Problems that are difficult for scientists to understand

Chapter 22 The Flames of War (3)
The Battle of Midway between Japan and the United States ended with a great victory for the U.S. Army and a disastrous defeat for the Japanese Army.This is the first disastrous defeat suffered by the Japanese navy, which has been rampant in the Western Pacific since the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-].Since then, the Japanese army lost its advantage in the Pacific Ocean.The strategic offensive and defensive strategies of Japan and the United States in the Pacific began to change.The Battle of Midway Island is one of the famous battles in the history of world naval warfare.No matter in terms of the total troops invested by Japan and the United States, or in terms of the strength of local battlefields, the Japanese army clearly had an advantage, but the result was a disastrous defeat for the Japanese army.What is the reason?Many researchers focus their research on the strategy and tactics of the main combat commander of the Japanese army, and believe that it was this wrong command that led to the failure of the Midway Island naval battle.

First of all, although the Japanese army had won a major victory in the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor before, the blow suffered by the U.S. Navy was not as heavy as they imagined. A sneak attack did not bring a devastating disaster to the U.S. military.Since the US aircraft carriers were not in port at the time, none of them were lost.The Japanese attackers at the time completely ignored the maintenance facilities of the naval base and the important oil storage base, where 450 million barrels of oil were stored.If these facilities and reserves are destroyed, the Pacific Fleet will be forced to withdraw to the west coast of the United States.Undoubtedly, the Japanese army over-exaggerated the results of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the naval battle on Coral Island, which led to their blind self-confidence and underestimation of the enemy.And Yamamoto 56 mistakenly listened to the battle report, believing that the USS "Yorktown" and "Lexington" aircraft carriers were sunk during the Coral Island naval battle.In fact, although the "Yorktown" aircraft carrier was severely damaged, it recovered its combat effectiveness in just a few days.

The upper and lower command levels of the Japanese army did not pay much attention to the collection of intelligence, and even the important information reported by the intelligence personnel that "the two aircraft carriers in the United States, the Hornet and the Enterprise, are sailing near the Solomon Islands and far away from Midway Island." Without further verification, they judged the enemy's situation based on this. They all believed that there was no enemy aircraft carrier near Midway Island that could threaten their fleet, and based on this, they formulated combat plans.This undoubtedly made a serious mistake of underestimating intelligence collection and arbitrarily formulating combat plans.This, of course, has dire consequences.Precisely because of blind confidence and erroneous intelligence leading to errors of judgment, Yamamoto felt that it was safe to disperse his fleet, and that they were free to attack even numerically outnumbered enemies, especially if their actions were forewarned. Down.Thus, a plan was formulated to disperse the fleet into 6 units that cannot directly support each other, with a distance of hundreds of nautical miles between each two fleets: using 2 aircraft carriers in the far north, making it mainly rely on the Nanyun Fleet in the direction of Midway Island There are 4 aircraft carriers in China, and there are a total of 4 carrier-based aircraft on these 261 aircraft carriers.However, the U.S. military has concentrated its strength, and all the aircraft that can be used in the direction of Midway Island have reached 354. Therefore, the trend of numbers has reversed, and the U.S. military has an advantage in numbers.

Not only that, according to historical data, there are even contradictions in the Japanese army's combat plans.Among the fleets, the most important Nanyun Fleet has to perform two contradictory tasks: one is the air raid on Midway Island on June 1942, 6 to prepare for the landing operations, which strictly limits the freedom of movement of the Nanyun Fleet .Another task was to contact and destroy the enemy fleet, which again required the Nagumo fleet to act completely maneuverable according to the situation.Since there was no indication of which action to take priority, the Nanyun Fleet was at a loss.It was forced to load ammunition for different tasks on the planes of the two waves. Later, due to the delay in changing the ammunition, the fighter plane was delayed and suffered a catastrophe.

Secondly, although the Japanese army used carrier-based aircraft to achieve victory in the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the old concept of "big guns and ships carrying the world" was deeply rooted in the hearts of Yamamoto and his capable generals.They decided to use it for the war at that time, and they were unwilling to mix battleships and aircraft carriers into a fleet with aircraft carriers as the core, and let battleships provide air cover for aircraft carriers.Even for the task of preparing firepower for landing operations, he was unwilling to use the battle fleet, so that during the battle, "Nan Yun" could only rely on carrier-based patrol aircraft to protect his fleet.This is undoubtedly a wrong and bad decision.When attacked by American planes from Midway Island, the Japanese fleet had no choice but to carry out the escort planes of the second wave of attacking fleets, causing the dive bombers that were ready to attack to stop attacking without fighter escorts.When the reorganized fleet attacked the US fleet again, the fighter plane was lost.Obviously, outdated concepts and conservative and rigid strategic decisions cannot but become one of the important reasons for the failure of the Japanese army.

According to records, because Yamamoto 56 personally led the battle fleet to battle, out of caution, he kept the radio silent, and voluntarily gave up the guidance of the entire campaign, so that the entire fleet lost unified scheduling. The overall numerical advantage of the Japanese army was completely lost.

An on-the-spot command error is also a major mistake.The Nanyun Fleet, the main force of the Japanese army, did not have special reconnaissance planes cruising in the battlefield waters. The reconnaissance and search tasks were mainly performed by the old seaplanes on the battleships and cruisers in the formation.Due to the negligence and wrong decision-making of "Nanyun", the Japanese fleet did not conduct a two-way search, but only sent reconnaissance planes to conduct a one-way search.The reason is that two reconnaissance planes failed, which delayed the take-off time, and they did not want to disperse the offensive force and sent another plane to replace them.It directly caused the enemy's situation to be discovered too late, which affected the outcome of the entire battle.The Japanese neglected battlefield reconnaissance and search, which almost wiped out the advantage.Secondly, due to the conservative thinking and slow response of "Nan Yun", after the Japanese army obtained the intelligence report of the US fleet, they did not adopt Yamaguchi Tabu's suggestion, gave up waiting for fighter escorts, and directly sent dive bombers to launch an attack, so that the ship and plane sank together .

It should be said that in the midway naval battle, these mistakes made by the main Japanese generals laid the foundation for the failure.So is this the only reason for the failure of the Midway Island naval battle?I am afraid that further verification is needed.

How Israel Bombed an American Spy Ship
On June 1967, 6, a mysterious ship called for help from the U.S. Navy's 8th Fleet in a clear telegram, in defiance of secrecy rules.The mysterious ship, named "Freedom", was refitted from the cargo ship "Victory" and was 6 meters long. Although the "Liberty" claims to be a civilian ship, it is actually a spy ship. Except for the sailors, all 138.7 people on board are intelligence personnel.The surprise attack on the mysterious ship left the US military in a hurry.At that time, the U.S. military command center immediately ordered the "America" ​​aircraft carrier to scramble to take off four A-280 "Skyhawks"

Attack aircraft, another US aircraft carrier "Saratoga" also received an order to immediately take off 4 A-1 attack aircraft to support.U.S. President Johnson couldn't help being shocked when he heard the news, and immediately ordered all U.S. strike forces in the Mediterranean sea and air to enter the highest state of readiness, and nuclear warfare troops also entered "attack positions."Aware of the abnormality, the Soviet fleet stationed in the Mediterranean responded quickly and entered a state of combat readiness urgently.

The two nuclear attack submarines on duty underwater have activated missile readiness procedures, ready to deal with the attack launched by the US warships at any time.However, at the critical moment when the United States and the Soviet Union were on the verge of breaking out, the truth finally came to light:

It was not the Soviet army that attacked the mysterious ship, but Israel.

On this day, Israeli ace pilot Specot was leading a group of "Mirage" fighter jets to patrol over the Mediterranean Sea about 40 kilometers north of the coast of the Sinai Peninsula.His mission was to intercept possible incoming Egyptian warplanes.The sharp-eyed Spector quickly spotted the Liberty.He immediately lowered his altitude, trying to see the flag flying on the ship clearly, but when Spector passed over it, it actually cast a large amount of smoke screen, which made Spector feel the crisis.At this moment, an order from the air force command center came over the radio: "This is an Egyptian military ship, attack immediately! Attack immediately!" Spector took the lead in diving down to the stern, aiming at the "freedom ship" with a 30mm cannon. The bridge and upper deck of the USS "fired violently, and then rose against the mast again.A few seconds later, Spector led the team back again.This time they dropped rockets. The "Liberty" was immediately surrounded by orange fireballs and billowing smoke.

Soon after, three Israeli torpedo boats also arrived.The torpedo boat sent a signal light to the "Liberty" asking "what ship are you?", but the signal light of the "Liberty" had been destroyed and could not respond at all.

In desperation, the captain of the Israeli torpedo boat hurriedly looked through the atlas of Arab naval ships and found that the ship was very similar to the Egyptian horse carrier "El Qusayr", so he ordered to launch torpedoes at the suspicious ship.

A large hole was torn open on the starboard hull of the "Liberty" hit by the torpedo, and the point of impact happened to be the signal intelligence equipment compartment.After the Israeli torpedo boat fired the torpedo, it was not enough, and it continued to fire at the "Freedom" with a 30mm cannon at a distance of more than 40 meters from the ship.An armor-piercing shell passed through the chart cabin and into the cockpit, and finally hit the young helmsman in the neck.The helmsman died instantly.The captain was also seriously injured at this time. Looking at the severely damaged "Liberty", he had to order to abandon the ship.However, no sooner had the crew lowered the three life rafts than an Israeli torpedo boat came back, sank two and snatched the other. 3 torpedo boats sailed to the naval port with the snatched life raft.At this time, the captain of the torpedo boat realized that something was wrong, and immediately reported to the Israeli Navy Command that "the U.S. ship was bombed by mistake."What happened next surprised the survivors of the Liberty.High-level officials in Washington issued an order not to allow them to disclose any details of the attack, otherwise they will be dealt with by military law.

It is said that the sky was clear that day. Even if Specter could not see the American flag flying high on the "Liberty", why would the Israeli Air Force command center not see it clearly, mistook it for an Egyptian ship and issued an attack order Woolen cloth?Did Israel do it deliberately to prevent intelligence leaks?The U.S. military even ordered to sink the "Freedom" as soon as possible!However, senior military officials in the Pentagon pointed out that doing so will inevitably make the incident bigger and bigger.Only then did the US military let the 6th Fleet drag the "Liberty" that was on fire and nearly sank into the repair shop.Although more than 40 years have passed since this incident, it still leaves people with many mysteries, which need to be solved one by one by future generations.

Unsolved Mysteries of the First Air Combat
In the past, the mission of the aircraft was mainly to observe and reconnaissance the enemy's situation, and it was not equipped with weapons at all.The pilots of the two warring parties often met unexpectedly in the air, and interestingly, they sometimes waved to each other.

However, World War I changed all that.

The ancients had long dreamed of flying like a bird. Finally, in December 1903, the Wright brothers of the United States produced the world's first airplane after more than 12 gliding test flights.

According to records, in April 1915, a French pilot named Roland Garros installed a machine gun behind the propeller of his biplane, and then flew into the sky.Not long after, he spotted a German plane, and immediately aimed at the enemy plane and fired a burst of bullets. This unexpected attack made the German pilot unprepared, and he immediately plunged into the sea with the plane.Historians believe that this move by the French pilot set a precedent for air combat.

But there is another theory that during the First World War, French pilot Andre flew a biplane to Liege, Belgium to perform reconnaissance missions. At this time, German pilot Hans was also flying the plane to the banks of the Marne River. same task.The two planes met each other in the air, and Hans waved to each other according to the pilot's rules. Unexpectedly, Andre pointed out his little finger to him mockingly.This extremely insulting gesture made Hans very angry.So Hans immediately turned the nose of the plane and rushed towards Andre, and Andre also drove the fighter plane to circle back, and challenged Hans with his little finger again.

Hans drew his gun and shot, Andre also raised his gun to fight back, and the two fought together in the air.However, the two shot nothing, and neither of them could put the other to death, and the boring fight soon ended.In the end, the two waved goodbye and went to perform their tasks separately.The first air battle in human history ended so hastily.

However, the military strategists were inspired by this battle between two people in the air.Therefore, the first armed fighter in the history of human warfare was born.

More experts believe that when the First World War began, the aircraft had just been invented, and the reason why it was useful in the war was because it helped to perform military tasks such as aerial reconnaissance.

After aerial reconnaissance, it was often violent shelling. Therefore, the air cover required by the infantry at that time was not to prevent enemy aircraft from bombing, but to prevent enemy aircraft from aerial reconnaissance.The air battle took place in order to prevent aerial reconnaissance by enemy aircraft.

France is said to have pioneered the creation of a fighter force, and other countries have since followed suit.At first, the weapons used in air combat were light weapons used by infantry. Although the fighting seemed fierce, the results were minimal.According to data records, from October 1914 to July 10, French pilots shot down only 1915 fighter planes, and 7 of them were shot down with carbines. In 8, Germany made the world's first aircraft equipped with a machine gun shooting coordination device, which made a breakthrough in the combat capability of fighter jets.Beginning in October 7, the Allied Powers and the Allied Powers officially began to compete for the right to control the sky above the front line, that is, air supremacy.All countries know very well that whoever has the air supremacy will easily win the ground battle.Thus, the two sides began a long and brutal air battle.

So why did the first air battle in human history start?What's the inside story?Due to limited historical data, it is still an unsolved mystery.

The Truth About the Mysterious Map Published by Roosevelt
In 1939, Germany raided Poland and World War II broke out.In the early days of the war, Nazi Germany used blitzkrieg to sweep across the Western European continent, defeating the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and France successively.By June 1940, the entire western European coast from Norway in the north to Spain in the south was under German control.

However, a map changed the course of world history, and this map, which has become an unsolved case through the ages, is now quietly lying in the "World War II" exhibition hall of the British Museum in London, witnessing the legendary history of that year.

In the early days of World War II, fascist Germany was aggressive and invincible, and it was on the verge of flattening Europe. Small countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium were trampled under its feet one by one, and the mighty France could not escape the doom of destruction.Subsequently, Hitler mobilized more than 2000 planes to bombard Britain on the north coast of the English Channel. At the same time, he was preparing to implement the "Sea Lion Action" plan to invade Britain across the sea. The "Empire on which the sun never sets" was in jeopardy for a while.However, in the United States on the other side of the Atlantic, isolationism is prevalent, and the atmosphere of singing and dancing is everywhere.Although the United Kingdom has repeatedly appealed to the United States for assistance, and although the far-sighted President Roosevelt has proposed several aid proposals for the United Kingdom, the United States Congress has rejected all these proposals. The situation is really pressing.

October 1941, 10 was United States Navy Day.At the celebration banquet, President Roosevelt suddenly announced in public that the US intelligence agency had just obtained a map of Central and South America drawn by Hitler's government with instructions.

This map clearly redefines the borders of 14 countries in Central and South America, such as expanding the territories of Argentina and Brazil, and merging Venezuela, Colombia and Panama into a "New Spain" controlled by Germany

The country has included the Panama Canal, which is closely related to the United States, and the entire Central and South America, into Germany's sphere of influence.This map clearly shows that the Nazis' bayonets are about to extend into the backyard of the United States, and their planes may fly over the southern states of the United States at any time, and the security of the United States itself will be lost.

After the announcement of this news, the American government and opposition parties were immediately excited, and the public opinion was outraged. Isolationism became the point of view for a while.Under such circumstances, in early November, both houses of the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the abolition of the "Neutrality Act" passed in 11, authorizing President Roosevelt to take open war operations against German submarines in the North Atlantic to escort the U.S. transport fleet.This greatly reduced the burden on the United Kingdom and gave a shot in the arm to the war of resistance in Britain and Europe.

For many years, no one doubted the authenticity of this map. In the 20s, when two American historians checked the files of the British intelligence agency, they discovered that the map was actually drawn by the British intelligence agency at the behest of Churchill.As a result, new doubts arose: Did President Roosevelt know the truth about this map?Did he really believe that it was true, or did he reach a tacit agreement with Churchill and pretend to believe so as to achieve the purpose of more actively assisting the anti-fascist cause?Because many files at the time have not been released, many people familiar with the matter were silent when writing the memoirs, and the matter remains a mystery to this day.

Where did Hitler's "Last Regiment" go?

At the end of World War II in 1945, Hitler committed suicide in fear of crime, and all the millions of German Nazi troops were finally captured.However, Nobuhiko Ochiai, a well-known international journalist in Japan, reported that Hitler's 25 "last troops" are still mysteriously operating in some mysterious areas of the world.This is really sensational news.

(End of this chapter)