In the dark night, the huge body of the "Yamato" emitted a cold glow in the moonlight.

Admiral Yamamoto was standing alone on the bridge for a long time, when he suddenly let out an indiscernible sigh and stretched out his left hand to gently caress the cold hull.

It was a mutilated left hand, with only three fingers left. Some people say that it was because he was chopped off because of his bad gambling in Las Vegas, but in fact, in the Battle of Tsushima of the Japanese and Russian Navies, the mountain itself was seriously injured, and the index finger and middle finger of his left hand were blown away, leaving him with a lifelong disability.

Since he only had eight fingers left, his colleagues nicknamed him "Eight Cents." Because at that time, geisha were charged for trimming their nails according to their fingers, one hair each, and normal people were exactly one yuan, and Yamamoto was two less. It is said that this nickname was first used by geisha at the time, because Yamamoto often went to the fireworks area, and later spread to the navy, and it became a joke for a while.

Yamamoto suddenly sniffed, frowned slightly, and said, "Is it Kuroshima-kun?" ”

When I turned around, I saw that it was the first (i.e., chief) staff officer of the Combined Fleet, the Black Island Turtle Man. I don't know what's going on in Kuroshima, I don't like to take a bath the most, the wind stinks for three miles, and I can smoke it for two and a half miles without wind, so I was discovered by Yamamoto as soon as I came over.

"Hello!" The Black Island Turtle Man bowed slightly, and asked with concern, "Your Excellency, Commander, why don't you rest early when the big battle is imminent, but stay here alone?" ”

Yamamoto replied, "Oh, it's nothing, I can't sleep and come out for a walk." ”

The Black Island Turtle Man asked tentatively, "Are you worried about tomorrow's decisive battle?" ”

Yamamoto sighed and said, "The dice has been thrown, so what else is there to worry about?" I don't know what's going on. I always had a sense of foreboding. ”

The Black Island Turtle Man was stunned for a moment, and then persuaded: "Your Excellency, Commander, you don't have to worry. With the strength of our fleet, it is far superior to the Mi army. Victory is certain, and the only thing to worry about is whether the US military will flee early. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Are you dissatisfied with the battle plan?" ”

This operation, like the "sneak attack on Pearl Harbor", was planned by the turtle people of Black Island, so he asked more.

Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head and said generously, "No, Kuroshima-kun, you did a good job. But have you ever thought that even if we win this battle, what happens next? ”

The Black Island Turtle Man looked confused. I wondered what the commander meant by asking. Isn't victory the next one after that? With the spirit of bushido and the strength of the combined fleet, who is the opponent in the world?

Yamamoto explains: "In 1919 I was sent to study at Harvard University in the United States, where I stayed for three years. ”

The Black Island Turtle Man said enviously: "Presumably, Your Excellency the Commander must have gained a lot, right?" ”

Yamamoto said softly, "It may be more accurate to use the word impact. He glanced wistfully to the west, as if reminiscing about that time. Then he continued: "When I was in Japan, I thought that women had to marry other than to marry. It's to go to Happy Street to be a geisha. ”

Both of them couldn't help but laugh. It's just that Yamamoto's laughter obviously has a bit of bitterness. He shook his head and said, "But when I arrived in the United States, I realized that all the girls there can get a university education and be able to work and be independent. I was stunned. ”

Kuroshima Kameto said thoughtfully: "In this way, it seems that the General Staff's judgment on the national strength of the United States is wrong, because because their women can also work, and the manpower is doubled out of thin air." ”

Yamamoto muttered, "Sodosne, and it's nothing. When you see the dazzling array of goods in the stores of the United States, you will know what the difference in national power is - their sugar and everything else do not need to be rationed. ”

"Later, when I was the military attaché in the United States, I had the privilege of visiting the automobile factory in Detroit and the oil fields in Texas, and since then, I have known that we will not be able to defeat the United States!"

The Black Island Turtle Man looked shocked and couldn't help but ask, "In that case, why did you personally command the general attack on the rice country?" ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six said regretfully: "I tried to dissuade it, but unfortunately it was useless. Since there is an order from my superiors, I have an unshirkable responsibility as a soldier. And there is no one in Japan who knows more about rice than me, so I think since I have to fight, let me come! And he quipped, "It seems like we're doing a pretty good job now." Isn't it, Kuroshima-kun? ”

The Black Island Turtle Man was impressed, bowed and said, "I believe that Your Excellency the Commander will definitely lead us to the final victory!" Then he cautiously asked: "Then now Your Excellency the Commander still thinks that we can't beat the United States?" ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six nodded and said, "If we keep fighting, we will definitely lose, there is no need to doubt this." Although we achieved an epic victory in the early stage, this loss is nothing for the United States. Although I have no valid information, I believe that in the docks on the shores of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, large warships are being built...... A year from now, no, maybe in a shorter time we'll be able to see them! ”

The Black Island Turtle Man suddenly thought of thousands of mighty Mi fleets and countless Mi Army planes that covered the sky and the sun, and couldn't help but ooze a cold sweat, and said with a wry smile: "Then, Your Excellency Commander means that we will definitely be defeated?" ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six said in a deep voice: "No, if the weak survive, there is always a glimmer of life!" If we can win this battle, the power of the Mi army in the Pacific will be swept away. They may have more and better warships and planes, but a counteroffensive always takes time. ”

The Black Island Turtle Man's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "I understand, the empire can take advantage of this precious time to catch up and build a more powerful navy." At that time, even if it is not the opponent of the United States, with the strong strength in hand, it can force the United States to back down, so as to withdraw from the battlefield with dignity. ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six nodded approvingly and said, "Yo Xi, so this battle is not only a question of whether the Mi Army aircraft carrier can be destroyed, but also the survival of the empire." We must not lose! ”

The Black Island Turtle Man hurriedly bowed down and said, "Please rest assured, Your Excellency Commander, your subordinates will definitely go all out!" ”

Yamamoto Fifty-six nodded in satisfaction. He added, "I have never told anyone else about this, so do not publicize it to the outside world, so as not to affect the soldiers' belief in victory." ”

"Hello!"

……

Unconsciously, the east has appeared white, and dozens of B24 bombers that took off overnight have just searched for it over and over again on the sea. Suddenly, there were abnormal fluctuations on the radar display, and the bands fluctuated, as if a tsunami had occurred.

"Oh, Shet, the damn radar is broken again!" Annoyed U.S. soldiers slapped the display desperately. Trying to get it back to "normal".

"Nope. Maybe there's something there. Inform all units to rush to the target area immediately. ”

"Yes, sir!"

The bombers quickly flew towards the radar warning area, and it didn't take long for dozens of huge white wakes to suddenly appear on the originally sapphire-like ocean surface. This is a giant ship of more than 10,000 tons.

"Oh. My God. Look! What is that? ”

"That's Japan's Combined Fleet. Oh my God, they're out on the move! ”

The observers were shocked, so they hurriedly reported: "The main forces of the Japanese Combined Fleet are approaching at full speed. The ocean is full of Japanese warships, and the Grand Fleet is ...... like never before"

As soon as the radio waves were sent back, the North Pacific Theater Command and the Eighth Fleet Command were quickly alarmed! The bases suddenly became busy, the telegraph was ticking non-stop, and the originally silent base seemed to be awakened suddenly.

Of course, most of the US officers and soldiers still don't know anything about this. Like the carrier-based pilots on the Enterprise, they slept until seven in the morning as usual, then did morning exercises, drank coffee, and waited until half past eight in the morning to go to dinner together.

The soldiers sat around the table talking and laughing, and the most discussed was wine, women, and when they would be able to take the ship back to the United States for vacation. Even if you can't go back to your home country, it's better to go to Hawaii than to float on the ocean!

"Hey, Jason, aren't you doing a good job in the Marine Corps, why did you apply to be transferred to our ship unit?"

"Don't mention it, there's a fierce battle with Japanese monkeys in the jungle over there, and the logistics are terrible."

"Really?"

"Well, we haven't had to change our underwear for three months. One day, the logistics chief finally agreed, and the fighters all excitedly threw their hats into the trees. But the director said to us, David, you and Shanda exchange! Jack, you and Peter swapped! Henry, you and Tom for it! Anderson, you and Bob ......"

"Hahahaha......" The American GIs around him laughed so hard that tears came out of their eyes, and they beat the table desperately with their arms.

However, when the cook pushed the food cart to bring the food, the smiles on everyone's faces instantly froze, and the restaurant suddenly became silent.

"Oh, Shet!" Quite a few cursed in low voices, and threw their forks aside in annoyance.

Jason couldn't help but be overjoyed to see that the plate was full of steak omelettes. Although the US military has a good life, it is rare to eat such good things on aircraft carriers, so I hurriedly poked a piece with a fork and put it in my mouth, chewing two bites before realizing that the surrounding atmosphere was a little weird.

"What's wrong? Why don't you eat it! ”

A second lieutenant pilot next to him said unhappily: "What is there to eat in the meal of a death row prisoner?" ”

Jason was startled and looked at the plate at a loss.

Another second lieutenant next to him hurriedly advised, "Jason, don't listen to his nonsense, but we might have to make a big deal!" ”

Originally, according to the tradition on the "enterprise", whenever there is a big war, this "steak omelette" must be served, which may be relatively rare, or it may be high in calories. Anyway, as soon as the veterans saw this dish, they knew that some were busy. And today's portion is so sufficient, it can be seen that it is not an ordinary busy.

At this time, the difference can be seen, some soldiers seem to want to open and start to eat heavily, while others have tears in the corners of their eyes and keep drawing crosses on their chests.

At this moment, there was a sudden clanging sound, and everyone looked over. It turned out to be a new pilot who was so nervous that he lost all his forks. Everyone couldn't help but laugh. The rookie hurriedly bent down to pick it up, but he didn't pick it up after picking it up several times. When everyone saw it, they laughed even harder.

At this moment, a large hand suddenly picked up the fork and handed it over. The man said in a deep voice, "Ensign, your fork!" He quipped, "The guy who eats has to hold it steady!" The rookie took it with a flushed face, looked up, and couldn't help but be surprised.

The US officers and soldiers in the whole cafeteria suddenly stood up and saluted: "General! ”

It was none other than the commander of the Eighth Fleet, Admiral Spruance, who came in. He saluted in return, waved his hand and said, "Hello everyone." Please continue to eat. ”

A lieutenant pilot suddenly raised his hand and said, "General, is there a big battle today?" When the crowd heard this, they quickly fell silent.

Admiral Spruance straightened his face and said in a deep voice: "Originally, this was a military secret, but I can tell you with certainty now that we are about to go to war with the Japanese monkeys, and it is an unprecedented war!" ”

When everyone heard this, they immediately whispered, and there was a buzzing sound in the restaurant. A rookie said with a sad face: "General, I heard that the Japanese are very powerful, will I die?" ”

Admiral Spruance replied, "Everyone, including me, is likely to die." But victory will be America's! ”

Glancing at everyone. And he said, "I tell you the truth, it will be a decisive battle that will go down in history!" In a few decades, your children and grandchildren will be proud of you. ”

"When your grandson asked. What did you do in that decisive battle? I don't want you to answer. Belch. I'm sorry, but I was so scared by the Japanese monkeys that I peed my pants, but I didn't do anything to help. ”

The American GIs laughed. The originally depressed mood suddenly improved a lot.

A young second lieutenant asked, "General, but how can we survive and have a family of our own?" ”

Admiral Spruance said solemnly, "First you have to destroy these beef omelettes, and then you have to kill them before they are killed by the Japanese monkeys, and there is no other way." ”

The GIs laughed insolently again.

Another second lieutenant officer asked, "Excuse me, General, how can we kill those Japanese monkeys?" ”

Admiral Spruance asked, "Ensign, what is your position?" ”

The second lieutenant snapped, stood upright, and saluted: "SBD dreadnought dive bomber second lieutenant pilot. Jones had seen the general. ”

Admiral Spruance laughed, "That's great, but I think Pooh would have answered this question more professionally." As he spoke, he flashed to the side, revealing Colonel Winnipeg, the leader of the dive bomber group standing behind him, Pooh was his nickname.

Colonel Winnipeg said with a serious face: "My suggestion is that you must drop bombs again at a very close distance from the enemy ship, and then kill with one blow!" ”

Jones nervously asked, "But Colonel, what is a very close distance?" ”

Colonel Winnipeg said in a deep voice: "When you smell the sea! ”

The pilots of the other aircraft burst into laughter, only the pilots of the dive bombers knew that this was not a joke!

……

Both sides are intensively preparing for war and mobilizing. By this time, even an ordinary cleaner in the base knew that a big war was coming.

On the surface of the North Pacific, an unprecedentedly large fleet is cleaving the waves and moving at high speed!

At the forefront was the First Air Fleet, led by Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, which had 6 aircraft carriers, 414 carrier-based aircraft, 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 12 destroyers, and 5 supply ships.

First Air Force: aircraft carriers "Akagi" and "Kaga", with 146 carrier-based aircraft;

Second Air Force: "Canglong" and "Feilong" aircraft carriers, 126 carrier-based aircraft;

The Fifth Air Force: "Xianghe" and "Zuihe" aircraft carriers, 142 carrier-based aircraft.

These are all six large and medium-sized aircraft carriers of the Japanese army. Looking at the world, it is also the only one! Behind the aircraft carrier formation were escort heavy cruiser and battleship formations: the heavy cruisers "Tone" and "Chikuma"; The battleships "Haruna" and "Hiei" provided fire support to the air attack units.

In addition, there were twelve destroyers led by the light cruiser "Abusumi" to provide alert for air attack and supply units.

Behind the Nagumo Fleet was the main force of the Combined Fleet, led by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto himself—the First Fleet, with battleships as the main axis, and the Second Fleet, with cruisers as the main axis.

First Squadron: "Yamato", "Nagato", "Mutsu" battleships

Second squadron: battleships "Musashi", "Ise", "Hyuga";

The third team: "Kongo", "Fuso", "Yamashiro" battleships;

As well as twelve heavy cruisers with wings on both sides and the 3rd Air Force, the aircraft carriers "Fengxiang" and "Ruifeng". Seaplane carriers, light cruisers, destroyers, minesweepers, submarines, supply ships, tankers and countless more. The dense ships are like a huge fish formation.

It was the largest fleet in the world at the time, and there was no one!

Their opponents were three major aircraft carrier battle groups led by the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Saratoga, consisting of three large aircraft carriers, nine battleships, eighteen heavy cruisers, and thirty-six destroyers.

Judging from the strength of surface ships, the Japanese army is indeed slightly superior, but the US military still has land-based bombers and fighters to mobilize, and it is not yet known who will win and who will lose!

In the intense preparation and mobilization of both sides, the battle finally began. On the orders of the commander-in-chief of the North Pacific Theater of Operations, Admiral Arnold, the first wave of bomber groups of the 17th Air Force of the Army has already taken off from the airfields of Kamchatka and Aleutian.

A full 96 B24 "Liberator" bombers! They were escorted by more than a hundred P38 Lightning-powered fighters. The huge group of aircraft quickly pounced on the Japanese Combined Fleet.

At the same time, the Japanese Combined Fleet also received a telegram from Vice Admiral Shushiro Hososumi, and quickly dispatched a huge fleet of aircraft to pounce on the "Enterprise" and other aircraft carrier formations!

Yesterday, when the "Enterprise" and other three major aircraft carrier squadrons arrived in the waters near "Holland Harbor," it was already more than 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and because it was getting late, the US forces did not go all out to attack the "Aleutian strike formation" led by Vice Admiral Hosoxuan Shuzilang. On the one hand, the US military did not pay attention to the "Aleutian strike formation," which had only two light aircraft carriers, and on the other hand, it was also worried that the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet would retreat without a fight.

But what the U.S. military didn't expect was that it was this unappreciated "Aleutian strike formation" that made them suffer a lot, and almost made the Japanese army turn over!

The cunning Vice Admiral Hososumi used a seaplane to find the location of the U.S. fleet, but at this time the Japanese Combined Fleet was still outside the effective attack range, and the carrier-based aircraft could not return after the attack.

Former staff officer Kuroshima Kameto put forward a very interesting suggestion, that is, let the Combined Fleet immediately dispatch carrier-based aircraft to attack the US aircraft carriers, and after the attack was over, the carrier-based planes on the "Longxiang" and "Hayabusa" aircraft carriers quickly took off to take over the attack, and at the same time made room for the carrier-based planes of the Combined Fleet to land.

After these two waves of strikes, the main force of the combined fleet will be in an effective attack position, and then it will be possible to concentrate its forces for a general attack! It's like a hat-trick, with effective and precise adjustments to achieve three hats with two hands! Yamamoto was quick to approve the plan.

Not long after the Japanese planes took off, the US military fleet also came to the door!

Thundered...... The huge fleet let out a terrible roar. Because there were so many planes, even the Japanese army's garbage radar reacted strongly, and the radio waves on the display screen scurried up and down like cramps.

"36 degrees north-west, the enemy aircraft group is approaching!"

"The number cannot be determined, at least more than a hundred!"

"The 1st, 2nd, and 5th squadrons of fighters quickly got up to intercept!"

"All fleets are ready to form a ring of defense, members of the anti-aircraft artillery squad please enter the formation immediately!"

"Quick, ammunition hand ready!"

Whew...... The Japanese troops on the ships were desperately busy. The sky in the distance suddenly darkened, and the dense bombers obscured half of the sky, and the first wave of attacks by the US military finally came! (To be continued......)