But at that time Leslie didn't think so much, he only had the enemy's aircraft carrier in his eyes:

"It's a large aircraft carrier, the entire deck painted dark red, with a lift in the front section, and a smaller superstructure, located on the starboard side near the stern third. On the starboard side there is a row of vertical chimneys on the inside of the superstructure. Except for the row of vertical chimneys, this is quite like the Kaga. I recently saw a model of the Kaga, whose chimney is encased in a shell that protrudes horizontally from the right side, behind the superstructure. ”

In fact, if you put the line diagram of the Kaga and the Soryu together, you can understand what Leslie is referring to. Neither aircraft carrier has a single row of vertical chimneys, but the Soryu's line map has two separate chimneys, close to the superstructure, perhaps this is the so-called "close proximity". The two chimneys protrude horizontally and then bend downward. The chimney of the Kaga has an outer shell, and it is quite far from the superstructure.

Leslie also saw that the superstructure of the aircraft carrier to the west was on the left, so he assumed that it was the Akagi. However, we know that it is actually the Wyvern, and they are busy dodging the torpedo attacks of the VT-3 and Ro-2.

Leslie originally thought Wallace. Captain Short's VS-5 Squadron was also nearby, so Short was told to attack the "Red Sincerity to the West". After the battle, he learned that the VS-5 had not entered the battle at all.

At this time, Leslie's operator told him, "The target is flying a fighter!" ”

It was clear that this was the unit that had done the decisive blow under Yamaguchi's orders, which made Leslie a little anxious, and he thought that these take-off Zeros must be coming at his squadron. So once again call VT-3 squadron and VF-3 squadron. On the one hand, he hopes that VT-3 will cooperate with him to flank his opponent. On the other hand, it is also hoped that the VF-3 squadron will come to escort the battle as soon as possible.

But no matter what Leslie shouted over the radio. The two squadrons above were unresponsive, and then he realized that the offensive plan he had made before the battle could only be used to wipe his ass. Now everything can only be relied on by his squadron.

Soon Leslie's squadron was divided into three ways to flank the opponent, but the American pilots were still too inexperienced, and the coordination could hardly be said to be perfect.

Holmberg, who later took over the command, recalled: "The squadron leader led us in a dive, and since there were no bombs, he could only strafe the enemy bridge with machine guns...... Damn, his luck was really bad, that damn machine gun stuck again. So the squadron leader could only withdraw from the battle in hatred and flee to the southeast......"

After Leslie withdrew from the battle, the bombing mission actually fell honorably on Holmberg's shoulders. He was flying roughly towards the stern of the enemy ship, and soon he could see the large red circle on the deck of the enemy ship from the bomb sight. He dived for a long time, until he was only 70 meters high before pulling upward.

At that time, the guns of the Canglong were firing in unison, and tongues of fire were constantly stirring up at him, and Holmberg later recalled that he should have been hit by shrapnel, but at that time he was not so bent on dropping bombs on enemy ships.

It should be said that Holmberg's dives and bomb throws are flawless, but he always feels that something is wrong, even when he pulls it up and witnesses the explosion and flames of the target. It looks so "colorful".

When he learned that Ro-2 had also launched a torpedo attack a few minutes earlier, it dawned on him: "I'll just say something is wrong." The enemy is too sluggish to react, and the deck has already begun to tilt! ”

Yes, at the same time that the Soryu released the last carrier-based aircraft, the Ro-2 had already entered the attack route, and there were a total of 18 Ro-2s attacking the Soryu at that time, and eighteen torpedoes shrouded the Soryu like a big net. Despite its best efforts to dodge and dodge most of the torpedoes, the Soryu was still hit in the middle and rear parts of the hull.

The aerial torpedo tore a 10-meter-square hole below the Soryu's waterline, and seawater poured into it, causing a boiler room on the Soryu to be flooded and a spindle damaged. In addition, although another torpedo failed to hit the Soryu, it was detonated by the Soryu's wake, and the violent explosion caused damage to the Soryu's steering gear, making it very difficult to steer.

As a direct consequence of these two torpedoes, the Soryu's mobility was greatly impaired, and it was no longer able to flexibly dodge "bullets." This is simply wonderful for American dive-bombing pilots who are not very experienced. The Canglong, who couldn't dodge, was suddenly shot one after another.

"We hit at least five bombs and three almost hit," Shamway said. ”

Of course, this must be an exaggeration, but no one cares about this, for the Americans, the Soryu is finished, and the Soryu is finished faster than the Akagi and Kaga, because the three bombs that hit the ship lined up along the port side, penetrated the deck and ignited the bomb magazine, torpedo tank and oil depot with a violent explosion.

Of course, there are different theories about where the Canglong was hit. But Holmberg believes his bomb hit between two lifts in the middle section. The captain of the Soryu, Nao Ohara, agrees with this statement. As for the other two, the second one penetrated the deck near the forward elevator and exploded on the hangar deck, and the third one exploded either a little in front of the No. 3 elevator or in the 97 Ship Attack and 99 Ship Explosion that were refueled and loaded with ammunition waiting to take off.

In short, Nagumo Tadaichi said this: "The fire suddenly enveloped the entire aircraft carrier. The fire was blazing and crackling. ”

At this time, the captain of the ship, Yanagimoto Yanagisaku, stood on the signal stand on the right side of the bridge and gave orders loudly in an attempt to extinguish the fire. But apparently no one could survive on the Dragon, the deck was as hot as a soldering iron, the hangar door was curled up by the fire, the living fled to the deck, and the windlass deck became a makeshift hospital, and the doctors and health soldiers were busy like robots - they braved the choking smoke to give painkillers to the seriously injured, and there was still a glimmer of hope in rescuing the first, and they could only turn a blind eye to the poor worms that were already burning like Uncle Black.

At that time, a large number of sailors gathered on the foredeck of the Soryu, as well as several officers, including Ohara Nashakasa. Suddenly, a huge fireball burst out from below deck. This was followed by a loud bang. The shock wave and air wave shook everyone, including Nao Ohara, to death on the spot or blown into the sea.

From the first time the Soryu was hit by a mine to Captain Yanamoto ordered to abandon ship. It took less than fifteen minutes. The fire pipeline of the Canglong, where the main engine was stopped and the steering wheel was completely stuck, was completely destroyed. The flames advanced rapidly, turning the beautiful Canglong into a huge sea crematorium in just a few minutes. Except for a few lucky ones who were rescued by the Hamakaze and Iso, most of the crew were burned to charcoal.

In the process of abandoning the ship, someone noticed that Yanagimoto was not there, and when he looked up, he found that the captain was still standing on the signal stand and shouting "Hurray!" ”。 When the crew saw that he intended to sink with the ship, they were all shocked. I have to say that this Yanagi himself is very popular, in the words of the devil: "The most respected captain in the Great Japanese Navy." The officers and crew unanimously decided that they must rescue Yanagi regardless of his intentions. So they elected the Navy Sumo Champion Guncho Hobe to rescue the captain. I believe that with his arm strength, he will be able to succeed.

Abe Jun Cao climbed the signal platform with all his strength and saluted the captain first: "Captain, I am entrusted by all your subordinates to move you to a safe place. We are all waiting for you, sir, please come with me to the destroyer. ”

Yanagi stared into the distance as if he hadn't heard anything. Abe had no choice but to stubbornly walk over to him and try to pick him up with his sumo wrestler's means. At this time, Yanagi slowly turned around and stared at Abe without saying a word, making the latter unable to move. In desperation. Abe could only salute Yagyu again and then turn to leave......

Almost at the same moment. Elder and Second Lieutenant Kuna saw that their comrades had already taken care of the Soryu, so they were not interested in adding another fire to the crematorium. They selected a "light cruiser that was approaching an enemy aircraft carrier that was on fire and trying to rescue the overboard crew." Well, it can only be said that there was something really wrong with the eyes of the Americans, because the two ensigns were actually attacking destroyers.

However, the Americans' use of destroyers as cruisers is neither unprecedented nor unprecedented, anyway, as long as they can destroy the devils. It's just that the hands of the two lieutenants were relatively damp, and one bomb landed in the sea behind the stern of the Isokaze, and the other missed the target.

In addition to these two, Wiseman and Second Lieutenant Barrett found a larger target, the battleship, and they said that "one bomb hit the stern of the enemy ship, and the other missed." "The problem is that, according to Japanese records after the incident, no battleship was shot at that time.

In just three minutes, Leslie's young man did what the torpedo machine did not complete in three hours, of course, this does not mean that the dive bomber is more effective than the torpedo machine, it should be said that Leslie appeared in the right place at the right time. When the Zero was diverted by the previous batches of torpedo planes and dive bombers, the pressure on Leslie was not great, and they could calmly launch attacks on enemy ships, and the effect was naturally better.

And Leslie's dive bomber didn't get out of the way, and when Holmberg returned home, he suddenly found himself covered in oil, including the dashboard and the entire cockpit, so he asked Lapland in the back seat what the hell was going on.

Laprant's answer: "Look at the scale on the dashboard, if everything is fine, it's a hydraulic failure!" ”

Lapland's answer was correct, and Holmberg could only slow down quickly, and he stumbled over the Yorktown, but at this time the Yorktown was under attack, and he could not land, so he could only force the sea near the Astoria.

The pilots of the Enterprise were unlucky, losing a total of 14 dive bombers, partly because they ran out of fuel and had to make a forced landing at sea. McCluskey was chased by two Zeros, but the machine gunner in the back seat was strong enough to shoot down one of them, and the other retreated. However, when McCluskey returned to the intended "O-point", he found that the fleet that was supposed to be there was not a single one in sight. Shocked, McCluskey hurried over the radio to ask where the new "O-point" was.

When he refound his fleet, there were only five gallons of gasoline left in the tank, and to make matters worse, the Japanese fighters were attacking, and it stands to reason that McCluskey would not have been able to land, but this one was also awesome, ignoring the Enterprise's signal to let him fly away, and landed on the Enterprise with a squat, and at this time he didn't have enough fuel in the tank to wash a sock.

Gallaher's second team leader, Clarence. Captain Deakin returned home with joy after a fight, and he was very satisfied with his victory. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was one of the pilots who took off from the Enterprise in the morning. It happened to encounter the Japanese planes that came to attack. Then he was beaten by Zero and had to parachute on Oahu. He had been looking forward to this opportunity to be humiliated, and one of the bombs that hit the Kaga was dropped by him.

On the way back, Deakin kept walking the S-shape to avoid the enemy ship's anti-aircraft fire, when tracer bullets almost grazed the nose of his plane, and he opened the throttle to the maximum, but felt the plane slower and slower, as if it was stuck in a cloud of glue. It stands to reason that his SBD wouldn't be so slow. The reading meter showed a speed of less than 180 km/h. After thinking about it for a long time, he realized that when he closed the airbrake after the end of the dive, he had put the landing gear down by mistake, and Deakin, who was in a cold sweat, quickly corrected the mistake. Because of this small mistake, Deakin did not make the final flight home, and had to make a forced landing on the sea, but he was lucky enough to be rescued by the destroyer Phelps.

The story of Second Lieutenant Ramsay is even more legendary, who, like Deakin, was forced to land at sea and drifted for six days before being rescued by a PBY when Ramsay thanked the pilot. only to find out that the other party turned out to be his best friend Barne when he was in high school in Biloxi, Mississippi, and they never met again after graduating from high school. Who would have thought that they would be reunited here again.

On the other side, on the way back to the Enterprise, Best found that there was another aircraft carrier in the east surrounded by a swarm of torpedo planes, and the "white lines" on the sea could be faintly seen. It was supposed that the Ro-2 was attacking the Wyvern, and Best silently blessed the Russian friends, hoping that they would achieve a good result, and then returned home. However, Best did not know that this would be his last combat flight, and soon after landing, he began to cough up blood, only to find out later that it was his latent tuberculosis attack.

Let's talk about another miracle, in the VS-6 squadron, when Ensign Pittman dived and dropped the bomb, the twin 7.62mm machine gun in the back seat suddenly fell off, and the 175-pound guy was heavily pressed into the arms of Private Edkins, and just as Ensign Pittman changed his dive, "a Messerschmidt-type fighter (according to the ensign himself)" began to attack him. Under normal circumstances, the skinny Adkins would not have been able to put the big 175-pound dick back and fight back immediately, but in this critical moment, he did it.

The skinny Edkins developed a "superhuman force", he pressed the bulky machine gun against the fuselage, then pulled the trigger and fired back, actually shooting down the "Messerschmidt"!

Upon returning to the Enterprise, Edkins was asked to pick up the machine gun on the deck again, but Edkins couldn't even pull it up with all his strength.

As Adkins flexed his powers, Nagumo Tadaichi rode aboard the lifeboat as he jolted across the sea, his gray flat head raised and stared intently at the fleet he had once considered proud, but the explosions and fireworks quickly made him hang his head again. Minoru Genda thought that the wrinkles on Lieutenant General Nagumo's face had deepened, and he seemed to be praying for those who died.

Mitsuo Fuchida also stood up and looked back at the burning aircraft carrier, speechless for a long time. Makkishima, a reporter accompanying the army, felt sorry for him: "He was the best flight captain of a Japanese carrier-based aircraft, and now General Fei's wings have been cut and he has to leave his beloved subordinates." ”

Yamaguchi, meanwhile, was praying for his pilot, hoping that the decisive strike would turn the tide of defeat. Of course, Yamaguchi Tawen also knew that the cards in his hand were very bad, and with the Soryu also destroyed, there was only one Wyvern left in the Second Voyage Battle, but he always believed that he could win.

He lectured all the officers and men of the Flying Dragon: "The Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu have been greatly damaged, and now it is up to the Flying Dragon to continue to fight and bring glory to Japan!" ”

At that time, the 18 Type 99 shipbursts and six Zeros under the unified command of Michio Kobayashi had already taken off, and the shipblasts were divided into two groups, led by Kobayashi and Yamashita Tuji respectively, and the six Zeros were under the command of Yasuhiro Shigemomatsu. Bombers accounted for the vast majority of this force, because Yamaguchi Tarumi knew that it would be impossible to turn the tables if the attack force was too weak!

Of course, the only thing that made Yamaguchi Tawen happy was that before the destruction of the Soryu, a wave of planes was released, which was said to be close to twenty, and he felt that even half of the ship's explosion could make a difference. It's just that Yamaguchi Tawen definitely didn't expect that the planes that took off from the Soryu did not attack the US Navy with Kobayashi's formation, but pounced on the Red Navy with the returning Ro-2.

In fact, this is also to blame him, who ordered the pilot to follow the enemy plane to attack the enemy aircraft carrier, and the pilot of the Canglong was just strictly carrying out his orders. Of course, this is not Yamaguchi's last effort, he is still trying to piece together more planes and then seek a second wave of attacks.

It was also at this time that Kuznetsov and Sukhoi in the south finally got the de facto situation on the battlefield from the Ro-2 cluster, which broke the radio silence. The two were also taken aback when the pilot told him that there were four aircraft carriers on the surface, which was a good indication of the previous intelligence, but to their delight, the pilot quickly informed them that three of them had been destroyed, which made them breathe a sigh of relief.

However, Kuznetsov and Sukhoi did not dare to be careless, because the enemy obviously has two aircraft carriers on this battlefield, and it is not that they are unable to fight back, and they need to think about their next move as soon as possible...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to the king of horseing, cjsky, the boy who loves to read is not young, fy Nanhua real person and Comrade Mending Knife King!