June 5 was an absolutely gloomy day for the commander of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet, Admiral Nimitz. ,!

Three days ago, after completing regular training, Nimitz was returning to the Pearl Harbor base on the orders of Admiral Jeffrey Field, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to prepare for the South Pacific theater, and the fleet was also tasked with escorting the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions.

For this task, Admiral Nimitz was absolutely uncomfortable, and the only reason for the discomfort was that Lieutenant General MacArthur, the commander of the Southeast Asia and South Pacific Headquarters.

According to reason, two people serve in different branches of the military, one on land, one in the ocean, there should be no intersection and conflict, but fate is so tricky, ten years ago, the two were together in the senior command department of the California Military Academy, when they were studying in the general class, they unfortunately became classmates, both of them are arrogant and competitive guys.

During the year's years as classmates, MacArthur and Nimitz each became the leaders of the Army cadets and Navy cadets in their classes, representing their different views, conflicts were inevitable, they suppressed each other on weekdays, demolished the stage behind their backs, used their own means, and fought happily, which also formed a deep grudge, and the relationship between the two was further bitter.

Even to the incompatibility of fire and water, even in the graduation photo, the two disdainfully stood together, and the year of the classmate was spent in constant struggle between the two, MacArthur's evaluation of Nimitz was "insidious and habitual to monopoly," and Nimitz's evaluation of MacArthur was "arrogant and arrogant, ambitious and talented." From the evaluation of each other by the two, their bad relationship can be seen.

Fortunately, one is in the army and the other is in the navy, and there is no possibility that the two of them will work together, otherwise, there may be something unavoidable, but. Feng Shui took turns, and the Joint Staff Committee gave an order, and he and MacArthur's guy were pinched together. Moreover, you have to obey the command of that ambitious and talented guy, not only your own rank. To be one level higher than MacArthur, can that guy be worthy of commanding himself?

Therefore, although Nimitz had the blood of a soldier in his bones and longed for the battlefield filled with gunpowder, he still had resistance to going to the South Pacific theater under the command of MacArthur, and his enthusiasm was not high, anyway, the order of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is to let the Pacific Fleet depart after 8 June, and the aircraft carrier squadron will not be in a hurry to return to Pearl Harbor and sail gracefully on the sea.

Perhaps it was the favor of fate, or perhaps the favor of God, the aircraft carrier formation was supposed to be on the evening of June 4. Back at the Pearl Harbor base, Nimitz's passive slacking off work and the two-day voyage took more than four days, which actually allowed the aircraft carrier formation to escape disaster.

Although gladly. The aircraft carrier formation was not baptized by the bombs of the Japanese Navy's carrier-based aircraft, and it did not have to become a pile of scrap metal on the bottom of the sea like other warships moored in Pearl Harbor.

The cause was a telegram from Admiral Jeffrey Field, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordering him to immediately report the specific losses of the Pacific Fleet, and poor Admiral Nimitz was in a situation that was strikingly similar to that of MacArthur in the early morning of 1 June, for the war had already begun, and he basically did not know the situation of the troops.

On the island of Hawaii, the situation is the same, Nimitz sent several telegrams, but did not get a reply, except for receiving a funeral telegram that "Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese fleet", Nimitz was blind about the situation in Hawaii, how could he reply to the telegram of the Joint Chiefs of Staff?

The position of the Pacific Fleet aircraft carrier formation is in the waters near Midway Island at this time, northwest of Hawaii Island, only more than 600 nautical miles from Pearl Harbor. Will you return to the continental United States, or will you drop anchor in the waters off Hawaii, wait for detailed information from Hawaii, and then decide where to go?

At this time, it was already about 5 o'clock in the afternoon of 5 June, and under the order of Commander Nimitz, the aircraft carrier formation of the Pacific Fleet was at anchor and stood by at a distance of only 600 nautical miles from Hawaii.

Nimitz wanted to return to Pearl Harbor and see how unbearable his lair had become, but in his heart, there was a concern that in case the Japanese naval fleet attacked Pearl Harbor did not return, but continued to search for himself, with the existing strength of the aircraft carrier formation, once the war started, the Japanese intelligence department would not be incompetent, and did not know that the Pacific Fleet had four aircraft carriers.

When night fell, the darkness swallowed the last bright color of the sky, the boundless night, shrouded the sea, the wind rose, and then came the torrential rain that tore the ground and the sky, the huge waves slapped against the US warship, the hull of the ship was like a toy, swaying helplessly in the stormy waves, in this stormy night, the US sailors on each warship could not sleep peacefully.

The news of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Navy spread like wings to every post of the aircraft carrier formation, and this murderous letter really frightened the American sailors, who were glad that they had escaped the catastrophe, but also mourned for their comrades-in-arms and relatives in Pearl Harbor.

So, in the face of the Japanese warships, the remaining warships, what will be the end, everyone is worried and worried about their future fate, to put it bluntly, this is a kind of cowardice that spreads among the soldiers, when there is no battle, a qiē as usual, once it comes to the time of the fierce battle of life and death, such a cowardice will become a fatal wound of a force.

The wind was raging, the rain was pouring in, the white waves were raging, and Nimitz, who was sitting in the commander's office cabin, had not yet sensed that this dangerous phenomenon was quietly breeding among the soldiers, enough to destroy the entire aircraft carrier formation, and he was agonizing over how to send a telegram back to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

What Nimitz did not expect was what fate this hesitant and anchored order would bring to the aircraft carrier formation?

On the same night, in the same weather, and in an absolutely different mood, Vice Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, commander of the Japanese Navy's task force and Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, who was anchored outside Pearl Harbor, was in an extremely happy mood at this time, because a miracle that shocked the world was born in his own hands, and the US Pacific Fleet, which was a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh of the Japanese Navy, and looked like a behemoth, was lost in his own hands.

It's unbelievable to say that the task force departed from the Kagoshima Naval Base, ran a long distance of more than 4,000 kilometers, and attacked in two consecutive waves, the US Pacific Fleet has become history, and the price paid by the task force is only 29 aircraft and five special submarines, to be honest, even Nagumo Tadaichi himself was stunned by this huge victory.

When the first wave of attacking planes returned, Nagumo Tadaichi didn't believe their report at all, the US Navy's Pacific Fleet was definitely a behemoth, how could a Japanese naval fleet not dare to ignore it, could it be killed so lightly? Until the end of the battle, Commander Nagumo also ordered the staff office to verify the results of the battle, and it has been verified three times, and the results are accurate!

Nanyun Zhongyi was silent on the surface, and the ecstasy in his heart almost looked up to the sky and laughed, and he ordered lightly: "Immediately report the results of the battle to the base camp, no, directly report to the emperor!" ”

Now, the Imperial Japanese Navy has taken control of the entire Pearl Harbor, the US Pacific Fleet is completely finished, and the task force is about to return to the mainland, with the glory of victory, Nagumo even imagined countless times that after returning to the mainland, he was greeted like a hero, and as for the battle on the island of Hawaii, it had little to do with him.

The Seventh Army's 50,000 people have not been able to completely annihilate all the planes, and more than 30,000 people from the two Marine Divisions of the US Army who are in a desperate situation, Lieutenant General Yanagishita Heisuke, the commander of the Seventh Army, should commit suicide by disembowelment!

The night is like ink, the wind is angry, and the rain is like a note, Nanyun Zhongyi walked slowly to the porthole, the fire in Pearl Harbor is still burning, the rainstorm did not stop the fire, in Nanyun Zhongyi's view, the fire in this night, and his hometown Kubing County, every year on the birthday festival, the fireworks are so similar, they are so dazzling, so poignant, pour a glass of sake, drink it all, Nanyun's face, show a smile.

"Bang bang bang!" The sound of knocking on the cabin door woke up Nagumo Tadaichi, who was in a state of obscenity, from a wonderful fantasy, and was interrupted from his beautiful imagination, which is always a big thing to spoil the scenery, but His Excellency, who was in an extremely happy mood, did not care, perhaps, he needed someone to share his joy at this time.

"Please come in!" Nagumo Tadaichi shouted softly, the hatch opened, and Rear Admiral Kobayashi Hideizumi, Chief of Staff of the Task Force, Rear Admiral Yoshitomo Tani, Commander of the Fleet Aviation, and Yohei Kono, Director of Fleet Intelligence, came together with rain.

Nanyun Zhongyi said with a smile: "You are so interested, on a stormy night, when you visit this commander, are you asking for a few glasses of sake to drink?" "The old-fashioned and wooden Commander Nagumo, making such a joke is an unprecedented thing in the Imperial Navy, so it can be seen that His Excellency Commander Nagumo's mood is very happy.

It's a pity that the first joke of Commander Nagumo's life was not understood by the three ruddy subordinates with glowing eyes and feverish cheeks, let alone a smile that echoed it.

Rear Admiral Kobayashi Hidezumi, chief of staff of the fleet, tried his best to suppress his excited tone and said: "Your Excellency Commander, I'm really sorry for the interruption in the middle of the night, I have an important matter to report, just thirty minutes ago, we received a piece of information that we discovered the specific location of the aircraft carrier formation of the US Pacific Fleet!" ”

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

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