On 9 May 1942, a day worth remembering by all Chinese, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the National Government issued a circular that just yesterday, after a day and a night of bitter fighting, the Chinese Navy severely damaged the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet in the waters off Midway Island in the eastern Pacific, sinking and damaging more than 100 Japanese warships, including the Yamato, the flagship of the Japanese Navy, which was launched for service only half a year ago, and killing more than 6,000 people, including Admiral Yamamoto, commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and achieving an unprecedented victory.

In order to prevent the Japanese side from denying it, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also displayed on the spot some photos that had been urgently developed, which contained pictures and the truth.

Just an hour later, President Roosevelt of the White House made a radio speech on the incident, highly praising the Chinese government and military and congratulating him on the defeat of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

In addition, the White House also made a clear request that the Chinese Navy fleet withdraw from Midway Island as soon as possible.

Chen Feng did not give a positive answer to the request made by the United States, but only telegraphed Roosevelt, saying that China is now implementing the historical system of separation of military and political affairs, and that he is in charge of the military, but only about politics, and that the United States can negotiate with the Chinese government through diplomatic channels, and as long as it is authorized by the government, the Chinese navy will immediately withdraw from Midway.

Chen Feng had an interview with Mr. Enlai of the Executive Yuan, and he said that there was no big problem for the Chinese Navy to withdraw from Midway, but it was necessary for the United States to once again express its position to the world circles that it would never make peace with the Japanese side without permission at any time, and at the same time it would severely punish all war criminals, including the Japanese emperor.

Winston Churchill in Britain and Stalin in the Soviet Union also telegraphed the Chinese side at the same time. Congratulations to the Chinese army for creating a miracle in the history of naval warfare in the Pacific theater, of course, Churchill's tone of the old bald head is a little sour.

Although the Chinese Government says that it has dealt heavy damage to the Japanese Navy, that many battleships and aircraft carriers, including the Yamato, have been sunk, and that most of its main battle cruisers have been sunk, this is after all just a one-sided statement by the Chinese Government.

In order to find out exactly how much the Japanese Navy lost its combat effectiveness at the grassroots level. The spy elites of the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain did their best. After several days of hard work, Japan's losses were finally clarified. The Japanese side wanted to keep it secret, but unfortunately when the Japanese Combined Fleet returned to the port of Tokyo that day, it was seen by many people, shaking eighty or ninety warships. Almost everybody has it on them. Defeat is certain.

Plus generals like Yamamoto Isoroku died in battle. It was difficult for the Japanese side to keep it secret, and the cabinet released information that afternoon, saying that the Combined Fleet had been ambushed by the Shina Navy in the waters off Midway. Heavy losses, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, was killed in battle.

The United States and the Soviet Union received more accurate information, and the Japanese side lost a total of more than 100 warships, including five aircraft carriers, including the "Akagi," "Kaga," "Soryu," "Flying Dragon," and "Ryusho," five battleships including Fuji, Asahi, Hatsuse, Hiei, and Yamato, and 12 cruisers.

The total number of aircraft carriers lost this time, plus the three aircraft carriers that were sunk before, accounted for one-half of the total number of Japanese Combined Fleet, and the battleships accounted for one-third of the total number of battleships of the Japanese Navy, and the combat strength of the Japanese Combined Fleet in this battle fell by about half.

The intelligence gathered by various countries was shocking, and in addition to going to massage and Japan's bad luck, they were also curious that Chen Feng's troops could beat the Japanese Navy's combined fleet all over the ground in such a short period of time.

On May 11, Chen Feng returned to Chongqing smoothly, and when he left, Chen Feng stayed with Yan Changxi for a day in Nanyang Ling, resisted guarding the Chen family's private territory, and said that he would take the children and the elderly to Nanyang Ling for a while.

At the same time, Chen Feng also held a military meeting at the rank of general to the navy, ordering the navy to make persistent efforts, carry forward the spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice, seek opportunities to annihilate the remaining ships of the Japanese navy, and send a detachment to return to the coast of China to strike at the Japanese bases and ports along the coast, and the time has come for the navy to counterattack.

After returning to Chongqing, Chen Feng was warmly welcomed by the top party, government, and military leaders in Chongqing, and Mao Feng, chairman of the Nationalist Government, Zhou Zhou, acting president of the Executive Yuan, and more than a dozen members of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission in Chongqing greeted Chen Feng at the airport.

After the welcoming ceremony, Chen Feng summoned the theater commanders of all theaters to the Central Military Commission building for a meeting, and the principal leaders of the party, government, and military departments must attend.

People knew that His Excellency Chairman Lu Dao was going to make a big move this time, so no one dared to wait for him, and all the high-ranking military and political officials in Chongqing arrived at the Central Military Commission building at 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

There is only one body left at this meeting, and that is the counteroffensive against Japan. This time, the Navy took advantage of the Battle of Midway to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese Combined Fleet in one fell swoop, and after this battle, the combat capability of the Japanese Combined Fleet was greatly weakened, and it was impossible to go on a rampage in the South Pacific as unscrupulous as before.

Moreover, in the South Pacific, in addition to the Chinese Navy, there are also the Pacific Fleet of the United States, the Far East Fleet of the Soviet Union, and the Eastern Fleet of the United Kingdom.

In this way, the Japanese naval blockade of the Pacific region was broken, and American aid and other industrial products could be transported to India through the Pacific waterway, and then transferred from India to Burma, and finally to China via the Yunnan-Burma Road.

Secondly, along the coast of China, the Chinese navy can also open some gaps one after another to cooperate with the inland land forces, so Chen Feng believes that the time has come for the Chinese army to counterattack.

The meeting lasted for two days, and two days later the Central Military Commission directly ordered that the Chinese Army would assemble 1.8 million troops on the front line in Northeast China and North China in early June, and with the cooperation of 400,000 Soviet Far East Red Army, launch a counterattack on all fronts against the Japanese Kwantung Army and the North China Front.

For this reason, the Central Military Commission authorized the establishment of a former enemy headquarters in Zhangjiakou, with Wei Lihuang, commander-in-chief of the Northeast Theater, as commander-in-chief, Zhu Lao, commander of the North China Theater, and Xu Hu, commander of the North China Theater, as deputy commanders-in-chief, and Fu Zuoyi, deputy commander-in-chief of the North China Theater, as chief of staff, and 600,000 of the 1.2 million troops participating in the war were from the Northeast Theater, 400,000 from the North China Theater, and 600,000 from the North China Theater, with a total of 55 integrated divisions, 5 cavalry divisions, 6 armored divisions, 12 artillery divisions, 3 air defense divisions, and 4 airborne brigades. In addition, the Chinese Air Force dispatched six aviation divisions to cooperate in the operation.

Chen Feng's idea was to use half a year to liberate northern China and the Korean Peninsula, and then concentrate on dealing with the Japanese army south of the Yangtze River, and finally counterattack the Japanese mainland together with the United States and Britain.

Chen Feng's order was quickly and decisively carried out by all the officers and men, and a large number of elite soldiers were transferred to the front line, and strategic materials such as weapons, equipment, ammunition, and food were transferred to the front line one after another, and China's domestic counteroffensive was in full swing.

First of all, the Japanese side changed its prime minister, former Prime Minister Konoe Fumima was forced to resign because of the fiasco in the Battle of Midway, and after the recommendation of the base camp, Emperor Hirohito personally approved, the current Minister of War Hideki Tojo came to power to form a cabinet.

Secondly, the Japanese side also found a new commander for the Combined Fleet, and this person was the first general of Koga Mine, and before that, Koga Mine was the commander of Yokosuka Town Guard.

Yamamoto's death was confirmed on May 9, and in the evening the chief of the Naval Command Department, Nagano Shusei entered the palace to play the emperor, and the sea minister Shigetaro Shinmi Fushimi Miyahiro discussed countermeasures and the successor of the combined fleet. In order not to sway the people's hearts, Emperor Hirohito and King Fushimi Miyahiro always believed that it was necessary to have a veteran of the navy to be the commander of the combined fleet, and finally Shigetaro Shigata recommended him to be succeeded by the commander of the Yokosuka town guard, Admiral Koga Mineichi, and on May 19, Emperor Hirohito personally appointed Koga Mineichi as the commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet.

However, after Koga took over the Combined Fleet, he realized that Yamamoto Isoroku had left him not only a badly damaged Combined Fleet, but also a headquarters that was equal to nothing. Because the Yamato was hit by more than 80 heavy bombs and 7 torpedoes of the Chinese Navy at that time, and was also hit by many missiles from the missile destroyer, the Yamato sank in just half an hour, and almost all the members of the command on the ship barely escaped.

In addition to Yamamoto Isoroku, the personnel of the headquarters who were killed at the same time included Adjutant Fukusaki Nobo-Nakasa, Military Medical Chief Major General Rokuro Takada, Aviation Staff Officer Hibata Kurio Nakasa, Communications Staff Officer Imanaka Nakasa, Lieutenant General Ugaki Yu, Chief of Staff at the same time, and Major General Motoharu Kitamura, Comptroller-in-Chief. It can be said that the combined fleet not only lost its commander, but even half of the headquarters remained.

In addition, the Japanese base camp also issued an order to the Japanese troops in various places, that is, not to provoke the Allies, especially the Chinese army, for the time being, and wait for the Japanese Navy to recover.

On June 6, the former enemy headquarters sent a telegram saying that all the troops participating in the war had arrived at the predetermined positions, but all the supplies such as food and medicine were ready to attack the Japanese army at any time.

At twelve o'clock at noon on June 6, 1942, Chen Feng gave the order to attack the officers and soldiers on the front line!

According to the operational plan drawn up by the Central Military Commission, the operation was codenamed "Operation Thunder," in which the 1.8 million troops dispatched by China under the unified command of the former enemy headquarters launched an all-out attack on the Japanese army on a front stretching for thousands of miles from Harbin to Shandong. On the Soviet side, the more than 400,000 Far East Red Army troops were commanded by Lieutenant General Ivanov and attacked south from the front line of Hegang and Jiamusi, mainly targeting Tonghua and Dandong, and waiting for an opportunity to cooperate with Chen Feng's troops to seize the Korean Peninsula. (To be continued......)