While the fleet was maneuvering at night, the reports of the battle on Midway were constantly coming. When the Second Task Force arrived in the theater, in order to facilitate the fleet to provide support to the Marine Corps, a special communication channel was established between the fleet and the Marine Corps, so that Han Shaofeng could directly send the battle situation to Lei Shaoqing without going through the theater headquarters once.

The Marine offensive did not relax during the night, and Han Shaofeng sent the last two battalions of reserves up in the evening, and its main point of attack was the weakest section of the American defensive line.

The battle has lasted for more than 10 hours, and the soldiers on both sides are fighting desperately on the battlefield, and many officers and soldiers have been fighting from morning to night, and they have not even had time to drink saliva. On this battlefield, which is two kilometers long and only a few hundred meters wide, thousands of officers and soldiers are moving between trenches, tunnels, and fortresses. Often, soldiers on both sides come into contact at a distance of less than 20 meters, followed by a fierce fire. Often both sides are red with bayonets, and when it is too late to change the magazine, they have to use bayonets and daggers to kill each other.

By evening, the Marines had advanced nearly 300 meters at this point, and the Americans were left with the last line of defense, and behind them were bare beaches. There is no way to defend on the beach, and if they retreat, the Tang Imperial Marines will cut off the defense area of the US army, complete the tactical interspersing and division operations, and finally divide and annihilate them.

Under these circumstances, the U.S. forces launched a large-scale counterattack in the evening, and thousands of U.S. Marines moved through the trenches and tunnels. It drilled out of the underground fortifications and pressed towards the salient of the Tang Imperial Marine Corps front. The battle was extremely fierce at this time, with more than 2,000 officers and soldiers on both sides less than 500 meters wide. The battlefield less than 390 meters long was scuffled, and the artillery on both sides did not dare to open fire indiscriminately. Because the soldiers on both sides were so close that even mortar ground shells could easily injure their own people.

Han Shaofeng also sent the reserves of the last two battalions at this time, and he only explained one sentence to the two battalion commanders, that is, to climb to the beach and completely separate the American troops. Prepare for the next annihilation of those thousands of U.S. troops on the northeast corner of the island.

Two battalions, more than 500 Marines (all of whom were under-manned) were all equipped with submachine guns, each with ten spare magazines, eight grenades (the Marine standard is four per person, more than the Army), a pistol per person (only officers were equipped with pistols in normal times), a dagger, and a broadsword. Before leaving, Han Shaofeng asked people to bring dozens of jars of soju. Originally, these wines were intended to be drunk after the victory celebrations, but now Fu Shaofeng had a bowl poured for each "daredevil", and he saluted these officers and soldiers first. More than 500 "daredevils" drank all the shochu in their bowls.

While the alcohol was still billowing in the stomach and the heat was just filling the body, more than 500 warriors rushed to the battlefield without hesitation.

Later, director Zhang Da of the empire also made a movie based on this battle. The name of the film is "Five Hundred Warriors", and it won more than ten awards at the Golden Flower Film Festival that year, which is also the largest film festival in the world. The film was a box office record at the time, and when the film was first released, two survivors of the battle were in attendance. At that time, only 13 of the 528 warriors survived, and all of them were carried off the battlefield after the battle, 3 of them were captured by the American army and returned to the empire after the war, and only 5 saw the end of the war.

You can imagine how fierce the battle was at that time. Both sides of the war know how important this battlefield of about 0.1 square kilometers is. While Han Shaofeng threw his last reserves into battle, the reserves of the U.S. Army also joined the battle. At dusk, the setting sun dyed the battlefield red, and when the sky darkened, the burning fire illuminated the battlefield. The gunfire continued, and the artillery on both sides (mainly mortars, on Midway, there was no place for heavy artillery) was also sparing no effort to shell the rear of the opposing line to prevent the other side from reinforcing the front line.

Han Shaofeng has been waiting in the command post on the front line, he has sent out the last combat troops, he has ordered to arm the wounded who volunteered to fight, he has made all the engineers take up arms, as well as medical officers, signal troops, aviation service personnel on the island, and so on.

As long as they were able to pick up their rifles, the officers and soldiers who went to the battlefield were armed. If the reserves of these two battalions are not yet able to win the victory, then he will lead the non-combatants in a final attack. Han Shaofeng was not the first to fall on the battlefield, but he had already decided that if this was destined to be his destination, then he would be the last to fall.

The fierce battle lasted from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and when two red flares appeared over the battlefield, Fu Shaofeng was the first to rush out of the front-line command post. That's a sign of victory, that's a signal from the "death squads" after they have completed their mission. He was then forcibly dragged back by the guards. These two red flares are also a signal for an offensive on the whole front, and other officers and men on the front will launch an offensive on the whole front after seeing these two signal flares.

After dividing the American forces, the Marine offensive began in full swing. At the southern end of the battle line, more than 4,000 officers and men of the three regiments of the Marine Corps were stubbornly guarding the defensive line, and constantly infiltrated the American defense line, disintegrating the American offensive, delaying the US army's offensive preparations, and delaying time with active defense. In the middle of the battle line, the "death squads" who had completed their tasks continued to hold on to the defensive line, not only to resist the breakthrough of the American troops from the north to the south, but also to prevent the American troops from the south from reinforcing from the north. At the height of the fight, these warriors even took up the enemy's weapons to fight. In the northern section of the front, more than 5,000 Marines of the three regiments rushed out of the trenches one after another and launched the final and most fierce attack on the divided American troops. Their mission was to annihilate the American force before dawn and then reinforce the rest of the line.

It was at this time that Han Shaofeng sent the telegram, he had completed the most critical step, and the morale of the US army had been greatly hit, although the US army had not been completely annihilated in the separated area. But he was quite sure that he would complete the combat operation at night, and after dawn he turned to the defensive, waiting for reinforcements to arrive on the tenth day. Then it will capture the US airfield in the southeast of the island and complete the combat mission of capturing Midway.

The fighting on the island is still raging. It didn't stop all night. In this day's battle, Han Shaofeng completed the advance line at the huge cost of more than 8,000 casualties, divided the operation of the American army, and annihilated more than 6,000 American officers and soldiers in the battle (this is counted after the war).

Victory is beckoning to the Imperial Marines, before victory is achieved. No one knows if the tide of battle will suddenly turn.

Lei Shaoqing has been paying attention to the battle on Midway Island, and the fierce fighting on the island is like a catalyst in a chemical reaction, or a stimulant. The more intense the fighting on the island, the sooner the American fleet will appear, and the more likely it is that Task Force 2 will defeat the opponent. Of course, the more likely you are to be defeated by your opponents. The gunfire and cannon on the island are like the beating drums of war, and the drumbeat becomes more and more dense, and the pace of the soldiers on the battlefield will become faster and faster.

"The reconnaissance mission has been arranged."

Lei Shaoqing was stunned for a moment, and then turned around. "What?"

"I've already put on a reconnaissance mission." Zheng Guanhua repeated the opening words, and Lei Shaoqing was watching the battle on Midway. While thinking about how to fight the US fleet, Zheng Guanhua was deploying a reconnaissance mission. "The reconnaissance plane set off at six o'clock, and we focused on searching the waters north and northeast of the team. Other than that. I left about 10 reconnaissance planes to the west and sent a number of seaplanes to search the southeast of the team. ”

"Are the pilots ready?" Lei Shaoqing returned to the command cabin, and he had already smoked several cigarettes outside.

"It's all ready, the bombers will be ready by six o'clock. As soon as there is news, it will be dispatched immediately. Zheng Guanhua also followed, "Now only the approximate mission is arranged, and I will arrange the details before the bomber group departs." ”

"Very good, this is a few battle reports sent by Han Shaofeng." Lei Shaoqing gave Zheng Guanhua the telegrams placed on the chart table, "The Marine Corps has won a preliminary victory, and the commander of the US army must have sent an urgent telegram for help, so it is very likely that the US fleet will appear over Midway Island early tomorrow morning." The Marine Corps will try their best to cooperate, and Han Shaofeng has already made the reconnaissance planes on the island ready to take off. He will let us know as soon as there is news. ”

"Then we can only wait now, hoping that there is no mistake in judgment."

Lei Shaoqing sat down, and then took out a cigarette. This time, they judged that the U.S. military would appear to the north or even northwest of Midway. Therefore, the fleet has been sailing in this direction.

When Zheng Guanhua arranged the reconnaissance plane, he also took these two directions as the key search directions. But the problem is that it is very likely that the U.S. fleet will not appear north of Midway, but to the east of Midway, or even to the southeast. The reason is simple: if the U.S. fleet is not maneuvering, and the ultimate goal is not to annihilate the second task force, but only to assist the Marines in holding Midway, then there is no need to venture into the waters north of Midway. Of course, the premise of this situation is that the main force of the US military has already moved south, and Tan Renhao's judgment is completely wrong.

Any situation can arise on the battlefield, and Tan Renhao's judgment is only very valuable, and it is impossible to prove that his judgment is correct before the US fleet appears, or before it is discovered. It's like at the time of the Second Battle of Wake Island, no one expected Spruance's fleet to get so close. When Tan Renhao attacked Fletcher, Fletcher would not have known that the First Task Force had reached the sea so close to Guam. The battlefield is like a casino, no one knows how big the cards in the opponent's hand are before the hole cards are turned over, and when the hole cards are turned over, the winner or loser has already been decided.

Thinking of this, Lei Shaoqing hesitated a little. If the purpose of the U.S. military this time was only to cover Midway, then what they are doing now is to keep the Marines sacrificed, and after the U.S. fleet enters the battle, the Marine offensive is likely to fail. Task Force 2 missed the best chance to support the Marines for victory.

"General Lei, I heard that you and General Tan are fellow villagers and have been good friends since childhood, right?"

Lei Shaoqing glanced at the chief of staff, then nodded with a smile. "Back then, I dragged him to apply for the Naval Officers Academy, how do you ask this question?"

"Perhaps, I don't know much about General Tan, after all, not long after I arrived at the First Special Mixed Forces, General Tan was transferred." Zheng Guanhua took the cigarette handed by Lei Shaoqing, "However, I believe that General Tan's judgment is not wrong." Judging from the many naval battles he had commanded before, General Tan's instinctive judgment was quite accurate, and sometimes I even wondered if he had the ability to predict the future. This time, General Tan issued a clear warning, and it was a very reasonable warning, and we should not have doubts. ”

Lei Shaoqing was stunned for a moment, and then laughed. "I'm not suspicious, I believe in him, he dragged me into Task Force 1 back then. Of course, we can't rule out other possibilities. ”

"We'll find out soon." Zheng Guanhua lit a cigarette, "Maybe tomorrow morning, we will receive the news, and we only need to wait a few hours." I also wonder if the U.S. fleet is likely to be in the waters east of Midway, but that doesn't mean there are no enemies to our north. ”

"You're saying there's a good chance that Spruance will split the two fleets?"

Zheng Guanhua nodded slightly. "This may be small, but it's definitely there. The U.S. military has suffered a lot of losses in the division of troops before, but as an excellent general, he will definitely make reasonable arrangements according to the actual situation on the battlefield, and if there are greater benefits to the division of troops, he will definitely do so. ”

Lei Shaoqing laughed, but he didn't laugh a few times, and his expression became serious. "Then, we should also make judgments based on the actual situation on the battlefield."

Zheng Guanhua kept smoking and didn't say anything more. He had already seen that Lei Shaoqing was a little shaken, but he knew very well that now was definitely not the time to shake. Until the enemy's fleet is dealt with, the battle on Midway is only secondary, and the battle at sea is the key to victory!