The Rise of the Third Reich

The so-called nine-stage attack is the Japanese Navy's fantasy tactic for a decisive battle against the United States before the Pacific War. Specifically, it arranges submarines, aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers in layers to engage the U.S. fleet one by one to weaken the opponent's strength. The battleship is placed at the end, using the Yamato-class cannon to make the final decision - Japan designed and built the Yamato with this idea, and it was used to fight the nine-stage decisive battle.

But when the Pacific War started, except for the decisive battleship battle when fighting the Hawaiian Islands at the beginning, Japanese battleships seemed to have become soy sauce, and aviation warfare became the main means of combat.

However, starting with the Battle of Christmas Island in September 1943, Japan began to suffer setbacks in a series of aviation battles. The generation of elites who joined the naval aviation before the outbreak of the war were all lost. By the time of the Second Battle of the Hawaiian Islands, even the elites of the Army Aviation were used to fight.

Although taking advantage of the shore-based advantage, it also consumed more than 4,000 US military aircraft and killed many elite US carrier-based aircraft pilots. But starting in June, the situation took a turn for the worse again.

It turned out that the US military repaired and expanded the airport on Niihau Island, and then transferred the P51B/C and P47D of the Army Air Force. The battle over the Hawaiian Islands now became shore-to-shore. Japan's Hayate and Shiden Kai are no match for the P51B/C and P47D. As for Japan's proud three medium-heavy bombers "Galaxy", "Swallowing Dragon" and "Flying Dragon", they are facing the P47D "interceptor". ”, he was even beaten to a pulp. The combination of 8 12.7mm Browning aviation machine guns and aviation rockets can shoot down the sturdy Japanese bomber in one attack!

What's even worse is that because the Japanese aircraft on the Hawaiian Islands have been exhausted, the Japanese Navy and Army have to adopt long-distance transition tactics and aircraft carrier relay methods to supplement the fighter aircraft on the Hawaiian Islands battlefield. The former is used to supplement the "Galaxy" medium bomber with a super long range, while the latter uses the "Hast Wind" and "Zidian Kai" to eject into deep space from an aircraft carrier equipped with a flywheel catapult (imported from Germany), and then fly at night To the Hawaiian Islands.

However, these two replenishment methods consume a lot of money and the amount that can be replenished is insufficient. In particular, the US military also deployed P61 night fighters on Niihau Island. As a result, Japanese aircraft flying to the Hawaiian Islands at night were often intercepted by P61s! Those Japanese rookie pilots who were exhausted after long night flights were often shot down by American P61s without even seeing the Hawaiian Islands.

Therefore, in the past June, Japan lost more than 1,100 aircraft in the Hawaiian Islands, but the number of US military aircraft shot down by them was far less than this number.

Now the air combat exchange ratio in the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands has greatly disadvantaged Japan! Any further attempt to rely on air warfare to win is tantamount to wishful thinking.

But the decisive battle between the fleets...that would be a fight with the Japanese Navy's capital!

Is this really cost-effective?

"Ito-kun," Yamamoto Isoroku said in a leisurely tone, "Do you think that in a fleet battle, the combined fleet is sure to win?"

"This..." Ito thought for a while, nodded and said, "The combined fleet has four Yamato-class battleships, while the United States only has four Iowa-class battleships at most on the Hawaiian Islands battlefield. They are no match for us."

"Where are the American planes?" Yamamoto asked, "Ito-kun doesn't think that the American planes will stand by and watch their battleships fight our battleships to the death, right?"

"This is naturally impossible," Ito shook his head and said, "but Commander Nagumo and Commander Ozawa will use aircraft carriers to cover the battleship forces."

Yamamoto Isoroku also shook his head and said: "No, no, this is a reckless act with no confidence!"

Yamamoto was right. Japan can now muster less than 20 aircraft carriers at most, while the United States has at least 50-60 aircraft carriers near the Hawaiian Islands. In terms of commonly used carrier-based aircraft, Japan can produce up to 800 aircraft.

Even if the United States does not consider escort aircraft carriers, it can at least produce 25 large and light fleet aircraft carriers. Even if the number of standing carrier-based aircraft on them is insufficient, 1,200-1,300 aircraft can still be made up.

Although U.S. carrier-based aircraft pilots suffered heavy losses in previous battles, most of the pilots flying the 1,300 carrier-based aircraft now are "rookies" who have transferred from the Army Air Force (the rest are of course carrier-based aircraft elites), But they are still better than Japanese carrier-based aircraft pilots - their skills in taking off and landing aircraft on aircraft carriers and flying at sea are relatively good, but their skills in air combat and bombing are not good at all!

The Japanese Navy's best pilots have long been exhausted, but the Japanese Navy cannot, like the U.S. Navy, obtain experienced pilots from the Army Red Deer...

In addition, the carrier-based aircraft on the Japanese aircraft carrier are also at a great disadvantage when facing the American carrier-based aircraft. In order to make up for this weakness, the Japanese Navy recently introduced a batch of Fw-190T from Germany for trial use. But the results were not satisfactory, because the Fw-190T was improved from a shore-based aircraft, and its takeoff and landing performance was not very satisfactory. When taking off from an aircraft carrier, you must rely on a high-power hydraulic catapult to be fully fueled and bombed. And the landing speed is too fast, which is a headache problem. It is impossible for veteran pilots who are not experienced to fly the Fw-190T to land on the ship.

Therefore, the Japanese Navy's carrier-based fighters still use the Zero, but they have introduced the Zero 62/63 based on the Fokker Zero D and transformed it into a fighter-bomber. However, the performance of the Zero Type 62/63 is still not as good as the American F4U and F6F.

"But..." Ito Zhengyi looked very embarrassed, "Your Majesty Marshal, the situation of the combined fleet is like this. If we don't fight a fleet battle and there is no certainty in the aviation battle, how can we fight a decisive battle?"

"How to have a decisive battle?" Yamamoto Isoroku glared at Ito Zhengichi, "Why a decisive battle?"

"..."

"Didn't the Empire win? Didn't the United States sue for peace? Isn't the Army also planning to end operations in the Pacific and instead use troops on the Asian continent? Why is the Navy still fighting a meaningless decisive battle?"

Yamamoto's series of questions surprised Ito Zhengyi.

Isoroku Yamamoto doesn’t want to fight... Oh, in fact, most of the people in Japan who have the final say don’t want to fight the Pacific War with the United States anymore.

Didn’t even the head of the Army Red Deer say: The United States is "Gold", Japan is "Song", and Germany is "Great Mongolia"?

Who in Japan doesn’t know what happened to the Song Dynasty when they joined forces with Mongolia to destroy the Jin Dynasty? But can Japan not fight now?

"But Germany has acquiesced to the expansion of the empire in the Far East, and has also provided a set of equipment for the production of nuclear fission bombs. Moreover, allowing the United States to occupy the Hawaiian Islands is detrimental to the long-term development of the empire..."

When Ito said this, his brows were already knitted together.

Japan is now reaping the benefits of Germany. If it doesn't take care of the matter, can the Germans spare Japan? Germany now has atomic bombs!

As for the United States occupying the Hawaiian Islands, the Japanese are not really worried because they believe that a unified United States of Europe is the main enemy of the United States of America...

There is actually no inextricable hatred between Japan and the United States.

"What are you afraid of? The big money in the United States is not finished yet," Yamamoto Isoroku waved his hand, "And it's not that we will not fulfill our commitments... but we must fulfill our commitments on the premise of maintaining the fleet."

"Keep the fleet?"

Yamamoto Isoroku nodded and said: "Only by protecting the ship can we defeat the enemy!"

"Protect the ship and defeat the enemy? Is there a fleet?"

"Yes!" Yamamoto Isoroku nodded heavily, "The combined fleet must exist! Only when the fleet exists can the navy defeat the enemy! Not only external enemies, but also internal enemies!"

This enemy... is not just the United States and the Soviet Union, but also includes the Japanese Army Red Deer!

The Combined Fleet is the capital of the Japanese Navy. If it goes away, the Army will have the final say in Japan's major policies in the future.

The navy has made such great achievements, but ended up with nothing. How could Yamamoto Isoroku and Nagano Shushen be willing to do so?

Regardless of the fact that the Pacific War is about to end and Japan is about to fight a land war, Yamamoto and Nagano are still preparing for a grand new shipbuilding plan!

Not only are we preparing to start building Yamato-class follow-up ships, but we are also building more Taiho-class aircraft carriers - this may seem absurd to the United States and Germany, but for the Japanese Navy, it is the reward they deserve!

No matter how clear-headed Isoroku Yamamoto is, he is still a member of the Japanese Navy and must consider the interests of the navy.

"The Battle of the Hawaiian Islands will definitely be fought," Yamamoto Isoroku said, "but it must be made clear that this is not a battle of empires, but a battle to deal with Germany. So most of the capital ships must be saved... Do you understand? "

Yamamoto said half of what he said, and the other half was that it didn't matter if we lost the battle, and it didn't matter if the Hawaiian Islands were lost, as long as the fleet was not lost.

"I understand..." Ito stood up immediately, picked up the text of "Jie No. 2 Operation Plan" in front of Yamamoto and was about to leave.

"Ito-kun, why did you take the plan away?" Yamamoto Isoroku stopped Ito, "I haven't read it yet?"

"Marshal, what do you mean..."

Yamamoto Isoroku smiled and said: "There is no need to change the plan... If the Germans want to see it, they will send personnel to accompany the fleet to observe. But plans can never keep up with changes, right?"

Ito finally understood, and bowed to Yamamoto with admiration, "I will go to the Yamato immediately and convey your intention to Commander Nagumo and Commander Ozawa."