The Rise of the Third Reich

March 19, 1943, Tokyo, Japan.

Amid shouts of celebration for the victory in the Battle of Panama, the most powerful ministers or chief ministers of the Japanese Empire all gathered at the Prime Minister's residence in Nagata Town. Each of their expressions looked extremely solemn, and there was no trace of the joy that should be felt after a "decisive victory".

Because each of them saw from the battle report of the "Victory of Panama" that the Japanese Empire was about to be drowned by the United States' aircraft carrier sea and aircraft sea - even if the Panama War had achieved the purpose of destroying the canal locks, it would not be more than that. It delays the arrival of the aircraft carrier sea and aircraft sea by 6-10 months.

"Gentlemen, although the Battle of Panama was won due to the hard work of the Imperial Army..." At the beginning of today's emergency cabinet meeting, Navy Minister Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku once again emphasized that the result of the Battle of Panama was victory.

Then the "Japan's number one hero" remained silent for a long time, his eyes swept over the faces of every dignitary present, and finally landed on the face of Tojo Hideki, who looked quite calm.

Yamamoto lowered his tone and said word by word: "But victory still cannot conceal the fact that the balance of strength and weakness on the Pacific battlefield has changed! And the victory achieved by the Navy in the Battle of Panama was just more gains for the empire. 6-10 months. If we cannot make good use of these 6-10 months to strengthen our naval capabilities and complete tight defenses in the Hawaiian Islands, Aleutian Islands, and Gilbert Islands, once the Panama Canal is restored to navigation, the empire will Engaged in an unprecedented struggle!”

On the surface, these words are about preparing for war, but in fact they are still asking for money and resources.

And Tojo Hideki, the housekeeper of the Japanese Empire, was a "clumsy woman" with few grains of "rice" in her hands. Except for some rare metals and rubber, which are relatively rich, there are no major strategic resources that are not in short supply.

Among all the scarce resources, the one that is most stuck and has the most unsolvable problem is undoubtedly oil.

Other resources, such as steel, electrolytic aluminum and copper, can be supplemented by imports from the European Community. However, oil is almost not for sale in the European Community. Only the Roman Empire (that is, Italy) can get a monthly quota of 200,000 tons. Even though the Germans now have more than 40 million tons of oil, they are also carrying a huge burden on their backs. Europe's consumption, and the need to maintain a navy that dominates the Atlantic and an army that can defeat the Soviet Union, are really not that rich.

As for the Japanese Empire, which had an annual output of 8 million tons of oil, due to attacks by British and American submarines and destroyers, only more than 6 million tons could be used to maintain Japan's economy and war against the United States. And with the scale of the combined fleet today, the fuel consumption for a day's dispatch exceeds 10,000 tons!

There is not much fuel left after refining more than 6 million tons of oil to maintain the combined fleet's high-intensity operations for a whole year. Although the Combined Fleet will not float on the sea all year round, the Japanese Navy is not only a large fuel consumer of the Combined Fleet. Once a war of attrition begins in the Pacific, the lives of naval aviation pilots will be consumed! And these pilots are fed by oil.

The Americans can now use tens of millions or even 100 million tons of oil to feed them. How much can the Japanese use?

After seeing the report submitted by Jisaburo Ozawa about the confrontation between Japanese and American fighter jets and the heavy losses of carrier-based pilots, Yamamoto Isoroku's first thought was that the training of naval pilots must be strengthened, and then he would seek high performance from Germany. fighter plane.

Moreover, Yamamoto Isoroku also knew that it was unlikely that the Japanese Navy would obtain high-performance fighters from Europe in the short term.

Because Germany's fighter development ideas are so different from those of the Japanese Navy. What the Germans pursue is "airspace superiority." They divide daytime fighters into several categories according to their applicable airspace: extremely high altitude, medium high altitude, and medium low altitude. Each Major categories have corresponding models and engines. What is pursued is absolute airspace advantage, not cross-airspace advantage.

However, this style of play may not be applicable to Japan, because dividing day fighter aircraft into three airspaces is equivalent to dividing the limited fighter aircraft into three parts. Invading enemy aircraft are likely to concentrate their forces in a single airspace, which will further expand the Americans' numerical advantage.

In addition, Yamamoto Isoroku found that the overall aviation strength of the Japanese Navy is currently in a state of serious shortage - before the Panama Battle, Japan was on the offensive in the Pacific battlefield and the United States was on the defensive. Therefore, Japan does not need to set up defenses everywhere on the vast battlefield, but can concentrate its forces on offense. Naturally, there is no problem of insufficient aviation force.

But now, Japan is about to become a defensive side. Only then did Yamamoto realize that there were many places to defend!

In the central Pacific battlefield alone, the Hawaiian Islands, Aleutian Islands and Gilbert Islands require heavy defense. The Midway Islands, Wake Island, Marshall Islands and Mariana Islands behind the Hawaiian Islands cannot be abandoned.

Moreover, these islands that need to be defended are relatively far away from each other. It is impossible for the aircraft scattered everywhere to form a joint force in wartime and can only fight independently. Therefore, Yamamoto Isoroku found that insufficient numbers were the biggest problem facing Japan in the future protracted defensive war.

Therefore, it is simply impossible for the Japanese Navy to establish an aviation force focusing on airspace superiority along the lines of the German Air Force/Naval Aviation. In this way, the Germans cannot use their convenient Fw-190 series and Fokker Zero D aircraft to the Pacific battlefield - and Germany's advantage in the Atlantic is based on the Ju288 and Ju288 equipped with 24-cylinder liquid-cooled engines. Based on the remote control gliding bomb, even with the capabilities of Japan's aviation industry, it is too exhausted to build a 24-cylinder liquid-cooled weapon that can be equipped with troops.

Therefore, after repeated thinking, Yamamoto Isoroku discovered that in the defensive operations that may begin in 6-10 months, the most realistic strategy for Japanese naval aviation is to seek more numbers.

Not only the number of aircraft must be pursued, but also the number of aircraft carriers, especially fleet aircraft carriers that can move quickly. Because Japan simply does not have enough aircraft to deploy to many Pacific islands such as the Hawaiian Islands, Aleutian Islands, Gilbert Islands, Midway Island, Wake Island, Marshall Islands and Mariana Islands-if all possible attacks The important islands attacked by the United States have been deployed accordingly, so even if Yamamoto has 10,000 shore-based aircraft, they may not be enough.

Therefore, Yamamoto Isoroku's plan is to concentrate his forces (referring to the naval aviation shore-based forces) to defend the Hawaiian Islands, and use a small amount of troops to defend the other important islands (the worthless Army Red Deer can be used more). At the same time, a powerful mobile fleet was established for mobile defense in the Pacific.

For this reason, Japan must go all out to produce the Zero 52 (including the upgraded version of the Zero 52), the Comet ship bomb (the Tianshan ship attack), and the production can be reduced, because the U.S. Navy currently does not have many battleships available, and they are all a bunch of inexperienced battleships. (exploded aircraft carrier) these two fighters, as well as the cheap and high-quality Yunlong-class aircraft carrier. At the same time, investment in pilot training must be increased to train more carrier-based aircraft pilots.

But at this time, the Japanese Army was still preparing for war on the northern front and an invasion of New Zealand. Deploy a large number of army aircraft on the Korean Peninsula, Northeast China and islands in the South Pacific.

In addition, the Japanese Army has also proposed an ambitious tank development and equipment plan, hoping to establish a powerful armored force including 4 tank divisions and 7 independent tank brigades.

The army's big red deer want to use this powerful armored force to complete the three major missions of the decisive battle on the northern front, Pacific island defense and Australian raids.

"Your Excellency, Marshal," Tojo Hideki looked at Yamamoto Isoroku, who looked worried, and said calmly, "The Empire has won the Battle of Panama after all, and the canal will not be navigable in the next 6-10 months. These 6- 10 months can be used both to set up defense and to organize offense."

"Attack?" Yamamoto Isoroku was stunned for a moment. Now that the defensive power is insufficient, how can he still attack?

"Where to attack?" Chief of Naval Command Nagano Shushen, who wore the same pants as Yamamoto, immediately asked the question for Yamamoto.

"New Zealand." Chief of Staff Headquarters "Idiot Gen" Sugiyama Gen took over the topic and replied, "As long as New Zealand is captured, the United States will not be able to launch a counterattack from Australia. Then the empire can concentrate on defending the Pacific... and it does not need to be guarded for too long. I estimate that the Soviet Union will not survive next fall. Once Russia is destroyed, our empire will be able to win the war. Therefore, the situation is not very pessimistic, and victory is in sight!"

His analysis is not completely unreasonable. No matter how severe Japan's situation is, it is still much stronger than the Soviet Union. At least in 1943, it was difficult for the United States to organize a truly powerful offensive on the Pacific battlefield. Germany is likely to defeat the Soviet Union in 1943. Once the Soviet Union is defeated, the United States will naturally be left alone. The current crisis in Japan is just a false alarm.

"But the empire has to prepare for the worst!" Yamamoto Isoroku shook his head, "If the Soviet Union does not collapse in 1943, then our empire will be in catastrophe, so we must deal with it with all our strength."

Hideki Tojo nodded and said: "In 1943, we can go all out to build the four aircraft carriers Taiho, Unryu, Amagi and Katsuragi. The materials used for the two battleships Shinano and Kii must also be 100% guaranteed. Kasagi, Ah Su, Ikoma and other three ships (also Unryu class) strive to persist in the first half of 44 years.

However, the Army's southward and northward plans must also be carried out simultaneously. The move south was inevitable, while the move north should take place when the Soviet Union collapsed. Therefore, there must be a certain amount of resources to guarantee... The budget and resource allocation plan for Showa 18 should not be adjusted too much. As for Showa 19, it will depend on the situation of the Soviet-German War. "

In fact, Tojo made some concessions and agreed to accelerate the construction of 4 aircraft carriers and 2 battleships under construction. But at the same time, he was unwilling to give in on the issue of oil quotas, because he, many red deer in the Japanese Army, and the living gods in the Tokyo Imperial Palace have not forgotten about the northern advance... Of course, in the Soviet Union When they were about to lose the war, they pounced to snatch the piece of fat in the Soviet Far East and solve the Manchuria issue at the same time.