The Battle of Midway can only be regarded as an ordinary battle for many islands in the Pacific, but it was a very tragic one. The battle did not go according to the plan of either side, and as a result, problems arose on both sides of the war, which is an important reason why the Battle of Midway was fought so badly.

According to the plan of the US military, the best outcome was to keep the Tang Empire's Marines out of Midway and prevent the Tang Empire's Marines from landing on Midway. This was the main reason why Spruance attacked the Tang Empire's landing fleet, and this was the fundamental reason why Nimitz used Midway to lure Task Force 1. Spruance's attack should have been relatively successful, with three small aircraft carriers, more than a hundred bombers, and was stubbornly intercepted by the Tang Empire on Wake Island, and finally sank more than a dozen ships, which is already a very good record. The problem was that the Tang Marines did not abandon the attack on Midway, and neither Spruance nor Nimitz expected this. It was not until the night of the 13th, after the massive artillery bombardment began, that Nimitz realized that the Tang Marines were still attacking Midway, and by this time the 51st Task Force had reached the vicinity of Johnston Island, and it was too late to rush to the aid of Midway, and it was too late to send troops to Midway.

In the same way, in this offensive campaign, the troops of the Tang Empire had more problems. First, the landing fleet and the transport fleet were dealt a heavy blow, and then the ammunition of Task Force 1 was depleted faster than previously expected (which was directly related to the lack of heavy equipment and artillery of the Marine Corps), and the supply work was disjointed. All of this led to many problems exposed during the campaign, especially the tragic battle between the night of the 15th and the 16th, which cost the Marines a large amount of troops needlessly.

The battle lasted until the eighteenth. The Marines were still not able to fully capture the U.S. military airfield west of Midway. Han Shaofeng couldn't wait. After asking the Marines to set up a defensive line, he sent the engineers to repair the section of the runway that had been controlled. so that reinforcements from Wake Island can arrive, as for the complete capture of the airfield. We had to wait for reinforcements to arrive.

The U.S. military casualties at this time were also quite heavy, and more than 8,000 U.S. officers and soldiers had been killed or wounded or captured after four days of fighting. Even if all non-combatants are included, there are only more than 4,000 officers and soldiers in the U.S. military who are still fighting at this time. Watching the engineering troops of the Tang Empire repair the runway. The U.S. military was helpless. The bombers overhead and the warships on the sea make it impossible for the US commanders to organize an effective counterattack, and a small-scale counterattack is to create their own casualties, and it is simply impossible to repel the enemy.

The battle was fought to this point, and both sides of the war were miserable. Especially for the commanders of the US military, who have done their best, the situation continues to deteriorate. At that time, Nimitz was deployed not by the Army but by the U.S. Marine Corps at Midway. It was one of the most elite marines in the Pacific theater at that time. Originally, Nimitz had high hopes for this army, but the Tang army had advantages in all aspects. The powerful First Task Force is the strongest backing of the Tang Empire's Marine Corps, and if it rashly increases its troops to Midway, the result will definitely be miserable.

On the 18th, Nimitz received extremely important information: a convoy of convoys from Guam would arrive at Midway in about two days. This piece of information is certain. After learning the news that the Tang Empire's marines had landed on Midway, Nimitz judged that the Tang Empire would definitely find a way to provide support for the landing force, especially the heavy equipment, artillery, medical medicine, etc., which the marines urgently needed, and almost all of these had to rely on sea transportation. The trouble is that if this fleet reaches Midway, then the thousands of American troops on Midway will definitely not last until August!

In desperation, Nimitz thought about letting Task Force 51 go on another adventure, but the answer he received was no. The aircraft carrier "Bellewood" needs to be repaired, and the fleet lacks combat aircraft, and there is a serious shortage of escort warships. What's more, the sneak attack can only be successful once, and now Task Force 1 is operating in the waters near Midway, and the distance from the convoy will not exceed 400 nautical miles, and Task Force 51 has already passed through Johnston Island and is heading towards Pearl Harbor, it is impossible to intercept the convoy before it reaches Midway, and the threat of Task Force 1 will completely destroy Task Force 51.

After receiving Spruance's call back, Nimitz also abandoned this unrealistic idea, and asked Task Force 51 to return to Pearl Harbor as soon as possible, while preparing Spruance to receive more ships. But the problem still exists, in addition to the 51st Task Force, Nimitz has only submarines and the dozen or so old destroyers in Pearl Harbor. There were not a few submarines in the vicinity of Midway, and they all returned home after a mission to break the diplomatic relationship, and the remaining torpedoes were not even equipped with the torpedo tubes on the submarines. And the submarine that is carrying out the task of breaking diplomatic relations is hundreds or even thousands of nautical miles away, and it is impossible to catch up at all.

In the end, all Nimitz could think of was the dozen or so old destroyers that were supposed to escort the fleet. Before Task Force 51 returned to Pearl Harbor, Nimitz had the destroyers carry the reinforcements of the Marines at Midway, as well as a large amount of war supplies, to rush to the waters near Lysan Island, and then send troops and supplies to Midway Island on the night of the 20th, and return to Lysan Island before dawn.

This is, in fact, the "Washington Express", a "Washington Express" consisting entirely of destroyers. As a last resort, Nimitz could only use these destroyers as temporary transport ships. The displacement of these more than 10 destroyers is about 1,500 tons, and each destroyer can carry up to 500 marines and about 500 tons of combat materials. This is already seriously overloaded, and the speed of the destroyer will be reduced by more than two knots. However, this is much better than nothing, and in the absence of other options, this is the only way to reinforce Midway.

Nimitz's requirements were not high, and he only hoped that the army on Midway would hold out until the end of the month, at least not allow the Tang Imperial Marines to use the airfield on the island. So that the Tang Empire could not deploy reconnaissance planes to Midway. He is already planning a new counterattack, and the departure of Midway Island is the key to the entire counterattack. As long as the airfield on the island was not controlled by the Don army, then he could launch a counterattack immediately after obtaining the Xindi fleet. Otherwise, he would have to consider abandoning his counterattack in the Central Pacific.

Meantime. On the other side of the ocean, Liao Hanxiang is thinking about the same problem. In the fierce fighting on the 15th, the marines held the beachhead, and the fleet returned to the battlefield at the most critical moment, and the landing operation did not fail. But that doesn't mean it's been successful. After this day of fierce fighting, the Marine Corps has lost the strength of a large-scale attack, Han Shaofeng is using the last bit of strength to control the airfield on the island, hoping to get air supplies, but the question is, the runway will not be fully repaired until at least the 19th, and by then the transport fleet will almost arrive, is it necessary to let the transport planes on Wake Island be dispatched?

What made Liao Hanxiang even more troubled was that a large number of newly commissioned warships of the US Navy had already left the ports on the east coast, according to the previous law. These warships will complete the adaptation training of officers and men during the voyage. All sources of intelligence indicate that this huge fleet will reach Pearl Harbor by the end of July at the latest, and most likely by the end of the month. A strategic counterattack will be launched in early August at the latest. This was also evidenced by the stubborn resistance of the American forces at Midway, where Nimitz was stalling for time in order to drag the fleet back to full combat effectiveness. If Midway cannot be captured before this point, then a decisive naval and air battle will inevitably break out between the two sides in the waters of Midway. And it was a decisive battle that broke out with equal strength.

Time waited for no one, and on the 18th, Liao Hanxiang sent a telegram to Tan Renhao and Han Shaofeng, demanding that the First Task Force must assist the Marine Corps in completing the combat operation of capturing Midway Island on the 25th.

When Tan Renhao received this order, he couldn't laugh at it. The original plan was to complete the offensive operation at the end of the month, but now it was brought forward to the 25th, and it was done with insufficient Marine Corps forces, which was obviously impossible. Han Shaofeng also quickly sent a telegram, saying that the Marines would do everything they could to launch an attack, and all the fleet needed was the heaviest bombardment and the most powerful artillery support.

"Do what General Liao Hanxiang wants." Tan Renhao didn't have a choice, "Let the bombers use incendiary bombs in the past two days, notify the marines, and let them set up a quarantine area as soon as possible, so as not to be accidentally injured by incendiary bombs." After our bombing is over, let Han Shaofeng launch a general attack. ”

Beginning on the 19th, all the bombers of Task Force 1 hung up incendiary bombs and began to burn Midway. It has been proven in real combat that incendiary bombs are a very effective weapon. Although its ability to deal with solid targets is much worse than that of bombs, it has an absolute advantage when dealing with large area targets. Not only were they effective against Japanese cities, but British and American bombers were also attacking German cities with incendiary bombs. And on the battlefield, incendiary bombs are also very useful, especially when dealing with large depth of defense lines, incendiary bombs are more effective than bombs. And on the 16th, the 1st Task Force received a batch of incendiary bombs, which were specially provided for carrier-based aviation.

Midway is an island with no water source and no abundant groundwater, and the U.S. military on the island has been relying on ships to transport fresh water, and the two desalination machines have long since been blown up. There was originally a tropical forest on the island, which had been much destroyed in the previous days of fighting. When the fire burned, no one could stop it from spreading.

Upon receiving the warning, the Marine Corps officers and men quickly cleared the trees around the line and set up a 50-meter to 200-meter-wide separation zone. The bombardment lasted two days, and the fire burned on the island for five days, until everything that could be lost was reduced to ashes, and then it was completely extinguished. The fire not only caused disaster for the American troops, but also caused great problems for the officers and men of the attacking Imperial Marines.

On the night of the 20th, the Marines received much-needed ammunition, heavy equipment, artillery, medicine, food, and other supplies (on the same night, the destroyers sent by Nimitz also sent ammunition and supplies to the American forces on the island, and reinforced about 5,000 Marines and soldiers). Han Shaofeng ordered the Marine Corps to attack in the early morning of the 21st, but the officers and men of the Marine Corps only advanced less than 500 meters before retreating.

They weren't repulsed by the enemy, but the fire was still burning and the Marines couldn't move on at all!

It was not until the night of the 22nd, after the fire was a little smaller, that the Marines launched a large-scale attack, but what all the Marines did not expect was that after being burned for four days and three nights, the American troops on the island were not burned to death, and they continued to rush out of the underground fortifications, blocking the line of the Marines' attack!

The battle was ready to proceed, and the tenacity of the US military left a deep impression on Han Shaofeng. The fighting continued until the afternoon of the 25th, when the Marines basically took control of the core area of the airfield, while the fighting on the periphery was still raging. American officers and soldiers emerged from the rubble of the fire like ghosts, and skirmishes broke out everywhere, and the heavy equipment that the Marines had obtained was difficult to use, and even the fleet could not provide support to the Marines, and the soldiers on both sides were too close to be shelled and bombed.

The fighting intensified at night, with the front lines intertwined, and it was difficult for officers and men on both sides to distinguish between friend and foe. Han Shaofeng had already transferred his battlefield command to the airfield. From daylight on the 20th, transport planes brought in Marines on Wake Island, and the troop reinforcement operation was ongoing. Han Shaofeng also began to prepare for the reserves. And by this evening, he also found that the American army must have received reinforcements, otherwise there would not be so many troops.

In the open sea, on the aircraft carrier "Xingkaihu", the flagship of the First Task Force, Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were also very anxious, and they did not expect this battle to be like this. The fleet was again running out of ammunition and had to go to rendezvous with the supply fleet. Task Force 2 will not be able to complete until early next month, and Task Force 4 is supporting the Marine offensive outside Port Moresby. The Third Task Force is also on its way to the Southwest Pacific Theater. There is no fleet to replace Task Force 1.

"General, the telegram I just received, from the command of the Navy."

Tan Renhao and Hao Dongjue were both shocked, this is definitely not good news!