The Rise of the Third Reich

It is now the early morning of January 3, 1942, and the night is so thick at this moment that it is as thick as ink that cannot be painted. Near Waikiki Beach, most of the U.S. Marines keeping vigil in the trenches were already fast asleep. Only a handful of particularly serious and responsible U.S. soldiers were still trying to keep their eyes open while enduring the constant attacks. Sleepy, while watching the movement on the sea. But in this pre-dawn darkness, if it weren't for Japan's "cat-eye warriors", ordinary people's sight would be only a few dozen meters away. Only when the searchlight from behind sweeps across the sea can you see a peaceful water surface.

Of course, the American soldiers are not here to prevent Japanese sneak attacks. Because this is impossible, next to Waikiki Beach is Diamond Head, an extinct volcano that was transformed into a fortress. The fortress cleverly took advantage of the special terrain of the crater and deployed 305mm and 203mm caliber mortars near the inner wall of the crater. That's the blind spot for Japanese battleship cannon fire!

In addition, there are many 155mm and 127mm cannons and howitzers deployed in tunnels at the southern foot of the Koolau Mountains north of Waikiki Beach. The firepower can completely cover Waikiki Beach.

So this Waikiki beach cannot be taken down by a small number of kamikazes in kayaks.

The main task of the American soldiers stationed here is to catch Japanese spies, because there are many Japanese immigrants and expatriates in Hawaii Island, numbering more than 100,000, making them the largest ethnic group in the Hawaiian Islands. Many of them have not forgotten their home country of Japan, so they are easily recruited as spies by Japanese intelligence agencies.

Now that Japan has invaded the Hawaiian Islands, these Japanese-Americans who cherish their homeland are all hidden dangers. Now he is afraid that they will cooperate with the Japanese invaders from outside, so on the one hand, General Short deployed many marines in Honolulu to prevent the Japanese residents from rebelling; on the other hand, he sent people to strictly block all possible routes to the Japanese in Honolulu. The beach in the settlement area was protected from infiltration by Japanese agents.

U.S. Marine Corps Private First Class Baker was holding his rifle at this time, looking at the sea over and over with his eyes wide open. He is a local white man in Hawaii, and his family all live on Oahu. Although his mother and fiancée are on the evacuation list, they are not the priority to escape. So now he was fighting to protect his family and had to be extra attentive.

At this time, a slight sound like the roar of a motor came from the sea. Covered by the sound of gunfire coming from the plains of Oahu where the battle was taking place to the north, the sound of these motors was easily ignored. But Private First Class Baker heard it anyway. He raised his rifle, leaned out of the trench, and then squinted his eyes to take a closer look. Only then could I vaguely see a ship-shaped object moving on the sea! Private Baker's natural reaction was that Japanese spies were coming, but in a blink of an eye he discovered that there seemed to be dozens of small boats moving on the sea! And these boats are almost washed up on the beach.

He quickly shouted at the top of his lungs: "Sneak attack! The enemy is coming!" While shouting, he raised his rifle and pointed it at one of the small boats and fired! The sound of gunfire woke up everyone in the trench. They picked up guys and leaned out of the trench. Someone also fired a flare and lit it up over the sea outside the beach. With the help of the light from the flares, Private First Class Baker actually saw a turret on a speedboat!

What is this? While Private First Class Baker was thinking about it, someone suddenly shouted in his ear: "Artillery attack! Take cover!"

Before the shouting ended, a 140mm shell fired by a Japanese Type B first-class submarine exploded in front of the trench where First Class Baker was located.

The Japanese not only used submarines to transport tanks to land, but also used artillery on the submarine to bombard Waikiki Beach, and then made an emergency dive before the U.S. artillery counterattack at Diamond Head and the southern foot of the Koolau Mountains.

This seemingly whimsical approach was actually intended to make the US military on the shore mistakenly think that a Japanese destroyer was approaching the beach, so as to temporarily attract the artillery on the shore and buy a little more time for the surprise attack force - in fact, they rushed from Waikiki Beach to There is not much road to Diamond Mountain, so as long as you have a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, you can reach the point. Moreover, according to the intelligence obtained by Japanese agents before the war, there were not many troops stationed on Diamond Hill. 900 Japanese Marine Corps death squads and 30 tanks could easily succeed if they were caught off guard.

At this time, hundreds of Japanese transport ships and dozens of escorting ships had already formed a formation on the ocean less than 10 nautical miles away from Waikiki Beach. Thousands of officers and soldiers from the Japanese and Taiwanese mixed brigades are also ready. As soon as the Shandong Marine Corps succeeds in the assault drill, they will launch a new amphibious landing operation!

"Tank! It's a tank! A Japanese tank!"

"Oh my God! How did they come out of the sea?"

"Quick, stop them!"

"What to block?"

"have no idea……"

"They're coming up, they're coming up!"

Waikiki Beach was already in chaos. The sudden appearance of 30 tanks made the American soldiers guarding here dumbfounded. Although they knew about the concept of amphibious tanks, the ships that could transport amphibious tanks were all big ships. How could they sneak up to Waikiki Beach without being discovered? Although everyone doesn’t know how to look like a cat, there are searchlights scanning the sea over and over again. How could they not find anything?

But now the dumbfounded American soldiers no longer have time to think about this, because they are all running away towards downtown Honolulu. The Marines guarding Waikiki Beach did not carry anti-tank guns because it had not occurred to them that tanks could be transported by submarine. Although the anti-tank guns of the Marine Corps are also motorized, they can be towed by cars in a short time. But looking at the current situation, I’m afraid it’s a bit uncertain!

…

"What? Japanese tanks rushed onto Waikiki Beach? How is this possible?" When General Short heard the bad news, his heart was already a little broken.

He had high hopes for tonight's counterattack, and the troops dispatched were also very strong. Five regiments of infantry alone were dispatched, and more than 150 tanks were dispatched for support. Moreover, he also concentrated the artillery of the 24th and 25th Divisions of the U.S. Army and launched a counterattack. But they just couldn't get through the defense line of those Japanese soldiers who were short, wore ridiculous military uniforms, and had no good weapons except battleships.

But the results of the attack were disappointing. Not only could it not be chewed off (actually, it was not impossible to chew at all, the US military still forced the Japanese troops back several kilometers, but they could not break through their second line of defense), but they also had a lot of big teeth broken out. After several waves of offensives, more than 100 M3 tanks of the 24th and 25th Divisions have been lost! What puzzled General Short was that the Japanese had very few anti-tank guns deployed behind the position, so how could they open up their own tanks one after another?

At this moment, the bad news came that Japanese tanks rushed onto Waikiki Beach!

“Japanese landed in force on Waikiki Beach?”

The staff officer who reported to him replied: "General, it should be a massive landing! The Marine Corps reported that dozens of Japanese tanks, covering thousands of infantry, rushed to the back of Diamond Mountain and captured several positions south of the Kurau Mountains. The artillery position at the foot of the mountain is still climbing Diamond Mountain!”

It’s over! Admiral Short's vision went dark and he almost fainted. The artillery positions at the southern foot of the Koolau Mountains have been lost, Diamond Mountain is under siege, and the battle on the Oahu plains cannot be won... Now the U.S. military on Oahu is going to be attacked from both sides!

"Admiral, Admiral, look at this!" Colonel Collins rushed to Short carrying a large hammer.

Short, whose mind was blank, glanced at the guy in Colonel Collins' hand and asked, "What is this?"

"General, this is the Japanese anti-tank weapon. They used this to destroy many of our M3 tanks."

It turned out that American soldiers fighting on the front line picked up some Japanese "Iron Fist" anti-tank grenade launchers and handed them over to Colonel Collins.

"Admiral, this should be a simple grenade launcher." Colonel Collins said, "The range of this weapon must not be very far, maybe only a few dozen meters and no more than a hundred meters at most."

"So what?" Admiral Short asked.

"We only need to send infantry to clear the way in front of the tanks, and we can defeat those nasty little Japanese!" Colonel Collins said, "At least we can give them a good beating tonight!"

"No, we lost!" Admiral Short smiled bitterly, "The Japanese have just landed on Waikiki Beach... Their tanks have washed up on the beach, and the Navy's artillery positions at the southern foot of the Koolau Mountains have been destroyed. Destroyed, Diamond Mountain is under siege.”

"What!?" Colonel Collins was stunned, and quickly turned his head to look south, only to see bursts of red light flashing in the sky there, which were obviously shells or something else exploding.

"General, the fighting is still going on. Let's immediately dispatch troops for reinforcements." Colonel Collins immediately suggested.

Admiral Short just shook his head, raised his hand and weakly pointed at the place where the fierce fighting was taking place in front of him, "Do you think the Japanese there will allow us to go for reinforcements?"

"But... Admiral, what should we do now? Are we going to watch Diamond Mountain fall?"

"Let's retreat to Wahiawa Town and Skerfield Barracks first," Admiral Short sighed, "Then we will gather the troops...retreat to the Koolau Mountains to defend." He gritted his teeth, "I think, the United States We will not give up on Hawaii! We will definitely wait for reinforcements!”