Iron Cross

Chapter 191: The Tiger of South Asia (16) The officer believes that after we break through the Australia New Zealand route, it will be difficult for the fleet not to be discovered by the enemy. Firstly, we need to use this magnificent formation to put pressure on the enemy. Secondly, such a huge fleet has nowhere to hide when attacking near the coast Yuan Tian nodded, and this inference was very obvious. The enemy situation this time is very special. Firstly, the fleet is equipped with aircraft carriers, replenishment ships, and aircraft transport ships, with sufficient numbers of planes, so they are not afraid of losses. Secondly, the main force of the enemy fleet is in Tarawa, and there is no opponent in the entire Australia New Zealand sea area who can challenge us except for some submarines. This determines that only enemy army attack planes can attack us. As long as our pilots who are shot down are alive, the fleet will recover its strength tomorrow, while American planes, especially pilots, will fight one less plane. On the other hand, if we launch a strong attack, our pilots will fight one less plane, but the enemy can quickly be replenished Understood, so the officer hopes to attract the enemy and consume them, "Genda let out a long sigh." Now it's up to the enemy to respond Australians may not understand this strategy, but regardless of whether they understand it or not, after the B-24 report detected the enemy fleet, the 7th Air Force of the Army immediately began preparing for air strikes. This air force is the main air force deployed by the US military in the South Pacific, essentially responsible for supporting ground attacks rather than sea attacks. Therefore, most of the bombers are heavy aircraft such as B-24, B-25, and B-17, with few SBD dive bombers and no TBF torpedo attack aircraft. This structure is not conducive to anti-ship, but it can only be used to send bombers to conduct airstrikes. 16: At 45 minutes, a large number of four bombers flew over the fleet target, and the intelligence was undoubtedly very accurate. Colonel Williams, the leader, was surprised to find that the enemy fleet had set up a standard wheel shaped air defense formation, which was divided into six broad fleets, roughly summarized as two transport units, two battle ship units, and two aircraft carrier units, waiting for his arrival. He hesitated for a moment, but still followed the agreement before departure to deal with the aircraft carrier cluster first. B-17, B-24, and B-25, due to their advantage in flight altitude, were not afraid of Bf-219 interception. However, Williams still allowed some fighter jets to go down and entangle with the Japanese, because in order for the bomber group to achieve effective hits later, they must lower their flight altitude. He did not want to get caught up in the encirclement of enemy fighter jets at that time. Due to the fact that most of the latest P-51 and P-47 fighter jets were supplied to the European battlefield, and the relatively advantageous F4U did not belong to the land aviation, the main fighter force of the 7th Air Force was still the P-40 \ P-38. It was clear that the P-40 was inferior to the Zero fighter Williams, but the P-38 usually had the upper hand in the confrontation with the Zero fighter. Therefore, he confidently dispatched 32 P-38 planes and allowed another 16 P-40s to cover more than 80 bombers to continue forward. More than 60 Bf-219s on standby below immediately rushed forward and attacked the P-38. At the moment when the fighter jets separated, led by the Musashi, the anti-aircraft Type III shells launched by various battleships roared and exploded. One unlucky B-17 was caught in the range of shrapnel and was hit in several pieces and crashed into the sea on the spot. Under the intense artillery fire test, Williams watched for several minutes before finally choosing the Shokaku. On the one hand, this aircraft carrier looked the largest, and on the other hand, it seemed to have the flagship emblem hanging. Just as he was calling on the various aircraft groups to lower their altitude to about 3000 meters, the fighter commander's exclamation suddenly came from the radio: "Sir, all of our P-38 are finished What? "He was surprised. It was only 5 minutes and there were 32 P-38 planes there. Turning his head for a closer look, he was so scared that all the hairs on his spine stood up. In the distance, only Japanese planes were flying wildly, and there was no trace of the P-38? The P-38 fighter pilots were careless. They only relied on their appearance and thought they were facing Zero War, so they confidently used their tactics to deal with Zero War. Unexpectedly, Zero War was not limited by the Zero War problem, and they were immediately confused. In addition, there were already many Japanese planes, and the pilot's quality was completely crushed. Akamatsu Sadaaki led his team to a lightning battle in 5 minutes, educating the P-38 to be a good person with a 5:32 victory. We're in trouble... "Williams muttered to himself, opening the communicator." Attention, all squadrons. The enemy fighter jets are very powerful, but we have no choice but to drop bombs from a lower altitude. May God be with us Even if the altitude was lowered to 2800 meters, the accuracy of such a large number of slow and heavy heavy horizontal bombers was pitifully low. A total of more than 80 bombers successfully dropped bombs, dropping more than 500 500 pound and 1000 pound bombs, but the final hit rate was less than 2. 4%. A total of 12 bombs hit the high-speed fleet. Excluding 3 bombs hit by SBD, the poor horizontal bombers had a hit rate of less than 1. 8%. The Nagato and Musashi each ate two 1000 pound bombs without any damage;The Haruna and Kirishima ships ate one 500 pound and one 1000 pound bomb each, and the superstructure caught fire. Combined with old wounds from the Panama Campaign, they looked very ugly, but not yet deadly;The Zhihao and Ashikaga each ate one 500 pound bomb and lost one main gun;The real loss came from the light ships, the Tianlong light cruiser and another destroyer each ate a 1000 pound bomb and sank on the spot. In addition to the loss of warships, the machine gun firepower of heavy bombers also cooperated to shoot down 7 fighter jets. The cost paid by the US military for such achievements is not small. In addition to the 32 P-38 planes already lost earlier, they also lost 14 out of 16 SBDs, 11 out of 16 P-40s, and nearly 30 heavy bombers. When Williams arrived, he confidently led a massive formation of 150 aircraft, but when he returned, there were only just over 50. Looking at the scattered fleet, he had a feeling of sadness and burst into tears. A total of 15 Japanese fighter planes were lost, but except for 2 pilots who died in the sea on the spot, all others were successfully rescued by parachuting. As for those 15 planes, they could soon be replenished from supply carriers, and the aviation defense war planned by Tsuchihara achieved significant success. It's getting late, and the sword of Damocles hanging high above Melbourne's head is shining with a cold light, about to fall Melbourne has entered the highest state of emergency Melbourne City Evacuation Order: Hearing the rainstorm like broadcast received on the radio, everyone in the command tower of the Musashi Ship laughed from top to bottom, and it was great to put such a terrible pressure on the enemy. The officer used a grand array to oppress Australians and Americans, which will soon be transmitted to Canberra and Washington. Sir, will this force the enemy to withdraw from Tarawa I'm afraid it's difficult. If it were you, would you bring the fleet back I... "Grass Deer was speechless. He had intended to subconsciously say that he would come back, but the thought of the terrifying prospect of a head-on confrontation made him feel a bit overconfident. I don't know how Tarawa is doing, but the radio station hasn't received any messages in the past two days, "sighed Shintake Kondo." It's probably all shattered I have a premonition that Shibasaki should still be active with his small troops, "Horiguchi thought for a moment When the Combined Fleet was flaunting its power off the coast of Australia, Nimitz was conducting an inspection on Beateo with a large group of senior officers. Although Holland repeatedly warned that the remnants of the Japanese army on the island had not been cleared, including debris, explosives, and bodies, Nimitz paid no attention and insisted on visiting the island. The senior management of the fleet and marine corps focused on studying the semi underground bunkers of the Japanese army, listened to Devin's report on equipment use and tactics, and heard the comparison of losses between the enemy and us, especially the news that not a single Japanese soldier was captured. Nimitz exclaimed, "I have never seen such a ferocious battlefield in my life Holland nodded solemnly and said, "This is an amazing Japanese commander. I am determined to use Bettio as a classroom and suggest that all amphibious officers of the Pacific Fleet come to visit and learn in person. I am also wondering if we can find a deserted island near Hawaii and build it all in imitation of Bettio's fortifications, so that our naval guns and marines can exercise and adapt on site Before he could finish speaking, there was a burst of violent gunshots in the distance, followed by a few loud explosions and screams. There are still enemies? Why can't we kill all these mice? "Halsey said irritably." It's been 18 days since the war started Dai Wen blushed and awkwardly said, "We are trying our best to eliminate it, but it may take some time. The Japanese army has dug many continuous fortifications underground, and heavy equipment cannot enter. They can only use the most traditional infantry for combat, and it is still fighting in the dark. Marines are not familiar with this combat method, so Nimitz sighed and nodded slightly, "Don't worry, we still have time Sir, Canberra and Washington urgently need a telegram After reading the telegram, Nimitz's face instantly turned pale. Early this morning, the Japanese fleet launched a surprise attack on Melbourne, and the naval artillery group blasted the city into a sea of fire. Washington demanded that we must rescue it. In addition, yesterday the 7th Air Force of the Army Air Force dispatched more than 150 planes to attack, with a loss rate of up to 65% and little effect. Currently, the whole of Australia is in panic, and they speculate that the next target of the Japanese army is Canberra. "Nimitz read the last sentence with a serious expression," At this time when the crisis in Australia is deep, where is our fleet