Various factors on the battlefield affect the actions of the army, and among them, the judgment and decision-making of the commander is the most important factor. Commanders judge the opponent's actions based on intelligence and clues from all sides, so intelligence can be said to be a more important winning factor in a war than troops. A correct piece of information can often lead to a great victory, while a wrong piece of information can often lead to a complete defeat. And in many cases, some seemingly inconsequential intelligence can produce unexpected results.

In the "Battle of the Coral Sea," the US Navy misjudged that the Third Task Force supported the Marines in the rear for landing operations and did not go south to the Coral Sea, and as a result, it suffered the most painful defeat since it entered the war, and the three task forces were almost completely wiped out, and the Third Fleet was left with only an empty shelf.

And this time, although Tan Renhao did not receive a wrong piece of information, it could even be said to be an inconsequential piece of information, but in the end, it had a huge impact on his judgment.

From Tan Renhao's point of view, his worries at that time were completely justified. There were more than a dozen hours in the night, and even if Spruance had arranged for the U.S. shore-based fighters on Kauai to be transferred to Necke Island and Nihua Island after receiving the report of the submarine attack, he would have nearly five hours (in fact, less than four hours) of preparation time, during which time the fighters on Kauai Island would be able to complete the transfer work and prepare for battle after arriving at Nyhua Island and Necke Island. In addition, it is quite possible that Nimitz had already sent the fighters in the first half of the night (actually not, at that time Nimitz had arranged for the replenishment of combat aircraft for the Fifth Fleet first, rather than for the replenishment of fighters for Necke Island). and the strengthening of the ground aviation forces on the island of Nihua). As a result, at dawn, the First Task Force will probably have to face hundreds of US tactical bombers. Likewise. It is also possible that the Fifth Fleet will be replenished at night and maneuver to a favorable strike position. When the 1st Task Force faced the US shore-based bombers, he could launch a sneak attack and completely destroy the 1st Task Force.

All the conditions for a sneak attack that Spruance needed at that time were actually ripe, and as long as he expected Task Force 1 to move south, then he would be prepared. The "Gaoyou Lake" aircraft carrier squadron that had returned to its home was attacked by the US military. That was enough for Spruance to anticipate danger and give him several hours to prepare for battle. In this case, Tan Renhao did not dare to continue to take risks.

At that time, his most rational choice was to lead the First Task Force to flee for his life, and before dawn, the First Task Force was enough to run hundreds of nautical miles, and the US reconnaissance planes could not find him at all, and even if they did, it would be difficult for the US bombers to catch up. But he didn't want to give up hope of annihilating the Fifth Fleet because of this, and he only had one chance. If we don't take advantage of this opportunity to kill the Fifth Fleet, it will be like letting the tiger go home, and there will be no peace in the future. Even if the decision to move forward is risky. But he had to seize this opportunity, or rather, continue to create an opportunity to annihilate the Fifth Fleet.

In order to annihilate the Fifth Fleet, it is necessary to ensure the safety of the First Task Force first. This is why Tan Renhao asked Hao Dongjue to arrange for bombers to bomb the US military airfields on Nihua Island and Necke Island in the first place. Destroy the U.S. shore-based air first, and then have a fair duel with the Fifth Fleet. Even if Spruance can seize the opportunity, Tan Renhao is confident enough to take out the Fifth Fleet in a close match. Therefore, he arranged a large number of seaplanes to the sea where the Fifth Fleet was most likely to appear, and if the Fifth Fleet could be detected in time, perhaps he would be able to get a chance to attack first and win the final victory.

As time passed, Tan Renhao gradually calmed down. Hao Dongjue adjusted the bombing plan as quickly as possible. In order to ensure that the US airfields on the two islands could not be used during the day, Hao Dongjue divided the bombers of the two aircraft carriers into two groups to bomb the two islands respectively, and the time interval between the two groups of bombers arrived on the islands was within five minutes. This also reflects Hao Dongjue's excellence as an aviation tactician. Of course, in order to achieve the goal of simultaneous attacks, it is necessary to have sufficiently good pilots, especially the front-line commanders who lead the bomber group, and Task Force 1 has two such bomber pilots.

Yang Qinkai was responsible for leading 72 "water birds" and 36 "sea eagles" to bomb the US airfield on Nihua Island under the cover of 12 "falcons." The runway of this airport is not long, only about 800 meters, but there are many point targets on the island, especially anti-aircraft artillery positions, hangars and other targets that must be bombed accurately.

Qiu Gengbo was responsible for leading 60 "water birds" and 48 "sea eagles" to bomb the US airfield on Necke Island under the cover of 12 "falcons." The airfield had not been bombed before, the runway was about 1,200 meters long, and the island had numerous point-shaped targets that required precision bombing by dive bombers.

Relatively speaking, the number of escort fighters in the two groups is a bit small, but this is the maximum escort force that Tan Renhao can provide for the bomber group on the premise of ensuring the safety of the fleet. At that time, the fleet only had a total of 54 fighters, and Tan Renhao had to leave at least 30 air defense fighters for the fleet, and if there were few, it would be difficult to resist the enemy's attack. In addition, the key to the success of the entire bombing is the surprise attack, if the purpose of the surprise attack is not achieved, even if all the bombers are sent to escort the attack, the bombing may not be successful.

"It's all been arranged." Hao Dongjue is the most tired of the tens of thousands of soldiers in the fleet. "If all goes well, they'll be able to arrive at the same time ten to fifteen minutes before dawn, and the Yankees will be caught off guard."

Tan Renhao looked south, but he didn't speak. This is only the beginning, even if the bombing is successful, he still has to continue to look for the Fifth Fleet, and in Tan Renhao's eyes, the Fifth Fleet commanded by Spruance is the biggest threat.

"The reconnaissance plane will depart after about five o'clock and try to reach the area of the scheduled patrol before dawn, if Spruance is still there......"

"Dongjue, do you think we're taking too much risk this time?" Tan Renhao interrupted his partner's words.

Hao Dongjue hesitated, he didn't think about this problem at all when he was busy.

"What do you mean?"

"This time. We've had a lot of twists and turns, but we haven't taken advantage of it until now. Tan Renhao turned, "And now the fleet is between two islands. The Fifth Fleet is again to the south of us, perhaps. Isn't it too risky for us to run away from the possibility of escape? ”

"Adventure? I only know one thing, and that is to die and be born. Hao Dongjue smiled and patted his partner's shoulder, "I also know that you are under a lot of pressure this time, and the fleet is fighting for your life." But do you know why I've been supporting you? ”

Tan Renhao looked at his brother-in-law, and he felt that Hao Dongjue had matured a lot.

"Because I've always thought that Spruance is a terrible opponent, and whether we can kill him this time or not, we'll have to reimburse those American aircraft carriers. In the hands of a commander like Spruance, even a small aircraft carrier is a big enough threat to us, and we can't give him the slightest chance to use his abilities, and there are only two ways. One is to get rid of him, and the other is to knock out all the aircraft carriers in his hands and make him the commander of the light pole. Hao Dongjue held it in one hand. He lit a cigarette on the side, "Even if our actions are very risky now, I believe that we can always achieve a goal." Even if we weren't sure we could blow him up, as long as the Fifth Fleet was destroyed, Spruance would have to stay in Pearl Harbor and not be able to cause us any more trouble. ”

"It looks like only one of our two fleets will be able to return to its home port this time."

"It's definitely us." Hao Dongjue slowly spit out the cigarette, "Don't think about it so much, I'll arrange the departure of the fleet, and the fleet will start to turn at five o'clock."

At five o'clock, when the two aircraft carriers began to turn and prepare for the bombers to take off, the seaplanes on the escort cruisers set off first. At that time, all 42 seaplanes on more than a dozen cruisers in the fleet went to patrol the waters south of Nihua Island in search of the Fifth Fleet. The seaplanes were divided into two groups, the first of which set out at 5 o'clock and focused on searching the waters of Nihua Island, which stretched 30 to 80 nautical miles south and 50 nautical miles east and west, which was the most likely area for the Fifth Fleet. The second group, which departed at around 5:40 a.m., was to head directly south for a covered search to ascertain that the Fifth Fleet was not heading north at night and was approaching the 1st Task Force. These reconnaissance tasks were directly arranged by Hao Dongjue, and he even assigned specific tasks to each seaplane pilot.

The two aircraft carriers began to accelerate, and at this time, the "Xingkaihu" aircraft carrier had 134 fighters on board, 14 more than the maximum number of aircraft rated for carrying aircraft. The "Hongzehu" aircraft carrier has 136 fighters, 16 more than the maximum number of rated aircraft. It is precisely because of this that the flight deck of the aircraft carrier is full of fighters, and in order to make these fighters take off smoothly, in addition to letting the aviation service personnel arrange the placement of the fighters as reasonably as possible, it is also necessary to let the aircraft carrier sail at full speed against the wind, and arrange the take-off sequence of the bombers as reasonably as possible, so as to shorten the time for the group to be dispatched. Without excellent aviation service personnel and the officers and men of the fleet (some of the officers and men on the aircraft carriers are specially responsible for assisting the aviation units), it would be impossible for the aircraft to take off normally on the crowded flight deck.

In order to avoid exposing the fleet, the navigation lights on the aircraft carrier were turned off, and only the bombers on the flight deck could be faintly seen. Tan Renhao felt a little strange, are these aviation service personnel all night owls? You can see your surroundings clearly even in the dark of night. But this was not the most important thing, at 5:15, the first "water bird" roared out of the flight deck of the aircraft carrier "Xingkai Lake", which was the landline of Colonel Qiu Gengbo.

At this time, Tan Renhao returned to the command cabin, and several officers in charge of navigation operations (commanded by the navigation staff officers) were marking the sailing route of the fleet on the chart. According to the Navy's operational regulations, when performing combat missions, the fleet will mark its course every 10 minutes to determine the fleet's position, course, speed, and other important parameters, and this will be an important reference factor for the fleet commander when directing operations in the future.

At this time, the fleet was located only 120 nautical miles from Nihua Island and 210 nautical miles from Necker Island, in the middle of the two islands. Tan Renhao didn't know that the Fifth Fleet commanded by Spruance was about 20 degrees east-south, about 250 nautical miles away from the First Task Force, and at this time, the Fifth Fleet was carrying out replenishment operations and had not yet left the supply area!

"General, we are now in combat sailing mode?" The nautical staff officer came over.

"Yes, let's do what we planned." Tan Renhao nodded, and then stood next to the chart table.

The officers were marking the flight route of the reconnaissance plane on the chart, and to be precise, the real-time position of the reconnaissance plane. Tan Renhao looked up at the navigation clock, it was almost half past five, the reconnaissance planes had set off for about half an hour, and they had already flown 80 nautical miles south, and the second batch of reconnaissance planes would start taking off in 10 minutes.

By 5:40 a.m., all the bombers led by Qiu Gengbo had left the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, and after the group had completed its formation over the fleet, it immediately flew toward Necke Island according to the predetermined plan. Then, the bombers led by Yang Qinkai took off one after another. Because the fleet was closer to Nihua Island, Yang Qinkai's fleet had to set off a little later, so that the two groups could reach the target at the same time. It is precisely because of this that when designing the route of the fleet, it is necessary to take into account the position of the fleet when the bombers depart, otherwise it is difficult to launch a surprise strike at the same time.

By the time it was past six o'clock, all the bombers had left the carrier. Then, the fighters responsible for the air defense of the fleet began to take off one after another, and the air defense fighters left behind by Tan Renhao were all deployed within a 120-degree sector to the south of the fleet, and these fighters would arrive in the patrol airspace one after another around half past six. This is also the last air defense fighter of the fleet.

"Are you going to dinner?" After all the planes had taken off, Hao Dongjue returned to the command cabin.

"Let's go, fill your stomach first." Tan Renhao glanced at the staff officer, followed Hao Dongjue out of the command cabin, and then said, "Go and arrange the personnel, send a cup of coffee to each staff officer, if it is stronger, I will treat you." ”

"You're in for a treat?" Hao Dongjue laughed, "Come on, why don't you have a treat." ”

Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, so he didn't say anything more, maybe after they came back from breakfast, there would be news.