The Rise of the Third Reich

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date that must always be remembered—the United States of America came under a sudden and deliberate attack by the Navy and Air Force of the Empire of Japan. The United States and Japan are at peace with each other and are still cooperating at Japan’s request. Its government entered into talks with the Emperor in an effort to maintain peace in the Pacific, and in fact, just an hour after Japanese air squadrons had begun bombing the American island of Oahu, Japan's ambassador to the United States submitted to our Secretary of State a response to the latest U.S. letter to Japan. The formal reply to the letter contained no threats or hints of war or armed attack, although it stated that continued diplomatic negotiations seemed to be useless.

…Having faith in our armed forces—and in the firm determination of our people—we will achieve inevitable victory, God help us! I ask Congress to declare that a state of war has existed between the United States and the Empire of Japan since Sunday, December 7, 1941, when Japan launched its unprovoked and despicable attack. "

U.S. President Roosevelt's solemn, calm, slightly angry, but confident voice came from the loudspeaker of the battleship "Pennsylvania".

This was Roosevelt's speech asking the United States of America to declare war on the Empire of Japan. It was also a war mobilization speech to the entire American people. The House and Senate of Congress will definitely respond by declaring war on Japan with a high vote or even a unanimous vote, and the American people will definitely be inspired by their president and devote themselves to the war with the greatest enthusiasm.

However, this is of little use to the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet that is leaving port. A Japanese air raid the day before had destroyed most of the aircraft on Oahu. It also caused the two most powerful battleships in Pearl Harbor, the USS Maryland and the USS West Virginia, to lose their ability to move and could only run aground in Pearl Harbor. In addition, the USS Arizona was bombed and sank in Pearl Harbor. Although the USS California and USS Oklahoma were not sunk, they had completely lost their combat effectiveness and became a hulk.

Therefore, the only ships following Kimmel out of Pearl Harbor now are the flagship Pennsylvania and three battleships such as the Tennessee and Nevada that are old and outdated and do not have sufficient firepower.

Relying on these three battleships, the Pacific Fleet, let alone encountering the "Yamato Hotel", would be a dead end for the four ships including Nagato, Mutsu, Kirishima, and Hiei.

But Kimmel still bit the bullet and led the moving ships in Pearl Harbor to dispatch together. Because the two waves of attacks launched by the Japanese yesterday afternoon and Halsey's previous bombing of Saipan gave Kimmel a very bad premonition... The Japanese air raids on Oahu may continue for several days. , will not stop until all the American ships and facilities in Pearl Harbor are blown up, and they will not even rule out occupying Oahu!

Therefore, Admiral Kimmel, who was somewhat desperate, could only find a way to lure the Japanese fleet away from Hawaii. Now the U.S. Army has urgently mobilized 300 P51s that were originally going to Europe and sent them to San Francisco and San Diego, and are preparing to ship them to Hawaii on freighters. As long as Kimmel's fleet can divert the Japanese fleet away from Hawaii for 10 days, these planes can be delivered. With these 300 P51s, Oahu will be saved.

"Admiral, an unidentified radio signal has been detected, near us."

As soon as the Pennsylvania sailed out of Pearl Harbor, the fleet's communications staff reported disturbing news.

"It's a Japanese submarine!" Kimmel immediately ordered, "Order the destroyers to be on alert and not let Japanese submarines get close to the battleships."

His judgment was very accurate. Lurking in the waters south of Oahu was the third submarine force belonging to Japan's advance formation. The commander was Rear Admiral Miwa Shigegi, commander of the third submarine force. It has 9 submarines including I-8, I-68, I-69, I-70, I-71, I-72, I-73, I-74 and I-75. Now it is discovered that the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet leaving Pearl Harbor is the I-70 closest to the port.

With the help of the fire and moonlight from the burning oil tanks, the I-70 can easily spot the huge fleet leaving the port. But when the I-70 sent out the information that the "US fleet was leaving port", the opportunity to conduct a sneak attack with torpedoes was lost.

A destroyer formation that left Pearl Harbor earlier than the Pennsylvania received the order and began to sail in the direction of the I-70. The I-70 had no choice but to fire a torpedo at the battleship Pennsylvania from a distance of more than 30,000 meters, and then Emergency dive. However, because the distance was too far, the Type 93 spear torpedo it fired did not hit any targets.

Admiral Kimmel did not know that he had just escaped a disaster. After ordering the destroyers to be on alert, he began to issue orders to Rear Admiral Fletcher's 2nd Task Force.

"Let Rear Admiral Fletcher lead the fleet to join the main force immediately. We need the F4Fs on the Raider to serve as direct cover... By the way, how many F4Fs are there on the Raider?"

"There are 22 more."

"How many carrier-based F4Fs are there on Oahu?" Kimmel asked.

"There are 12."

"Everyone is transferred to the Raider." Kimmel said thoughtfully, "Now that the Japanese have discovered that we have left, they will definitely stop bombing Oahu and pursue us."

…

"What? The submarine discovered that the main force of the Pacific Fleet had left Pearl Harbor? At least three battleships?" Tadashi Nagumo couldn't help but cursed after receiving the latest information from his staff, "Baga! Didn't you mean to blow up and sink 1 6 battleships? How come there are still 3 battleships in Pearl Harbor?”

"There should be 8 ships, but only 7 were found during the bombing yesterday. There may be one Pennsylvania class docked." Aviation Staff Minoru Genda quickly replied, "There may be 2 American battleships with minor injuries and can still be moved. ”

"Three battleships, at least one aircraft carrier..." Nagumo Tadashi was confused at first, "The other side is Oahu. Who should we attack?"

"American battleships and aircraft carriers should be attacked. After all, it is the fleet, not the port, that can dominate the ocean."

Immediately, the staff of the First Mobile Fleet made suggestions. Compared with port facilities, battleships and aircraft carriers are greater achievements, so they are naturally more attractive.

Genda Minoru frowned and shook his head and said: "Commander, I think Oahu is the most valuable target... Now Oahu seems to be an enemy general who is seriously injured and about to die. When taking the first level.”

"Go all out to seize the enemy general's head?" Nagumo Chuichi looked at Genda Minoru, "Occupy Oahu?"

"This is the best policy!" Genda Minoru said, "The next best thing is to use bombing and naval guns to completely destroy Pearl Harbor's oil depots, airports and shipyards, so that they will not be able to function as a home port in the next two or three years. And... as long as... When the army lands on Kauai, American battleships and aircraft carriers will come to rescue them, because the Americans simply cannot afford to lose Hawaii!”

Nagumo Chuichi scratched his bald head, and Genda's words were indeed true. As long as Taiwan's mixed brigade lands on Kauai, are you afraid that the Americans won't come? Not only will three battleships and one aircraft carrier come from the Hawaiian waters, but also the main force of the US aircraft carrier formation near Saipan will come. By then, it will be a decisive battle that will determine the future and fate of the Japanese Empire!

"How many commonly used carrier-based aircraft does Nagumo have?"

In the "Yamato Hotel", Commander Yamamoto Isoroku had just gotten up and was having breakfast with his staff in the spacious and comfortable cabin while discussing the war situation.

"Commander, the First Mobile Fleet still has 432 regular aircraft."

Because none of the Japanese pilots carry parachutes, and the Japanese Navy has not seriously studied the rescue and recovery of fallen pilots. Therefore, the pilots who were shot down in the battle on December 7 had become gods, so few backup aircraft were put to use.

"There are 432 aircraft left..." Yamamoto frowned, "We still have the power to fight! At least we can destroy Oahu! When can the Hawaii dispatched fleet join the First Mobile Fleet?"

"We can rendezvous between 1 and 2 pm today, about 200 nautical miles away from Hawaii."

Yamamoto Isoroku thought for a while and said: "The assault can be in place in 11-12 hours... The bombardment of the oil depot area can begin at 0:00 on the 9th. Then today during the day, the First Mobile Fleet should focus on bombing the airport on Oahu. Before the US aircraft carrier attacks Saipan, it must destroy all the airports and oil depots on Oahu no matter what!"

As soon as Yamamoto's order was issued, he saw a staff officer quickly walk into the commander's cabin and hand a telegram to Ugaki Matoi with both hands. Ugaki glanced at the telegram and suddenly frowned.

"What's going on?" Yamamoto Fifty-Six asked.

"It was an urgent call from Saipan... The reconnaissance plane sent by Saipan discovered that dozens of heavy bombers had flown to Guam."

Most of the aircraft on Saipan have been destroyed by the carrier-based aircraft sent by Halsey, but there are still a few that have slipped through the net. These aircraft were primarily reconnaissance aircraft and were not on Saipan when the airstrike occurred. So today the Japanese army in Saipan was still able to send planes to Guam for reconnaissance, only to find dozens of B-17s roaring towards them.

"Is it a B-17?" Yamamoto Isoroku frowned, "Are the Americans going to use B-17 to bomb Saipan?"

"There is also Truk Atoll." Matou Ugaki reminded, "It is not far from Guam and is within the combat radius of the B-17."

Yamamoto nodded. He never thought that these B-17s were going to bomb the Emperor, so he just gave the order to the Japanese defenders at Truk Atoll for all-out air defense, and then went to discuss how to deal with Oahu and the US Pacific Fleet. The main force.