On January 1, 24, the first shot was fired in the attack on the Mariana Islands. In the morning of the same day, six battleships of the Third Task Force that had maneuvered to the northwest of Asunción and the heavy guns of the eight heavy cruisers opened fire together, firing the first row of shells that opened the battle.

Two battalions of marines, ordered to capture Asunción, went ashore in landing craft after three hours of shelling. Asunción is the outpost of the U.S. military in the Mariana Islands, and there is only one company of less than 100 Marines deployed on it, and this Marine company is tasked with guarding the radar station on the island.

The battle ended at noon, and after more than thirty casualties, the rest of the American troops raised their white flags, laid down their arms, walked out of the hidden trenches, and surrendered to the commander of the Tang Imperial Marine Corps, who had surrounded them. In the evening, Asunción arrived in Asunción with a fleet of twelve transports, mainly large barges, with a shipment of extremely important supplies and equipment. The number of Imperial Marines who landed on Asunción that day had reached 1,200, including 600 engineers. Beginning that night, the Marines built an airstrip on the island for the take-off and landing of HNA fighters and tactical bombers.

The attack of the Marines and the 3rd Task Force was very sharp, and it was more daring than Tan Renhao expected. Instead of acting as a barrier for the Marines, the 3rd Task Force approached Asunción Island directly, providing the Marines with full fire support. As a result, several large-scale air battles broke out between the Don Empire and the US naval aviation in the skies over the island that day.

The first round of air combat broke out an hour and 40 minutes after the 3rd Task Force began shelling. A group of more than thirty bombers, all B-17 heavy bombers, attacked Task Force 3. Most of the bombers were not able to drop their bombs, because before Task Force 3 began shelling, one squadron of Hayabusa fighters was patrolling over it, and another squadron of Hayabusa fighters was approaching. In order to ensure the safety of the 3rd Task Force, the Imperial Naval Air Force Fighter Unit deployed on Iwo Jima Islands on the Ogasawara Islands mobilized six squadrons of Hayabusa fighters to provide air defense cover for the 3rd Task Force in turn. Under the heavy attack of the fighters, eight B-17s were shot down and six returned with wounds. In the end, only seven B-17s were dropped over the fleet. These bombers dropped bombs at an altitude of 5,500 meters, and as a result, hundreds of bombs did not hit!

Before noon, a group of U.S. Navy F4F bombers covering torpedoes and bombs came over again. This time, the American bombers were going to hit not only the Third Task Force, but also the landing ships that were parked on the surface of the sea, as well as the Imperial Marines who had already landed. Similarly, at this time, the number of Fayabusa fighters participating in air defense operations has increased to two squadrons. The fighters of both sides exchanged fire first, and the performance of the "Falcon" was much better than that of the F4F (the performance of the F4F was between that of the "Sparrowhawk" and the "Vulture". A little worse than the "Vultures") 36 "Falcons" soon killed more than 40 "Wild Cats" to the point that they lost their armor and fled. Another squadron of Falcon fighters, which intercepted the bombers, was also quickly killed. The air battle was fierce, and although most of the bombers were shot down between bombs, or they hurriedly dropped bombs and torpedoes and fled, some bombers took advantage of the chaos to break through the interception of fighters and attack the warships on the sea. The anti-aircraft artillery of the Third Task Force was no worse than that of the other task forces (especially those newly commissioned battleships, which had been strengthened at the time of their construction, and their air defense capabilities far surpassed those of the large "Li Jing"-class anti-aircraft cruisers at that time, and were the most ferocious anti-aircraft ships in the Imperial Navy). And the ground bombers were not shot down, and the warships of the 3rd Task Force were not threatened. After losing nearly 50 warplanes, the American fleet fled, and the result was only two landing craft sunk. Another bomb that landed on the island killed several Marines and soldiers.

The most intense combat air battle that took place at three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day. After knowing that the Tang Empire was deploying more marines to Asunción Island and also transporting a large amount of supplies to Asunción Island, the US military guessed that the Tang Empire was preparing to build Asunción into a front-line offensive base. And Asunción is about 350 nautical miles from Guam and about 250 nautical miles from Saipan, and if the Tang Empire deploys fighter jets on Asunción, then these fighters can perform combat patrols over Guam for an hour and a half, and over Saipan for two hours. This is actually equivalent to allowing the Tang Empire to obtain air supremacy over the Mariana Islands without dispatching an aircraft carrier fleet. Subsequently, the artillery fleet of the Don Empire could freely enter and leave the waters near the Mariana Islands, and the marines of the Tang Empire could depart from here. They marched south, attacked the city, and finally landed on Guam, completely driving the American army out of the Mariana Islands.

The battle for Asunción was directly related to the outcome of the entire Mariana Islands campaign. The commander of the U.S. army was not stupid, although the U.S. military did not have the ability to send marines to fight the Tang Empire Marines for the island at that time, but they could delay time, and they could force the Tang Empire fleet to retreat by bombing, and then send the Marines over. Therefore, at noon on the same day. It was also when the second batch of American bombers was fighting fiercely with the fighters of the Tang Empire, and the US commanders concentrated 120 bombers and nearly 80 fighters, preparing to launch a fatal blow against the third task force of the Tang Empire and the fleet that was transporting supplies to the island.

The focus of this round of bombing was on the transport flotilla, not on Task Force 3. Yan Shiqi also expected that the U.S. military would frantically attack the convoy at this time, so after the fierce battle at noon, the third task force moved further south, reaching the sea about five nautical miles from Asunción Island, and he also sent four heavy cruisers to protect the transport ships. Of course, Yan Shiqi did not forget the most critical thing, that is, to call the shore-based fighter unit of the HNA and let the HNA ensure that there are two fighter squadrons in the sky above the fleet to carry out combat patrol missions, and one squadron is on the way (within 80 nautical miles) As a result, when the US bomber group arrives, they will not face two squadrons of "Falcon" fighters, but three squadrons!

At 3:05, the first group of American planes was detected by radar on a heavy cruiser covering the transport fleet. Five minutes later, the first squadron of "Hayabusa" fighters who received the call to kill encountered two squadrons (the U.S. squadron is usually only 24 squadrons) F4F. The battle immediately began, and the two sides did not differ much in size, the performance of the "Falcon" fighters. And the quality of the fighter pilots of the Tang Empire once again dominated the sky, and the "Wildcat" did not even have a chance to escape (the ultimate speed of the F4F was almost 55 knots lower than that of the "Falcon"), fifteen minutes later, the American bomber group and another squadron and a half squadron of F4F arrived, and at this time the other two squadrons of the "Falcon" type, which were responsible for the air defense of the fleet, had also arrived. Perhaps what should be admired most in this battle is not the number of American aircraft in the fleet, but the courage of American pilots. In the face of a strong enemy (more than a little stronger) and a huge gap in the performance of fighters, most US pilots showed the courage that they needed most as a soldier. But courage is not the most critical factor in determining victory or defeat, when the difference in strength is too huge. Courage often brings death, not victory.

The air battle was fought from 3 o'clock to 3:50 p.m., and many US military pilots gave up the opportunity to return home (after nearly 50 minutes of fierce fighting, most of the US fighters did not have enough fuel to return home), and many US bomber pilots stubbornly completed the process of impacting, diving (horizontal rapid flight), and dropping bombs (throwing mines). The warships of the Don Empire also suffered huge losses. In this fierce battle, two heavy cruisers were torpedoed and damaged (one actively used the hull to intercept the torpedo ground) in order to cover the transport, and one destroyer was sunk. The battleship "Chengdu" received a 250-kilogram bomb. Fortunately, the bomb exploded on the ship's surface. And not into the hull of the ship to explode. A transport ship was blown up, more than 1,000 tons of ammunition on board were killed, and more than 30 sailors on board (belonging to the naval reserve) were all killed.

Relatively speaking. The losses of the American army were even greater. Of the nearly 200 sorties, 82 were shot down, 54 returned with wounded, and at least 130 pilots were killed or captured. Later, the U.S. Air Forces stationed in the Mariana Islands were no longer able to organize such a large-scale bombing. However, the losses of the Tang Imperial fleet and the Marine Corps did not affect the subsequent combat operations. Although the US military won a tactical victory in terms of loss ratio, from the perspective of the entire campaign, the significance of this bombing by the US military was not great.

In the evening of the same day, a group of 24 heavy bombers of 17 B-17s again "visited" the landing site and dropped a batch of bombs. But most of the bombs fell into the sea and did not pose much of a threat to the marines and fleet. At about 10 p.m., the US heavy bomber group also launched its fifth bombing of the day, but the result was still not much, and several bombers were shot down by the anti-aircraft guns on the battleship.

Early on the morning of the 2nd, the Marines had unloaded all the supplies on the transport ship, and an engineering force of about 300 men was rushing to build a temporary wharf to prepare for the second convoy (scheduled to arrive that evening) to rush to build an airfield on the island, and the Marine Corps engineers would be faster by noon that day. A flat ground with a length of 800 meters and a width of 50 meters (a necessary work before laying the runway) has been sorted out and the spare parts of the runway have begun to be connected, and it is planned to complete the construction of this field airfield by three days at the latest, so as to welcome the first batch of fighter units stationed there.

Early on the morning of the 2nd, the squadron of air defense fighters over Asunción Island had increased to three, and the 3rd Task Force had withdrawn from the battle at this time (leaving two heavy cruisers to continue to cover the landing site, and also played the role of radar vigilance ships to provide target guidance for air defense fighters), and the first battle of the campaign was basically over as the Marine Corps continued to send additional troops (especially engineering troops) to the island, and the Marine Corps gained their first foothold on the Mariana Islands. The U.S. counterattack is also continuing, although it can no longer pose a mortal threat to the attacking Tang Imperial army, but the U.S. bombers have not given up the counterattack, and will still launch a surprise attack every few hours.

In the past two days, Tan Renhao also continuously received battle reports forwarded by the Navy Command. The Marine Corps and the Third Task Force opened the prelude to the attack, and the battle had already begun, and the nerves of the officers and men of the First Task Force were also tense.

"Now, Task Force 3 is maneuvering northeast of Asunción around the Maug Islands."

Hao Dongjue is probably the busiest person in the fleet right now. "As you might guess, after the Marines have repaired the airfield, Task Force 3 will play the role of 'Barrier' while continuing to support the next round of attacks by the Marines."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "When will Task Force 3 be in place?"

"At least until tomorrow evening."

Hao Dongjue traced the route of the Third Task Force on the chart, which was mentioned in a telegram sent by the Navy Command. "They will first rendezvous with the supply fleet north of the Maug Islands, mainly to replenish ammunition and obtain a batch of spare parts to repair the damaged warship."

"What is Task Force 2 doing now?"

Tan Renhao sighed, the second task force is still outside the battlefield.

"Task Force 2 is also moving the area of activity, which is different from what we suspected."

Hao Dongjue marked the scope of the activities of the Second Task Force, "They will be closer to Asunción Island, the chief of staff arranged this, probably considering that the American fleet may come out from the east, in this way, the Second Fleet must shoulder the burden of the main battle, let them be further east, so that they can quickly pass through the islands, rendezvous with the third task force, and meet the American fleet." ”

After looking at the chart for a while, Tan Renhao suddenly laughed. "It looks like the Chief of Staff has reversed our position with Task Force 2. If the American fleet were to the south, then all the burden would fall on us. ”

Hao Dongjue also laughed. "Isn't that what we want to see?"

Tan Renhao nodded slightly, at the same time as the opportunity comes, the danger is also approaching, and only by seizing the opportunity and avoiding the danger can you win! Sea Soul Volume 7 Turning the Tide Section 11 opens