The Rise of the Third Reich

Admiral Short's view of the power of armored forces is well-founded, at least judging from the experience of the European battlefield and the North African battlefield. This is basically the case. To defeat an armored group with 150 tanks, at least dozens of tanks or assault guns must be used. No one can defeat an armored group with bayonets, rifles, machine guns, mortars and grenades... But the Japanese are always cunning, and you should never underestimate them!

In addition to rifles, bayonets, machine guns and mortars (and a small number of mountain guns, infantry guns and howitzers), the Japanese soldiers who landed on Oahu were also heavily equipped with a type of anti-tank grenade launcher called "Iron Fist" New weapons. Each infantry squad carried 10…

In addition, it is not that the Japanese army does not have armored forces here in Hawaii, it is just that the Japanese army does not have armored forces here in Hawaii. However, an armored force of the Japanese Navy has arrived in Hawaii and will soon land on Oahu. Now Lieutenant Rudolf von Ribbentrop is staying with dozens of officers and soldiers of the Japanese Navy's armored forces on a large submarine with a water displacement of 2,184 tons, the I-16.

It’s not surprising that the Navy has armored units, the Marine Corps does. But using submarines to transport tanks is an imaginative method, at least Rudolf von Ribbentrop never dreamed of it.

The officer commanding this naval armored force is a naval commander named Sasaki Hanku. He is a serious navy man. After graduating from the Naval War School, he has been at sea and has served as a destroyer captain, submarine captain and submarine brigade captain. During the Pearl Harbor incident, he served as the commander of the special attack force and was responsible for using 5 submarines to transport pocket submarines to attack the US warships in Pearl Harbor.

However, the special attack operation was eventually canceled because the U.S. military was prepared. Not long ago, Colonel Sasaki Hanku was appointed as the commander of the Navy Armored Group by Yamamoto Isoroku, who is also the commander of the Marine Corps!

"Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop, you said you came here to learn how to use tanks?" Colonel Hanku Sasaki is an authentic "sea soldier scholar" and can naturally speak fluent English. Moreover, he found it very strange that this German army officer, who had participated in the Western Front Campaign and the North African Campaign, came to learn the use of tanks from the Japanese Navy.

"Yes, Mr. Colonel." Rudolf von Ribbentrop was different from his father, the foreign minister who told lies. He was an honest man.

"Then, can I ask first, how does your German navy use tanks?" Sasaki Hanjiu felt that he and the Germans should learn from each other...to discuss and study the use of tanks together.

"Colonel, our German navy is actually lagging behind in this regard." Rudolf von Ribbentrop said, "The German navy has no tanks and no armored forces. Now all the tanks and armored forces in Germany are army units. of."

Rudolf von Ribbentrop paused and said modestly: "That's why Lieutenant General Paulus sent me to learn how to use tanks from the Japanese Navy."

"Oh, that's it." Sasaki Hanjiu nodded, then raised his wrist to check the time, "It's almost time. It should be dark outside, and it's time to surface. Lieutenant Ribbentrop, are you waiting for the next one?" In 45 minutes, you can see how we attack from the sea with tanks."

…

The tanks of the Japanese Navy are used for sneak attacks, which is in line with Japan's national nature. The wars they launch always start with sneak attacks.

However, the tanks of the US Army on the island of Oahu are used in a "very American" way, carelessly and without any thought of pretending to be fake. Without waiting for the sky to get completely dark, they started to set up a pontoon bridge on the river north of Skerfield Barracks with great fanfare. At the same time, the brigade of M3 tanks drove out from the hidden area and began to wait in formation on the south bank of the creek.

However, these American tanks did not wait long, because the engineering capabilities of Americans in this era were the best in the world, so the pontoons were erected very quickly. As if to show off their wealth, the American engineers drove a lot of tracked engineering vehicles from nowhere, and then carried out all mechanized construction. Several pontoon bridges were erected in less than an hour, which made the Japanese scouts stunned.

After the pontoon bridge was erected, the American tanks and infantry rumbled across the river, but they did not attack immediately, but began to form formations. The formations are not the various tank cluster formations commonly seen on battlefields in Europe and North Africa, but the World War I-style formations in which tanks guide infantry.

Moreover, they did not concentrate their forces to attack one spot, but formed a 5-kilometer long horizontal formation to prepare for a horizontal push. This is the way to fight. Although the Americans have built a lot of tanks now, they wish every infantry division was equipped with a tank regiment. But their officers didn't know how to use these tanks. They still followed the ideas of World War I, letting the tanks guide the infantry attack and widening the front.

While the American infantry and tanks formed a wide front, the American artillery also opened fire.

Of course the American artillery is powerful, with more cannons and more shells! Money was poured onto the Japanese army's position.

Although the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions of the U.S. Army are newly established "triangular divisions" (only three infantry regiments), the division's artillery has not shrunk at all. The large establishment of 2,770 people includes 1 155 howitzer battalion, 3 105mm howitzer battalions, 1 anti-tank battalion, and 1 anti-aircraft battalion. They are all motorized artillery, not horse-drawn. They are all equipped with trucks (of course the infantry is also motorized, and the US emperor's annual production of millions of cars is not an illusion), and they can move positions very quickly. And all equipment is backed up, so if it gets damaged, just replace it with a new one!

Admiral Short, his chief of staff, Colonel Collins, and other staff drove to a small hill in the Waianae Ridge in a car. Looking at the steel army slowly unfolding beneath my feet, and the Japanese positions submerged by American artillery fire. This is the most spectacular war scene! Admiral Short felt that Admiral Nimitz was too pessimistic. How could the Japanese occupy Oahu? Faced with such a powerful mechanized force and such powerful firepower, even if the Germans come and use two divisions... as long as they are not armored divisions, they will definitely suffer defeat.

Because of the fear of the Japanese battleship's artillery counterattack, the artillery preparation time was very short, only 10 minutes, but it was enough. Because the Japanese army was on the offensive before the bombing early this morning and did not build a solid position at all.

"Admiral, the bombardment is over." Colonel Collins reminded General Short.

Short nodded with a smile and waved his hand: "Let's get started, let the tanks lead the infantry attack and crush those damn Japanese devils!"

…

Four kilometers away opposite the five-kilometer-long US military offensive formation, on a hilltop belonging to the remnants of the Kurau Mountains, Lieutenant General Paulus and Japanese Lieutenant General Masao Maruyama held up telescopes and used very dim light to , also observing the American armored groups.

After watching for a while, Paulus put down the telescope, smiled and said: "The American tanks are deployed too scattered... About a hundred and dozens of tanks pulled for 5 kilometers, and they are all light tanks. This is not possible. . As long as your people are not intimidated by the momentum of the American tanks and take the initiative to escape, they should be able to defeat them with the Iron Fist and 37mm anti-tank guns.”

"What? Take the initiative to escape?" Maruyama Masao also put down his telescope and glared at Paulus, "A soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army, a samurai of His Majesty the Emperor, is not afraid of death, how can he escape?"

Not afraid of death? Really? Lieutenant General Paulus was very skeptical.

At this moment, in the Japanese position in the northern part of the small Oahu plain (not the forward position that was bombarded just now, but the main position in the rear), nearly 5,000 fully prepared Japanese officers and soldiers had just finished enjoying their food. 's "last meal". Their "last meal" was surprisingly good by Japanese Army standards, consisting of red beans boiled with sticky rice, with a little pork and dried fish, and each person also received a kettle of sake with a lid. Being able to eat such delicacies before a desperate battle with American tanks, every officer and soldier of the 2nd Division now feels that they can become gods without any worries!

Before entering the position, the kamikaze warriors, who were holding poorly made anti-tank weapons (called "Iron Fists") that looked like big hammers and hung grenades on their bodies, all said blessings to each other - Kudan Sakami !

Although the big shots at the top of the army praised this advanced German weapon called the "Iron Fist", the officers and soldiers at the lower levels had little confidence when they saw the rough appearance of the "Iron Fist" issued. Therefore, it is generally believed that it is more reliable to hang a few more grenades on the body to kill the American tanks. Therefore, the first actual combat use of "Iron Fist" in this time and space was actually as a suicide weapon.

At this time, the American tanks had rumbled up, and the sounds of rolling tracks and motors were mixed together, getting louder and louder from far to near. The hastily constructed positions of the Japanese army were so crude, with no anti-tank trenches, no anti-tank traps, and no time to lay anti-tank mines. In addition to a small number of 37mm guns and battleships firing far away on the sea, the only death squads holding "Iron Fist" can be counted on.

Following the deliberately low voice of the command, the death squads in the trenches climbed out one after another, crawled for more than 200 meters, and then got into the foxholes dug in advance to wait for the American tanks to approach.

According to the anti-tank plan provided by German consultant Paulus, these more than 5,000 Japanese troops only formed the first line of defense. There was a second line of defense 3 kilometers behind them, and another 3 kilometers further was the third line of defense—— Paulus called this the Great Defense in Depth.