"General, several German light cruisers and destroyers have been following us. Should we drive them away?" Major General Suzuki Yoshio asked. If they did not drive off those German Navy light cruisers and destroyers, their position would inevitably be exposed. It was easy to imagine that the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft would come straight for them.
Lieutenant General Takasu Shirō shook his head. "There's no need. That would be a complete waste of time. The Germans' light cruisers and destroyers are too fast; our warships will probably find it difficult to catch them. Even if we catch them, what then? Once the Germans' carrier-based aircraft arrive, we'll be in danger. We should leave as quickly as possible. As long as we withdraw beyond the strike radius of the Germans' carrier-based aircraft, we'll be safe."
However, Lieutenant General Takasu Shirō himself had no confidence in whether they could truly retreat beyond the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft strike radius.
In Lieutenant General Takasu Shirō's view, they should have been at least three or four hundred kilometers from the German Navy Pacific Fleet's Aircraft Carrier Formation. The fleet was now withdrawing at a speed of thirty knots. At that rate, they would be safe in just a few hours. Moreover, their fleet possessed a comprehensive air-defense network. The German Navy's carrier-based aircraft might not necessarily be able to do much to them.
What truly disappointed Lieutenant General Takasu Shirō was that they had not sunk the two remaining aircraft carriers of the German Navy Indian Ocean Fleet, but had merely inflicted heavy damage on them. If they could have sunk every aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean Fleet, then even losing four Amagi-class battlecruisers would have been worth it.
An hour later, the air-search radar aboard the battlecruiser Amagi detected dense blips closing