Seeing that Ruzutak was about to go crazy, Li Xiaofeng calmed him down with one sentence: "As for Comrade Vasilevsky, the Military Commission is ready to transfer him to the Third Baltic Army as the commander, what do you think?" ”

What else could Ruzutak think, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said, "Andre, are you doing this, is it interesting?" ”

Why does Ruzutak say that? The reason is very simple, it seems that the transfer of Vasilevsky to the Third Baltic Front as the commander is to give the old man face, but everyone knows that the Third Baltic Front is still an empty shell, and this front is still under construction, and letting Vasilevsky go there is tantamount to idleness, which makes Trotsky acceptable.

Anyway, in Ruzutak's opinion, Trotsky will definitely not do it, and in the end it will be another ramp-up, and in the end he will have to make a deal or a compromise, so it is really boring to toss it like this!

However, Li Xiaofeng replied confidently: "Who asked him to be unauthentic, I am treating others in the way of others!" ”

Li Xiaofeng is really right, Lao Tuo began to use the capture of Romania as an excuse to blackmail him, and now he is using Mingsheng and secretly descending as an excuse to force Lao Tuo to submit, these two people are really up, I don't want to be lively.

Of course, Ruzutak's estimate is also correct, in the end the matter still ended in a compromise, Konev was promoted to commander of the Voronezh Front, Vasilevsky was also promoted to commander of the Fourth Front of Ukraine, the only unlucky one was Yeremenko, the commander of the Front who fired the first shot of the counteroffensive and liberated Bucharest did not get anything, was kicked in the direction of the Baltic Sea, and became the commander of the newly established Baltic Third Front.

Moreover, Yeremenko had no place to reason, so he could only "happily" pack up and go to Tallinn to take office.

Politics. An agreement was finally reached within the governing bureau, and the established policy of Romania was set, and the main task of more than 800,000 people in the next stage of the 6 armies in this direction was to actively transform the old Romanian army. Strip it cleanly and completely from the ranks of the fascists and, together with the nascent Romanian People's Army, strike at the Axis in the Balkan direction. The main task was to liberate the entire territory of Romania, divert a considerable part of the living forces of the German army on the southern front from the Ukrainian direction, and create favorable conditions for the annihilation of the enemy's Army Group South on the frontal battlefield by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.

Of course, the task of Konev and Vasilevsky was not easy, because by this time the Red Army had already occupied a certain advantage. But the Germans were still dead, and because of Manstein's timely escape, a considerable part of the living forces were rescued from Hitler's tricks (at a heavy cost, of course, the army general was dismissed and imprisoned). At this time, although the strength of the German army was at a disadvantage, the backbone was still well preserved, and it was not easy for the Red Army to destroy them in one fell swoop.

In particular, in the Romanian direction where Konev and Vasilevsky were located, where the Red Army had only 6 army groups, the strength was somewhat thin, and the Germans were to concentrate on counterattacks. It's really hard to say who wins and who loses.

Of course, these are the stories of the second half of 1943, and in this June the world is more focused on Midway, a small island in the Pacific!

In June, a fierce naval and air battle will break out in this area, and this great battle will determine the course of the anti-fascist war in the Pacific direction. Let's turn the clock back to May for a moment and look at this great battle from the beginning.

"Congratulations on your glorious achievements in the last two days!"

Although Nimitz sent the above message to Fletcher after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the admiral was not happy at the Pearl Harbor command. The Lexington sank, and the Yorktown was also heavily damaged. In the entire Pacific direction, there are only two aircraft carriers left in the US Navy, the USS Enterprise and the USS Hornet.

Anyway, after the sinking of the Lexington. The first thing Nimitz did was to inquire about the progress of the Saratoga's repairs, and he wondered when the valuable fleet carrier would return to the front line of battle.

It's just that Nimitz didn't get good news, how could the Saratoga not complete the repair work until late May, and please note that the repair is not immediately ready for operation, and the pilots still need to go to the ship for a new round of adaptation training to regain the qualification for takeoff and landing, which is the standard procedure. No sloppiness.

Seeing that the Saratoga was out of action, Nimitz could only focus on another aircraft carrier, the USS Essex, which was close to service, but what he got was still not good news, the USS Essex was still on trial and training, and it would not be until early June to join the Pacific Fleet at the earliest.

And what worries Nimitz even more is that. Shortly after the Battle of the Coral Sea, the intelligence services informed him that he had found signs of a large-scale sortie by the Japanese Combined Fleet, and although the target was unknown, it was by no means out to climb the ladder.

At this time, Nimitz only had two fleet aircraft carriers in his hands, and the Japanese naval fleet could come up with at least four or five aircraft carriers to abuse him, and the difference in strength was too great! Just when the admiral was as angry as he was taking HUO pills every day, President Roosevelt brought him good news -- the Red Navy's aircraft carriers Kiev and Minsk and their fleets officially joined the US Navy!

Nimitz breathed a sigh of relief from this news, although he didn't know much about the specific performance of the Red Navy aircraft carriers, but two large aircraft carriers were better than nothing, and according to the performance of the Spanish Civil War, the Red Navy aviation was not very watery, and these two aircraft carriers were always worth one American aircraft carrier, right?

Nimitz, who was a little relieved, immediately changed the focus of attention, when the Yorktown returned to Pearl Harbor, he immediately boarded the aircraft carrier to inspect the damage, at that time the admiral felt that it would definitely not take three months to repair the aircraft carrier, in fact, Nimitz was right, let alone three months, a month was not used, the Yorktown was restored to combat effectiveness, and played a major role in the critical moment of the Battle of Midway, much stronger than the Salrato who dropped the chain.

Not to mention the three shifts of the Americans rushing to repair, when Kuznetsov and Sukhoi arrived at Pearl Harbor with their fleet across the Barama Canal, Nimitz immediately went to discuss with the Russians the next stage of the battle plan.

It should be said that Nimitz is still very polite, after all, this huge Russian fleet now nominally belongs to the US Navy, but in fact everyone knows what is going on, and he cannot really treat the Red Navy as his own subordinate.

It should be said that the first communication between Nimitz and Kuznetsov and Sukhoi was quite pleasant. He later recalled: "I was impressed by the young admiral Kuznetsov, who was not yet forty years old, energetic and professional, and completely devoid of the rudeness of the Russians. The old-fashioned nature of the prostitutes. He was a very professional naval commander and was very communicative, at least we had a good time...... As for the older Admiral Sukhoi, to be honest. He gave me mixed feelings......"

Why did Nimitz have mixed feelings about Sukhoi? One of the reasons was that the aristocratic admiral did not have a good taste for Nimitz, and always felt that he was a bit of a man; The second reason was that one of Nimitz's suggestions made Sukhoi very angry and angry. Naturally, the two were a little incompatible.

So what exactly did Nimitz suggest to make Sukhoi so angry? Quite simply, Nimitz suggested to Kuznetsov and him that the Red Navy pilots on the Kiev and Minsk be transferred to Midway Island for use as roadbed aircraft. And the Kiev and Minsk will be put into battle using US naval aviation.

This proposal undoubtedly touched the scales of Sukhoi, for this mustache, defending the honor and dignity of the Red Naval Aviation was a matter of first priority, and this rash proposal of Nimitz was undoubtedly questioning the capabilities of the Red Naval Aviation, which was completely unacceptable to Sukhoi, who single-handedly created the Red Naval Aviation.

Anyway, the two were fighting fiercely at that time. Nearly ruined this first meeting. Of course, we can actually understand Nimitz's proposal, first of all, he did have doubts about the capabilities and technical level of the Red Navy, and from a historical point of view, the Russian Navy is indeed not so reliable; Secondly, Nimitz was more familiar with his naval aviation, and both the weapons and pilots were more in line with the regulations of the US Navy, and they were easier to use. Moreover, at this time, the Lexington and Yorktown happened to have a group of pilots and planes vacated, and it was easy to use them on the aircraft carriers of the Red Navy.

Of course. The end result of this quarrel was that Nimitz backed down, not only because of the intransigence of Kuznetsov and Sukhoi, who had to abandon that somewhat presumptuous proposal, but more importantly, because the Red Naval Aviation proved that it was capable of fighting.

Immediately after this courtesy meeting, the Red Navy aircraft carriers conducted joint training with the US Navy in the waters off Pearl Harbor, mainly to solve the problem of coordination. And in this series of training, Nimitz also corrected his misunderstanding of the Red Navy.

The five-star admiral later wrote in his memoirs: "The Russians surprised me at the beginning, I thought that the Russian naval aviation used aircraft of a similar level to the British Royal Navy, and I thought that I would see a lot of biplanes, but the level of the Russians was undoubtedly very high." The first is the flying machine. It just blew my mind! ”

"The agility of the Yak-3K simply broke through my imagination, this small all-metal fighter completely broke through my traditional impression of Russian fighters, it is quite beautiful, and it is more dexterous than the Japanese Zero fighter in the air, and it can easily bite the tail of all our fighters in a grappling fight, and tease our best pilots like an old cat teasing a mouse, which is amazing!"

"The advent of the Yak-3K is undoubtedly good news, compared with the Wildcat (F4F) its maximum flight speed is more than 100 kilometers, and the roll and hovering performance is also a big difference, they can undoubtedly restrain the Zero fighter. At least our lads, after actually experiencing a Yak-3K, thought that the Yak-3K, in addition to the relatively backward instruments and sights, surpassed the Wildcat in terms of flight performance, and if it was possible, every naval fighter pilot would want one of these fighters! ”

Nimitz continued: "In addition to the surprise of the Yak-3K, we were also surprised by another Russian attack/bomber, a large twin-engine bomber and attack aircraft called the Ro-2, which was completely different from the configuration of our naval aviation, and served as a torpedo plane, a dive bomber, and a reconnaissance aircraft at the same time. To tell you the truth, from our point of view, it is relatively mediocre in all three of these features, and there is not much to brilliant, but its high versatility makes the deck a lot easier. ”

It should be said that the Americans do not rate the Ro-2 very highly, for the simple reason that the Ro-2 is really mediocre and all-round. Compared with the American professional torpedo planes, dive bombers and reconnaissance planes at that time, they were not outstanding. But soon in the Battle of Midway, this twin-engine attack aircraft made the eyes of the Americans shine, of course, this is a later story for the time being, continue to talk about Nimitz's perception of the Red Navy.

In addition to aircraft, Nimitz paid more attention to the quality of personnel. In his opinion, people always come first in war, and his evaluation of the officers and men of the Red Navy is relatively high: "Objectively speaking, even the most critical and biased people have to admit that these Russians are indeed conscientious. They did their job meticulously, ensured that every order was carried out, and their discipline was quite good, even more obedient than our lads, except to say that the Bolsheviks trained them well, and I liked these lads who didn't cause trouble. ”

In fact, none of the above surprised Nimitz the most. What shocked Nimitz the most was the Kiev and Minsk aircraft carriers themselves. The admiral reflected his opinion to the Admiralty in the situation of the memorandum:

"The deck of the aircraft carrier Kiev is completely different from our direct deck, and the Russians have creatively used a beveled deck that divides the aircraft carrier deck area into two areas, one for landing and the other for takeoff. The Russians showed us the ability to take off and land carrier-based aircraft at the same time, which is extremely superior! ”

Nimitz almost shouted: "I'm going to have an aircraft carrier with a beveled deck!" But he tried to learn as much as he could about the advantages and disadvantages of this deck arrangement, and the Red Navy was generous in sharing their experience.

Nimitz later said: "All of our naval aircraft can operate on the beveled deck, and even some of the attack aircraft are smaller because of their smaller size." It is more flexible and faster than the Russians, which shows that we can also use this more advanced deck arrangement! ”

In addition to the beveled deck. Nimitz was also interested in the Red Navy's catapults, saying: "The Russians equipped their carriers with two steam catapults, which are more complex and cumbersome to use than the HUO catapult and hydraulic catapult that we use now." It is worth mentioning that it allows the Russian Ro-3 attack aircraft to take off on the deck with full fuel and ammunition......"

You can see it. Nimitz had not yet realized the value of the steam catapult, which was indeed more complex than the more popular HUO catapult at the time, and the high power would consume a large amount of saturated steam in the boiler when used continuously, which would cause the speed of the aircraft carrier to drop significantly. And the manufacture and maintenance of components such as cylinders are also troublesome.

But it must also be seen. The steam catapult is safer than the HUO medicine catapult at that time, although the black HUO medicine is a little low, but it is also a pyrotechnic product, and it will catch fire and explode if it is not done well.

Anyway, in the future, the Americans will understand that the steam catapult is a good thing, but for the time being they will not be able to realize the superiority of the steam catapult. So the Americans at that time were not very interested in steam catapults, but more interested in the beveled decks of the Red Army and the operation of aviation on the beveled decks, and when they realized the value of steam catapults in the era of jets in addition to the beveled deck in the fifties, the Red Navy was already far ahead in this field.

To get back to the point, with the arrival of the aircraft carriers Kiev and Minsk, as well as a vote of the Red Navy BC, CA and CL, Nimitz was greatly relieved that the Russians were completely unexpectedly strong above the level and did not need to bring their pig teammates to the battlefield, which allowed the admiral to think about tactics wholeheartedly.

The first thing to do was to figure out what the Japanese were going to do next, and the Americans' powerful electronic warfare capabilities gave them the lead. The U.S. Naval Intelligence Agency, in close cooperation with the British and Dutch authorities, successfully deciphered part of the code of the JN-25, the main communication system of the Japanese Navy.

By early May, the Coalition had made a major breakthrough in cracking the JN-25, giving it the ability to spy on Japanese naval programs. The JN-25 let the coalition know that the 'AF position' would be the next target of the Japanese Navy, but to the Americans' headache, where exactly is this 'AF position'?

At that time, Joseph. The Hawaiian intelligence station, led by Major Rocherford, believed that the 'AF bearing' was Midway, but Washington's Naval Intelligence Service insisted that it was the Aleutian Islands. These two departments are public and reasonable, and no one can convince anyone anyway. Of course, as we learned later, the Americans solved this problem in a creative way.

That was to deliberately have the Midway Naval Base report to the Pearl Harbor Command by radio that the desalination equipment on the island was broken, causing a shortage of water throughout Midway. When the Japanese learned of this information, it was natural for them to remind the troops attacking Midway to bring enough fresh water. And this also allows the US military to figure out where the AF position is.

But what we want to talk about next is not the story of the Americans figuring out the AF position, but the contribution of a group of Chinese to the Battle of Midway on the other side of the ocean. Subordinate to the earth. Together. The underground party of the Central Intelligence Department is also actively active, and the most noteworthy of this is the underground secret intelligence group codenamed Nanyue...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank the Dead Emperor William, xxxxxxjj, Southern Rangers and Comrade Juventus!