The Rise of the Third Reich

January 2, 1942, 3 o'clock in the morning.

In the hangar of the USS Lexington, several airmen slowly pushed an F4F "Wildcat" carrier-based fighter with folded wings onto the elevator. With the help of the hydraulic oil pump, the fighter was slowly lifted into flight. On the deck, the cool sea breeze blows in your face, instantly refreshing your spirit.

After many days of hiding in Tibet, Lieutenant General Halsey just issued an order. Today will be a good day to kill the Japanese!

"Edward, how's the light? Can you fly?"

Captain Edward O'Hair, the squadron leader of the Lexington's carrier-based fighter squadron, sat in the cockpit of his F4F and climbed onto the deck together. At this time, the voice of the flight controller, Major Richard Gore, came from the radio on the plane.

It is now 3 o'clock in the morning. In the sea near the equator, the sky is still pitch black at 3 o'clock in the morning. Moreover, there are no moon or stars in the sky, and it is obviously covered with thick clouds - this is very beneficial to the US 1st Task Force. After dispatching carrier-based aircraft, the fleet can sail southeast under the cover of clouds to avoid being pursued by Japanese aircraft carriers and those terrible suicide planes.

"Not bad, I can see the people and things on the runway clearly." Captain O'Hair replied.

Because there may be Japanese submarines nearby, the searchlight on Lexington cannot be turned on too bright to avoid exposing the target.

However, although the lights are slightly dimmed, it does not affect take-off, but the aircraft flying into the sky cannot form a formation. They can only circle the aircraft carrier a few times, wait until all the dispatched aircraft have taken off, then fly north, and then form a formation after dawn.

"Okay," Major Gore ordered again, "Edward, you must remember to lower your altitude and fly over the sea when entering 300 kilometers around Oahu."

Lowering altitude and flying sea-skimming is to avoid radar - now even pilots on US aircraft carriers finally know this trick. However, taking off at night and flying over the sea are difficult tasks, and not every pilot can do it. So Halsey had to concentrate the more skilled pilots on the five aircraft carriers (although the Hornet sank, but the pilots on it were still alive) on the Lexington and Saratoga, and gathered together 72 F4F fighters and 74 SBD dive bombers, a total of 146 aircraft.

However, these 146 aircraft were not intended to bomb the Japanese fleet, because the Americans now only know that the Japanese fleet is in the waters near Oahu and Kauai, but they are unable to determine their specific locations. Moreover, Halsey's aircraft carrier is now 1,000 kilometers away from Oahu, and it is impossible to send aircraft to conduct reconnaissance. Therefore, the 146 aircraft that flew out today were all equipped with high-explosive bombs (the SBD was equipped with one 500-pound bomb and two 100-pound bombs, and the F4F was equipped with two 100-pound bombs) to bomb the Japanese ground forces on Oahu.

After completing the bombing, these SBDs and F4Fs were unable to return, but would land at the temporary military airport at Skerfield Barracks on Oahu. Admiral Short has already had people rescue a lot of ammunition, accessories and aviation fuel from several major airports and oil depots on Oahu, enough for these aircraft to fight on Oahu for 4-5 days. After this, all aircraft would be blown up and pilots and ground crews would retreat in submarines from the coast northeast of the Kurau Mountains.

One by one, the planes were lifted onto the deck and lined up behind the takeoff line. At the same time, the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga began sailing at full speed against the wind, and the huge deck wind almost blew down the people standing on the deck. At this moment, the flight indicator light suddenly came on, and the two F4F fighter jets started suddenly, running wildly along the flight deck, and then rose into the dark sky.

…

On the plains of Oahu, the war between the American and Japanese armies is going on fiercely. For several days, troops from the Japanese Army's 2nd Division and 38th Division continued to land on Haleiwa Beach, and then were put into offensive operations. The heavy firearms of the Japanese Army were gradually transported to Oahu. Although the Navy still refused to send their "tired" carrier-based aircraft to assist in the battle, the support of naval guns was still quite powerful.

With the support of powerful firepower, the Japanese Army's attacks became more and more fierce, and the Americans began to be a little overwhelmed. Jun Imamura, commander of the Japanese 16th Army, also came ashore on December 28 and personally sat in the town of Haleiwa to supervise the desperate attacks of all units.

The fierce battle at the northern foot of Waianae Ridge also decided the winner on the last day of 1941. After paying the price of nearly 1,000 casualties, more than 800 serious injuries, and the Sendai 4th Regiment being almost crippled, the Sun Flag was finally planted on the top of the northern foot of the Waianae Ridge.

After seizing the northern foot of Waianae Ridge, the Japanese army's progress suddenly accelerated. In just two days, they advanced nearly 10 kilometers and reached the town of Wahiawa and the north of Skerfield Barracks. This is a 10-kilometer-wide "plain" from which Pearl Harbor is 15 kilometers south.

In addition, the town of Wahiawa and Skerfield Barracks are almost in the center of Oahu, and the nearest coastline is 15 kilometers northwest (that is, Haleiwa Beach). Considering that battleships cannot dock close to the beach, the battleship owners The artillery was more than 20 kilometers away from the U.S. positions in the town of Wahiawa and Skerfield Barracks. Although this distance is also within the effective range of the battleship's firepower, the accuracy of the bombardment has declined.

Moreover, when the US military's Skerfield Barracks was selected and built, the possibility of being shot by naval guns was considered, so a valley in the middle of the Waianae Ridge was chosen as part of the camp. As long as the troops are placed in this valley, the Japanese warships' guns will be unable to fire.

Therefore, following the northern foot of Waianae Ridge, Skerfield Barracks and the nearby town of Wahiawa became the battlefields for bloody battles between the two sides.

The U.S. military also adopted a fight-to-die posture on the front lines of Wahiawa Town and Skerfield Barracks. The main forces of the Army's 24th Infantry Division and the 25th Infantry Division moved up, relying on a river north of the town of Wahiawa and Skerfield Barracks to resist tenaciously.

In order to urge the various regiments to attack, the division commander of the Japanese Army's 2nd Division, Masao Maruyama, has been locating his headquarters very close to the front line in the past few days. Regardless of the danger, he frequently went to the front line and squatted in the muddy trench to observe the US military positions with his own eyes. At this time, German military adviser Paulus always followed Maruyama's front line with his adjutant and "cameraman" Rudolf Ribbentrop.

He needed to see firsthand how the U.S. Army fought. Although relations between the United States and Germany seemed to be improving, Rudolf Hess had been a guest of the White House since mid-December 1941 and studied the Roosevelt family tree with President Roosevelt. In the end, Roosevelt and Hess also came to the conclusion that the ancestor of the Roosevelt family, Claes Martenzen von Luzewirt, must be a German, and he was probably a German aristocrat! So Roosevelt believed that his full name should be Franklin Delano von Luzewirt...

However, Paulus did not know now that President Roosevelt might become the head of state of the United States, Luzewirt. The telegram sent to him by the German Wehrmacht General Staff did not contain any content about virtue and goodwill. So Paulus still regarded the Americans as Germany's enemies. At 6 o'clock in the morning on January 2, he and the very shabby and miserable commander of the Japanese 2nd Division Masao Maruyama walked to inspect the front line with wooden sticks and walking on the muddy road - because they wanted to save money. Space transports troops, weapons and supplies, so the dignified division commander doesn't even have to ride a horse, let alone a car, and can only walk to the front line to inspect.

Of course, the 2nd Division and the 38th Division also upgraded from the mechanization of burning horse dung to the mechanization of relying on two human legs. Ammunition supplies were all transported to the front line by manpower. This battle was really difficult. Moreover, the casualties of the troops were not small. On the way forward, Paulus kept seeing the bloody and seriously injured people being carried down on stretchers. This reminded him of the trench warfare in World War I, where wounded men were carried off the battlefield and then died or were permanently disabled.

Maruyama Masao was in a very high mood and did not care at all about the heavy casualties suffered by his men. He discussed the battle situation with Paulus in English along the way (Maruyama was a British expert in the Japanese army).

"The Americans are now making their final struggle, but it's useless. They can't withstand the attacks of the 2nd Division and the 38th Division. In three days at most, we will be able to break through their defenses and seize Vashi. After Ava Town and Skerfield Barracks, the next targets are Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. In a week at most, Oahu will belong to the Japanese Empire..."

While they were boasting about Haikou, a group of Japanese soldiers walking in front of Maruyama and others suddenly became confused and dispersed to both sides of the road. Some people shouted loudly.

"Air strike! Air strike! Enemy plane! Enemy plane..."

Air raid? Enemy plane? How can this be? Maruyama Masao was startled for a moment, and just when he was thinking that someone must have made a mistake, the explosion sounded from the front, and then he was dragged into the woods by the roadside by an unknown person.

When he arrived in the woods, he discovered that the person dragging him was the German military adviser Paulus. Paulus raised his hand and pointed to the sky outside the woods. Masao Maruyama looked in the direction of his finger and saw that the sky was densely packed with planes painted blue! I don’t know how many there were, but they all rushed in the direction of Haleiwa. Occasionally, a few planes would drop bombs, blowing up the Japanese soldiers on the road below and causing great chaos...