The Japanese fleet, Nagumo Tadaichi, has been harassed by US reconnaissance planes since the first wave of fighters took off.

One of the first reconnaissance planes was the Katerina water reconnaissance plane piloted by Lieutenant Eddie.

Just a reconnaissance plane was nothing to the Japanese army, although the Japanese air fighter did not shoot down Eddie's reconnaissance plane, but easily damaged the opponent and drove the reconnaissance plane out of the circle of fleet defense, which can be regarded as achieving its goal.

However, from half past six, US water reconnaissance planes continued to appear around the Japanese fleet.

The quality of the pilots of the US reconnaissance planes is obviously higher than that of the US fighter pilots, and although the proportion of these pilots who are novices is not low, they have quickly become veterans during the high-intensity reconnaissance at Midway Island for more than a month.

Given Nimitz's orders, they flew their warplanes and stubbornly flew around the Japanese fleet.

One moment it appeared on the starboard side of the Akagi, and the next it appeared on the port side of the Kaga. Every time it appeared, the "Akagi" was in charge of directing the air battle for a while. These US water reconnaissance planes did not maneuver well, but they were all slippery. The orders given to these pilots by the US command at Midway were simple and clear, and they did not need to attack the Japanese ships, but they were absolutely not allowed to get out of the sight of the reconnaissance planes. Americans have a kind of freedom and flexibility in their nature, and their talent for such combat missions is almost innate.

The U.S. pilots skillfully scurried around in the clouds, and the Japanese fighters were exhausted and at a loss. The pilots of the little devils were almost mad, they really hadn't encountered such a difficult fighter plane to shoot down. To say that this kind of reconnaissance plane of the US military is really not advanced, but it is a sturdy, large aircraft of more than 10 tons, and it is difficult to shoot down with a single blow with the firepower of the Japanese Zero fighters.

THE CURRENT JAPANESE ARMY IS EQUIPPED WITH ONLY TWO 20MM CANNONS AND TWO 7.7MM MACHINE GUNS. The two cannons were quite a threat to the Caterina reconnaissance plane. However, because the Japanese army was equipped with this kind of cannon of the 99 type, the barrel was short and the penetration was insufficient, which seemed to be powerful, but in fact the power was seriously insufficient. What's more, these two cannons are only 60 rounds reloaded, and they will be exhausted after two rounds of dogfights in the air. If we only rely on 7.7 mm machine guns, I don't know how many years it will take to take out the US military's rough-skinned water reconnaissance plane. Although the US reconnaissance planes are clumsy, the four machine guns are not vegetarian, and they are also quite a threat to the Zero fighters without armor protection.

The pilot of the little devil was depressed. They couldn't understand why their fighter caught fire as soon as it was hit, and the US fighter plane obviously hit the fuel tank, but there was no fire, and at most it pulled out a puff of smoke. The self-sealing fuel tank of the US military showed its superiority at this moment.

And these US reconnaissance aircraft pilots were quite cunning and just circled in the distance. Neither bombs nor machine-gun fire were thrown. It was the Japanese fleet hanging from afar. All they had to do was see the Japanese fighters take off or attack. Immediately drilled into the clouds, and did not entangle with the Japanese fighters at all. As a result, the Japanese fighters often ran out of shells and ammunition, and the American reconnaissance planes were only injured.

What's even more infuriating is that the U.S. military stuck to the Japanese fleet like a dog's skin plaster. If one plane is damaged, the US military will fly another one out of nowhere. It seems that Xiao Qiang, who can't be killed, is more like a fly that sees shit. The buzz is not to evacuate.

Minoru Genda dragged his sick body and said to Nan Yunzhong: "Your Excellency Commander, I think it is better to send some more fighters to drive these nasty reconnaissance planes farther away." ”

Nanyun Zhongyi frowned. To alert him, eighteen fighters have been dispatched. If more are sent, it will be difficult to guarantee the number of escort fighters that will strike Midway in the next wave.

Minoru Genda saw Nagumo Tadaichi's concerns, and said: "In the past air battle, our army only lost three fighters and shot down dozens of US fighters, which shows that the quality of the US military is extremely poor. I don't think it's dangerous to have a smaller number of escort fighters. ”

Nagumo Tadashi looked at the chief of staff next to him, Major General Kusaka Ryunosuke, and Major General Kusaka nodded in agreement.

At around seven o'clock, the Japanese army successively sent 12 more fighters. This brought the number of warplanes on air alert to thirty. It should be noted that all thirty fighters took off from the aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga and Shozuru. Yamaguchi's aircraft carrier had already moved north, beyond the line of sight, so there were no take-off fighters.

However, what was unimaginable to Nagumo Tadaichi was that the US military's reconnaissance planes were unexpectedly continuous.

This was almost unthinkable in the Japanese army, and the number of reconnaissance planes in the Japanese Navy under normal conditions was less than one-tenth of the total number of fighters. By half-past seven o'clock, more than 30 US reconnaissance planes had appeared around the fleet.

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At seven o'clock, Li Guang received information that the Japanese army had three aircraft carriers. This is strange, how come so many US military reconnaissance planes only discovered three Japanese aircraft carriers?

According to the US military, the Japanese army has lost a total of two large and medium-sized aircraft carriers since the start of the war, and at the moment there are a total of four large aircraft carriers. Such a crucial battle at Midway Island was the arrogant division of troops by the Japanese army, and they would not send four large aircraft carriers to other battlefields. Li Guang was a little puzzled.

The reason is actually not complicated, at this time, Yamaguchi Tawen had already led his Second Air Force to move thirty nautical miles north. The reconnaissance planes that the US forces followed up with only bitten the three aircraft carriers of the Japanese 1st and 5th Air Forces.

This is certainly not true. Li Guang immediately sent a request to Rear Admiral Spruance, asking the US reconnaissance planes to start reconnaissance centered on the current position of the Japanese main fleet.

The two reconnaissance planes of the task force and eight British-supported reconnaissance planes had already taken off for nearly an hour and were about to arrive over the battlefield.

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Now let's see what the Japanese reconnaissance planes gained from five o'clock to half past seven.

At 7:08, a report was sent back from the No. 4 reconnaissance plane sent by the Tone: "10 ships that looked like enemies were spotted, 10 degrees 240 nautical miles in midway, 150 degrees in direction."

Nagumo Tadaichi was very surprised, but he was still able to accept the fact that it was not impossible that there were a few sporadic U.S. ships around Midway, and ten warships posed no threat to Nagumo Tadaichi's fleet. So Nagumo's instructions were: "Determine the type and number of enemy ships."

Minoru Genda, who was standing next to Nagumo Tadaichi, heard the news and trembled in his heart. Nagumo Zhong is the main general, and he won't notice some small arrangements, but Chief of Staff Ryunosuke Kusaka understands. The No. 4 reconnaissance plane sent by the USS Reagan actually took off half an hour late.

This is said to be Minoru Genda's responsibility, when he discovered that the reconnaissance aircraft on the heavy cruiser Tone had been delayed its takeoff due to a catapult failure. Reconnaissance planes from other warships should be arranged to take off immediately.

However, Minoru Genda did not realize at all that there might be a U.S. fleet at Midway, and there might be U.S. aircraft carriers. In fact, Ryunosuke Kusaka also noticed that the reconnaissance plane was delaying its takeoff, but he didn't care.

In fact, the reason is the same as Minoru Genda, Yamamoto 56 intercepted two important pieces of information, so in the minds of all the officers of the air fleet, there is no awareness of guarding against US aircraft carriers or even US fleets.

Kusaka Ryunosuke and Minoru Genda glanced at each other, both of them had ghosts in their hearts, and they didn't say anything. If you are familiar with the history of the Battle of Midway, you will find out. The information transmitted by this Japanese reconnaissance plane was 20 minutes earlier than in history. Although the take-off of this reconnaissance plane was delayed by half an hour, as in history, the time was shortened by twenty minutes due to the small search sector and high efficiency.

Nagumo Tadaichi did not get the accurate information of the US military ship type. There was no change of order, and the ground crew of the devil was still busy replacing the bomb at the moment.

The battle went on to this point. The Japanese army still maintained a complete victory. More than 50 US warplanes have been shot down and damaged. And the Japanese aircraft carriers were not threatened much.

The endless emergence of US reconnaissance planes made Nagumo Tadaichi even more convinced that these reconnaissance planes could only fly from the direction of Midway. Because so far, the reconnaissance planes discovered by the Japanese army are all Catalina reconnaissance planes. And this made Nagumo Tadaichi feel that the second wave of operations against Midway was extremely necessary.

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At seven o'clock, the 16th Task Force of the U.S. Army.

After an hour of sailing west. Spruance gave the order, and the fighter plane took off.

At that time, the two aircraft carriers under the jurisdiction of Task Force 16 had 79 aircraft: "Enterprise". "Hornet" 79 aircraft.

At 7:02 a.m., 14 "Devastator" torpedo attack aircraft and 32 "Dreadnought" dive bombers, escorted by 10 "Wildcat" fighters, took off from the aircraft carrier "Enterprise"; Fifteen "Destroyers" and 35 "Dreadnoughts" took off from the USS Hornet escorted by 10 "Wildcats". In this way, a total of 29 torpedo attack aircraft, 67 dive bombers, escorted by 20 fighters, left the aircraft carrier and ran long distances to the enemy fleet. Rear Admiral Spruance left only 8 Dreadnought dive bombers and 36 Wildcat fighters to defend his formation.

It's a loss to take the lead. Li Guang naturally didn't want to take the lead. Didn't Major General Fletcher do just that, and he ordered the 16th Task Force to take the lead. At this time, his 17th Task Force was only about 15 nautical miles behind Spruance.

However, the actual situation is that inadvertently, the Naval Resistance Army had to take the lead. The first wave of fighters of the Naval Resistance Force was twenty-two, including ten P40s and twelve SBD dreadnought bombers. It took only five or six minutes for the fighters on the Liberty Dragon to take off, and it took only a few minutes for them to form in the air.

When the formation was completed, the time was only seven and ten o'clock. At this time, the two US aircraft carriers of the 16th Task Force had only taken off less than 30 fighters, and it would take half an hour to wait for the US formation to be completed.

If you are on deck, you will wait for half an hour, but in the air, fighters will consume fuel every minute. Therefore, Huang Zhonghua ordered the fighter formation to launch an attack immediately.

In today's battle, Li Guang was only responsible for liaising with the US military and determining the tactical plan of the naval resistance forces. The specific operational command was given to Huang Zhonghua. What exactly is the bird going to fly, for this very talented and hard-working young officer under him, Li Guang let this young man do it in a crucial battle.

Before the fighter plane took off, Li Guang saw off each pilot on the flight deck and waved a military salute one by one. The pilots also knew the arduousness of the battle, and one by one they kowtowed to their families on the deck and shouted: "Father, mother, my son has gone to fight devils." ”

Hop on the fighter plane and go to the battlefield.

The Liberty Dragon originally had only forty-two fighters, and it was divided into two groups. There are two reasons for this, the first point, the suggestion of the flight commander Yuan Zi, because the take-off is relatively late, and the flight still takes time. The estimated arrival time will be three hours different from the time reported by the American pilot, Captain Eddie. Three hours was enough for the Japanese aircraft carriers to move 100 kilometers, and it was feared that the first wave of strike forces would not be able to find the Japanese fleet. Moreover, the reconnaissance planes released by the US aircraft carrier formation had not yet found the Japanese aircraft carrier formation at this time. In order to leave the power of the second strike, it was deployed in this way. The second point is that the Liberty Dragon needs to be escorted, and the second is that the TBF torpedo planes newly provided by the US military only have one chance to take off. Because this fighter is too heavy to land on the Liberty Dragon (the arresting rope and blocking device are not strong enough). After a strike mission, it was necessary to land on Midway. Since the US military dispatched a large number of fighters, Yuan Zi suggested that this part of the strike force should be kept as a backup as a precaution.

On the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, Rear Admiral Spruance was also a little not calm at the moment. He calculates and calculates, accumulating his advantages little by little. But at this moment he found that he still did not know enough about aircraft carriers, and the accumulated advantages could be neutralized.

Rear Admiral Spruance had previously commanded heavy cruisers, and although he knew something about aircraft carriers, he also had a deep understanding of the training of the American military. But at this time, the pilots on the US aircraft carriers dropped the chain.

The take-off speed of US fighter planes is almost like a turtle crawling. The fighters of the Naval Resistance Force have already rushed to the battlefield, while the total number of fighters taking off from the two US aircraft carriers is less than 30.

Spruance did not dare to delay, and immediately made a decision, no longer forming the whole fleet, and issued an order to attack in groups.

You must know that Spruance previously ordered the aircraft carrier to sail west for an hour, although this order was called a clever move after the war, but Spruance was not absolutely sure at this moment. And what impact will the fighter take off an hour late have on the battle situation, Spruance is also sweating.

And now the take-off speed of the US fighter plane has directly affected his combat plan. Spruance dared to gamble for an hour, but he didn't dare to gamble for another half hour. Once the Japanese discover the existence of the US aircraft carrier formation, then Admiral Nimitz and all the US troops will be disadvantaged by the hard work they have made for a month.

Therefore, regardless of the risk, Spruance gave the order to attack in groups.

Adaptability is an indispensable ability for a battlefield commander. When Spruance discovered that the speed of the fighters' take-off and marshalling would affect the course of the battle, Spruance did not hesitate to break the routine. Ordered the fighter group to take off.

Spruance gambled big, and he released more than seventy percent of the fighters on two aircraft carriers at once. The use of soldiers on the battlefield is like painting. Sometimes it's like gold, and sometimes it's a lot of color. Spruance's command was crisp and decisive. In comparison, Fletcher's use of troops was somewhat conservative.

Half of the fighters dispatched by the Naval Resistance Army were not because they were conservative, but because Li Guang had doubts about the current intelligence. And Rear Admiral Fletcher only flew thirty-five fighters, less than half of the number of carrier-based aircraft on the carrier. Moreover, Major General Fletcher dragged his feet and did not complete the take-off and formation of the fighters until 8:40. It took more than an hour and a half. Of course, Rear Admiral Fletcher had a reason that the recovered reconnaissance aircraft (dreadnought dive bombers) needed to be refueled. In fact, he took off only seventeen dive bombers, twelve torpedo planes, and six F4F fighters. The ten dive bombers that had been on reconnaissance duty in the morning had no need to refuel before taking off.

Major General Fletcher was cautious and unwilling to take the lead. Not to mention that Spruance can see this, Li Guang, an outsider relative to the US military, can also see it very clearly.

In this way, the fighters of the US-Tang coalition forces formed a group of six.

The first group, the Naval Resistance Army, was led by Liu Gensheng with 22 fighters.

The second group, the group of dive bombers on the Enterprise.

The third group, the group of dive bombers aboard the Hornet.

The fourth group, the group of torpedo bombers on the Enterprise.

The fifth group, the group of torpedo bombers on board the Hornet.

Group 6, the marshalling group on the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. (To be continued......)