At ten o'clock at seven, one of the destroyers at the forefront of Nagumo's fleet raised the flag: "Enemy aircraft found." The signal flag was raised on the mast of the Japanese ship, and the sirens sounded in the sea and air.

This was the first group of American attack aircraft to take off from Midway. The first wave of Japanese fighters attacking Midway had just finished bombing, and American fighters had already found the Japanese fleet.

6 "Avenger" torpedo attack aircraft and 4 B-26 bombers appeared on the starboard side of the aircraft carrier "Akagi" (south). The US military is seriously inexperienced in attacking surface ships, and it may not be able to achieve unified command if it does not know how to concentrate forces at all. The ten bombers turned out to be divided into two groups, the first wave was four torpedo planes.

American torpedo planes drilled out of the clouds at a height of more than a thousand meters. The heavy artillery of the Japanese main battleship roared in unison, and the continuous fire of the antiaircraft guns was deafening, and more than a dozen "Zero" fighters immediately pounced to block the attack.

In the Battle of Midway, the bravery of the American pilots who were not afraid of death was extremely commendable. The pilots were not highly skilled enough to resort to cross-attack or two-plane tactics.

The US torpedo planes lined up in a single row, and despite the heavy artillery fire, they pounced on the "Akagi." In front of the "Zero" fighters, which had a complete superiority in performance, the clumsy torpedo planes of the US military were quickly shot down three of them.

In the first wave of attacks, only one of the four torpedo planes was able to drop bombs. But for technical reasons, the torpedo deviated too far from the target.

Before the Japanese Zero fighters had time to catch their breath, six more American fighters appeared around the Akagi.

The American pilots almost unanimously chose the Japanese flagship--- the aircraft carrier Akagi.

Before the Japanese Zero could pounce, six bombers had already begun to approach the Akagi. Although the American pilots were inexperienced, they were not lacking in bravery, and they rushed into the torpedo range of 1,500 meters one after another in the face of Japanese artillery fire.

Six torpedo planes (four of which were also dropped torpedoes) dropped their torpedoes in turn, and the fish leaped into the air. A torpedo plane was hit by artillery fire, and the American pilot did not hesitate to ram the Akagi. Almost collided with the "Akagi". The American pilots were brave, but they failed to damage the Akagi, and were beaten into a fireball by the dense anti-aircraft fire and exploded in the air.

Subsequently, several Japanese Zero fighters began to besiege the remaining American bombers again. The entire flight crew of these 10 American bombers, without the escort of fighter planes, desperately launched an attack. It's a pity that all the torpedoes fired missed the target, and none of them hit the enemy ship. In the end, only three returned to Midway.

On the Akagi, Nagumo Tadaichi was so shocked by the death of the American army that his facial muscles stiffened. Is this still the son of a gentleman in the mouth of the Japanese army? The Americans, who did not know how to fight at all, showed no less courage than the Japanese pilots.

After the first air raid by US planes, Nagumo Tadaichi determined that the US planes must have come from Midway.

At this moment, Nagumo Tadaichi believed that it was necessary to wipe out the US military air force at Midway as soon as possible. The aircraft carrier had just escaped the attack, and once again urged the ground crew to speed up and change their uniforms.

Just a few minutes have passed. Several US bombers again appeared in the sky over the Japanese fleet, and then another air defense battle and an air battle followed.

The U.S. military attack fleet was continuous, sometimes three, sometimes five. Sometimes it's even one. The variety of US fighters is chaotic, and the pilots are not of uniform quality. And these bombers also made a circle after taking off from Midway. It also made it more difficult to find targets, so the time to find the Japanese aircraft carrier was uneven.

In terms of tactics, no commander would arrange it like this, this is obviously a tactic of adding fuel, dozens of fighters do not form a joint force, and they are easily wiped out by the Japanese army one by one. But in this naval battle. The refueling tactic played an unexpected role, that is, it contained the Japanese forces and attracted the Zero fighters escorted by the Japanese army to a low altitude and attracted them to a relatively distant airspace. As a result, the number of alert fighters over the Japanese aircraft carriers continued to decrease.

At this moment, Nagumo Tadaichi made a big mistake, he was the commander of the fleet, not the navigator. In Nagumo Tadaichi's decades-long military career, he never lost a battleship. In order to ensure that His Majesty the Emperor's warship would not be damaged, Nagumo personally operated the battleship.

Nagumo's level is high, and the US fighter planes are like unclosed faucets, dripping and dripping, sometimes more and sometimes less, going forward and launching attacks one after another.

In the process of Nagumo Tadaichi maneuvering the ship, it was a bomb anyway, and not a single torpedo hit the Akagi.

But during this period of time, Nagumo only focused on maneuvering the aircraft carrier, and did not give orders to other aircraft carriers at all. He thought that all his aircraft carriers were being hit.

As a matter of fact, the Second Air Force's Yamaguchi was not bombed by the US military, and it did not affect the take-off of fighters at all. Of course, he could not take off fighters, and the Japanese army did not know about the existence of American aircraft carriers at this time. Therefore, in addition to the fighters guarding the fleet, the bombers of Yamaguchi's warplanes also stayed in the hangar.

At this moment, Yamaguchi Tawen was secretly glad that the south side of his original fleet was on the south side, and the direction of the US fighter plane was on the south side. If it weren't for his clever knowledge of Yamaguchi, maybe his aircraft carrier would have been bombed again like the Battle of Ceylon.

Nagumo Tadaichi did not give an order, and Yamaguchi Tashi also took the opportunity to evacuate a little further to the north.

After bearing blow after blow, Nagumo Tadaichi received the news again. At 8:20 a.m., a Japanese reconnaissance plane reported: "There is a suspected aircraft carrier behind the enemy fleet."

You must know that the Japanese reconnaissance plane took off at about 5:10 in the morning. Three hours had passed, and only then had we searched within two hundred nautical miles.

The chief of staff, Major General Ryunosuke Kusaka, and the former staff officer, Minoru Genda, were already stunned at this time, and this reconnaissance plane was still another one that took off late.

The Japanese dispatched 12 reconnaissance planes, but it was these two fighters that took off late that were responsible for searching for US warships and aircraft carriers.

How bad luck this is.

Nagumo Tadaichi was shocked and enraged by the news that there was a suspected aircraft carrier. What shocked me was that the US military really had aircraft carriers, and what angered me was that the reconnaissance efficiency of the Japanese reconnaissance planes was too low.

Genda knew that it was this reconnaissance plane that took off half an hour late, so the reconnaissance on this sector was half an hour late. If you dig deeper, this is Minoru Genda's responsibility. When he found out that the reconnaissance plane on the Reagan had failed to take off on time due to a catapult failure, he should have immediately adjusted its deployment. Supplement it with reconnaissance aircraft from other warships.

But the matter has come to this, Genda patted his head. Minoru Genda seemed to be explaining to Nagumo Tadaichi that he was dizzy because of his illness, so he did not seriously arrange the reconnaissance mission. His face was full of shame, and he said to Nanyun Zhong: "Your Excellency, General, the bomb should be replaced immediately." ”

Nagumo Zhong had a good time replacing the bomb again. Now that the aircraft carrier has been discovered, striking Midway is no longer the first priority, but the US aircraft carrier is.

Why didn't Nagumo Tadaichi take off his fighter plane immediately and attack the US aircraft carrier with the bombs he was currently carrying?

The reason is that this kind of ground-to-ground high-explosive bomb is indeed not suitable for attacking aircraft carriers. The second is that Yamaguchi Tawen attacked the British aircraft carrier with ground bombs in the Battle of Ceylon. Dozens of bombs were dropped but failed to sink the British aircraft carrier. The British aircraft carrier actually escaped.

Nagumo Tadaichi was the commander of the First Air Fleet, and he also served as the commander of the First Air Force. Under the name of Nagumo Tadaichi's First Air Fleet, he has not sunk the opponent's aircraft carrier so far, which is inferior to Yamaguchi Tashi, and even worse than Hara Tadaichi's Fifth Air Force. Nanyun Zhongyi also has a little Jiujiu in his heart. Hell-bent on sinking the US aircraft carrier.

Nagumo Tadaichi forgot one thing, the aircraft carrier does not have to be sunk. Just blow up the flight deck. The combat effectiveness of this aircraft carrier was scrapped. Although it is difficult for ground bombs to sink US aircraft carriers, it is not difficult at all to damage the combat effectiveness of US aircraft carriers.

Nagumo Tadaichi's brains were not bright, and his rigid tactical rules made the hidden dangers of the Japanese aircraft carrier formation continue to rise.

If Nagumo Tadaichi did not expect that the US aircraft carrier might strike at his own aircraft carrier. It's inevitable that the IQ is too low. In fact, Nagumo thought about it, but in his opinion, it would be difficult for a US aircraft carrier to break through the Japanese air alert ring even if it was equipped with fighters. Therefore, he still decided to give the US military a thunderous blow with all its might.

The Japanese ground crew began to get busy again. The little devil is hard-working enough, but there is no automation equipment in this era. Replacing the bomb requires a lot of physical strength. The devils tossed all morning, and they were already sweating.

Minoru Genda felt deeply guilty about the mistakes he had made, and dragged his sick body to the deck to encourage him, not to mention, this kind of encouragement is really useful. The ground crew of the little devil began to work again, changing the ammunition.

There was one point, Minoru Genda didn't pay attention, a large amount of disassembled ammunition was too late to be transferred to the ammunition compartment at the moment, and it was all piled up on the hangar deck.

Don't look at the hangar deck is not open-air, but the flight deck of the Japanese aircraft carrier is just a wooden deck. In essence, there is no difference between these bombs and being stacked in the open.

By this time, the U.S. bombers taking off from Midway were still bombing. Vice Admiral Nagumo was still seriously manipulating the battleship.

Eight twenty-five a.m. A squadron of U.S. B17 bombers, a total of eight of them, finally found the three Japanese aircraft carriers, followed by a barrage of indiscriminate bombing. However, it is a pity that eight B17s squandered sixty tons of bombs and still missed a single bomb.

To Nagumo's satisfaction, no aircraft carriers were damaged.

Even so, it made Nanyun Zhongyi break out in a cold sweat again. B17, the bomb load of this large bomber is really terrifying, and the bombs are almost raining down from the sky. No matter how high the level of the ship is, it also depends on luck. Obviously, Nagumo Tadaichi's luck today is quite good until this moment.

Although the US bombing was fruitless, it cannot be said that it was useless at all, and the Japanese aircraft carriers that had evaded the bombs had to maneuver, but the work of the little devils to replace the bombs was affected.

Nagumo was struggling, looking forward to the bombing of the American army. After this wave of bombardment, it was time for the Japanese to counterattack.

Nagumo Tadaichi even saw hope of victory. As long as the Japanese aircraft carrier makes a move, the US aircraft carrier will be absolutely finished. However, the amount of bomb replacement work on several Japanese aircraft carriers was not large, and each aircraft carrier had only seven or eight torpedo planes and seven or eight dive bombers, which needed to be replaced with bombs.

As long as Nagumo Zhong is given less than twenty minutes, these fighters can take off.

However, Nagumo Tadaichi was about to face another difficult problem: at 8:30 a.m., the Japanese air raid on Pearl Island had returned and had to land. (To be continued......)

PS: Today's update.