Minoru Genda's optimism is understandable, because under normal circumstances, an aircraft carrier would not be fatal if it ate two 500-pound or 1000-pound bombs. However, at this time, the situation on the Akagi was very special, the deck was full of planes and bombs, and the hangar was full of torpedoes and refueled Type 97 naval attackers.

The explosions produced by the detonation of these densely stacked planes and bombs, combined with the chain reaction after the plane fire, turned the Akagi into what Kusaka called "a hell with raging fire!" ”。

About 200 people on board the Akagi were blown into the sea by the air waves and shock waves from the explosion. The devils desperately tried to find a place to hide below deck, but the flames and constant explosions turned the Akagi into an iron coffin, and hiding in the coffin was undoubtedly a burial.

Mitsuo Fuchida hurried into the briefing room and found that it had been turned into a makeshift emergency room. He angrily asked one of the people who participated in the ambulance: "Why don't you take the wounded to the medical room!" The latter told him that the cabins on all floors below were covered in flames.

Mitsuo Fuchida didn't believe it at first, but when he rushed down the deck, he was pushed back by the oncoming fire and smoke and the heat wave. Seeing this scene, Mitsuo Fuchida returned to the bridge in a trance, and seemed to involuntarily want to recruit his old classmate Minoru Genda on Etajima. They had shared the joy of the Pearl Harbor victory, and now it was their turn to share that sorrow.

At this moment, Minoru Genda's face is also very ugly, if nothing else, the Kaga and Akagi are finished, but he is not the kind of soft man who likes to lie on other people's shoulders and cry his nose. He just glanced at Mitsuo Fuchida and said, "We messed up!" ”

Meanwhile. With his usual pragmatism, the grass deer has been counting the losses. Both the newspaper room and the radio antenna were blown up. Radio communications have been completely interrupted. Moreover, despite the emergency measures taken. Quickly fill the front ammunition compartment and bomb compartment with water and use a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher (note that it is quite dangerous to use a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher in a closed compartment, which can suffocate people while extinguishing the fire!). ）。 But the situation is getting more and more out of control. Soon the steering wheel broke, the main engine was quickly stopped, and all the personnel went to extinguish the fire, leaving only two machine guns and an anti-aircraft gun still firing.

After weighing all the factors, Kusaka decided that Nagumo Tadaichi should transfer the flagship to another ship. The mobile forces were to be given temporary command to Rear Admiral Hiroki Abe, commander of the 8th Cruiser Fleet, who was second only to Nagumo in rank. As long as the think tank of the Mobile Forces is intact, they can continue to fight, preferably in a night battle that Japan excels at. Therefore, Kusaka kept urging Nagumo to evacuate the Akagi and move the headquarters to another warship.

Kusaka later said: "But the sentimental Nagumo didn't listen to me, I urged him two or three times to no avail, he just stood firmly by a compass on the bridge." At this time, Aoki Daisa, Kusaka's old classmate in Etajima, stepped forward and whispered to him, "Chief of Staff, I am the captain of the ship, and I will take full responsibility for the Akagi." So. Chief of Staff, I implore you and the rest of the staff to leave the ship as soon as possible. In order to continue to command the fleet. ”

After hearing Aoki's words, Kusaka was also angry, and he raised his voice to reprimand Nagumo Tadaichi for replacing reason with emotion on this important issue. Seeing that Kusaka broke out, Nagumo Tadaichi finally came to his senses and agreed to leave the Akagi.

But Nagumo Tadaichi's decision was a little late, because the bridge escalator had been sealed by fire, and the staff officers had to grab the rope and slide down. The grass deer was short and fat, and he almost got stuck in the porthole, and the others pushed him a few times before he was forced out. The poor deer screamed and fell to the flight deck before he could grab the rope, spraining his ankle and burning his hands and one leg.

Mitsuo Fuchida was the last to slide down, and by that time the rope had already been set on fire. With a loud bang, the Akagi shook violently with a violent explosion, and Mitsuo Fuchida was thrust into the air by the force, and then slammed into the flight deck, breaking his ankle and heel.

At that time, Mitsuo Fuchida sighed in his heart, thinking that this time he was asking for an account. He felt pain, he felt sadness, he felt weak. In the face of death, he felt nothing but extreme burnout.

The tongue of fire licked towards Mitsuo Fuchida, his uniform began to smoke and began to smoke, and two soldiers rushed out of the smoke, scrambling to lift him up, then put him in the rope net, and slowly put him into the lifeboat, and finally Fuchida Mitsuo withdrew to the Nagara light cruiser with Nagumo's staff team, who were already on the boat.

However, according to Japanese regulations, Mitsuo Fuchida can't actually evacuate the Akagi, because he is not Nagumo's staff officer, but considering that he has been wounded, it is useless to stay on the Akagi, and it may be a good thing to have one less burden to hinder the firefighting.

When Minoru Genda was about to board the Nagara, a non-commissioned officer of the ship saw that he was burned on one hand, so he took off his gloves and handed them over: "Aviation staff officer, please use mine." Almost at the same time, a sailor ran up to him and handed him a stamp and a bank passbook. This person is Minoru Genda's orderly, and the brave young man braves the raging flames to rush into Minoru Genda's cabin and struggles to snatch out his chief's personal belongings. It's just that Minoru Genda wasn't sure if he could use these two things at the time.

With one explosion after another, the Akagi and Kaga became hell on earth, and the two aircraft carriers were completely finished. And at this time, what were the other high-ranking Japanese officers besides Nagumo Tadaichi doing? What decisions did they make?

There was nothing to say about the cruisers and destroyers, and Abe Hiroki was really busy fighting planes at this time, trying his best to prop up an air defense umbrella for the aircraft carrier. It's just that the anti-aircraft firepower of the Japanese ships is too weak, and the anti-aircraft firing weapons and detection equipment are also behind the times, and the effectiveness is low.

The key point that determined the direction of the battle fell on the shoulders of Yamaguchi Tawen, the commander of the Second Air Warfare. When the Akagi and Kaga were hit and caught fire, his face turned pale, and it was clear that Yamaguchi had heard it clearly, and the fate of the Second Air War would probably not be much better than the First Air Battle, if the enemy continued to maintain this attack intensity. It was only a matter of time before the Dragons and Wyverns were destroyed.

At this critical juncture. He ordered the Dragon and Wyvern to dodge as much as they could. The other side also urgently called Nagumo Tadaichi. Yamaguchi Tashi didn't ask for help, because Nagumo was worse than him at this time. Yamaguchi Tarumi called Nagumo Tadaichi for only one purpose, he needed Nagumo's permission to launch a counterattack immediately.

Yes, at this time, there is only one thought in Yamaguchi's mind, and that is to fight back immediately. It is necessary to take advantage of the fact that the Canglong and the Wyvern have not yet been destroyed, and release the attack aircraft as much as possible. In Yamaguchi Tawen's opinion, his two aircraft carriers may not be able to be saved. Rather than fretting in vain to make Americans see jokes, it is better to fight to the death, and to let Americans know more or less that the emperor's samurai will not give in.

Of course, Yamaguchi didn't have much hope for what such a desperate fight would achieve, because there was no hope at this point.

However, as mentioned earlier, the bridge of the Akagi was already in flames, and the communication equipment was completely destroyed, so it was impossible to receive a call from Yamaguchi, and even if it did. Even Nanyun Zhongyi, the soulless bird, couldn't make any decisions.

At this time, it can be seen that Yamaguchi is decisive, and Akagi and Nagumo have not responded. He categorically ordered: "Strike immediately and follow the enemy aircraft to destroy the enemy aircraft carrier!" ”

At this moment of crisis, the Canglong and Feilong barely took off more than 40 fighters (including more than a dozen Zero Fighters and more than 20 97 Ship Attack and 99 Ship Explosion), and they ignored the fighters of the Three Kingdoms who were fighting overhead, but followed behind the American and Soviet pilots who had completed their attack and were preparing to return home.

Some comrades may have questions, why can the Canglong still take off fighters, isn't it among the first three aircraft carriers to be discovered? How did it escape?

This has to start with the confusion of American and Soviet pilots, as mentioned earlier, in the midst of the chaos, only a few pilots completed the bomb dropping. At that time, the Akagi and Kaga looked more burly on the sea, so most of the pilots who dropped bombs went to the Akagi and Kaga and ignored the Soryu.

And by the time the American and Soviet pilots had finished regrouping from the chaos and coordinated the order of the attack, the Zero, who had been drawn to a low altitude by the TBD, finally completed its climb, and they pounced like wolves like SBD and Ro-2. In particular, the Ro-2, which was larger and more clumsy, became the main target.

At that time, the sky was full of shiny tracer bullets, and no one could tell who fired them, and there was no time to tell who fired them. The machine gunners in the back seat of the SBD and Ro-2 became the busiest people, without the cover of fighters, the only thing that could stop the enemy from approaching was the machine guns in their hands.

Machine gunner Kurnikov recalled: "I grabbed the trigger with my fingers, and a string of bullets whizzed towards the enemy plane, but the enemy was quite crazy and ferocious, and did not withdraw from the battle after the bullets, they chased us frantically, trying to knock us down." This forced me to shoot more violently, and soon the barrel became redder and redder......"

Judging from the memories of the pilots involved and the post-war inventory, the Ro-2 was attacked more, but the interesting thing is that the losses were not greater than those of the SBD, for several reasons: first, the recoil machine gun of the Ro-2 was a Beretin UB machine gun, The caliber is 12.7 mm, which is more powerful than the twin 7.62 in the back seat of the SBD, and the rate of fire is also powerful enough (1050 rounds per minute of theoretical rate of fire), and the UB ammunition is also equipped with incendiary grenades, which is quite lethal for the thin and unprotected Zero Battle.

The second reason is the twin-engine design of the Ro-2, although the rolling and hovering performance of twin-engine fighters in the piston engine era is certainly worse than that of single-engine fighters, but the twin-engine design also has advantages and is more survivable. One engine was broken, and another was able to hold up. And the two engines provide more power, which allows more armor to be installed.

For example, the Ro-2M (the difference between the Ro-2 and the Ro-2M is the engine, the one that uses the VK-105 is the Ro-2, and the one that uses the VK-107 is the Ro-2M) because of the more powerful VK-107 engine, the six-millimeter-thick high-carbon steel armor is installed under the seats of the three members, and the fuel tank area is also specially strengthened. Overall, it is more survivable. A considerable number of Ro-2Ms were hit by hundreds of rounds and struggled to return to the mothership. The SBD is different, although the air-cooled engine has good maintenance and damage resistance, but it only has one engine. If it is broken, stop cooking.

Of course, there will definitely be a price to be paid for being beaten passively. That is, under the encirclement and interception of the zero war. The Ro-2 and SBD, which were engaged in dive bombing, were quite ineffective against the Soryu and Wyvern. Especially the Ro-2, its dive angle is on the small side, coupled with the interference of the Zero Battle, not to mention the accuracy of the bomb.

It is precisely because of this that although the Canglong has eaten a few near-misses and some cabins have been flooded, the overall combat effectiveness is still well preserved, which is much stronger than in history. That is, to take advantage of this opportunity. The order to fight back to the death was given in Yamaguchi Tawen, and the Soryu was able to send carrier-based aircraft.

Of course, the fate of the Canglong will never be stronger than in history, and at the same time that it has just released its last wave of carrier-based aircraft, its end has also arrived!

As mentioned earlier, the Red Navy sent a total of 88 Ro-2s to attack, half of which contained two 500-kilogram bombs in the magazine, and the other half with a 450-mm aerial torpedo. It was the Ro-2 equipped with aerial bombs that collided with the SBD of the US military before, so where did the other half of the Ro-2 equipped with torpedoes go?

This has to start from the beginning, as I said earlier. The Red Navy's fleet of Ro-2s got lost halfway because of the difficulty of flying at ultra-low altitudes, and two groups of Ro-2s equipped with different ammunition pounced in different directions. When the Ro-2, which installed the aerial bomb, found Nagumo Tadaichi. Only then did the friendly plane be notified to come to hunt.

Therefore, the Torpedo-equipped Ro-2 entered the field later, and when the Japanese Zero War climbed to the high altitude to deal with the dive bombers, the hole was opened at the low altitude. More than 40 Ro-2s swaggered into the air defense circle of the Japanese fleet from a low altitude, and at this time, the remaining Soryu and Wyvern on the sea were the most obvious targets.

The first to be targeted is the Soryu, who made it closer to the most eye-catching targets on the battlefield, the Akagi and Kaga. When the pilots swept away the Chisei and Kaga, which were billowing with smoke and flickering fire, they saw the Soryu unscathed. Needless to say, let's do it!

Please allow me to ignore the Ro-2's torpedo attack effect and switch to see what Fletcher has done during this time. From the time Task Force 16 dispatched dive bombers to the Yorktown's one-hour delay in launching the first attack, Fletcher received no additional reports of the enemy's situation.

However, the staff officers of Task Force 17 made the most of this time to study the Japanese fleet's earlier navigational markings, routes, and speeds. It was thought that if there were no problems with all the data, Nagumo Tadaichi's fleet would only be 90 nautical miles from Midway. It was much closer than they had expected, so the captains of the squadrons of the Yorktown were told not to fly off course and turn to the right, the Japanese might reverse course.

Captain of the Yorktown, Moore. Lieutenant Commander Arnold's plan of attack was: Messi's VT-3 and Maxwell. Rear Admiral Leslie's 3 SBD of the VB-17 attacked the enemy together. So he instructed Leslie to hover over the Yorktown first, allowing the slower torpedo planes to fly for fifteen minutes.

At about nine o'clock, Leslie took off and climbed to an altitude of 15,000 feet, and the weather conditions were excellent, Leslie recalled: "The visibility was excellent, and there were scattered clouds at 3,000 feet. The sea is calm, majestic or windless. ”

Paul, who fought in this battle. Second Lieutenant Holmberg was worried that the battle might end before the VB-3 squadron arrived. In fact, he himself almost missed the battle, and on takeoff, his 3-B-2 went into Leslie's slipstream, and his left wing was bruised and nearly destroyed.

In fact, Leslie was also in trouble, and soon after reaching the cruising altitude of 20,000 feet, he motioned for the planes to prepare for the bomb drop, and at the same time he also pressed the switch of the newly installed electric bomb dropping device on the plane. In addition, three other SBDs in his squadron had the same problem (remember the electric mine dropper of the TBD, the American product is really unreliable). Frustrated, Leslie immediately told his teammates to switch to a manual switch.

This accident made Leslie extremely frustrated, and when he led many of his teammates to attack the enemy, he, the commander, had to go into the field with his bare hands, which was quite a blow for a real officer.

At 9:45, Leslie flew directly above the VT-3 and VF-3, followed the VT-3 in an S-maneuver, and after another fifteen minutes, he asked Messi in secret words if he had spotted the enemy, but because of radio problems, he did not receive a positive answer from Messi. It wasn't until another five minutes later that Leslie's machine gunners spotted the Japanese mobile unit 35 nautical miles ahead. "And at this time" VT-3 "was coming under fire from enemy anti-aircraft artillery," he recalled. ”

In fact, Leslie was mistaken at this time, it was not the VT-3 squadron that was being attacked by anti-aircraft artillery, the squadron was already entangled in the Zero Battle, and it was not able to enter the attack route. The torpedo machine that Leslie saw was actually a Ro-2, but the battlefield was quite chaotic at that time, and it was normal for Leslie, who was eager to lead the boys to attack, to see it wrong...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you CJSKY, Giant of Giants, Gi, Teenager Who Loves to Read is Not Young, Southern Wanderers, FY Nanhua Real Man and Comrade Juventus!