On November 7, the sixteenth year of Zhongxing, although the rain stopped, the weather was still gloomy. What should have been a sunny day after the rain is now shrouded in mist.

As with the weather, everything was so unusual.

Just like the mood of Nimitz and Nagano at this moment, the two stood on the bridge of the Montana, known as the world's strongest battleship, looking at the foggy sea, and their hearts were extremely heavy.

Fletcher's fleet was completely annihilated, which was a big blow to the upcoming operation.

The two of them did not dare to make the news public, and before the battle began, their side would lose one of their generals, and once the news reached the whole army, the blow to morale would inevitably be heavy.

However, the two also felt lucky, because Fletcher's fleet was not the main force in this operation, he was only used as reconnaissance firepower to see if he could find out whether the Chinese navy was in the Mariana Islands.

Burying a fleet to confirm the judgment is not unacceptable to Nagano Shusei and Nimitz. At least now it is known that around the Mariana Islands, it can be further confirmed that there is no Chinese fleet here.

Of course, they are not afraid of startling the snake by surprise. In fact, a key part of this plan is to startle the snake from the beginning. Let China mistakenly think that Fletcher's fleet is just a ploy to divert the tiger from the mountain, so the two of them have made a fuss around Midway. In order to make China itself smart, but it is mistaken by cleverness.

It's just, the plan is good, but will China be fooled?

The clouds were low, the visibility was poor, and from the bridge of the USS Montana could barely see the faint shadows of the destroyer's alert troops at a distance of fifteen hundred meters from it.

At this time, the main force should meet with the oil tankers. Carry out refueling. But the tanker was not found at the rendezvous point. The Midway sent reconnaissance planes to look for it, but due to poor visibility, the tanker could not be found. However, at this time, the flotilla sent a telegram to the Montana to report their position, and the rendezvous was possible. But the radio silence was broken by this, so it must be assumed that the enemy now knew where the main forces were.

Over the course of the day, there were growing signs that China had spotted Allied forces, or at least strongly suspected that Allied forces were moving toward Midway.

Radio reconnaissance has found a marked increase in electrical floods from the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands. Of the 180 telegrams received, 72 were urgent. It shows that the situation is extremely tense.

A Japanese maritime patrol plane that took off from the Japanese mainland accidentally encountered the same Chinese seaplane over the ocean 500 nautical miles north of the Japanese mainland, and fired briefly at each other with machine guns. This shows that China has extended the patrol radius of shore-based patrol planes in the Mariana Islands to 700 nautical miles.

There are also reports that say. Enemy submarines were spotted about 500 nautical miles southeast of Guam. This almost certainly indicates. About six hundred nautical miles southeast of the Mariana Islands. China has a submarine patrol line.

By this time, the Mariana Islands transport group had reached about 1,000 nautical miles west of the Mariana Islands and was heading north-east.

The regiment sailed at a speed of 240 nautical miles in 24 hours. By 7 November, two days before the Nagumo forces were required to carry out pre-invasion air strikes on the Mariana Islands, they would sail within a 700-nautical-mile patrol radius of Chinese planes in the Mariana Islands. From a safety point of view, it seems that the transport ship group is moving too fast.

On November 7, the sea area where Nagano self-cultivation troops were located was cloudy and sometimes rainy. The refueling work, which had begun on 8 November due to the postponement of the rendezvous with the tanker, continued that morning, but had to be halted when visibility was so low that it was no longer safe for the vessel to move.

Another obstacle occurred in the battle plan. The Fifth Submarine Squadron, which was supposed to be assigned to the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands on 8 November to establish a cordon B, was postponed due to delays in overhaul and did not arrive at the designated position on time.

The submarines of the 3rd Submarine Fleet, which had been sent to the Philippines and west of the Ryukyu Islands to establish a cordon, were also unable to arrive at the designated location as scheduled due to delays caused by the miscarriage of the project to reconnoiter the Ryukyu Islands. The submarines actually did not arrive until 10 November.

Since the submarine cordon had not yet been established, Admiral Nagano and his staff had no way of knowing the activities of the Chinese Pacific Fleet.

However, on 8 November, the I-168 submarine, which was conducting reconnaissance in the Mariana Islands area, sent some sporadic information about the situation there.

The report said: Apart from one alert ship was spotted south of Saipan, no other ships were found. China appears to have stepped up patrols on the south-west side of the Mariana Islands, with a patrol distance of about 600 nautical miles.

It seems that China is on strict alert, a large number of enemy planes are carrying out defensive patrols 24 hours a day, and many cranes can be seen on the island, indicating that some facilities are being expanded.

Although the Japanese-U.S. Combined Fleet Command relied primarily on submarines to reconnoiter the enemy, it turned out that during the Mariana Islands operation, submarines sent only one important espionage report.

Nagumo's troops, about 600 nautical miles in front of Nagano's self-cultivation troops, entered a sea area shrouded in dense fog on November 8. The clouds are low and it is starting to rain lightly, so it looks likely that heavy fog will follow. Visibility was already low, and the adjacent ships in the formation were barely visible to each other.

Vice Admiral Nagumo on the flagship of the Akagi, like the command of the Japanese-American Combined Fleet, was unaware of the movements and intentions of the enemy fleet. In fact, due to the limited radio reception capacity of the Akagi and the radio silence of the Allied fleet in advance, much of the information received by Nagano Shusei on the flagship of the Japan-US Combined Fleet was unknown to Vice Admiral Nagumo.

This information strongly implied that China already knew or suspected that the Allied fleet was moving towards the Mariana Islands, and that China was preparing for a confrontation with the Allied fleet.

This is exactly what Rear Admiral Kusaka, the chief of staff of the Nagumo Force, feared. Before departure, Rear Admiral Kusaka repeatedly asked the Montana, as the flagship of the fleet, to relay all important radio reconnaissance information to the Akagi. However, Nagano Shusu and Nimitz and their staff clearly wanted to be taken by surprise. It was therefore considered that radio silence should be maintained.

Thus, by the end of November 8, the Allied fleet was still gradually moving to the ground in bad weather. Up to this point, there was no definite indication that any Allied fleet had been discovered by the Chinese. Therefore, everyone in the Japanese-US Combined Fleet, from the commander in chief down to the commander-in-chief, hopes that they still have the precious advantage of being able to carry out a surprise attack by surprise.

At dawn on 9 November, the mist that Nagumo's troops had encountered the previous afternoon had turned into a thick fog. According to the deployment of navigation in the fog, the adjacent ships in the formation often cannot see the neighboring ships at a distance of five or six hundred meters. The bright searchlight was turned on, but the light could not be seen through the fog.

To keep the snake moving in this boundless fog, but only occasionally catch a glimpse of the neighboring ship, so. It's a tough, nerve-wracking activity. However, it must be done. Because the Nagumo fleet was entering the sea area patrolled by Chinese submarines, the fog could help them not to be detected by the Chinese reconnaissance planes, but this benefit offset the increased danger during the voyage.

Not only that, but the fog does not hinder the movement of enemy submarines equipped with radars. And the anti-submarine patrol aircraft could not take off for patrol. In order to cope with this adverse situation and to prepare for other problems. The ships were fully combat-ready. Anti-submarine vigilance lookout has been strengthened.

Nagumo Tadaichi and all the staff below Chief of Staff Kusaka gathered on the right side of the Akagi bridge. They looked silently ahead, each looking very anxious and nervous. On the left side of the bridge. Captain Aoki Admiral Osa and Navigator Miura Admiral Nakasa went all out to keep the warship on course and in formation. From time to time, they leaned out of their windows, trying to see through the fog that enveloped everything.

The timing of the change of course is specified at a fixed point in time, and the course must be changed if the schedule is intended to be carried out. However, before such a change of course can be carried out in a dense fog, the ships in the formation must be informed of their positive opinions, so as not to lose their course or fall behind.

Visibility was too low to be apparently communicated with flags, and even searchlights were not effective in conveying the necessary commands. There is no other way than to use radio. But doing so would indeed expose our position to China, which was something that Vice Admiral Nagumo and his staff were very worried about.

This troubling situation helps to expose the fact that Nagumo has been assigned two fundamentally contradictory combat missions.

The first mission was to carry out an air raid on the Mariana Islands on November 11 to prepare for a landing operation, which severely limited the movement of Nagumo's forces. The second task was to make contact with the enemy fleet and annihilate it, which required Nagumo's forces to be fully mobile according to the situation, so it was very important to keep their whereabouts secret during the search for China.

Clearly, a clear decision must be taken as to which task to give priority to the task. Nagumo's staff had studied the issue for a long time on the basis of the pretense, and now the commander of the mobile force was faced with the need to make a final choice. However, intelligence on the Chinese Pacific Fleet has not yet been obtained. In the face of this difficult situation, Chief Staff Officer Oishi Navy Daisa first spoke:

"The operational order of the Japanese-US joint fleet stipulates that the annihilation of enemy forces is the primary task, and the coordination of landing operations is secondary. But the same order clearly requires us to strike the Mariana Islands on 11 November, which means that if we do not find enemy mobile forces while we are preparing to attack, we must launch them on time. If we do not destroy the shore-based air forces of the Mariana Islands as planned, our landing operation will be fiercely resisted in two days, and the entire strategic operation schedule will be disrupted. ”

Nagumo Tadaichi raised the question on everyone's mind with his always straightforward words: "But where is the enemy fleet?"

Oishi replied: "Since we have not been able to reconnoiter the enemy-occupied area, we do not know where China is. If the enemy forces are now in enemy-occupied territory, and they are active after our attack on the Mariana Islands, we will have ample time to prepare against them, for they will have to travel more than 1,100 nautical miles to reach the battlefield.

Even if the Chinese were to know our movements and set out to meet them, it would be impossible for them to be very far away from the enemy-occupied area at this moment, and certainly not very close to us. So, I thought the first thing we were going to do, was to carry out a scheduled air strike on the Mariana Islands. ”

Speaking of which, Chief of Staff Caolu asked the intelligence staff officer if the intercepted wireless telegraph provided information on China's movements.

The intelligence staff officer replied helplessly: "It's a pity that I didn't hear anything!" ”

Kusaka asked again: "Did you receive any information from the Montana, the flagship of the Japan-US Combined Fleet!" The answer is still no.

Thereupon. Chief of Staff Kusaka suggested to Nagumo Tadaichi, "Since we must act according to plan at any cost, do you agree to give the order to change course using the low-power radio transmitters used inside our fleet?"

Nagumo Tadashi agreed to this only feasible solution, so he issued this order with a medium-wave transmitter. With a low-power message, it is possible to reach the outer edge of the Nagumo troops, but hopefully it will not go any further.

This method is not completely safe, but it has occasionally worked in the past due to China's carelessness. This time, however, the Montana, which was six hundred nautical miles behind Nagumo's troops, also received the telegram clearly. Since the Chinese Pacific Fleet is only a few hundred nautical miles from here. Nagumo Zhongyi and the others didn't know anything about this, and it was very likely that it had also intercepted this signal.

The formulators of the Mariana Islands battle plan had estimated from the beginning that the Chinese Pacific Fleet would be lured out after the Mariana Islands were attacked, but it was not possible before that.

However, the top brass of the Japan-US Joint Fleet did not know anything about it. China has already been dispatched. Unexpectedly, a powerful enemy force was waiting in ambush, ready to pounce on them at any moment.

Fog continued to envelop Nagumo's troops throughout the afternoon and into the night. Contrary to the tense atmosphere on the bridge of the Akagi, the officers of the Akagi and the entire Nagumo fleet. Whether it's in the lounges of Japanese aircraft carriers or American aircraft carriers. It was filled with the chatter and laughter of carefree pilots. Their only task was to jump on the plane and attack at the first command. All preparations have been made for the air strike, scheduled for two days later. However, due to bad weather, no flight mission was issued. So, the flight crew has nothing to do. Only playing poker and bragging to kill time.

During this time, the weather in the main force of the Japanese-American Combined Fleet, which was 600 nautical miles behind, improved somewhat, and the refueling operations that had been stopped yesterday resumed.

Worst of all, the fog persisted, and the actions of the Chinese fleet were completely undetectable.

Plans to conduct reconnaissance of the Ryukyu Islands and the Chinese-occupied zone of the Philippines have been blown down. The Allied submarines also did not provide any information. The only source of information was interception of enemy radio floods.

As early as 4 November, Nagano Shusui's flagship Montana intercepted intelligence that China was active in the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands, especially Chinese patrol aircraft.

This strongly suggests that an enemy force may have departed from bases in the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands. However, the Japanese-American Combined Fleet Command did not give Vice Admiral Nagumo any warning! Of course, even if a warning is sent, it is useless, because there is no real fleet in these two directions.

When the battle of the Mariana Islands was about to be decided, Nagumo Tadaichi and his staff were indignant when they learned that the Japanese-American Combined Fleet Command had intercepted this radio information and had guessed that China had been dispatched. Why didn't the Japanese-US Combined Fleet Command relay this extremely important enemy situation to the mobile force in a timely manner so that it could avoid the danger of any surprise attack?

There were two reasons for this unfortunate oversight: First, the Japanese-US Combined Fleet Command thoughtlessly believed that Nagumo Tadaichi's mobile formation was closer to China than the main force of the Japanese-US Combined Fleet, and that it would naturally intercept these circumstances, and Nagumo Tadaichi would make decisions based on them. Second, they feared that radio communication between the two forces would reveal their own position to China.

In any case, the failure of Shusu Nagano and Nimitz to give the necessary precautionary instructions to the troops under his command was an important reason for the major defeat of the Allied forces in the naval battle of the Mariana Islands.

His fault was to be too preoccupied with keeping the radio silent. At the end of this operation, Rear Admiral Kusaka was first aware of the negligence of the Combined Fleet Command of Japan and the United States when he went to the Montana to report on the almost total annihilation of Nagumo's forces.

It is not difficult to imagine how angry he was and how heavy his heart was at that time. Of course, he said, "Oh my God! How many times have I told them not to do this! It would be great if the headquarters were kept informed of this situation in ......!"

However, it is not only the Japan-US Combined Fleet Command that is responsible. The U.S. Admiralty in Washington was also partly responsible, as it sent another telegram to the Japanese-American Combined Fleet about the activities of the Chinese Pacific Fleet in the Marshall Islands. This telegram can only be understood as the fact that China has not yet discovered the movements of the Allied fleet sailing to the Mariana Islands.

The U.S. Department of the Navy initially opposed the Mariana Islands operation plan, but once it agreed to the plan, it had greater responsibility for the entire operation than the Japanese-American Combined Fleet Command. A few days before this decisive battle, it was busy gathering all the information on China's activities.

Of particular concern to intelligence officers were indications that a Chinese fleet was still operating around the Marshall Islands. If this is the case, as the Military Command suggests, it is a very strong proof that China has not yet discovered the Allied intentions, for if China had found out, it would have been clear that China would have recalled all their warships from the South-West Pacific.

Although the US Navy Department has repeatedly intercepted urgent telegrams from China in the Philippines and the Ryukyu Islands, it still adheres to its initial judgment. This may be due to the wishful thinking tendencies that permeated the actions of the Allies throughout the war.

The storm of battle is coming, and the gods of fate have never waved and smiled at the Allies since China entered the war, and this time was no exception.

However, the battle plan did not change in any way, and the various units of the Allied navy rushed forward in the fog, like horses pulling mail wagons galloping blindly under the crackling of a horsewhip. (To be continued......)