The Rise of the Third Reich

Time passed bit by bit. In the bridge of the Akagi, Ozawa, Furumura and all the fleet staff were holding telescopes and staring intently at the inextricable battle in the sky. And the more I look at it, the colder my heart becomes!

The Zero-52 in the air cannot be said to be beaten by the opponent, but it certainly does not have the upper hand. Among the downed aircraft, the number of Zero-52s was almost equal to that of US military fighter jets (excluding SBD and TBF that were being chased by Fw-190T).

This either means that the skills of American carrier-based aircraft pilots have now risen to a level comparable to that of the Japanese Navy's elite pilots, or it means that the performance of the F6F and F4U really exceeds that of the Zero 52!

No matter what the situation is, it shows that the turning point of the Pacific War has arrived!

Now the Americans not only have an overwhelming advantage in the number of aircraft carriers and all ships, but their naval aviation can also be tied with the Japanese naval aviation which has a similar number... Considering that the United States has a large number of aircraft, oil and pilots, With a huge advantage, the Japanese Empire will definitely be in a hard fight.

Ozawa Jisaburo put down the telescope in his hand and said as if talking to himself: "It seems that Commander Koga's launch of Operation Yama is very timely. If the Panama Canal cannot be destroyed before a large number of US aircraft carriers are launched into service, , the empire will soon lose the initiative..."

"Your Excellency, Commander!" Furumura Keizo's shout rang in Ozawa's ears, interrupting him rudely.

Only then did Ozawa realize that he was now in public, surrounded by a group of elite staff officers from the United Fleet!

"Haha, this is a fact. Everyone should be prepared for a hard fight." Ozawa Jisaburo smiled bitterly and did not take back his words.

At this moment, the phone in front of Aviation Staff Officer Mizuo Fuchida suddenly rang. Fuchida picked up the receiver and responded, then took a breath and said to Ozawa who was staring at him: "Your Excellency, Commander, the first attack wave is about to return. We are still 200 kilometers away... there are hundreds of them." P51 is still following them!”

"Baga!" Furumura Keizang cursed, "These American ghosts came at the wrong time!"

"How many Zero fighters are left in the first attack wave?" Ozawa Jisaburo asked.

"There are less than 30 aircraft left..."

Everyone's hearts twitched when they heard this number. I went out with 60 Zeros, but when I came back, more than half were gone!

"Let them resist the American P51..." Ozawa said, "In addition, 60 Zeros will be separated from the direct cover aircraft group for reinforcements, and they must cover the returning Comet aircraft to land safely."

"Hai!"

Following Ozawa's order, two battle groups immediately appeared in the air, one was the Zero Battle F4U and F6F, and the other was the Zero Battle P51...

At the same time, the SBDs and TBFs in the first attack wave sent by the U.S. 3rd Fleet had been driven back by the Fw-190T, 12 of them were shot down, and the rest dropped their bombs and torpedoes and escaped from low altitude. The wave attack was repelled. But the fighter jets escorting these SBDs and TBFs still refused to retreat!

Obviously, the Americans will launch a second and third wave of attacks!

"Enemy plane detected by radar! Due west! Number more than 50, altitude 6000, distance 120 kilometers..."

At 5:28 p.m., the radar officer reported news that surprised everyone.

"What? Flying from the west? That's..." Furumura Keizo, Chief of Staff of the First Mobile Fleet, suddenly turned dark.

"It's an American aircraft carrier!" Ozawa said through gritted teeth, "It should be coming from San Diego!"

"But...how did they come near Panama?" Furumura Qizang really couldn't figure it out.

He never imagined that Marshal Kesselring and Me262 were so bluffing that they deceived the three motherships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet into the vicinity of the Panama Canal.

"It doesn't matter how they came," Ozawa Jisaburo's grandma's face was a little ugly, "The key now is to defeat them and blow up the Panama Canal locks!" He paused, "Let the remaining Zeros and all Fw-190T all stop them!"

"But in this way, the fleet will not be directly covered." Furumura Keizang reminded.

"It doesn't matter. Just recall the Zeros that are fighting with US fighter jets in the east." Ozawa said, "Don't worry about these US fighter jets. Do they still dare to ram our aircraft carrier?"

Both F4U and F6F can carry bombs, but the F4U and F6F that have fought with the Zero for so long definitely did not carry bombs. Even if they originally had bombs, they must have lost them now.

Therefore, after Ozawa discovered that the situation had changed very unfavorably, he quickly made adjustments and no longer pursued severely damaging the U.S. attack aircraft fleet, but instead focused on protecting the safety of the fleet.

However, the F4Us and F6Fs that were fighting with the Zero aircraft seemed to have seen through Ozawa's thoughts. Instead of returning, they flew south and joined the Zero aircraft against the P51.

More than 80 Zero-52 fighter jets that were fighting hard with the P51 were suddenly surrounded by more than 100 P51, F4U and F6F fighters. What's even worse is that more than 20 of the more than 80 Zeros have fought hard before. Many of the aircraft's 20mm shells (carrying 120 rounds) have been used up, and now only the 7.7mm machine guns are left. The threat of machine gun bullets from the sturdy P51, F4U and F is really limited.

Toru Iwamoto Sanbiso (noncommissioned officer) from the Zuikaku Air Force is the "King of Downs" on the Zuikaku, and is known as the "Zero Battle Toru". In today's air battle, he spent a lot of effort to shoot down an F6F, and then damaged an F4U, but he ran out of ammunition for the 20mm shells. Now we can only rely on the 7.7mm machine gun to fight with a P51 equipped with four 12.7mm machine guns, but the American pilot flying that P51 is not stupid either - it is the cousin of the P51 and Zero 52 on the European battlefield. The Fokker Zero is an old rival. We have long known that the Zero is capable of low-altitude hovering, and we have also figured out how to use climb + dive to deal with the Fokker Zero.

The Fokker Zero D type is better than the Zero 52 in climbing and diving. When encountering the P51 equipped with a Merlin engine (or an American imitation model), it must also have the Fw-190A series (the Fw-190T series on the German aircraft carrier is It can only be fought with the cooperation of aircraft that cannot be defeated).

But now Tetsuzo Iwamoto cannot get the cooperation of the Fw-190A series fighters at all, and there are fewer and fewer Zero aircraft fighting with him - they are either shot down or retreat after running out of ammunition.

Soon, Tetsuzo Iwamoto was not fighting against one P51, but against two P51s... and soon there were three!

Iwamoto Tetsuzo knew that his end was coming soon, and he did not bring a parachute. If he was shot down, he would die. So at this time, what he was thinking about was no longer life, but how to die gloriously.

"Emperor, onboard! Japan, onboard!"

Iwamoto yelled a few times and pointed the nose of his Zero plane at a P51 - the Zero's firepower and defense would certainly be courting death if it was used against the P51's nose. The pilot on the American plane also understood this. , without hesitation, he faced them head-on, and then fired a hail of bullets, shrouding the desperate Zero fighter, and soon set Tetsuzo Iwamoto's Zero-52 on fire, but this one caught fire However, the Zero continued to rush forward, as if it was about to perish with its opponent. The pilot on the P51 was so frightened that it hurriedly rolled right and dodged away.

"It was actually avoided!" Tetsuzo Iwamoto smiled bitterly in the cabin that had already started to catch fire, and closed his eyes unwillingly...

After ace Sasai Chuichi, "Zero Kotetsu" Iwamoto Tetsuzo also became a god on March 17.

However, the misfortune of the Japanese naval aviation is not over yet. March 17 seems to be the day when they become gods!

After "Zero Kotetsu" became a god, it was the turn of "Aerial Combat Spirit" Sugita Shoichi! His fighter squadron, in cooperation with the German Fw-190T, had just achieved a victory, breaking up the first attack wave sent by the US Task Force 17.

Then he received an order to cover the landing of 23 Fw-190Ts (3 were damaged in battle). Because these powerful German carrier-based aircraft had gone through two rounds of air battles, many of the aircraft had already run out of ammunition.

But just as the Fw-190T completed its landing, the voice of his superior, Captain Fukuda Hirofumi, came from Sugita Shoichi's earphones: "Emergency gathering, enemy aircraft groups are appearing in the northeast!"

It turned out that the second attack wave sent by Halsey had arrived. A large fleet of one hundred or dozens of aircraft flew in like a blanket of light.

"The Americans have so many planes!" Shoichi Sugita thought to himself, "I will definitely become a god today! But that doesn't matter, as long as the aircraft carrier can be kept, Japan will win!"

His idea partially became a reality 10 minutes later - at 5:59 pm on March 17, Sugita Shoichi's plane was hit and fell, and Sugita Shoichi became a god!

.......

Ozawa Jisaburo looked at the enemy planes roaring in the sky, and his heart beat faster and faster. Because he knew that his Zero was almost exhausted, and the German Fw-190T fighter plane could not reach the sky in less than 20 minutes.

And because the energy-storage flywheel catapult on the Seidlitz aircraft carrier has limited power, it can only eject 12 aircraft at a time (the Zeppelin's catapult can eject 18 aircraft at a time), and the remaining 11 Fw-190Ts will have to fly into the sky again. Trouble is, the aircraft carrier needs to gallop against the wind to generate deck wind, and then cooperate with the rocket booster to get a heavy aircraft like the Fw-190T into the sky. It is too late at the moment.

Therefore, Ozawa has no way to keep the enemy planes out of the anti-aircraft fire circle, and the real hard battle will soon begin!