However, this important piece of information was almost ignored by the U.S. government.

The telegram quickly went to the desk of the US Secretary of the Navy, Knox, who just glanced at it hastily to see that it was a schedule, and did not pay much attention to it, and put it in his pocket.

It was not surprising that he would do this, because during the war years, secret telegrams flew like snowflakes to the offices of the commanders of various countries, especially the schedule, which was often just a report from the commander of a certain area, so Knox did not pay attention to this telegram.

Knox then hurried to the White House, as President Roosevelt was waiting for him to share dinner.

During the casual conversation between dinners, Knox casually mentioned the secret telegram he had just received.

"Because the Japanese telegram cannot be deciphered, there is less and less information on Kuah Island." Knox said, "But today a telegram came!" ”

"What telegram?" Roosevelt asked.

"It's just an itinerary!" Knox shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Nothing important!" ”

With that, he took the telegram out of his pocket and handed it to Roosevelt.

Roosevelt picked up the telegram and read it carefully, his eyes lit up.

"Knox!" Roosevelt was shocked and asked Knox, "Are you sure this telegram is not important?" ”

"Could it be ......" Knox's expression was a little dazed.

"Oh my God!" Roosevelt said, "This is a Yamamoto fifty-six schedule!" ”

With a "plop", Knox choked on Roosevelt's words and spat out all the food he had just put in his mouth.

Roosevelt did not stop for a moment, and immediately sent a telegram to Halsey to inquire, and after confirming the matter, he gave the order: "Kill Yamamoto at all costs!" ”

Roosevelt also gave the operation a meaningful name: "revenge."

As for what revenge it is, it goes without saying, referring to the losses caused by Yamamoto's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

"Zhang ......" and then Halsey found Zhang Chi again: "This task will be handed over to you." What do you think? ”

"What?" Zhang Chi didn't understand a little.

Halsey looked around and reminded in a low voice, "The mission of intercepting Yamamoto Fifty-six!" ”

"But...... How can we do that? Zhang Chi pointed to the map and said: "The nearest island on the itinerary, Balaire Island, is also 520 kilometers away from us, while the combat radius of our Wildcat fighters is only more than 400 kilometers!" ”

The longest range of the Wildcat fighter is 1,239 kilometers, because it has to fly to the destination and return, so the maximum distance that can be reached theoretically is only 600 kilometers.

However, it is also necessary to consider the weight of the weapons and equipment carried by the fighters, and it is also necessary to reserve the fuel consumption of the fighters in an air battle with the enemy, and the possibility of being intercepted by enemy planes on the way. In this way, the "Wildcat" will not be able to handle this mission at all, unless the US military still has aircraft carriers to use.

"Of course we're not sending wildcats!" Halsey replied: "We have brought in eighteen P38s from the United States, and they will arrive at Kuah Island in the evening, and the pilots are all the best in the United States!" ”

"Oh!" Hearing this, Zhang Chi couldn't help but nodded.

The P38 "Lightning" fighter is an advanced fighter of the US military, which flies at a speed of 732 kilometers per hour and has a maximum load range of 3,600 kilometers. The Japanese pilots hated and feared the P-38 and called it a "twin demon". It was also the only fighter that could compete with the Japanese Zero fighters in the early days of the Pacific War.

It's just that because this fighter is a heavy fighter, the cost is high, and the engine has fatal flaws...... The P38 is a twin-engine fighter, and the P38 is usually able to return with another engine after one engine failure or hit, but the probability of the P38 being able to return smoothly in this case is very low. Only ten percent. This is mainly due to the fact that the damage to one of its engines will cause the entire aircraft's cooling subsystem to malfunction and cause the whole aircraft to overheat, so the P38 often explodes quickly after a fire, and the pilot does not even have time to parachute.

Out of the importance of the life of the pilot. This significant flaw even caused concern among the commander of the 8th Tactical Air Force, General Doolittle, who considered reclaiming the P-38 from the battlefield.

Therefore, the use of P38 in the Pacific theater was not frequent, and now in order to take Yamamoto Fifty-six, Halsey did not hesitate to pull in a P38 unit.

What Zhang Chi didn't know was. In the hearts of most Americans, Yamamoto's status is the third largest after Emperor Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, and the existence of Yamamoto Fifty-six is not only of great significance to the Japanese Navy, but even to all Japanese.

So, not just Halsey, any American will do everything they can to seize this opportunity.

"Yes! Checkmate! Zhang Chi replied: "I accept this task, but I can't guarantee that I can successfully complete the task!" ”

"No, you have to do it!" Halsey replied.

"Yes!" Zhang Chi replied helplessly.

In the evening, 18 P38s, a squadron commanded by an ace pilot named Michelle, landed at Kuah Island, and it is said that he shot down 38 Japanese planes during the battle...... Nearly half of them were Zero fighters, which was very rare in the early days of the Pacific War.

Of course, Michelle was also shot down twice by the Japanese, once successfully parachuting and the other after a forced landing.

This is also the main reason why American pilots are often better than Japanese pilots: American pilots have more opportunities, and the destruction or forced landing of their fighters does not mean death, and the vast majority of Japanese pilots do not have such opportunities...... Most of their planes did not have parachutes, and of course there was no such thing as parachuting, and as for forced landings, their superiors had always demanded that if the fighter plane was injured, they should drive the fighter plane to rush towards the enemy.

Zhang Chi learned from Halsina that in addition to Michelle, the other pilots of the P38 squadron also had rich combat experience.

Obviously, although there were not many fighters dispatched in this operation, only 18, the US military paid for the elite among the pilots.

Then, Halsey patted Zhang Chi on the shoulder and said humorously: "'Kong Yu' (referring to Yamamoto Fifty-six), it will fly over, all you have to do is to beat it to death!" ”

(To be continued.) )