In the middle of the night, Tan Renhao was called up by the staff officer, and when he arrived at the command cabin, the fleet had already entered a combat state.

"I just received the news that Task Force 2 was discovered by a returning American submarine two hours ago, and although the destroyer had sunk the submarine, the fleet's whereabouts were also exposed." Hao Dongjue was arranging the work of the staff officer, "General Liao Hanxiang adjusted the offensive plan, and the first round of bombardment began at half past five, and then the supplementary bombing was carried out after dawn. ”

"Night bombing?" Tan Renhao took the telegram and quickly skimmed through it.

"Yes, with flares, we can only preemptively carry out night bombing, and the US bombers on Kwajalein Atoll will definitely take off before half past five, and the second task force only has this one chance."

Tan Renhao nodded and walked to the chart table.

"In addition, General Liao Hanxiang has arranged for heavy bombers to carry out a supplementary bombing this evening, hoping to delay the reaction time of the US military, but the effect will not be very great, after all, the night bombing of heavy bombers will not be too accurate, and the number of bombers that can be mobilized will not be very large."

"Are there any clear requirements for us?" Tan Renhao looked at the chart for a while, and then looked at his partner.

"We want to cooperate as much as possible, but we can choose the bombing time according to the actual situation."

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "Now Task Force 2 is definitely turning, and is sailing at full speed, avoiding the US reconnaissance planes, and trying to get out of the sea area where it was discovered. The results of the first bombing they organized at half past five will not be very satisfactory, and whether they can successfully suppress the US airfield on the island will depend on whether they can achieve results in the supplementary bombing after dawn. ”

"Old Ray, they have experience in bombing Wake Island, so it shouldn't be a big problem this time."

"So, what judgment will the Yankees make?" Tan Renhao sat down, pondered for a while, and said, "Let's go according to our own plan, the first round of bombing after six o'clock." Then immediately carry out supplementary bombing, without waiting for the results of the first round of bombardment. ”

"Then we are half an hour staggered by the bombing time of the second task force, maybe the US military on the Majuro Atoll has increased its vigilance, and maybe the US bombers here have also taken off."

"But they don't immediately think we're going to bomb Majuro Atoll at the same time." Tan Renhao sat his partner down, "The U.S. military will definitely deal with the Second Task Force first, and maybe it will also arrange for the fighters on Majuro Atoll to be transferred to Kwajalein Atoll." In this way, the difficulty of our bombing is much lower. Staggered for half an hour and waited for the arrival of our bombers. The news of the bombing of Kwajalein Atoll should also be heard, and then the attention of the US military will be more focused on that side, and this is our opportunity. ”

"I hope you're not wrong." Hao Dongjue took out a cigarette.

"I hope so, go ahead and arrange it, the bomber should depart in two hours, I hope nothing bad happens in these two hours!"

Tan Renhao's bad premonition still came true, and he could only hope that Lei Shaoqing would be able to make a quick move and strengthen his defense. Thinking of this, Tan Renhao also smiled bitterly, and the situation of the first task force is not optimistic now. I haven't done my own thing yet. How can you have the ability to worry about others?

A little more than an hour later, the bombers of Task Force 2 began to take off.

After being discovered by the American submarine, Lei Shaoqing was also taken aback. The radio silence was immediately broken, the situation was sent out, and the order was given to turn the fleet, so that the bomber forces were immediately ready for departure. Soon after, the chief of staff of aviation operations revised the bombing plan and advanced the first round of bombing to half past five, which was the earliest time for the US bombers to take off, and in order to ensure the safety of the fleet, it was necessary to drop bombs before the US bombers set off, and perhaps the effect of the night bombing would not be much better. But it can always delay the departure of American bombers.

In order to achieve this goal, Lei Shaoqing put a squadron of fighters on it. None of the fighters carried by the Navy aircraft carriers were actually capable of night combat (the night fighters at that time were all land-based aircraft, and they were all heavy fighters, more appropriately called night interceptors, which could only deal with the enemy's night bombers), but this always had some effect, at least to intercept some of the American bombers that took off, and before the arrival of the second batch of bombers, to seize air supremacy over the airfield. Gain the opportunity for the second group of bombers to destroy the airfield of the American army.

These arrangements are forced and there is no way out. Seeing that the bombers left the aircraft carrier one after another, Lei Shaoqing also breathed a sigh of relief, at least until now, the US night reconnaissance planes have not been found, and the radar sentry ships have not found anything. Knowing that the radio waves will reveal the location of the fleet, Lei Shaoqing has no time to think about it, he must first ensure that the enemy is destroyed, and destroying the enemy will protect the fleet.

"The first bombers have all taken off." Chang Jianxin walked over, "General Liao Hanxiang also sent a telegram, asking us to decide our own combat operations. ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded. "Is there any news on Task Force 1?"

"Not yet, at least not yet, at least not yet, and they won't break the radio silence right away!" Chang Jianxin took out a cigarette, "Renhao and Dongjue should also receive the news, they will definitely advance the bombing time, maybe start at the same time as us." ”

"Let's hope so." Lei Shaoqing nodded, "At least Ren Hao knows better than us how to arrange the bombing operation." Let the second batch of bombers be ready to take off, and then the fleet will turn again according to the plan, bringing all the air defense battleships into combat condition. Before the return of the first bombers, determine whether a third round of bombing is necessary and, if necessary, organize the first bombers. ”

"I've arranged all of this, but I don't know how fast the U.S. military is responding, and I hope their bombers haven't taken off yet."

The U.S. military is not quick to react. The submarine that discovered Task Force 2 was part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's submarine force, so the telegram was first sent to Pearl Harbor (where the U.S. submarine force headquarters is also located), then to the Pacific Fleet Command, and then to the Marshall Islands Defense District Command, which is the U.S. Army Command on Kwajalein Atoll (the U.S. District Command is located on Kwajalein Atoll). Along the way, the time for radio wave transmission is negligible, but the code is translated, the new code is arranged, and the telegraph is transmitted. These take time. And it took at least half an hour halfway through.

When the submarine's intelligence arrived, the U.S. command on Kwajalein Atoll also received another message: the ground radio listening stations on several islands in the Marshall Islands had received signals from Task Force 2 and had immediately calculated the approximate position of the fleet. At this time, the US commander immediately issued an order for combat readiness, but it was still the middle of the night, and it took nearly an hour to mobilize the pilots and aviation service personnel alone.

When the bombers of the second task force took off one after another. U.S. military aviation crews on Kwajalein Atoll were also inspecting planes and carrying bombs to the airfield, and vehicles to refuel the planes arrived. The pilots gathered in the aviation operations center to listen to the pre-war ground combat reports. It takes at least forty minutes to hang ammunition and refuel more than a hundred bombers. Shore-based aviation is not the same as aviation on aircraft carriers. In carrier-based aviation, a group of service personnel only needs to be responsible for two fighters (generally at most one sortie of ordinary fighters on an aircraft carrier), while in shore-based aviation, a group of service personnel needs to be responsible for at least three fighters, or even four fighters. In other words. The business of the orderly staff is much more. It takes at least 10 to 15 minutes to get one fighter ready to take off (this has a lot to do with the quality of the service personnel), and to complete the preparation for the take-off of three fighters, in terms of the quality of the US service personnel. Forty minutes is already a fast pace.

Task Force 2 was only about 180 nautical miles from Kwajalein Atoll, and it took only about 45 minutes for bombers to fly over the island. And the US bombers had just taken off at this time. In order to allow the bombers to take off smoothly, all the ground navigation lights on the runway were turned on, and the searchlights on the control tower and many searchlights around the base would be turned on, which actually pointed out the bombing targets for the pilots of the Tang Empire.

When the bombers of the Second Task Force were dispatched urgently, Hao Dongjue was also arranging for the bombers to take off. The first bomber groups sent by Task Force 1 consisted of a squadron of dive bombers, a squadron of horizontal bombers, and a squadron of fighters. The fleet began to take off at 4:45 a.m., about 220 nautical miles from Majuro Atoll. Five past five. All the fighters left the aircraft carrier and immediately began to fly in the direction of Majuro Atoll.

It took the fleet more than fifty minutes to cover the 220 nautical mile distance, which was not far from the time scheduled for the first round of bombing at six o'clock.

As soon as the first batch of bombers left the aircraft carrier, the aviation crew sent the fighters on the second round of bombing missions to the flight deck. These planes are already filled with fuel and bombs in the hangar, so there is no need to do extra preparations. At 5:15 a.m., the first fighters of the second group of bombers left the aircraft carrier, and by 5:35 a.m., all the bombers of the two squadrons carrying out the second round of bombing missions had taken off. This time, the speed of the sortie was a little slower, mainly due to the fact that the catapult was overloaded for a long time and its efficiency was reduced.

"The telegram sent by Lao Lei and them, the first batch of bombing has been successful, their luck is very good, when the bomber group arrives, the American bombers are preparing to take off, the airport is brightly lit, there is no need to throw flares, the bombers can accurately drop bombs." Hao Dongjue was a little excited this time, "Right now, the fighters on the escort mission are still patrolling over Kwajalein Atoll, and the second batch of bombers has begun to take off, and they will probably arrive after dawn." ”

"It seems that their bombing was timely, and now it depends on whether we can seize the opportunity." Tan Renhao glanced at the navigation clock, "The fleet is about to arrive at the Dama Jura Atoll, Qiu Gengbo shouldn't let us down, right?" ”

Hao Dongjue smiled and nodded. "When I went to look for him, he was still very dissatisfied, he had been bombing the ground so many times in a row, it seemed that he had to do some ideological work for him."

"What do you care so much about? He and Deng Zichao are a virtue, and they usually complain constantly, but if they really want him to go to the rear to rest, he will not be happy. Tan Renhao smiled and shook his head, now that the fleet has less Deng Zichao and more Qiu Gengbo, what kind of commander is there, what kind of soldiers will be brought out. After the news of the first round of bombardment was returned, the fleet could send a telegram to contact the theater command as soon as possible, and if our operation was successful, then it would be time to consider the next battle. ”

The bombing of the Second Task Force was very successful, and after the first round of bombing, the US airfields were basically paralyzed, and the fighters that were filled with fuel and hung with bombs were simply bombs on the ground, and many pilots were blown into the sky along with the fighters before they even had time to jump out of the cabin.

After dawn, the second round of bombing began, and this time more than 70 bombers of the two squadrons that Lei Shaoqing had left completely paralyzed the US airfield on Kwajalein Atoll, while the fighters of another squadron that followed him also succeeded in seizing air supremacy over the island.

Although the bombing operations of Task Force 1 began a little later, the results achieved were not bad. As Tan had predicted, U.S. bombers on Majuro Atoll were preparing to move toward Kwajalein Atoll. As soon as these US bombers flew away, the bomber group led by Qiu Gengbo arrived. As a result, dozens of U.S. bombers were not only unable to support the fighting on the Kwajalein Atoll, but also ended up with no place to land. The second group of bombers arrived thirty minutes later, and nearly 200 warplanes bombed the US airfield on the Majuro Atoll into rubble, destroying some of the planes parked on the airfield before they had time to take off.

Although the attack of both task forces was a bit hasty, they ultimately achieved the purpose of the campaign. During the day, the two fleets also carried out supplementary bombing of US airfields, and after confirming that the airfields had been completely paralyzed, the bombing scope was expanded to include US barracks, coastal defense positions, as well as material warehouses, temporary docks, and other military targets. At night, the artillery formations replaced the bombers and began shelling the American troops on the island in preparation for the landing of the marines.