Midway is a coral reef island consisting of three coral islands: Sand Island, East Island, and Spit Island. With an area of 6 square kilometers and a circumference of 15 kilometers, the highest elevation point is 15 meters above sea level, and the terrain is flat, suitable for the establishment of a large airport. Named after the island's halfway point between the West Coast of the United States and the Ryukyu Islands, Midway was first discovered by an American navigator and subsequently occupied by the United States. Before the last World War, the United States built it as a naval base, and subsequently built an undersea cable relay station from Hawaii to Guam. After World War I, the U.S. military established a civil aviation station on the island, and after the outbreak of the war, an aviation and submarine base was added to the island, and a temporary anchorage was established in the northwest of the island.

By this point, Midway had a large military airfield, a small airfield (formerly a civil aviation station), a port for submarines, and a large number of military installations. The U.S. military has more than 15,000 troops stationed on the island, including more than 12,000 combat personnel, and the rest are aviation personnel and technicians. This is a completely fortress-like island, and it can be said that the geographical location of Midway is irreplaceable by no other island in the line of defense of the American army.

Judging from the location, Midway has become the front line of the American army, especially after the fall of the Mariana Islands and Wake Island, Midway has become the front line of the American army, and at the same time has become a springboard that the Tang Imperial Army must capture before attacking the Hawaiian Islands. Midway was less than 2,000 kilometers from Pearl Harbor, and if the Tang Empire had captured it, it would have conquered the islands west of the Hawaiian Islands and finally Oahu. That is, the island where Pearl Harbor is located, to complete the attack on the Hawaiian Islands. As the gateway to the Hawaiian Islands, Midway's importance cannot be overstated.

After the loss of the Mariana Islands. U.S. forces strengthened the defense of Midway just after the capture of Wake Island. Midway became the most important island for U.S. military defense. But the problem is that Midway is an island without any resources, and it can't even provide fresh water!

Tan Renhao first found a lot of information about Midway, and he spent half a day developing these materials, and the result was that he came to the conclusion. Midway is an easy island to attack and defend to the south, and as long as the Imperial Marines land on this island and the Imperial fleet seizes air and sea supremacy, then the U.S. military has little hope of holding Midway.

The biggest problem on Midway Island is that there is no fresh water resources, and the groundwater can only sustain the consumption of a few hundred people, so the US military has to send ships to deliver fresh water to the island, and equip the US military guarding the island with two seawater desalinations. Judging from the information that Tan Renhao obtained, the fresh water on Midway Island lasts for half a month at most, maybe ten days. Other words. As long as the U.S. military is cut off from the route to deliver fresh water to Midway, then more than half of the U.S. troops defending the island will die of thirst after half a month, and the rest may not have much combat effectiveness.

After understanding this. Tan Renhao also has confidence. At the same time, they also realized why the three small aircraft carriers that were originally operating in the southwest Pacific did not participate in the US offensive operation in Port Moresby, and perhaps these three small aircraft carriers had left the southwest Pacific theater several days ago. And we're heading in the direction of Midway. These three aircraft carriers are the biggest threat, and the US shore-based air forces on Midway Island are not to be feared, and the closest place to Midway Island, the island where US fighters are deployed is still hundreds of nautical miles away.

Of course, Tan Renhao has to consider those long-range reconnaissance planes deployed by the US military on Midway. The two airfields on Midway can accommodate 200 to 250 combat aircraft, including dozens of long-range reconnaissance aircraft, more than half of which are equipped with surface search radars. In other words, if Task Force 1 were to bomb Midway, it would first have to think about how to avoid these reconnaissance planes. Perhaps, it will be difficult for the shore-based bombers on Midway Island to take off in time, but the problem is that if those three small American aircraft carriers are operating nearby, and the first task force is exposed, then it will definitely be attacked by the US carrier-based bombers, suddenly, and quickly! At least 60 to 90 bombers can be deployed on three small carriers, and it is entirely possible that the formation of these bombers will cause heavy damage or even wipe out Task Force 1.

Surprise attacks on airfields on islands with fleets are a common tactic, and although island airfields are very vulnerable, both warring sides are not abandoning island airfields, but are trying to strengthen their ability to cope with bombing. The deployment of more long-range patrol aircraft, and the ability of these patrol aircraft to carry out patrol and search missions at night, is the key to this.

The U.S. military's long-range patrol planes can search for 700 nautical miles, while dozens of reconnaissance planes are enough to form an impermeable defensive line around Midway. Whether it is a strong attack or a sneak attack, it will not be very difficult to bomb Midway, but the question is, if the fleet is exposed, what then?

The focus of the whole operation is still on the three small aircraft carriers, and if these three small aircraft carriers operate in the waters near Midway, it will be a huge threat, and it will be necessary to kill these three small aircraft carriers before they even bomb Midway. But the problem is that there is no accurate information about these three aircraft carriers, and it is not even clear whether these three aircraft carriers have returned to Port Vila, or whether they have left the Coral Sea!

A few days later, a telegram returned, and a submarine lying in ambush outside Port Vila spotted the returning U.S. fleet in Port Vila, confirming that the fleet contained three flat-topped ships and several destroyers, but no cruisers were found. This telegram is not complete, because there is no mention of the specific models of those ships in it! But Tan Renhao didn't have time to wait any longer, and after getting this information, he asked people to prepare planes and go to Guam to rendezvous with the fleet.

"Now we are almost certain that those three small carriers are still in the Third Fleet and have not returned to the Fifth Fleet." Gan Yongxing came to the airport to see off Tan Renhao, "I will send it to you as soon as there is new news, and after arriving in Guam, take me to say hello to General Liao Hanxiang." ”

"I will, Chief of Staff, you don't have to send more!" Tan Renhao knew that Gan Yongxing was busy with affairs, and he was embarrassed to delay Gan Yongxing too much time.

Gan Yongxing smiled and nodded. Then he patted Tan Renhao on the shoulder. "Do a good job, when you come back, let's go to the principal's house for dinner together."

Tan Renhao was stunned. immediately laughed, it turned out that Gan Yongxing was still thinking about the few bottles of good wine in the principal's house.

Along.

Tan Renhao still had a feeling of uneasiness. Having been on the battlefield for a long time, he has a habit of never believing any ambiguous information, unconfirmed, or imperfect information. It is worthless in his eyes, and he will never make a major judgment because of an ambiguous piece of news. Of course, this is only outside the battle, and in the battle, it depends on the intuition and judgment of the commander himself.

Regarding the information he received before leaving, Tan Renhao did not fully believe it. The submarine's report used "flat-topped boats" instead of "aircraft carriers". Although "flat-topped ship" is another name for aircraft carriers by naval officers and men, it will never be used in official telegrams. Previously, none of the submarines would have used the term "flat-topped boat" to represent an aircraft carrier. Apparently. This has already shown that the captain of the submarine himself is not entirely sure that they are three aircraft carriers, and not three 10,000-ton freighters that are somewhat similar in appearance. At present, there are at least dozens of 10,000-ton cargo ships operating in the waters east of Australia. If the U.S. Navy wants to covertly transfer three small aircraft carriers to the Fifth Fleet, without arousing the suspicion of the Tang Empire's navy and avoiding the Tang Empire's submarines, then the best thing to do is to create a false impression. Convince the adversary that the three carriers are in Port Vila, not that they have already sailed for Midway.

There are many loopholes in this telegram, such as the escort battleship is only a few destroyers, and it is not mentioned which type of destroyer. The U.S. merchant fleet has escort destroyers, most of which are old destroyers built during World War I, while those who are incorporated into the fleet are all newly-built destroyers, and this difference is very large. There are no cruisers in the fleet, and this is even more of a problem, even if it is a small aircraft carrier formation, as long as it operates in the theater of operations, it is indispensable to have escort cruisers, and destroyers cannot shoulder all the heavy responsibilities of escort. And back in May, a batch of cruisers of the Fifth Fleet was allocated to the Third Fleet, so where are these cruisers?

There are too many suspicions, and intuition also tells Tan Renhao that the three small aircraft carriers must still be active, maybe Halsey has handed over the command to Spruance, but the question is, where are the three aircraft carriers? At present, the submarines of the Tang Empire are mainly concentrated in the Coral Sea and the waters near the Hawaiian Islands, and there is not much submarine activity on the route from the Southwest Pacific to the Hawaiian Islands. The first is that the endurance of submarines is limited, and the second is that this route is not the main battlefield for breaking diplomatic relations. That is, do not expect submarines to detect the American fleet at all.

Along the way, the plane kept jolting, and Tan Renhao was also thinking quickly. This time, the plane will fly directly to Guam and will not make a stopover on Ryukyu Island. After Du Xing prepared a convenient fast food for Tan Renhao to eat in the evening, he did not come to disturb Tan Renhao, but ran to chat with the flight attendants on the plane. Tan Renhao didn't bother Duchenne, he had a full meal at home before leaving, and he didn't feel that there was much F4U.

Before arriving at Guam, Tan Renhao thought for several hours, probably judging that this was a suspicious plan by the US military, and now the fleet of three small aircraft carriers must be rushing to Midway, and maybe it has reached the waters near Midway. Thinking of this, he didn't bother to guess the specific location of the US fleet.

Liao Hanxiang rushed to the airport to greet his son-in-law's arrival, and it was already early in the morning when the plane arrived.

"The fleet is still on the way, Hao Dongjue sent a plane over yesterday afternoon, and the fleet will probably arrive this afternoon."

"He didn't use the radio?"

"No, the fleet has already entered the war zone, and the fleet will also implement radio wave control." Liao Hanxiang let his son-in-law get into the car first, and then followed in, "How are you okay along the way?" ”

"It's not good, it's a lot of trouble, you also received news from Port Vila, right?" Tan Renhao sighed, "I think there are a lot of suspicious places. Let's go have breakfast first, I'm sorry F4U is broken, let's talk about it while we eat.

Liao Hanxiang immediately asked the driver to drive the car to the hotel outside the barracks, just in time for the boss to open the door, and the two became the first customers. And Liao Hanxiang's adjutant also immediately went to order a few breakfasts, and then did not come to disturb the two generals.

Tan Renhao told his analysis while eating, and when he finished eating, he was almost done. "Judging from these suspicions, I suspect that those three small aircraft carriers have now reached the Fifth Fleet. Is it not Spruance who is now the commander of the Fifth Fleet? ”

"At least we haven't received any news of U.S. military personnel transfers, and it should be Spruance who continues to command the Fifth Fleet." Liao Hanxiang's words are also uncertain.

Tan Renhao sighed. "What's going on over at Pearl Harbor?"

Liao Hanxiang also sighed, and then shook his head. "Now our submarines can't get close to Oahu, and it's even harder to figure out what's going on in Pearl Harbor. Last month, two more submarines were sunk while on reconnaissance missions. Now the submarine command has ordered that no one should enter the sea 150 nautical miles from Oahu. ”

Tan Renhao also felt helpless, and now there was no good way to find out the enemy's movements. After suffering several big losses in intelligence, the Yankees have obviously learned a lot.

"However, the American submarine should not try to get close to us. Now our anti-submarine capabilities have improved a lot, and the waters within 200 nautical miles of the Mariana Islands are off-limits to American submarines.

In the first two months, our anti-submarine patrol aircraft sank at least 12 American submarines, and in addition to the anti-submarine patrol fleet sank several of them, and now, American submarines simply do not dare to come and move. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "In other words, we're all going to have to fight in the dark."

"The enemy's situation won't be much better anyway, so you have nothing to worry about, maybe they don't even know that Task Force 1 has arrived in Guam."

"Well, I'll go sleep first, and I'll go to the fleet as soon as the fleet arrives in the afternoon."

Tan Renhao stood up, "Strive to rush to the battlefield as soon as possible and provide the Marine Corps with at least three days of fire preparation." ”

Liao Hanxiang didn't say anything, he had already seen that his son-in-law definitely hadn't rested along the way, and he looked extremely tired. The battle plan has been decided, and the first thing to see now is whether Task Force 1 can clear the way for the Marines to land on Midway.