At noon on the 26th, Spruance received a telegram from Nimitz that Wake Island had been bombed by the carrier-based bombers of the Tang Imperial Navy again, the desalination device had been destroyed again, and a large amount of supplies and infrastructure had been bombed, and at least more than 2,000 American officers and soldiers had been killed or wounded, and the losses were extremely heavy. Nimitz had to organize forces again to deliver supplies and equipment to the U.S. forces on Wake Island.

At that time, Spruance was thinking about how to force the Fourth Task Force out, and after receiving this telegram, Spruance suddenly thought of a point, since the U.S. military was arguing about whether to attack Leysan Island, would the Tang Imperial Navy judge that the U.S. Army would attack Leysan Island first, and then attack Midway?

This thought flashed like a spark, but Spruance immediately thought about it along this route, and he finally came to the conclusion that if the American army really attacked Lysan Island, I am afraid that the Tang Imperial Navy would be more relieved. Task Force 4 would not have come to the aid of Lysan at all, and as long as Midway was not threatened, Task Force 4 would not have gone to war. The reason is very simple, the Fourth Task Force has been active on the battlefield for so long, and all its operational intentions are to contain the speed of the US counterattack and delay the time for the US counterattack, while the US attack on Laisan Island can only delay the progress of the counterattack, and the Fourth Task Force does not even need to be dispatched to achieve its goal, which is obviously beneficial to the Tang Imperial Navy and not much to the US Navy. …． n

Perhaps the others would have given up on the idea of attacking Lysan Island at this time, but Spruance did not give up immediately. Instead, I continued to think about it.

If the Fifth Fleet bombs Leysan Island, what will the Fourth Task Force do? Obviously, Task Force 4 will not go into battle, but will wait for an opportunity to come to the sidelines, as long as the Fifth Fleet shows its flaws. Then the Fourth Task Force will launch a lightning-fast offensive, and as long as it can destroy one of the Fifth Fleet's task forces, then the Fourth Task Force will gain the initiative on the battlefield. Therefore, the bombing of Leysan Island was obviously a risky decision, but it would provide an opportunity for a decisive battle between the Fifth Fleet and the Fourth Task Force.

Thinking of this, Spruance continued to think. If you deliberately create a flaw to lure Task Force 4 into taking the bait, then it is possible to fight Task Force 4 in the waters near Lysan Island. But this is also unlikely. First, the Fifth Fleet had to quietly approach the island of Lyssan. Then quickly bomb Lysan Island, if the whereabouts are revealed before approaching Lysan Island, it will either expose the fundamental intentions of the Fifth Fleet, or allow the Fourth Task Force to seize the opportunity to sneak attack. None of the results will be good for the Fifth Fleet. Therefore. We can only quickly bomb Laisan Island first, and put on a posture of landing on Laisan Island. However, the Fourth Task Force may not be fooled, so it is unlikely that the Fourth Task Force will take the initiative to attack the Fifth Fleet. Spruance would have no chance to ambush Task Force 4.

If Task Force 4 does not take the initiative, it will prove that the commander of Task Force 4 believes that the US forces will not attack Lysan Island, but will attack Midway Island with all their might. This is indeed the deployment of the US military, and its judgment is quite accurate. To prevent the U.S. military from attacking Midway, the Tang Imperial Navy had several options, two of the most effective options, one was to take out the Fifth Fleet, and the other was to take out the landing fleet that landed on Midway. Comparatively speaking, the Fifth Fleet was like a lion, the landing fleet was a sheep, and the Fourth Task Force was a wolf in ambush. It will be quite difficult to take out the Fifth Fleet, and the wolves may eventually be eaten by lions. Therefore, the wolves will choose sheep as the target to kill the landing fleet, so that even if the Fifth Fleet bombs Midway to ruins, it is impossible for the American Marines to land on Midway.

At this point, Spruance knew what to expect, and quickly clarified two important points. The first is to determine whether the Fourth Task Force will hold Midway, and the second is where the Fourth Task Force will ambush the landing fleet.

"Contact Task Force 52, and in half an hour, the fleet is ready to turn." As he spoke, Spruance summoned the staff officer in charge of the navigation operations, and he marked a sea area on the chart, "The fleet arrived at this area on the morning of the 28th, and revised the course of the fleet according to this standard. ”

"Here?" The nautical staff was surprised, it was the southeast sea of Lysan Island.

"Yes, also tell Task Force 52 that I will send the combat mission over at night and have them prepare the bombers on the morning of the 28th."

The Navigation Staff nodded, not asking anything more, knowing that Spruance was going to send Task Force 52 to bomb either Leysan Island or Gardner Island. Spruance's habit was not to like the staff to give more opinions, so he did not give advice, but only carried out the orders of the commander.

Spruance was indeed preparing to bomb Leysan Island, and the bombing of Leysan Island was to find out what the fundamental task of Task Force 4 was. Because it was impossible to tell whether the 4th Task Force would go all out to cover Leysan Island, Spruance only arranged for Task Force 52 to bomb Leysan Island, while Task Force 51, which was relatively more combative, was responsible for covering Task Force 52 and preparing for a decisive battle with Task Force 4.

It took more than a day for the fleet to arrive in the operational area, and Spruance was not in a hurry to arrange specific combat missions, he still needed time to think about the next move. According to Spruance's judgment, there is less than a 10% chance that Task Force 4 will go to support Leysan Island, that is, Task Force 4 will not attack Task Force 52, so where will Task Force 4 be? And, what kind of action will be taken next?

With limited intelligence support, Spruance had a hard time making accurate judgments, and he could only speculate. It was the last resort, he wanted to get more, more accurate, more timely information, but he also knew that it was basically a luxury. If it weren't for the fact that Task Force 1 appeared in the Southwest Pacific theater and several pilots took prisoners. Until now, Spruance didn't know that Task Force 4 was operating in the Central Pacific.

That's Spruance's biggest trouble right now. The only reliable information he had received was that Task Force 4 had appeared in the waters north of Wake Island on the morning of the 26th, about 200 to 300 nautical miles from Wake Island. And left the waters near Wake Island at noon. Therefore, it is very likely that Task Force 4 is on its way to the battlefield at Midway, but where will Task Force 4 appear?

After thinking about it for a few hours, Spruance still didn't have a clue. That night, he first arranged the task of the 52nd Task Force to bomb Leysan Island, and clearly told Turner that there was no need to arrange escort fighters for the bombers, and that the fleet's own air defense should be strengthened as much as possible when bombing Leysan Island. In addition, Task Force 51 will remain covert during this period. Task Force 52 will be reinforced.

After this arrangement was made, Spruance received a telegram from Nimitz that the troops landing on Midway would leave Pearl Harbor on the 27th, first massing in the waters near Necker Island. The exact timing of the landing will be decided by the Fifth Fleet. This. Spruance quickly thought of a way to determine the whereabouts of Task Force 4.

When the landing fleet leaves Pearl Harbor, it will certainly be discovered by the unsavory Don Empire submarines that are as annoying as flies that are lying in ambush outside Pearl Harbor, and Task Force 4 will certainly receive the news. Then Task Force 4 will take corresponding measures to attack the landing fleet.

Spruance first asked the staff officer to mark the route of the landing fleet on the chart. But the problem is that now the landing fleet only plans to reach Necke Island, assemble here, wait for news from the Fifth Fleet, and then go to Midway. In other words, the Fifth Fleet would either take out the Fourth Task Force first or blow up the Midway airfield, otherwise the landing fleet would not be in a hurry to leave Neck. Task Force 4 will not risk attacking a landing fleet anchored near Necker Island. To lure Task Force 4 into appearing. Then the landing fleet must be allowed to leave Necke Island, then. The Fifth Fleet had to bomb Midway first.

After correlating these issues, Spruance found himself in an "endless loop." If he wants to take out Task Force 4, he must first bomb Midway Island and use the landing fleet as bait. But if he wants to bomb Midway, he must first ensure that the Fourth Task Force does not attack the Fifth Fleet, and he must first kill the Fourth Task Force, and he must not let the landing fleet suffer any losses. What to do?

After careful consideration, Spruance made a bold decision, if the bombing of Leysan Island could not fool the Fourth Task Force, then immediately bomb Midway, and use the 51st Task Force to bomb Midway, then the Fourth Task Force would think that the Fifth Fleet was near Lysan Island and Midway Island, and if the Fourth Task Force was closer to the Landing Fleet by then, perhaps the Fourth Task Force would attack the Landing Fleet, and the Fifth Fleet would seize this opportunity as long as it acted in time. You will be able to sneak up on Task Force 4 and make Task Force 4 completely finished!

Thinking of this, Spruance adjusted the fleet's sailing plan again, and set the time for the bombing of Leysan Island to be in the early morning of the 28th, with the 52nd Task Force still responsible for bombing Leysan Island, while the 51st Task Force was on standby near the 52nd Task Force. If Task Force 4 had not appeared on the 28th, then Task Force 52 would have withdrawn from the waters near Lysan Island and would have been on standby, and Task Force 51 would bombard Midway Island on the morning of the 29th, first destroying the airfield on Midway. The two squadrons then left Midway at full speed, and the landing fleet left Necker Island on the morning of the 29th and headed for Midway, with the landing scheduled for July 1.

After sending the new battle plan to Task Force 52, Spruance contacted the U.S. forces on Nihua Island by shortwave radio and informed Nimitz of the landing fleet's departure on the morning of the 29th. Of course, Spruance did not explain that he was letting the landing fleet be the bait, because in his opinion, if he could attract the fourth task force this time, maybe the landing fleet would not suffer too much loss, and as long as he could annihilate the fourth task force in one fell swoop, even if the landing fleet suffered losses, it would be bearable.

After the relevant combat missions were arranged, Spruance also calmed down. Since the last defeat by Task Force 1 at Necke Island, the U.S. Navy has been in a very difficult situation, and the Fifth Fleet, and even Spruance, have been in a very difficult situation. This had given Spruance the idea of leaving the front-line troops, but Nimitz wouldn't let him take a back seat, and the U.S. Navy needed a commander like him. Spruance stayed and worked hard towards victory, but he knew that the United States was getting farther and farther away from victory, and if it wanted to win, it needed to turn the tide of the war in the Pacific, and to turn the tide of the war in the Pacific, it was necessary to defeat the Tang Imperial Navy first, and to defeat the Tang Imperial Navy, it was necessary to have a strong fleet, and the core of a strong fleet was excellent fleet officers and men. This is also the fundamental reason why Spruance has been working hard to train the officers and men of the fleet, he can only go step by step, and after having a fleet enough to win on the battlefield, he needs to defeat the opponent and destroy the task force of the Tang Imperial Navy one by one.

As the fleet sailed to the battlefield, Spruance repeatedly considered this battle arrangement several times. He did not lose confidence, but he did not have much hope for this combat operation, because he knew that the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Task Force IV showed a sufficiently high quality on the battlefield, and judging by the actions of Task Force IV, its commanders were very cautious and rarely made low-level mistakes. This was the worst news for Spruance, who was probably only hungry for a decent victory, a victory that would turn the tide of the battle, but his opponent wouldn't let him get it easily.

By the night of the 27th, Spruance received a message from Necke Island that the landing fleet would arrive at Necke Island on the afternoon of the 28th, and after replenishing fuel, it would leave Necker Island on the morning of the 29th.

Perhaps, Spruance should be most grateful for Nimitz's support for him, without which he would have left the US Navy and left the battlefield. From this point, he didn't know whether he should be grateful to Nimitz or complain about Nimitz.