There are also differences within the US military on the issue of whether to attack Lysan Island first and then Midway. At the time, most of the Marine Corps generals advocated attacking Lysan Island first, while the Admirals insisted that Midway should be attacked directly. And this in itself is also a problem of extraneous problems, Nimitz has long decided to skip Gardner Island and Lysan Island and attack Midway Island directly. However, the U.S. Marine Corps was not directly subordinate to the Navy, so the opposition of the Marines became Nimitz's main problem.

The status of the United States Marine Corps is very special, and like the Marines of the Tang Empire, the United States Marine Corps also has an extremely long history and tradition. However, in terms of administrative establishment, the Marine Corps has a separate command, and although it is not an independent service command, its status is above the command of all arms of the Navy and the Army. In addition, the Marine Corps is directly accountable to the President of the United States and only cooperates with the Navy in combat operations. As a result, the U.S. Navy does not have the executive authority of the Marine Corps, and its Marine Corps has more freedom and flexibility.

The Marine Corps generals advocated attacking Lysan Island first, because they did not want to hand over the power of life and death to the naval fleet. As Huang Xiaotian analyzed, the Marines hope to gain their own forward bases, and when the time comes, even if the Fifth Fleet is unable to fully support the Marines, they can count on shore-based bombers on Leysan Island, which are subordinate to the Marine Corps, not to the Naval Aviation. Of course, whether these Marine Corps generals took into account the question of the time of the battle, I am afraid it is not known. Even if Nimitz directly proposed that he would not have time to attack Lysan Island, the Marine Corps general still promised that it would only take ten days to take Lysan Island, and Lysan Island would be the basis. It only takes half a month to attack Midway, and counting the time required to adjust the deployment of troops, it is also possible to take Midway at the end of July according to the requirements of Nimitz.

The problem is that Nimitz did not believe in the guarantees of the Marines at all, and idiots know that the Marines of the Don Empire have been on Lysan and Midway for several months, and during these months, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers have not been lying on the beach to bask in the sun. Rather, they are going all out to strengthen the defense capabilities of the two islands. In addition, both Lysan Island and Midway Island have stockpiled a large amount of war materials, built a large number of underground warehouses, and these warehouses are scattered and deployed, and they cannot be completely destroyed by bombing, and it is a dream to take Lysan Island within ten days!

More importantly, the attack on Lysan Island still required the mobilization of the fleet, without the support of the fleet. Why did the Marines attack Lysan Island? Rely only on those heavy bombers? This is obviously a fool's dream. Therefore, the difficulty of attacking Lysan Island is not lower than that of attacking Midway Island, which is more than 600 kilometers away from Necker Island, and counting the time for loading and unloading goods, it takes three days for the transport fleet to make a round trip, which is only two days less than going to Midway. So, what is the need to waste time on the island of Lyssan. And not directly attack Midway?

In the early morning of the 25th, after the Fifth Fleet reached anchorage at Johnston Reef and joined up with the Rapid Combat Support Fleet, Spruance received a call from Nimitz. He left Turner behind to take charge of the fleet's resupply and returned to Pearl Harbor on a long-range water patrol plane. At that time, the Navy and Marines were arguing over whether to attack Lysan Island, and even Nimitz was extremely annoyed, and this time Nimitz asked Spruance to come back to ask Spruance for advice.

After listening to Mitchell's analysis. Spruance fell silent, he saw at a glance that the root of the problem was the land, the Lands insisted on attacking Lesan Island first, not because the generals of the Marines were overconfident, but because the Marines did not trust the Fifth Fleet, and did not believe that the Fifth Fleet could provide it with a strong enough support force, so they sought to establish a forward base and use their own strength to make up for the gap in fleet support.

Spruance felt helpless about this, and it was impossible for him to give any guarantees to the Marine Corps. Task Force 4 is still active on the battlefield. And he almost sent Turner to the bottom of the sea. This made him pay more attention to Huang Xiaotian's opponent, even if he hadn't figured it out yet. Why didn't Huang Xiaotian seize the opportunity to kill the 52nd Task Force, but he also knew very well that if he encountered it next time, then neither the 52nd Task Force nor the 51st Task Force would have such good luck. As long as Task Force 4 is still active on the battlefield, the Fifth Fleet's primary mission is to take out Task Force 4, not to support the Marines in their attack on Midway.

"Redmond, we have to fix this." Nimitz's voice was a little excited, "Anyway, we have to convince the Marines that it is easier to attack Midway than to attack Lysan Island, and that the Marines will be fully supported and they will be able to take Midway without any problems." ”

"The main thing is the Fifth Fleet." Mitchell points out the point without being serious.

"I can't make any guarantees." Spruance also got straight to the point and didn't beat around the bush. "I can't guarantee that we will go all out to support the Marine Corps, because we all know that the Fourth Task Force is still active on the battlefield, and as long as the threat of the Fourth Task Force still exists, the Fifth Fleet cannot easily change its operational focus, and before supporting the Marine Corps, our first task is to take out the Fourth Task Force."

"But if the Marines want to land on Midway, they must first seize air supremacy on Midway, and they must blow up the airfield on Midway."

Spruance glanced at Mitchell, who felt that the request should not have been made by Mitchell. Mitchell also knew that he was overtalking it, even though he was the chief of staff of the theater, he could not replace Spruance's position.

"Redmond, this is a very realistic question." Nimitz came out to mediate the conflict between the two. "Even if the Fifth Fleet can't fully support the Marines landing, it should blow up the airfield on Midway so that the Marines have a chance to land. Of course, it would have been great if it had been able to provide fire support to the Marines in the early stages of the landing. ”

"I can only try to arrange it." Spruance sighed secretly, "If the time comes." I'll bomb the midway airfield first, and I can't guarantee that I'll be able to provide air support to the Marines in the early days of the landing. Also, when is the planned landing at Midway? ”

"July 1st." Mitchell was much more careful this time.

"It's too hasty, and this can only increase casualties and even lead to defeat." Spruance became agitated, but he immediately controlled his emotions. "Let's put it this way, I'll need more time to find Task Force 4 before attacking Midway. The best outcome is: The Fifth Fleet takes out the Fourth Task Force before landing, and then it can fully support the Marines. If we can't do that, then I'd suggest delaying the landing time. ”

"How much time do you need?" Nimitz's expression darkened.

"At least ten days, half a month is the best."

"It can't be!" Mitchell interjected inappropriately again.

Spruance smiled wryly, ignoring Mitchell and waiting for Nimitz's reply.

"Five days at most." Nimitz thought for a moment before he spoke, "I'm delaying the landing by a maximum of five days, because according to our estimates. Even in the best case, it would take half a month to take Midway, and perhaps a month if the Fifth Fleet could not fully support it. Let's not forget about the last combat operation against Midway, and not to mention underestimate the combat effectiveness of the Don Imperial Marine Corps. Judging from the current intelligence, it is still Han Shaofeng who is stationed at Midway, and this person is the one who made our counterattack fall short last time. And we have to lay Midway before August comes, so I'll give you five days at most. ”

"The Fifth of July?" Spruance furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yes. By July 5 at the latest, you'll have to destroy the airfield on Midway. Nimitz tapped the armrest of the couch, took a document from Mitchell, and handed it to Spruance. This is the battle plan of the Marine Corps. It would be great if there were two to three days of advance fire preparation. In any case, on the morning of 6 July, the Marines would be landing on the beaches of Midway, so the Fifth Fleet had to blow up the airfield on Midway on 5 July to support the landing of the Marines. ”

Spruance remained silent. He had thought about it quickly, and had come to the conclusion that if Task Force 4 had been determined not to engage the Fifth Fleet in a decisive battle, and had tried to stall for as long as possible, it would have been impossible for him to take out Task Force 4 before dawn on 5 July, and it would have been impossible for him to bomb Midway on 5 July.

"Redmond, this combat operation is quite important to us." Nimitz had to convince Spruance. "Admiral King has already called me back, and now the president is not going to send the Fifth Fleet to the Southwest Pacific for the time being, and MacArthur's mess is not going to let us clean up. But the point is. We must launch a striking strategic counterattack in the Central Pacific to contain the Tang Imperial Navy. Whether it is the annihilation of the Fourth Task Force. Or take Midway, we all have to do it. More importantly, whether it was the annihilation of Task Force 4 or the capture of Midway. This will force the Tang Imperial Navy to deploy more fleets to the Central Pacific theater. Therefore, in combat operations, we must not only gain the advantage of counterattacks, but also try to preserve our own strength, especially the strength of the fleet. ”

"I know." Spruance touched his chin, he knew exactly what was going on.

"It's a difficult task, and I probably won't feel comfortable handing over the fleet to anyone but you." Nimitz walked over to Spruance and sat down, "I won't ask too much of you, because no one is sure of our strategic counterattack this time, we are very clear about the combat effectiveness of the Tang Imperial Navy and its marines, we can only do our best to redeem the defeat, as for the result, maybe it is not what we should be most concerned about." ”

Spruance hesitated slightly, and when he met Nimitz's eyes, he suddenly understood the meaning of Nimitz's words. Perhaps, Nimitz already knew that the defeat in the Pacific theater could not be saved, and now everything the US Navy is doing is only making a final struggle. This can also be seen from Nimitz's words, and at the same time, it also makes Spruance feel that Nimitz is a soldier, an out-and-out, a soldier with a high sense of honor.

Regardless of whether Nimitz has admitted defeat or not, as a soldier, and the honor and daring of a soldier, he cannot give up easily. Perhaps Nimitz was not like MacArthur, a highly politically minded military man, but he was well aware of his duty to be a soldier on the battlefield. In Nimitz's eyes, the result of this counterattack is not important, the important thing is that the US army is still fighting, still fighting back, still not giving up the last hope, still not giving in to the enemy, and the whole process of counterattack is the most important.

Thinking of this, Spruance also felt very uncomfortable, just like the feeling when he went to the battlefield without hesitation even though he knew he was going to fail. They are just doing their duty as an American soldier, and what the final outcome will be may not be a concern.

"I'll do my best." Spruance forced himself to calm down, "No matter what the outcome, I will do my best, and I also believe that every officer and sailor of the Fifth Fleet will do their best." ”

Nimitz nodded. "You return to the fleet as soon as possible, and if there is any new news, I will send it to you immediately. For us, the most lacking thing is time, and I hope we can grasp every second, every minute! ”

On the same day, Spruance returned to the Fifth Fleet, and the combat aircraft replenished for the Fifth Fleet also arrived at the Fifth Fleet before his return, and the replenishment was completed. As Spruance instructed, Turner also seized the time to train the pilots.

It can be said that Spruance's mood at that time was very complicated. The situation of the Fifth Fleet is improving, almost all the pilots have real combat experience, especially those bomber pilots, and finally dropped the first bomb in battle, which is good news. And Spruance believes that after a few more battles, these pilots can take on more important tasks and become good pilots. But does he still have such an opportunity? If the outcome of this battle is unavoidable, then will he be able to sail to the abyss with tens of thousands of officers and soldiers?