The outcome of the air battle in the Coral Sea gave Vice Admiral Yoshitetsu Shirakawa, commander of the Second Fleet of the Japanese Navy, and Vice Admiral Masao Okamura, commander of the Fourth Fleet, a big problem, that is, how to report the process and results of the battle.

As for the method of concealing the truth or tampering with the course of the battle, Lieutenant General Shirakawa Yoshitsu and Lieutenant General Masao Okamura, who consider themselves to be the dignified vice admirals of the Japanese Empire, will not do such a despicable and shameless thing even in the face of the most severe punishment, which damages the honor of the imperial soldiers, violates the ethics of the imperial soldiers, and is even more despised by the samurai of the real emperor!

As a matter of fact, Vice Admiral Masao Okamura, who deliberately flew to the Second Fleet to find Vice Admiral Yoshitsu Shirakawa to study countermeasures, was far from being so righteous and awe-inspiring, and neither of them was stupid, and they knew very well that they could not hide this matter, and if there was no fighter group of the Army Aviation to participate in the battle, it would still be possible to do it within the fleet, to raise a banner that will not be damaged for the honor of the navy, and to make partial changes to the course of the battle that are beneficial to themselves.

However, with the participation of the guys from the army aviation, the battle process is not able to contain the fire in the paper, once the incident happens, both of them are guilty of one degree, and the failure of the mission and the lie about the military situation have violated the psychological bottom line of those bigwigs in the navy, and it is certain that they will eat guns.

"Wait!" Lieutenant General Masao Gangmura's stubby eyebrows shrugged, his eyes turned gloomily a few times, and a treacherous smile hung on the corner of his mouth, Lieutenant General Shirakawa Yoshitsu asked suspiciously: "Gangmura-kun, what problem have you found?" ”

Lieutenant General Gangmura said mysteriously: "Shirakawa-kun, don't you think it's strange, in the Coral Sea air battle, in terms of land aviation, only some fighters of the Kashima Air Force participated, then. What did the Araki Air and Kuroda Air do? ”

Lieutenant General Shirakawa Yoshizhe shook his head, he didn't belong to each other, where did he know what the guys from Lu Hang were doing, suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he seemed to grasp the main point of Gangcun's words, and urged eagerly: "Gangmura-kun, what do you think, say it quickly!" ”

Lieutenant General Gangmura said: "The fighter group of the separate division. In four batches, they came to the airspace of the Coral Sea, and they inevitably passed through Kalimantan and Sumatra, Shirakawa-kun, and the Araki Air Force and Kuroda Air Force of the Southwest Pacific Army. Alert airspace, isn't it. More than seven hundred fighters of the two air groups. Didn't you notice at all the more than 1,500 planes of the independent division that passed through your own alert airspace? ”

Lieutenant General Shirakawa shook his head categorically and said affirmatively: "Impossible, unless it is blind, otherwise, for the four groups of fighter jets that have successively passed through the guò alert airspace. It's impossible not to be aware, more than five hours before and after! ”

Lieutenant General Gangmura smiled smugly and continued, "Shirakawa-kun, the problem has arisen. Since it was possible to discover the aircraft group of the independent division, why did the Araki Air Force and the Kuroda Air Force not intercept it, so that the fighter group of the independent division went all out into the air battle with the carrier-based aircraft of our fleet, who ordered the interception, what was the mystery in it, and why put the greatest pressure on our navy? Was it deliberate or cowardice? ”

At this point, Lieutenant General Shirakawa has fully understood what Lieutenant General Okamura meant, since General Ito Yanzaburo has the meaning of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, then I'm sorry, I don't have the responsibility to complete the task of destroying the enemy in the Coral Sea, and your army can't run, or in other words, more than half of the responsibility is caused by your army, and you have to suffer from the board of His Majesty the Emperor and the base camp, and you, Ito Yanzaburo, will accompany you, and you will lose face, everyone will lose it together!

Lieutenant General Shirakawa was full of sorrow, admired the five-body throw, Gangcun this guy, it was really terrible, lightly came to four or two thousand catties, and dragged the army into the water, the Coral Sea Battle turned out to be so long, the army could not escape the involvement, he high-fived and admired: "Gangcun Jun is really a high talent? Analyzing the essence of the problem, peeling back the cocoon, interlocking, and finally restoring the truth, Shirakawa admires! Let's write a report to the base camp, the Admiralty, and that Ito Yanzaburo! ”

On the evening of 25 August, Major General Le Yiqin, commander of the Southern Flight Group of the Independent Division's Air Force, was in the office of division commander Tang Qiulidu to report on the course and results of the air battle in the Coral Sea: "Division commander, in this battle, our group shot down a total of 126 Japanese carrier-based planes and land-based fighters, five medium-sized warships, and our unit lost 38 fighters, 14 pilots, two bombers, and 16 crew members. Le Yiqin reported with a calm face.

Tang Qiu interjected and asked, "What about the rest of the pilots who parachuted?" ”

Le Yiqin replied: "All of them have been rescued by the British and Australian troop carriers, among them, there are seven people who are more seriously injured, I have arranged for several transport planes to pick them up, as far as the current situation in Australia is concerned, it is very unsafe, the British were beaten by the little devils and did not even have the strength to stand on their feet, and they can take care of our people, besides, I don't believe those British, or take our people over safely, it is estimated that in the early hours of the morning, they will be able to return, division commander, this is the situation of the battle, what other instructions do you have?" ”

Tang Qiuli and Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe looked at each other and smiled, Tang Qiuli said: "Not bad, Le Yiqin, you guys fought well, long-distance raids, three-to-one air battles, plus five Japanese warships, and completed the set tasks, however, there is one thing I don't understand, and I still need you to explain!" ”

As he spoke, he took out a telegram of thanks from the drawer from Admiral Fernandez, commander-in-chief of the British and Australian forces, and said: "The British's telegram said that their task force was fiercely attacked by the Fourth Fleet of the Japanese Navy, and the losses exceeded two-thirds. ”

After speaking, Tang Qiuli looked at Le Yiqin with a very playful gaze, but how could he answer this question.

Le Yiqin stood up in surprise and said: "How is it possible, Wu Zhenjiang's first-echelon fighter group is in the airspace where the British task force is located, and it also fought fiercely with the carrier-based aircraft group of the little devils, it stands to reason that the British warships will not lose so strictly, their troop carrier formation is not armed, and the carrier-based aircraft of the little devils are helpless, division commander, is the British lying!" Those guys can do it! ”

Tang Qiuli shook his head with a smile and said: "The British are extremely good-looking, they don't need to exaggerate their losses, besides, what is the benefit to them by doing this, by the way, is that Wu Zhenjiang the commander of the Ninth Fighter Regiment, where is he, call over and ask, isn't it all clear?" ”

Le Yiqin patted his head and suddenly said: "That's right, he is the commander of the echelon, he knows everything, it just so happens that their regiment is resting at the Singapore field airport, I'm going to call!" After that, he was about to leave.

Tang Qiuli called out to him with a smile and said, "I have a phone on my desk, what are you going to run out of?" Reluctant to seek the near and far! ”

Le Yiqin smiled "hehe", and said a little uncomfortably: "Commander, I'd better go out to fight, talk to you here, and affect your handling of official business!" ”

Tang Qiuli laughed, his eyes were full of urgency, and he said: "Fresh, when did Commander Le become careful, go, hurry up, maybe those soldiers under your command are waiting for you to drink celebration wine!" ”

Le Yiqin was like a dream of amnesty, and hurriedly rushed out, Zhao Yuhe said with a smile: "Division commander, I guess, let the British suffer this dumb loss, even Commander Le doesn't know, it's that Wu Zhenjiang's self-asserted behavior, division commander, I don't approve of dealing with Wu Zhenjiang, our commander must have his own reasons for doing this!" ”

Tang Qiuli said seriously: "Yuhe, do you think I look like I'm going to deal with Wu Zhenjiang, I'm just curious, how can the soldiers under Le Yiqin make the British suffer such a big loss, and I can't tell it, among them, there must be a story!" Don't you want to hear about it? ”

Le Yiqin came to a room far away from Tang Qiuli's office, and after kicking out a few staff officers inside, he picked up the phone, "Switchboard, pick me up at the Singapore airport!" ”

Colonel Wu Zhenjiang, commander of the Ninth Fighter Regiment of the Southern Flying Group, was on the grass in the pilots' rest area of the airport, and the commanders of several other flying regiments, describing the air battle in the Coral Sea and how to beat the Japanese Navy's carrier-based planes.

As Wu Zhenjiang was talking about his pride, a lieutenant officer ran over and asked, "That is the head of Wu Zhenjiang's martial arts?" ”

Wu Zhenjiang stood up and replied, "I am, is there something wrong?" ”

The lieutenant staff officer said: "Commander Wu, Commander Le is calling for you, and he is in the duty room, please go over and answer!" ”

Several regiment commanders were envious to death, and said one after another: "Lao Wu, you guy has gone out of shit luck, the commander personally called you to find you, it won't be a meritorious thing, sue you, come back and invite a few of our brothers to drink!" ”

Wu Zhenjiang waved his hand triumphantly, and said majestically: "That's certain, when did my old Wu be stingy, wait for me to come back!" ”

When he arrived at the duty room, Wu Zhenjiang picked up the phone and said, "Commander, what are you busy with?" Lao Liu and Lao Wang discussed going out to celebrate together, I said, can you be missing, I was about to tell you to go, the call came! ”

Suddenly, a loud roar came from the phone, "Wu Zhenjiang, what the hell are you doing?" ”

Le Yiqin was originally a loud voice, and with such a roar, Wu Zhenjiang's head was "buzzed", and he said inexplicably: "Commander, what's the matter?" You have such a big temper! ”

Le Yiqin said coldly: "Wu Zhenjiang, you tell me the truth, what's going on with the British fleet?" Don't think about the clouds and mountains covering me, the division commander knows it! ”

Wu Zhenjiang grinned in fright, "Commander, what a big deal, how did it get to the ears of the division commander?" Besides, didn't you say that the British fleet is not part of our escort mission! ”

(To be continued) (To be continued.) )