Isoroku Yamamoto, dressed in a white navy dress, stands out against the surrounding blue and grass green uniforms. Recently, he often wears this dress, which makes his subordinates often feel uneasy.
At this point, Yamamoto sat in the office of the Japanese Joint Fleet Command on rabaul Island in the South Pacific, calmly looking at Major General Cheng Dao who came back from the front. Sweating like a pig, he didn't loosen the button on his collar. He tightened his neck a little and his face was flushed with excitement. He came to stop Yamamoto from inspecting the front line as planned.
What Yamamoto means to Japan and the Japanese navy is known to every Japanese naval officer and all the people. It was he who planned the famous attack on Pearl Harbor, which dealt a heavy blow to the main force of the US Pacific Fleet, made the Japanese navy invincible in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and made Japan establish a "Greater East Asia Glory Circle" in just half a year, with midway in the east, Aleutian Islands in the north, Australia offshore in the south and Indian Ocean in the west. Japan's territory and sphere of influence have never been so grand, and Japan's aggressive ambition has also expanded to the extreme. Yamamoto, who led the joint fleet to the east and killed the west, was deified by Japanese nationals.
However, the development of the war situation really surprised Japan, and the United States quickly countered. Coral Sea, Midway Island, Guadalcanal Island, Bismarck Sea, all these made the Japanese army tremble, swallowed up the elite main force of the Japanese navy and air force, and the Pacific Ocean became a huge tomb for burying the emperor's warriors. In particular, the US military changed its original island-by-island attack strategy and began to jump off the island, which greatly accelerated the demise of the Japanese army. One by one, the Japanese troops stationed on the island disappeared from Japan's sphere of influence. In order to boost the morale of front-line soldiers, Yamamoto decided to make a patrol in person and inspect the situation at the front. When Chengdao heard the news, he was frightened and quickly dissuaded him.
Chengdao sat in front of Yamamoto, with his head down, and tears ran across his cheeks and dripped to the front of his uniform. He begged Yamamoto again with a hoarse throat: "If the password is deciphered by the other party, it will be in trouble. Sir, it's too dangerous. Please don't go. "
Yamamoto was also a little excited. Looking at his loyal men, he knew that the worry was not unnecessary. Some recent signs indicate that the US military may have mastered the Japanese password, and his planned visit to Bougainville and other places is indeed an adventure. But he is a man who won't change his mind easily. Once a decision is made, he must stick to it. This style made him win the meritorious military service in a series of battles. Besides, the soldiers at the front line are all looking forward to his arrival, because they are afraid of death and will not go. What is the face of a samurai?
After a silence for a while, Yamamoto looked at Cheng Dao firmly and said with a little comfort, "No, the base has been informed. How can we repent? " Just a moment, please. Let's have dinner together when you come back. "
The fleet took off on time on Sunday morning of April 1943.
Yamamoto looked out from the window of the plane, followed by Mitsubishi heavy bombers, chief of staff Yu Yuan and other staff officers, and six Zero fighters escorted around. The fighter pilots are all very young, and Yamamoto saw them before taking off. When accepting their salute, Yamamoto recalled hundreds of naval aviation personnel before the attack on Pearl Harbor. What excellent pilots they are. The average flight time of 1500 hours is unparalleled in the world. Unfortunately, together with many Japanese aircraft carriers, they sank into the depths of the Pacific Ocean near midway forever. Yamamoto sighed with emotion, adjusted his sitting posture in the cockpit of Mitsubishi heavy bomber, held the mountain city in his hands, straightened up and lost in thought.
18 U.S. P-38 Lightning fighters circled in the clouds over Bougainville Island in Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean. They took off from Guadalcanal on a special mission. The U.S. military was overjoyed to learn of Yamamoto's whereabouts from the intercepted cables: cutting off the commander of the joint fleet would deal a heavy blow to Japanese morale; On the other hand, it is equivalent to destroying half of the Japanese joint fleet. General Nimitz, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, decided to send a plane to ambush Yamamoto, and made a battle plan code-named "Operation Revenge".
At 7: 34, the American plane found Yamamoto's fleet. 12 American aircraft as a cover, quickly climbed to an altitude of 6 kilometers, exposing the fleet to the vision of the Japanese fleet; Six sniper planes flew at low altitude to avoid being spotted by Japanese planes.
Japan's escort fighters were fooled, and the young, inexperienced and patient air force forgot its main responsibilities and threw Yamamoto's plane aside, like a group of puppies who saw bones, pouncing on American planes at high altitude. Two Mitsubishi heavy bombers, alone and interdependent, lowered their altitude and fled to one side.
Six American planes 500 meters below the right of Yamamoto plane quickly climbed up from the hidden position, grabbed Yamamoto plane and pursued it with all their strength. A series of shells were fired at Yamamoto's plane. Yamamoto's plane shook with a jerk, and the wings and cockpit emitted black smoke at the same time, giving a long strange whistle and falling to the ground. I found that the cheated Zero fighter rushed back at this moment, but it didn't help. Yamamoto's plane crashed in the forest. The American plane achieved its goal and quickly withdrew from the battlefield, leaving only a few Japanese planes hovering over the place where the fire ignited in the Woods for a long time.
Major General Mitchell, who was in charge of the ambush, immediately reported the situation to Admiral Halsey, and Halsey humorously called back: "Congratulations on your success! There seems to be a peacock in the hunted domestic duck. "
Japan was saddened by the news of Yamamoto's death. Yamamoto's body was sent back to China and a state funeral was held for him. Hundreds of thousands of residents in Tokyo mourned for him, and the whole country of Japan also held a grand mourning. Fascist soldiers are even more bereaved, as if they were not sending Yamamoto away, but holding a funeral for the Japanese Empire. Admiral Koga Hefeng, who succeeded Yamamoto as commander-in-chief of the joint fleet, once said: "There is only one Yamamoto, and no one can replace him. His death is an unbearable blow to us. "