Chapter 623: Tachi and Wakizashi (Part 2)

"Boom!"

"Ah...ah..."

"Well done! Well done!"

"The sound is at least Nagato-level firing!"

"Hit me hard like this!"

At dawn on September 5th, the remnants of the Japanese soldiers who were surviving in the caves of Tarawa ignored the deafening sound of artillery and were not worried about their situation at all. They cheered like crazy demons - I don’t know if it was a hysterical vent or a wanton after eating human flesh. Crazy, in short, their eyes are all blood red now, looking extremely scary.

Horikichi, who was in charge of the Musashi, looked coldly at Tarawa, which was shrouded in a metal storm, and then at the North Carolina standing alone in the distance, with its superstructure blown into ruins, and asked: " Have all the reconnaissance planes been dispatched?”

"All 36 water reconnaissance aircraft were dispatched, and the guerrilla fleet conducted separate reconnaissance without interference from each other."

"Very good!" He nodded with satisfaction, "Now we will clearly tell the Americans the location and see if Nimitz comes to bomb..."

The main force of Tsukahara's mobile fleet is 300 kilometers southeast of Tarawa. Some of the Zero Combat Modifications with auxiliary fuel tanks have taken off first - they will be used to cover the artillery fleet, and the second batch of takeoffs will be fleet direct cover aircraft. His mood was very calm, and he was not at all nervous as before the war.

Everyone on the bridge of the Essex was busy, and the communications staff hurriedly sent a telegram to Halsey: "Sir, the enemy is attacking Tarawa."

"Has the reconnaissance plane discovered anything?"

"We are dispatched, but we haven't reported the enemy situation yet."

"Are there any reports of enemy air attacks on Tarawa?"

The other party shook his head: "Not yet!"

Halsey was a little disappointed and fell into thought.

"Should we dispatch carrier-based aircraft of Fleet A to attack? They are only more than 200 kilometers away from the enemy and have not been discovered by the enemy yet."

"No! Wait a moment and let Fleet A prepare to attack, but don't move yet. Our target is the enemy aircraft carrier."

After Halsey issued the order, he turned his attention to Nimitz, who nodded in agreement with the idea.

But 15 minutes later, the communications staff handed over an urgent telegram: "The defenders reported that thousands of artillery pieces with a caliber of more than 5 inches fired at them. They were unable to withstand them and suffered heavy losses..."

There was a sudden silence in the bridge, and no one dared to imagine this scene.

Thousands of guns are definitely an exaggeration. Since some ships have to escort the mobile fleet, the actual number of naval guns used by the Japanese army for bombardment is only more than 300. However, because there are battleships with main guns of more than 15 inches in caliber mixed in between, four more ships The heavy cruiser's 203mm naval gun opened fire, and the entire Tarawa was plunged into a sea of ​​fire.

As for the Japanese aircraft attack that Nimitz expected, there was no trace - the Japanese army was not the US military, and Tsukahara would not use precious carrier-based aircraft to support the landing troops. Artillery fire and the heavy bombers on Tuvalu were enough to deal with it. The U.S. military.

Time passed by minute by minute, and everyone on the bridge of the Essex looked helpless.

You can imagine the suffering deep in their hearts. The Japanese army in Tarawa has sufficient and complete underground fortifications, but the US military now has nothing. Some time ago, it mainly focused on repairing the airport. In the past two days, even if the focus has turned to the construction of fortifications, There were only foxholes and trenches dug out urgently. At most, there were some Japanese bunkers that had not been completely destroyed. Some people even hid on the abandoned USS North Carolina, but even this could not accommodate a complete Marine regiment strength.

Only by putting yourself in their shoes and changing positions can you understand how difficult it was for the Japanese army to survive and defend themselves under U.S. artillery fire.

Summer dawns early, and the sky is already clear at 6:25. For the Pacific Fleet, the situation is a bit bad:

At 6:55, the first bad news came. The Marine Regiment lost nearly 20% of its strength in the artillery attack, and they reported that Japanese transport ships and landing ships were moving forward, and there seemed to be a landing attempt;

At 7:18, the second bad news came. The position of Fleet A was discovered by a Japanese water reconnaissance aircraft. Although the air defense fighters tried their best, the distressed US military found that water reconnaissance aircraft like the Ar-372 ran extremely fast. The F4F fighter After chasing for 15 minutes at the fastest speed, they still did not reach the combatable distance, and the Japanese military message was sent out in detail.

"Sir, reconnaissance plane No. 3 reported that it discovered an enemy fleet, 6 aircraft carriers, suspected to be light aircraft carriers, and some light warships, located 230 kilometers east of Tarawa."

Tsukahara smiled slightly: "The enemy is out, let's attack!"

"Get ready to attack!" Mizuo Fuchida immediately executed the order.

Ryunosuke Kusaka was very happy at first, but after a moment he suddenly came to his senses: "Sir, isn't this right? The enemy only has light aircraft carriers, not regular aircraft carriers?"

"The enemy's fox tail is exposed. They must still have a force with a regular aircraft carrier, but let's ignore it for now. The carrier-based aircraft will take off normally. If any are discovered, they can also change the attack route midway." Tsukahara smiled, "How can there be Is there any reason not to eat the mosquitoes that come to your doorstep, no matter how small they are?”

A bunch of staff couldn't help but snicker. In the eyes of the commander, the six light aircraft carriers are just mosquito legs?

Judging from the relative position at this time, the mobile fleet was about 400 kilometers away from Fleet A and still 750 kilometers away from Nimitz's Fleet B. It could neither detect the opponent nor even exceed the attack distance.

At 7:23, the third piece of bad news poured into the Essex. The Japanese bombed the island, but they were not carrier-based aircraft, but all land-based 4-engine bombers. As for the model, everyone knew it-mainly B -17 and B-24.

Halsey took a deep breath: "Sir, Fleet A may be forced to attack, and the enemy may have dispatched carrier-based aircraft to deal with them..."

"Then let's attack..." Nimitz sighed, almost wanting to cry. The planned out-of-sight attack was that Fleet A would first attack the Japanese fleet on the beach and then escape, allowing the Japanese carrier-based aircraft to pounce; at the same time, use The advantage of the airport on Tarawa Island for landing and the reconnaissance field of view found the Japanese fleet, and then the B Fleet, which was ambushed, was ready to attack. The entire routine is almost inseparable from the tactics used in the Battle of Midway. The Japanese army was exposed earlier than Midway. Unfortunately, these layouts were completely ruined due to the incompetence of their own pilots - the A fleet that set out before the adventure could not escape. The fate of being discovered.

"Six light aircraft carriers, the cost is not small." Horikichi smiled after receiving the telegram, "I believe Tsukahara-kun can handle it. This is an appetizer before the meal, and there is a big meal waiting for us."

Only then did he realize that Nimitz had stronger capital: not counting the unusable aircraft on Tarawa, Nimitz's A fleet had 178 aircraft, and B fleet had 213 aircraft, adding up to nearly 400 aircraft, and the entire coalition had 178 aircraft. The fleet actually has only 259 carrier-based aircraft, and Tuvalu has captured and added less than 30 aircraft, which is actually less than the US military.

But the difference in pilot quality is huge. Not to mention that all the carrier-based aircraft pilots in the mobile fleet are experienced in many battles. Even the newly added Japanese land-based pilots in Tuvalu are much more experienced than the rookies of US carrier-based aircraft.

By this time, Minoru Genda and Ryunosuke Kusaka finally realized the correctness of attacking Tuvalu: If they did not fight, our side would have 30 fewer available aircraft, but the US military would have more than 100 more aircraft. The situation is completely reversed.

An even bigger benefit of attacking Tuvalu is the seizure of more than 20,000 tons of very valuable, high-octane aviation gasoline. This is just drizzle for the US military, but it is a real help in times of need for the mobile fleet. When fighting Panama in Europe, the combined fleet used the highest grade C3 fuel of German HNA, using high-grade fuel. They no longer want to use Japan’s inferior fuel, which cannot even reach the level of German B4. However, after a lot of trouble in Australia and New Zealand, only half of the high-grade C3 fuel is left. With the US military’s more than 20,000 tons of aviation fuel, At the end, the mobile fleet was immediately resurrected with full health.

No wonder Horikichi gave courtesy treatment to the surrendered U.S. troops: medical treatment and decent meals were provided, and the captured officers were even given separate cabins - Major Mike really made a great contribution to the United Fleet!

The U.S. military also had troubles that they couldn't tell. They didn't know that 20,000 tons of fuel, which they didn't care about at all, were worth a Mutsu in the eyes of the senior officers of the Combined Fleet. Of course, this was the idea of ​​the naval aviation faction. It was replaced by the fleet faction. Be sure to yell.

"Quick! Quick!...Attack!"

Compared with the chaotic situation on the US Fleet A, the take-off process of the mobile fleet is full of rhythmic beauty: the Zuihe catapult will load the torpedoes, and the heaviest Tianshan will be launched into the sky one after another. On the Shokaku next to you, the Comet Kais carrying aerial bombs took off one after another. If you look closely, you will find that the take-off angle, take-off rhythm and time of each Comet Kai are almost exactly the same, almost like they were copied from the same pattern—— Those who can fly the comet are the veterans of veterans, the elite of the elite.

At the same time, Zero War Kai, which was serving as a cover, had taken off simultaneously using the deck of the Bolzano light aircraft carrier.

25 minutes after receiving the order to attack, 28 Tianshan Kais and 34 Comet Kais rushed toward the northeast under the cover of 32 Zero War Kais. Except for the 54 Zero War Kais that covered the artillery formation at the Tarawa beach, Tsukahara only retained for himself 32 Zero-fighting direct cover aircraft and nearly 20 Tianshan and Comet modifications - this was because the German aircraft were relatively strong and the number was sufficient, and the Japanese army also learned to carry aircraft on the deck. Otherwise, according to the original routine, the two large and three small aircraft carrier hangars cannot accommodate 259 carrier-based aircraft.

Minoru Genda was a little confused about Tsukahara's approach of not sending out all the planes, and asked Ryunosuke Kusaka softly why: "Sir, didn't you emphasize full-deck sorties before?".

"Six light aircraft carriers don't need so many aircraft to deal with them. If the enemy's main force is reported midway, this wave of aircraft can play a greater role in conjunction with the guerrilla fleet - Tsunoda-kun has too few aircraft."

Genda Minoru immediately nodded with deep understanding.