At 8:20 a.m. on May 20, at Pearl Harbor, the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Office Building No. 2.

A Willis open-top jeep sped into the parking lot in front of the office building, and a thin, middle-aged naval officer in his forties jumped out of the car.

After waving goodbye to the driver, the middle-aged officer hurriedly walked into the office building with a black briefcase, and then squeezed into the elevator.

The elevator stopped on the fifth floor of Office Building No. 2, and the officer stepped out of the elevator, strode through the corridor, pushed the door and entered the conference room at the end of the corridor.

In the conference room, the middle-aged officer glanced at the conference room and sat down on an empty chair in the middle of the right side of the conference table.

Amid the chatter of the other officers present, the middle-aged officer took out a dozen blank sheets of paper and a notebook from his briefcase, and took out a fountain pen from his chest pocket and placed it in the middle of the notebook spread out on the table.

He was just getting ready for the meeting when the door to the conference room was pushed open again, and a naval officer wearing a white admiral's uniform with four admiral stars on his epaulettes walked into the conference room.

Seeing the appearance of Admiral Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet, the conversation in the conference room immediately disappeared, and all the officers stood up and stood at the conference table.

Admiral Nimitz walked to the head of the conference table, exchanged a few brief greetings with the officers present, and went straight to the point.

"Some of you should already know in advance that Task Force 16 under the command of Halsey won a battle in the South Pacific, sending all the arms planned by the Japanese to Rabaul to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, and killing three of the four escort destroyers. I suggest that we celebrate this crucial victory with a round of applause for Halsey and Rocherford. ”

After speaking, Admiral Nimitz took the lead in applauding, and the conference room was instantly filled with thunderous applause.

"In the six months since the outbreak of the war. The Japanese Empire won victory after victory in the Pacific, and judging by their momentum, it seemed that they were going to take Australia down in one go. At a critical juncture of the war, we really needed a victory, and the victory that Halsey and Rocherford brought us was just too timely. ”

Nimitz finished. Turning his head and smiling, he asked Rocherford, "My dear Mr. Intelligence Station Chief, do you have any victory speeches to say?" ”

Seeing that Nimitz admired Rocherford so much, the other officers in the conference room turned their heads to look at the head of the Hawaii intelligence station, and the thin Rocherford had gratitude, admiration, or jealousy in his eyes.

Rocherford, who was focused by many eyes, did not have the slightest expression of excitement, but a confused expression.

Look at Nimitz. Rocherford asked: "According to the intelligence we intercepted, this transport fleet of the Japanese should be composed of eight transport ships and eight escort destroyers, Mr. Admiral, what is the matter with you saying that they only have four destroyers?" ”

Admiral Nimitz retracted his smile, mimicking Rocherford's expression, and asked rhetorically, "I should have asked you this question." Halsey told me when his lads attacked. Only four transports and four destroyers were seen, and no other Japanese fleet was found in the adjacent sea area. What's going on? Could it be that the Japanese temporarily changed the number of ships in this fleet? ”

Rocherford scratched his head in annoyance.

"We are still tracking the Japanese telegrams, and we have not found any telegrams that indicate that the Japanese have reduced the size of the fleet. Fortunately, their itinerary was exactly as stated in the newspaper. ”

"It doesn't matter, although we didn't live up to the expected results, we still got a crucial victory that took a lot of the burden off our principal if he had the opportunity to come to Hawaii. I will definitely ask him to invite you to dinner and thank you personally. ”

Nimitz said the word "Mr. Headmaster" with a teasing tone.

All officers, including Rocherford, knew that Nimitz was referring to the commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater and a five-star general Douglas MacArthur, who had served as the principal of the West Point Military Academy.

After the United States declared war on Japan. The Pacific Ocean was divided into the Pacific Theater and the Southwest Pacific Theater, with Nimitz as the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Theater and MacArthur as the Commander-in-Chief of the Southwest Pacific Theater.

The Pentagon tried to merge the two theaters into a single theater, but was abandoned because it could not determine who would be the commander-in-chief of Nimitz and MacArthur.

MacArthur's advantage is that his rank is higher than Nimitz, but he is an army officer, and the US Navy believes that the Navy will play a more important role than the Army in the Pacific War, and hopes that Nimitz will be the commander of the theater.

For MacArthur, Nimitz had some contempt in his heart.

MacArthur came from a famous family, and his military career was smooth sailing, and he was usually arrogant and lacked affinity.

What disgusted Nimitz most about MacArthur was that during the Great Depression, MacArthur led the army under the orders of President Hoover to suppress petitioners from the U.S. government for unpaid welfare payments, and these petitioners were mostly World War I veterans.

Also involved in the crackdown were George Patton and Eisenhower, who were only majors at the time.

For a combination of various reasons, Nimitz never liked MacArthur very much, and when he talked about him, he often spoke in a mocking tone.

After teasing MacArthur a few times, Nimitz asked Rocherford: "What will you and your group tell me from the Washington Navy Headquarters that our naval intelligence station has received information that the next target of the Japanese will be the Aleutian Islands, or the capture of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea?" Do you agree with Washington's statement, or will you give me a new surprise? ”

Rocherford picked up the blank paper on the table and said to Nimitz: "Mr. Admiral, in fact, I was about to tell you the latest results of the work of our intelligence station today. ”

"In the intelligence we have recently heard, the word that appears most frequently on the Japanese radio is AF, and after repeated comparisons and speculations, we can almost conclude that AF refers to Midway."

"You mean, the next target the Japanese are going to attack is Midway? And not the Aleutian Islands or Port Moresby? Nimitz asked.

"Yes, Mr. Admiral, there is a regular pattern in the Japanese use of codes to denote place names, for example AH for Hawaii and AG for the Marshall Islands. After analyzing countless intelligence, we deduced that AF represented Midway. Rocherford said.

Rear Admiral Fletcher, commander of the 17th Task Force, said: "If the next target of the Japanese is really Midway, I think this must be the beginning of a series of major battles, and it is likely to escalate to a decisive battle that will determine the trend of the Pacific theater. We cannot make a combat plan based on inferences alone. ”

Nimitz nodded, agreeing with Major General Fletcher's questioning, stared at Rocherford and said, "You must be able to prove that your inferences are infallible, and that the code you deciphered is infallible. ”

"My cipher is absolutely reliable, the Japanese Navy once bought a "Enigma" commercial cipher machine from Germany, and they improved this machine and built their own cipher machine "97 Type Owen Printer".

Subsequently, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs improved the "97-style Owen printer." It then developed into a strategic-level cryptography that was widely used throughout Japan's diplomatic system. This system was named "Purple Secret" by our military intelligence personnel.

August 1940. Our Communications Intelligence Service has finally succeeded in deciphering the "purple secret", but it is limited to diplomatic and commercial codes, and has not yet completely deciphered the JN-25B code used by the Japanese military, after all, the military code is much higher than the diplomatic code and the commercial code.

Luckily, our British allies had deciphered the German Enigma code, and they had compiled their experience into materials and sent us codebooks from sunken Japanese submarines. By the beginning of this month, we had been able to decipher 90 percent of the Japanese telegrams. The Japanese password has no secret in front of my working group. ”

See Nimitz and Fletcher doubt their professionalism. Rocherford instantly felt that his self-esteem had been greatly damaged, and he explained a lot of things endlessly, trying to maintain the dignity of himself and his subordinates.

Nimitz saw the source of Rocherford's mood swings, and hurriedly smiled and said, "Mr. Stationmaster, I have no intention of offending, let alone questioning the ability of you and your subordinates. I just wanted to emphasize. Once we have determined that the next target for the Japanese attack is Midway, we will send the main forces of the Pacific Fleet to ambush them and redeem the battlefield disadvantage.

If the intelligence is wrong・・・・・・ in the intelligence of the Japanese naval transport fleet that has just happened, you and your men only detect the itinerary of the enemy fleet, but do not find out the true number of the enemy fleet. If a similar miscalculation appears in this intelligence. It will have disastrous consequences for the campaign. We have a limited number of troops, we must be careful not to make a mistake, I hope you can understand me. ”

Seeing Nimitz seriously explain to himself, Rocherford's mood returned to normal, and he was secretly ashamed of the excitement just now.

"Mr. Admiral, I understand your concerns, so I have discussed with my subordinates before coming here, and have come up with a way to confirm whether AF is Midway, but I need you to cooperate with us to put on a show to let the Japanese tell us what AF represents."

"You say, I will fully cooperate with you, as long as you can provide me with accurate information." Nimitz agreed without hesitation.

Rocherford pulled out a blank piece of paper and handed it to Nimitz.

"Mr. Admiral, here is my request, please follow the instructions above to give orders, and then inform me, the sooner the better, I think we are running out of time."

Nimitz hurriedly swept through the content and said with a smile: "This method is indeed good, I will give the order to execute it immediately, and you wait for my notice." ”

After the meeting, in the afternoon of the same day, Nimitz, at the suggestion of Rocherford, secretly issued a secret order to the Midway garrison via submarine telephone.

Immediately after receiving Nimitz's order, the Midway garrison sent a telegram to the Hawaiian Navy in plain code.

The content of the telegram was: the freshwater equipment is out of order, and the garrison is having difficulty with water.

After receiving the order from the Midway garrison, the 14th Naval District at Pearl Harbor also replied with a clear code: A water supply ship had been sent to Midway.

On the morning of May 21, in Yokosuka Port, Minoru Genda hurriedly walked into the room of the Kuroshima Kameto with a telegram in hand.

After knocking on the door four times, no one opened it, so Minoru Genda had to walk out of the dormitory building and turn to the nearby garden to look for Kuroshima.

After finding Kuroshima who was walking in the garden, Minoru Genda said: "We intercepted two important telegrams, the freshwater filtration equipment of the American Midway garrison failed, and the garrison had difficulty using water. U.S. forces in the direction of Pearl Harbor have already sent water vessels to deliver fresh water to Midway. ”

Kuroshima frowned and read the telegram, and said to Genda: "This information is very important, we must send additional water boats when formulating the battle plan, so as not to get enough fresh water after the Marines land." ”

"I will immediately have the command issue an order to inform the Marines to prepare enough fresh water, and also to prepare fresh water filtration equipment."

"Well, go as soon as possible. How many new codebooks have been issued? When is it expected to be delivered? Kuroshima asked.

"The scattered area of the Empire's army is so large that it is not expected to be completed until the end of June."

"Very well, our plan of attack is set for the beginning of July, and we must make sure that we still use the old codebook until the end of the Battle of Midway." Kuroshima said.

Minoru Genda was about to leave, when Kuroshima suddenly called Minoru Genda and took him back to his residence.

Pushing open the door, a foul smell rushed into Gentian's nose, so smoke that he almost grabbed the door and fled.

The Black Island Turtle Man has a bad habit that he never bathes or changes into a military uniform. There was a foul smell on his body and in the cabin, and the cabin was sprinkled with pieces of paper, and there was nowhere to put his feet, and he did not allow the orderlies to tidy up his cabin, and the pungent stench was so smoky that he could not even stay in the cabin, so he lit incense to smoke it, or hid outside.

Holding his breath, Minoru Genda followed Kuroshima, who was also frowning, into the room, and Kuroshima picked up the white paper on the bedside table and handed it to Minoru Genda.

"This is an order just issued by the Military Command Department, and we must also draw up an operational plan for attacking the Aleutian Islands."

"What? At this time? Will it be executed in conjunction with the battle plan at Midway? Genda asked in surprise.

"Yes, attacking two targets at the same time is a headache." Kuroshima said.

A day later, on the morning of May 22, Rocherford's jeep flew into the parking lot of Nimitz's office building.

Without waiting for the car to stop, Rocherford jumped out of the car with his briefcase and hurried into the office building.

As soon as he walked into Nimitz's office, Rocherford waved the blank paper in his hand and shouted: "We succeeded, the telegram we just intercepted said that the AF is short of fresh water, and the attacking force needs to bring enough fresh water." Their next target was Midway. ”

"Since it's confirmed to be Midway, I must bring Halsey back immediately, and he is indispensable for this kind of big scene." Nimitz said. (To be continued.) )