Sunrise at Midway is 4:53 a.m.

At 4:45 a.m., the loudspeaker on the aircraft carrier "Akagi" announced that the pilots on the air raid mission were ready to go out.

The little devil moved extremely fast, and the skilled ground crew quickly began to work, and in a short time, the plane engine was starting, and the jet pipe of the aircraft engine spewed blue-white smoke. In the sky above the Japanese fleet, a deafening rumble sounded, and the noise like a vegetable market woke up the rising sun.

The noise on board the Akagi and the tense activity before takeoff woke Minoru Minakasa, the operational staff officer, Minoru Genda. The war was about to start, and the sick Minoru Genda couldn't sleep either, so he dragged the sick Minoru Genda to the deck and encouraged the Japanese pilots.

Minoru Genda then came to the bridge and found Tadaichi Nagumo. Nanyun Zhongyi was very concerned about this right-hand man, put his hand on Gentian's shoulder, and asked, "Gentian, how do you feel?" ”。

"Sir, I'm sorry to take this long leave. It's still a little burnt, but I think it's much better. ”

Minoru Genda's eyes were red at the moment, and he was still walking steadily.

However, Minoru Genda's appearance on the bridge was an encouragement to all the Japanese officers and men present. For more than half a year, Minoru Genda played an important role in planning and guiding the victorious operations of the Nagumo troops. Minoru Genda claimed to himself: "Chief Nagumo always signs and approves his battle plan without scrutiny. ”

Seeing him participate in the battle again by Nagumo Tadaichi's side, every Japanese soldier felt excited. In Nagumo Tadaichi's 1st Air Force, Minoru Genda actually had considerable influence on lower-level officers, second only to Nagumo Tadaichi. Even in some ways, the influence is more than that of Nagumo Tadaichi.

In just fifteen minutes, the Japanese First Air Fleet took off more than 100 warplanes, and 36 of them took off from each aircraft carrier. This speed is beyond the reach of the U.S. military, and even the Liberty Dragon of the Naval Resistance Force is difficult to achieve so efficiently. The training of the Japanese army is evident.

After the take-off of the fighter. Nagumo Tadaichi dispatched a reconnaissance plane as usual. This is a slight difference from history, where Nagumo Chung sent seven reconnaissance planes to carry out a single-phase search. (A reconnaissance aircraft reconnoites a sector).

This order at this time drew opposition from Major General Tabun Yamaguchi of the 2nd Air Force, who believed that sending only seven reconnaissance planes was too little. However, recently, Yamaguchi Tarumi's voice in the First Air Fleet has declined, and Nagumo Tadaichi did not listen to him.

In fact, in his heart, Nagumo Tadaichi didn't think that there were American aircraft carriers around him at all. In his opinion, this is just routine reconnaissance. And it didn't take it seriously. Minoru Genda had just entered the bridge, and he didn't figure out the reason and didn't express his opinion.

Even though the officers of the big ships and artillery factions know the importance of aircraft reconnaissance, they often pay little attention to it, intentionally or unintentionally. After all, in a decades-long military career. They were accustomed to telescopes on battleships. It can be said that when it comes to reconnaissance, the first reaction of a giant artillery officer like Lieutenant General Nagumo is a telescope, not an airplane, and of course he can't think of radar.

Yamaguchi hears a lot of words. Nagumo didn't listen, so Yamaguchi Tawen began to secretly move his fleet to the north. Yamaguchi is also a little superstitious. He asked himself that the level of command training was a step higher than that of Nanyunzhong. But in the Battle of Ceylon, he was the only one who lost one aircraft carrier. In the end, he attributed the reason for the loss of the aircraft carrier to the position, where his Second Air Force was located. In the Battle of Ceylon, Yamaguchi's 2nd Air Force was located to the south of the entire fleet. Now Yamaguchi smells more, and he is still in the south of the fleet. Therefore, he didn't listen much to Nagumo Nakaichi, and led the fleet to the north. Historically. Yamaguchi Tawen did the same. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the superstition and intuition of the generals, and it is still unclear how Yamaguchi's actions will affect the situation of the battle.

Originally, this reconnaissance arrangement could be decided. It is a pity that Major General Tadaichi Hara of the Fifth Air Force also sent a suggestion, and he asked for 12 reconnaissance planes to be sent.

Major General Tadaichi Hara has recently risen in power. In the entire First Air Fleet, there are three air teams, and no one can compare with his exploits in Hara Tadashi. In the hands of Yuan Zhong alone, two large aircraft carriers were sunk, one British and one American, and one British light aircraft carrier was sunk, and at least two were damaged.

If you have military achievements, you have the right to speak. And Hara Tadaichi is also a little superstitious, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, he sent twelve reconnaissance planes, so he "made great contributions". So he still asked to send twelve reconnaissance aircraft.

Nagumo Tadaichi, he can not listen to Yamaguchi, but if he adds Hara Tadaichi, he can't help but listen, although he is very tired in his heart. Yamaguchi Tawen has always aimed to replace Nagumo Tadaichi as commander of the First Air Fleet, and his voice among the officers of the Young Zhuang faction is extremely high, even if Yamaguchi Tawen loses an aircraft carrier and is hit, there are still many officers who are running and shouting for Yamaguchi Tawen. Now there is another Tadaichi Hara who is also about to move.

No matter how greasy it is, Nagumo Tadaichi can't ignore the two generals.

Therefore, Nagumo Nakayi sent twelve reconnaissance planes. Anyway, there were dozens of reconnaissance on two battleships and four heavy cruisers, and ten of them were still in reserve. There is enough space over the alert fleet. In addition, the Akagi and Kaga of the First Air Force also sent one reconnaissance plane each.

In this way, after a delay of a while, (about ten minutes of delay), twelve reconnaissance planes took off one after another. In fact, two reconnaissance planes on the heavy cruiser Tone took off half an hour late because of a faulty catapult, and a reconnaissance plane on the battleship Haruna flew out for half an hour and found that it was faulty, and then returned home.

Nagumo Tadaichi thought that so many reconnaissance planes were wasteful enough, and did not arrange a two-phase search. Minoru Genda's fever did not subside at this time, and he still worked diligently to make search arrangements. Compared with the seven reconnaissance planes, the number of these 12 reconnaissance planes is larger, the angle of the reconnaissance sector is smaller, and the reconnaissance efficiency is higher. Because Yamamoto 56 intercepted two extremely important pieces of information, Minoru Genda did not realize that there was a U.S. Navy fleet at Midway, let alone an aircraft carrier peeping on the sidelines. Therefore, he also did not arrange the twelve reconnaissance planes into a two-phase search (two reconnaissance planes simultaneously search a sector. Minoru Genda, who has always been shrewd and meticulous, may be due to illness or other reasons, but in short, he has not proposed a more rigorous search and reconnaissance plan.

The Japanese troops were satisfied with this arrangement, and as for the two reconnaissance planes taking off half an hour late, no one thought that there would be any mistakes. In the consciousness of all. None of the US aircraft carriers are at Midway now.

Even if it is, no one is afraid. The First Air Fleet is already quite superstitious about its own combat effectiveness, and in their opinion, the American ghost animals are not opponents at all. Even in their hearts, they are still looking forward to the appearance of American aircraft carriers, so as to add a brilliant touch to their battle book.

Also, on the record of the Japanese Navy's exploits, the Japanese have sunk three American aircraft carriers (USS Langley, USS Lexington, USS Saratoga. The Japanese thought the Saratoga had been sunk. In fact, only serious injuries, which are now being rushed from the west coast of the United States to Pearl Harbor. ), damage two (Yorktown, and an unknown aircraft carrier - the Liberty Dragon) then the Americans have only two aircraft carriers at most, that is, all come. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Compared with the reconnaissance arrangements of the Japanese army, the US military attaches far more importance to reconnaissance than the Japanese army.

The defenders of the U.S. Army at Midway. Breakfast time is also around three o'clock.

Among the thousands of U.S. officers and soldiers throughout Midway. The hardest is not the engineering corps, nor the army, which is busy digging fortifications. Nor are the pilots of the fighter units. Nor is it ground staff.

In the recent period, the busiest and hardest are the crews of the US military's reconnaissance planes. The hardest of them were the crews of the Katerina reconnaissance planes of the US military.

Thirty-two Caterina reconnaissance planes were responsible for reconnaissance in a sector 180 degrees west of Midway, with a radius of 700 nautical miles. Don't look at the fact that each reconnaissance plane is only responsible for a sector of about 12 and a half degrees. But the flight distance is long, and it is only this reconnaissance. It takes thirteen or fourteen hours to make a round trip, and sometimes fifteen hours to fly because of bad weather conditions. Moreover, the 32 US reconnaissance planes used a manpower-intensive two-phase search, and two reconnaissance planes were responsible for the search on each 12-and-a-half-degree sector.

Under Nimitz's strict orders. These pilots were dragged out of their beds every morning and had to take off before dawn. The pilots were exhausted by the tense reconnaissance arrangements, urging. The pilot of the fighter plane, even if he is on the plane, one pilot flies the plane, and the other sleeps.

I'm tired. The high-intensity reconnaissance day after day makes everyone exhausted.

At four o'clock, in the darkness of the night, the 32 US reconnaissance planes took off again. This time was a full forty-five minutes earlier than the Japanese fighters took off.

Almost at the same time, Rear Admiral Fletcher, commander of Task Force 17, sent 10 reconnaissance planes from the USS Yorktown to search for the enemy's fleet.

On the morning of 4 June, the US military reconnaissance plane played a role and was richly rewarded.

Japanese fighters took off from 210 nautical miles to the northwest, or about 400 kilometers.

At 5:25, U.S. Army Howard. Captain Eddie piloted a Catleina water reconnaissance plane that took off from Midway, and he was responsible for searching for the Japanese fleet northwest of Midway.

The entire U.S. military had long anticipated the upcoming battle today. Both the pilot and the machine gunner were more serious than ever.

Suddenly, Pete, who was the machine gunner and observer, shouted: "Oh my God, planes, a lot of planes." ”

Howard. Add looked out the window and saw countless warplanes poking out of the clouds, one after another like arrows from the string, heading straight for Midway.

"Hide. Hurry, hurry. ”

In fact, without being urged by others, Captain Eddie had already piloted the plane into the clouds.

The first wave of the Japanese First Air Fleet's air attack on Midway was led by Captain Toonaga Shoicchi, the flight captain of the Wyvern. This city of Tomanaga has just been transferred from the Chinese battlefield to the Fifth Air Force. Although he was the first to attack in the Pacific War, he had a lot of combat experience and was more qualified than the commanders of other Japanese aircraft carriers. He was directly in command of all Type 97 horizontal bombers.

On his left flank was a Type 99 dive bomber led by Admiral Shoichi Ogawa, the leader of the Kaga flight detachment.

And the escort group was led by Captain Sugan Masamu 0 fighters.

Both Shoichi Ogawa and Masashi Suganami were very famous pilots in the Japanese army, and from the attack on Pearl Harbor, they participated in almost all of the operations of the First Air Force. Not only skilled and brave in combat, but more importantly, experienced. But this sortie, compared to the Pearl Harbor operation, the subordinates they led were not so elite. Since the start of the war for more than half a year, the Japanese First Air Fleet has lost many elite pilots. In this first wave of air raids, in addition to the commanders, many Japanese pilots were not elite, and they could not even compare to the flights led by the Fifth Air Force Yuan Tadaichi.

And the most elite part of the Japanese army was on standby on aircraft carriers. Including several famous flight captains, Mitsuo Fuchida cut his appendix at the moment and is still in a hospital bed, and Shigeharu Murata is preparing a second strike on the aircraft carrier. Jiangcao Fanlong is also preparing to deal with possible US aircraft carriers. Major Commander Shigeru Itaya has taken to the skies to take up the task of air supremacy. Moreover, almost all the pilots left on the Japanese aircraft carriers were the most elite pilots of the Japanese army.

This was Nagumo Tadaichi's arrangement, and he left the most elite forces to prevent accidents. It should be said that although Nagumo Tadaichi was not as proficient in aviation operations as the young Zhuang officers Yamaguchi Tabun and Ozawa Jizaburo, his command was decent. Although he did not think that there were US aircraft carriers, he still left a force sufficient to counter the US aircraft carriers according to the battle plan formulated by the turtle people of Kuroshima.

It was precisely because the Japanese pilots in the first wave of air strikes were not all elite that they did not know anything about the US reconnaissance planes that were close at hand. In addition, because the Japanese aircraft group flew from the northwest to Midway, the morning sun in the east emitted a dazzling light, which also affected the observation of the Japanese pilots.

Howard. Captain Eddie managed to hide in the clouds. As soon as they evaded the Japanese planes, the US military telegraph operator immediately sent a report to Midway: "A large number of Japanese fighters have been discovered and are flying to Midway." ”

U.S. pilots may not be experienced enough, or they may not be skilled enough, but they are not lacking in bravery. Howard. Eddie not only sent an immediate report to Midway, but also went against the direction of the Japanese aircraft group and searched directly for the Japanese fleet.

At 5:53 a.m., Howard. Captain Eddie finally spotted the Japanese aircraft carrier formation, looking at the countless Japanese warships on the sea, gray-blue floating on the sea. Howard. Eddie was stunned, and his heart was suddenly ecstatic, he knew that he had won the big lottery this time and was the first to discover the Japanese fleet.

So while reconnoitring, I radioed to Midway.

"One Japanese aircraft carrier, two destroyers were found. The bearing is 325 degrees, the distance is 175 nautical miles, and the course is northwest. ”

"Oh my God, three aircraft carriers."

"Also, there are two aircraft carriers."

"Oh God,......"

Captain Add's search could not continue, and his reconnaissance plane was approaching the center of the Japanese fleet at this time, and a vigilant Zero spotted the slow-flying water reconnaissance plane and quickly pounced.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Eddie quickly fled with the fighter plane and quickly burrowed into the clouds. The Japanese Zero fighters were in hot pursuit, and during the chase, the telegraph and radio of the Caterina reconnaissance plane were all hit by machine guns. Unable to report again, the U.S. military received information stuck on Eddie's last report.

After the battle, Captain Eddie's plane flew back to Midway. The whole plane was full of holes made by machine guns, and the miraculous thing was that none of the six crew members on this fighter plane were injured or killed. Although the machine guns and cannons equipped with the Zero fighter at this time were not bad, in the face of such a large fighter with a total weight of more than 10 tons, it was unable to shoot down after all the bullets and shells. This really discouraged the Japanese troops, and although there was an element of luck, it also showed the sturdiness and reliability of this kind of reconnaissance plane of the US military.

On June 4, the prelude to the great battle began with the heroic reconnaissance plane of the US military.

In the first round of hand-to-hand combat. reconnaissance, the US military has the first advantage. At this moment, the Japanese army did not know anything about the existence of the US aircraft carrier, but the US military had already learned the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier.

(In the previous chapter, the name of the Japanese battleship was misspelled, and it should have been the Kongo.) (To be continued......)

PS: There is only one update today. I'm sorry. There is a monthly pass to encourage the welcome smashing.