Chapter 172 The Fury of the Combined Fleet (3)

"The Japanese Combined Fleet has a new commander? When did this happen?" U.S. Navy Admiral Chester William Nimitz looked at the intelligence and asked, "Is the source reliable?"

"Not long after, there was a huge change in the Japanese cabinet. The former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo resigned, and the former Commander of the Combined Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto, was promoted to Minister of the Navy, and then this person took over Yamamoto's position. The news is reliable. The Russian Ambassador to Japan sent a secret telegram and Sharing it with our country explains the recent political dynamics in Japan.”

"No wonder Japan proposed peace talks not long ago." Nimitz suddenly realized, lowered his head and continued to read the information, "The new commander is named Hori-Ti-Yoshi. Why is this name so weird? Do you have any information about him?"

"Yes, but it was eight years ago..." Colonel White, the intelligence staff officer, looked embarrassed.

"What?" Nimitz said angrily, "What did the intelligence department do?"

"This..." White said sheepishly, "It's not that we don't pay attention to it, but this general's resume is a bit weird - eight years ago he failed in the political struggle and retired from active service and turned to business. We have the manpower and The budgets are very limited, and the active-duty ones are almost overwhelmed, so we can't keep an eye on every retired general, and then we stopped the follow-up observation of him. "

"What?" Nimitz's eyes widened, "You mean, this guy hasn't fought in eight years?"

"Not only has he not fought in the war for 8 years, but he has not returned to the army for 8 years, so there is no follow-up information and files on him at all. Now I have dug out some information from the historical files, and I only know that he and General Yamamoto graduated at the same time. He was ranked higher than Yamamoto at that time. When the London Naval Treaty was signed, he took a cautious view and believed that we could reach a consensus with us. I heard that he had a good personal relationship with Admiral Yamamoto..."

"The Japanese people's thinking is really weird..." Nimitz sighed, "There was still a lot of fighting on the front line, and suddenly they submitted their opinions on peace talks through the Russian ambassador. After all, the combined fleet is the third largest navy in the world. With a powerful force of 100,000 tons of warships, just because this guy has a close relationship with Yamamoto, he easily handed over such an important position to a general who has been retired for 8 years - how can he be in our country without being impeached by the Congress? "

"Sir, isn't this good news for us?"

"Good news? Yes!" Nimitz laughed, "It is indeed good news. I just feel strange about the behavior of the Japanese. Sometimes I really want to open their heads and see what is growing inside."

"Sir, our listening troops on the front line also intercepted a large number of radio signals. Through code deciphering, we found that they mentioned a location code-named WK..."

"Is this Guadalcanal?"

"No! Guadalcanal has another code, which we have always mastered. According to analysis, this WK is probably Port Moresby on the island of New Guinea. Our troops are currently attacking, and the deciphered telegram mentioned that we will be in Port Moresby on the island of New Guinea. It will invest a large number of troops in the ground to carry out counterattack, and at the same time require the navy to provide reliable support to the army, which may be in 3 days... Based on the current intelligence analysis, the only place where Japan has continuously invested heavy troops and shows signs of counterattack is there, where there are already 2 divisions The regiment has nearly 50,000 troops, and General Halsey has been informed of this."

"Continue to follow them and find their flaws."

"Yes, but..." White said hesitantly, "it might be a little difficult."

"What?" Nimitz asked displeased.

"Shortly after deciphering the code, the Japanese suddenly changed the code as a whole, and the radio density was several times higher than before, indicating that they are planning a big move next. Currently, these codes have a German style, which we are not familiar with and cannot decipher..."

"Damn..." Nimitz slammed the table, "This must be the Germans who revealed the news to Japan."

Although the destruction of the super secret was a secret to the outside world, Nimitz knew it very well. Although the super secret itself does not involve Japan, Japan may also be wary because of Germany's mistakes. This is not good news for the United States. It was thanks to the deciphering of Japanese codes that the Battle of Midway achieved such a remarkable success. Now This thread is obviously broken.

"Can you ask the German team for support?"

White shook his head and said helplessly: "The situation of the German team is worse than ours. Half of their experts were killed in the German raid last month. The German code cannot be deciphered at present - they originally expected us to help. They are already looking for and recruiting new cryptography experts, but the most optimistic estimates believe that it will take at least half a year to see results.”

Nimitz's face quickly darkened, and after pondering for a moment, he said: "Send a telegram to General Halsey and let him make the decision to determine the enemy's situation and formulate a combat strategy - this decision cannot be made by us in Washington."

"According to the deciphered telegrams and aircraft reconnaissance results, the Japanese army is preparing for a large-scale attack." At the Australian Frontline Operations Research Conference, the grumpy and "bull" US Navy Vice Admiral Halsey said, "The time is basically sufficient It is confirmed that it will be 3 days later, but the key location of the battle is still unclear. There are currently two speculations: one is that the Japanese will attack Port Moresby; the other is that the Japanese will strengthen the army on Guadalcanal and counterattack. This is not only logical but also consistent with the enemy's current deployment. I want to hear your thoughts - General Nimitz requires us to make independent decisions and severely attack the Japanese fleet."

There was a lot of discussion at the scene, with opinions from all sides, but the conclusion was obvious in summary - I agreed with the commander's judgment and hoped to learn more about the situation.

"More situations are impossible. The road to deciphering codes has been cut off. We can only rely on our wisdom." Halsey walked to the combat map and said, "Moresby is separated from Guadalcanal. 1,500 kilometers away, it is impossible for the Japanese fleet to take care of two directions at the same time. One must be the main attack and the other is a feint, but it is impossible to judge which one is true. However, there is a key point here - whether it is to support Port Moresby. To support Guadalcanal, the main force of the Japanese fleet must pass through the northern part of the Solomon Sea. I am determined to deploy the main force of our navy there to beat them hard. Therefore, I think we should deploy it here.”

He smashed his fist in the southern part of the Middle Solomon Sea, and followed his fist to expand to the left and right wings. The distance from the islands on both wings was about 800 kilometers. Considering that the main combat range of the aircraft carrier formation is 200-300 nautical miles, if it is deployed according to Halsey's order in the middle Solomon Sea between Moresby and Guadalcanal, once the enemy situation is discovered, targeted adjustments can be made quickly. Everyone agreed with the reaction.

"Now, I order: The main aircraft carrier formation will set off tomorrow, maneuver in the southern Solomon Sea and seek combat against the main force of the Japanese navy."

The current main combat forces of the US military are the TF16 aircraft carrier group (the core ship is the USS Enterprise and the USS South Dakota), the TF17 aircraft carrier group (the core ship is the USS Hornet) and the TF64 battleship group (the USS Washington). There are a total of 169 aircraft carriers on the two aircraft carriers. Carrier-based aircraft (72 SBD-3, 27 TBF-1, 70 F4F-4), most of the pilots are veterans who have experienced the Battle of Midway or the Coral Sea, former Midway Battle aircraft carrier Commander Fletcher The Vice Admiral returned home to recuperate, and the fleet is currently commanded by Rear Admiral Thomas Kincaid.

At dawn on November 2, 1942, just one day before Halsey issued the combat order, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, Horitsukichi, who was stationed on the Yamato, issued "Combined Fleet Operation Order No. 341", ordering Tru The fleets near Grammar set off southward. According to the order, the artillery fleet and the mobile fleet took two paths. Among them, the route of the mobile fleet commanded by Lieutenant General Tsukahara 243 was almost a straight line southward, with the purpose of preparing to annihilate the US aircraft carrier fleet northwest of Guadalcanal; Horikichi himself He led the artillery fleet to the southeast, preparing to make a large circle from the northeast of Guadalcanal and then turn to the southeast, with the purpose of bombarding the defenders of Guadalcanal. Finally (on the evening of the 2nd), Mikawa Junichi led the 8th Fleet and some transport ships from Guadalcanal. Baoer set off to prepare for the retreat of the Army's 17th Army currently on Guadalcanal.

On the morning of November 3, the US military fleet arrived in the Central Solomon Sea, approximately 500 kilometers southwest of Guadalcanal, to patrol and prepare to face the Japanese fleet that may appear at any time.

Sitting in the solid command tower of the Yamato, Horikichi was worried: this time he had brought out the main force of the combined fleet and pressed him down. Although he appeared very calm and composed in front of everyone, this was completely disguised to encourage his men. Yes, he had no idea how the battle would develop.

When he parted with Yamamoto before leaving, facing the prospect of the future war situation, he said: "If this Nanyang war does not go well, we should quickly seek peace and seek peace at all costs."

Yamamoto didn't express too much surprise at this. After a moment of silence, he just asked: "What's your bottom line?"

"The British and American colonies in Nanyang have completely given up, and they only want to preserve their pre-war rights and interests in Nanyang; China has completely withdrawn from China, and only wants to retain Manchuria and Mongolia."

"This is going back to the state of 1933." Yamamoto laughed. "In this case, you need to defeat. A small defeat is not enough, but a big defeat."

"A small victory or a small defeat is just lingering and cannot solve the problem. There must be a big victory or a big defeat to find a way out." Horikichi said, "In this way, after a big victory, there is still a glimmer of hope to launch the Indian Ocean strategy with the remaining power of victory, otherwise it is better to surrender early. Forget it, the people will suffer less.”

Yamamoto Isoroku nodded to express his approval of his point of view.

"So." He held Yamamoto Isoroku's hand tightly, "Wait for the news of my triumphant return or committing suicide due to guilt."

"Take care of yourself!"