The Rise of the Third Reich

Suzuki Teiichi, as the Minister of State in charge of wartime economy and President of the Planning Institute, approved Australia's civilian ship mobilization plan for the war. It was actually just a formality.

Because starting the war in Australia has long been a national policy of the Japanese Empire, Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Tojo both approved this "final move southward", as did Navy Minister Shitaro Shimada, Commander-in-Chief Nagano Osamu, and Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet Yamamoto Isoroku. Full support.

Therefore, regardless of whether Suzuki Teiichi can deploy enough transport ships, attacking Australia is imperative!

However, regarding the purpose of Australia's war, the calculations in all aspects are actually different. Emperor Hirohito and Tojo Hideki really wanted to take over Australia - this was an unprecedented opening of territory! Since the dream of conquering the East Asian continent cannot be realized at present, taking over the Australian continent is enough to ensure that the Japanese Empire will become the leader of the Eastern world in the next 1,000 years. Therefore, Tojo and Hirohito were very serious about fighting in Australia.

But Commander Yamamoto Isoroku of the Combined Fleet in the "Yamato Hotel" in Rabaul Port is not thinking about the Australian continent itself. The powerful shipbuilding capabilities of the United States and the remaining aircraft carrier force of the Pacific Fleet are what really worries him - —If the U.S. Pacific Fleet can be destroyed, Australia will not be a problem at all.

From the beginning of 1942 to the present, Yamamoto Isoroku has been trying to set some kind of trap to destroy the American fleet aircraft carriers in the Pacific. However, the Americans have always avoided fighting. After the fall of Hawaii, the U.S. Pacific Fleet seemed to be doing only one thing, which was to transport troops and supplies to Australia.

The six fleet aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (Lexington, Saratoga, Yorktown, Enterprise, Raider, and Wasp) have all become escort carriers, taking turns to cover U.S. transport convoys traveling to and from the United States. and Australia.

These American transport groups are not afraid of taking detours and will not pass the 1,500 nautical miles near Hawaii. Even if the Japanese submarines discovered them, it would be difficult for the fleet to intercept the American convoy from Hawaii. The American fleets are all large formations, escorted by at least three aircraft carriers. If the Japanese aircraft carriers are sent less, they cannot defeat them. If they are sent too many, the logistics support and maintenance will be a lot of problems and people will die. The Pearl Harbor base captured by Japan is almost in ruins. It is impossible to become a fleet homeport without reconstruction. Moreover, it is impossible for Japan to deploy its main fleet to Pearl Harbor for a long time. The logistics line of more than 3,000 nautical miles is too much.

Therefore, in the first nine months of 1942, the U.S. Pacific Fleet's "avoidance of war" was successful, and at the same time, a large number of troops and supplies were transported to Australia. In addition, Yamamoto Isoroku also received intelligence that the American engineering troops were going all out to expand the ports of Brisbane and Sydney. Not only are port facilities being expanded, but large-scale barracks, airports and warehouses are also being built.

It is obvious that the U.S. Pacific Fleet is preparing to use Brisbane and Sydney on the Australian mainland as base camps for launching counterattacks!

Once the Americans' terrifying shipbuilding plan is completed, there will be a large number of American ships that are large enough to crush the Japanese combined fleet and sail north from Sydney and Brisbane...

Therefore, Yamamoto Isoroku wanted to seek a decisive battle before the U.S. counteroffensive deployment was completed, and break the U.S. counteroffensive deployment by severely damaging and annihilating the aircraft carrier force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and win more time for Japan.

Another reason that prompted Yamamoto Isoroku to seek a decisive battle as soon as possible was because the Fokker Zero on the European battlefield was gradually showing signs of fatigue! Even at medium and low altitudes where it is good at, it has encountered an opponent that is strong enough to contend with - the American P51 fighter jet!

According to the latest report of the German Air Force, without the cooperation of medium and high-altitude aircraft similar to the Fw-190 series, it will be difficult for the Fokker Zero to fight against the P51. Because even the low-altitude P51 has higher altitude performance than the Fokker Zero. Once at a disadvantage in a low-altitude fight, the P51 can choose to dive away and quickly pull up to escape.

The P51 can even take advantage of its good diving performance to constantly confront the Fokker Zero with the tactic of diving + pulling up, thereby completely avoiding getting into a fight!

Therefore, in the past 2-3 months, when the Fokker Zero fought alone against the P51, in most cases the Fokker Zero was at a disadvantage. Therefore, in the latest air combat tactical arrangements of the German Air Force and Naval Aviation, the Fokker Zero alone no longer escorts long-range bombers.

This shows that the myth of Type Zero's invincibility has been completely shattered, at least on the European battlefield!

Of course, this situation is not entirely because the performance of the Zero aircraft is really inferior to that of the P51. It's because after the Fw-190T was finalized, the Fokker Company gave up the mid-to-high-altitude performance of the Fokker Zero and launched the Fokker Zero D series, which focuses on low-altitude.

This series of Fokker Zeros has shortened the range (the combat radius without auxiliary fuel tanks is reduced to 500 kilometers), increased armor protection (reduce the weight of fuel to enhance protection), and strengthened firepower (6 MG131 aviation machine guns) , completely transformed into a "Jacques Killer" and "Il Killer" specially designed for medium and low altitudes - such a change is of course also for the needs of the Eastern Front battlefield.

The main function of the Fokker Zero now has become to cover ground troops, while also protecting ground attack aircraft such as Hs-129, Ju87 and Breguet Br.703.

However, the actions of the German Fokker Company still sounded a warning to the Japanese Navy - the era of the Zero as an excellent all-round fighter may be about to pass!

Regarding this upcoming change, Yamamoto Isoroku on the one hand requested to speed up the development of the new fighter aircraft "Seventeen Test Ship Battle" project (Gale); on the other hand, he became more active in preparing for the Mi battle aimed at destroying the US Pacific Fleet aircraft carrier. .

The so-called "Mi" operation was actually a siege of Port Moresby to lure the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet to appear in the Coral Sea in the northeastern part of the Australian continent. If the U.S. Pacific Fleet sits back and watches the fall of Port Moresby, then the Japanese army will land near Cape York on the Australian mainland next!

…

"Commander, the aircraft carriers that can now be put into combat with the Mi are 'Hosho', 'Akagi', 'Kaga', 'Sangryu', 'Hiryu', 'Zuikaku', 'Shōkaku', 'Shōho',' Zuifeng', 'Flying Eagle', 'Falcon Eagle', 'Ryuho' and other 12 aircraft carriers are far more powerful than the 6 aircraft carriers that the United States may invest, and the carrier-based aircraft on these 12 aircraft carriers have also been upgraded. The fighter jets have all been replaced by the latest Zero-32 type, and the carrier-based bombers have been replaced by the Comet-33 type. Therefore, the Mi battle is bound to win."

The person who is talking to Yamamoto Isoroku is Kuroshima Kameto, the immortal staff officer. He is quite satisfied with the current number of soldiers and ships in the Japanese combined fleet.

In fact, the 12 aircraft carriers he just reported are not the entire combined fleet's assets. Now the Combined Fleet has also dispatched an Indian Ocean mission fleet, with the battleships Fuso, Hyuga, Ryujo and Hosho as the core, to help Germany attack South Africa, Madagascar, Ceylon and other places.

Precisely because of the powerful strength of up to 12 aircraft carriers, the current Japanese combined fleet does not bother to provide any "blue ribbon aircraft carriers" from Germany.

Moreover, since the Japanese Navy has not fought any fierce battles in the past nine months, the losses of pilots are very small, and new people who have completed HNA pilot training are constantly joining, so the support of German pilots is no longer needed.

After the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, all German pilots serving on Japanese aircraft carriers left.

In addition, with the help of the Germans, Japan's Hitachi Company also successfully developed the No. 13 electric sounder (air search radar) and the No. 22 electric sounder (sea search radar). This has further enhanced the fleet's air defense and night combat capabilities.

"Kurojima-kun, we have more than 12 aces in our hands!" Yamamoto Isoroku said slowly, "Yamato and Musashi are the most powerful battleships in the world, and now we have No. 13 electric reconnaissance and No. 22 The power of the electric reconnaissance ship will be even greater. Therefore, the power of the two super battleships Yamato and Musashi should also be fully considered in the battle of the ship."

In the Battle of Hawaii and the Battle of the Sea of ​​Fog in this time and space, battleships played a great role, so no one dares to say that battleships are outdated weapons that will be eliminated. Therefore, the Shinano aircraft carrier will definitely not exist in this time and space. The construction of Yamato's No. 3 and No. 4 ships is now being stepped up with the support of Germany.

Among them, the No. 3 ship Shinano is expected to be launched before the end of October and be ready for service before the end of 2020. The No. 4 ship Kii will also be launched in early 2043. It will be completed and put into service by June 1944 at the latest. By then, the Japanese Navy's combined fleet will have four Yamato battleships, which are enough to fight against the Iowa class and Montana class under construction in the United States.

"Hai," Kuroshima Turtle replied, "the two Yamato-class ships and the four Kongo-class ships will all perform in the Mi battle."

Among the current Japanese battleship fleet, only the Yamato-class and Kongo-class have the speed to follow fast aircraft carriers. Therefore, these six battleships are now anchored in Rabaul Port, preparing to participate in the Mi battle.

Regarding this "Operation Mi", Yamamoto Isoroku regarded it as the ultimate battle to determine the future hegemony of the Pacific. Therefore, the amount of troops invested was unprecedented, far exceeding the Battle of Midway, which also used the code name "Mi" in history.

Yamamoto Isoroku nodded and said with a smile: "12 aircraft carriers, 2 Yamato-class, 4 Kongo-class... This battle is indeed a must-win. And the U.S. Pacific Fleet cannot avoid the battle again unless the Americans are willing. Hand over Australia.”