Seeing his partner with dark circles under his eyes and a cup of steaming coffee, Tan Renhao smiled bitterly and shook his head. When he used to be the staff and chief of staff of the fleet, he was so excited that he couldn't sleep as soon as he started fighting, which was very similar to Hao Dongjue now, but now it is completely different, no matter how fierce the battle is in front, he still sleeps as usual, there is no special reason, and no one will wake him up.

"Just a few telegrams I've received." Hao Dongjue put down the coffee, "First of all, it was sent by General Han Shaofeng, the specific situation of the US landing force. ”

Tan Renhao took over the first telegram, and at his request, Han Shaofeng organized a large-scale counterattack (in fact, even if Tan Renhao did not ask for it, Han Shaofeng would organize a large-scale counterattack that night), and invested two regiments of offensive troops, and used the artillery that had escaped the daytime shelling and bombardment, in addition, Han Shaofeng also strengthened several mortar platoons for the attacking troops, which were specifically responsible for suppressing the machine gun points of the American army at close range. The battle was very fierce, and the ultimate goal of the offensive was not achieved, and the officers and men of the two regiments of the Marine Corps suffered thousands of casualties, but the number of casualties of the American troops was not much less. At dawn, the Marines withdrew from the battle, and Han Shaofeng judged that there were about 8,000 to 10,000 U.S. troops landing on Wake Island, and they were all concentrated on the beach positions, with a high density of defenses and particularly heavy machine-gun fire. In addition, the US landing force did not have heavy artillery, the number of mortars was small, and it relied mainly on the support of the fleet.

Soon, Tan Renhao's eyes fell on an important point in the message. "There are no capital ships in the U.S. artillery fleet?"

"Han Shaofeng did not elaborate, but said that it was not bombarded by giant artillery, and the US artillery fleet used to support the Marine Corps mainly 127-mm shells and 155-mm shells, and even 203-mm shells were very few." Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders, "The problem is that the giant cannon is not very effective in shelling at night. Soldiers on both sides were intertwined, and the 406-millimeter bomb had a range of more than 500 meters, which could easily injure their own people by mistake, and the U.S. military did not use the giant artillery to provide support to the marines. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "At least one thing is clear, the combat effectiveness of this group of US troops ashore is not strong, and they do not have the ability to advance into the hinterland of the island, and at most they control the landing site. Well, reinforcements from the US army should arrive today or tomorrow. ”

"It's entirely possible. This is also the most crucial point, unless the landing tactics of the US military are different from ours, otherwise, they do not use the thousands of officers and soldiers to land on the island first, and then fight fiercely with our defenders without the help of heavy equipment, which does not benefit the US military in any way. ”

"The landing tactics of the U.S. military are indeed different from ours, but this is more like Spruance's deliberate arrangement." Tan Renhao hesitated for a while, "Okay, is there any other news?" ”

"There has been a message from the Kwajalein Atoll Garrison Command that their night reconnaissance has yielded nothing. Daytime reconnaissance aircraft have already been dispatched. I hope you can find something. ”

"They know what to do, maybe the U.S. fleet isn't operating in the waters southeast of Wake Island, or they should have found out."

"It's up to you to get what you get during the day. Our night reconnaissance aircraft are seriously insufficient, and the use of flares is not very effective, so daytime reconnaissance is the most important. ”

"Then last night's operation must have served as a deterrent, and the U.S. fleet should have left the waters southwest of Wake Island." Tan Renhao also knew that those night reconnaissance planes that were not equipped with radar were indeed not very useful, "How is the movement of Shaoqing and Lao Chang?" ”

"They avoided 100 miles southwest during the night and are now returning to patrol the area."

Hao Dongjue shrugged his shoulders, "Seeing the fierce battle on Wake Island but unable to go over to help, Lao Lei and Lao Chang must be in a hurry." ”

"Leave them alone, you go and rest first." Tan Renhao patted his partner's shoulder, "Get a good night's sleep." Raise your spirits, and tomorrow may be the day of the decisive battle. ”

Hao Dongjue did not refuse this "proposal", he explained the task to a few staff officers and then went to rest. During the day, Tan Renhao was in charge of commanding, and Hao Dongjue really needed to get a good night's sleep.

The fleet was still heading north at a normal cruising speed of 18 knots, and Tan Renhao adjusted the course, but did not let the fleet speed up. It's not that he's not in a hurry for the battle ahead, but the problem is that he doesn't dare to take risks until he has clearly judged Spruance's location.

It's not the same as the previous opponents. Tan Renhao could barely accurately determine Spruance's whereabouts. He had a lot of confidence against Fletcher and he was convinced that his every judgment was correct, and it turned out that he did make the right judgment and took advantage of that very slim opportunity to win. But when facing Spruance, Tan Renhao always felt a little lacking in confidence.

In the "Second Battle of the Marianas", Tan Renhao suffered a loss. His initial judgment was wrong, Spruance commanded Task Force 16 appeared in a direction that Tan Renhao had not considered before, and Spruance launched a decisive attack, knocking down Task Force 1 and then nearly killing Task Force 2 completely. Although Lei Shaoqing's decisive attack in the end also wiped out the 16th Task Force, the Tang Imperial Navy still suffered heavy losses, and that naval battle almost wiped out the old capital of the Tang Imperial Navy. It can be said that Spruance's command style is very different from that of other generals in the US military, and he will be very cautious in the planning of the campaign, and he will never miss any opportunity when it comes to concrete implementation. This is what Tan Renhao is most worried about, he can't show any flaws.

Unlike land warfare, naval warfare is largely determined by the degree to which the commander completes the campaign plan. In other words, the success rate determines the winner. Naval warfare, on the other hand, is almost the exact opposite, and most of the time, naval battles are really about who makes fewer mistakes on both sides. In naval warfare, both warring sides inevitably make mistakes, and whoever makes fewer mistakes wins. This also determines the real-time nature of naval battles, as long as you catch the opponent's mistakes and then launch an attack, it basically determines the victory.

Tan Renhao tried his best to avoid making mistakes, and even did not hesitate to adopt some extremely conservative arrangements, such as letting the Second Task Force stabilize first when the enemy situation was unknown. Instead of blindly betting up. This is completely different from Tan Renhao's previous tactical command, in the past, Tan Renhao would definitely rush forward immediately and take the initiative to find the enemy fleet for a decisive battle, but now, he had to adopt a more conservative strategy.

Time passed minute by minute, and at noon, Tan Renhao asked the staff officer to bring him a boxed lunch. Instead of going to the officer's cafeteria for a meal. He has been repeatedly thinking about the steps of the US army's offensive and the battle arrangement. There are so many anomalies. For example, the Tang Empire would tie the landing fleet with the convoy, so that after the landing force came ashore, the convoy could send war materials and heavy equipment to the beach, so that the marines could quickly expand the beachhead and expand the landing ground. However, the US military has separated the landing fleet from the transport fleet, and this has brought too many problems, not to mention anything else, and the extra dozen or so escort warships are quite a waste. Other than that.

The time of disembarkation of the landing force. The activity of the American artillery formations, as well as the bombardment of the American task force on the first day. It never happened again.

After lunch, Tan Renhao read several telegrams from Wake Island in the morning. The US military only used artillery formations to provide fire support for the landing force, and the US bombers did not appear over the battlefield. In other words, Spruance was accumulating forces and trying to keep the fleet as concealed as possible, otherwise, at the most critical moment of the landing, there would be no use not to send bombers to support the troops ashore, but only to mobilize artillery formations!

By the afternoon, Tan Renhao sent out a seaplane. A telegram of inquiry was also sent, mainly asking about the situation of the Second Task Force and whether the reconnaissance planes in the Marshall Islands had spotted the whereabouts of the enemy fleet.

A telegram from the Kwajalein Atoll Garrison Command came back at about three o'clock, and after dispatching hundreds of reconnaissance planes and patrol planes, no trace of the US fleet had been found in the waters southwest of Wake Island.

Now, Tan Renhao has a little bit of a count in his heart. Perhaps there are fewer chances of spotting the American fleet during night reconnaissance, but in daytime reconnaissance. Hundreds of reconnaissance planes did not find the target, and none of the reconnaissance planes lost contact with the base. At the very least, this proves that Spruance's task force is not operating in the southwest or south of Wake Island, and that the waters are safe.

At five o'clock, the news of the second task force arrived, and their reconnaissance planes did not find any threat, and the second task force would begin to turn in the evening, and then rendezvous with the first task force at night, and then determine the new ground battle plan.

Here's the question, where the hell did Spruance go? He would never leave the landing force alone, at least the American artillery bombardment formation was still in the waters near Wake Island, and Spruance must have calculated the time when the first task force would arrive on the battlefield, and if he wanted to retreat, he should retreat with the artillery formation and the American troops who landed on Wake Island, rather than retreating alone with the task force. If the 1st Task Force and the 2nd Task Force were to join forces, they would have enough forces to bomb the US landing grounds, landing fleets, and artillery formations first, while leaving enough striking force to deal with the US Task Force. At that time, Spruance will have no choice but to come to the decisive battle, and the situation will be extremely unfavorable for Spruance. Then, Spruance will immediately launch an attack and destroy the First Task Force and the Second Task Force before Tan Renhao strikes the US landing field, or when Tan Renhao strikes the US landing field. As a result, Spruance could only keep his fleet out of the eastern waters of Wake Island, that is, the reconnaissance planes on the Marshall Islands.

Thinking of this, Tan Renhao's thoughts in front of him gradually became clearer, and he could even be sure that the task force commanded by Spruance was in the waters east of Wake Island, preparing for the upcoming fleet decisive battle. In order not to expose the position of the fleet, and at the same time to let the pilots recuperate, Spruance did not send bombers to bomb Wake Island, perhaps, most of the aircraft carriers of the US task force carried sea-to-sea ammunition, not ground-to-ground ammunition.

But at almost six o'clock, that is, before Hao Dongjue returned to the command cabin, another telegram almost changed Tan Renhao's judgment.

"The U.S. convoy is only about 300 nautical miles from Wake Island and is expected to arrive at Wake Island tomorrow afternoon." Tan Renhao sent the telegram to Hao Dongjue, "In addition, a long-range reconnaissance plane taking off from Saipan Island also discovered a large US fleet, whose location is in the southwest direction of the transport fleet, a distance of about 80 nautical miles, but the weather there is too bad for the reconnaissance plane to determine whether there are aircraft carriers in this US fleet, nor has it determined the specific establishment." ”

"Could this be Spruance's fleet?" Hao Dongjue's idea is exactly the same as Tan Renhao's original idea.

"I thought so at first, but now I think it's unlikely, maybe it's just an escort fleet of transport fleets." Tan Renhao sighed, "Spruance hadn't been in the waters northwest of Wake Island before, which proves that he believes that Task Force 2 is in the waters of the Marshall Islands, and that we are coming directly from the south. Well, there is no reason for him to go and escort the convoy, and now it is too late for us to rush over. Spruance didn't have to go north at all. ”

"They should have been able to head north last night, so it's almost time for them to be in this area by now."

"Unless Spruance doesn't want his artillery formation, and leaves the U.S. troops on the beaches of Wake Island alone." Tan Renhao sneered, "If Spruance is really over there, then we will first bomb the U.S. troops on Wake Island, as well as the U.S. artillery formations, landing fleets, and destroy the means of the U.S. forces projecting troops to Wake Island, and at the same time let Han Shaofeng launch a counterattack and drive those thousands of U.S. troops into the sea." Then retreat at full speed, so that Spruance cannot catch us. When he comes, we will set a trap for him to taste the power of the four aircraft carriers. ”

Hao Dongjue nodded slightly: "Then, after we meet with the second task force, we will decide how to fight!" ”

Tan Renhao has also decided to do the same, and several long-range reconnaissance planes equipped with radar have already been dispatched on Saipan, and new information may be sent at night.