The fact that the German armoured forces swept through the area south of Moscow like a whirlwind, regaining the feeling of galloping on the battlefield, which was exciting news for the Germans, because the rapid breakthrough also meant that the Germans would not suffer heavy casualties in the battle.

At about the same moment, on the calm waters of the Pacific Ocean, a Japanese aircraft carrier was breaking the waves. A row of brand-new Zero fighters on the deck showed that the aircraft carrier had just received supplies and was at the peak of its combat effectiveness. In the distance, escort warships are accompanying the aircraft carrier.

Farther away from the parallel parts of the ships, the shadow of a huge warship nearly shrouded a destroyer next to it, a behemoth over 250 meters long, probably the largest warship ever built by man, and it looked like it could overwhelm all opponents in terms of momentum.

General Koga Mineichi lowered the telescope in his hand on the bridge of this supership. Anyway, the admirals liked to look at their fleets with binoculars in this way - I don't know who started to use this method of posturing, but this action was well inherited by the commanders of the navies of various countries.

At this time, he couldn't help but sigh for a while, because the Combined Fleet was no longer comparable to its heyday. The continuous attrition caused the Combined Fleet to lose a large number of naval ships, and the number of ships in his hands was now very different from the number of ships commanded by Yamamoto Isoroku in his heyday.

If two years ago, if he could command the Japanese Combined Fleet and become the commander of the most powerful fleet of the Japanese army, then he could be described as complacent. But now, in the face of the mountain-like pressure from the US Navy, his current mood can only be evaluated by walking on thin ice.

As the saying goes, if you don't know the price of firewood and rice, Koga Mineichi, who was on an errand in China, had always been a representative of the navy's young Zhuang faction before he took over the United Fleet. He advocated an active counterattack, dispatching the fleet

But when poor Koga Mineichi had to take over command from Marshal Yamamoto Fifty-six and become the new commander of the Combined Fleet. The Combined Fleet, which had suffered heavy losses in the Battle of the Solomons, was no longer capable of counterattacking at all, and Isoroku Yamamoto was ordered to hand over command and return to China to report on his duties, which seemed to be a better destination.

After taking over the command of the Combined Fleet, Koga Mineichi had planned a full-scale counterattack, but when he learned about the losses suffered by the Combined Fleet, he had no choice but to abandon the impatient plan and continue to pursue the policy of "avoiding war and moving forward" in accordance with the rest and recuperation plan drawn up by Yamamoto Isoroku.

His policy apparently aroused the resentment of the army and the navy junior faction. These people believe that they should fight to the death with the US military, rather than hiding in Tibet and dying in the vast Pacific Ocean. At first, this argument was firmly resisted by senior generals such as Nagumo Tadaichi, but when more and more islands in Southeast Asia were lost, the base camp also stood on this point of view - they hoped that Koga Mineichi could revive the combined fleet and defeat the main American fleet in a naval battle, so that Japan could regain the initiative in the war.

Why was the opinion of the army supported by the Japanese base camp? Because the army's General Ishihara Waner won several successive encounters near Vladivostok, compressing Chuikov's forces to the vicinity of Vladivostok. The victory on land gave the Army a big face, so they spoke loudly over the Admiralty. In the end, Koga Mineichi also had to consider the idea of the main battle faction that supported him behind him, and he couldn't continue to avoid the war against his original proposition.

So no matter how much Koga Mineichi, the unlucky new commander of the Combined Fleet, prevaricated, he could only assemble and dispatch again with the Combined Fleet. The good news is that because of the accumulation of a long time, his fleet fuel is very sufficient, and the newly replenished pilots have also accumulated a lot of flying experience, which can be regarded as regaining a certain combat effectiveness.

On the other hand, some time ago, the Japanese Navy carried out a large-scale suicide attack on the US Navy by forming a Sakura suicide plane attack team with flight cadets. They piloted fighter jets to directly reload the US Navy warship, causing a huge panic among the US Navy soldiers for a while.

This time, Koga also brought a large number of suicide planes, and he hoped to use this method to sink as many American warships as possible and complete a Jedi counterattack against the US Navy. Because of the abundance of time, this time the Japanese suicide plane was not an ordinary aircraft, but a modified special model.

Some of the fuel tanks were banned, more explosives were loaded, and the entire plane was like a manned guided bomb, and if it hit a U.S. warship, the damage would be even greater. This was also the last time the Japanese Navy gave it a go, because they had already pressed all their money.

"Your Excellency, General! The patrol reconnaissance plane has sent back the news, but there is still no trace of the American fleet. An operational staff officer stood behind Koga Mineichi with the telegram record in his hand: "The alert destroyer fleet in front did not find the reconnaissance American plane passing by. ”

Koga Feng narrowed his eyes and thought carefully for a few seconds, he knew that the position of the fleet was quite safe now, and if he continued to go south along this route, he would soon enter the activity area of the main force of the American fleet, which was the battlefield he chose this time, and the position of his decisive battle with the US Navy.

The Japanese army had an island airfield in this area of water, which could take off about 200 planes to provide naval support, and although these ground aviation planes were clumsy and weak when attacking naval ships, they were barely able to help provide some anti-aircraft firepower, which Koga Mineichi valued very much.

Another reason for choosing this place is that the neighborhood has just been occupied by the US military, and the other side should not have time to build an airfield on the island. This was able to gain the advantage of 200 army aviation planes for the Japanese army, which was obviously a good way to take advantage of the situation compared to a head-to-head confrontation with the United States.

Since the Japanese Navy's aircraft carriers Kaga and Akagi were sunk by the U.S. Navy, the Japanese Navy has never been able to compete with the U.S. Navy in terms of the number of aircraft carriers. However, all this has now been alleviated, and the shipyard in the rear has been working day and night, and finally the two aircraft carriers Shozuru and Zuizuru have been launched ahead of schedule, becoming the new maritime pillars of the Japanese Navy.

And the fleet of new battleships that Yamamoto had been looking forward to also reached its peak in the hands of Koga Mineichi. With the launch of the battleship Yamato and the completion of the conversion of the Kongo-class battlecruisers, the Japanese Navy had a formidable fleet of battleships. This is another reason why Koga Mineichi finally had the courage to drive the fleet out and fight the Americans to the death.

The new pride of the current Japanese Navy is the super battleship Yamato at the foot of Koga Mine. As the flagship of the Combined Fleet, this warship may have the best performance and data in the world. As a battleship, it had the largest caliber main gun in the world, a total of 9 460 mm heavy guns. This firepower was enough for it to destroy any enemy warship that came within its range, not even the U.S. Navy's Iowa-class battleships still under construction on the slipway.

The flagship of the Combined Fleet was followed by four Kongo-class battlecruisers, which were modernized and modified to be more advanced than the battleships used by the U.S. Navy. In terms of combat performance, the Japanese battleships have always had an overwhelming superiority, and in terms of the tradition and experience of artillery warfare, the US Navy is not at all a match for the Japanese Navy.

This time, Koga Mineichi's basic operational tactics were: The air force was only responsible for fighting for air supremacy, using suicide planes to interfere with the US Navy's operations, and finally narrowing the distance between the two armies, relying on the absolute superiority of the battleships to crush the US Navy with artillery bombardment tactics in one fell swoop.

In fact, there is still a debate within the Japanese Navy about whether battleships are the main force of the navy or aircraft carriers are the main force of the navy. Most of the senior Japanese admirals had a very deep affection for battleships, and it was simply impossible for them to compromise and then recognize the status of aircraft carriers in a short time.

And the vast number of officers and men in the middle and lower ranks also felt that battleships with strong ships and sharp guns were the real mainstay of the navy. This is also related to the promotion system of the Japanese Navy, all senior naval officers are selected from battleship posts, and the status of officers who have not been on battleships is relatively marginal, so in orthodoxy, the Japanese Navy is dominated by battleship factions.

Of course, from another aspect, in fact, this is inextricably linked to the situation of the Japanese Navy at the present stage: Who dares to say that naval aviation is the main force of the Navy? After several defeats, the naval aviation has been beaten all over the ground by US planes, and now it is said that the air force is the main force, does it not mean that the Japanese Navy has been defeated?

Therefore, these officers of the main battle did not admit that the main force of the Japanese Navy had suffered heavy losses, and they believed that the battleships were the main force of the navy, so that they could leave everyone with hope: Our main fleet is still there, and it can still fight! As for how to fight the remaining battleships in naval battles, that is the matter of the Combined Fleet itself, and it has nothing to do with them.

It's not a bunch of lunatics making a fool of themselves, it's the cards in their hands that limit everyone's tactical thinking. If the Japanese naval aviation could still be as sharp as it was at the beginning of the war, this argument that battleships are kings may not exist long ago.

Thinking of this, Koga Feng shook his head consciously, and then looked at the distant sea again: "Let the fleet continue to move forward, and all reconnaissance planes and outpost warships will be on alert! Once the US fleet is discovered, report to me immediately!"