One thing Jizaburo Ozawa was right was that the U.S. military had discovered the location of the Japanese army. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info This is, of course, information sent by the US submarine "Big Mackerel" that attacked the "Taiho".

However, this information made Vice Admiral Mitchell, commander-in-chief of the 58th Fleet, very difficult.

Lieutenant General Mitchell's dilemma was, of course, not whether he could defeat the Japanese army...... There is no doubt about this, and the US air force does not even have to worry about the Japanese fighters at all, but only needs to care about the Japanese anti-aircraft firepower, because compared to the uncertain anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns of the Japanese army, the Japanese "Zero" fighters are no longer worth mentioning.

Mitchell's dilemma was that it was 3:40 p.m., and if he attacked at this time, the fighter would likely return to the ship in the dark and land dangerously.

To fight or not to fight?

After consulting with his staff for a while, Mitchell finally launched an attack half an hour later...... The U.S. Army, consisting of the Third Detachment and the Sixth Detachment, sent a total of 216 fighters to attack the Japanese Combined Fleet.

Mitchell was not willing to pass up this rare opportunity.

Objectively speaking, Mitchell's order is also wrong...... As said before, the Japanese army no longer has many fighters to use, which means that the US military basically has air supremacy in the Pacific Ocean, and mastering air supremacy means that the destruction of the Japanese Pacific Fleet is inevitable, but it is only a matter of time, so why take such a big risk to pursue it?

Part of Mitchell's reason for giving this order was to make quick gains.

However, this order was given to a certain extent, because Mitchell did not know that the Japanese fighters had been basically destroyed to the point of serious inadequacy, that is...... In his thoughts, if these aircraft carriers are allowed to drive back safely, then it will not take a few days, and it is very likely that they will be loaded with fighters again.

More than 200 fighters successfully found the Japanese warship group after more than an hour, and there was no doubt that they won an overwhelming victory: at the cost of 20 fighters, they shot down 65 Japanese fighters and sank the Japanese aircraft carrier "Flying Eagle", while other ships such as the aircraft carriers "Hayabusa", "Ryuho", "Chiyoda", "Zuizuru", the battleship "Ise", and the heavy patrol "Maya" were all damaged by bombs, and the "Zuizuru" was seriously injured.

But that's not the end.

It was already nine o'clock in the night when the American fighters returned home victoriously and found their aircraft carriers, although the entire fleet did not hesitate to risk being attacked by Japanese submarines to turn on the lights, the aircraft carriers shot their searchlights directly into the sky, and the destroyers also fired flares. However, due to the running out of fuel and the communication chaos caused by the simultaneous contact of more than 200 planes with the fleet, many pilots rushed to the deck in defiance of the orders of the landing signal officer, so one fighter plane after another crashed into the flight deck, and the fighters collided again and again...... In the end, the US military lost a total of 80 fighters.

Ironically, the U.S. military lost only 40 aircraft in the battle against the Japanese Combined Fleet.

Zhang Chi also got the news, and the Chinese Navy was protecting the return of four U.S. escort aircraft carriers (two seriously damaged escort carriers were towed by cruisers) at this time...... This air battle could be said to be too tragic for the 7th detachment, and the 7th detachment could not even withstand another Japanese attack. From this point of view, it is normal for Ozawa Jizaburo to want to launch another wave of attacks, because he knows that the seventh detachment is also the end of the crossbow.

Of course, Jizaburo Ozawa won't have this opportunity.

Holding the latest battle situation forwarded by John, Zhang Chi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: he knew that the Japanese army had gathered the last batch of fighters they could muster, with a total of nearly five hundred.

Of these 500 fighters, more than 200 were lost in the air battle off Tinian Island, more than 70 in the "Dafeng" incident, and 65 in the attack launched by the US forces...... That is, the Japanese army's carrier-based fighters were almost exhausted.

In other words, there is basically no need to worry about the threat of the Japanese army in the Pacific Ocean in the future, which can also be regarded as a great gift from the Japanese themselves.

As for how many fighters the US military has lost, Zhang Chi does not care...... The fighter is something that the Americans have, and it can be built by starting the machine.

"Master!" At this time, Zhang Junhua stepped forward and said, "Those reporters ...... They wanted Shizao to introduce the battle! ”

"Just talk about it!" Zhang Chi replied.

"That's what I said...... However, they wanted to take a picture of the teacher! ”

That's the way journalists are, they always want to get the most eye-catching shots.

"Hmm!" Zhang Chi nodded, and then walked towards the conference room with a few guards.

As soon as he stepped into the conference room, the flash flashed at Zhang Chi, and then the reporters rushed up to ask all kinds of questions.

Zhang Chi looked at the window, and said to the reporters with an unbelievable expression: "Do you know? This is the battlefield, and it's still night, especially since we're slowing down to keep up with the towing escort carriers, and there's likely to be enemy submarines tracking around you, are your flashing lights trying to tell the enemy submarines where we are, so they can fire torpedoes? ”

The reporters fell silent for a moment, and then consciously put down the cameras in their hands one by one.

"I don't have much to say, because you've seen what the battlefield is like for you!" Zhang Chi glanced at the reporters and continued: "What I want to say is that you should not focus the spotlight on me like now, but should go and see the pilots who drove the fighters and fought bravely against the Japanese, the gunners and machine gunners who braved the enemy's bombs and bullets to fire at the enemy's fighters, and the sailors who always stayed at their posts to ensure the normal operation of warships and aircraft carriers. They won the battle, you know? All of them, united, won the battle and protected our lives! ”

After a pause, Zhang Chi glanced at Kayla, who was embarrassed, and said, "As for whether the Chinese Navy is more important or the US Navy is more important, I think this battle also gives the answer, right?" No one is more important, or should I say both, because we are under the same flag, fighting the same enemy! ”

After a moment of silence, applause soon rang out in the conference room, first sparsely, and then into a single ring.

In fact, Zhang Chi just said a few words casually, and these words also have elements of official words and clichés...... There's no way, how can you say it if you don't say that in the face of reporters?!

What Zhang Chi didn't expect was that the next day, the world's major newspapers reported on the performance of the Chinese Navy on the battlefield under the name of "under the same banner", which once again pushed the prestige of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to another climax. (To be continued.) )