This day is the Japanese Navy Day, and it is the anniversary of the victory of the Combined Fleet under the command of Heihachiro Togo over the Russian fleet (May 27-28, 1905, the Japanese Combined Fleet led by Heihachiro Togo defeated the Russian fleet in the Tsushima Strait, and since then, May 27 has been designated as the Japanese Navy Day). Since the beginning of the war, the Japanese navy has been arrogant and rampant in the China Sea and the western Pacific for a while, but since the beginning of the war in Southeast Asia, the god of fate seems to be getting farther and farther away from the Japanese, especially after the Battle of Sumatra, the combined fleet has almost lost its offensive ability and has been in a passive situation.

Before the war with Germany, the Japanese naval top brass believed that they had the support of the Americans behind them and that they were able to make enough oil and water in this war to be unaware of the great threat they were in the event of a counterattack by the German-Austrian alliance. But now, due to Atlantic pressure, the Americans are too busy to take care of themselves, and the Japanese have to face the anger of Germany and Austria and the Chinese themselves. With its current level of industrial capacity and technology, Japan is not yet able to adapt to a full-fledged world war. As a member of the Central Powers, Japan had to prepare to confront the two most powerful naval powers in the world, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Far East Combined Fleet, which accounted for more than half of the two naval powers.

Although Japan was among the world's industrial powers before the war, they only surpassed Italy to become the world's seventh largest industrial country, after the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, Austria, Britain and France. In reality, however, Japan's industrial capacity was only a quarter of that of Austria-Hungary, and its steel production was only one-seventh that of Germany. Compared to these true industrial powers, Japan is like a child, powerless in a real duel.

In the eyes of the Japanese, this large-scale and protracted war itself was not the responsibility of Japan. Both Germany and Austria had been supporting China behind the scenes, leaving Japan in the middle of the Chinese battlefield, and eventually the military was forced to start a war that they were not willing to fight. They were never aware of the problem of their aggression against China, as if they were simply "innocently" dragged into the water by the Russians.

From a military point of view, Japan lacks many of the conditions necessary to conduct a large-scale modern war: great industrial capacity, vast strategic depth, and sufficient strategic natural resources. As the war progressed and became more protracted. Japan was exhausted by the war and its natural resources, especially important strategic resources, were on the verge of being exhausted, and if it were not for the support of the Americans, Japan would have run out of aluminum for its aircraft.

As a result of the large-scale "submarine strangulation war" carried out by the Axis powers against Japan, with the loss of more and more merchant ships, the resources of the whole of Japan have been on the verge of exhaustion, and if the war situation does not change significantly, I am afraid that it will be half a year later. The Japanese fleet will even run out of fuel to fight at sea, and the entire combined fleet may become an ornament at that time.

However, the Combined Fleet on Navy Day did not have a festive atmosphere at all, and Commander Yamamoto, who was sitting on the "Yamato", listened to the reports of his subordinates with a sad face. Since the early hours of the morning, bad news has been coming, the entire Ryukyu Islands are under large-scale attack, and the air forces stationed there have basically not had time to react, and most of them have been destroyed at the airport.

Right now. The combined fleet had to be reluctantly sorted, but how it ended. Yamamoto didn't see any chance of victory.

In the waters off Okinawa, Vilmots? Admiral Yankel commanded the Combined Axis Fleet to carry out suppressive air strikes on airfields in Okinawa to ensure that the subsequent landing convoys would be hit from the air. Because of the special fear of the attack of the Japanese land-based aviation, there were only 32 bombers and torpedo planes on each carrier, and the rest were all carrying fighters. At the same time, bombers taking off from airfields along China's southeast coast continued to carry out large-scale bombing of Japanese airfields on the island of Taiwan. As a result, the enemy simply did not have the energy and ability to support the operation in Okinawa.

On 29 May, Admiral Hayer and Admiral Wang Chongwen also led a fire support formation consisting of seven battleships, six cruisers, and 16 destroyers from the Qingdao Naval Base to the Ryukyu front to reinforce the landing operations and make advance fire preparations for the landing sites.

The Japanese forces in the entire Sakishima Islands totaled less than 2,000 men and faced an onslaught from the Axis fleet and two Marine divisions. There is no way to fight back. The landing force, consisting of the 2nd Austro-Hungarian Marine Division and the 1st Chinese Marine Division, encountered little strong resistance and easily occupied the entire Sakishima Islands. There was no suspense at all in the entire landing operation, and everywhere the Sino-Austrian coalition forces went, the Japanese army was full of broken jade, and the next one was broken jade.

The Combined Fleet, which was hiding in the Seto Inland Sea, had no way to deal with the opponent, and the news of the "jade shattering" of the defenders was sent back one after another, which made Admiral Yamamoto's mood extremely disturbed.

Although the Battle of Sakishima went extremely smoothly for the Axis forces, it was completely different for the Japanese. Since the Sino-Japanese War in 1895, the Japanese have been running amok in other people's homes, and this is the first time that the Japanese who have committed crimes have been beaten to their doorstep.

When the news reached Japan, the crowd was immediately outraged, and Yamamoto suddenly felt unprecedented pressure.

However, the "ghost animals" of the Axis powers did not understand Admiral Yamamoto's distress at all, and continued to besiege the Okinawa Islands, leaving the Combined Fleet with nothing. The Axis forces, which had taken over the Sakishima Islands, immediately began construction on a large scale, bringing large numbers of bulldozers, excavators, rollers, and dump trucks to the islands, and building airfields on Ishigaki, Iriomote, and Miyako Islands.

Under the tremendous pressure of the base camp, Yamamoto had no choice but to take all the main forces of the Combined Fleet and go south to block the offensive of the Axis fleet.

"It's finally begun!"

On the bridge of the aircraft carrier "Hokkai", Sa Shijun meditated in his heart, and he held in his hand a telegram that had just been transferred from the "Grand Duke Friedrich": At 11:10 a.m., it was discovered that the enemy's main fleet had sailed out of the Bungo Channel, including 5 aircraft carriers and about 10 battleships. The team is continuing to monitor and track it.

The telegram was sent from the waters southeast of Kyushu by a Chinese reconnaissance submarine that was closely monitoring Japanese ports and waterways, and it reported the position, course, and speed of the enemy ships in the group. It is clear that the enemy has finally made a sortie.

This was the situation that the Axis fleet had eagerly awaited for since the Coalition forces captured the Philippines, and the main forces of the Japanese fleet had taken refuge in the bay on their homeland, leaving the Axis powers helpless. Although long-range bombers sent by the Strategic Air Force have attacked them on several occasions, they have had little success.

Now they're finally out!

The staff officers were marking the location of the enemy ships in red ink on the charts in the war room at noon on June 3, 1942, when the weather was at its hottest. (To be continued.) )