The Rise of the Third Reich

"Panama Canal..." Hideki Tojo frowned slightly when he heard Yamamoto Isoroku mention the Panama Canal. "If we use an aircraft carrier to attack, it will be very risky, right?"

The plan to attack the Panama Canal has long existed. The I-400 submarines that are currently being built and the "Seventeenth Test Special Attack Aircraft" (Seiran) that are being secretly developed are mainly used to sneak attack the Panama Canal.

According to the original plan, four I-400 submarines will be built (I-400, I-401, I-402 and I-403), and each I-400 can carry three "Seventeenth Test Special Attack Aircraft". When four I-400 submarines are dispatched at the same time, up to 12 "Seventeenth Test Special Attack Aircraft" can be dispatched.

According to the design requirements, each "Seventeenth Test Special Attack Aircraft" can carry an 800-kilogram bomb or torpedo and fly up to 1,500 kilometers.

The imaginative Japanese naval staff imagined that when necessary, this seaplane could throw away the buoys and adopt a "one-way special attack" mode with no return. In this way, the four I-400 submarines can launch 12 attack aircraft carrying torpedoes in the Pacific Ocean 1,000 kilometers away from the Panama Canal.

These 12 aircraft will take off at night and use ultra-low altitude flight to avoid detection by US radar. They will fly to the Panama Canal just after dawn, and then use 12 torpedoes to attack the 8 steel gates on the Pacific side of the canal (two waterways, each with 4 gates), and strive to destroy them all!

According to the Japanese Navy's own assessment, once all 8 gates on one side of the canal are destroyed, it will take the Americans at least 6 months to repair them. Considering that Germany now controls most of the sea power in the Atlantic Ocean, the "dumpling ships" built on the east coast of the United States cannot bypass South America to reach the Pacific Ocean.

So once the 8 gates are blown up, Japan will win precious 6 months.

However, the current situation is changing rapidly. The British mainland is about to be destroyed. The British Isles have been landed. How many days can they jump around? This is great news for Germany, but it is not good news for Japan!

Because once the British mainland was finished, the US war policy of "Europe First" would actually fail. Then most of the war materials produced by the industrial tycoon of the United States would be used in the Pacific battlefield... This is 100 million tons of steel (this is a claim, in fact only 80 million tons) and 200 million tons of oil!

Not to mention the navy, which was originally timid, even the army idiots felt a sense of fear when they heard that Britain was going to be finished.

So before Tojo and Yamamoto went to Cairo to attend the Axis Summit, Ito Seiichi, the Deputy Minister of the Navy General Staff, came up with a plan to raid the Panama Canal to block a large number of US aircraft carriers from entering the Pacific.

Since the time for the raid on the Panama Canal was brought forward to the first half of 1943, the I-400 submarine and the "Seventeenth Test Special Attack Aircraft" could not be counted on.

The Japanese Combined Fleet must dispatch precious aircraft carriers to take risks!

If the adventure is successful, then the United States will not be able to take any initiative in the Pacific in 1943. Japan can use the precious 1943 to strengthen the defense of the Hawaiian Islands and complete the southward operation at the same time!

That's right, it's south!

Although Germany opposed it, Japan was determined to implement the southward plan. Even if Australia was not occupied, New Zealand must be occupied in order to cut off the route between the United States and Australia.

In this way, the United States could not counterattack from Australia, and the Hawaiian Islands would become Japan's "gateway to the country".

In addition, the Japanese military also hoped that with the help of Germany, they could complete the development and production of two "Pacific decisive fighters" that they had high hopes for within 1943 - the two aircraft were the Army's Ki84 (Hayate) fighter and the Navy's P1Y (Galaxy) bomber.

Although they are both land-based aircraft, their performance is extremely superior (the Japanese believe it is superior).

According to the design indicators, the Ki84 (Hayate) will be equipped with an 18-cylinder air-cooled engine with a maximum take-off power of 2,000 horsepower, a maximum level flight speed of 624 kilometers per hour (6,100 meters altitude), a maximum range of up to 2,500 kilometers, and a relatively strong firepower, with 2 20mm aircraft cannons and 12.7mm machine guns, and 2 250 kg bombs can be hung externally.

According to the Japanese Army's big idiots, the comprehensive performance of this Ki84 fighter has surpassed the German Fw-190 series, and it can completely fight against the American P51 and P47 series aircraft.

The Japanese Navy's P1Y is also an excellent twin-engine medium bomber, also equipped with two 18-cylinder air-cooled engines, with a maximum speed of 546 kilometers per hour and a cruising range of 5,370 kilometers! It can carry an 800-kilogram aerial torpedo or a 1,000-kilogram aerial bomb, and can also perform dive bombing.

In addition, this P1Y twin-engine bomber also has certain air combat performance, and is equipped with air combat flaps, which enables it to engage in combat with enemy fighters. In this way, it does not need the cover of fighters and can penetrate the US aircraft carrier formation alone.

However, whether it is to capture New Zealand, strengthen Hawaii, or complete the development of the two "decisive battle models", it takes precious time.

And the only way to buy time for Japan is to use aircraft carriers to raid Panama.

"The risk is very high," Yamamoto Isoroku nodded, "but it is imperative. According to intelligence, the United States now has as many as five aircraft carriers used for Atlantic transportation, and they are all very fast fleet aircraft carriers! At the same time, , and at least five fleet aircraft carriers are used in the Pacific battlefield. If the five aircraft carriers currently operating in the Atlantic are transferred to the Pacific, then the U.S. Pacific Fleet will have an aircraft carrier force that can compete with the United Fleet! "

It turns out that there is no need to wait until the end of the year. The United States now has 10 fleet aircraft carriers (including light fleet aircraft carriers). If we wait until the end of the year, the American fleet will definitely have more than 20 aircraft carriers. When the time comes, they will all rush into the Pacific Ocean, and the Japanese combined fleet will not be able to hold it back even with its three heads and six arms.

"However," Yamamoto Isoroku added, "if the European Combined Fleet can cooperate with us and launch an offensive in the Caribbean to attract American troops, then the plan to raid the Panama Canal is very likely to succeed."

…

While Tojo and Yamamoto were discussing how to persuade the Germans to cooperate with their adventurous plan to raid the Panama Canal, Hitler, Hessmann and others had already arrived in Cairo. At the warm invitation of Mussolini, the leader of the Roman Empire who arrived earlier, he stayed in the majestic Saladin Castle.

Egypt has now become part of the so-called Roman Empire, but the Egyptian king Farouk I, who likes beautiful women and steals things, is still on the throne, but has become a vassal of the Roman emperor. This relationship is said to be in line with Rome. Imperial legal system!

According to Mussolini, after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Roman legal authority was transferred to the Eastern Roman Empire with Constantinople as its capital. Egypt was part of the Eastern Roman Empire. Later, the Eastern Roman Empire was replaced by the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire claimed to have inherited Rome, so it can also be regarded as the continuation of the Roman Empire. Now that Italy has revived Rome, it can certainly inherit the legal system of the Ottoman Empire and become the suzerain of the Kingdom of Egypt - Muhammad Ali, the founding monarch of the Muhammad Ali dynasty that now rules Egypt, was once a vassal of "Ottoman Rome", and now "Ottoman Rome" The legal authority of "Rome" was transferred to "Italian Rome", then "Italian Rome" should naturally become the suzerain of the Kingdom of Egypt...

Although this statement is very strange, after all, history is written casually by the victors. In this time and space, Mussolini is at the forefront of military destiny. It seems that he is going to be the victor. He can write whatever he wants. Hitler and Hersmann Didn't even think to ask.

But now there is also some disagreement between Germany and Italy regarding the boundaries of the New Roman Empire - the disagreement appears in Greece. Although Greece has long been favored by Mussolini and has reached an agreement with Germany, it should become part of the new Roman Empire.

However, the Italian army's invasion of Greece failed. Later, the German army under the command of Halder captured most of Greece (except Crete). Later, under the mediation of Victoria Louis, the daughter of William II, Germany and King Paul I of Greece (he was the son-in-law of Victoria Louis) reached an agreement, whereby Germany would protect Greece and support Paul I to continue to be king.

At the same time, the Greek people happily joined the European Community and the Euromark Zone, and began to integrate economically with Germany.

But in this case, Mussolini did not agree. It was agreed that Greece would be led by Italy, so why did it change its mind? But no matter whether he agreed or not, Mussolini would not be stupid enough to fall out with Germany because of a small Greece. Of course, Hitler was not willing to have a stalemate with Italy over Greece. After all, the European Combined Fleet still relied on Italy to join.

So Germany and Italy started arguing over the Greek issue from the beginning of 1942. I don’t know how, but they actually involved Yugoslavia and Croatia-Hungary. It turned out that Mussolini said that he could give up on Greece. demands, but must receive a Greater Albania as compensation, and this Greater Albania will include part of the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. As a result, not only the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was involved in the situation, but also the Kingdom of Croatia and Hungary, the leader of the Balkan Peninsula supported by Germany, also joined in the dispute, making the situation even more complicated.