The Rise of the Third Reich

"Great victory, great victory!"

On March 6, Tokyo time, the good news about the Hawaiian Islands reached the base camp in Tokyo, Japan.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, our Imperial Army's Hawaiian Front used powerful aviation power to attack the U.S. fleet in the waters south of the Hawaiian Islands yesterday and achieved an unprecedented victory! After repeated verification, it was confirmed that 2 aircraft carriers and 1 heavy cruiser were sunk. There were 2 light cruisers and 6 destroyers. Among them, the two aircraft carriers sunk were of the Essex class and the other of the Independence class..."

At the base camp meeting, it was Ishihara Kanji, deputy chief of the Army Staff Headquarters, who reported the results of the previous day's naval battle in the Hawaiian Islands to Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.

"How much have we lost?" Prime Minister Hideki Tojo interrupted Ishihara's report and asked about the losses.

"A total of 111 Hiryus and Swallowing Dragons were lost, and 56 Hayate fighter jets were lost. Accounting for 23.8% of the total number of aircraft in the attack fleet, which was much better than the situation during the Battle of Christmas Island. In addition, the pilots on the aircraft were lost. There are still some successful rescues, so the actual losses are far less than this number.”

Even large aircraft such as "Flying Dragon" and "Tenglong" are not particularly precious to Japan and cannot be compared with pilots. There are now many spare aircraft stored on Oahu, including more than 200 "Flying Dragon" and "Tenlong" spare aircraft.

Therefore, as long as the crew rescue is successful, the Army Air Forces on the Hawaiian Islands will actually not lose combat effectiveness.

Tojo nodded with satisfaction. The exchange of 167 aircraft for 2 aircraft carriers, 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers and 6 destroyers was obviously not a loss-making deal. Moreover, the Navy also reported sinking 1 light cruiser and 8 destroyers, and only lost 38 aircraft. If you consider that many pilots from the army and navy were rescued, and that the US military also lost at least 100 fighter planes, then the battle on March 4, Hawaii time, was indeed a great victory for the imperial army.

"It seems that the comprehensive upgrade of fighter aircraft has achieved practical results," Tojo said. "In the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands, a great victory is expected."

After saying this conclusion, Tojo glanced at the two top leaders of the Japanese Navy, Yamamoto Isoroku and Nagano Shushen.

The two navy chiefs didn't look good because the results reported by the navy's central Pacific fleet were too embarrassing compared to the army. Only 1 light cruiser and 8 destroyers were defeated, and the army's battle results report... Yamamoto Isoroku, who has experienced many battles, knew that the battle results reported by the army were unreliable. It cannot be said that Yamashita Fengfumi deliberately falsely reported his achievements, but the statistics of naval battle results are very complicated, and in many cases it is necessary to rely on evaluation to infer.

For example, the U.S. Essex-class aircraft carrier was hit by a torpedo and the photos were taken. In the eyes of the Army, the aircraft carrier must have been destroyed. But in fact, this aircraft carrier is probably fine and can continue to fight. At most, a few compartments are flooded, which slows down the speed.

However, neither Yamamoto nor Nagano dared to say such cold water. After talking about the navy and army, they still didn't fall out? Tojo Hideki is a petty guy. If he really falls out, he will have to find an opportunity to put some shoes on the navy.

Moreover... although the army's results are exaggerated, the losses cannot be faked. The crash rate of less than 24% and the actual loss rate of less than 20% indicate that the new fighter aircraft has high battlefield survivability and can withstand a protracted war of attrition.

And using the Hawaiian Islands to consume the US military is not what was envisaged in "Operation Jet-1"?

As long as it can fully consume the US military's carrier-based aircraft pilots, what does it matter if the Army falsely reports a few battle results?

Regardless of the real result of the battle on March 4, which was that the Japanese army lost more aircraft, the value of shore-based pilots and carrier-based pilots is different. Shore-based aviation forces only have 100 hours of flying time to go into battle.

According to the standards of the Japanese army, carrier-based aircraft pilots must have more than one year of service experience in shore-based aviation, plus three to four months of rigorous training... If converted into flight time, 500 hours is the minimum (it can only be compared with flying The Zero is easy to fly. If you want to fly a heavy aircraft, 1,000 hours are also necessary), otherwise you will definitely fall off the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Therefore, using shore bases to consume carriers is actually using pilots with 100 flying hours to consume pilots with 1,000 flying hours (the flying time of U.S. carrier-based aircraft pilots far exceeds 1,000 hours), which is definitely a good deal.

However, it is impossible for such a war of attrition to continue forever, because the Hawaiian Islands are now surrounded by the US military. The transportation between the Hawaiian Islands and the Japanese mainland, the Gilbert Islands, and Wake Island was because Midway Island and Johnston Island (located southwest of the Hawaiian Islands, also a small island as big as a sesame seed, were abandoned by the Japanese army because they could not defend it. Occupied by the US military on March 2) were all occupied by the US military.

Therefore, the three types of aircraft, Zero, Zidian and Hayate, cannot directly transfer to the Hawaiian Islands. Although pilots can be transported by long-range transport aircraft, after the inventory of fighter jets on the islands is used up, the aircraft can only be transported by transport fleets or aircraft carriers. Fortunately, there is no problem at the moment, because the "Hast" stored on Oahu is There are a large number of "Zidian Kai", with a total number (backup aircraft) of more than 1,200, which is enough to sustain continuous consumption for more than a month.

"The Hawaiian Islands won the first battle," Yamamoto Isoroku said, "Now we just need to stick to the established attrition tactics, and the final victory is expected!"

Tojo Hideki was very satisfied with Yamamoto's conclusion - he wanted to regard the initial battle in the Hawaiian Islands as a great victory. Regardless of whether there was water or not, it would boost the morale of the people and be beneficial to the ongoing negotiations between Britain and Japan and Russia and Japan. Now that Yamamoto Isoroku has approved it, there will be no problem.

"Then," Tojo said, "in the name of the base camp, let's report it to His Majesty the Emperor and inform the people and friendly countries."

As soon as he finished speaking, a staff officer from the base camp shouted a report at the door of the conference room, then walked in and handed a telegram to Ishihara Wanji with both hands.

Ishihara Kanji read the telegram and reported to Tojo: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Hawaiian Army reported that early this morning, the Americans attacked Niihau Island with fighter planes and naval guns, causing serious damage."

"Is it Niihau?" Yamamoto Isoroku laughed when he heard the news. "It seems that the Americans still dare not attack Oahu directly!"

Sugiyama Gen said: "Yesterday's victory must have let the Americans know that without enough shore-based aircraft, they could not win in the Hawaiian Islands, so they had to take Niihau Island first. However... there are elite imperial troops on Niihau Island. The 106th Division, even if the US military suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties, would not be able to capture it.”

Yamamoto Isoroku nodded, thinking: Killing hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops is just a fool's boast, but losses of more than 100,000 are inevitable. It seems that the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands is still on the path of consuming human lives. This is also what "Operation Czech No. 1" envisages.

A great victory in the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands is indeed expected!

…

"2 aircraft carriers, 1 heavy cruiser, 3 light cruisers, 14 destroyers..." Hessmann read and read the success report sent by the Japanese, and finally asked Naval Aviation Commander Richthofen with a smile. , "Marshal, how important do you think this battle report is?"

Richthofen shook his head and said: "I don't know, we haven't used dive bombers and torpedo bombers to attack the American fleet for a long time... Their air defense is too powerful, and they can only attack with Hs293 and Fritz-X . But the effect is not very good, because the American disposable Spitfire aircraft and 127mm anti-aircraft guns are too big a threat to the Ju288. "

General Ernst Udet, director of the Air Force Armament Directorate, who is responsible for the manufacture of all aviation weapons, told Hersmann at today's meeting: "Marshal Reich, we have to wait until the 'Reaper' air-to-ship missile is actually equipped with troops before it can be re-introduced." Gain advantage over the U.S. main fleet."

The so-called "Reaper" air-to-ship missile is actually an improved version of the "Silver Reaper". The "Silver Death" is a "suicide jet" developed by combining the top technologies of Britain and Germany. If the "artificial intelligence" is replaced by a TV camera remote control system, then the "Silver Death" will become a real of missiles. That is the "Reaper" air-to-ship missile!

Of course, there are differences between the "Reaper" air-ship island missiles and the real missiles of later generations. The main reason is that instead of using a rocket engine, a jet engine with a higher safety factor is used.

This is because the current solid rocket motor technology is immature, and the liquid rocket motor technology is not very safe. If a missile as big as the "Silver Reaper" uses a liquid rocket motor, the aircraft will be destroyed if not careful - later used Liquid fuel rockets are filled with fuel before launch. This method cannot be used on the "Reaper" missiles carried by aircraft. There are no conditions for filling rocket fuel on the plane, and rocket fuel itself is very unsafe, and it is too easy for accidents to be carried by planes in large quantities.

So now Henschel and Rolls-Royce are simply sparing no expense and using jet engines to drive anti-ship missiles. Although the anti-ship missiles created in this way are expensive, they are safe and effective and can allow the Ju288 to drop bombs at a relatively safe height and distance.

Air Marshal Richthofen said to Hessmann: "Before the 'Reaper' ship-to-air missiles were equipped to the troops, the 200 'Silver Reapers' we handed over to Japan must be the most powerful anti-ship weapons. So Japan is Victory in the Hawaiian Islands is a high probability event. Even if they fail to win in the end, the Americans will suffer heavy losses. I estimate that the Americans will lose thousands of naval aviation pilots in the Hawaiian Islands, and their carrier-based aircraft units will be in Hawaii. If we can deal with the Soviet Union before the U.S. carrier-based aircraft force regains its strength after the Battle of the Islands, then the Caribbean operation will be possible."