Iron Cross

December 20, 1942, 4:30 in the morning.

It was still dark, but the ground crews on the five aircraft carriers of the Combined Fleet hurriedly ate rice balls and then plunged into frantic work, making full preparations for all carrier-based aircraft operations - fuel, bombs, torpedoes, everything was arranged in an orderly manner.

Such high-intensity preparations have been carried out for four consecutive days since the early morning of the 16th after entering the main battle zone. Every day they were ready to fight, but every day there was no actual fighting. Even so, the ground crews still had no complaints, but launched a labor competition in a happy way - war is a thing that will be addictive when it is won, not to mention the Japanese who have been brainwashed by militarism since childhood. If you have to use a number to measure morale, it is 100%.

The main force of the Combined Fleet in this battle did not change much compared with the Battle of the Southern Solomon Sea. Hori Teikichi still led all the elite of the Combined Fleet to go out in full force: Musashi replaced the damaged Yamato as the flagship. After the Fuso sank and the Yamashiro was assigned to Mikawa Gunichi's garrison fleet near Rabaul, the battleships Ise and Hyuga were added. After the Hiyo aircraft carrier sank in the mobile fleet, the light aircraft carrier Ryuho was urgently completed in late November and replaced the Hiyo.

When it set out from Singapore, the Ryuho was in the most tense state, because this was its first battle after being converted into an aircraft carrier. Although most of the nearly 1,000 officers and pilots on the ship were veterans, the coordination of ships, aircraft and people was brand new. After more than half a month of marching, training and running-in, the combat requirements were basically met. The commander of the mobile fleet, Vice Admiral Tsukahara Jishisan, and Hori Teikichi finally put down their worries.

Of course, in general, the number of carrier-based aircraft dispatched this time was less than that in the South Solomon Sea, because the Flying Eagle had 53 aircraft and the Dragon Phoenix had only 31, and the total number of carrier-based aircraft in the mobile fleet dropped from nearly 300 to 278. Although there were fewer aircraft, the average quality of carrier-based pilots has improved a lot.

More than one-third of the elite pilots who had been trained before the war and participated in five large-scale aircraft carrier battles since the outbreak of the war between Japan and the United States (including Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Ceylon, Midway Island, and two South Solomon Sea battles) accounted for more than 3 times, and 65% of the pilots had participated in more than 1 battle accounted for 85%. Especially in the most recent battle in the South Solomon Sea, the overall losses were small and the results were great. Many pilots who were on board for the first time accumulated experience, and most of the pilots who suffered various losses in the battle were novices, and veterans accounted for less than a quarter. Therefore, the essence of the carrier-based pilots of the entire Combined Fleet was retained.

The day before yesterday was the most tense day since we set sail from Singapore to carry out the Indian Ocean strategy. After sinking the merchant ship at around 10 a.m., the atmosphere suddenly became extremely tense, but for some reason, no British plane came to check until the sun set, and everyone called it lucky.

It’s not that no one came to investigate the accident area. After the escort command in Kenya issued an order, the Maldives Island, where the British recently stationed a reconnaissance force, had taken off a walrus seaplane to check, but the accident site was too far away from the Maldives, more than 1,200 kilometers away, and more than 1,500 kilometers away from the coast of Kenya. Therefore, when the slow seaplane arrived at the accident site, the combined fleet had already run nearly 100 nautical miles to the northwest. The pilot in charge of the search had nothing but an empty ocean. Considering that it was unsafe to fly after dark, the driver hurriedly observed and returned to the base, and did not find any trace of the Japanese fleet at all - this further confirmed the inference that it was the enemy submarine.

At 5:15, the eastern sky gradually brightened, and the seaplane reconnaissance aircraft of the combined fleet prepared to take off. Cao Lu Renyi designated a key search area for them - the western half of the fan-shaped surface from 180° to 360°, and arranged 2 aircraft for two stages of search for the enemy in every 15-degree fan-shaped surface. Since the Battle of Midway, which led to intelligence leaks due to the failure of the reconnaissance aircraft to take off on time, the fleet has attached great importance to the reconnaissance force. Not only has the number of seaplane reconnaissance aircraft increased, but also the development of high-speed, long-range ship-based reconnaissance aircraft - internal codename Caiyun.

Looking at the reconnaissance aircraft taking off, Cao Lu Renyi was very nervous. Now the main force of the combined fleet is less than 600 kilometers away from Socotra Island outside the Horn of Africa, and only more than 500 kilometers away from the coast of Somalia. It is completely under the reconnaissance range of the British side. If the British fleet cannot be found smoothly, it is likely to be attacked first - it is said that the British fleet also has an aircraft carrier.

"Sir, where do you think the British fast fleet will hide?"

"It should not have come up yet."

"What if they don't take this route?" Kusaka Renji glanced at the sea chart, "We have ventured so close, there is no reason why the British can't find us. I'm afraid they have actually discovered us and are deliberately accumulating strength and preparing to give us a fatal blow."

"This is also possible. I just hope the cover aircraft group can play a role." Hori Teikichi looked at the carrier-based fighters taking off from the aircraft carrier in the distance, and after a pause, he slowly said: "If they don't take this route, they can only go to the Persian Gulf-unless they don't go north at all. Judging from the time, no matter how fast the enemy is, they will not turn around the Horn of Africa."

Kusa Lu Ren nodded: Going to the Persian Gulf is easy to solve. As long as the main force of the joint fleet occupies the middle position of the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, it will be no more than 200 nautical miles away from the Red Sea or the Persian Gulf, and it will be completely under the strict control of the fleet. The British have no air force in southern Arabia except for a few planes on Socotra Island. The nearest airport is more than 1,500 kilometers away from the sea area, which is a very safe and ideal place.

"Sir, what if... I mean what if the British have noticed us and dare not go north?"

"This is a problem, but it is not difficult to deal with. If they don't come, we will wait..."

"Wait?"

"Yes! Wait in the designated sea area." Hori Teikichi's attitude is very firm.

"But this is not letting the enemy fleet escape..."

"You want to fight them?" Hori Teikichi said, "But you forgot that our strategic goal is to control the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, prevent all British and American naval forces from entering there, and create convenience for the German army to occupy Arabia and the Middle East - we are not here to fight with Britain and the United States, we are here to eliminate the interference of the British and American navies on Germany. If they want to fight us, we will accompany them; if they dare not come, I don’t have to bother to find them."

"Yes."

Hori Teikichi looked at Kusaka Renji who was a little disappointed, and smiled and patted the latter's shoulder: "Wouldn't it be good to wait a few more days without fighting and get a large amount of supplies and equipment given by Germany for free?"

"This..." Kusaka Renji showed a strange smile, not knowing how to continue the sentence.

In the early morning, the main force of the fast column led by Cunningham was slowly heading north. According to the scheduled plan, the fleet would pass through the waters between the Horn of Africa and Socotra Island in one day, that is, on the 21st, and then enter the famous Gulf of Aden and head towards Egypt. However, because the escort command reported the presence of submarines, he did not dare to be careless and signaled the fleet to slow down and take a zigzag route - he was afraid that there were a lot of submarines waiting for him in front.

Judging from the various situations received now, the war situation is not ideal, and bad news comes one after another: Montgomery led the Eighth Army to surrender, Rommel commanded the German army to occupy Alexandria and the canal area and encircle Cairo on three sides; the main force of the German-Italian joint fleet swaggered into the canal area and completely controlled the entrance and exit of the canal.

Although the news from the reconnaissance plane yesterday evening was that the enemy fleet was still staying at the mouth of Suez, specifically about 150 kilometers east of Cairo, it would take at least 3-4 days for the fast column to reach the designated location. He didn't know whether he would fight with the German and Italian navies before landing.

His mind was full of the shadow of the German and Italian Mediterranean Fleet, and he didn't know that a fleet three or four times stronger than his had already touched him, and he didn't know that although his current route to the north did not intersect with the opponent's route, because of the speed difference between them, the distance between the two sides was gradually shrinking at a speed of 6 nautical miles per hour.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, Cunningham launched a reconnaissance plane. His reconnaissance direction was also the western half of the area. He wanted to carefully observe the situation of the enemy fleet in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. At 6:55, the reconnaissance plane had not yet sent back relevant intelligence. Lieutenant White-Shaw of the British Navy, who took off from Socotra Island and was doing routine patrol flights, suddenly discovered the mighty fleet on the sea. He was immediately surprised.

He asked his partner in the back seat suspiciously: "Didn't the boss tell us that the fleet was off the coast of Somalia? Why did it come here?"

"Who knows, maybe we are lost."

"That's impossible." White denied on the spot, "I'm not stupid."

"That's not necessarily true. Instruments and compasses can also make mistakes." The back seat reminded, "Don't trust them too much. Have you forgotten the lesson last time?"

Last time, White had suffered a loss. The fuel gauge clearly showed that there was still one-fifth of fuel. As a result, the plane suddenly ran out of fuel and the engine stopped halfway through the flight. Fortunately, he was skilled and brave enough to successfully make an emergency landing on the sea, otherwise he would have been killed.

He firmly believed that he was right, so he lowered his altitude and began to observe the sea more carefully. What surprised him even more was that the fleet seemed to be smaller than the intelligence report, but the ships were much larger, and there were no transport ships. As he watched, he found something wrong. There were 5 flat-deck ships in the fleet - that was clearly the characteristic of an aircraft carrier, but the reinforcement fleet only had 1 aircraft carrier, so how did Admiral Cunningham conjure up the other 4?

He looked again and saw the red Asahi Maru again - this was the Japanese fleet!