The Rise of the Third Reich

At 1:55 pm Washington time, a Japanese ambassador whose face was covered with shame and sweat, and who was still breathing heavily, was brought to US Secretary of State Cordell Hull. The Japanese ambassador's name is Nomura Koshisaburo, a retired naval admiral.

He was supposed to deliver Imperial Japan's declaration of war to U.S. Secretary of State Hull at 1 p.m. However, the text of the document "Declaration of War" sent from Japan was long and smelly, and it was full of awkward words, making it difficult to translate into English. As a result, a lot of time was wasted, and when Nomura finally got the translated text to meet Hull, he encountered an unprecedented traffic jam on the road.

I don’t know what day it is today, but Washington, which has a small population and few cars on the road, is actually stuck in a traffic jam. And it will never end if it is blocked! As a result, the elderly Nomura had no choice but to disregard the dignity of the general and ambassador, get out of the car and run all the way. He was out of breath and finally met the US Secretary of State Cordell Husband, whose face was full of justice, justice and indignation, nearly an hour late. you.

Nomura, who was old and fat, took a moment to breathe, and then handed the Japanese Empire's declaration of war to Cordell Hull, whose face was slightly ashen, with an apologetic expression.

Hull already knew about Pearl Harbor. The Japanese are so hateful, cunning and shameless! Instead of air raiding Clark Airport in the Philippines or sneaking a sneak attack on the British-controlled Singapore Fortress, they went to sneak attack Pearl Harbor without mercy. President Roosevelt had to revise the speech he had prepared. In the speech, President Roosevelt would severely condemn the atrocities of Japanese imperialism invading the Republic of the Philippines and killing American soldiers from the air, and would also vow to defend the Philippines and the United States. Such are the interests in the Far East. But at 1:30, news came that Japanese planes had bombed Pearl Harbor, which caused the president to postpone his radio address to the nation.

What is even more infuriating is that the Pearl Harbor base, which should have been on the highest alert for a long time, was unexpectedly bombed by the Japanese, causing heavy losses!

Cordell Hull took the "Declaration of War" sent by Nomura Koshisaburo, and after a few glances, he understood the general content - in fact, he knew it 40 minutes ago! But now he still felt extremely angry.

He said: "This is the most shameless, ridiculous, and fact-free document I have seen in my 50 years of public service!"

Nomura Kichizaburo only felt ashamed, not because he was ashamed of the Americans, but because he failed to handle the affairs assigned by the country and failed to submit the "Declaration of War" to the Americans in time, thus allowing the empire to become a shameless country that launched sneak attacks.

"Mr. Secretary of State," Nomura said, "this incident is entirely my fault..."

He spoke in English, which Hull could understand. However, Hull did not believe that the plan to "attack Pearl Harbor" was drawn up by Nomura, a retired naval admiral. Feeling that he had been deceived again, Hel twisted his face and just snorted softly.

Nomura Kichizaburo gritted his teeth and resorted to a trick only used by Japanese samurai - demanding hara-kiri!

"This is all my fault. In order to make up for my fault, I request hara-kiri!" Nomura Kichizaburo said loudly.

What? Want to cut your belly with a knife? ****** in the United States? Hull felt the urge to vomit when he thought about the sight of human intestines, stomachs, livers, spleens and other messy internal organs strewn all over his office.

"No!" Hull shouted loudly, "You can't cut your belly with a knife! This is not allowed. This is not in compliance with international law..." He felt that it was inappropriate to say this, and immediately added, "If you do this, you will The Foreign Secretary will ask our ambassador to Japan to do the same!”

This is impossible! Nomura Kokoro said, Togo Shigeru is not Tojo Hideki, how could he do such a thing. However, he still did not insist on committing hara-kiri in the United States. Hull even said that this matter was not in compliance with international law. Since it was illegal, he would not commit hara-kiri.

Nomura Kichizaburo had no choice but to bow again to apologize, and then left in despair. At the door of the American police station, a team of military police was already waiting for him. Now Nomura is no longer the Japanese ambassador, but a detained diplomat. He will be exchanged with the US ambassador to Japan under the control of a neutral country.

Secretary of State Hull was outraged, as was President Roosevelt. He has now received a report on the losses at Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona has sunk, the USS Oklahoma has been severely damaged and lost combat effectiveness, the USS Maryland has been severely damaged and lost power, the USS California has been severely damaged and lost combat effectiveness. The battleship USS West Virginia was severely damaged and caught fire, and the battleships USS Tennessee and USS Nevada were damaged. Nearly 300 additional aircraft were destroyed or damaged by Japanese bombing raids.

But this was not what made Roosevelt the most angry. What made the American president most angry was that the Japanese bombed the Pearl Harbor oil depot, which caused a large amount of fuel leakage and caused a fire! Now the entire Pearl Harbor is about to become a burned port. I wonder if it can still serve as the home port of the U.S. Pacific Fleet after it is burned down?

Roosevelt was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. How important Pearl Harbor was to Pacific hegemony!

If Pearl Harbor cannot serve as the home port of the Pacific Fleet, then the home port of the Pacific Fleet will have to retreat more than 2,000 nautical miles to San Diego. If the fleet sets out from San Diego, it will take 5-7 days to sail just the distance of more than 2,000 nautical miles, and the fleet will have to bring fuel and supplies that can sail more than 4,000 nautical miles (taking into account the return journey). This will greatly limit the U.S. Navy's ocean combat capabilities.

"We must find ways to save the oil depot, we must put out the fire at Pearl Harbor as soon as possible, we must fight back immediately - we must give these despicable and shameless Japanese a lesson!"

Roosevelt's voice was also full of anger now, and his face was uglier than Hull's. He was giving orders to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Stark, with a straight face.

"President, the counterattack will begin in two hours!" Admiral Stark looked at the US President who was about to explode with anger, and quickly said some encouraging news.

"2 hours?"

"We have five aircraft carriers near the Japanese island of Saipan. It is still 3 a.m. there (Guam time). In two hours our aircraft carriers will be able to launch carrier-based aircraft!"

Roosevelt's face looked a little better, and he asked: "So who is the commander of that aircraft carrier formation?"

"Lieutenant General Halsey."

"Well, he is a brave general." Roosevelt said, "I believe he will not let the American people down."

It would take another 2 hours for Halsey's fleet to launch the carrier-based aircraft, but the second attack wave took off from the Japanese aircraft carrier at 8:30 a.m. Hawaii time, which was before Halsey dispatched the carrier-based aircraft. An hour and a half ago, we flew to Oahu, which was shrouded in smoke and war.

At this moment, in the sky above Oahu, there are already thirty or forty P40, P51 and F4F fighter jets circling and waiting for battle!

Previous Japanese bombings of Hickam Airport, Wheeler Airport, Kanuhei Airport and Ford Island Airport were very successful, destroying or severely damaging more than 300 aircraft. But there were still many aircraft available at Pearl Harbor.

In addition, the airport's runways were not destroyed by bombing - it is certainly impossible to destroy the runways of four large airports with dozens of carrier-based aircraft, which would require larger-scale bombing or bombardment with large-caliber naval guns.

In addition, in addition to the four major airports on Oahu, there are several smaller airports where a small number of aircraft are stationed. These aircraft and airfields were not destroyed by the first wave of Japanese attacks, so when the second wave of Japanese attacks arrived, a fierce air battle soon began.

Because of the guidance of radar, the American aircraft had already seized a high-altitude position before the arrival of Japan's second attack wave. Seeing the Japanese aircraft flying over in a mighty manner, they immediately began to dive and attack.

The 64 Japanese Zero aircraft escorting them did not hesitate to face them, and the two sides immediately launched a fierce air battle! Planes on both sides were constantly hit by bullets and burst into flames, dragging thick smoke onto the ground or onto the sea.

In this time and space, the Fokker Zero has long shined in Europe, and Japanese elite pilots do not have a Chinese battlefield to train on. Therefore, the advantages displayed by the Zero aircraft in the early stages of the Pacific War were not overwhelming. As long as the American P40, P51 and F4F are used properly, they can still shoot down many Zero aircraft...

The Type 99 dive bombers and Type 97 torpedo bombers in the second wave of Japanese attacks seized the opportunity to accelerate their attack on Pearl Harbor. However, their luck was far inferior to that of the first attack wave. All the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns in Pearl Harbor had been fired, and the sky was still filled with smoke from burning heavy oil.

Pearl Harbor's oil depots stored millions of tons of fuel. Although only a small part of the tanks have been destroyed, the smoke from the burning still obscured the sight of Japanese pilots.

The commander-in-chief of the second attack wave, Shige Shimazaki, and Major Shigezuo found that their plane seemed to have plunged into heavy fog. The situation on the sea was very blurry. Only the burning battleships could be seen, and nothing else could be seen.

In addition, the oil depot at Pearl Harbor was easy to find, and it was the place that burned the most!

As for the airport, it was completely covered in smoke and could not be found. It is naturally impossible to bomb again.

Therefore, Shige Shimazaki and Major had no choice but to issue orders to adjust the attack targets through the radio. Let the Type 97 torpedo bomber carrying 800 kilograms of armor-piercing bombs blow up the burning ships on the sea; let the Type 99 dive bomber continue to attack the oil depot and blow up more oil storage tanks.