Chapter 34 2‧Four boastful base camp battle report

It is easy for any country in any era to exaggerate the results of a major war (damage to the enemy) and make self-interested estimates, although to varying degrees.This may be a problem that human beings cannot avoid anyway. However, correctly judging the results of battles is very necessary for guiding wars or campaigns, judging the enemy's intentions, and formulating and implementing combat plans.Because of the wrong judgment of the results of the battle, it will inevitably lead to the wrong judgment of the enemy's situation based on this, which will make one's own battle disadvantageous and suffer unexpected defeats.

However, to understand the exact results of the battle, the first condition is to correctly identify the target.Identifying targets depends not only on weather, visibility, sea conditions and other astronomical conditions, but also on intangible factors such as the proficiency of observers and battlefield psychology. Therefore, reports cannot always be trusted invariably.It is commonplace to mistake destroyers for cruisers, cruisers for battleships, and escort aircraft carriers or even merchant ships for regular aircraft carriers.The white spray on the sea was mistaken for a submarine periscope or a landing boat, and even jumped into an amphibious tank.Sometimes dolphins are found and reported as torpedoes, sometimes whales are turned into submarines, and even the bright lights emitted by nocturnal insects on the sea surface are also regarded as transport ships.As mentioned earlier, our army once mistook the ripples at the mouth of Davao Bay for enemy landing boats, and finally for amphibious tanks. Battle deployment.

There are many similar incidents in the United States.Here is an example: The second day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 8 (Hawaii time), Commander Halsey's fleet, with the aircraft carrier Enterprise as its flagship, sailed away from the completely ruined Pearl Harbor at 5:00 a.m. before dawn port.The fleet was ordered to search the waters north of the Hawaiian Islands for what was believed to be a Japanese submarine heading for the west coast of the United States.At that time, there was a report saying that a Japanese aircraft carrier had appeared off the coast of California.Therefore, when the observer saw the white waves on the sea surface, he shouted in a human voice: "Periscope!" , When a dolphin was found, it was reported that it was a torpedo.

When a young officer saw his own destroyer going to attack the enemy submarine, he exclaimed: "Ah!It's sinking!The destroyer has sunk! Commander Halsey, who was standing beside him, looked through the binoculars and saw that the hull of the destroyer had disappeared into the waves and then resurfaced on the waves. If you say such things again, you will be thrown into the sea! But observers' neurosensitivity grew worse over time.Halsey finally couldn't bear it anymore, and he had to send a signal to admonish his subordinates: We are consuming a lot of depth charges (weapons for attacking submarines) for the fish in neutral countries.Pay close attention!

Five days later, on December 13, the U.S. Department of the Navy sent an erroneous telegram stating that Japanese mobile forces were moving toward the Eastern Pacific. There is also intelligence that the enemy has attacked Johnston Island (located about 1,400 kilometers west-southwest of Hawaii). The Halsey fleet sailed for five hours at a high speed of twenty-five knots, and then returned.It turned out that the so-called Japanese Mobile Force was nothing more than a submarine. On the afternoon of July 9, 1945, the day before Halsey's attack on the Japanese mainland, the U.S. Third Fleet detected Japanese submarines in the vicinity.When receiving this report, even the fierce general Halsey was a little worried.However, it turned out that the so-called submarine was actually a whale.Hearing that a destroyer broke the tail of a whale, Halsey smiled and was relieved.However, when approaching the coast of Japan, the large glass balls used for fishing were regarded as sea mines, and I was always worried.

In addition to this misidentification of the target, it seems that there is a common human problem, that is, the damage done to the enemy is often interpreted in favor of one's own wishes.After hearing the sound of the torpedo explosion, without verifying that the torpedo hit the target, it was reported as a sinking without a doubt, and it often became a sinking immediately.When a submarine launches a torpedo, it often needs to dive to avoid it immediately after launching, so this kind of problem is more likely to occur.It is not uncommon for an aircraft to be sunk when it sees black smoke and water jets during the day and a fireball at night when it is attacking.

Such wishful thinking coupled with misidentification of the target will easily make the difference between the reported results and the actual results more and more wide. In the early days of the war, fictional or exaggerated victories made the American people happy in vain.Here are a few examples: Not long after the war broke out, on December 22, 1941, the United States announced that the Catalina airship had sunk the Japanese battleship Hiranuma (needless to say, Japan did not have a battleship with this name).What was shocked was the Japanese side.The ridiculous Japanese reporting department could not ignore this, and finally responded to the US in the form of a statement from the spokesperson of the reporting department, saying: None of our ships were injured.It was later found that the airship mistook the heavy cruiser Ashigara for a battleship and reported fictitious results.

Four old destroyers (wrecked ships built during the First World War) led by Lieutenant Colonel Boul Talbot of the US Navy, in accordance with the command of the commander of the Asian Fleet Hart, on January 20, 1942 In the middle of the night on the fourth day, galloping among our transport fleet moored on the sea of ​​Balikpapan on the east coast of Borneo, we fired a large number of torpedoes and artillery shells enough to sink all my twelve transport ships and four patrol boats in one fell swoop.When the United States announced the results of the night battle, it said: Our side almost wiped out 12 enemy transport ships and 4 frigates.

However, only four transport ships and a patrol boat were actually sunk. During the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 8 of the same year, the "New York Times" reported the illustrious results of the naval battle with a headline on the front page. In a sea battle in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese army was repelled, 17 to 22 Japanese warships were sunk and damaged, the enemy fleet fled, and the Allied fleet was pursuing them. As a result, newspaper sales doubled and tripled, but in fact only the light aircraft carrier Xiangfeng and a destroyer, two patrol boats were sunk, and the aircraft carrier Xianghe was seriously injured.

With the passage of time, the fictitious things in the news released by the US gradually disappeared, and finally it was almost close to the truth.This is undoubtedly mainly the result of the smooth progress of the battle situation, but we cannot ignore their efforts to correctly judge and publish the results of the battle. So, what about the results of the Japanese Navy's bulletin?To sum it up in one sentence, the Japanese Navy's battle report is exactly the opposite of that of the United States: it was accurate for the first six months, but later it was a victory on paper, and finally gained a bad reputation that the battle report of the base camp was purely made out of nothing.

In the first six months, the enemy's losses and our own losses (except for the non-truthful publication of ship losses) were reported fairly accurately.The half year after the outbreak of the war refers to the period before the Battle of the Coral Sea.During that period, the progress of the war situation was almost entirely in favor of Japan.Therefore, with peace of mind, you can also consider the issue of verifying the results of the battle. However, the Battle of the Coral Sea ended the favorable war situation. After the defeat of the Battle of Midway in the second month, the tide of the Pacific War was reversed, and as time passed, the situation became more and more unfavorable to Japan.Once people are in bad luck, they will have impatience and lose their minds.Therefore, the increasingly unfavorable situation of the battle was also clearly reflected in the results of the battle.In the nine months following the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, the results began to be exaggerated.In the next eight months, they boasted of false victories in a grand manner, and after the Mariana naval battle in June 1944, in addition to exaggerating the results of the battle, they also tried their best to cover up the losses, and repeatedly announced news of superficial victories .Moreover, this kind of thing reached its culmination in the Taiwan sea air battle and the Philippine sea surface battle in October of the same year.In this way, although the Japanese fleet was on the verge of collapse, the mighty and majestic "March of Warships" still played the illusory melody of victory as always. To what extent, then, is the damage inflicted on the enemy exaggerated?According to statistics in the book "Battle of the Base Camp‧Navy Chapter" written by Kenkichi Tominaga, this damage has been exaggerated by more than four times.count: All battleships: 5‧3 times Aircraft carrier: 6‧5 times Battleship: 10‧3 times Cruiser: 10‧3 times Destroyer: 2.5 times Submarine: 6‧6 times Airplane Approx.: Seven times At that time, there was a custom in our country that every year on December 8th, the anniversary of the war, the Minister of Reporting would give a grand speech, and at the same time present the comprehensive results of the past year as a gift to the people.However, it is not so conspicuous to exaggerate once in ordinary times, but if it is accumulated throughout the year, it is a big lie.Any layman can see this clearly from the actual combat situation of the enemy.Let us take the main US ships as an example, and compare the comprehensive battle results announced by the headquarters by the end of 1943 with the actual damage done to the enemy. The results are as follows: The number of ships sunk announced by the base camp Regular Aircraft Carriers: 26 Battleships: Twelve Cruisers: Seventy-nine The actual number of ships sunk Regular Aircraft Carriers: Four Battleships: Three Cruisers: 8 The difference between the announced number and the actual number Regular Aircraft Carriers: 22 Battleships: Nine Cruiser: Seventy-one Based on this statistic, let’s compare the book strength and actual strength of the U.S. fleet as announced by the headquarters at the end of 1943: Number of ships without loss Regular Aircraft Carriers: Fourteen Battleships: Twenty Four Cruisers: 56 The number of ships sunk announced by the base camp Regular Aircraft Carriers: 26 Battleships: Twelve Cruisers: Seventy-Nine The book strength announced by the base camp Regular Aircraft Carrier: Minus Twelve Battleships: Twelve Cruiser: minus twenty-three Actual strength Regular Aircraft Carriers: 10 Battleship: Twenty One Cruisers: 48 Calculated in this way, if the announced results of the battle are accurate, then the U.S. fleet fighting against Japan not only does not have a regular aircraft carrier and cruiser, but also has a negative twelve and a negative twenty-three ships respectively. Therefore, even the reporting department, which has always announced the results of the battle vividly and vividly in the "March of Warships", was also condemned by conscience when it announced the comprehensive results at the end of the year. One day in December 1944, a member of the reporting department had a discussion with the author: This is what happened: the combined results of this year’s battles are this number.In any case, it cannot be published like this.Please come up with an idea and try to give it to Yuanyuan! This is simply the year-end adjustment of the results!Although I commented like this on my lips, I felt very sympathetic to that dejected member in my heart.However, the Intelligence Department really cannot prescribe the kind of prescriptions that the Reporting Department would like. So, didn't I already say that?In order to prevent this kind of predicament, we have told you long ago that you should be cautious when estimating the enemy's losses when publishing the results of the battle, and at the same time refer to the estimates of the Ministry of Intelligence with humility.However, you ignored all these words and announced the results of the battle according to the report of the combat troops without thinking.At the end of the year, after falling into a desperate situation, I came to the intelligence department to find a way, it was impossible! In the end, due to the unmanageable situation, from the end of 1944, the comprehensive results of the war as gifts were no longer announced to the people. Judgment of results So, how does our intelligence department judge the enemy's losses?After the war, actual verification proved that at least the U.S. aircraft carriers and battleships judged to have been sunk were correct.The data we use to judge the results of the battle are of course based on the reports of our combat troops.However, since such reports often contain well-intentioned mistakes, we use the information announced by the enemy and the intelligence of the prisoners to verify them. reasoning to judge the damage suffered by the enemy. The main rules for judging and analyzing the results of the war used by the Intelligence Department are as follows: first about me 1. The degree of verification of the attack target; 2. The type and quantity of troops participating in the battle; 3. The type and quantity of the actual attacking force; 4. The type and quantity of weapons used in the attack; 5. Essentials of attack implementation; 6. The enemy's and our enemy's posture in the attack; 7. The proficiency of the attacker; 8. Whether the results of the battle have been verified and to what extent; Nine, battlefield psychology. The second is about the enemy 1. The type and quantity of troops participating in the battle; 2. Formation when under attack; 3. The type of warship under attack; 4. Alert status (air, surface, underwater); 5. Defense capabilities of warships under attack (deck and hull armor, defensive artillery fire, electronic weapons, fire-fighting devices); 6. Technical capabilities. The third is about astronomy 1. Weather; 2. Visibility; 3. Sea surface conditions; 4. The relationship between the direction of attack and the sun or moon; Five, monthly order. It is difficult to obtain the data for this analysis principle, and many situations need to be inferred.Whether the inferred conclusion is correct can be roughly judged by the following three points: 1. The actual movement of the enemy's combat troops in the future; 2. Enemy reports; 3. Interrogation of prisoners. Next, let us take a look at the results of our battles based on the number of sunk U.S. regular aircraft carriers. example. The cumulative figure announced by Base Camp during the war was sixty-two (including cruisers. Twenty-six regular carriers were declared sunk before the end of 1943), and we deduce five (Langley, Lexington, Yorktown, Hornet, Hornet).The correctness of this judgment was fully confirmed after the war. Regardless of this point, judging by the results of the intelligence department, when the Kamikaze Special Forces, which we rely on to revive the dead, attacked the enemy's aircraft carrier and other major ships, the results were contrary to expectations, and even the chief and deputy chief of the military command were at a loss.As a result, some people from the Operations Department and the Fleet Command scolded the Intelligence Department, saying: This group of people in the Intelligence Department neither visited the battlefield in person nor saw the actual results of the battle, but ignored the reports of the combat troops and talked about the results of the battle. It is really unreasonable! During the Okinawa operation, a staff officer of the local army came to Tokyo to report that he had seen my special attack aircraft sink an American battleship.The War Department has always been dissatisfied with the intelligence department's judgment on the results of the battle. They seemed to be inspired by the army staff officer's report, and put on an attitude that they could see it this time, and were critical of the intelligence department's judgment. We made the following statement, but they fell on deaf ears. Judging from the types of bombs carried by the special attack aircraft, the attack methods, the US ship's defense capabilities and fire-fighting devices, and the fact that none of the bombs penetrated the main protective deck of the aircraft carrier, the possibility of sinking the battleship does not exist.The army staff officer is an amateur, probably he got the wrong ship type. Indeed, during the Okinawa operation, American aircraft carriers and battleships, as well as many ships, were damaged by the bombing of our special attack aircraft.But only destroyers and other smaller ships and transports were sunk. The army staff officer bluffed and threatened to see it with his own eyes, probably a destroyer or a frigate. In addition, according to the base camp battle report, the US aircraft carrier Lexington was sunk six times, and the Saratoga was sunk four times.I remember that when the Saratoga was sunk for about the fourth time, when the chief of the military command reported the battle situation, His Majesty asked: I remember that the Saratoga was sunk, this is probably the fourth time As soon as the commander-in-chief, who had retired in fear, returned to the military headquarters, he immediately ordered the intelligence department to investigate. Our intelligence department has never made a judgment that the Saratoga was sunk.However, because this time the situation is quite special, we set aside the judgments made in the past and re-researched with the utmost caution.However, the final conclusion was that it was not sunk.Even so, we were still a little apprehensive. Now I am going to receive the oracle. At that time, the author went to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine with the feeling of doing everything possible to wait for the destiny. The strength and organization of the US aircraft carrier force According to the book strength announced by the above-mentioned base camp, the U.S. Third Fleet, which should have become an undersea fleet long ago, is dominated by aircraft carriers. Under the command of Commander Halsey, it rampages as it pleases. On October 10, 1944, a mobile force led by Commander Mitchell, with nine regular aircraft carriers and eight cruisers as the backbone, carried out a total of about 400 attacks on the southwestern islands of Okinawa, Amami Oshima, and Kanko Island. sorties of air strikes.At that time, Deputy Takeshi Toyoda, Commander-in-Chief of the United Fleet who arrived at Taiwan's Hsinchu Air Force after inspecting the Philippines, issued an operational alert order for the Air Force Jet 1 and Jet 2 of the base.Jie means decisive battle, Jie No. 1 refers to the decisive battle in the Philippines, and Jie No. 2 refers to the decisive battle between Taiwan and Okinawa.In addition, the Combined Fleet Command located in Hiyoshi on the outskirts of Tokyo also ordered the Northeast Fifty-first Air Force and the Third Fleet aircraft group to station in the Kanto area and southern Kyushu. Mitchell's forces attacked Aparri Airport in northern Luzon on October 11, and aggressively attacked Taiwan on the 12th.Therefore, the United Fleet ordered the base air force to implement the Jet 1 and Jet 2 combat plans, that is, instead of engaging in surface ships' sortie operations, the land base air force would carry out decisive battles. We dispatched almost all of our aviation forces, and in the four days from October 12th to 15th, we attacked the enemy violently and resolutely five times in a row, in order to seize this excellent opportunity to wipe out the Halsey fleet in one fell swoop.Moreover, the results of the five battles were announced, plus the comprehensive results, a total of six announcements were made.The following newspaper headlines clearly indicate the circumstances in which the results of the battle were announced at the time. The first time (12 days and nights) The enemy's mobile force was hit head-on, and our Warhawks were capturing the enemy in eastern Taiwan, and repeatedly carried out night attacks (results: four aircraft carriers were sunk, one aircraft carrier was damaged, and eleven ships of unknown type) The second time (thirteen days and nights) The results of air battles on the sea surface of Taiwan have expanded. Our Warhawks continue to attack the enemy, and the aircraft must be destroyed to destroy the enemy. The third time (fourteen days, day and night) Defeat the fleeing enemy mobile forces, the sea troops attack and pursue, the great result expected by 100 million people The situation in the Pacific War will take a turn for the worse, the invading enemy fleet is doomed, and a large-scale annihilation battle in the sea of ​​​​Taiwan (results; sinking three aircraft carriers, three battleships, and three cruisers) , damage aircraft carrier 2, cruiser 2, cruiser or destroyer 1, ship type unknown 2) Fourth time (15th day) I am chasing the fleeing enemy fiercely (results: sink one aircraft carrier, damage three aircraft carriers, and one cruiser) Fifth time (day of the 16th) I beat the enemy to reinforce the mobile force (results: damaged aircraft carrier 1, battleship 1) The sixth time (afternoon of the 16th) Great results, air battles on the sea surface of Taiwan, five-day onslaught (comprehensive results: sunk aircraft carrier 11, battleship 2, cruiser 3, cruiser or destroyer 1, aircraft carrier damaged 8, battleship 2, cruiser 4, cruiser or destroyer 1, ship type unknown Thirteen, fierce burning twelve) Moreover, the Secretary of Navy Reporting also made a statement saying: Now is the real decisive stage.The enemy's right hand was severely beaten, and his left hand was still extended to the Philippines.Our victories are outstanding, and the opportunity to change the situation of the battle is coming. As a result, the eastern waters of Taiwan became the burial place of the old enemy of the US fleet, and Japan completely avenged Midway and Saipan.The country is boiling again. Convinced that Japan has achieved unprecedented results, it broadcast the Tokyo Rose (Note: The so-called Tokyo Rose refers to the second-generation Japanese-American, such as Eva Todo, who is the so-called zero-hour broadcast program at midnight in the morning. The broadcaster who promoted the festival to Maxim War. After the war, she was tried for treason in the United States, and she was imprisoned for ten years and fined $10,000.) beautiful voice. Commander Mitchell's aircraft carrier forces were all sent to the bottom of the sea by my Warhawk. The Ape House has prepared a special room to hold Halsey after he is captured alive. When Halsey heard this, at first he thought it was nothing more than an anesthesia tactic commonly used by the Japanese, but the Japanese yelled very seriously, and later he understood why the Japanese really thought they had wiped out the American fleet.October 12th and 13th night.Japanese planes blazed across the sea around the American fleet.The American ships appeared and disappeared in the flames, so that people felt that the American ships themselves were burning.Therefore, it is not unreasonable for the Japanese planes that fled back to report that the American fleet was annihilated.Halsey once made such a narrative in the book "The Story of Commander Halsey". On October 21, His Majesty the Emperor issued an imperial edict of commendation for the brilliant results of Taiwan's naval and air battles, and national celebrations were held in Tokyo and Osaka. However, some people are eccentric, they don't believe in such battle results, and treat such battle reports with disgust. On the day the imperial edict was issued, the staff of the United Fleet went to the Headquarters of the Maritime Guard to express their thanks.He said: Today, we received a telegram from the commander of the United Fleet, who is at the Taiwan Combat Command, instructing us to express our gratitude to the Guard Corps.The brilliant results of this Taiwan air battle were mainly due to the excellent capture of the enemy by the Escort Corps. The commander of the United Fleet expressed his heartfelt thanks. The people were overjoyed and made a fuss, which is understandable, but the emperor issued an imperial edict, and the combined fleet also came to express their gratitude, which made the guard headquarters suspect: Is it just our own random imagination that is staging a tragedy? ? ! Therefore, Staff Officer Oi went to the Combined Fleet Headquarters.Walking into the staff room, the intelligence staff and the mine staff were standing in front of the model of the US aircraft carrier arguing about issues. Intelligence staff officer: This kind of deck is quite thick!So easy to break it? Mine Staff: No, it is said that someone actually saw it.It's on fire, if you don't see it that way, what can you do!The plane's report was spot on! Oi asked for details. It turned out that the opinion of the intelligence staff was basically the same as that of the Guard Command. To be on the safe side, Oi also stopped by the Intelligence Department of the Military Command.In his book "Sea Escort", he described the situation at that time as follows: It was the same there, the section chief (Major General Takeuchi) and the chief officer (Osamu Mimatsu) were discussing vigorously, looking very excited.The people in the war department really have no reason for this!They didn't listen to a word of our words, and they said that the U.S. Mobile Force was routing, which is crazy.These lunatics are rampant, there is really no way.Just now the adjutant of the military command called and said that tonight the chief of the military command is hosting a banquet at the Shuishan Club to celebrate, and let us attend!What a fucking tease!Nothing worth celebrating at all.Who is going to join in the fun with them?We are determined not to go!The war department has always despised intelligence work, and now the two of them poured out their anger towards the war department. It is not surprising that Takeuchi and the author were indignant at the attitude of the War Department, because as shown in the table below, the announced results of the battle were far from the actual situation!At that time, although we didn't know that specifically, we at least judged that neither the aircraft carrier nor the battleship was sunk. Comparison of the comprehensive battle results (sinking) announced by the Japanese side with the actual situation (the brackets refer to the actual situation) Aircraft Carrier Eleven (○) Battleship II (○) Cruiser Three (○) Cruiser or Destroyer One (○) Ship Type Unknown Thirteen (○) Aircraft one hundred and twelve (fifty-two) Anyone knows that if the battle report from the base camp is true, that eleven ships were sunk and eight U.S. aircraft carriers were damaged, then there would be no U.S. aircraft carriers capable of combat in the Pacific Ocean. However, at 7:50 a.m. on October 15, my search plane spotted four aircraft carriers 250 nautical miles east of Manila, and at 11:00 a.m. at 55 degrees and 600 nautical miles from Manila. four other aircraft carriers.Therefore, the combat troops believed that these eight aircraft carriers did not belong to the list of aircraft carriers that attacked Taiwan.However, even the United States cannot have an inexhaustible supply of aircraft carriers.However, if the combat troops don't think that way, they will not be unified with the announced results. The War Department of the Military Command and the Combined Fleet Command feared that it would have a negative impact on the morale of the front line, so they became captives of narrow sentimentality, blindly listened to the absurd reports of the combat troops, and vividly judged it as a sinking. Now they insist that there is another aircraft carrier force.Their attitude is really irresponsible and they do whatever they want.Although I clearly know that the battle report is a battle report, and I know the actual situation in my heart, but holding victory celebration banquets again and again, and repeatedly publishing forged battle results, I will naturally fall into self-indulgence, resulting in irreparable consequences. In order to prevent combat troops from misjudging the strength of the U.S. aircraft carrier, the day before the attack on Taiwan by the 38th Task Force of the U.S. Third Fleet (Commander Mitchell’s aircraft carrier maneuver force) attacked the Southwest Islands, that is, on October 10. One day, the author was ordered to draft a telegram and sent it to the commanders-in-chief of the fleets as Sea Confidential Telegram No. 111255: 1. At the time of the investigation results so far, the mobile force of the enemy who attacked Palau and the Philippines in September was the 38th Task Force of the Third Fleet of the United States, with eight regular aircraft carriers, eight to ten cruiser aircraft carriers, and fourteen to ten battleships and cruisers. Eighteen ships and sixty destroyers. 2. The mission force is composed of four mission groups, each of which is based on two regular aircraft carriers and two cruiser aircraft carriers. The commander, Lieutenant General Mitchell, is on board the Lexington of the third mission group.Its outline is similar to that of the Fifty-eighth Task Force during the Mariana Campaign, with the addition of a regular aircraft carrier. 3. It is reported that the aircraft carrier is the entire force of the enemy. It is estimated that it is the same as Saipan, and the Ministry is ready for a decisive battle at any time. 4. The designation of the task force is consistent with the fleets (third and fifth) it belongs to. It seems to be called the thirty-eighth task force or the fifty-eighth task force. 5. It is said that each unit is equipped with two to three escort aircraft carriers behind them to replenish personnel and aircraft at sea. Each escort aircraft carrier has about 70 crews of various types. It can be seen from this telegram that there are 16 to 18 U.S. aircraft carriers in total, which was the entire force that the U.S. could use to fight against Japan at that time.Therefore, when my search plane found eight aircraft carriers east and northeast of Manila on the morning of October 15, I should reconsider the announced results of sinking eleven aircraft carriers and damaging eight aircraft carriers.However, what is very puzzling is that the War Department dismissed the accurate and timely intelligence of our intelligence department and regarded it as another mobile unit for no reason. We have made an estimate of the US Task Force 38 attacking the Southwest Islands and Taiwan, as shown in Appendix III. Among them, the establishment of the aircraft carrier is shown in the following table: Commander: Major General Clark Troop number: The first group (38‧1) Regular Aircraft Carriers: USS Wasp, USS Hornet Cruiser aircraft carriers: USS Monterey, USS Corppens Commander: Major General Bogan Troop number: The second group (38‧2) Regular aircraft carriers: USS Intrepid, USS Hancock, USS Bunker Hill Cruiser aircraft carriers: USS Capote, USS Independence Commander: Major General Sherman Troop number: The third group (38‧3) Regular aircraft carriers: USS Essex, USS Lexington Cruiser aircraft carriers: USS Princeton, USS Langley Commander: Major General Davidson Troop number: The fourth group (38‧4) Regular aircraft carriers: USS Franklin, USS Enterprise Cruiser aircraft carriers: USS San Jacinto, USS Bellowtree Lieutenant General Mitchell Lieutenant General McCain According to U.S. data, on October 14 Commander Mitchell's 38th Task Force aircraft carrier was organized as follows: Commander: Lieutenant General McCain Troop number: The first group (38‧1) Regular Aircraft Carriers: USS Wasp, USS Hornet Cruiser aircraft carriers: USS Monterey, USS Colpens, USS Capote Commander: Major General Bogan Troop number: The second group (38‧2) Regular aircraft carriers: USS Intrepid, USS Hancock, USS Bunker Hill Cruiser aircraft carrier: USS Independence Commander: Major General Sherman Troop number: The third group (38‧3) Regular aircraft carriers: USS Essex, USS Lexington Cruiser aircraft carriers: USS Princeton, USS Langley Commander: Major General Davidson Troop number: The fourth group (38‧4) Regular aircraft carriers: USS Franklin, USS Enterprise Cruiser aircraft carriers: USS San Jacinto, USS Bellowtree Comparing our estimates with the US data, we can see that the type and number of aircraft carriers are exactly the same, except that the Capote is numbered in the first group, and the commander of the first group is not Clark, but John McCain .