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From nine o'clock to half past eleven, these two and a half hours were the most fruitful period of time for the Sino-Tang coalition forces in the Battle of Midway.

So what is the US-Tang coalition aircraft carrier group doing in these two and a half hours?

As you know, on the night of June 3, the US-Tang coalition forces, led by Spruance, marched toward Lucky Point, 480 kilometers northeast of Midway

Moved west overnight.

In the early hours of the morning, the position of the US-Tang coalition forces was 10 degrees north-east of Midway, about 200 kilometers from Midway.

After seven o'clock, the US-Tang coalition released the first wave of striking forces against the Japanese fleet. At this time, the fleet began to move southward, that is, in the direction of Midway.

It was only about 100 kilometers away from Midway.

When the time entered nine o'clock, the US-Tang coalition released a second wave of air strike forces against Yamaguchi's two aircraft carriers.

After the fighter plane was released, Major General Spruance chose to turn around and sail northeast. The reason is simple, since at the time of the release of the fighters, the distance between the two aircraft carriers of Yamaguchi Tawen was almost five hundred kilometers, which already exceeded the combat radius of the TBD torpedo aircraft of the US military.

And the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, led by Rear Admiral Fletcher, although he did not release fighters in the second wave of strikes, as a general, he still made regular arrangements. The Yorktown was also moving northwest, preparing to operate at a distance of three hundred and seventy kilometers, which is the combat radius of the TBD Ravaging Torpedo Machine. Then release the fighters.

Major General Fletcher's choice, according to the textbooks, is not wrong. In the U.S. military, generals absolutely do not dare to ignore the lives of soldiers. Spruance was not willing to move the aircraft carrier to the northwest if he judged only from the interests and losses of the command.

You must know that the U.S. military has a reconnaissance advantage, if both sides lose track of each other. Then it is definitely the US military that will take the initiative. You must know that the US military has not only Catalina reconnaissance aircraft, but also several eight radar-equipped reconnaissance aircraft borrowed from the British. It has a huge advantage over the Japanese army.

As Li Guang, there is no doubt that he does not intend to move to the northeast at all. First, the second wave of the Naval Resistance Army's strike force, the scheduled return route is Midway. Because six of the PDF torpedo planes were too heavy for the arresting cable devices on the Liberty Dragon to bear their weight.

And Li Guang can't keep the Liberty Dragon too far away from the US aircraft carrier, after all, the US military has an air defense radar, and at least there is a little more warning time for the naval resistance forces. At 10:40, the first wave of air strike forces of the Naval Resistance Army returned. The recovery of the fighter plane will have to delay a little time, and the Shanghai Anti-Japanese Army will deliberately delay, and the distance will gradually widen.

It was half past eleven. The arrangement of the four aircraft carriers of the US-Tang coalition was from north to south, with the USS Yorktown led by Rear Admiral Fletcher and then the USS Hornet. Then there was the Enterprise, and finally the Liberty Dragon. The distance between several aircraft carriers is about fifteen kilometers.

Supposedly, shouldn't the Hornet and the Enterprise be together? How did you pull it apart? Major General Spruance was actually reluctant to separate. But after 10:40. The first wave of the U.S. military's strike force is also returning home. The Enterprise needed to receive fighter planes, so it fell behind the Wasp.

To say, fifteen kilometers, not too far, Major General Spruance did not pay much attention to this detail.

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At half past eleven, Li Guang received a telegram: The First Submarine Squadron of the Maritime Resistance Army. A telegram came from the Pixiu 2 submarine. The telegram was brief: Pixiu 2 was now on its way to Midway, but the exact bearings were not clear due to the storm.

Li Guang did not attach importance to this telegram, and the Pixiu No. 2 was the only submarine mobilized by the Maritime Resistance Army in the Battle of Midway. The submarines of the 1st Submarine Group fought mainly near the Japanese mainland. Among them, Pixiu 2 is the closest to Midway. On 27 July, Li Guang agreed to join the US-Tang coalition, and Pixiu No. 2 was fighting near Taiwan. By the time they got in touch, it was already the 28th.

Whether he could get to the battlefield smoothly, Li Guang actually didn't have much hope. Since there was a storm area six or seven hundred nautical miles west of Midway Island on 2 June, which would definitely affect the itinerary, and since it had been difficult for the Liberty Dragon to get in touch with Pixiu 2, Li Guang thought that it was still a long way off.

At this time, when he received a telegram from Pixiu No. 2, Li Guang took it for granted, believing that Pixiu No. 2 was more than 1,000 kilometers away from Midway. Because the performance of the telegraph on the Pixiu 2 is 1,500 kilometers, if the weather is affected, it will take 1,000 kilometers to receive the telegram.

Since there are 1,000 kilometers, then it will definitely not be able to catch up with today's battle, so Li Guang didn't care about it.

Also at half past eleven, the B17 crew led by Liu Kejin failed to find the two aircraft carriers of Yamaguchi Duowen after evading the Japanese fighters. Liu Kejin believed that the Japanese army should stay away from Midway, so he commanded the B17 bombers to continue the search north.

How did he know that the gambler had moved south, that is, in the direction of Midway.

On this day, Liu Kejin was first taken to the turnip field by US military pilots and lost for several hours. At this time, he made a mistake in his judgment, and he was definitely going to continue to be lost.

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Eleven thirty.

The first wave of attacks by the US-Tang coalition on two aircraft carriers at Yamaguchi ended in the middle of the attack.

Liu Gensheng's first wave of strike forces of the Naval Resistance Army had all returned at 10:40 a.m., and by 11:30 a.m., they had already hung up bombs and refueled and were ready to attack.

But Li Guang did not take the initiative to attack.

Li Guang faced a difficult problem. The force was too weak, and one of the ten fighters of the Naval Resistance Army was not damaged in the last wave, but only six of the 12 rushing bombers were now able to attack.

At 11:20 a.m., the Liberty had learned of the loss of the second wave of strike power, and although seven bombers were able to return, three were wounded. More importantly, the news came from the dive bombers that after Tang Shenghua led eight fighters to break off, they were besieged by a large number of Japanese Zero fighters. (There was no telegraph on the fighter, and Li Guang did not know the loss of the fighter.) ）

Although it is difficult to know the specific defense strength of Yamaguchi Tawen's fleet, Li Guang can roughly estimate that it must be quite powerful. In the air battle, even if the Japanese fighters were advanced, if they wanted to besiege the eight fighters of the Naval Resistance Army, they would need at least three or four times the strength. In other words, the Japanese army is afraid that there are more than 30 Zero fighters.

Defend the aircraft carrier with fighters, according to the conclusion of the exercises of the Naval Resistance Forces. If there is twice the strength of the attacking fighters, it will be difficult for the attacking side to break through the inner circle of the aircraft carrier. The premise of this conclusion is that the fighters and pilots of both sides are of the same standard.

The conclusion of the exercise was that it was difficult to suddenly make an inner circle, not that it would be difficult to break through even one plane, but how dare Li Guang sacrifice the lives of his brothers senselessly.

In the first wave alone, the Naval Resistance Army lost four crew members, four pilots, four machine gunners, and three others were wounded. And in the second wave, the Naval Resistance Army lost five pilots, nine machine gunners and bombardiers. (There was no transmitter on the fighter plane, and Li Guang did not know the news of the death of seven pilots.) ）

For the US military, the loss of more than a dozen pilots is nothing, but for the Naval Resistance Army, these more than ten pilots (in fact, twenty pilots were killed and more than ten crew members. But it was a terrible death for Li Guang.

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To discover is to eliminate. U.S. generals also agree with this view.

But Major General Fletcher still refused to attack. The Naval Resistance Army only has these 16 fighters, and it is simply difficult to scream. Li Guang passed on the information about the damage to the two Japanese aircraft carriers to Admiral Nimitz, and asked Nimitz to make a decision immediately.

Major General Spruance did not even have a bomber in his hands at this time, except for fighter jets, and there was no troops to send out if he wanted to.

At eleven o'clock in the morning, Admiral Nimitz made up his mind - to continue fighting.

One Japanese aircraft carrier has been wounded. Second, after calculating the strength of both sides, he found that if the two Japanese aircraft carriers were still capable of combat, even if there were only two aircraft carriers, Midway would be lost.

Nimitz set the time for the sortie at twelve o'clock.

There are three main reasons for this: First, the 18 B17 bombers and 24 land-based bombers arriving from Pearl Harbor will arrive at the battlefield at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. In other words, it can be combined with the fighters of the aircraft carrier attack.

Second, at twelve o'clock, the American fighters on Midway were able to take off again for the most part.

Third, at this moment, the air power of the U.S. military after striking Nagumo's Tadachi fleet is returning home. Nimitz wanted to keep a little self-defense for a couple of carriers. (To be continued......)