Iron Cross

Before Tsukahara 243's attack aircraft took off, the Hornet's carrier-based aircraft formation, which was far less in number than the mobile fleet, had taken off first to attack the bombardment fleet, trying to avenge the destroyed TF64 formation. For this attack, Kinkaid left behind 12 F4F fighters and took the risk of withdrawing all the remaining aircraft on the Hornet (excluding the 16 SBDs sent out in the early morning, there were 71 aircraft left), forming an attack formation of 59 aircraft, with Major William Wedheim as the commander-in-chief of the attack, and the SBDs piloted by Welch and Johnson as the lead aircraft. The Hornet's attack formation quickly climbed to an altitude of 3,600 meters, using rain clouds to cover the way forward to find the Japanese bombardment fleet. During the period, due to the strong wind and heavy rain, Welch once lost his target, but found the correct direction again after the weather cleared.

The Japanese bombardment fleet slightly changed its route according to the report sent back by the reconnaissance aircraft, but it was still speeding towards the southwest. The combat staff expected that the distance between the two sides would be reduced to 190 nautical miles in half an hour.

The progress of the US military was not smooth. The SBD, which was in charge of guidance, arrived at the designated location and did not find the fleet for a while, so it reported to Wedheim by radio that "the enemy fleet is not here", but Wedheim thought of McGrath's experience at Midway Island. There is still a possibility of losing enemy ships at an altitude of 1,500 meters, so he decided to continue searching. Five minutes later, it turned out that his judgment was correct. All the ships of the bombardment fleet appeared in the field of vision of the second attack wave. Through the clouds, he saw the main force of the Japanese bombardment fleet distributed 14 nautical miles in front and behind. The three ships of Nagato, Yamato and Mutsu in the middle were particularly eye-catching, especially the Yamato, which had never appeared in public, which made all American pilots gasp. Since the pilots reported that the Japanese fleet's anti-aircraft firepower was fierce during the first wave of attacks, he ordered the aircraft groups not to attack the Yamato, the center of the Japanese fleet, but to attack the periphery from the left and right wings first, and then attack the central warships once the enemy was in chaos.

At 7:47, the news of the discovery of the US attacking aircraft group quickly reached the Yamato command tower. The lookout judged that the US aircraft group attacking this time was more than the first attack wave, but now there were 71 Zero fighters covering the bombardment fleet, and Kusaka Renji was very confident. Kondo Nobutake still instructed the fleet to quickly form a wheel-shaped anti-aircraft formation, and at the same time asked the Zero fighter cover aircraft group to attack first and do their best to intercept the enemy aircraft outside.

Before launching the attack, Major Wedheim did not forget to inform Kinkaid, who was 200 nautical miles away, of the battlefield situation: "There are many enemy ships, and I'm afraid they will have to launch at least one more round of attacks..."

Almost at the same time when the American fleet was detouring to the left and right wings, the Japanese fleet's Type 3 missiles began to attack, and then all the American pilots encountered something that confused them. The Zero fighter fleet, which was more numerous than the attacking fleet, began to swoop over - but where were the enemy's aircraft carriers hiding?

At 7:53, when Major Wedheim sent a telegram about the enemy situation and prepared to attack, the Enterprise and the Hornet were receiving the planes returning from the first wave of attacks. Seeing that there were only 23 planes returning from the first wave of attacks, and 10 of them were injured, Kinkaid was shocked, but he still tried every means to order the ground crew to replace the inventory planes. 19 minutes later, the 15 SBDs that attacked the "landing fleet" and the 4 SBDs that had nothing to gain also returned to the mother ship. He calculated that if he launched a third attack with the existing forces, he could still take out 38 planes. The problem was that he had not yet found the Japanese aircraft carrier. In order to speed up the attack, he urged the ground crew to speed up the replenishment of oil and ammunition for the planes, and took the risk of adjusting the formation route to the northeast, preparing to shorten the distance between the Japanese bombardment fleet and save time for the possible third wave of attacks.

Although Kinkaid's second wave of attacking aircraft was smaller than the Zero fighters that provided cover for the bombardment fleet, most of these U.S. carrier-based pilots were veterans who had participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, and their experience was much better than that of the Japanese land-based Zero fighter pilots (the Japanese pilots with good skills were all transferred to aircraft carriers, and the early Guadalcanal operations consumed experienced pilots, so the quality of land-based pilots declined rapidly, and many of them were rookies who had only been on the battlefield for 3 months). Therefore, although many planes were shot down, the U.S. attacking aircraft group still successfully killed their way in. Take the left wing as an example. Facing 14 Zero fighters flying over the bombardment fleet, the 8 F4Fs that served as escorts cleverly arranged and fought with opponents who outnumbered them. Under their desperate cover, 15 SBDs shook off the remaining Zero fighters and immediately dived from an altitude of 3,500 meters to the outer fleet. A fierce battle lasting 20 minutes began.

The 27th Destroyer Squadron, which was escorting the Nagato, suffered particularly heavy losses. The Ariake destroyer was hit by two torpedoes and sank on the spot. The Yugure and Shiratsuyu ships were hit by a bomb and a torpedo respectively. With a small body of less than 2,000 tons, they also sank after struggling for a few minutes. The Shigure destroyer of the same squadron was hit by a near miss bomb and a torpedo. It turned out that the torpedo was a dud. It escaped the disaster safely and became the only lucky one in the squadron to survive.

The sacrifices of the US military were not small. The first to die was the F4F fighter pilot who was responsible for the dogfighting mission. 11 aircraft including Lieutenant Grant, Lieutenant Fisher, and Lieutenant White were shot down one after another. Some of the SBDs that completed the dive bombing successfully pulled away, and some were dropped into the sea by anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns. The engine of the American commander Wedheim's own plane suddenly overheated and caught fire. Although he did not flinch and continued to dive, the engine had not yet reached the bombing position. It stopped completely. He dropped the bomb at the last moment and made an emergency landing on the sea.

Seeing the constant fires and explosions of our ships on the sea, the Zero Fighter pilots who were responsible for intercepting but were inferior in skills became red-eyed. The pilots of several planes remembered that they were told by their superiors before departure that they could abandon the plane and parachute, and gave up the fight with them. The F4Fs made a long and short plan and hit the SBD and TBF. The pilots parachuted at the moment of impact. The US pilots who were caught off guard were hit one after another. They screamed anxiously into the intercom, and in the end they could only struggle to parachute. .

Relying on this forced exchange method, the Zero Fighter cover aircraft group was able to contain the U.S. military's offensive. This round of air defense battles was fierce. 71 Zeros were hit and collided due to various factors such as few hits and collisions. There were 32 aircraft, and the losses of US carrier-based aircraft were not light. 28 aircraft were destroyed or crashed on the spot. Many of the 31 aircraft that struggled to fly back were injured. Because they deeply hated these US military planes, even after they evacuated, the relentless Zero Fighter group still bit their tail and chased them for more than 50 nautical miles. As a result, both sides lost 6 and 4 planes respectively.

There are now only 33 zero battles left in the bombardment fleet, but Kusaka Renichi is more worried about Yamato's injuries: among the three battleships, Mutsu has the best luck, and nothing happened. Nagato suffered a bomb on the front deck, and Yamato Two torpedoes were hit on the starboard side, and two bombs were hit on the front deck. The area around the center turret was in a mess. Fortunately, the turret's defense was thick enough and it still stood upright. After being hit by a mine on the starboard side, Yamato tilted slightly to the right by 2 degrees. The captain decisively ordered water injection. The balance has been restored. There are now more than 2,900 tons of seawater in the Yamato cabin. The maximum speed has dropped by 2 knots and can only drive to 25 knots...

Even Kincaid was shocked when he heard that the Japanese bombardment fleet was still advancing southwestward unyieldingly. What was even more shocking was the dense air defense aircraft over the bombardment fleet and the pilots' complaints about the Japanese's use of ramming techniques heard on the radio.

"Madmen... they are all a group of madmen!" His face twisted, showing a ferocious look, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Since you want to die so much... I will help you!"

Considering that the new wave of attacks had been prepared, and in view of the large number of escort fighters over the Japanese fleet and their brutal tactics, he gritted his teeth and took out 8 more fighter jets from the fleet's cover fighters to strengthen the attack group, bringing it to 46. Now his There are only 20 defense fighters left in the TF16\\17 formation.

But he didn't know that just after the second attack wave retreated, a total of 32 Japanese Zero fighter jets from Japan's third aviation reinforcement wave departing from the Rabaul base had arrived over the bombardment fleet. Now the cover aircraft group of the bombardment fleet had reached 65 aircraft.

Horikichi listened calmly to Kusaka Renichi's report: "This is the last batch of reinforcement aircraft. Currently, all the fighter jets of the air fleets of Munda, Bougainville and Rabaul have been mobilized. In addition to Bougainville, there are 40 aircraft. Except for Zero War, which serves as cover above the mobile fleet, there is no more fighter jets from our army at the other airports, and even some of the pilots who normally conduct ship attacks have been temporarily deployed as reserve fighters. "

Horikichi pondered for a moment and then issued the order: "Let the destroyer Shigure cover the return of the Aoba to Truk... The rest of the fleet will continue to advance southwest and the entire army will attack."

"Sir!" Caolu Renyi screamed.

"Sir!" Kondo Nobutake persuaded with tears in his eyes, "There is no problem in attacking, but I'm afraid the Yamato won't be able to hold on if it continues like this. Can you please lead two destroyer teams to break away first, and I will lead the other troops to rush in..."

Mitsumi Shimizu, the commander-in-chief of the First Fleet who was on board the Nagato, also sent a telegram urging Yamato to leave the battlefield and Nagato could take over the subsequent responsibilities.

"No, Yamato is the flagship of the combined fleet, how can they be the first to escape? The American planes are coming for Yamato. What if they can't find Yamato and they search randomly? What should they do if they find the mobile fleet?" Horikichi said with emotion, "I am just serving as the bait. Attracting firepower - even if the Yamato sinks here today, it can't change this fact. Whatever responsibility I have, this commander will shoulder it after the war!"

The two could only agree with tears in their eyes.