Chapter 208: Solomon Checkers (19)

Through the layers of barrage, blooming fireballs, pulling diagonally across the end of the black smoke of the blue sky, spinning and throwing debris of the body to fall into the blue sea, and the snow-white waves scattering marbles, can it represent the life destined to disappear in the unpredictable future?

Of the 68 planes of the first attack wave of the British-US "Tucano" joint air force that took off from Kirakira at 8:30 a.m., 66 of them successfully flew over the mobile units of the East Asian Army to launch an attack, including 20 Royal Aircraft Factory fighters, 29 Thorpweiss "Dujuan" 3 torpedo attack planes, and 17 Handley Peti/400 and Martin B-1A bombers. ()

On that day, the sky was unusually clear, and a huge group of planes was discovered at a distance of 30,000 yards, and was first intercepted by a total of 12 fighters of the second and third groups of the mobile unit, and then the air raid team was divided into two: the torpedo squadron entered a low altitude under the cover of the fighter squadron and waited for an opportunity to detour to the starboard side of the fleet to launch a torpedo attack, while the horizontal bomber squadron climbed to a high altitude alone in an attempt to follow the fleet's track to carry out carpet bombardment.

At the same time that the duty unit met the attacking aircraft group as soon as possible, the 16 fighters scheduled to serve as the third attack wave escort (the first special duty team of the Jinpeng took off urgently, and carried out the second round of interception of the enemy lightning strike team entering at low altitude outside the fleet's weaving anti-aircraft fire network.

Under the all-out interception of a total of 28 "Haiyundian" and "Haizhendian" fighters on the ship, the lightning strike team of the first attack wave of Kirakira had already lost more than half of its anti-aircraft fire network before it entered the air defense fire network of the Chinese special task force.

When the air raid was launched, the East Asian Army's mobile units and main forces had just merged into the "Solomon Task Force" and were in the process of reorganizing their formations, and the organization of the air defense fire network had not yet taken shape, and the ships belonging to the Korean and Japanese navies in the main force lacked experience and coordination in air combat, and in addition to the interference of the enemy's horizontal bomber flotilla of bomb dropping intensively, although the clumsy winged "cuckoos" in the barrage fell one after another like flying insects in the air, in the end, six or seven enemy planes were able to approach the core of the formation and drop mines.

Under the left dodge and right dodge, located on the right side of the core of the formation, the starboard side of the "Jinpeng," which is large and conspicuous, was hit by two mines in the two aircraft carriers, and the first boiler room was flooded, and it immediately lost a quarter of its power, and the hull of the ship was once tilted to the right of the city by nearly 10 degrees, although the balance was restored after timely filling the port side oil tank and ammunition depot with water, the "Jinpeng," which had a design speed of 28 knots, could barely maintain a formation speed of 20 knots no matter how much it drove at full power at this time.

The remnants of the first attack wave had not yet completely withdrawn from the battlefield, and the reorganization of the Solomon Task Force of the East Asian Army had not yet been completed, when the first wave of the Anglo-American Combined Fleet's air strike group suddenly appeared, and two fighters and one torpedo plane of the 60 planes at the time of departure returned home ahead of schedule, and a total of 57 planes approached the target at this time: including 28 Thorpside "Camel" and US Navy Aircraft Factory T-1 carrier-based fighters, and 29 Thorpway "Cuckoo" 3 carrier-based attack planes.

In the battle to intercept the first attack wave of Kirakira, 5 of the 28 Chinese fighters on duty who were on duty for air supremacy fell into the sea, and at this time 23 were hovering over the Solomon Task Force, but due to the fierce battle from the clouds to the sea before, most of them were still in a low-altitude position that was not conducive to intercepting enemy planes, and it took a certain amount of time to reach the best interception position, and as a result, a considerable number of fighters failed to launch an attack before the enemy planes broke through into the air supremacy.

Outside the air supremacy, the British and American escort fighters, which had a slight numerical superiority, successfully dragged most of the Chinese fighters on duty who arrived in time to intercept them, and most of the torpedo planes were able to continue to advance towards the fleet unscathed.

It was not until it approached the fleet's own anti-aircraft fire circle that the torpedo group was hit by the scattered head-on volleys of the small number of Chinese soldiers on duty who had been late for the time, and although the fragile "cuckoos" were constantly ignited and shattered by the "electricity" that fell from the sky, under the desperate counterattack of the machine gunners in the rear seat of each plane, nearly half of the torpedo planes were able to break through the increasingly dense anti-aircraft fire network of the task force.

Amid the layers of airburst smoke and the trailing bullet marks that swept through the air, some US pilots who could not bear the horror threw mines and broke away before they approached the target, and most of the brave ones who continued to advance could only be torn apart by shrapnel, surrounded by fire, and drowned in seawater......

Only the most courageous and at the same time the most fortunate five or six pilots were able to rush into the core of the fleet and throw mines, and at the end of several snow-white tracks that fanned out, two 18-inch (457 mm) torpedoes hit the starboard rear of the "Jinpeng" one after another, and the column of water burst into the sky, which immediately caused the first engine room to be flooded, and the hull of the ship once again tilted sharply to the right, and after the emergency filling of the second boiler room on the port side, the tilt could only be controlled at 15 degrees.

At this point, the "Jinpeng" lost three-quarters of its power, its speed plummeted to less than 10 knots, and the inclined flight deck made it impossible for the carrier-based aircraft to take off and land normally, and at the same time, the anti-aircraft guns on both sides of the board had a large firing blind spot.

In the fierce battle, the guard aircraft group lost another group of three remaining "Haizhendian" planes of the second group of duty guards, and because the fuel bombs ran out, they were forced to land the "Saker" before the enemy planes could get away, and by 10:45 a.m., there were only 13 guard fighters left over the task force.

At this moment, on the way to attack the No. 1 target (that is, the enemy's second attack wave returned one after another, and had to land the "Saker", the 15 shipboard fighters of the escort group landed first (24 at the time of departure), and then the 10 shipboard attack planes of the lightning strike team also successfully hung up the blocking line (30 at the time of departure).

At 10:55 a.m., the other five seriously injured "Golden Eagle" ships of the lightning strike team staggered to appear on the southern sea antenna, and almost at the same time, the observation post of the "Saker" discovered that they were followed closely by a dense large group of as many as 60 planes

This was precisely the second wave of the "toucano" air force of Kirakira, and among the 63 planes at the time of departure, one torpedo plane and one horizontal bomber each returned ahead of schedule, and the air attack group that appeared over the East Asian military task force at this time still had 22 fighters, 26 torpedo planes, and 13 horizontal bombers, totaling 61 planes.

At the last moment, the five wounded "Golden Eagles," which were no longer able to escape the pursuit and killing of enemy fighters, had to make an emergency landing on the sea, and eight of the 10 crew members were rescued in time.

At this time, although the task force had already completed the formation formation, because of the drag of the lame "Jinpeng", the speed of the entire formation was not as fast as that of the merchant fleet, and in the face of the high and low attacks of the enemy's torpedo fleet and horizontal bomber fleet, it was not much better than a live target.

The 13 guard planes left in the air had already consumed most of their ammunition in the first two fierce battles, and it was already difficult to deal with the enemy's more than 20 escort fighters that did not fire a single shot.

Solomon, is this the end?

Pan Guochen did not despair, in fact, no one on the Jinpeng despaired, but everyone had to face reality.

The three pilots of the second group of duty units (formerly the "Jinpeng") who had just landed on the "Saker" 10 minutes ago did not have time to catch their breath, so they hurriedly boarded the fourth group of duty guards provided by the "Saker" and took off to meet them.

Six pilots of the second attack wave escort fighter squadron, which landed later, forcibly took off despite the fact that the fighters were running out of fuel.

Even with the addition of these nine fighters, the group of guards was unable to intercept most of the enemy aircraft outside the fleet's anti-aircraft fire circle.

More than half of the "Cuckoo" 3 were able to break into the fleet fire, and only five or six of them were able to throw 18-inch torpedoes under the belly before losing control.

Two columns of water that instantly rushed to the top of the warship's mast bloomed almost simultaneously: a lightning strike hit the starboard rear of the "Jinpeng", causing its third boiler room to be flooded and tilted aggravated; A thunderbolt hit the battleship "Yi Sunsin" of the DPRK Navy, which was located in the right rear of the Jinpeng, and due to the untimely operation of the damage control department, the damage was completely controlled after 1,000 tons of water entered the starboard side of the ship, and nearly 1,000 tons of water was injected into the port side.

Seeing that the fifth torpedo hit the starboard side and exploded, Colonel Yang Jingxiu, the captain of the "Jinpeng," immediately ordered all the crew to go to the port side for "manpower balancing." In desperation, he had to order the second engine room on the port side to be filled with water, at the cost of immediately losing all power, to avoid the rapid capsizing of the hull and in exchange for the crew's time to escape.

Just before the "Jinpeng" was about to become a live target, the 12 twin-engine bombers of the second strike wave of the "Tucano" air force entered from the rear of the fleet in a dense formation and aimed at the two aircraft carriers at the core of the fleet at an altitude of 1,500 meters -- at this time, they could only slowly "squirm" at a speed of less than 10 kilometers per hour, and dropped nearly 100 250-pound (113 kg) bombs in two minutes: one of them hit the front of the flight deck of the "Saker", penetrated the wooden deck, and exploded between the anchor chain compartment and the forward hangar. As a result, about 40 meters at the front of the flight deck was unusable, and in the second attack wave homing group that was lined up at the front of the flight deck waiting to be put into the hangar, 4 ships were thrown into the sea, 3 ships were killed and 1 ship attack was scrapped, 15 people were killed and 27 people were wounded.

In addition, a number of bombs exploded underwater near the hulls of the "Saker" and "Jinpeng," creating the so-called "near-miss bombs." The bow of the "Saker" seeped slightly, and the "Jinpeng," which quickly tilted to more than 20 degrees, did not care to make matters worse, and soon lay on the surface of the water like a dead fish and let people whip its corpse.

At 11:07, the destroyer "Wenyang" ventured to the starboard side of the "Jinpeng" and prepared to transfer the headquarters of the mobile force.

Before leaving the bridge, Dongfang Gao's last sentence to Pan Guochen was: "It's not over yet." ”

Pan Guochen did not intend to blame anyone, he was not a commander, and he had no right to interfere with the command, and Dongfang Gao's choice was not inappropriate from the perspective of experience, common sense, and the consistent combat spirit of the Imperial Navy.

Dongfang Gao is right, it's not over yet, this is just the beginning.

As soon as the Eastern Commander left, Captain Yang Jingxiu ordered someone to find a rope so that he could be tied to the compass post, apparently intending to live and die with the ship.

Pan Guochen understood his feelings, took out a pistol, smashed him with the butt of a gun, and ordered someone to drag him away.

Sandwiched by the flow of people to the lowest level of the ship's island, Pan Guochen did not immediately go to the deck, but plunged into the tortuous hull of the ship, looking for the female pilot who made him worry for no reason and no limit in the crooked aisle with flashing green emergency lights.

Solomon, it's over.

Solomon, there begins.

Whether it is the end or the beginning, whether it is accidental or destined, whether it is bad luck or opportunity, no matter ...... Anyway, at this moment, Pan Guochen didn't want to care about anything but her.

The hatch of the rescue room was open, the bloodstained operating table was empty, and a doctor who was taking off his surgical gown saw Pan Guochen standing in front of the cabin door, and tilted his head knowingly: "There is no one here, the wounded are transferred first, and the Captain Cai, who has just finished the operation, has been carried to the deck." ”

Pan Guochen held on to the sloping wall, froze for a few seconds, suddenly lowered his head and smiled, thanked him, and walked back crookedly.

The corridors, the gangways, the green light flickering in the darkness, Pan Guochen knew that he was enchanted, but - so what?

No matter what obstacles you encounter, as long as you know your own direction and keep moving forward, even if you may be tripped, this trip may not be a necessary condition for the next leap - I rub, what is this, where are you going to fly, you kid want to fly together, just say it, so a serious and righteous awe-inspiring person who is not afraid of thunder and thunder?

Pan Guochen smirked and turned the last corner, and his pupils were suddenly overflowing with the shining sunlight of the South Pacific Ocean at noon outside the porthole...... Solomon, I'll be back

One thousand two hundred kilometers away, New Britain, Rabaul, South-Eastern Front Theater Command.

“…… I don't know where the self-confidence of your navy comes from, and what front-line commanders have the right to freely weigh and judge for themselves, I think they are playing the piano indiscriminately, and if they find that the situation is not right, they should immediately retreat...... Thanks to you, the Southeast Theater raised by my second mother has another retreat parade in front of the enemy. ”

In the face of the cynicism of Marshal Zhang Yiye, the commander of the theater of operations, Rear Admiral Ye Fei, chief of staff of the Combined Fleet, turned red and white for a while, but his mouth was still stubborn: "It's not over yet, we still have the Saker and six elite capital ships, after these three rounds of air raids, the opponent's air attack force should be almost consumed." The task force would now retreat to the north of Malaita Island to support the landing ship regiment nearby, and the operation could continue, and there was no need to retreat. ”

"The previous judgment of the enemy's situation has been completely wrong, and now you still want me to believe that the opponent's strength is only as much as we know for the time being?"

Zhang Yiye deliberately lengthened the tone of the word "temporary", and its meaning is self-evident.

Ye Fei clenched his fists, his cheeks flushed: "It can't be more than now, please trust the judgment of the navy, the opportunity must not be lost and will not come again, as long as the army is on board and stand firm, the navy will mobilize all its strength to come to reinforcements - I assure you on behalf of the commander of the combined fleet." ”

Zhang Yiye sneered: "What's the use of guaranteeing?" The guarantee of the base camp can fart I don't want your guarantee, as long as I don't get any stabbed here, and I won't be pointed out by thousands of people, I will be content. Chief of Staff Ye, just ask me to you, go to other war zones to play, I was wrong, I have a small temple here, and I can't afford to support the great bodhisattva of your navy. ”

Ye Fei was choked enough, he couldn't hold back his words for a while, and was about to go to get the cold tea on the table to moisten his throat, when there was a light knock on the door twice, Zhang Yiye answered, and a young staff officer pushed the door in: "Report, call from the base camp——"

……

In the afternoon, 40 nautical miles north-northeast of Kirakira, the flagship of the Allied Task Force 51, the British Royal Navy fleet aircraft carrier "Glory".

On the bridge, through the rectangular portholes with thick glass, Major Fletcher looked up into the distance, and 10,000 yards away, the shadows of the "standard battleships" of Task Force 52 stood majestically.

Fletcher pinched his fingers and counted from one to eight, blinked, and counted again, before he breathed a sigh of relief, bowed his head in his notebook and continued to write the assessment report that was about to be submitted to Lieutenant General Schroeder.

“…… Among the 18 fighters of the USS Glory escort: 1 returned to the ship ahead of schedule; 1 aircraft was forced to land in the sea near the fleet, and the pilot was rescued; After the battle, 5 ships were successfully returned, all of which were wounded and awaiting repair. ”

"Among the 15 attack aircraft of the Thunderstrike Team: 1 aircraft made a forced landing on the sea near the fleet, and the pilot was rescued; After the battle, 3 ships were successfully returned, all of which were wounded and awaiting repair. ”

"By 12:30, including spare aircraft, the actual strength of the Glory is: 31 fighters, of which 6 are to be repaired, and 26 crews are available; 17 attack aircraft, of which 3 are pending repair, 14 usable crews. ”

"Of the 12 fighters of the Panama convoy: 1 returned early and returned to the ship; After the battle, 4 ships were successfully returned, all of which were wounded and awaiting repair. ”

"Of the 15 torpedo planes of the Thunderstrike Team, 1 made a forced landing in the sea near the fleet, and the pilot was rescued; After the battle, 1 ship was successfully returned and was wounded and awaiting repair. ”

"By 12:30, including spare aircraft, the actual strength of the Panama was: 19 fighters, of which 4 were to be repaired, and 16 usable crews; 6 attack aircraft, of which 1 is pending repair, 5 usable crews. ”

“…… From this point of view, the carrier-based aviation unit of Task Force 51 dealt a fatal blow to the enemy, but also suffered heavy losses of its own. Only 15 of the 60 planes of the first wave of the air strike group survived, and most of them were wounded and were awaiting repair, and although it is still possible for the remaining planes and crews to form a second wave of air raid groups, the combat effectiveness will be far inferior to that of the first attack wave, and the losses may be even greater. ”

"According to the 11:45 a.m. aerial reconnaissance report forwarded by Kira Kira, the reorganized enemy task force is located at an azimuth of 5 degrees and 120 nautical miles at Kira Kira, with one fleet aircraft carrier, six battleships, and battle cruisers as the core, and is heading north at a speed of 23 knots -- at 12:45 a.m. the current time, the distance between it and the fleet has been stretched to 100 nautical miles."

"The maximum speed of the battleship formation of Task Force 52 is only 20 knots, and the speed of the Tennessee drops to 17 knots after being injured, and whether or not the Tennessee is abandoned, it is absolutely impossible for the battleship group of Task Force 52 to catch up with the enemy task force."

"The two quasi-fleet aircraft carriers attached to the 52 Task Force were not equipped with a special carrier-based aircraft unit, and the shore-based fighters on board could only land at land airfields after taking off, not to mention that in the air raid that began at 9:10, the Pearl Harbor was damaged and sank, and the Manila was damaged and lost its self-propelling ability -- this means that once the pursuing force is out of the protective circle of the Kirakira shore-based fighters, it can only rely entirely on the carrier-based aircraft units on the Glory and Panama that have already suffered heavy losses to protect them."

"Considering that the waters near Kirakira are already within the strike range of the enemy's shore-based air base on New Georgia Island, it is bound to take considerable risks if the 51st Task Force, which has a weak escort force, continues to pursue."

“…… To sum up, the results that can be expanded by continuing the pursuit of the enemy's task force are expected to be very limited, and the risks to be borne are too great to be predictable...... If our army satisfies the existing results, it will be enough to achieve the goal of defending the island of San Cristobal, but if we continue to carry out the 'sentinel' operation of landing on the island of Kuah, the existing forces will no longer be able to meet the needs of the mission......"

The whistle sounded, and outside the window, Vice Admiral Schroeder's flagship "Tennessee" was slowly approaching the "Glory", and Fletcher knew that time was running out, and he had to hurry up with the final conclusion.

"From this, I suggest ......"

……

San Cristobal Island, Kiraquira Air Base, Toucan Combined Air Force Command.

"This is not a fight...... This is suicide. ”

Faced with the report of losses just counted, Lieutenant Colonel MacArthur, who had experienced such a large-scale naval and air battle for the first time, was speechless.

At 11 o'clock the first attack wave.

Of the 17 twin-engine bombers in the horizontal bomber fleet at the time of departure: 13 returned to the sky over the base, one of which crashed on landing; Of the 12 bombers that successfully landed, 4 were wounded and awaiting repair; Only eight units remained that were able to continue their missions that day.

Among the 30 torpedo attack planes of the lightning strike team, 1 returned early due to mechanical failure; Of the 29 aircraft that carried out the attack, only 4 returned to the sky above the base, and one of them crashed into a tree while landing; All 3 aircraft that successfully landed were injured and are awaiting repair; There were only 3 units left that day.

Of the 21 fighters in the escort team, 1 returned ahead of schedule; After the battle, only 5 returned to the sky over the base, and 1 of them crashed on the runway when landing; 2 of the 4 aircraft that landed safely were injured and are awaiting repair; Only five fighter pilots remained.

The second attack wave has returned to the sky over Kirakira one after another, and the loss rate is still shocking-

Of the 14 twin-engine bombers in the horizontal bomber fleet: 1 returned home early; Of the 9 planes that landed successfully after the bombing, 3 were seriously injured and were in need of repair; 10 units available on the same day.

Of the 27 lightning strikers: 1 returned halfway; Only 4 aircraft successfully returned to the base after the attack, and 3 of them were wounded and were in need of repair; Only 5 units remained in service that day.

Among the 22 fighters of the escort team: 7 returned to the sky above the base, and 1 of them rushed off the runway and burned down when landing; 3 of the 6 aircraft that successfully landed are waiting for repair; Only 6 fighter pilots remained at service.

In addition, the first batch of 12 planes on duty of the two quasi-fleet aircraft carriers "Pearl Harbor" and "Manila" of the 52 Task Force took off in batches and landed in Kila Kira without a fight, but at 9:30 a.m. the Chinese Army's shore-based air force at Munda Airport was blown up three planes and one was shot down.

By 9:45 a.m., the 23 fighters that had survived the fierce air battle defending the 52nd Task Force had landed at Kila airfields one after another, of which only 14 belonged to the second and third groups of fighters on duty who had taken off from the Pearl Harbor and Manila, and the other eight belonged to the former "Tucano" air force and were assigned to the first group of fighters on duty.

As of 1 p.m., the number of confirmed forces of the Toucan Air Force based on San Cristobal Island is as follows:

51 fighters, of which 15 are under repair; 60 fighter pilots who were able to carry out normal missions (including the surviving pilots whose aircraft were blown up on the ground during a total of 3 waves of air raids that day and the day before).

11 single-engine torpedo attack aircraft, of which 9 are under repair; There are 19 units available.

24 twin-engine bombers, of which 9 are under repair; There are 29 units available.

13 four-engine heavy bombers, of which 1 is awaiting repair; 14 units are available.

……

"The enemy is retreating, and we are crippled."

Seeing MacArthur's expression, Major General Westland shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it...... Hopefully they won't be back right away. ”

Mitchell scratched his head and sighed.

Westland let out a sigh of relief, as if helpless.

"Now it's just fate...... Have some whiskey...... Celebrate? ”

…… U