October 30, 1942. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In the early morning, when the sun jumped out of the sea east of the Japanese archipelago, the red flag of GCISM was slowly lowering from a 10,000-ton aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean, 1,500 kilometers from the Japanese archipelago.

At the same time, George, who had just turned 18. Herbert. Walker. Bush flew off the deck of an aircraft carrier in a brand-new TBF "Avenger" torpedo bomber.

This torpedo bomber, produced by Grumman and only entered the mass production stage in 1942, was probably the most powerful carrier-based aircraft of this period. Compared to its "predecessor" TBD "Destroyer" torpedo bomber, the performance of the TBF has been significantly improved, with a high-horsepower Wright R-2600-8 14-cylinder air-cooled engine (with an output of 1,700 horsepower), the cockpit is equipped with bulletproof glass, and the bulletproof armor of the fuselage is also stronger than ever.

Moreover, the flaps of the TBF torpedo bomber are equipped with speed brakes, which makes this torpedo bomber have the same dive attack capability as the dive bomber. This feature may be a bit of a frustration in a decisive battle (TBF is too large and can be easily hit by the ship's anti-aircraft guns), but it is too useful when performing a mission to break the diplomatic relationship.

When dealing with Japanese freighters, four 500-pound bombs were definitely more reliable than one poorly performing MK13 torpedo - there were not as many demanding requirements for dropping bombs, and low-tech bombs did not have as many faults as high-tech torpedoes.

So now the TBF torpedo bomber piloted by Bush is not loaded with torpedoes, but with four 500-pound bombs.

"4 bombs of 500 pounds...... That's enough to blow up a boatload of Japanese devils! The 18-year-old young pilot was uncontrollably excited at the thought of the Japanese who were screaming and struggling desperately all over the sea.

"Guys, I'm James. Captain Watt! A rough voice came from Bush's headphones, "Today's air raid commander." ”

James. Captain Watt was the leader of the torpedo bomber squadron on the USS Independence and Bush's immediate superior.

"Guys, today is a real combat mission!" Captain Watt continued, "This is also the first battle of your lives for most of you! It may be a little dangerous, but I promise you'll all be real men after this fight, and you'll love the feeling of killing the Japanese, because every single one of them deserves to die! May God bless you all! Bless America! ”

"Kill all the Japanese and bless America!"

There was a warm cheer from inside Bush's headphones, and he cheered along with him.

At this time, James. Captain Watt's voice came again: "Guys, pull up to 4000 meters, follow me, let's go find the Japanese troop carriers!" ”

The Japanese troop carriers had already been discovered, otherwise Colonel Mitchell would not have sent 9 TBF torpedo bombers and 9 SBD dive bombers early in the morning.

The Japanese ship was spotted by a "heavy tooth snapper"-class submarine operating in the waters between Saipan and the Japanese archipelago. This is a large submarine with a displacement of 1450 tons on the water, which has a great endurance, so it can operate in the waters near Japan. It did not carry torpedoes, but went to Japan's Bungo Waterway to lay mines.

Now the mine-laying mission has been completed, but the submarine did not return immediately, but conducted reconnaissance in the waters of Saipan at 200-500 nautical miles. Yesterday evening, the submarine spotted a group of transports consisting of 1 large cruise ship, 4 freighters and 2 armed merchant ships (special gunboats), sailing from north to south.

The large cruise ship in this fleet is the Dayo Maru, with a standard displacement of 14,458 tons, which was originally built by Germany before World War I. It was later delivered to Japan as war reparations and became one of the few high-end cruise ships owned by Japan. Immediately after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the ship was requisitioned by the Japanese Army as a troop carrier.

There are now more than 1,500 people riding on it are the headquarters of the 17th Army of the Japanese Army and the division headquarters of the 6th Division under the 17th Army, as well as the communications corps of the 17th Army and the 6th Division, the field hospital and one comfort station for the army, as well as some reporters and engineers and technicians (who went to work in the arsenal in Rabaul), totaling more than 1,500 people.

In addition, the ship was loaded with more than 2,000 tons of supplies, mainly communications equipment, medical equipment and medicines, including more than a dozen anti-tank guns bought from Germany at a high price.

The commander of the 17th Army, General Toshio Tani, and the division of the 6th Division, Lieutenant General Kanda Masane, naturally also rode on this luxury troop carrier.

At this time, Admiral Gu Shoufu was taking a leisurely walk on the aft veranda, doing a few stretching and relaxation exercises from time to time. This time the boat went south, but it was a long distance, and the distance in a straight line was more than 2,500 nautical miles, and the anti-submarine route had to be increased by 60 percent, that is, more than 4,000 nautical miles, and it would take almost two weeks to walk at a speed of 12 knots. If you don't move, I'm afraid that I won't even be able to walk when I get to Rabaul.

The commander of the 6th Division, Kanda Masang, followed behind Tani Shofu's buttocks, and he was also expanding his chest and arms. He was an expert on the Soviet Union in the Japanese army, and he spent his life studying how to fight the Soviet Union (Russia) and establish the hegemony of the Great Japanese Empire on the continent in one fell swoop.

But I didn't expect to command the 6th Division to conquer Australia now...... To tell the truth, the Japanese army really didn't know anything about the continent of Australia, and they couldn't find a single military map of Australia when they searched through the General Staff Headquarters and the Naval Command Department. In the end, I had to get some travel maps to make do.

Another thing that made the Japanese army deer of Kanda's level feel a little uneasy was that there were not enough transport ships available.

The Japanese Empire had now grown so large that it expanded to the Burma-India border and Malacca in the west, the Aleutian Islands and Hawaii to the east, the Solomon Islands to the south, and effectively controlled Manchuria in the north.

And such a vast and scattered maritime empire must be maintained by a large number of transport ships. Resources from all corners of the empire had to be shipped to mainland Japan by ship, and the armies that maintained the empire's rule had to be shipped to various places. In addition, Japan's economy and industry also needed merchant ships to transport goods.

However, before the war, the Japanese Empire only had about 6 million tons of merchant ships, and in the 11 months after the war began, some merchant ships were completed one after another, and of course many merchant ships were sunk by British and American submarines and broken ships. At present, the number of holdings is about 6.2 million tons.

To be honest, it is already stretched to maintain the existing territory with this ship, and it is really a bit unpopular to go south to Australia.

But the problem is that now the Americans are also unwilling to sign an armistice treaty with Japan, and they have not been able to transport troops to Australia endlessly, and it is clear that they want to counterattack from there! If we do not take advantage of the fact that the United States does not have sufficient troops in Australia and the United States has not completed its shipbuilding program, we will take Australia in one fell swoop. Then, when the Americans counterattacked, it would be difficult for the Japanese Empire to carry out its military fortune for a long time.

Kanda was about to discuss with his boss Toshio Tani about where it would be appropriate to land in Australia when the sound of air raid sirens suddenly sounded.

"Air raids! Air raid! ”

Kanda heard a trembling voice shouting, the man was obviously a frightened crew member, and if it was an army, he wouldn't be afraid.

"Air raids? Baga, isn't this in the circle of absolute defense? Tani Shoufu, who was walking in front of Kanda Masao, scolded when he heard the alarm, "Who is the alarm?" Is this to disturb the morale of the military? ”

Before he could finish his words, someone behind him shouted: "Airplane! It seems to be an enemy plane! ”

Tani turned around a little angrily, wanting to see who the villain who disturbed the morale of the army was, but it turned out that that person was actually Lieutenant General Kanda Masazen, the commander of the 6th Division.

A dignified lieutenant general actually shouted so loudly, which detracted from the majesty of the imperial army...... Gu Shoufu just wanted to speak when the sound of machine gun fire came to mind.

This time, His Excellency the Admiral also knew that something was wrong, and hurriedly raised his neck to look, and saw two groups of blue-painted single-engine planes in the sky, flying from the sky behind the Oyomaru, and the two planes led by the two planes suddenly fell in the nose, and rushed down towards the Oyomaru, as if they were about to hit the Oyomaru.

"Baga! American planes! At this time, Gu Shoufu also shouted, "We have been deceived by the navy, and it is not safe here at all!" ”

"Kill all the Japanese and bless America!"

George. Bush shouted, pressed down the joystick, and followed James. Captain Watt's plane slammed down a 10,000-ton ship 3,000 meters below in the sea.

There were three crew members on his plane, one of whom was responsible for dropping the bomb. So Bush only needs to point the head of the plane at the Japanese steamer below, then lunge at a 60-degree angle, and wait until the bomb drop indicator light in the engine room is on, and the bombardier sitting behind him will drop the bomb.

Then Bush can pull the plane up with all his might, while praying in his heart to God Almighty.

Rumble! Rumble!

Just as the TBF torpedo bomber piloted by Bush was rushing into the air, two loud noises were already heard from the sea below.

"Hit! My God! The Japanese ship exploded," the shouts of Mike, the machine gunner in the rear, followed, "It's beautiful, it's the most beautiful scene I've ever seen in my life!" I photographed it and put it in the frame......"

"This is the first Japanese ship I blew up!" Bush thought to himself, "When I go back, I must ask Mike for a picture to keep for my son." (To be continued.) )