The Rise of the Third Reich

"Abandon...the New Zealand war?"

When Hiroshi Oshima, the Japanese ambassador to Germany, heard Hersmann's conditions for Japan to abandon its march south to New Zealand at the Heinsberg Manor in Zossen, his face was immediately filled with embarrassment.

"This, this..."

"Is there a problem?" Hersman met Oshima and his wife at dinner - Oshima, a Japanese Japanese, was a fan of Germany and had many friends among the top German military and political leaders, but Hersman's relationship with him was average. But Chloe and Mrs. Oshima are good friends, so they often visit Heinsberg Manor.

Today, he came to visit on official business, with the purpose of lobbying Hersman to support the Japan aid plan.

What Japan now wants is not only the items on that list, but also hopes that the European Community can follow the United States and pass a Lend-Lease Act to aid Japan, so that when Japan is unable to pay enough for gold, rubber and rare metals, Much needed war supplies could still be obtained.

"Is there a problem?" Hersman glanced at Oshima's Chinese-character face, then took a sip of the champagne from the Heinkel family (the family of Ribbentrop's father-in-law) and said, "What you want must be from the British. If you don't give up your national policy of invading New Zealand, it's hard for me to guarantee that you can get high-quality products in time. In addition... you don't have the ability to occupy New Zealand now. If you insist on attacking, it will inevitably cause serious consequences. "

"Will they be defeated?" Oshima Hiroshi was stunned, and then immediately shook his head, "Your Excellency, Imperial Marshal, this is impossible. The Southern Army has a strong force, and the control of the sea in the South Pacific is still in our hands."

"Sea dominance in the South Pacific?" Hersman glanced at Oshima Hiroshi and said, "Lieutenant Admiral, the report I received is completely different from that."

Hiro Oshima was stunned for a moment and thought to himself: "Is the shameless navy lying about its record? They were actually defeated miserably in the Battle of Panama?"

"According to the reports I have received, your combined fleet has huge shortcomings." Hersman said, "Do you know about the barrel effect?"

"Barrel?" Oshima Hiro shook his head. He hadn't used a barrel for a long time. As a rich and powerful German fan, he used Villeroy \u0026 Boch and Hansgrohe enamels when he showered, washed his face, feet and butt. Pots, no outdated wooden barrels.

"No matter how high a bucket is, the height of the water it holds depends on the lowest board in it." Hersman said, "Lieutenant General, do you know where the shortcomings of the Japanese combined fleet are?"

In the shameless naval officer! Oshima Hiro wanted to answer like this, but in the end he held back his words.

"In air defense." Hersman said while cutting the steak on the plate. "The air defense capabilities of the Japanese combined fleet are very weak. According to the reports of our military observers, your 127mm anti-aircraft guns were useless during the Battle of Panama. , a complete waste. The 25mm cannon has insufficient range to reach the American dive bombers, and the magazine feeding method is too inefficient. In fact, the Japanese combined fleet is a fire net. A fleet without anti-aircraft firepower!”

This conclusion was reached by the Eastern Squadron of the European Combined Fleet that participated in the Battle of Panama.

"Ah..." Hiro Oshima was stunned again and again, and said to himself: "The Navy is so shameless. It spent so much money and didn't even have a useful anti-aircraft gun."

"So in the Battle of Panama, when the US dive bombers broke through the defenses of the Zero fighters, they could easily sink your Soryu and Hiryu." Hersman frowned as he spoke.

To some extent, the Battle of Panama was a replica of the Battle of Midway in another time! It was only because Ozawa had better luck that the losses were relatively small. The main reasons for the failure of the Battle of Panama and the Battle of Midway were actually the same, that is, the Japanese fleet's anti-aircraft firepower was too tragic.

If it were replaced by a European combined fleet equipped with 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and equipped with radio proximity fuzes, it would definitely not lose two fleet aircraft carriers.

"If the Americans discover this," Hessman said slowly, "they can even cancel the carrier-based dive bombers and carrier-based torpedo bombers, and directly let the F4U and F6F attack with bombs."

"Cancel carrier-based dive bombers and torpedo bombers? Is this really possible?" Hiroshi Oshima didn't know much about the navy and asked with some uncertainty.

"Why not? Our Fw-190Ts in the Pacific also serve as dive bombers?" Hersman shrugged. "The Americans' F4Us are larger than our Fw-190Ts, and they also have very good hydraulic catapults. (Currently being installed), the aircraft can fly with 500 kilograms of bombs. If the Americans use F4U to attack your aircraft carrier, your Zero will not be able to stop it. "

What Hessman is talking about now is actually his son's opinion. Although the younger Hessman is not a top fighter pilot (he is also an ace, but not of high quality), he is a tactical expert on carrier-based aircraft.

Immediately after witnessing the Battle of Panama, several tactics were suggested that the Americans might have used to quickly defeat the Japanese navy.

The most worrying one is the "total war bombing assault". Hersman Jr. believes that the Americans are likely to abandon their SBD dive bombers and TBF torpedo bombers, which are not very survivable on the battlefield, and adopt a full fighter-bomber configuration, installing bomb hooks on the F4U and F6F.

Although the war bomber's ability to attack ships is not as good as that of dive bombers and torpedo planes, and its protection is not as good as that of bombers and attack aircraft, it is perfectly suitable to be used against Japanese surface ships that actually have no air defense capabilities.

For example, let the American Essex compete with the Japanese Akagi. The Essex is equipped with 45 F4U and 45 F6F, while the Akagi is equipped with 24 Zeros, 24 Comets, and 24 Tianshans. Then the ratio of fighters on both sides is 90:24.

After leaving 18 F6Fs to serve as direct cover aircraft, the Essex could still send 72 F4U or F6Fs to attack the Akagi.

The Akagi's anti-aircraft firepower was basically unable to resist dive bombing, and it could only rely on 24 Zeros to fight against 72 enemy aircraft! Moreover, the Zero aircraft is not a dry interceptor at all. It is impossible to hit a big guy like the F4U with a single hit, so the 24 Zero aircraft can entangle at most 24 F4U or F6F, and the remaining 48 F4U and Even if only 10% of the F6F's bombs hit, the Akagi would be unable to take off and land aircraft, and then it would have to wait to die?

Hessman paused and continued in a teaching tone: "Therefore, our naval experts believe that the main task of your naval combat ships in the next 12 months is not to fight, but to undergo large-scale modifications. All ships must be equipped with 40mm anti-aircraft gun systems... provided by us."

Replacing anti-aircraft guns turns out to be more important than replacing aircraft! Otherwise, even if Gale was completed ahead of schedule in 1943, it would still not be able to stop the F4U assaulting with bombs. Historically, in the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy, which only had F4Fs, still sank 4 Japanese aircraft carriers that had Zeros and a lot of ace pilots?

"In addition to the anti-aircraft guns, your shipboard radar system must also be replaced." Hersman went on to talk about a series of suggestions also made by the Far East Squadron. "The performance of your radar is too poor and can only detect enemy aircraft at a very short distance. Moreover, you do not have a fire control radar, and you rely on optical aiming for air and sea shooting, which is very inadequate..."

"Also, the Japanese Navy's anti-submarine capabilities are also very weak. The sonar is very poor, there are no hedgehog bombs and anti-submarine rockets, the number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft is insufficient, and their performance is relatively backward and urgently needs to be strengthened. Because American torpedoes will pass sooner or later, By then, your maritime transportation lines will face threats several times greater than now.

Finally, your aircraft carrier cannot do it either. How can it do it without a catapult? In the Battle of Panama, your Zero aircraft had almost no way to land on the ship to add fuel and ammunition. This was unable to cope with high-intensity confrontation and had to be retrofitted. These are all top priorities. "

"Besides, what do you need 50,000 tons of tank armor steel for? Are you still thinking of forming an armored division now? What do you need an armored division for? To go to war with the Soviets?"

When it comes to Japan's purchase of armored steel for tanks (I wonder if there is a way to pay for it?), Hessman is not very angry. Of course he knows the purpose of the Japanese man-made tanks. These Japanese devils are going to be in trouble, and they don't forget the territory in the north! We need to purchase 50,000 tons of tank armor steel in one go. How many tanks are we going to build? Do they think the oil supply is not tight enough?

Hirsch Oshima actually nodded when he heard Hessmann's question and said, "Your Excellency, Imperial Marshal, our country needs armored divisions to fight against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is the common mortal enemy of our two countries!"

Hersman snorted, looked at Oshima Hiroshi and said: "The Soviet Union is not our mortal enemy, nor is it your enemy. For our two countries, there is only one truly dangerous enemy, and that is the United States!

If you agree with this opinion, then we will consider passing a European version of the Lend-Lease Act to provide you with supplies. But what kind of supplies to provide and how you use these supplies must be decided by our military advisory team. Moreover, our people will participate in every campaign-level military operation you carry out. Only in this way can we ensure that both sides work together to defeat the great enemy of the United States.

Finally, I would like to advise you: Don't try to fight the Soviet Union. Because your national strength simply cannot bear a new war... The Soviet Union, we can deal with it alone. You should go all out to resist the American attack in the Pacific! "

Before the Battle of Panama, the German high command hoped that Japan could have some conflicts with the Soviet Union and cut off the Soviet Union's lifeline in the North Pacific.

But now, the offensive and defensive positions in the Pacific have changed, and the Japanese Navy has exposed many problems. If Japan does not concentrate all its efforts on deploying defenses in the Pacific and at the same time modify and upgrade its naval vessels, it will probably be defeated by the United States in 2044. Therefore, Japan no longer has the energy to challenge the Soviet Union and solve the so-called Manchuria issue.