Five Hundred and Eighty-Three Battle of Wake Island

On the calm sea, an American destroyer broke through the waves. The sea breeze blew the flag on the battleship, whistling. The sailors nervously looked up at the sky, clutching the adjustment wheel on the artillery in their hands, waiting for the enemy to appear.

A few minutes ago, the fleet sounded the air defense alarm. The encounter with the Japanese navy fleet was inevitable, and the moment of decisive battle had officially arrived. The U.S. Navy gathered all the forces he could find to defend Wake Island to the death, while the Japanese Navy also took out its old roots and prepared to fight the U.S. military on Wake Island.

"Plane! Japanese plane!" A sailor pointed to the sky and reminded his companion loudly. He was standing on a tall observation tower, and this tower was set near the top of the destroyer's mast.

The sailor is carrying a high-power binoculars. His duty is to watch the sea, give early warning and instruct his comrades to attack incoming enemy planes. Today's weather is very good, cloudless and clear with little wind, so he spotted the densely packed Japanese navy attack aircraft fleet flying over from a long distance.

"My God! So many?" A bearded veteran looked at the sky that seemed to be covered with dark clouds, and murmured. Above his head, at least 30 Japanese planes were flying towards the core of the American fleet without the slightest intention of diving.

"Fire!" With an order, the cannons on the American destroyer began to roar, and shells flew into the sky one after another, and exploded at the predetermined height, turning into clusters of gorgeous fireworks. The Japanese Zero aircraft interspersed among these artillery fires seemed to be molesting the shooters of the American anti-aircraft anti-aircraft guns, which was very annoying.

"Aim! Don't mess! Keep shooting according to the divided area! Don't give the Japanese planes a space to dive! Quick! Fire!" The air defense commander stood on the open-air air defense command bridge and ordered loudly, and beside him, U.S. soldiers with 12.7 mm caliber machine guns kept shooting into the sky, aiming desperately at a Japanese torpedo attack aircraft.

The Japanese planes didn't mean to dive and attack at all. They aimed at important targets behind these destroyers, so they didn't have time to waste their energy on these small destroyers. Nagumo Chuichi's idea is very simple, that is, to sink the last US aircraft carrier in one go, and avenge the war off the Philippines.

In the rear, on the bridge of the Japanese Navy's Akagi aircraft carrier, Chuichi Nagumo and General Yamamoto Fifty-Six were analyzing the current fighting situation between the two sides. The entire bridge was extremely busy, many radio stations were ticking, and some major and lieutenant officers were analyzing the information transmitted from various aspects.

"The water reconnaissance plane launched from the battleship King Kong discovered the US fleet in this area. I ordered the first wave of attacking troops to take off 15 minutes ago to search and attack this area. The information sent back by the pilot plane just confirmed that the US fleet The fleet is attacking one of the battleships." Nagumo pointed to the map and introduced the current fighting situation to Yamamoto.

In fact, the flagship of Yamamoto Fifty-Six,

That is, the flagship of the United Fleet is the new battleship Nagato launched by the Japanese Navy in 1922. However, because Yamamoto saw the future combat capabilities of the aircraft carrier in the battle of the German Navy's aircraft carrier fleet challenging the sea power of the British Empire, he often put the command Moved to Nagumo Chuichi's Akagi.

Yamamoto soon fell in love with the spacious warship of the aircraft carrier. The straight and spacious deck is easy to make people feel relaxed and happy. Even better, the aircraft carrier can easily provide a larger command room and an officer lounge for Yamamoto to enjoy. , Compared with battleships, the software and hardware are not inferior.

He knew that at this moment several Japanese battleships had begun to search and attack forward, approaching the fleet of the U.S. Navy. However, it was obvious that the reaction speed and advance speed of the carrier-based aircraft were better. His battleship fleet had not sent back any news. And the carrier-based aircraft in Nan Yunzhong's hand has already begun to attack.

"Nagumo-kun, in the future naval battles, the aircraft carrier fleet will definitely occupy a place. The future of the Imperial Navy depends on the commander of the air fleet like you." Yamamoto Fifty-Six is ​​a typical bureaucratic command, let him coordinate Predicting the trend of the battle is definitely a genius-level expert, but it is not his strong point to let him command the front-line fleet to fight directly.

The entire United Fleet is now almost in chaos, and the landing fleet is approaching Wake Island, but the battleship that was originally scheduled to support the landing force was transferred to other sea areas by Yamamoto's order to search for the fleet that attacked the United States. As a result, the landing troops suffered heavy losses on the beachhead, but they still failed to achieve the results they deserved.

Chuichi Nagumo's carrier-based aircraft performed well and saved some points for the Japanese Navy. His aircraft was attacking the U.S. Navy fleet. Relying on the excellent performance and ultra-long range of the Zero fighter jets, the Japanese Navy launched it earlier than the U.S. Navy. attacked.

Just when Yamamoto mobilized his huge combined fleet in a slightly chaotic manner, the U.S. Navy was already suffering terribly. All the carrier-based fighter jets on the Saratoga aircraft carrier took off, and got entangled with the Japanese fighter jets that came in the air. However, the number of Japanese planes was much more than that of the US military, and the Army Aviation could not draw out troops in time. Come to support, so the U.S. Navy can only rely on itself now.

It is obviously not an easy task to deal with more and more Japanese aircraft by yourself. After all, although there are three battleships that have just been repaired in the US fleet, these battleships have internal injuries. The anti-aircraft firepower of battleships is not perfect.

To put it bluntly, this seemingly huge American fleet has a bit of patchwork in it. In fact, 80% of the U.S. Navy's strength is already here, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a patchwork fleet. It's just that this pieced together fleet will soon pay the price for its helpless actions.

The battleship Nevada was first hit by a Japanese torpedo, and then its speed was completely slowed down. The Japanese planes in the sky swooped down like flies smelling a fishy smell. After only half an hour, the battleship Nevada was seriously injured by Japanese planes and was about to sink.

And shortly after the battleship Nevada was seriously injured, the US battleship Tennessee was also hit by Japanese planes and ignited a raging fire. In an instant, the US fleet showed the fatigue of being swollen and fat. Several important warships were all out of order for a while and were hit and caught fire. Even the Japanese pilots couldn't believe that they could easily destroy such a huge ship. of the U.S. Fleet.

If it is said that the victory of attacking Pearl Harbor last time, although to a certain extent, the Japanese naval aviation established its own self-confidence, but after all, it was only an attack on a fixed target moored in the port, and it was not considered a regular battle at sea. But this time the situation is different. The Japanese Navy and the U.S. Navy are engaged in a normal battle.

"No way! The number of Japanese aircraft is too many, and their aircraft carriers are at least four times that of ours. We have no room to fight back." The US military commander sighed helplessly, put down his binoculars, and some said unwillingly.

Not far from his battleship, the battleship Nevada was sinking slowly, and the battleship Tennessee had also exploded and twisted, and the fire was soaring into the sky. The American fleet has no room to fight back at all. The morale of the Japanese squadron, which had been boosted by sneak attacks off the coast of the Philippines a few days ago, was once again beaten back to its original shape by the fierce Japanese naval aviation.

The anti-aircraft guns on the American destroyers and cruisers fired crazily into the air, and the tracer bullets made the ballistic trajectory clear in the daytime. However, the number of Japanese planes shot down was pitifully small. Most of the time, American sailors could only watch their friendly fighter jets being brutally killed by Japanese Zero planes one after another.

"How could there be such an aircraft? Its maneuverability is so good, and its speed is so fast?" A U.S. Navy officer complained through a binoculars: "I heard that the German FW-190D fighter jet is very powerful, even more powerful than this aircraft? "

While he was speaking, another Army Aviation fighter P-40 coming to fight was shot down by a Japanese plane. water column.

"My God! Another one was shot down!" He stared at the water column stirred up on the sea surface, his frightened face was full of disbelief. He doesn't quite believe that there is an aircraft more fierce than the Zero fighter of the Japanese Naval Air Force, and he doesn't quite believe that the U.S. Navy can defeat such an opponent today.

"Captain! Telegram!" A non-commissioned officer hurried over and handed a telegram to the US military officer. What was written on it made the US destroyer captain even more frustrated. He looked back in the direction of his fleet, Orders were then issued to rescue as many overboard as possible and then to leave the battlefield.

The content of the telegram was the news that the USS Saratoga aircraft carrier was sunk. The commander of the US Pacific Fleet was killed by a bomb dropped by a Japanese plane and died in his combat post. With the commander's death, the battleship Nevada sank, the battleship Tennessee sank, and the other battleship Oklahoma, which participated in the battle, failed to escape the fate of sinking. Found, sunk on the way to the rout.

With the navy's complete victory, the Japanese landing force finally gained a firm foothold on Wake Island. After a few hours of persistence, the U.S. Army defense force was ordered to lay down its weapons and surrender to the Japanese army. The battle of Wake Island ended here. , The Japanese Navy found the feeling of being invincible at this moment.