The Rise of the Third Reich

On Christmas Day, December 25, 1941, the flag symbolizing the commander of the Pacific Fleet was raised on the battleship "North Carolina".

With a standard displacement of 36,600 tons and nine 16-inch guns, the "North Carolina" and its sister ship "Washington" are now the newest and most powerful battleships in the US Navy. According to the original plan, these two battleships will be used in the Atlantic to fight against Germany's two Bismarck-class battleships. After the other four "South Dakota" class battleships (an improved version of the "North Carolina" class) were successively commissioned from March to August 1942, these six powerful battleships plus three "Colorado" class battleships, which also have 16-inch guns, will join the British battleships to fight a decisive battle at sea with the German, Italian and French combined fleet!

However, plans cannot keep up with changes. Now two of the three "Colorado" class ships are gone, and the two "North Carolina" class ships that originally intimidated the Germans in the Atlantic had to be quickly transferred to the Pacific. On December 25, they entered the port of San Diego with the aircraft carrier Wasp.

And on the same day, Nimitz moved his headquarters from the shore to the battleship "Carolina".

"Carolina, Washington, Wasp, Ranger... By the way, Colorado should also join the 7th Task Force."

"The battleship Colorado?" Major General Milo Frederick reminded Nimitz, "The speed of this battleship is very slow, the fastest is only 21 knots."

"Take it, it has 8 16-inch cannons." Nimitz said, "We are still likely to fight that Japanese super battleship."

"Fight against a Japanese super battleship?" Major General Frederick looked at Nimitz with some surprise.

"This is the worst plan," Nimitz smiled bitterly, "but when people are unlucky, the worst things will always happen. Now the United States is not very lucky, so it is very likely to encounter the Japanese super battleship." According to President Roosevelt's request, Nimitz formulated a huge plan with three goals. The three goals are: 1. Transport supplies and troops to Australia; 2. Evacuate some personnel on Oahu; 3. Support the battle on Oahu. In order to achieve the above three goals, Nimitz must find a way to temporarily divert several Japanese fleet aircraft carriers and 5 Japanese battleships hovering near Hawaii from the vicinity of Oahu. Thereby creating conditions for the intrusion of cruisers and destroyers and the counterattack of the Oahu Army. To implement such a risky combat plan, you must be prepared to be caught and beaten by the Japanese super battleship. This is why Nimitz wants to bring the Colorado battleship-although the Colorado's 8 guns may not be able to hit the Japanese super battleship, it is enough to deal with other Japanese battleships, even the Nagato class. If one or two other types of battleships following the Japanese super battleships were severely damaged, then Nimitz's fleet might not have no chance to escape safely.

Looking at the sky outside the porthole, Nimitz said: "Tonight, the 7th Combined Fleet and the SS01 Fleet will set off together and leave San Diego. In this way, the German spies lurking in San Diego tomorrow morning will think that the 7th Combined Fleet and the SS01 Fleet are acting together and heading in the same direction."

…

The beach line that stretches for several kilometers in Haleiwa and its vicinity has become a giant military assembly site and material storage site. The Japanese Army's ship units are indeed more energetic than the navy. From the night of the 23rd to now, personnel equipment and material transfer operations have been carried out continuously for more than 30 hours. Each "ship engineer" is supported by a kind of fanatical false fire and is working at an extremely high load. However, the infantry of the entire 2nd Division has not yet landed, not to mention the various heavy equipment in their artillery regiments, baggage regiments and engineering regiments. As for the 38th Division, not even one soldier has landed yet, and they are all seasick on the swaying transport ship.

Although the Japanese Army Ship Command has done a lot of useful work in the past few years, developing army aircraft carriers, landing ships, large and small power boats and other landing tools. However, Japan's national strength is limited after all, and it is impossible to give the army enough budget to build aircraft carriers, landing ships, and landing craft (large and small power boats). Moreover, the Japanese Army did not expect a few years ago that they would one day become the overlord of the entire Pacific Ocean and land on many islands controlled by the United States and Britain at the same time. Therefore, the preparation of various landing tools is very inadequate, which has greatly slowed down the speed of the army's landing.

The troops that have already landed, including the entire 3rd Infantry Brigade (under the jurisdiction of the 4th Infantry Regiment and the 29th Infantry Regiment), and the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 15th Infantry Brigade, are divided into two parts. Among them, the 15th Infantry Brigade stayed on the beach and Haleiwa Town to continue to assist the "ship engineers" in transporting personnel and materials. The 3rd Infantry Brigade began to advance toward the nearby Waianae Mountains (the Waianae Mountains are arc-shaped, and its northern foothills are close to Haleiwa), and engaged in a fierce battle with the 5th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division of the US Army stationed there.

Originally, the 25th Division of the US Army should not be able to defeat the 2nd Division of Japan, because the 25th Division of the US Army was recently reorganized from the Hawaii National Guard. Although it was well-equipped, the quality of the soldiers could not be compared with the soldiers of the 2nd Division of Japan who had been trained "monthly" (meaning that they trained seven days a week without rest and without human rights). However, the soldiers of the 2nd Division of Japan had been tossed on the sea for many days, and they were so seasick that they almost lost their way. When they just landed, their legs were weak, and their combat effectiveness was naturally discounted. Moreover, the 25th Division of the US Army was defending its homeland, and it had to fight hard, so it also played a bit too long.

The battle line of both sides was launched at the foot of Waianae Ridge, and the artillery fire was continuous. Although the Japanese army did not have many land artillery and insufficient ammunition, the artillery support of the navy was quite in place. The artillery performance of the 25th Division of the US Army was also remarkable. They deployed the howitzers on the hillside behind the Waianae Ridge. Not only did they avoid the suppression of the Japanese naval guns, but they were also able to fire shells onto the beach of Haleiwa, exploding among the scattered ammunition, supplies, food, and light artillery that had just been unloaded from the ship! It did not cause much damage (perhaps the beach absorbed a considerable amount of the explosion), but it greatly hindered the landing operation.

Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao, the commander of the 2nd Division who had served as a military attaché in the UK for many years, has now landed and set up a command post in a church in the small town of Haleiwa. The chaos of the landing scene, the setbacks encountered in the process of advancing in depth, and the suffering of seasickness for many days did not discourage the Japanese lieutenant general. He was still full of energy to urge his troops to attack Waianae Ridge - the northern foot of this mountain just guarded the passage to the hinterland of the Oahu Plain. The name of the Oahu Plain is a plain, which is actually a bit like a valley. On both sides are the Waianae Ridge and the Kulau Mountains, and in the middle is a not-so-wide plain. It was necessary to capture one of the Waianae Mountains and the Kulau Mountains to cover the army's attack on Pearl Harbor and Honolulu through the plains of Oahu.

The Kulau Mountains were taller and steeper than the Waianae Mountains, so Imamura and Maruyama took the Waianae Mountains as their target.

German military adviser Paulus also went ashore with his adjutant and photographer Rudolf von Ribbentrop. On the rooftop platform of a three-story building near the church where Maruyama Masami was, he carefully observed with a telescope, while Ribbentrop Jr. used a Zeiss camera to shoot the scene on the nearby beach - these were all precious first-hand information, which would be very useful for the future landing in Britain!

At this moment, the lieutenant in charge of communications in the military advisory group ran up quickly and said loudly to Paulus: "Lieutenant General, the Emperor Friedrich III forwarded a telegram from the General Staff." "The telegram from the General Staff?" Paulus glanced at Rudolf von Ribbentrop, who immediately stepped forward to take the copy of the telegram, took a look, and then said to Paulus: "Lieutenant General, it's a military intelligence report. The US Pacific Fleet has left San Diego, with 3 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers, and a large number of transport ships!" "They are here to reinforce Oahu!" Paulus muttered, and strode to the stairs. Before he went downstairs, he turned back and said to Rudolf von Ribbentrop: "Rudolf, I'll be back soon. You stay here and continue taking pictures. Remember to take more pictures of the scenes related to the landing." ... "Commander, this time there are 3 more battleships. ”

On the Yamato battleship, Yamamoto Isoroku had received the telegram from Paulus. He smiled and said to Ugaki Matome who informed him: "I knew the Americans would not give up. What they are fighting for now is Hawaii! But this is also our chance... The first battle is the decisive battle! Now is the time when my empire is the strongest and the United States is the weakest. It is very beneficial for us to have a decisive battle now. So the more American ships come, the better!" Ugaki Matome said: "Commander, we have sunk 8 American battleships and 1 aircraft carrier. If we can destroy 2-3 more battleships and 2 or more aircraft carriers this time, the strength of the US Pacific Fleet will not be restored for at least 2 years. By then, we will have turned Hawaii into an impregnable fortress. "