The Rise of the Third Reich

"Empire of Japan, onboard!"

"Navy and Army, on board!"

"Victory, onboard!"

When Lieutenant General Kanji Ishihara, the deputy chief of the Japanese Army Staff Headquarters, was riding in a car passing through the streets of Tokyo, he happened to encounter a parade celebrating victory. In this time and space, Ishihara did not have the title of "Hero of the Manchuria Incident". Although within the army, It is also a thorn, but its influence is limited and it poses little threat to Tojo. Therefore, he was not kicked into the reserve by Tojo Hideki. He also participated in the battle south as the division commander, and now he has become the deputy general of the General Staff Headquarters.

Shortly after Ishihara took office, the Japanese Empire achieved what was said to be a historic victory.

Japan defeated the arrogant British Empire!

On February 1, 1943, after concluding her visit to Germany, France and Italy, the Queen of England officially issued the Armistice Decree, announcing that Britain would formally withdraw from the Allied camp and seek support from the Axis countries, including the Empire of Japan. and.

Therefore, Japan can now be regarded as a great victor after defeating Britain. The day after the British Queen announced an armistice and asked for peace, the Japanese government also issued a proclamation announcing its acceptance of the British peace proposal and designated February 2 as "Victory Day against the British."

Japan was originally fighting against Britain and the United States. Now that Britain has "surrendered", only the United States is left. It is hard to think of it alone. The final victory of the Japanese Empire seems to be just around the corner.

Therefore, on February 2, many citizens in Tokyo took to the streets to hold a victory parade either spontaneously or by various organizations such as national patriotic groups and national patriotic groups.

"Baga!" Ishihara Wanji, who has always talked a lot and has a bit of a venomous mouth, looked at the cheerful crowd outside the car window and couldn't help but cursed, "Are these people fools? Can't you see the submission of the British mainland? Will Japan fall into an unprecedented bitter war?”

"Ishihara-kun, look at what you said, how can the situation be so serious?" Japanese Army Aviation Director General Kenji Doihara, who was sitting in the same car with him, said disapprovingly, "Once Britain is defeated, the Soviet Union's Western Front battlefield will be inevitable. It is extremely tight and no longer has the power to threaten the security of Manchuria, which is very beneficial to the empire's final solution to the Manchurian issue. "

"The Manchuria problem?" Ishihara smiled scornfully, "How long have you been thinking about this? It is possible for the Soviet Union to transfer its troops in the Far East to the west, but the United States will also shift its focus to the Pacific... With the industrial strength of the United States, How many aircraft carriers and battleships were built in the end? I can’t imagine it! Your Excellency, don’t you know that those in the Navy have been unable to eat or sleep these days?”

"What's the matter?" Kenji Doihara shook his bald head, "That's how the navy is, afraid of wolves in front and tigers in the back... The promised Australian strategy has also backed down, and they also want to reduce the strength of our army. It’s really shameless to use resources and funds to build an aircraft carrier.”

"Marshal Yamamoto is really confused. How much capital do we have? How can we compete with the Americans for aircraft carriers?"

Ishihara Kanji actually knows that it is necessary to speed up the construction of Taiho-class and Unryu-class aircraft carriers, but this issue involves the conflict of interests between the army and the navy-military expenditures and resources are only so small, and they are used to build aircraft carriers for the navy. The army The border is poor.

So these days, the two army giants, Ishihara and Doihara, have been "grabbing business" with the navy. It was obviously the Pacific War, but we had to make excuses to say that the Army was also important!

And Ishihara also has a mouth that is good at talking nonsense - this is probably the reason why Tojo recalled him from the front line as a deputy minister, right? Anyway, under Ishihara's smiling nonsense, many people, including Emperor Hirohito of Japan, agreed with Ishihara's "Pacific Army peace theory."

The so-called "Pacific Army Forces Peace Theory" means that the Pacific War cannot be fought with aircraft carriers and battleships, because that is a fight for industrial strength. The American man-made aircraft carrier is like a dumpling, there are dozens of them! Can Japan do it? Only 4 Dafeng-class and Yunlong-class ships have been built now. Even if they double the number of 8 ships built, can they compete with the dozens of ships in the United States?

Therefore, Kanji Ishihara proposed the concept of "fighting hard" - Japan cannot compete with the United States for aircraft carriers and battleships, but must fight for human lives!

Because American lives are valuable, if hundreds of thousands or millions of them can be killed in a battle, the United States will agree to make peace with Japan even if it loses.

On the other hand, if we fight for aircraft carriers, what will happen even if we sink a few American ships? The United States will build more aircraft carriers to fight Japan! Therefore, in a victory like the Battle of Hawaii, no matter how many battles are fought, Japan will still lose in the end.

And if you want to fight hard, of course you have to have a fighting battlefield.

Ishihara Wanji’s opinion is to fight tooth and nail in the Hawaiian Islands and the United States! Defend heavily, then put the Americans on the island and beat them hard! We strive to kill more than 100 or 200,000 of them in a single battle, which will cause the Americans real heartache, and only then can there be a decent peace.

To achieve this goal, the Army should receive more military spending and resources. With military spending and resources, the Army can train more troops and produce more Ki84 (Hast), Type 97 tank destroyer (Japanese Weasel), Type 3 wheeled assault gun (Japanese version of Cougar) and Type 3 Chinese fighter "Island-defending decisive battle weapons" such as vehicles (developed since 1942, earlier than in history).

Regarding the "surprise attack on Panama" recently proposed by the Japanese Navy, Ishihara Kanji also believes that it is not necessary.

"Ito-kun, the so-called surprise attack is just relying on luck to win. It is possible once or twice. It is always inevitable that you will miss."

In a conference room within the Army Staff Headquarters, Ishihara and Doihara began to talk nonsense again - the targets were Major General Ito Seiichi, Deputy Chief of Naval Command, and Lieutenant General Tsukahara 243, Chief of Naval Aviation Headquarters.

The four of them are now responsible for the negotiations between the navy and the army. The meeting locations are the Navy Command Department and the Army Staff Headquarters respectively. One time on the Navy's territory, the next time on the Army's territory, no one suffers.

Ishihara was still opposed to the idea of ​​a surprise attack on the Panama Canal proposed by Major General Ito Seiichi.

He said: "Even if we succeed, it will only postpone the Battle of the Hawaiian Islands for 6-10 months. Of course our empire can use these 6-10 months to strengthen its defense, and the United States can also use this time to strengthen its offensive power... If In 10 months, the Americans can probably add 10 aircraft carriers, right? I don’t see the benefit of delaying the decisive battle?”

"However, with these 10 months, the development of the Ki84 fighter jet can be completed, and the development of our navy's N1K2-J (Purple Lightning modified) fighter jet can also be completed." Lieutenant General Tsukahara 243 retorted, "With these two models Fighters, the battle to defend the Hawaiian Islands will be foolproof."

"How can there be anything foolproof?" Ishihara Wanji shook his head, "If we are foolproof, wouldn't the United States be defeated? How can anyone fight in a battle that is bound to be defeated? Moreover, since there are no Ki84s and Zidian Kai, we have no aviation capabilities. If it is not as good as the United States, then how can the surprise attack plan succeed?”

Although Ishihara is very good at talking nonsense, the arguments he puts forward are reasonable. According to the exact intelligence provided by Germany (learned through the United Kingdom, which has already sued for peace), the Americans' latest carrier-based aircraft and shore-based fighters F4U, F6F and P47, etc., have certain advantages over the Zero aircraft in terms of performance.

In particular, the F6F is a "Zero killer" developed completely for the Zero. On paper, it has a great advantage over the Zero and Fokker Zero!

Therefore, the German Naval Armament Office has asked Fokker to cooperate with the British company **** to develop a piston carrier-based aircraft based on the Fury fighter also developed for the Zero.

Japan, on the one hand, cooperates with Germany and Italy in the hope of accelerating the development and production of the "Seventeen Ship Trial"; on the other hand, it hopes to launch a surprise attack on the Panama Canal.

"The Navy has already considered this and will have a comprehensive plan. Marshal Yamamoto has also made his final determination! And this attack is not limited to Panama. It is a comprehensive attack on the United States and will also affect the mainland of the United States. "This is something unprecedented since the war began. It will definitely dampen the morale of the American people and will definitely buy the empire enough time to deploy its defenses," Ito Zhengichi said confidently, "So your army will conduct the decisive battle now according to 1944." Let’s make plans based on Hawaii’s timetable... I hope your Ki84 fighter can show off its capabilities by then!”

Ishihara Wanji couldn't say anything at this time. Yamamoto Isoroku had already made up his mind, and it was not his turn as the Army's deputy minister to inquire about the Navy's specific plan.

…

"What? You want us to use Ju288 to attack the Panama Canal? Are the Japanese kidding? How big is the gate when you look down from an altitude of 10,000 meters? And the Americans can also release smoke."

"Father, I think... the Ju288 air attack is just part of Japan's surprise attack on the Panama Canal. This time the Japanese seem to have a big plan."

On February 3, the day after Britain formally sued for peace, Hersmann's son, Rudolf von Heinsberg-Hersmann, returned with a Japanese Navy proposal for joint operations. Berlin.

He left the aircraft carrier Seydlitz in January and became the naval aviation attaché of the German naval delegation to Japan.

The Japanese Navy also began to formulate a new plan for combating the United States code-named "Yama Plan" in January 1943. According to the Japanese Navy's assumptions, the "Yama Plan" will include a series of attacks on the United States, and the surprise attack on the Panama Canal is just one of them.

In addition, the "Yama Plan" led by the Japanese Navy will also be a large-scale coordinated operation plan for joint actions of the axis countries.

According to the Japanese Navy's assumptions, attacks on U.S. targets will be launched simultaneously from the Atlantic and Pacific directions.