At 18:27 in the evening on July 11, 1940 AD, less than a hundred nautical miles away from Fuzhou, the sun seemed to disappear on the sea with a trace of reluctance. Although the sun had officially announced that it was off duty
, but the visibility on the sea here is still very high, because there are several raging fires burning on the sea here.
These fires were accompanied by streams of black smoke that were swept up into the sky by the sea breeze. The sea was filled with a strong smell of unburned engine oil. Through the black smoke floating everywhere, you could find more than ten ships of various sizes on the sea.
There are more than ten ships of different types driving hard on the sea.
Looking carefully through the black smoke, it turns out that there are rising sun flags flying on the masts of the ships. It turns out that these ships are the task force commanded by Endo Kiichi and rushed to Fuzhou to meet the retreat of the 2nd and 3rd Division. This is now
This task force looks extremely miserable. Originally, this fleet had thirty warships of various sizes and nearly twenty troop carriers, but now at a glance, this originally quite spectacular fleet now only has
There are less than twenty large and small ships, and even most of the ships that survived have more or less injuries on their bodies.
There were leaking fuel and wreckage from warships floating everywhere on the sea. Many sailors were shouting desperately and struggling on the sea. From time to time, some sailors sank to the bottom of the sea because they could no longer hold up.
On the deck of the Kaga aircraft carrier, Kiichi Endo stared blankly at the Chinese fighter jets that had disappeared without a trace in the sky, his expression extremely dull.
For a long time, he looked at the sailors struggling like ants on the sea. At this moment, there was only a feeling called despair in his heart. In the air raid just one hour ago, the task force he led was destroyed.
A sudden group of fighter planes destroyed most of them. Nearly twenty destroyers and cruisers were bombed and more than a dozen were sunk. Among the three aircraft carriers, the Gale was sunk, and the Kaga and Akamai each suffered a torpedo. Fortunately,
The aircraft carrier was relatively durable. After some rescue, it finally avoided the fate of silence. However, the unarmed troop carriers became the targets of dive bombers during the battle. All sixteen troop carriers sank into the sea.
, in this way, the task force's mission this time was considered a complete failure. Even if it rushed to Fuzhou tonight, it would not be able to pick up the 2nd and 3rd Divisions.
Endo Kiichi's right hand tightly held the Showa 12-style command sword at his waist, his face was twitching constantly, and behind Endo Kiichi, the fleet chief of staff, U Hwantō, was staring at him closely. On this occasion,
When he was defeated, he was very afraid that his commander would suddenly take out his command knife and give him a blow. After all, according to convention, if the top commander of the fleet died in battle or committed suicide, he, the fleet's second-in-command, would return to the army.
There will definitely be no good things to eat after Japan, and the huge black pot will definitely fall on him, so whether it is for humanitarian or personal reasons, nothing can happen to Endo Kiichi. Well... at least not until he returns to Japan.
Something happened.
Seeing Endo Kiichi's painful look, Yu Huanmao took a deep breath and said: "Endo-kun, let's go back. Although the China plane has left, the waters in this area are still unsafe. After all, we don't know what China submarines are."
The time will come. It is up to you to lead the remaining Imperial soldiers back to Japan."
Endo Kiichi smiled sadly and said: "I know, Yuhuan-kun, don't worry, I will not commit suicide by caesarean section before bringing the remaining warriors back to Japan. I will definitely bear the responsibility that I should bear. I will not harm you."
of."
Yu Huanmao's old face turned red. He knew that his pettiness had been seen through by the other party a long time ago. However, he did not feel any embarrassment about it. The defeat this time had nothing to do with him. After all, this operation
The highest military commander is Endo Kiichi. As the chief of staff, he is only responsible for providing plans for decision-making. It is the best policy to put yourself aside in time. As the saying goes, people will be destroyed if they don't do it for themselves.
Endo Kiichi took a deep look at Yu Huanmao again and said earnestly: "Yu Huanjun, if I can return to Japan this time, I will tell the truth about the battle to the base camp. No matter what, this time
I will not shirk the responsibility for the defeat, but Yu Huanjun, you must be careful if you encounter the China Air Force again in the future. Judging from today's battle, the coast of China is no longer a place where the Imperial Navy can roam at will.
There is a premonition that the empire’s actions in China will become increasingly difficult in the future.”
Seeing Endo Kiichi's sad look, Yu Huanwan twitched his lips and said, "Your Excellency, Commander, I..."
"Stop talking." Endoki raised his hand to stop Yu Huanmao from speaking, "After this defeat, it will be impossible for me to serve in the Navy again after I go back. No one will appoint a defeated general. But Yu Huanmao
Huan Jun, you will take on heavy responsibilities in the future. You must remind the die-hards in the base camp that although China does not have any decent surface ships now, you have seen the power of their submarines and air force. From now on, you will come to China to carry out the mission.
You must be cautious during missions. Until the empire develops a new fighter aircraft that can compete with China's aircraft, you must keep your tail between your legs, otherwise my experience will serve as a lesson to you."
Hearing this, Yu Huancuan couldn't help but feel desolate in his heart. Although there are no victorious generals on the battlefield, this is the fact. Especially in the navy, a general who has lost a battle will have a bleak future.
, there is no future at all. If Kiichi Endo is lucky enough this time, he will not have to go to court-martial, but his final fate will be to take off his military uniform and retire early.
Slowly, the smoke in the sky gradually faded away, and the shadows of the battleships that could still be vaguely seen were also surrounded by the night. The scarred fleet sailed slowly toward the northeast...
Thousands of kilometers away in Guangzhou, Su Rui, who had won a great victory, should have been overjoyed, but at this time, Su Rui was dumbfounded when he heard the casualty report of the battle that Liang Zhi had just finished reading.
"In this battle, our army lost 12 fighter jets of various types, accounting for 0.6% of all dispatched fighter aircraft, 34 dive bombers were lost, and 45 torpedo bombers were lost.
Sixty-five point eight percent of the quantity!”
"Sixty-five point eight percent loss!" Su Rui couldn't help but stand up, with an unbelievable exclamation in his voice, "Isn't this a mistake?"
After hearing the report, Su Rui's first reaction was that the data in the report sent by the Marine Navigation Division must be wrong.
There was a trace of bitterness in Liang Zhi's eyes in front of Su Rui, "Sir, I also hope that the people from HNA made a mistake. Later, I checked it several times, and finally I was sure that this report was indeed true."
"Plop!"
Suri sat heavily on the sofa behind him and made a heavy sound.
Sitting on the soft sofa, Su Rui felt a sense of powerlessness emanating from his body. Although he had expected that the losses of the Marine Division would not be too light, when he heard the casualty figures with his own ears, his heart
I was still extremely shocked inside, and at the same time, an uncontrollable feeling of distress also surged into my heart.
This time, the Navy Division dispatched 60 Dauntless dive bombers and 60 Avenger torpedo attack aircraft, 180 F6F Vixen fighters, F4U Corsair fighters, and 180 Mustang fighters reinforced by the 2nd Air Division, for a total of 400 fighters.
The losses of fighter jets were negligible, but the losses of bombers and torpedo planes made Su Rui feel a heartache. There were seventy-nine of them, accounting for 6.50% of the total number of bombers and torpedo planes. What is this?
Concept? This also means that the naval division that Su Rui worked hard to establish for more than half a year has been paralyzed for more than half. If a battle like today happens again, the establishment of the naval division can be cancelled.
Seeing that Su Rui's face turned pale with distress, Liang Zhi sighed softly and comforted: "Sir, the losses in today's battle were a bit high, but our results were also very brilliant. We sunk an aircraft carrier."
, three light cruisers, six destroyers and 16 troop transports. It can be said that it completely destroyed the Japanese plan to rescue the 2nd and 3rd Division. The sacrifices of the soldiers were not without reward. Besides, the Naval Division
Although the losses are a bit larger, as long as we wait until the next batch of flight cadets graduates, we can organize another group of bomber pilots."
After a long time, Su Rui's mood slowly calmed down. He shook his head and sighed: "Zi Ran, I used to think that fighter pilots have the shortest life span among pilots, but now I know that bomber pilots have the shortest life span."
And the life span of torpedo aircraft pilots is even shorter, this loss is really too great.”
At this point, Su Rui remembered a post he had seen online before. Someone calculated the lifespan of World War II pilots. In this post, the average combat survival time of fighter pilots was 1 hour and 46 seconds.
Minutes, the combat survival time of a bomber pilot is 19 minutes, but there is another type of pilot whose combat life is shorter than the survival time of the above two pilots, that is, the transport glider pilot, their average survival time is only 17 seconds
bell.
Thinking of this, Suri felt better. He comforted himself in his heart. Even the Americans lost tens of thousands of pilots in World War II, and his number was nothing. Although he understood this truth in his heart,
Americans are rich and can afford to spend money, but Su Rui can't compare with Americans. People are rich and have big businesses. In addition, they have high-quality talents everywhere, but China can't. There are so many people who have graduated from high schools in China these days.
They are the only high-quality talents in a hundred. It is too difficult to replace the lost people.
"We can't continue to fight with the Japanese like this, otherwise the Japanese will not finish the fight, but they will fight all their own talents first. It seems that the Japanese have to focus their attention elsewhere." Chief Su said.