Iron Cross

"The fast fleet is in danger!" he shouted, "That's the damn little Japanese fleet...hell, how did they sneak here?"

His partner thought he was joking at first, but looked down and exclaimed: "Oh God... what is that? The entire combined fleet is here?"

"Quick...quick...telegram, telegram..." White didn't have time to take a closer look at the number and type of the fleet below. He immediately turned around and ran back, reminding his companions to send a message immediately as he ran.

At this moment, Zero War, who was responsible for covering the fleet, also spotted the patrol plane, and immediately sent four of them to pounce on it.

"The main Japanese fleet was found, located 300 nautical miles south-southeast of Socotra Island. I repeat, 300 nautical miles south-southeast of Socotra Island."

When the confidential staff officer handed the telegram to Cunningham, who was looking around at the railing on the deck of the Warspite at a speed of 100 meters, he was so shocked that he almost fell into the sea, muttering to himself: "This is not true. Maybe, this is impossible..."

Standing next to him, George Patton, who was on the same boat with him and was chatting just now, saw his expression change drastically and asked with concern: "What happened? Which damn ship had a problem?"

These days, in their eagerness to get on their way, they have been tormented by endless ship engine failures.

"No!" Cunningham suddenly roared.

"What's going on?" Patton had never seen Cunningham lose his temper like this before. The other party had always been a confident and gentle senior officer.

"George, listen, we encountered a superior Japanese fleet, and the situation is very critical now..." Although Patton's temper was not very good, Cunningham made friends with him, and the two got along very well, so Patton did not Aboard the USS Massachusetts instead of Cunningham's flagship Warspite, "We need to make an immediate decision."

He turned to the confidential staff officer next to him and said: "What are you still doing? Immediately prepare the Raider to dispatch to cover the aircraft group, and then go blow them up..."

"Yes!" The staff officer ran away crawling on the ground.

"Oh... the superior fleet, the situation is critical, covering the fleet... wait, are you talking about Japan?" Patton suddenly widened his eyes and showed an unbelievable look, "Did I hear that right? This is the Horn of Africa. It’s more than 10,000 kilometers away from Asia. Did they fly here?”

"Yes, they are here. I received reconnaissance information from Socotra Island."

"They can't be wrong, can they?"

"They may have misjudged the ship type, but they cannot misjudge the number of such a large fleet...and I can't verify it again, I can't take this risk."

"What should we do now? Can we defeat these yellow-skinned little guys?" Barton asked worriedly.

"I don't know the specific situation, but I think the size of the Japanese fleet that dares to break into the Indian Ocean will not be small." Cunningham said with great anxiety, "If the intelligence is true, we are only more than 200 nautical miles away from their position, which is only a bomber flight away." It’s only an hour away. If they have discovered us, there will be a plane coming in an hour. If not, there may be a chance.”

"Sir, the takeoff order has been issued. The Raider is currently taking off the fighter planes as quickly as possible, giving priority to the fighter jets. But the patrol plane that sent us the telegram cannot be contacted at the ground control tower on Socotra Island. They couldn't be contacted...they were probably shot down."

After hearing the bad news reported by the confidential staff, Cunningham and Patton's faces suddenly turned livid - this meant that the enemy had discovered the plane and shot him down.

"Can we get through as fast as we can?" Barton asked.

Cunningham shook his head, pointed at the huge transport fleet behind him, and said bitterly: "Battleships may be able to do it, but these defenseless transport ships certainly cannot."

Patton frowned deeply: "Where is the nearest airport? Is it still too late to call other planes to come for support?"

Among the clouds, a Type 2 water reconnaissance aircraft cleverly used the dense clouds as a cover to keep in contact with the fast column. The telegraph operator tried hard to identify the total number and type of ships on the sea while sending a telegram in an orderly manner: "Enemy fleet discovered. , the center is located at 52 degrees 08 minutes east longitude and 9 degrees 24 minutes north latitude. There are 5 large ships, suspected to be battleships; 1 light aircraft carrier; 3 medium-sized ships, suspected to be heavy cruisers; more than 70 light cruisers, destroyers, and various transport ships... …”

"Sir, Unit 6 reports that they have been found. They are only 195 nautical miles away from us..." In the command tower of the mobile fleet flagship Shokaku, Ryunosuke Kusaka excitedly reported the good news to Tsukahara 243.

Tsukahara was overjoyed and waved his fist fiercely. After four consecutive days of laborious search, the big fish was finally caught today - "The entire fleet left 48 covering fighters, and the rest were divided into two echelons, and the entire army attacked... Defeat them in one fell swoop!”

"Enemy reconnaissance plane..." There was a sudden exclamation on the deck of the Warspite. Finally, an eagle-eyed sailor spotted the plane hiding in the clouds. The anti-aircraft guns immediately opened fire violently. Cunningham and Patton tried their best to raise their heads and look at the sky, far away. There is a plane in the sky desperately trying to escape. Although they can't see the logo or model clearly, officers who are familiar with any type of Royal Navy aircraft know that this is definitely not their own plane. If it is our own plane, would there be any need to escape? ?

Found! ——The last trace of luck was shattered, and everyone's hearts suddenly sank to the bottom.

The enemy was facing a dangerous situation, but Cunningham calmed down and returned to his true colors as a famous general. After careful consideration, he calmly issued an order to his staff:

First, notify the Kenya Escort Command to immediately coordinate all our military aircraft from Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia to take off and assemble to the current position of the fleet. Fighters will cover the fleet, and the remaining aircraft types are under command;

Second, notify the Socotra Island Flight Team to immediately dispatch all aircraft to attack the enemy fleet, with the primary target being the aircraft carrier;

Third, notify the slow-speed fleet in the distance to immediately stop advancing, report its position and distance to the fleet, and escort the aircraft carrier fighter jets to prepare for takeoff;

Fourth, the fleet was immediately divided into two echelons: combat and transport. The combat echelon was directly commanded by the commander, and the transport echelon was commanded by British Rear Admiral Burrough. The course turned to 275° and prepared for beach landing.

"Landing? Why don't we retreat south?" Patton asked in confusion.

"The principle of retreating to the south is the same as advancing to the north. No matter how fast you fly, you can't fly - the ship takes one hour, and the plane only takes five minutes." Cunningham said to Patton sincerely, "George, what's next? Things may be very difficult, but I hope you can hold on and take them to the nearest beach to land - no matter where it is, as long as they can land. Don't worry about whether the ship will run aground or whether the equipment can be unloaded. As long as you Send the people up safely. These supplies and ships are just drizzle to the United States, but the soldiers are the most precious treasure. You must keep them, please!"

"I understand! But what about you? Aren't you going with us?"

"No, I'm going to attack these yellow-skinned monkeys in another direction - they're too disgusting."

Patton understood what Cunningham meant: the other party was prepared to sacrifice himself in exchange for a greater chance for the landing troops to escape.

He held Cunningham's hand tightly: "Take care, if you can't beat them, run back immediately! One day we will have to teach them a lesson."

"I will!" Cunningham saw Patton nimbly jumping onto a lifeboat and then running quickly towards the destroyer. He silently muttered in his heart: Goodbye, my friend!

Although Cunningham had made a quick decision, the huge fleet was not mentally prepared at all. After hearing the order for the Japanese fleet to attack and the fleet to be divided into two echelons and move separately, everyone was stunned and didn't know what to do. Then, the captains who had reacted rushed in and issued orders, as if they were all suffering from hysteria.

In the chaos, the destroyer Wilkes collided with a turning transport ship. Following a heart-wrenching metal collision, both ships were seriously damaged. Seawater poured in crazily, and the people on the ship could not care less. They complained and didn't care to find out who was right. They picked up lifebuoys and jumped into the sea. The scene was as chaotic as a pot of porridge, which made Cunningham feel upset.

"Change course and attack the Japanese fleet!"

"Sir..." Fleet Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Peters advised him, "To launch an attack rashly without knowing the enemy's situation is almost suicide."

"I know, but I have to cover them..." Cunningham looked at the two echelons that were separating in the distance and said resolutely, "As a soldier, I must fall on the way to charge the enemy."

Peters was speechless and could only rush to arrange and adjust the formation immediately - Japanese planes may appear at any time, and the fleet's wheel-shaped anti-aircraft formation has not yet been set up.

Everyone in the Musashi command tower maintained a high degree of tension.

"Sir, the enemy fleet has been discovered. They probably received the intelligence about our appearance and have begun to take off combat aircraft. General Tsukahara reported that he has ordered the entire army to attack."

"The command of the main fleet was handed over to Lieutenant General Kondo, and the route was turned to the enemy fleet. Ordered the commander of the Third Squadron, Takeo Takagi, to lead 4 Kongou-class ships, 4 heavy cruisers of the 7th Squadron, and two destroyer squadrons to kill the transport ships at maximum speed. … Don’t worry about the fuel loss.”

"Transport ship?" Kusaka Renyi was stunned, "Sir, did I hear you correctly? Shouldn't we attack the battleship?"

"Will the battleship still be there when they reach it? And Musashi, Nagato, and Mutsu are enough to deal with them!" Horikichi said domineeringly, "But you have to be fast when attacking the transport ship. The enemy will escape. There are evil beasts on top of them, Britain and the United States. , don’t you want to send them to the sea to avenge Munda Island and the defenders of Lai? There are at least 30,000 ships.”

"Yes!" Caolu Renyi dictated the message enthusiastically, and at the end he added without permission, "Destroy them all, no prisoners..."

Horikichi's eyebrows twitched, as if he thought it was inappropriate, but he didn't say anything to stop him.