Iron Cross

At 4:30, it was more than 45 minutes before the sortie. Musashi and Kongo were refueling in an orderly manner. The reconnaissance planes that expanded the search area still found nothing. Kakuji Tsunoda was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He didn’t know who was in the bridge. After turning around for many times, he finally made up his mind and said: "Sir, the reconnaissance plane has not found the enemy ship's position yet. Should we let the attack group take off first? Adjust the final course based on the intelligence in the air?"

Matsuda Chiaki was also extremely anxious, but Horikichi flatly refused this request for instructions in the telegram: "No! Tell Tsunoda to calm down and don't worry! If the night search fails, prepare to switch to visual search, and release Saiun Kai after 4:45."

Matsuda Chiaki said: "Sir, it's okay to release the attack group first. Once regular Caiyun finds the target, this attack group can be used to attack immediately..."

Horikichi shook his head slowly: "What I'm worried about is that the enemy is not there at all. What should I do if I miss him?"

"But the enemy is so fast..."

"What if they turn around after nightfall? What if the enemy also tries to distance themselves from our army?" Horikichi raised a new possibility. A group of staff members immediately rushed to study and concluded that if the US military would turn around after nightfall, After turning around, the maximum possible distance now is 1,100 kilometers - in fact, Halsey is now 930 kilometers away, because he did not use 17 knots to run at high speed, but only used 10 knots to slowly go north.

Not to mention 1,100 kilometers, even 900 kilometers were beyond the combat range of the attack group. Horikichi didn't want to waste his strength in vain, so he asked: "When can we join the second aviation battle?"

"The 200-kilometer coordinated combat circle will be entered after 6 o'clock, and visual distance convergence will be achieved at 9 o'clock. The attack group has now completed preparations."

"Inform Kuwahara-kun to release the reconnaissance plane after 4:45. Pay attention to search more in other directions. Don't rush to attack the group. No torpedoes will be hung in the first round. All members will be bombed!"

After the Second Battle of Pearl Harbor, Horikichi reorganized his troops. The commander of the fifth aviation battle was Lieutenant General Torao Kuwahara, while Miwa Yoshiyu became the chief of staff. Both of them are typical representatives of the aviation faction in the navy. .

Kuwahara Torao is very senior. He is the same as Ozawa Jisaburo in the 37th term, and is 2 terms higher than Tsunoda Kakuji, but the hammock number is further behind Ozawa. However, Kuwahara has a good reputation in the navy and is considered a pioneer of maritime navigation. Japan's first seaplane carrier "Wakamiya Maru" was proposed by him to lay a runway on it and carry aircraft. The use of aviation torpedoes can also be traced back to him. He later served as the captain of the Kasumigaura Flying Squadron, and was the commander of the 3rd Air Force during the Battle of Pearl Harbor. He originally took over Tsukahara's position as China dispatch fleet, but as Japan gradually withdrew from the Chinese battlefield, the navy retreated faster. He returned last year Domestic.

Since he was a member of the aviation faction, Prince Fushimi Miyahiro Kyou didn't like him very much, so he was appointed as the commander of the reserve aviation fleet in charge of training. Now, with the increase in the new aviation fleet, the combined fleet is in urgent need of experienced commanders, especially since most of the pilots who followed Horikichi to the battle this time were brought out by him, so Horikichi simply regarded him as the commander of the second mobile fleet. Officer, coordinating the three-navigation battle and the five-navigation battle.

Miwa Giyu was Yamamoto's adjutant when he was in charge of the Kasumigaura Flying Team, and later became the aviation staff officer of the Combined Fleet. To Horikichi, he was completely one of his own. During the first battle in the Indian Ocean, Yamamoto believed that the Repulse (Prestige-class battlecruiser) was relatively old and brittle and could probably be sunk by aircraft. However, the George V-class Prince of Wales was a newly built battleship after all, and could only be blown up into pieces at best. Miwa Giyu, who formulated the battle plan, repeatedly fought with him, believing that he could completely destroy his opponent. Finally, Yamamoto was forced to bet 10 boxes of beer to prove himself. As a result, both the Counterattack and the Prince of Wales were sunk by Japanese aircraft. Miwa Giyu finally got 10 boxes of beer as he wished - Yamamoto's gamble was pretty good.

Not many people in Japan can beat Isoroku Yamamoto. After all, Horikichi won a house from Yamamoto a long time ago, and Giyuu Miwa won 10 cases of beer - if word spread, they can brag for a lifetime.

In the eyes of many people, the combination of Kuwahara + Miwa is second only to the combination of Tsukahara + Ryunosuke Kusaka, and is stronger than the combination of Tsunoda + Masafumi Arima, especially since Tsunoda took charge of the second aviation battle this time and caused a "fuel cutoff" After the incident, the staff murmured even more, but Horikichi didn't think so. Tsunoda was a tiger general, and he was used as a vanguard officer. Bravery and vigor were the first requirements. Japan will have many air fleets in the future. We need to cooperate to fight a variety of different battles, how can we generalize? It is said that Takeo Kurita is timid and conservative. Isn't it great that he is in charge of the transport fleet? Employers must give full play to their strengths, and don’t be restricted by the number of issues and hammock numbers. Reading books is useless. This is what Horikichi, who is the chief of the 32nd issue, can say. The hammock number system is even more difficult for Yamamoto. Don't dare to challenge openly - after all, he is only No. 7 in the 32nd issue.

At 4:45, the second batch of reconnaissance planes were released. Horikichi was no longer anxious at this time and told everyone: "Since the second and fifth air battles are converging, we should follow the method of attacking Pearl Harbor and prepare to deploy a two-layer interception formation, first decoy. The fleet is in the front, and the second and fifth air battles are in the rear. We will consider changing the formation after the second and fifth air battles are combined. "

Everyone executed it immediately.

"I'm tired. Let's take a nap first. Don't be too nervous. The Americans won't be able to defeat you at once!"

Horikichi could relax and take a nap, but the others didn't even dare to blink for fear of missing something. Time passed minute by minute, including Matsuda Chiaki, Tsunoda Kakuharu, Arima Masafumi, Kuwahara Torao, Miwa Giyu and others. They were extremely impatient, and everyone was restless. The only other commander who has no psychological burden is probably Nishimura Shoji. This 50-year-old vice admiral stood on the deck of the Musashi, shouting and dancing: "Hahaha, there is oil, there is oil, The oil feels so good... Come on, hit me now..."

All the officers and soldiers smiled for a while, and the commander was probably depressed. Only the most trusted staff officer knew: Commander Nishimura was not afraid of death at all. He was afraid of running out of fuel and dying on the battlefield, which would not be avenged. - Nishimura's total He had three sons, two of whom died in infancy. The only adult son became a naval aviation soldier and was killed in the Philippine Campaign in December 1941. For a father, there is no difference between dying early and dying later. In real history, Nishimura Shoji was killed in the Battle of Leyte Gulf a few days ago.

There are many descendants of Japanese commanders on the front line. Among those who followed Hero Yano in the decoy fleet was Ito Seiichi’s only son, Second Lieutenant Rui Ito of the 72nd Marine Corps. Chiaki Matsuda knew that Horikichi valued Ito Seiichi very much. He wanted to take it for his own use, and before leaving, he wanted to transfer Ito Rui to the safer Katsuragi, but Ito Rui himself firmly disagreed, and Horikichi also didn't agree after knowing it, and the transfer was still not completed.

When Chiaki Matsuda asked Horikichi privately afterwards, the latter sighed: "Matsuda-kun, I kept saying that I had to fight hard and not be afraid of sacrifice, but in the blink of an eye I arranged for the son of a senior general to be in a safer place. What do the people below think? How? Conquering the crowd? You must have a bowl of water to lead the troops, and be strong without desire! Besides, your intention is good, but Ito will never appreciate it. He just thinks that you look down on him, and it is self-defeating..."

Historically, both Ito and his son were killed in the Yamato Special Attack, but now it seems that their fate is different.

At 5:40, there were more than 50 Japanese reconnaissance planes on the sea. Horikichi finally woke up from his "nap" and asked: "How is the fuel situation in the Second Air War?"

"The aircraft carrier and cruisers have been refueled and are currently supplying Musashi, Kongo and destroyers. The two battleships are expected to be completed at 6:30, and the remaining ships are guaranteed to be completed before 7:30." Chiaki Matsuda said, "The second batch of reconnaissance All planes have been dispatched and we are preparing to expand the search area. There should be new news after dawn. "

Horikichi nodded with satisfaction: "Let's wait for news about the reconnaissance plane. Don't worry, maybe the results of the reconnaissance will surprise us."

Seeing the opponent's still frowning expression, he laughed: "Matsuda-kun, stop being so sullen. This battle is basically won. The key now is how to defeat the opponent at the minimum cost!"

"Win? I can't see it at all," Matsuda Chiaki said with a sad face. "The reconnaissance plane searched for nearly 5 hours. The sector area expanded to 170 degrees and the distance increased to 700 kilometers. Nothing was found. I was afraid of enemy reconnaissance. The plane has taken off and is looking for us, and may be followed by a large number of attack planes. Currently, the air defense fighters of each fleet are arranging to take off one after another, and we are ready to hold on for a while. "

"We don't completely rule out this possibility. We'll wait and see." Horikichi smiled slightly, "And one thing I forgot to tell you is that if the US fleet is still in a group, even if I find the opponent's position after dawn, I may not choose to fight over it. I would rather wait for the enemy to attack me first."

"Sir, you?" All the staff, including Chiaki Matsuda, were dumbfounded. Yesterday, the commander said that the enemy should be discovered first and attack first. Now he said again, "Don't rush to fight, wait for the enemy to attack me." It felt like the whole world It's all messy.

Looking at their blank eyes, Horikichi sighed. This time he did not explain in detail. He just waved and said, "Ask where Tsukahara is."

At the same time that the Japanese army released a large number of Caiunkai, Halsey and McCain, who had also stayed up all night, released all F4U reconnaissance planes. Their search directions were not only west and north, but also the south that had been ignored - Turner It was added after being reminded. To help the fleet, the Hawaiian Army Air Forces will fly reconnaissance aircraft.

At 7:29, a surprised cry came from the telecommunications room of the Katsuragi: "Sir, we have found the US fleet. All the main forces are here. The heading is 8 degrees and the speed is 12 knots. The current distance to the Second Air Battle is 950 kilometers... "

"Why did they get there?"

Although there is enough fuel for the second aviation battle now, because we have to build a double-layer defense system with the decoy fleet while waiting for the fifth aviation battle to converge, we slowed down to 10 knots and headed southeast. Hero Yano had gradually directed the other ships to advance forward, and the overall trend was to run southeast. Suddenly, they were all surprised when they heard the information that Halsey was running north and that the distance was so far away.

"No wonder Ye Caiyun can't find the Americans. It seems like they've really turned around."

Chiaki Matsuda is now glad that he did not attack randomly at dawn. Otherwise, if he pounced in the wrong direction at first and the distance was too far, the attack group sent out would really be able to carry out a one-way attack with no return...

ps: Monthly tickets are declining every day, please give me a monthly ticket...