Iron Cross

"Quick, quick, get back to the Joint Chiefs of Staff..." Nimitz immediately ran to the door, with Spruance following closely behind.

Spruance, who was running halfway, realized that Turner had not followed, and suddenly yelled: "Turner, what the hell are you doing standing there, let's go together, are you still not a navy?"

"You can call the duty room from my place and ask them to send a telegram to ask William first, and then you can go back to the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

"Yes, yes, I'm so anxious!" Nimitz immediately called the Joint Chiefs of Staff in three steps at a time.

Spruance blamed Turner: "Why didn't you remind me just now?"

Turner shrugged: "You ran so fast, it was too late for me to call you."

After hearing the very stern call from Nimitz, the staff did not dare to neglect and immediately sent the telegram to Halsey for advice. Spruance looked at the time and saw that it was almost 1 a.m., and finally there was still some time. . But Turner reassured him that there was no need to worry - this is Washington time, and there is a 5-hour time difference from Halsey (both refer to the actual time difference).

Nimitz also breathed a sigh of relief. What he just said was quite scary. Since there is still time, he should sit down and have a cup of coffee before leaving. Anyway, Halsey still needs time to think and reply.

"How did you come up with the idea of ​​a night attack?" Spruance asked Turner. "A night air attack on a city is barely plausible. An air attack on a fleet is unheard of, and there are very few cases of battleships fighting at night."

During World War II, Cunningham pioneered the night attack on Taranto, and later relied on the advantage of radar to engage in a fleet battle in the night battle at Cape Matapan, severely defeating the Italian Navy. These were all inspiring, and a large number of night attacks followed, especially Japan used it to the extreme - two strikes at Pearl Harbor, New York, Seattle, and three strikes at Panama. Therefore, it is completely impossible that Spruance and others did not think about this aspect, but he and Nimitz held the same view. It was unimaginable to search for a fleet hundreds of kilometers away in normal times, and it was unheard of to find it accurately at night, so he thought about it This possibility has been ruled out for the time being.

Unfortunately, the feeling of uneasiness could not be eliminated, so I asked Turner for advice.

"Because..." Turner smiled awkwardly, "Have you forgotten? I was beaten at night..."

The reason why he thought of the night attack was not only inspired by the second attack on Pearl Harbor, but also the emotion of being bitten by a snake and being afraid of well ropes for ten years - during the Battle of Cape Verde, the Atlantic Fleet was accurately attacked by German heavy bombers at night. I was fooled. At that time, the escort carriers were sunk one after another because of infrared guided bombs. This was a very important factor in ultimately losing the Battle of Cape Verde.

"Although everyone knows that the night attack on the Cape Verde fleet was carried out by heavy bombers, and they believe that only such aircraft have the ability to carry radar and be used in combat, you should not forget that nearly a year has passed since the Battle of Cape Verde, and the performance of the radar It's a big improvement. Didn't the Navy also install radar on TBM to conduct carrier-based early warning aircraft? If we can do this, why doesn't Germany do it? Once Germany has it, Japan also has it - the Japanese Navy is still doing its best to carry out night attacks. You will never forget the legend of the 'Cat-Eye Warrior', right?"

Nimitz and Spruance believed deeply in this: The aircraft night attack fleet was an innovation of the German army, and Japan had not yet demonstrated it. However, from the Battle of Cape Verde to the present, Japan and Germany had such close exchanges that it was difficult to guarantee that they would not have the same tactics - —Don’t be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the unexpected!

"Then what's the best way to deal with it now?"

"Slow down, increase the distance, and don't turn around for the time being. I think it is safer to hang around 900 kilometers."

While helping clean up the charts that had been messed up by coffee spills, Nimitz complimented Witner: "I found that your command skills have improved after you retired."

Turner shrugged: "It's not about the position, it's purely a matter of consideration, and it's not constrained by non-military factors. Don't you two think that the damn politics and the position of the Joint Chiefs of Staff can drive people to death? For example, in this battle, According to me, William shouldn't go out to fight - the main force of the combined fleet is stronger than him, and the Japanese organized a large fleet without saying a word. He is fighting almost twice as many enemies as himself. You know better than me the quality of pilots, and pursuit is really the last resort. But if you are in the position of the navy and the fleet, why don’t you pursue it? Even if I hadn’t retired, I would have ordered the pursuit!”

Spruance and Nimitz both had very complicated expressions on their faces: they had experienced the embarrassment described by Turner in the first week after arriving in Washington, but what could they do if they experienced it? You don't have to bite the bullet.

People are in the arena and cannot help themselves.

Turner sighed: "So I envy Horikichi, he does whatever he says... We... ugh... forget it... Generals Kim, Marshall, and Arnold are all hospitalized. If this continues, we won't wait until this... After the war, most of the people in the Joint Chiefs of Staff have to go to the hospital...this fucking system!"

Halsey and McCain were planning with their staff how to design the reconnaissance route and how to arrange the offensive echelon early tomorrow morning. Unexpectedly, an urgent telegram came from Washington, warning that the Japanese army might launch a night attack and asking for countermeasures. Halsey was also stunned. McCain stood up with a solemn expression and walked around the bridge several times. After careful consideration, he decided that the possibility could not be ruled out.

Preventing night attacks is very troublesome. Even if you know that the enemy is coming, it is extremely difficult to defend against it. Combat interception is a very complicated matter for night fighters, not to mention that there are not many pilots in the US military who can fly night fighters.

In contrast, it is not easy for the Japanese army to find the US fleet at night, but it is possible after all - a small formation of 1-2 warships is certainly difficult to find, but TF50 has a total of 14 aircraft carriers and nearly Hundreds of other light warships, as long as they are touched by the Japanese army, can quickly follow the clues and chase them.

On the Katsuragi, Chiaki Matsuda was also asking Horikichi for advice: "Sir, you just said that you have it, so you must have a countermeasure. If the enemy army really advances in a group, what is the most advantageous way to fight tomorrow?"

"Go and fight two Essex-class ships." Horikichi explained his idea, "Deploy 48 elite ships to attack at night! If necessary, attack to the death!"

"Night attack?" Chiaki Matsuda and the staff looked at each other, not knowing how to use this tactic - the fleet had practiced night attacks on fixed targets several times, but it was unheard of to attack the fleet at night.

"It is not difficult to attack the enemy fleet at night. What is difficult is to find the enemy fleet. Relying on technological advancement, I finally have some other methods."

Horikichi walked to the chart and asked someone to draw a 600-kilometer search circle centered on the meeting point of the decoy fleet and Tsunoda fleet and elaborated on the combat plan: "If the enemy wants to launch an attack early the next day, the location cannot be too far away. It must be within this range, and due to the course and speed of the enemy fleet tonight, the enemy fleet's position should be within the narrow range of 25 degrees to 165 degrees. Then all reconnaissance aircraft with night reconnaissance capabilities are released for repeated operations. search."

Ye Caiyun and Ye Ruiyun (Ar-472 water reconnaissance) are both equipped with radars at this time, which can detect warships within a range of 120 kilometers. Especially after Ye Caiyun is equipped with radar, the range and speed have dropped a lot, but the air endurance is still as high as 10 For more than an hour, it is more than enough to hold on until dawn. The advantage of Ye Ruiyun is that it does not have to worry about returning home. If necessary, it can run out of fuel and float on the sea to wait for other companions to send fuel.

According to Horikichi's idea, the above-mentioned area will be searched and monitored repeatedly from 1 am. As long as the US fleet is here, I believe the probability of finding the enemy is not small. In addition, both reconnaissance aircraft have radar wave warning receiving equipment. I expect that the US military will use radar to repeatedly search the sea surface at night, which can also increase the probability of discovery.

After discovering the specific location, Ye Caiyun continued to track the enemy fleet and informed the attack team - Horikichi believed that the elite pilots could find the correct location and attack it. There is no need to fight them all. As long as the take-off and landing capabilities of the two Essex-class ships are abolished, this battle will basically be won. As for a desperate attack, it is a last resort. Since ancient times, Ci has never been in charge of troops, and Horikichi is no exception.

"It's a pity that the level of the Empire's submarine force is too far behind that of Germany. If there was a capable submarine force ambushing the above-mentioned location and luring the US military to pursue it, I'm afraid there would be killings all over the place tonight, wouldn't it? - Isn't it true that the German army relied on submarines to fight the South Atlantic naval battle? Win? Don’t be dissatisfied, as long as you can win!

To put it bluntly, so many reconnaissance planes did not detect the enemy fleet at night, at least at dawn, they can switch to visual search. Our army sent out reconnaissance planes first, which were faster than the enemy. In theory, the opponent should be discovered earlier! In an aircraft carrier fleet battle, the most important thing is to discover and attack the enemy first! "

Everyone nodded together. Although the night attack tactics have never been practiced before, they are quite confident based on the logic explained by the commander just now. As for the 48 elite naval attack aircraft, I believe Tsunoda can draw them - many of them have participated in Pearl Harbor. The elite backbone of the battle, and even more of them participated in the South Pacific naval battle.

Matsuda Chiaki finally understood why the commander valued and protected elite pilots so much and was willing to trade very precious ships for US military crews. At critical moments, the combat effectiveness that elite pilots can exert is not one for ten or one for a hundred, but one for one. thousand!

Horikichi said with emotion: "Many of these tactical details were summarized by Ozawa-kun and the advisory team. I have benefited a lot from them. I suggest you study hard. They work in Germany, which combines the command capabilities and combat capabilities of our Imperial Navy. Applying experience into practice to help German allies fight, isn't it a process of absorbing good experience and practices from the Germans and exploring the application of new equipment and tactics? First, I cannot agree with you! The first is made by fighting, not by boasting, and it is not self-proclaimed! Being complacent and complacent will inevitably lead to falling behind. The head of state summed up an interesting saying: For generals, The happiest thing is to have German equipment, Japanese soldiers, and American logistics. It is difficult to lose even if you want to have all three. Japan does not have the equipment and scientific research strength of Germany, nor the economic and logistical capabilities of the United States. It can only If you work hard on your soldiers, you must work hard to learn new skills and never be proud. On the other hand, you must dare to fight hard, even if you don't dare to risk your life. What future does Japan have? "

After thinking for a while, he added uneasily: "It is said to be desperate, but it is achieved on the basis of respecting everyone. It will never be a wasteful death or unnecessary sacrifice for the officers and soldiers. I hope you will deeply understand the difference between desperate and desperate. In the future, Please use caution when leading troops, please!”

Everyone bowed together: "Sir's teachings and humble duties must be remembered forever."