The ground fleet was first concentrated on the outskirts of Cienfuegos, and when it got dark, the front did not rush to move the fleet to the southeast, and he had to wait for a decisive condition, that is, the American forces had been deceived. According to Han Shaofeng's arrangement, before 11 o'clock, if the US forces still have no movement, the landing fleet will also move to the southeast, otherwise it will be impossible to reach the landing ground near San Diego the next morning.

At the same time, a large number of reconnaissance planes have already been dispatched, and in order to cover up the actions of these reconnaissance planes, more than 200 heavy bombers have been dispatched at the same time. In addition, tactical reconnaissance aircraft and tactical bombers deployed in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands have also begun to mobilize. According to Luo Yunchong's battle plan, on the night before the landing, the air force will concentrate its forces on bombing US military targets near Cienfuegos, create a tense atmosphere before the landing, and eventually lure the US troops into falling for it. The time provided for direct fire support for the Marines was only three hours, which was much shorter than normal, but as long as a sufficient number of troops were dispatched, the Marines could still be guaranteed to go ashore smoothly.

At that time, at least 30 long-range reconnaissance planes and tactical reconnaissance planes were monitoring the US >. Condition. Some of these reconnaissance planes carried special night cameras, while others carried ground-detection radars. And the main means of reconnaissance is still the naked eye. Long-range reconnaissance planes are mainly responsible for monitoring the situation in several major US military barracks, while tactical reconnaissance planes are responsible for monitoring several major highway routes from southeastern Cuba to Cienfuegos. The pilots of these reconnaissance planes all received a clear order, that is, they had to judge the direction of the US military movement. scale, and send back the report in a timely manner.

At the same time, Bradley is also actively mobilizing his troops. When the reconnaissance planes spotted the landing fleet that was advancing towards Cienfuegos in the afternoon, Bradley assumed that the Don Imperial Marines would land in Cienfuegos. Many previous indications have shown that the Tang Imperial Air Force focused on bombing San Diego, just to let the US military deploy its forces in San Diego, and then the Marines to attack Cienfuegos, which was neglected to take precautions. This can also be formalized from the action of the Tang Imperial Air Force to divert the focus of the bombing that day, when Bradley even judged that the Tang Imperial Marines would land in Cienfuegos by the morning of the third day at the latest.

There were a number of factors that led Bradley to make this judgment. For example, the previous focused bombing of San Diego, as well as the preparation of firepower a day in advance. It would be difficult for the American troops deployed near Santiago to move to Cienfuegos in a day, that is, if the Don Marines landed on the morning of the 3rd. It would be difficult for the U.S. military ground support unit to reach Cienfuegos on the morning of the 3rd. It can be said that it was this that made Bradley finally judge that his opponent would land in Cienfuegos, and the time was on the morning of the third day.

At noon that day, before the reconnaissance planes had discovered the landing fleet, Bradley became suspicious. And ordered four infantry divisions to prepare for departure. Then, after receiving the report of the reconnaissance aircraft. Bradley immediately ordered the four infantry divisions to leave the camp and head to Cienfuegos. That is, Bradley has actually sent his mobile forces out.

These units had already been spotted and bombed in the afternoon. At night, the bombing continued. After receiving the reports from the various units, Bradley thought of what he had encountered on the Australian continent that year, when his reinforcements were indiscriminately bombed by the Tang Imperial Air Force on the way to Sydney, and as a result, they suffered heavy losses and had not been able to complete their mission. It's obvious. The Tang Imperial Navy used the same tactic this time, using deception to get the U.S. military to concentrate its forces in Santiago, and then bombarding the real landing site before landing, forcing the U.S. military to send mobile troops to Cienfuegos, and then using this opportunity to send bombers to attack reinforcements, and finally isolate Cienfuegos, let the Marines go ashore smoothly, and finally take down the whole of Cuba.

Nearly six hours after the departure of the four infantry divisions, they had advanced only 120,200 miles, and they were still hundreds of kilometers away from Cienfuegos. In desperation. At about eleven o'clock that evening, Bradley ordered two infantry divisions stationed in Camagüey to also move towards Cienfuegos. However, he did not rush to send American troops in the San Diego area to reinforce Cienfuegos, mainly because the bombardment of the Tang Imperial Air Force was too fierce and too far away, and it was too late to rush to the place, but it was easy to be hit the way. Of course, Bradley was not not prepared to send the heavy forces deployed in Santiago to Cienfuegos, but wanted to let these units go after the start of the landing, while the aviation of the Tang Empire was concentrating on supporting the marines, so as to reduce the losses of the troops on the way to transfer.

It was precisely because of this decision that Luo Yunchong did not let Han Shaofeng transfer for a long time, and it was not until after eleven o'clock, that is, when the deadline had passed, that Luo Yunchong sent a telegram to Han Shaofeng, asking the landing fleet to rush to the landing ground in San Diego overnight, preparing to land in San Diego on the third day.

From the landing site off the coast of Cienfuegos to the landing site south of Santiago, the sea distance is 370 miles, and the maximum speed of the landing fleet is 22 knots, that is, it will take about an hour for the landing fleet to move there, and the arrival time will be about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 3rd, and it will take at least two hours for the landing force to depart. Therefore, the time for landing in Santiago was already evening. Han Shaofeng had to let the Marines go ashore at night, and the only thing he could count on was that the U.S. troops did not raise their vigilance, and the Marines were able to successfully lay the beachhead after going ashore.

At this time, Luo Yunchong was also extremely embarrassed. The U.S. Army had only transferred four divisions from San Diego, and six divisions remained in San Diego, which was a huge threat to the Marines. Luo Yunchong must have hoped that more American troops would go to Cienfuegos, and at least half of the troops would have to be transferred, but the opponent did not do so, so he had to wait a few more hours. This had a huge impact on the subsequent landing operations. Although the deception of the battle at that time had a certain effect, and the defense of the American army had been disrupted, in the same way, Han Shaofeng's Marine Corps also launched an attack in a hurry, and both sides did not reach the best state, so this battle naturally caused a lot of problems.

By dawn on the 3rd, the landing fleet had sailed 160 miles to the southeast, and the bombardment, which lasted all night, was not over, especially in the morning

The U.S. forces that discovered Camagüey also flew to the intensity of the daytime bombing after moving towards Cienfuegos.

On the morning of the 3rd, the intensity of the bombing reached its peak, in order to maximize the tension before the landing, to delay the reaction time of the American troops, and also to prevent the American troops from discovering the landing fleet that had been transferred. Luo Yunchong's strategic bomber units, as well as the tactical aviation units deployed on the front line, were once again fully dispatched. At that time, the Third Fleet, which had already reached the vicinity of the Windward Strait, also dispatched part of its carrier-based aircraft to participate in the support operation.

The bombing was divided into several key points, among which heavy bombers focused on hitting the US camp and forcing the US troops to evacuate, which reduced the reaction speed of the US troops. Tactical bombers focused on suppressing several U.S. ground forces advancing towards Cienfuegos, while also blowing up dozens of traffic nodes along the way, such as bridges and tunnels. Most of these bombers were responsible for striking the mobile units of the US military.

The US air forces deployed in the southern part of Florida were also all dispatched, and several large-scale air battles broke out between the two sides over Cuba; relatively speaking, the US fighters with the front-line command center had a certain advantage, while the Imperial fighters carrying out the air supremacy mission could only rely on the superiority in performance and the quality of the pilots to fight the enemy. The focus on the battlefield was still bombing, and although the U.S. military also dispatched some bombers to attack airfields in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, none of these bombers were able to leave the skies over Cuba under the threat of the superior fighters of the Imperial Air Force, and they were intercepted halfway.

Through high-intensity air combat. The US military's ground command system has also been largely paralyzed, and to be precise, it is all used to direct air combat, and there is no way to determine whether the landing fleet is still off the coast of Cienfuegos. At that time, no one thought that the landing fleet would be transferred to the direction of Santiago at this time. Even Bradley didn't consider that possibility. The massive bombing of the Don Imperial Aviation was a prelude to the start of the landing campaign, and almost everyone believed that Cienfuegos would become the landing site for enemy marines.

Under these circumstances, Bradley had ordered the two American infantry divisions stationed in San Diego to prepare for departure, and as long as the Tang Imperial Marines landed in Cienfuegos, then the enemy's aviation would fully support the marines, and it was impossible to continue the large-scale bombardment of the lines of communication in the rear, and the support troops would take this opportunity to go to Cienfuegos. However, it was noon. The tide of the war has changed dramatically.

First of all, the delay in the appearance of the landing force aroused Bradley's suspicions, anyway, the morning is the best time to land, and after high-intensity air support, there is not much danger for the marines to go ashore. Then came the bombing of Santiago and the shelling of defensive positions on several nearby stretches of beach. Bradley did not yet believe at the time that the Don Empire Marines would go to San Diego. But as more and more troops sent news of the bombing and shelling, Bradley had to consider the possibility that his opponent was playing with Cienfuegos.

The US reconnaissance plane made a sortie at about half past one in the afternoon. By half-past three, the landing fleet had still not been found off the coast of Cienfuegos, and several reconnaissance planes had been shot down by opposing fighters. At this point, Bradley reacted sharply, the enemy's landing fleet had already left the sea off Cienfuegos, and was definitely on its way to Santiago. Immediately, he ordered the two troops that were preparing to leave to stay, and at the same time ordered all the coastal defense forces near San Diego to combat condition. In the afternoon of the same day, the focus of the strike of the Imperial Air Forces was also from Cienfuegos. As well as the transfer of lines of communication behind the US line to US shore defense positions near San Diego.

At this point, it was unlikely that Bradley would be able to take back the troops he had sent out, and the four infantry divisions he had sent had lost nearly a third, and the two infantry divisions from Camagey had lost no less. On top of that, many bridges along the route have been blown up, the mobility of the troops has been seriously affected, and it will take time to repair these bridges, or to erect pontoon bridges. That is, it was impossible for these units to rush back before the marines went ashore.

Campaign deception has already had some effect. And from three o'clock in the afternoon, the direct fire strike before the landing began. The main participants in the operation were two support fleets.

Dozens of fire support vessels loaded with artillery and rocket artillery arrived off San Diego at noon, assembled at three o'clock in the predetermined sea area, and immediately began to rain ammunition on the US shore defense positions.

All the fighters on the escort aircraft carriers were also dispatched, and except for a group of fighters responsible for air defense cover, the other fighters took part in the ground bombing operation. Although the bombing capability of fighter jets is still inferior to that of professional tactical bombers, the rockets they carry and a large number of small bombs pose a huge threat to the ground forces of the US military. In particular, rockets, which were already in common use at that time, were not only capable of dealing with most of the stationary fortifications, but also capable of destroying tanks and armored vehicles, so to speak, fighter-bombers were more effective when striking moving targets on the ground.

The three-hour preparation time for fire before landing was a little shorter, but because of this, the density of fire strikes was unprecedented. In three hours, more than 40 fire support ships dropped more than five tons of ammunition, while fighter jets on 40 escort carriers flew back and forth at least twice, dropping thousands of tons of bombs and rockets on their heads. In addition, the tactical aviation, which arrived at about five o'clock, dropped more than 2,000 tons of bombs. The group of heavy bombers, which arrived at 6 o'clock, carried out carpet bombing of several important camps behind the US positions, destroying more than a dozen US barracks with thousands of tons of bombs.

At six o'clock, the landing craft carrying the first landing force slowly left the landing ship, or sailed out of the dock of the landing ship. At that time, the landing fleet was only about 5 miles away from the coastline, and the landing craft only needed about half an hour to arrive, that is, the marines would go ashore at night, which was also the first time that the Imperial Marines carried out a large-scale landing operation at night, which was also completely beyond the expectations of the American commanders!