The Rise of the Third Reich

Chapter 512 Tiger! Tiger! tiger sixteen

"Commander, 36 B-17s, 36 B-25s, and 16 P51s are all ready and ready to take off to bomb Kaohsiung at any time."

Inside the U.S. Far Eastern Forces headquarters building in Manila, Lieutenant General MacArthur was smoking a corncob pipe and listening to a staff report on preparations for bombing Kaohsiung.

Because he had long known the approximate time when the Japanese would launch the war, and expected that the Japanese army would attack the Philippines first, MacArthur still had sufficient troops on December 8, 1941. In terms of commonly used aircraft alone, Army Airlines and Hainan Airlines have a total of 313 aircraft, including 36 B-17s, 36 B-25s, 64 P51s, 64 P40s, 32 F4Fs, 27 SBDs, 27 TBDs, 27 PBY-5A Catalina seaplanes. So MacArthur has counterattack power in his hands!

Now Pearl Harbor was bombed first. Due to the time difference, it was still 2 a.m. in the Philippines when Pearl Harbor was bombed. It was difficult for Japanese planes to bomb Clark Airport and Cavite Military Port at the same time. So until around 7 a.m. on December 8, Philippine time, the Japanese bombers had not yet arrived. Therefore, MacArthur definitely struck first and sent B-17s and B-25s from Clark Base to bomb Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

"Okay then," MacArthur waved his hand, "Send out now to bomb the Japanese airport in Kaohsiung, and tell the brothers in the air force to teach the Japanese in Taiwan a lesson!"

MacArthur's order was quickly issued to Clark Airport. The B-17, B-25 and P51 aircraft that had already completed takeoff preparations immediately rushed into the sky one after another, formed a bombing formation in the air, and then roared towards Taiwan. go.

At the same time, 220 nautical miles north of Oahu, the eight aircraft carriers of Japan's First Mobile Fleet also began sailing against the wind at full speed, using the fierce deck wind to release 183 carrier-based aircraft that formed the third attack wave - due to Forty-nine aircraft were lost in the first and second waves, so the third and fourth waves were reduced in size.

"Major General, Pearl Harbor was hit by a third wave of air attacks!"

On the aircraft carrier "Raider", the flagship of Task Force 2, Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher received news of the third air attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese carrier-based aircraft at 12:35 local time in Hawaii.

"Has the Japanese plane arrived at Pearl Harbor?" Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher wanted to confirm the specific location of the Japanese plane. Because there is an air search radar on Oahu, incoming enemy planes can be discovered 30-45 minutes in advance.

"Yes, we have arrived at Pearl Harbor." Lieutenant Colonel Henry, the captain of the USS Raider aircraft carrier, replied.

Rear Admiral Fletcher glanced outside the bridge. The narrow flight deck was filled with aircraft ready to take off. The "Raider" is a small-tonnage aircraft carrier, with a standard displacement smaller than the German "Seidlitz" class. However, this aircraft carrier, like other American aircraft carriers, adopts the luxurious deck tethering method to load aircraft, and American aircraft have better folding wings. Therefore, the "Raider" can carry 72 commonly used aircraft and 9 more. Spare aircraft.

There are now a total of 64 regular aircraft and 8 spare aircraft on this aircraft carrier, of which 20 SBDs, 18 TBDs and 12 F4Fs have been arranged on the flight deck - this is commonly used by American and Japanese aircraft carriers. "Full-deck assault" tactic, all aircraft going into battle are arranged on the deck in advance, so that the release of carrier-based aircraft can be completed in the shortest time.

Now as long as Fletcher gives the order, all 50 planes can take off in 10 minutes at most.

"Send out the first attack wave now!" Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher suddenly issued an order for carrier-based aircraft to attack.

"Rear Admiral," Lieutenant Colonel Henry, the captain of the Raider, was stunned when he heard this and quickly reminded, "We haven't discovered the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier yet."

"No, we don't need to know the location of the Japanese aircraft carrier now. We only need to let the carrier-based aircraft follow the Japanese carrier-based aircraft back." Frank Fletcher said, "The Germans did this in the Great Battle of the Eastern Mediterranean. As a result, the British lost many excellent carrier-based aircraft pilots, and now we have to use the same method to deal with the Japanese. "

He thought for a moment and then added: "After the carrier-based aircraft are released, we will immediately head south away from the battlefield."

"Away from the battlefield?"

"Yes," Frank Fletcher nodded and said, "The Japanese have at least 6 aircraft carriers, but we only have 1...so we can't have a head-on confrontation."

"Then how does the carrier-based aircraft return?"

"Let them go to Pearl Harbor after bombing the Japanese," Frank Fletcher said thoughtfully, "and then take off from Pearl Harbor early tomorrow morning and return to the aircraft carrier, so that we can continue to deal with the Japanese tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Are these Japanese still not leaving until tomorrow?"

Frank Fletcher shook his head, "It's hard to say! Maybe the Japanese want to occupy Hawaii!"

"Occupy Hawaii!?" Lieutenant Colonel Henry was surprised. "They will drag more than 3,200 nautical miles of transportation lines to occupy the Hawaiian Islands? What's the point of this?"

Frank Fletcher frowned, "This will make us very uncomfortable, very, very uncomfortable... This reason is enough!"

"Enemy plane! Enemy plane found, 11 o'clock direction, 500 meters above!"

Mitsuo Fuchida heard the bombardier/radio operator Yasuda, who was sitting behind him, shouting loudly. He quickly looked in the direction pointed by Yasuda and saw forty or fifty small black dots approaching him at an extremely fast speed!

"Akagi, Kaga, and Zuikaku fighter squadrons, fight against the enemy planes!" Mizuo Fuchida immediately divided three fighter squadrons (not full, there were only 40 Zero aircraft in the three squadrons) to fight against the oncoming enemy planes. Then he ordered: "Each dive bomber and torpedo bomber squadron, immediately advance to the designated target. I wish you long-lasting military success!"

According to Genda Minoru's arrangement, the Type 97 torpedo bombers, Type 99 dive bombers and Comet dive bombers participating in the third attack wave all carried high-explosive bombs used to destroy airport runways and 250 kilogram armor-piercing bombs used to attack oil tanks. It does not carry torpedoes to deal with battleships and armor-piercing bombs of 500 kg and 800 kg. Therefore, the targets of the third attack wave were the oil depots and airports at Pearl Harbor.

The oil depot area that was bombed first was still burning when Japanese planes arrived.

Although the Pacific Fleet Command and the Hawaii Army Command tried their best to mobilize the fire brigade, there were so many ignited oil tanks that the central control pump of the Pearl Harbor oil depot had no time to pump the fuel away from the bombed tanks, causing leakage. of fuel burning around the tank.

What firefighters can do now is not only spray water to cool down the oil tanks that have not been blown up, but also strengthen the mounds to prevent the burning heavy oil from leaking out and spreading to other oil tanks. Two divisions of the Army stationed in Hawaii also sent engineers with mechanized engineering equipment to help pile up soil, and the fire was temporarily controlled.

But at this time, the damn Japanese bombs fell again, blowing up another seven or eight intact oil tanks, and killing many firefighters and engineers who were putting out the fire. As a result, the fire became more and more intense. .

The airport at Pearl Harbor subsequently suffered damage, although the smoke from the oil depot fire obscured the airport to a certain extent. But the Japanese pilots took the risk of lowering their flying altitude and risking being shot down by heavy ground fire. They still found three of the four major airports, then dropped more than a hundred bombs, destroyed some hangars, and Parts of the runway were riddled with holes.

It is not difficult for the Americans to bomb the runway. The Pearl Harbor base has been under construction for the past few decades. Therefore, there are many engineering teams and many construction machinery on Oahu. The construction power is enough, and Japan can be repaired in just one night. Craters created by human explosions.

But there were many damaged but potentially repairable aircraft in the bombed hangar! Now, there is no shortage of pilots but planes in Pearl Harbor, because many pilots' planes were blown up in the first and second wave of Japanese air raids. The mainland United States is more than 3,000 kilometers away from Oahu. Except for long-range bombers such as B-17 and B-24, most American aircraft and special fighter jets do not have such a long range. It is impossible to fly to Oahu by yourself. Even the U.S. military transport aircraft C-47 does not have enough range.

Therefore, how to replenish aircraft to Oahu has become a key factor in the battle in Hawaii. After Admiral Kimmel saw the damage reports caused by the third and fourth waves of Japanese air raids, he immediately made a request to the Navy Department for additional aircraft—the number of fighter jets on Oahu was now less than 30. Even including the number of fighter jets that can still be repaired, there are less than 40. If Japan launches several more waves of attacks, there will be no fighter jets available on Oahu.

Nagumo Chuichi, who had just taken a nap, just woke up and heard news that made him nervous.

"What!? Are there dozens of American planes following the returning Fourth Assault Wave fighter planes?" Tadashi Nagumo immediately became nervous, "Baga, the Americans are so cunning. They actually want to follow them to find them." our position."

"Commander," Minoru Genda, the aviation staff officer of the First Mobile Fleet, thought that Nagumo Chuichi wanted to learn from the British in the great battle of the Eastern Mediterranean and abandon the fourth assault wave that was returning, so he quickly reported: "All direct cover aircraft have been If we are prepared, there will be no problem with air defense... Moreover, in the four waves of assaults, we have lost at least 69 aircraft, and more than 100 imperial pilots have shed blood on the battlefield!"

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