At seven o'clock, Tan Renhao went to dinner, and after he came back, he used a wireless voice phone to get in touch with Lei Shaoqing on the "Long Wuji". The two first greeted each other, both of them were happy that the other party was able to escape the catastrophe, and then they got back to the point, determined the arrangements for the night battle, and still talked about Renhao to draw up the battle plan, and then report it to the second task force. Up to this time, there was still no news of the southward movement of the American artillery fleet, and the last reconnaissance planes had returned to Wake Island without any appearance.

"It is now roughly certain that those two battleships of the US military are at least 25o nautical miles from Wake Island, or even 3oo nautical miles." Hao Dongjue drew a circle on the chart, "Even if these two battleships go south as fast as possible now, it will be difficult to reach the waters near Wake Island before dawn." We left the carrier about 1oo nautical miles south of Wake Island, and even if Spruance really sent the battleship to cover the retreat of the 6th Force, then he would be adding to our victory. ”

Tan Renhao nodded. "In the second half of the night, we should pay attention to the northern seas, and in addition, keep in touch with the 'Bear Lake' aircraft carrier at any time, as long as there is a US battleship, we want him to come and go."

"Don't worry, I've assigned two communications officers to be in charge of communications with the 'Lake Bell.'"

"The main task still has to be done by us, don't expect night bombing to be of much use, if it's not necessary, don't let bombers go out at night." Tan Renhao walked to the chart table, "The pilots have been flying for more than ten hours during the day, most of them are extremely tired, they all need to rest, and there is a great possibility of accidental injury from the night bombing, I don't want to be bombed by my own people." Therefore, the task of annihilating the US 6 Fleet is mainly to be completed by us, and if dozens of warships are still unable to take out these 6 ships, then we do not have to go back to report the victory. Just write a review. ”

Hao Dongjue immediately laughed, although the current gathering is all cruisers and destroyers, but the 24o mm and 2oo mm caliber heavy guns on the cruiser, the 155 mm main guns on the destroyer, and those 54o mm torpedoes are simply the most lethal weapons in front of the US 6 ships.

"Where is the U.S. 6th Fleet now?"

"It's about 8o nautical miles from Wake Island, and it's still moving forward, and it arrives at Wake Island at half past ten in the rainy season." Hao Dongjue marked the new position of the US 6th Fleet on the chart, and also marked the route. "Han Shaofeng also came with news that the US Army Deng 6 Unit is gathering, and he is ready to launch a counterattack at night to further compress the US army's defensive line, and then the 6 team will throw flares and incendiary bombs to guide us to shell the US Army Deng 6."

"Arrange to kill the US 6th Fleet first, and then the US 6th Fleet will probably surrender on its own initiative, and there is no need for the 6th Squadron to help." Tan Renhao looked at the chart and thought about it, "Let the fourteen cruisers of the Second Task Force line up on the periphery of the six fields, and be sure to arrive before nine o'clock." The radar is then used to search the sea to the east and northeast. Seaplanes were sent before ten o'clock, and after the artillery battle began, flares were thrown by seaplanes as much as possible. Illuminate targets for fleet shelling. ”

Hao Dongjue did not interject, but recorded Tan Renhao's arrangement, and in terms of artillery battles, he was much worse than Tan Renhao. Now all cruisers of the Tang Imperial Navy are equipped with radar (it is planned to start installing radar for some destroyers in the second half of 25, the output of radar in the empire has increased a lot, and the importance of radar in naval warfare has also been reflected), and it is completely possible to use radar to indicate targets for artillery and conduct night artillery battles. However, there are still problems with radar designation of targets. For example, the accuracy of the shelling, as well as the detection range of the radar in bad weather, etc. Therefore, in most cases, if the conditions are ripe, it is better to use artillery fire to calibrate the aircraft (i.e., cruisers, seaplanes on battleships) to throw flares to illuminate the target, and then the lookout on the battleship provides the artillery with the shelling parameters, which is not only faster. And the accuracy of the shelling will be much higher.

"The cruiser formation of the 2nd Task Force must prevent the US 6th Fleet from entering the 6th Fleet, and we will fight a beautiful artillery battle in the open sea!" Tan Renhao sneered.

"Why don't you put it in and fight? While the U.S. Army's Deng-6 troops are on the Deng-6 ship, we will outflank them from the periphery and then kill them in a pot? Hao Dongjue made a suggestion at this time.

Tan Renhao hesitated slightly, and said, "Do you think it's better to put it in and fight?" ”

"I just think so, how to fight, it's up to you to decide." Hao Dongjue didn't dare to insist on his point of view, he scratched his scalp with a smile.

"Then put it in and fight, actually, your proposal is better." Tan Renhao encouraged his partner, and then made an explanation while marking the battle arrangement on the chart, which was mostly to let Hao Dongjue understand more clearly the tactical characteristics of night artillery battles, "Then, let the cruiser of the Second Task Force be on standby about 3o nautical miles southeast of Wake Island, and we will be about northeast of the Second Task Force southeast of Wake Island." Seaplanes were sent to monitor the movements of the U.S. 6th Fleet. If the US 6th Fleet enters the 6th Fleet, then the cruiser fleet of the 2nd Task Force will immediately intersperse it and block the 6th Fleet of the 6th Fleet. If the U.S. 6th Fleet returns halfway, the destroyer fleet on our side must cut off the channel for the U.S. 6th Fleet to return directly to Pearl Harbor, and the destroyer formation that bypasses from the west of the island must try to cut off the U.S. 6th Fleet's route to Midway. And our two cruiser formations all rushed over to pursue the US 6th Fleet, and we must not allow a single US ship, even a single gangway, to escape back! ”

The deployment of the campaign was quickly arranged, and to be honest, Tan Renhao used dozens of cruisers to go to destroyers to deal with the US 6th Fleet, which was simply a knife to kill chickens. The US Deng-6 ships had only a small number of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and these anti-aircraft guns did not play any role in the artillery battle. Not to mention using so many cruisers, even if a dozen destroyers are sent, these 6 ships will be done.

After all, the losses of the First Task Force and the Second Task Force were quite huge, and many escort warships only served air defense tasks in the previous naval battles, and the officers and men all had a sense of resentment, and it was also a good thing for everyone to vent their grievances.

The night sky was dark, and the dense clouds still hadn't dispersed, enveloping Wake Island. It was as if to foreshadow a fierce battle in the evening. The U.S. 6th Fleet was still heading towards Wake Island. Spruance did not revise the order. Those thousands of US officers and soldiers cannot be easily abandoned, and even if there is little hope, we must try to rescue them as much as possible. Before arriving at Wake Island, the 6th Fleet was not threatened in any way, which made the American officers and men on these battleships feel a little surprised, as far as they know, there was a fierce battle during the day, could it be that the Tang Empire's warships escaped? Or did the commanders of the Tang Empire not know that they were going to pick up the officers and soldiers on Wake Island?

By half-past ten. More than forty ships have already arrived at the 6 board, and then 6 continued to approach the beach. The boats, the six boats, and even the lifeboats were all lowered to pick up the American officers and men assembled on the beach and onto the warship. In order to speed up the evacuation and reduce the danger, the 6th Fleet did not act collectively when retreating, but immediately retreated alone when it was full of officers and men, and never stayed for more than half a minute. But the problem is, if you want to retreat now. It's too late.

Ten fifty a.m. A flare rises from Wake Island, followed by a second, then a third...... Dozens of flares fired by large-caliber mortars ejected parachutes as they landed on the ground. Then the incendiary hanging under the parachute began to burn, illuminating the 6th US military landing as if it were daylight. While the US officers and men were looking in horror at the falling flares in the sky, the hum of the plane's engine was heard, and someone immediately judged that it was a seaplane.

Just as the gray figures of those planes appeared in the sky, several more powerful flares were dropped from the planes. There was a deathly silence on the 6th field, as if the US officers and soldiers were afraid of waking up the sleeping enemy, and the silence lasted only a few seconds, and then thousands of American troops swarmed to the gangway on the beach and boarded the 6th boat. Lifeboats, some of which even jumped directly into the sea and swam towards the 6 ships that were parked on the sea, and the US troops were completely confused.

The shelling came with the whistling of shells, and the 24o mm and 2oo mm shells exploded a column of water hundreds of meters high when they landed on the sea, and when they landed on the beach, they blew up huge craters, and there were many more 155 mm shells "2o mm shells. Soon, the artillery of the 6 warring corps of the Tang Empire on Wake Island. The mortars also opened fire, and the shelling came unusually fiercely, and many American GIs collapsed on the beach without even finding shelters, and were beaten into hornet's nests by flying shrapnel, and were blown to pieces, and were thrown into the air by a huge shock wave......

Guided by flares dropped by seaplanes, and the shelling guides on the seaplanes were still sending back the message at any time, asking the gunners on the cruiser to adjust the shelling parameters. The shelling of the cruisers parked in the open sea was very accurate, and the first salvo concentrated at least a number of 6 ships, then the second salvo, and the third...... Only more than ten rounds of salvo fire, all the Deng-6 ships were blown into torches, because the sea area where the Deng-6 ships were anchored was very shallow, so these destroyed Deng-6 ships were stranded on the beach, not completely sinking, and the exposed part of the sea was burning, which further illuminated the Deng-6 field.

The shelling soon shifted to the beach, flares continued to fall, and the Americans had no way to avoid it. The fortifications they built were used to resist the mortars of the 6th Sentai of the Tang Empire, as well as those ground artillery below 155 mm caliber, which were very brittle and weak in front of 2oo mm and 24o mm shells. Some of the US officers and men had even frantically rushed out of their bunkers and came to the beach, jumping and cursing at the gray warships under the night sky on the open sea, some set up machine guns to shoot down the seaplanes overhead, and some even crazier were shooting at the battleships a few nautical miles away with rifles.

It was a one-sided battle, and from the beginning to the end, the U.S. military did not even have the ability to fight back. Han Shaofeng was also preparing to launch a general attack at night, and when the artillery fire of his current fleet was so intense, he immediately canceled the plan to attack, and he did not want his officers and men to rush to the beach and become the target of the fleet's artillery bombardment, and it was impossible to accurately distinguish between friend and foe at night, as long as anyone appeared on the beach, they were the target of the shelling.

The heavy shelling continued until about twelve o'clock, when the cruiser and the destroyer were approaching the 6th of the board, and when there were still two nautical miles to go, the battleships stopped (by this time the depth of the water could not allow the battleship to continue closer). Tan Renhao is not a bloodthirsty butcher, he specially arranged for an officer who understands English, and then broadcast it on a loudspeaker, so that the American troops can get out of the bunker, concentrate on the beach, and surrender to the Tang Emperor's ** team. Tan Renhao gave the U.S. military fifteen minutes of time, he didn't want to waste his precious youth, fifteen minutes was enough to do a lot of things.

Fifteen minutes passed, and the American troops were still hiding in bunkers. Tan Renhao did not break his promise, and after the American troops refused to surrender, the shelling began again. This time, the small-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the battleship were used, the bullet rain was more intensive, and after closing the distance, the gunners themselves could see the US military fortifications, underground bunkers, etc., and this was almost a straight line of shelling, which could easily aim at those targets and accurately hit the shells.

The second round of shelling lasted until about one o'clock, and Tan Renhao once again asked the staff officer to come out and shout, giving the American troops a second fifteen-minute selection time. This time, within five minutes, the US officers and men walked out of the bunker in 6 times, and after arriving on the beach, they dropped their weapons in their hands, and then 6 times they gathered on the beach. It was only later that Tan Renhao learned that during the first round of shelling, the commander of this American unit was killed, and the other American troops did not dare to surrender without an order from their superiors. And when they knew that their commander was finished, a replacement major officer gave the order to surrender.

Tan Renhao immediately gave the news to Han Shaofeng, and asked Fu Shaofeng to receive these surrendered American troops after dawn, and at the same time he also left more than ten destroyers, if the American troops dared to act rashly, then Tan Renhao would never give these enemies a chance to surrender again.