Hao Dongjue gave this bombing operation a very vivid name -- the "steamroller" The field airfields set up by the US military on those islands were the biggest obstacle for the 6th Squadron to reach Huon Bay, and the 1st Task Force was like a steamroller, flattening all these obstacles. Of course, these obstacles are all thorny, and they will all fight back, and if one is not done well, they will be burned, at least no one dares to underestimate those US shore-based bombers, especially standard tactical bombers such as sBd.

When formulating the battle plan, Hao Dongjue was very cautious. Hao Dongjue arranged five squadrons (including two squadrons of reconnaissance planes) to carry out bombing missions very tightly, which greatly improved the sortie rate of aircraft carriers on the aircraft carrier, and swung the capabilities of the two aircraft carriers to the limit, and at the same time waved the pilots' physical fitness to the limit.

On the night of the 26th, the fleet maneuvered to the sea about 2oo nautical miles from Musho Island, and an hour before dawn, three squadrons of bombers came out, and then the other two squadrons of bombers also left the aircraft carrier, and Tan Renhao left only five squadrons of air defense fighters for himself, of which three squadrons of fighters were lifted into the air six times before and after dawn. The service personnel on the aircraft carrier were busy until after seven o'clock, and then began to eat breakfast.

Five squadrons of bombers bombed three U.S. field airfields on Musho Island and on New Hanover Island to the east. At that time, the U.S. military had two field airfields on Musho Island, and a relatively large field airfield to the east of Hanover Island (there was also a smaller field airfield on the south side of the island, but it was not within the bombing range) because the fleet was only more than 2oo nautical miles away from the U.S. airfield at this time, and within a radius of 5oo nautical miles nearby, there were several U.S. field airfields, and the U.S. long-range patrol planes could appear as the first task force at any time, so Tan Renhao kept most of the fighters. Only twelve bomb-mounted escort fighters were assigned to the bomber group that bombed New Hanover, and the other two bomber groups were not covered by fighters. He had no other choice, and the safety of the fleet was paramount. If you lose your fighters, you can get a quick replenishment, but if you lose your aircraft carriers, then Task Force 1 will be finished.

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue's judgment was not wrong, and at this time, the US command system was still concentrating on handling the battle news on Wake Island. The 6th team sent by Liao Hanxiang landed on Wake Island on the morning of the 26th, spent a day consolidating the 6th team on the island, and began to advance in the direction of the airport on the 27th, and the US military was trying to save Wake Island, and even sent B-17 bombers from Midway Island. According to the estimate of the US commander, even if the Tang Empire was only covering Wake Island, it would launch a combat operation to attack the southwest Pacific in August, and no one expected that the Tang Army would start its operation in the southwest Pacific at a critical time when the battle on Wake Island was going on.

The three bomber groups arrived at the airspace above the target within half an hour after dawn, and at this time the US troops at the three airfields had just gotten up and were preparing to have breakfast; although the first batch of air defense fighters had already taken to the air, their numbers were extremely small, and they were simply unable to intercept the bomber groups that suddenly attacked, and the US troops were organized at the air defense positions near the airfields. The bombers of the Don Empire had already dropped bombs. The retreat began.

The bombing campaign was extremely rapid, and after eight o'clock, the bomber group returned to the 6th year. At this time. The fleet is sailing westward at the fastest degree, and according to Tan Renhao's calculations, even if the US military reacts immediately and takes off bombers from the nearest airfield that has not been bombed, it will take at least two to three hours to kill them, and at that time, the fleet has already moved 6o to 1oo nautical miles to the west, and it will be difficult for the US bombers to show the fleet.

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue won a big gamble on the first day, and by noon, there were still no American bombers to kill them. Fleet air defense fighters also shot down two U.S. long-range patrol planes close to the fleet in the morning. In the afternoon, the fleet organized a second round of bombing, destroying several small field airfields of the American army in the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea. In order to maximize the bombing effect, torpedo bombers carrying horizontal bombing missions carried submunitions. The scale of those US field airfields is not large, and there is a lack of equipment to clear time bombs, and it will take at least a few days to restore these airfields to use, and by then, the first task force has already seized air supremacy. And the 6th Sentai has also landed in Lae and is building its own field airfield!

In the evening, the fleet entered the waters north of the island of New Guinea, and the officers and men of the fleet, the aviation crew, and the pilots finally had a chance to rest, and it was only for a few hours. In the second half of the night, the fleet turned again, this time, the fleet will enter the North Sea Route in the Bismarck Sea, and bomb the four US airfields near Lae during the day (one regular military airfield, one large field airfield, and two smaller, no aircraft field airfields) It will be a tough battle, the fleet is very likely to be attacked by American bombers during the day, but this is also the most critical step, whether it can seize air supremacy, it depends on the bombing of this day.

In order to achieve the suddenness of the bombing, Hao Dongjue set the bombing time at six o'clock, that is, half an hour before dawn, not after dawn. In order for the bombers to drop bombs accurately, one bomber in each fleet carried flares instead of bombs. In addition, the bomber group was divided into numerous groups, each with the best bomber pilots at the head of the group, and several groups forming a large group, each with a commander at the rank of squadron leader or above. These long planes will take the lead in dropping bombs, and the other bombers will follow to improve the accuracy of bombing. In fact, this tactic has been often used by heavy bombers of strategic strike forces before, and now it is the first time that it has been used by tactical bombers.

The fleet reached about 2 nautical miles from Lae and about 15 nautical miles from the western sea channel of the Bismarck Sea at about half-past four, and then the bombers took off in 6 consecutive days.

"The bombing effect will definitely be worse, so I have authorized those pilots to strafe the ground after the bombing is over, so as to expand the results of the battle, and the time for the group to return home is about half an hour longer than yesterday's bombing operation."

Hao Dongjue lit a cigarette, he also looked a little unsure, "I hope we won't be disappointed too much this time." If we can destroy the planes parked by the US military at the airfield, we will have the opportunity to carry out supplementary bombing, even if the airfield is not completely destroyed. ”

"It depends, if we need to supplement the bombing, we must also reduce the scale as much as possible, and we must also take out the two airfields west of New Britain Island today!"

Tan Renhao sighed, "The task is heavy, now it can only be seen whether these pilots can create miracles." ”

Both laughed. They did not doubt the quality of the pilots. Although after the establishment of the Second Task Force, a large number of outstanding pilots were transferred to the Second Air Wing, and after the establishment of the Fourth Task Force, some pilots from each of the two air wings were transferred to form the backbone of the Fourth Air Wing. However, after the Battle of the Mariana Islands, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue both believed that they had the best pilots in the world, Qiu Gengbo, Yang Qinkai, and An Shile. Yao Baiyan and others have grown up. Their abilities are no longer below their previous captains.

It was indeed an extremely risky bombing campaign, and the biggest problem was the accuracy of the bomb dropped at night. Even if a pilot bomber drops flares first, it will point to the target on the ground. However, in this kind of tactical bombing that requires precision, the effect of the flare is not good, especially when the bomber is flying at low altitude and fast flying, the flare may affect the pilot's vision, produce vertigo, and maybe even lead to a crash. Perhaps, even the pilots themselves are not too sure.

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue had to endure the torment for more than an hour. After the bomber bombing is finished, the previous pilot aircraft (that is, the bomber where the bomb was dropped) will make a preliminary judgment on the bombing results, and if it is determined that the US airfield has not been completely paralyzed, then supplementary bombing must be carried out. And wait until the bomber group returns before letting them take off with bombs. That is to say, Tan Renhao and they received the message at most at half past six, or even around seven o'clock, to decide whether they needed to carry out supplementary bombing or choose a new target.

By 6:25 a.m., Hao Dongjue was extremely restless, and he had been standing by the communications staff officer, waiting for 20 minutes until about 6:45 p.m. The pilot bombers in front came with the news: the bombing had been successful, the two most important US airfields had been completely paralyzed, and now the bomber group was suppressing the other two smaller field airfields, and the group returned to the fleet at about eight o'clock, half an hour earlier than the scheduled time!

The first batch of bombers returned to the fleet after eight o'clock, and by half past eight, all the bombers had returned, and after counting, a total of more than twenty bombers had been lost. The losses were indeed a little larger, but they were nothing compared to the results achieved. During the half-hour bomber landing, the fleet's air defense fighters intercepted a US reconnaissance plane that was almost flying over the fleet. This US reconnaissance plane flew over under the cover of clouds, and the fleet did not turn on its radar at all in order to conceal itself.

"Immediately organize fleet air defense, our position is definitely exposed!"

Tan Renhao immediately issued a new order, "First arrange for the returning fighters to take off, and don't forget to turn on the radar, the fleet will continue to sail in a southeastern direction, and according to the plan, bomb New Britain Island in the afternoon!" ”

"Isn't it too risky for us to go against American bombers?"

Hao Dongjue raised objections at this time.

"You can't help but take a risk, go and give orders!"

Hao Dongjue glanced at his partner, and he didn't want to say anything, so he conveyed the task first.

"The four airfields near Lae will be paralyzed until tomorrow morning at most, and if we retreat now, then we will have to bomb these airfields again tomorrow."

Tan Renhao picked up his teacup, "This is equivalent to letting the fleet take a second risk, it is better to blow up several other airfields that threaten us now." The U.S. military's response will not be very fast, and the bomber group will probably arrive at noon, and if the U.S. bombers have not yet appeared at about 10 o'clock, let the first batch of fighters return to refuel, and then all the fighters will take turns to return to refuel, and at least four fighter squadrons must be guaranteed to patrol over the fleet. We can't go back now, it's up to us to win or lose! ”

At about 10 o'clock, another US reconnaissance plane was intercepted by the air defense station Duoji, and by this time the fleet had already reached the waters near the Samar Islands and was rushing to the sea lane west of the Bismarck Sea. And the first fighters to take off also returned to the aircraft carrier in 6 times.

Tan Renhao's judgment was not wrong, at 11:30 a.m., just as the third batch of fighters returned to the aircraft carrier to replenish fuel, the radar on the cruiser in front of the fleet showed a group of American planes. The air defense alarm sounded immediately, and at this time there were five squads of fighters over the fleet (one of the squads had less than twenty minutes of fuel left), and several more fighters were leaving the carrier.

The air defense battle was fierce, but the threat to the fleet was not great, and the escort fighters of the US bomber group were only about 20, and the US pilots did not expect to encounter so many fighters, and as a result, most of the bombers were shot down when they broke through the interception net of the air defense fighters. The fleet survived this without any danger, and in the end only one cruiser was slightly damaged, and one destroyer was heavily damaged and was forced to return to the rear port.

At half past two, Tan Renhao sent a group of bombers to bomb the island of New Britain, and this time he only dispatched four squadrons of bombers, and arranged for two squads of fighters to escort these bombers, leaving the other three squadrons of fighters behind. The airports in the New British Isles are the last few targets. As long as these airfields are blown up, the fleet will no longer be threatened in any way, and then supplementary bombing can be carried out at night and after dawn to paralyze the US air force and seize air supremacy for the 3rd Task Force and the 6th Squadron.

At about five o'clock, the bomber group began to return, and Hao Dongjue also seized the last opportunity to carry out a supplementary bombing of the airfield near Lae. The bombers all returned at night, and it wasn't until it was completely dark that Tan Renhao breathed a sigh of relief, and the two days of fighting made him almost out of breath.