On the 25th, the 4th Task Force reached the sea area about 400 nautical miles northwest of Wake Island, and Huang Xiaotian did not immediately ask the 4th Task Force to rush to Midway Island, but was prepared to figure out what Spruance was doing before making a decision. By the evening of the same day, Liao Hanxiang had sent several telegrams in succession, and each one was very important.

The first telegram was delivered at noon, a submarine on patrol duty spotted the Fifth Fleet returning eastward, the submarine discovered the Fifth Fleet in the second half of the night of the 24th, followed the Fifth Fleet for several hours, abandoned the tracking in the early morning of the 25th, and sent the telegram back at about 11 o'clock in the morning of the same day after it was determined to leave the radio detection range of the Fifth Fleet.

At that time, the submarine was tasked with patrolling the waters east of Wake Island, and it was the southernmost ship of the submarine cordon. On the morning of the 24th, the captain of the submarine received the news of the bombing of Kwajalein Atoll and Majuro Atoll, and learned that the Fifth Fleet had slipped through the submarine cordon. Therefore, the submarine sailed south immediately after receiving the telegram. The submarine commander's judgment was that the Fifth Fleet might return to Pearl Harbor after completing the attack, and even if this was not very likely, it was better than staying in the north, trying his luck in the south, and maybe he could send a few torpedoes to several American aircraft carriers at close range, and if he could blow up an aircraft carrier, then he would become an "imperial hero."

The Lieutenant Commander's idea was indeed crazy, and when he dreamed of a sneak attack on the Fifth Fleet, he certainly did not think about how he would escape from the encirclement of the American destroyers after firing the torpedo, and the result was. He didn't have much chance of enjoying the preferential treatment of the "Hero of the Empire", but was buried in the mud of the sea at a depth of thousands of meters, along with his precious submarine and more than forty of his men! But it was this "crazy" major who finally found the Fifth Fleet.

For several hours at night, the Captain Lieutenant must have managed to get close to the carriers of the Fifth Fleet, get into the best torpedo range, and then fire the torpedoes. But the more than 30 destroyers in the Fifth Fleet discouraged him, and he didn't dare to approach them at all. It could only be followed, and it had to make several rapid dives to evade the mobile patrol destroyer. The Lieutenant was not able to make a successful sneak attack on the Fifth Fleet, but he sent back the most valuable information.

From the information sent back by the submarine, it is likely that the Fifth Fleet is returning to Pearl Harbor, even if Spruance does not plan to return to Pearl Harbor. That would also be somewhere, most likely, to rendezvous with the supply fleet near Johnston Reef to refuel those destroyers with short ranges, as well as light cruisers, to replenish ammunition for aircraft carriers, and to receive replenishment of combat aircraft when approaching the Hawaiian Islands.

It was on the basis of this information that Liao Hanxiang judged that it would be impossible for the Fifth Fleet to return to the battlefield within five days, threatening the Fourth Task Force. Therefore, Task Force 4 did not need to rush to Midway, but could first rendezvous with the supply fleet to replenish the fleet, and allow the officers and men of the fleet to get a short rest, adjust their condition, and prepare for the next battle.

The second telegram was sent at about 4 p.m., and it was also a submarine reconnaissance report, and only one point of the intelligence content was that the US rapid combat support fleet had left Pearl Harbor and was sailing southwest. This confirms Liao's inference from a previous submarine reconnaissance report that the Fifth Fleet will definitely replenish fuel and ammunition somewhere before carrying out the next phase of combat operations.

Compared to the major captain who dreamed of sinking an American aircraft carrier. This time, the submarine commander who "bumped into" the US Rapid Combat Support Fleet had much better luck. This submarine spotted the US Rapid Combat Support Fleet leaving Pearl Harbor before dawn on the 25th, and took advantage of the fact that the sky was still before dawn to make a beautiful "fan" at a distance of about 2 nautical miles from the US fleet, firing all six torpedoes mounted in the bow torpedo tubes, and then urgently dived to a depth of 150 meters, and quickly maneuvered sideways to avoid being attacked by depth charges that were very likely to be attacked. As a result, when the American destroyer arrived, the listener on the submarine accurately judged the sound of two torpedo explosions. It is confirmed that at least two combat support ships of the US military were hit. At the same time, the sound of the ship's hull breaking was heard, and the listener even assured that he heard the sinking of the ship. The sound of the hull being crushed by the sea, except that the Navy will not confirm that the submarine sank two U.S. fast combat support ships. Then, the US destroyer frantically searched the nearby waters, dropping hundreds of depth charges indiscriminately before leaving. The submarine hid under the surface of the sea until about 3 p.m. before coming to the surface, after which a telegram was sent. At this time, there was no trace of American warships on the sea, so the submarine's sinking of two American fast combat support ships was not confirmed until after the end of the war, when the US Navy's battle loss files were obtained, and the captain of the boat was posthumously awarded a medal.

After Huang Xiaotian and Yan Yulong discussed it, they also made the same inference, the Fifth Fleet had temporarily withdrawn from the battle, and it was impossible to return to the battlefield in the short term, let alone threaten the Fourth Task Force. And this is the fundamental basis for Huang Xiaotian's subsequent decision.

A third telegram arrived in the evening, and this telegram had nothing to do with the activities of the Fifth Fleet, but with the bombing of Gardner and Leysan by the American forces.

Since the 23rd, US heavy bombers have been bombing the airfields on the two islands. By the 25th, it was confirmed that the US military had put in at least 300 B17s and 200 B24 bombers. In addition, the U.S. military also deployed a large number of F4U and F6F fighters on the islands of Necker and Nihua in the east to escort heavy bombers. On the night of the 24th, the US military also organized a night bombing, because it was not able to transfer the night fighters to the front-line airfields in time, so there was no fighter escort for this bombing operation, but in the same way, the Imperial Navy aviation did not deploy night fighters on the front line, and it was not able to intercept the US bomber group.

Under the bombing of US bombers sparing no effort, Han Shaofeng has already deployed all tactical bombers and long-range reconnaissance planes on Gardner Island and Lysan Island. Even long-range water patrol aircraft withdrew to Midway. Due to the limited capacity of Midway Island, a group of long-range reconnaissance planes were forced to fly back to the Mariana Islands.

The US military's wanton and indiscriminate bombing also proves that the US military's next plan is to attack Midway Island and concentrate all the forces it can concentrate on attacking Midway. Therefore, in the telegram, Liao Hanxiang added a point, that is, after the Fifth Fleet completed the supply work. It is likely that the transfer will be to Midway, so that the Fourth Task Force will prepare to go to Midway Island to face the Fifth Fleet.

This is exactly what Huang Xiaotian and Yan Yulong thought. The US military's intention to counterattack could not be more obvious, and Midway Island will become the focus of contention between the two sides, and will also become the center of confrontation between the Fourth Task Force and the Fifth Fleet. And prepare for the battle in advance. Just as the two men decided to have the fleet rush to Midway overnight, the fourth and final telegram arrived just after seven o'clock, and Task Force 4's actions were reversed.

To be precise, this was not a telegram, but an order from Liao Hanxiang, and the order was simple, the 4th Task Force arrived in the waters near Midway Island by the 28th, and before that. We should concentrate our forces on bombing Wake Island again, forcing the US military to disperse its forces to consolidate the defense of Wake Island before attacking Midway, and the focus of the bombing is the two desalination plants that the US military has just built, as well as the US fuel depot and ammunition depot!

"It's just a joke, let's go bomb Wake Island now. This simply does not conform to the fundamental principles of the campaign. Yan Yulong was very annoyed, and what annoyed him the most was that Liao Hanxiang had promised not to interfere in the fleet's combat operations, but now he directly sent a combat order, isn't this a reversal?

Huang Xiaotian smiled and shook his head. "General Liao Hanxiang is the commander of the theater of operations. And he definitely needs to consider all kinds of factors, since we have to bomb Wake Island, it must have a purpose, and it can also produce good results. ”

"The effect? What effect does this have? Yan Yulong sighed.

"Let the fleet turn, I'm going to arrange the bombing operation now, and the first round of bombing will begin at dawn." Huang Xiaotian patted Yan Yulong on the shoulder, "You are in charge of the voyage of the fleet, and you must maneuver in place before dawn, maybe." We were also able to complete the mission ahead of schedule, so that the officers and men could have a chance to recuperate. ”

"Okay. I first designed a new course, and in half an hour I turned the fleet. Yan Yulong just complained, he knew that Huang Xiaotian would not disobey Liao Hanxiang's order.

Huang Xiaotian really would not disobey Liao Hanxiang's order, not because Liao Hanxiang was the commander of the theater, nor because Liao Hanxiang was Tan Renhao's father-in-law, but because he knew very well the meaning of bombing Wake Island at this time.

The U.S. convoy arrived at Wake Island on the morning of the 25th, when Huang Xiaotian wanted to sneak attack the convoy, but in the end, because he did not know the whereabouts of the Fifth Fleet and was afraid of being ambushed by the Fifth Fleet, Huang Xiaotian did not take this risk. After he received the news that the Fifth Fleet had gone east, he had this idea again, but just as he was about to plan the bombing operation, several other telegrams from Liao Hanxiang came one after another, and at the same time, the fleet was still a certain distance from Wake Island, and it was not very clear whether to bomb Wake Island, so Huang Xiaotian did not rush to make a decision. It wasn't until the evening that he received the third telegram that Huang Xiaotian decided that he should approach Wake Island at night and then bomb Wake Island at dawn tomorrow. As a result, just when he was about to tell Yan Yulong about this idea, Liao Hanxiang's order was sent, which also made Huang Xiaotian not need to bother to explain his judgment to Yan Yulong, he only needed to directly implement Liao Hanxiang's order.

Judging from the situation on the battlefield at that time, Wake Island was indeed unhindered. Nimitz's convoy has already delivered two desalination units to U.S. forces on Wake Island, as well as about 5,000 tons of fresh water, 20,000 tons of diesel, and tens of thousands of tons of ammunition. This was enough for the American troops on the island to hold out for several months. In addition, the US military is also using the engineering equipment it has just obtained to repair the airfield on the island and prepare to put into use the fighter planes that were sent together. These measures of the U.S. military did not increase the importance of Wake Island, and the next battlefield was Midway, and Wake Island is 2,000 kilometers away from Midway, even if the U.S. military deployed heavy bombers on Wake Island, it would be difficult to have much impact on the fighting on Midway.

The only advantage of bombing Wake Island is to force the US military to dispatch a fleet again to transport necessary daily necessities for the US troops on Wake Island and to disperse the US counterattack forces, because after all, the transport fleet is also an important component of the counterattack force and a key unit in the logistics support of the troops. However, in order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to ensure the destruction of the desalination plant, and at the same time to blow up the temporary freshwater warehouse of the American army and destroy the ammunition and supplies. After the last bombing, the US military will definitely be more vigilant, closely protect the desalination facilities, and at the same time disperse the fresh water reserves. Therefore, it is difficult for the bombing campaign to be fully successful. And that's just a question.

In terms of time, it will only take two to three days at most for the US military to put the airfield on the island into operation, so if we want to successfully bomb Wake Island, we must start before the US military repairs the airfield and blow up the US engineering equipment, making it impossible to repair the airfield. This required the fleet to bomb Wake Island on the 26th or 27th, and if it reached the waters near Midway Island on the 28th, it could only start on the morning of the 26th, and on the morning of the 26th, and evacuate Wake Island on the afternoon of the 26th, ending the bombing campaign on Wake Island.

That night, Huang Xiaotian had taken these two issues into account when planning the bombing campaign, and what he needed most was intelligence, even if it was a photo taken by a submarine near the island. Just as Huang Xiaotian had hoped, at four o'clock in the morning, a long-range water patrol plane caught up with the Fourth Task Force and sent a large stack of photographs, indeed taken by submarines near the islands, and the intelligence officers even clearly marked the locations of the main targets such as desalination devices, ammunition depots, food warehouses, barracks, and medical stations.

With this information, it is much easier to arrange bombing missions. Because the bombing operation could only be carried out in the morning, and the fleet had to turn to the waters near Midway Island in the afternoon, Huang Xiaotian mobilized all the bombers in the fleet, and even the fighters had to hang bombs to carry out the bombing mission, and he was ready to give Wake Island a "devastating" strike!