of the strait, then the third task force will definitely be finished, and the sixth task force will catch up with the third task force to bury it! According to Gu Zhenyundi's character, it is impossible for him to make a quick judgment at this time, let alone make a decisive decision!

It wasn't until after 7:10 that the weather officer made a weather forecast for the new land. It is believed that there is a possibility of thunderstorms in the northern part of the strait. At this time, Gu Zhenyun was even more hesitant. Because this "possibility" is impossible, then who can be sure? More meteorological reconnaissance planes were dispatched. And after letting two meteorological officers take a meteorological reconnaissance plane to the north of the strait to investigate the weather changes, Gu Zhenyun ordered the fleet to turn to the 210 course. Obviously, at this time, Gu Zhenyun had succumbed to Tan Renhao's pressure, and he also began to believe in Chang Xindi's judgment. But the problem was that he was half an hour late in making this decision. Task Force 3 turned to ground just after 6:40 a.m., while Task Force 6 turned after 7:10 a.m. What's even worse is that at that time, Gu Zhenyun did not follow the shortest route to catch up with the Third Task Force, but went directly to the western waters of the strait. In this way, Task Force 6 will catch up with Task Force 3 at least twenty minutes late!

It was these decisions that ultimately cost Task Force 6 dearly. At 6:43 a.m., the 3rd Task Force turned to 340 at a speed of 30 miles north of the Gulf of Seine, France. At this rate, Task Force 6 could only enter below the thunderstorm clouds at 9:50 at the earliest. What's worse is that at 8:20 a.m., when the 3rd Task Force is about to enter the sea below the thunderstorm clouds, the 6th Task Force will be on the southwest course before the 3rd Task Force, and the distance between the two fleets is still about 30 nautical miles!

The situation was already very obvious, because the weather reconnaissance plane sent 20 minutes late was not accurate enough, and Gu Zhenyun hesitated on his own. and failing to grasp the main points when making the final decision. Task Force 6 will arrive in the wrong place at the wrong time!

At this time there were dozens of airports in the southern part of the British mainland. Unlike the Tang Empire fleet, which was coming from afar, the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy were very aware of the weather changes inside the Strait. In addition to a large number of geometeorological reconnaissance aircraft, all the ships flying the British flag operating in the strait are British army ground scouts. Therefore, long before dawn, the commander of the RAF Home Air Defense Command knew that the weather in the interior of the Strait would change rapidly, so after learning that the Home Flotilla of Summerville had been intercepted by the battleship fleet of the Tang Empire, the RAF began to prepare for battle before dawn.

The English Channel is not spacious, and any warplane can easily travel to and from within the channel. Because considering that there were several aircraft carriers in the Tang Imperial fleet, the British Royal Air Force did not dare to be careless and underestimate the enemy, and when preparing to bomb the ground, it not only let 200 "mosquito" bombers deployed at airfields in the southern region hang bombs and torpedoes, but also filled 200 fighters that were originally used to carry out local air defense missions with ammunition. Escort for these bombers .

Unexpectedly, when the British and Tang fleets were engaged in a fierce battle in the English Channel, the Luftwaffe bomber units, which had come to bomb British airfields almost every night, did not appear, so the RAF could prepare for the bombing without being disturbed. If the Luftwaffe had been fully dispatched that night to bomb and suppress the airfields in the southern part of the British mainland, then the British Royal Air Force would not be able to calmly carry out bombing preparations, and it would be difficult to quickly block the Tang Imperial fleet fleeing from the battlefield.

Similarly, because the main task force of Task Force 1 was to deal with the British aircraft carrier fleet in the Irish Sea, and even had entered Celtic Haiti, no bombers were sent against the British airfields. In addition, the Fifth Task Force did not send bombers to deal with the British home fleet, mainly because Jiang Zhongmin wanted to compete with Tan Renhao and wanted other bombers to take out the British aircraft carrier. By daybreak, only the Second Task Force had sent about 100 bombers to "visit" a dozen airfields in the southwestern part of the British mainland. At that time, the British bombers were preparing for the departure of these airfields, and the ground bombers of Task Force 2 arrived quite in time." The Falcon's ground speed advantage is so obvious that most of the emergency take-off interceptor fighters simply don't have time to deal with these fast tactical bombers. But the problem is that the bomber group sent by Task Force 2 is quite limited in size, and it only blew up a few small airfields in the southwestern part of Britain, and it did not threaten the British Movement area, that is, a large number of airfields near London, so it is impossible to blow up all the British Air Force bombers on the ground!

It was precisely because of the bombing of the Second Task Force after dawn that the RAF was nervous. Subsequently, the British Royal Air Force strengthened the deployment of ground air defense in the southern part of the mainland, first taking off from the airfield to deal with the bombers of the Tang Imperial fleet. Rather, it is a fighter that performs a local air defense patrol mission. This was delayed for nearly an hour, and at the same time. It also left the RAF with having to keep more fighters over the homeland. And it is not possible to perform the task of covering the bomber ground. Of course, within an hour, the "mosquito" bombers that had been confirmed to bomb the Tang Imperial fleet were all loaded with bombs and torpedoes, filled with fuel, and the pilots entered the cockpit. Just wait for the take-off command.

At 7:25 a.m., the first squadron of Mosquito bombers at Heathrow Airport, southwest of London, took off first. Within ten minutes, eight airfields around London, five around Portsmouth, and four around Bristol landed bombers, as well as fighter jets on escort missions.

So many bombers and fighters are impossible to act in unison. At that time, it was unlikely that the RAF ground command system would command so many ground fighters at the same time. Therefore, about 240 "Mosquito" bombers and 180 "Spitfire" and "Mustang" fighters took off from these airfields, forming a total of four formations, and headed separately in the direction of the location of the third task force.

The RAF ground counterattack began, but for one thing, the RAF did not know that there were two task forces operating in the Channel. Because the 6th Task Force was quite close to the 3rd Task Force and successfully blocked the escape sites of the "War Wey" and "Warriors", the RAF judged that the place of operation in the Channel was a task force. At the end of the battle. The RAF received telegrams from the cruisers where they had successfully escaped, and knew the approximate location of Task Force 3, and judged that Task Force 3 would flee southwest to avoid being bombed. All four groups of ground bombers were chasing down the route of Task Force 3 to the southwest. But at this time, the third task force had already turned, and it was sailing in the northwest direction, and the real route towards the third task force was the sixth task force!

Bad weather inside the strait has an impact on both sides. At dawn, a Royal Air Force seaplane sent out before dawn spotted Task Force 3. But then I lost it. As a result, before the departure of the bomber group, the RAF also sent several reconnaissance aircraft to the front to find the Don Imperial fleet. However, at that time, there was a lot of fog on the sea, and the visibility was only about five nautical miles. These reconnaissance planes were all flying along the route of the 3rd Task Force to escape from the Strait. By about 7:50. The reconnaissance plane reached the area where Task Force 3 turned to the ground, but after chasing dozens of nautical miles to the southwest, nothing was found. The reconnaissance plane was forced to turn around and continue to search the surrounding seas. At the same time, Task Force 6 was heading towards this area!

Too many coincidences, too many mistakes. It was precisely because of so many coincidences and mistakes that Task Force 6 was heading not in the direction of rendezvous with Task Force 3, but on the route towards the RAF bombers. At about eight o'clock, a British reconnaissance plane that had gone out to search for the place finally made a gain, and found a huge fleet coming from the south-east, and the reconnaissance plane quickly sent back a report, and the place it found was not the third task force, but the sixth task force of the third task force, and the third task force that it needed to find was about 30 nautical miles northwest of it!