The First Air Fleet suffered heavy losses, the Chinese airborne troops seized Yamaguchi City, and the "counter-revolutionary rebellion" broke out in Shimonoseki Port, like three giant bombs exploding on the roofs of Sadao Araki and Ishihara Waner, and there was a dead silence in the Kumamoto headquarters, and the rumbling roar in the distance could not wake them up from this series of bad news.

The gates of Kitakyushu have now been opened, and the Chinese Marines and Army are continuing to land in Kyushu through several ports in Fukuoka Prefecture, and the coastal cities of Munaka, Fukutsu, and Koga have been captured by the Chinese army, and the first section of the Chinese Marine Corps is advancing along the Kitakyushu Coastal Highway to Fukuoka City, the capital of Fukuoka Prefecture. Fukuoka City is also prepared to give up temporarily in the "Z Operation Plan", so it is not heavily defended, only a small number of regular Red Army and thousands of Red Guards defended, and it should fall soon, and after the Chinese army captures Fukuoka City, it will be able to control Hakata Port, an important port in the Kitakyushu region, and the speed of landing will only be faster - these are all in the plan, and the "Z Operation Plan" is the idea of luring the enemy into depth, preparing to put 150,000 to 200,000 Chinese troops into the coast of Kitakyushu, Then use the sea and land to attack them all!

But now ...... the core of the "Z Combat Plan", is it still possible to achieve a flanking attack on land and sea? Originally, it was thought that the First Air Fleet would be able to support the main force of the Chinese Nanyang Fleet for a while, luring them to the vicinity of the Philippine Islands, far from the battlefield in Kitakyushu. However, the Chinese naval aviation showed an unimaginably strong combat effectiveness, and the First Air Fleet was crippled in just one wave of attacks, and even the commander of the fleet, Takijiro Onishi, was martyred.

What was even more unexpected was that the Chinese army actually carried out an airborne landing in Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Honshu. The seizure of Yamaguchi City, the capital of Yamaguchi Prefecture, in one fell swoop, disrupted the overall defensive posture of the "West **", and the most hateful thing is. The "counter-revolutionary rebellion" that took place in Shimonoseki Port, which was guarding the choke point of the Guanmen Strait, was small in scale, but it was enough to add a little chaos to the already very bad situation.

Sadao Araki and Ishihara have an ominous premonition that this "Z Operation" is only afraid that they will lose! And it's not just a battle that is lost, it's the whole picture! Once the "Operation Z" fails, the original deployment of luring the enemy into the depths will become a lure of wolves, and only two weeks will be given to the Chinese army. They will be able to send millions of troops to Kitakyushu, and when the time comes, as long as they crush all the way from north to south, they will be able to crush the hundreds of thousands of Japanese regular troops on Kyushu Island! As for the Red Guards in Kyushu. What Araki and Ishihara want most now is to disband them all...... Since the defeat of the country is inevitable, then we should preserve the vitality of the nation to the greatest extent for the future, if the total jade of 100 million is really broken, I am afraid that there is no hope for even a little revival!

And how much loss can the Chinese army suffer by relying on those rabble to break jade? Today, Japan's population is about one-tenth of that of China. Buying and selling 10 or 20 Japanese to spell out 1 Chinese cannot be done under any circumstances!

"Boom, boom, boom......"

Several Chinese Ju.88 bombers swept through the sky. The dropped bomb finally pulled Sadao Araki and Ishihara out of their thoughts. Araki grabbed his chief of staff, Ada-23, and asked repeatedly, "Has the reply from the Combined Fleet arrived?" Will the Second Fleet be able to break out of the Guanmen Strait as originally planned? ”

"Commander Yamamoto has just called, saying that the Navy is ready to carry out the Jade Crushing Operation, and the Second Fleet will highlight the Guanmen Strait no matter what! After highlighting the Kanmon Strait, the five cutting-edge capital ships of the Second Fleet will wait for the opportunity to run aground on the beach of Kitakyushu to serve as a fixed battery, in short, they will cooperate with the army to carry out the 'Z operation' to the end at any cost! ”

Stranding the capital ship as a stationary battery? Sadao Araki and Ishihara were struck by the idea, Yamamoto had a good idea, the Akagi-class and Kaga-class were the kind of giant ships with solid armor. If the Chinese military aviation is floating on the water, there is still a way to sink them, and if they run aground, they will be real "unsinkable ships"!

Not to mention 5 ships. As long as there are three such "unsinkable ships" placed at key points on the coast of Kitakyushu, the logistics line of the 100,000 or 200,000 Chinese troops who have landed will be cut off, and there will be hope of encircling them at that time.

"In this case, then the army must also show the courage to fight the jade shatter and fight to the death with the violent army on the land!" Sadao Araki's expression was grim, and his tone contained the last madness.

Ishihara tried his best to keep his brain calm, studying the map over and over again, and Sadao Araki said impatiently: "Ishihara-kun, there is no other way now!" ”

Ishihara nodded bitterly: "Araki-kun, this is the last battle, no matter whether it wins or loses, Japan has no capital to continue the war, but Tokyo ......"

Araki was stunned when he heard this, he understood what Ishihara meant, "Operation Z" has exhausted most of Japan's war potential, no matter whether it wins or loses, Japan has no strength to fight anymore, so if it wins, it should be accepted as soon as it is good, and strive for a "conditional surrender", if it loses, it can only accept its fate and save its life, after all, only by keeping more Japanese can it be possible to revive Japan in the future, if there are no people, then it will really be over.

However, it seems that this kind of thing is not something that people of Araki and Ishihara's rank can decide, and the current Japan is a people's country under the leadership of GCD, and the great leader Takeda Heng is still firmly grasped in his hands. However, Ishihara also had his thoughts, he gritted his teeth and said: "Operation Z has invested all the capital into it, and what I want is not to turn the tide and fall, but to end this war that may exhaust the vitality of the Japanese nation as soon as possible!" If Tokyo insists on going its own way, can we ......?"

Sadao Araki thought silently and nodded, although he didn't say anything, but the meaning was unspeakable. Don't look at this Araki Sadao in history is the leader of the imperial faction who advocates foreign aggression, but he cherishes his life very much, and when Japan was defeated, he was not seen playing with a knife on the belly, and later at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, he denied the crimes he committed in every possible way, and finally escaped hanging by one vote. After that, he obediently served as a model prisoner in Sugamo Prison for eight years. In 1955, he was released on parole "due to illness", and it took another 11 years of comfortable life to die at ease.

In fact, in history, most of the leaders of Japanese militarism tried to survive after the defeat of the war. There are only a small number of people who really don't want to kill themselves to become gods, and most of the people who can't think of it are middle and lower-level officers. And in this time and space, they are all Japanese proletarian revolutionaries and military strategists of the older generation, and there is no place to become gods, and the Chinese do not have the idea of setting up a military tribunal to try them - they do not seem to have much to try for the crime of aggression. Therefore, the high-ranking generals of the Japanese Red Army who were ready to sacrifice their lives for the world revolution were even rarer, and seeing that the chances of winning Operation Z were getting smaller and smaller, of course, it was time to think about the way back for themselves.

That's also a role model. Isn't it possible to preserve a little more vitality for the Japanese nation?

Just when Sadao Araki and Ishihara were thinking about preserving their usefulness for the future of the Japanese nation (later both of their lives were saved, and they also married several wives after the war. Then I just wanted to have a few more little Japanese. Among them, Araki's health is good, and he gave birth to a litter of little Japan in more than ten years, while Ishihara Waner is not good at that, and he was busy until he died of illness in the 50s, when he didn't have a son and a half daughter). Jizaburo Ozawa, who had just become commander of the First Air Fleet, was also struggling to save more Japanese lives.

"Commander! Enemy aircraft were spotted. At 9 o'clock, the number was about 200 units, it was a bomber of the Ju.88 type, and no escort fighters were found. "Less than an hour and a half after the first wave of air strikes by the Chinese army ended, the lookout post of the Tsukuma, the new flagship of the First Air Fleet, spotted a group of bombers flying from the island of Taiwan. After the chief navigator of the Chikuma put down the phone and urgently reported the enemy situation, Jizaburo Ozawa and Kennan Awada, the new chief of staff of the First Air Fleet, also entered the command tower of the heavy cruiser Chikuma.

"How many direct cover planes are in the air right now?"

"There are eighteen Type 96 fighters, and the remaining thirty or so Type 96s can all be lifted into the air in fifteen minutes." The same newly appointed Fleet Aviation Staff Officer reported.

"Order all Type 96 liftoffs, no matter what, get through this level first." Awata Keno snorted coldly: "The Tyrant actually sent a medium-range bomber like Ju.88 to bomb the surface fleet!" And there is no fighter escort yet. This time, be sure to give them a little awesome taste! ”

"The tyrannical admiral must have a reason for doing this, right?" Jizaburo Ozawa shook his head and looked at the sea outside Ship Island. The First Air Fleet is still barely maintaining an air defense formation, 10 aircraft carriers and the Chikuma, which has just become a flagship, are in the middle position, and next to the Chikuma are three burning aircraft carriers, the fire seems to have been controlled, but the three carriers are still completely incapacitated, and the speed has slowed down to about 5 knots, their power systems have been damaged in the bombing, and now it has obviously become a burden to the entire fleet. With these three carriers, the First Air Fleet would only be able to move at a speed of 5 knots, which is almost the same as going in circles. But if you give them up...... That's three aircraft carriers!

Just as he hesitated, a telegram from the command of the Combined Fleet came again. "Commander, Commander-in-Chief Yamamoto's order, continue to carry out the 'Operation Z', even if the entire First Air Fleet is broken, it cannot give up the 'Operation Z'."

Ozawa Jizaburo nodded, and said loudly as if he had made up his mind: "Order, disband the formation, and all retreat in the direction of the Philippine Islands and the island of New Guinea!" ”

"Disbandment of the formation?!"

Keno Awata's eyes widened as he looked at Jizaburo Ozawa. The meaning of disbanding a formation in a naval battle is probably equivalent to a scattered breakout in a ground battle, which is basically how much you can escape. Moreover, because the current surface warfare emphasizes the mutual cooperation of various types of warships, aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers, and so on can form a huge formation to give full play to their strongest combat effectiveness, and once they disperse their actions, they basically lose the ability to counterattack, and it is much easier for the Chinese planes to deal with them. The only advantage is that it is not easy to be caught by the Chinese army, and in the end, there will always be a few ships that have escaped the net and run back to the South Seas.

"Comrade Commander, disband the formation now? However, the planes are about to start air raids, and if the formation is disbanded, the losses will be ......" The aviation staff officer on the side also shouted, and now the fleet is in an anti-aircraft formation, although the performance of various types of anti-aircraft guns is very unreliable. However, the number of antiaircraft guns and antiaircraft machine guns after dozens of combat ships gathered together was still sufficient, and they could still pose a certain threat to the enemy's planes, and dozens of Chinese fighters were shot down or injured in the round of fighting that had just ended. But if the fleet is scattered. The density of anti-aircraft fire is too low, and it will be much more difficult to shoot down Chinese military planes.

Jizaburo Ozawa shook his head, gritted his teeth and said, "Execute the order, immediately disband the formation, and ...... Carrier-based aircraft that have not yet taken off do not have to take off. He looked up at the group of Chinese bombers approaching in the northern sky. The ju.88 is too big to be hit if we were to make a dive attack, and I think the real purpose of the Commander of the Tyranny Navy was to entangle us with these ju.88s. As long as they entangle us for two or three hours, their carrier-based aircraft will be able to launch a second wave of air strikes, and when the time comes. I'm afraid we really won't be able to leave! ”

Keno Awata paused, he knew that Ozawa was right, in the last wave of Chinese air raids, the First Air Fleet sent more than three hundred Type 96s. Although in the end, the family shot down 253 planes. But after all, it interfered with their bombing, so the main forces of the 1st Air Fleet remained. But there will be no such luck next time, the First Air Fleet can still send 50 fighters in the sky, and the Chinese army will send at least 500 aircraft, and the consequences can be understood with your heels!

In the event that all 10 aircraft carriers of the First Air Fleet were completely destroyed in the next round of air raids, there would be nothing to attract the main forces of the Chinese Nanyang Fleet away from the North Kyushu battlefield. In this way, will the Second Fleet still have a chance to break through the Guanmen Strait and complete the tasks set by "Operation Z"?

……

"Division commander, Japanese fleet...... The Japanese fleet seemed to be about to disperse. ”

Of course, the actions of the Japanese First Air Fleet in scattered formations could not hide the Chinese bomber group at an altitude of 6,000 meters. Rear Admiral Xu Huansheng, the commander-in-chief of the air raid, looked down in the direction of the navigator's finger, and sure enough, he saw that the Japanese warships on the sea, which looked not much bigger than matchboxes, were spreading out in all directions.

"Got it. Leave them alone for now, wait until they are completely dispersed before attacking, maintain formation, and prepare to meet the Japanese fighters. Xu Huansheng did not order the immediate bombing of the Japanese fleet, because he knew that the 180 Ju.88 medium bombers under his command were not used to deal with surface ships at all, although the Ju.88 could also carry out dive bombing at a 60-degree angle, but the size of this aircraft was too large, and it was too easy to be shot down by the anti-aircraft fire of the Japanese ships during the dive. Therefore, he was ready to try his luck by bombing horizontally in formation—and the order given to him was to "fight" the Japanese fleet as much as possible, preferably for two hours. However, now it seems that this task is impossible to accomplish, and the purpose of the Japanese disbanding the formation is obviously to spread out and run away. However, it also gave himself the opportunity to sink the Japanese aircraft carrier with ju.88.

Because once the Japanese ships disperse, there is no way to maintain dense anti-aircraft firepower, and he can command the bomber group to reduce the altitude to increase the probability of hitting. The 180 Ju.88 bombers had 720 500-kilogram armor-piercing bombs in their bomb bays, and could sink a Japanese aircraft carrier if one percent of the bombs hit their targets.

"Division commander, the Japanese fighter is up! 18 Type 96s! At 5 o'clock in the lower right! ”

"Keep in formation, don't mess around, speed up to 500, they can't catch up with us!"

With a new engine of 1,800 hp, the latest Ju.88 bomber can reach a top speed of 540 km/h and a cruising speed of 490 km/h. Japan's Type 96 carrier-based fighter can only fly at a top speed of 480 km/h. Therefore, the current Chinese Ju.88 bomber only has a 12.9mm heavy machine gun installed behind the cockpit, and it is impossible to fight with Japanese aircraft in air combat, but it can leave the Japanese Type 96 fighter far behind with its high speed.

"Baga! These pilots will only run away, and they are all cowards! Seeing the scene of more than a dozen small planes in the air being left behind by one hundred and eighty large planes, Keno Awata jumped to his feet in anger. He was the most stubborn "battleship faction" in the Japanese Red Navy, and he did not understand aviation at all, and when he saw the Chinese ju.88 flying in front and the Japanese Type 96 chasing behind, he naturally felt that the Chinese pilots greatly lacked the spirit of bushido and were not worthy of conquering Japan.

Jizaburo Ozawa next to him was able to play aviation in history, but it was "self-taught in his spare time", and his actual profession was a torpedo expert, and he was the director of the Japanese Navy's mine school. Ozawa, who knew a little bit about aviation, saw the scene in the sky but smiled helplessly: "Even other people's medium bombers can't catch up, the so-called world's strongest navy (referring to the Japanese Navy) is really a big joke." He paused and then instructed Awata: "Pass the order and tell all the captains that they must save their lives as much as possible, and do not allow the martyrdom of the ship!" Because we have fulfilled all the responsibilities of a naval officer, and there are many more responsibilities that we need to fulfill in the future, we must keep it useful. ”

"Hay!"

Hearing this, Keno Awata, who looked fierce, actually breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Ozawa gratefully. Well, this Awata Keno is actually very afraid of death, and he has earned the nickname of "War-Avoiding Admiral" in history, and almost every time he goes to the battlefield, he can do things that are afraid of the enemy and can slip away, especially in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, which is actually not a "mystery" at all, but is greedy for life and afraid of death. And in this time and space, Keno Awata also picked up a life because of Ozawa Jizaburo's decision to "disband the formation and escape separately". After the war, he retired from the military and got a job as a captain at Mitsui Shipping Company, where he lived until 1977 at the age of 88.

The more than 20,000 officers and men of the Japanese First Air Fleet can now escape for their lives in the open - although a small part of them, including seven aircraft carriers (in addition to the three ships of the Flying Dragon, the Tenryu, and the Red Dragon, four more carriers were sunk by the Chinese army, one of which was blown up and sunk by Xu Huansheng's Ju.88 bomber), some of them still died in the battle, but most of them still survived to the end of the war. However, the commander of the Second Fleet, Vice Takeshi Toyoda, and his more than 10,000 men were not so lucky, they were on their way to death, and Yamamoto sent a telegram from Port Moresby, urging them to make every effort to pass the Guò Bungo Channel and the Kanmon Strait.

"Commander, since Commander Yamamoto has an order, let's hurry north, if we move quickly, we can still achieve our goal before the main force of the Riot Fleet returns to the waters near Kyushu."

Chief of Staff Arima Masamumi is a master who does not want to die, and at this point in the war, of course he also knows that something is wrong, but he is unwilling to accept death to live in the world with a Chinese passport. His family did not go to China or any other country, but stayed in their hometown of Kagoshima. He himself originally planned to become a Red Army warrior and fly a suicide plane to hit a Chinese aircraft carrier, but he did not get Yamamoto's approval, but Yamamoto still arranged a nine-life errand for him, becoming the chief of staff of the Second Fleet, and urging the anti-war faction Toyota Vice Takeshi to carry out a "suicide attack mission."

Glancing at the chief of staff under his subordinates who seemed to be urging life, Deputy Takeshi Toyoda sighed, this is an extraordinary period, and the crime of disobeying orders and fearing the enemy on the battlefield is not good enough to give away his life. As for the task of going north to highlight the Guanmen Strait, it seems dangerous, but in fact, there is still a glimmer of life, and the Akagi battle cruiser he is riding on is a big guy with a full load displacement of nearly 50,000 tons, so it shouldn't be so easy to sink, right?

Even if you are unlucky and really sunk by the Chinese, you can abandon the ship and escape, this Arima Zhengwen can't force himself to sink the ship, right? Thinking of this, Vice Takeshi Toyoda finally made up his mind and issued an order to "go north with the whole army and prepare for a decisive battle". Thus kicked off the prelude to the "Closed Night War".

At the same time, Admiral Bo Fuping, commander of the Chinese Japanese Dispatch Fleet, who commanded the fleet to shell the Japanese batteries in Hakata Bay, and Vice Admiral Chen Shukang, who had just arrived with two battle cruisers, were studying how to deal with the Japanese capital ship force that might protrude from the Guanmen Strait.

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