Without waiting for the US carrier-based aircraft group to reach the skies above our own fleet, the Japanese interceptor group with the 95 warship battle as the main force met it without showing weakness. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info wonderful air tumbling and diving can be seen everywhere, long or short neighing and machine gun fire mixed together, twin-engine fighters have no longer care about the formation, the most primitive catch and fight has become the most effective way to solve the problem. Every few tens of seconds, one or two warplanes will fall into the sea with smoke in tow.

"Attention to all groups, with enemy aircraft carriers as the priority target, prepare for conventional dive bombing, and the wingmen of each group must follow the long plane! Repeat, with enemy aircraft carriers as priority targets, prepare for conventional dive bombing! ”

Before entering the state of attack, Principal Schcheram observed the sea for a moment, and then habitually glanced up at the sky. There were only a few clouds in the blue sky, which was a great time for dive bombers to kill and set fire.

In order to cover the penetration of four squadrons of dive bombers and three squadrons of torpedo bombers into the air defense circle of the Japanese Combined Fleet Air Force, the accompanying American carrier-based fighters did their best. It was thanks to their excellent performance that the squadron did not lose a single fighter plane before reaching the attack position, but the following battle was still arduous - on the sea below the wings, Japanese battleships held their guns high, firing shells weighing several kilograms or even more than ten kilograms into the air, and at this time, the Japanese anti-aircraft fire was still concentrated at an altitude of 2,000 to 4,000 meters......

Despite the fact that the flight cockpit of the Ju-17T is protected by a thin layer of armor, it can be shredded like a piece of tissue paper at any time in the face of anti-aircraft shells, machine gun shells, and large-caliber machine gun shells.

"Alright, guys, discover the target! At two o'clock, the Japanese aircraft carriers at the head of the row! Teams 1 and 2 are ready to go down with me, teams 3 and 4 dive after 60 seconds, teams 5 and 6 are on standby, and if there are no new orders within two minutes, they can decide on their own. Good luck to all! ”

Lieutenant Colonel Scheram took a deep breath, put the flaps of the landline in the cruising position, adjusted the elevator and rudder, released the speed brake, and then the nose of the plane sank, and the blue sea appeared directly in front of him along with the target, the Japanese aircraft carrier.

On the sea, the Japanese aircraft carrier was turning to the east surrounded by a number of light ships, the one at the head of the row was slightly larger, and the one behind seemed to be only a light aircraft carrier.

High in the air, four bombshell-laden warhawks rushed to the surface of the sea like waterfowl that had found food. Although the 70-degree dive angle is not the top one, it is relatively ideal for the technical level of this era, and the old birds with thousands of flight hours can throw the 450-kilogram aviation armor-piercing bomb under the belly to a distance of no more than 20 meters from the target, plus the two 50-kilogram bombs under the wing, a good pilot and his Ju-17 can hit a capital ship with a hit rate of 70%. Provided, of course, that it is not shot down by enemy aircraft during dive bombing.

The wind and black smoke were blowing in the face, the place where the anti-aircraft shells exploded was no longer far away, the thumping explosion seemed to be ringing in the ears, the plane was vibrating because of the air current, a small part of the change in this air flow came from nature, and the rest was caused by enemy artillery fire. After passing through the smoke screen formed by the explosion of anti-aircraft shells, Shcheram suddenly saw a series of flashes of light, which were not fireflies or angels, but machine gun shells and machine gun bullets with tracer added, and many dive bombers were shot down by these seemingly beautiful bright spots when they were diving. In Shcherram's eyes, the outline of the Japanese aircraft carrier became clearer and clearer, and there were a few carrier-based aircraft parked on the flight deck, which was more than 200 meters long and 30 meters wide.

Shcheram kept glancing at the dashboard out of the corner of his eye to read that his landline was diving down at a 70-degree dive angle and over 500 kilometers, his hands clutching the joystick, the elevator had become extremely heavy by this time.

By the time the gunners on the Japanese aircraft carrier and several escort ships around it realized that the situation was wrong and hurriedly organized fire to intercept the enemy planes, the whizzing dive bombers had lowered to an altitude of nearly 1,000 meters. Before the Japanese could hit him, Lieutenant Colonel Schcheram was the first to drop three bombs, and in a matter of seconds, the other three dive bombers dropped their bombs in unison.

The pitch-black, round bombs fell from the sky almost silently, and everyone on board held their breath the moment they smashed headlong on the deck of the carrier.

Half a second later, a loud bang came from below deck, and then, the explosion of the bombs sounded like a string of firecrackers that lit the twisted strings one after another, the sound was so dense that the sound of the anti-aircraft artillery was completely muffled, although more than half of the bombs fell around the aircraft carrier, but the armor-piercing bombs that hit it gave it a good opening of the belly, billowing smoke and flames desperately poured out of the breach in the deck.

"Wonderful day, wonderful blow!" Shcheram roared at his subordinates through the communicator, "We've hit the target, a big guy. Groups 3 and 4, it's up to you now, try to get it to the bottom of the sea! Teams 5 and 6 remain on standby. ”

A moment later, the shouts of a pilot were heard over the communicator: "Hell, hell, that's our plane, it was shot down, God forbid......"

Shcheram turned his head and saw the shocking scene: a squadron of dive bombers bravely rushing towards a brand-new Japanese aircraft carrier, which in appearance looked like a Soryu-class medium-sized aircraft carrier, but was significantly larger in size. In the face of the air attack, the large and small guns on the battleship continued to spit blazing tongues of fire, and the dense rain of bullets hit a Ju-17T that was diving, and the aerial bombs it dropped turned into a fireball with the plane.

Shcheram had a very strong sense of direction, and he quickly determined the location of the target based on the position of the sun, and then contacted his two attack groups through the communicator: "The 5th and 6th teams will attack the Japanese aircraft carriers at 3 o'clock." Beware, it also has strong anti-aircraft firepower! Repeat, the 5th and 6th groups attacked the enemy aircraft carriers at 3 o'clock! ”

"Yes! Sir! We've identified the target's location and are ready to attack! A response came from the communicator.

At the same time, next to the quadruple machine gun on the starboard side of the Japanese aircraft carrier, the officer wearing a steel helmet pointed at the US planes that were rapidly diving, shouting something, and the sailors sitting on the gun position quickly turned the horizontal rotation handle, and the whole body vibrated at a frequency of 10 times per second, and every second 40 yellow bullet casings were thrown from the machine gun shell ejection port. A thick pile of cartridge casings had been piled up on the deck, and the sailors on both sides carried the bullets in tin boxes, and as soon as the gunfire stopped, they quickly replaced the quadruple machine gun with new cartridges.

When the US military plane in front of him was finally put into the machine gun sight, the Japanese sailor in charge of shooting let out an exclamation of "ah", only to see that the three black bombs had already left the plane and had reached the top of their heads in an instant......

Looking at the enemy planes dancing wildly in the sky and the bombs falling like raindrops, the Japanese Navy Osayamaguchi was dumbfounded, the enemy is so fierce, but the Japanese Navy has not been able to obtain the most powerful anti-aircraft weapons for a long time -- their warships are still using the most primitive radar and even pure visual methods, and as for the proximity fuses that have long been equipped with German and Irish ships, it is simply a mystery to them.

Three weeks after the end of the Battle of the Marshall Islands, Hawaii, Pearl Harbor.

Under the warm sunshine, thousands of civilians and soldiers waited on the pier, and finally arrived at this important military port with a huge fleet of five battleships, six large and small aircraft carriers, and more than 40 light ships and auxiliary ships. The ships were so numerous that it took two hours to sail through the channel in a procession. Looking at their mighty hulls and armaments, and at the Star-Spangled Banner flying high on their masts, the hope of victory was rekindled in the hearts of those who were disappointed and pessimistic about the heavy losses suffered by the US Navy in the early stage. Whenever a ship carrying wounded or a damaged ship returned, the beautiful Pearl Harbor was always filled with an oppressive atmosphere, and the Star-Spangled Banner on the roof lowered its flagpole again and again to pay tribute to the dead. In the three years from the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1933 to the fall of 1936, the U.S. Army lost as many as 500,000 people, including the officers and men killed and captured in Southeast Asia and Australia.

In the battle of the Marshall Islands, the US Navy lost two combat aircraft carriers, the "Capote" and the "Bataan", and the main aircraft carrier "Belle Forest" was also seriously damaged, in addition to as many as 19 light ships and auxiliary ships were sunk by Japanese carrier-based aircraft, but the US naval aviation, which was supported by European volunteers, did not do a bad job this time, they also sank and severely damaged three Japanese combat aircraft carriers, and shot down more than 140 Japanese carrier-based aircraft together with surface ships. Forced the Japanese Combined Fleet to withdraw from the waters of the Marshall Islands.

After entering the port, this task force went to the impassable dock according to the type of ship, plus the two battleships that were originally moored in the port, and seven powerful heavyweight warships lined up together, which was replaced by the heyday of the cannon of the giant ship, and such a force also has an amazing deterrent effect in the world. However, as times change, whether people accept it or not, the fact is that naval aviation has become the decisive force in naval warfare -- and when the commanders of the belligerents weigh the odds of winning a naval battle, the weight of battleships is greatly reduced, and aircraft carriers and land-based aviation within effective combat range are crucial.

Under the blood-colored sunset, the noisy harbor gradually calmed down. The only roar comes from the land-based planes that routinely take off and land on the surrounding military airfields to carry out alert and reconnaissance missions, and unlike the deployment in the Aleutian Islands and the Hawaiian Islands, in addition to a considerable number of fighters on the airfields here, there are also a considerable number of twin-engine and four-engine bombers, and the new B-17 heavy bombers and He-77 high-altitude long-range reconnaissance planes purchased from Europe are gradually replacing the old Martin B-10 and Grumman J series, and their arrival has also quietly changed the strategic situation in the Pacific theater.

(End of chapter)