Yamamoto Irosaurus
On April 15, 1943, Nimitz issued an order called "Operation Revenge" and wished Halsey "Good luck and success" in his personal name at the end of the telegram!
Halsey handed the mission to Mitchell, the commander of the Solomon Islands Air Force, and told him: "The P-38 fleet will do everything possible to kill Yamamoto and his staff. After the operation is over, report it to Washington quickly. Remember that this operation is top secret, and destroy the telegram immediately after the battle is over!"
After Mitchell received the order, he immediately summoned Colonel Michel and Lieutenant Ranffell, who were carrying out the mission, to jointly study the interception plan. Mitchell initially worried that the flight time of Yamamoto's plane was difficult to grasp, and planned to dispatch the plane and the ship and the people to sink when he was on a submarine to Schotland Island.
Colonel Michel firmly opposed this: "There are so many submarines in the port, how do we know which one he is going to be on?"
Lanfier also agreed with Michel's point of view: "I can't even distinguish between destroyers and canoes, let alone find a submarine without any signs! Let's take a step back, even if we find and sink it, Yamamoto may not die. It's better to let me kill him in the air. Yamamoto will definitely die at that time!"
Yamamoto Izuru
Mitchell thought about it and felt that what he and the two of them were reasonable. In addition, Yamamoto is usually famous for being strict and punctual, so he must be no exception this time, so he decided the air attack plan. Based on the information provided by their superiors, they accurately planned the takeoff time, flight distance, navigation speed and time and location of their planes close to the enemy. At 7:40 on April 18, they finally decided to intercept Yamamoto's planes over Bougainville Island, 50 kilometers north of the Buin Bay! Operation
is carried out by P-38 "Lightning" fighter . This is a new type of fighter designed by the US military not long ago. It is known for its high speed, heavy armor and powerful firepower. Since serving on the Pacific battlefield, the Japanese have been frightened and complained. Japanese pilots hated and feared him and called him a "two-body demon"!
A total of 18 P-38s participated in the operation this time, divided into two groups, taking off from Guadalam to intercept, 12 of which were cover fleets, and the mission was to lure and entangle Yamamoto's escort fighter jets at high altitude, with the commander being Colonel Michel; the remaining 6 were sniper fleets, with only one mission: destroy Yamamoto's planes! The commander is held by Lieutenant Ranffell.
is to meet Yamamoto's group at 7:35. It is estimated that the height of the Japanese fleet is 3,000 meters. The cover fleet will climb to a height of 6,000 meters to lure the escort "Zero" fighter jets, and then the sniper fleet launches an unexpected raid from a low altitude and shoot down Yamamoto's plane in one fell swoop!
April 18, 1943 is Sunday. The weather is very good, the sun is shining and cloudless. It is a good time to inspect the troops, and of course, it is also a good opportunity to attack.
Yamamoto got up at 5 o'clock in the morning. After breakfast, he changed into military uniforms and brought Chief of Staff Chan, Adjutant Fukusaki Takata, Military Doctor Chief Takata, Accountant Kitamura, Meteorological Nagatoto and several aviation staff to the airport, preparing to take two "one" land-based bombers to the front line for inspection. Before boarding the plane, Yamamoto looked up at the sky and said with satisfaction: "Today is such a good day for flight." At 6 o'clock, two land-based bombers took off from Labaoer Airport on time. Immediately afterwards, six "zero" fighters also took off in the air and divided into two teams in the formation of the 33rd formation, escorting the flight on the left and right sides of the Yamamoto landline respectively.
One and a half later, Yamamoto and his party arrived near Bougainville Island, and the fleet began to lower the altitude. The dense tropical jungle on the island was clearly visible, not far from today's first destination, Baler Island.
On the second plane, the mechanic passed through the village and handed the Chief of Staff Ugaki a note: "Arrived at Baler at 7:45.""
Ugaki Chan breathed a sigh of relief. He had not been able to dissuade Yamamoto because he was sick, and he regretted it. This time he bit the bullet and accompanied Yamamoto to inspect, and was even more worried, fearing that there would be any accidents on the way. The Imperial soldiers were not afraid of death, but they would die worthwhile. It was not a glorious thing to be killed in the sky like a duck. Now it is 15 minutes away. It is really a blessing from the emperor!
At this time, the US military's P-38 formation was flying towards Bougainville Island at a glance. The pilots seemed to be lingering in the ears of the commander Mitchell, the former boarding plane commander: "Even if the price of life is paid, I must complete the task for me! "After the takeoff of the formation, the
P-38 flew at a full low altitude for two hours on the sea surface and arrived at the pre-determined location at 7:34, only 50 seconds earlier than the expected time of Yamamoto's plane! Michel, the commander of the
cover fleet, looked at the watch. At this time, Yamamoto's plane should have appeared three miles west, but now there is no shadow of an aircraft there! Michelle becomes more and more nervous as she thinks. At this moment, a pilot in front shouted loudly: "Discover the enemy plane, front left! "Michel subconsciously looked to the left. Sure enough, she saw a group of Japanese planes flying in front of the mountain, with eight totals, two of which were bombers!
Michel was excited. This Yamamoto was really punctual, and it was no different from the expected arrival time!
Michel began to turn east, parallel to the enemy plane's course, and began to climb higher and issued an order: "Be careful, throw away the auxiliary fuel tank! "As soon as
finished speaking, Michel suddenly opened the accelerator and led the formation to quickly climb to a height of 6,000 meters. The "Zero" fighter jet escorted Yamamoto was indeed fooled. They threw Yamamoto's landline and rushed towards the US formation at high altitude!
At this moment, Lieutenant Lanfier led the sniper formation to pounce from below with lightning speed! The "Zero" fighter jet then realized that it was fooled and dived down at full speed, but it was too late. Lanfier took the lead, turned the fuselage, aimed at Yamamoto's landline and swept it hard, and immediately knocked off the right wing of Yamamoto's landline!
Lanfier told Michelle proudly: "Brother, I succeeded! "He said this reason, because once the Japanese "One" bomber caught fire, it would not be able to land. Moreover, even if it was parachuting at such a low altitude, it would be a dead end!
Yamamoto Izumoto lander
At the same time, Chief of Staff Ugaki Chan's aircraft 2 was also blocked. The plane hurriedly dropped its altitude and made another 90-degree sharp turn. Ugaki Chan looked forward and saw Yamamoto's aircraft 1 was emitting black smoke and burning a fire, flying low shakingly. He was anxious and immediately ordered: "Catch up with No. 1, hurry up and catch up with No. 1! "
But No. 1 failed to catch up, the US military plane came first. No. 2 made a sharp turn instinctively. When it resumed horizontal flight again, No. 1 had disappeared from its sight. A stream of black smoke in the dense forest soared into the sky. Ugaki was stunned and looked into the distance in a daze, knowing that everything was over.
Before he could recover from his sorrow, a US military plane roared and swept hard, killing the No. 2 plane ignited a fire and shook violently. The captain of No. 2 plane He is an experienced pilot. He pushed the pole hard and tried to make an emergency landing at sea. This is the only way to survive. But it was still too late. The second plane was injured too severely and failed to land smoothly on the sea surface. He hit the sea with straight thrust, turning left one by one, sinking to the bottom of the sea.
Fortunately, Ugaki Chan was seriously injured and saved his life.
Only three minutes later, the battle was declared over, and the surroundings returned to the silence of the past. It seemed that nothing had happened.
But in Japan and the United States, it is a completely different world of ice and fire!
The overjoyed Mitchell sent a telegram to the "Manniu" Halsey: "The P-38 aircraft group commanded by Major Michel shot down two Japanese "One" land-based bombers escorted by a intensive formation at 7:30 this morning, and also shot down three "zero" fighters. Only one P-38 on our side has not returned yet, and the victory belongs to us!"
, who was very satisfied, immediately replied: "Congratulations on your success! In the ducks captured, it seems that there is a peacock in it!"
, the next morning, Halsey read Mitchell's telegram at the regular meeting of the fleet, and everyone was ecstatic and applauded. Halsey curled his lips and said disdainfully, "Come on! What's this? I originally wanted to lead that bad guy with a chain to Pennsylvania Street to march on public display and let everyone kick his ass. That would be fun!"
Yamamoto Izuru in the jungle of Bougainville. Nimitz was also very happy when he received the report, but compared to others, he still had a little worry. Will the Japanese realize that we have deciphered their passwords? If they modify their passwords and increase the difficulty, we will have to spend a lot of time again.
Nimitz's worries make sense. According to common sense, Japanese people have ten thousand reasons to doubt the reliability of their passwords because there are too many flaws in this matter. In the sky and the sun was blue, why did 16 US fighters run to Bougainville Island? If it is to attack the Japanese fleet, why don’t there be even a bomber? Moreover, they sneaked into a low altitude of 30 meters for two hours. If they flew normally, they would not need to be so low or so long. It was obvious that they were coming to trouble the two Japanese "One" bombers!
But what Nimitz didn't expect was that the Japanese didn't think about it at all.
There is a very strange feature in Japanese culture, that is, it is extremely trusting in authority. They believe that the Japanese Navy's password strength is very high and is the result of countless top crypto experts. Moreover, the password used by Yamamoto is of the highest level, and the passwords used before have just been changed, so it is absolutely impossible for the password to be deciphered.
So, the Japanese simply expressed shock and sadness at Yamamoto's death, but never thought of what was more terrible danger hidden behind it.
At 2:30 pm on April 18, 1943, a telegram was sent directly to Tokyo, which immediately shocked all the leaders of the Japanese Navy! The Navy was panicked and felt like a major earthquake broke out. The Minister of the Marine Shimada, the Deputy Chief of the Military Command, Nagano, the Deputy Chief of the Military Command Ito, and the First Minister Fukuruhisaki, all stayed in the ministry, and were on standby all night to urgently negotiate solutions.
On April 19, Yamamoto's body was found in the deep forest of Bougainville Island. Yamamoto held the saber in his left hand, put his right hand with white gloves on his left hand, his head drooped above the saber, his lower left armpit leaned slightly against the chair handle, and the blood flowing from his chest dyed the white gloves red. Strangely, Yamamoto's appearance looked so peaceful and careful. Just like when he was alive, it didn't seem like he was shot down to death, but it was a bit like he was calm and self-destructive.
