On the evening of October 9, Washington time, and in the early morning of October 10, Tokyo time, Horikichi presided over the last operational meeting of the Navy, and tomorrow he will personally lead the support fleet to the Pacific Ocean. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Rear Admiral Chiaki Matsuda, chief of operations of the Military Command Department, briefed everyone on the current situation. Everyone knows that Chiaki Matsuda was extremely trusted by Horikichi, and not only did he hold the most prominent mid-level position in the Military Command Department (the Operations Department was the most important department), but he also served as the first staff officer of the Combined Fleet, and was the first to set a precedent for joint part-time military orders and core positions in the fleet (if you don't count Hori's own chief of the Military Command Department and commander of the Combined Fleet), of course, the reason is also very good - the person who is engaged in the battle plan has no actual combat experience in the fleet at all, and can only sit in the military command department and pat his head, can it work?

Of course, the disadvantages are also obvious, it is this group of people who draw up the battle plan, and it is this group of people who review the plan, which is prone to deviation and consistent loopholes. In order to solve this problem, Horikichi tried to introduce the relatively successful "target management system" and "theater management system" on the German side, and the Military Command Department was only responsible for formulating large campaign objectives, and no longer tirelessly worked out detailed tactical details -- because most of the battlefield details formulated by Tokyo were just brains. In fact, this is a decisive attempt to weaken the staff organs and increase the command value of the front-line units, and it is still well received so far.

As for the Ministry of the Navy, there is no opinion, because the Military Command Department has from time to time pressed on the Navy Ministry by virtue of its operational command and independence of the command, but now the Military Command Department is "dwarfing itself," and the Navy Ministry is of course willing to do so. Of course, Yamamoto, Inoue Narumi and Onishi Takijiro will not look at the problem so narrowly.

Chiaki Matsuda said loudly: "The operational information of the recent period is summarized and condensed as follows:

1. In the African battlefield, the allies of the European axis are about to launch a devastating blow against the enemy forces in South Africa, and our observation team is in place. It is reported that this campaign will experiment with a variety of the latest equipment of the German army, which is very interesting, and the commander of the Ito regiment will lead some members to return to China after the observation of the war in Europe to report on the experience of the war in Europe, and the rest of the liaison officers who have been assigned to various units of the German army will continue to stay;

2. In terms of war support, the jet learning team sent to Germany by our side has completed the first stage of learning, with an overall pass rate of 94%, and those who pass will enter the second stage of learning for a period of 8 weeks; A total of 249 pilots trained with the assistance of Germany and Italy have all graduated, of which 113 are naval carrier-based pilots, who are preparing to return to China in the near future, and together with other pilots trained in China, they plan to join the Sixth Air War with Aso and Ikoma (Yunryu class) as the main force, and prepare to enter the war next spring; The first ship of the Giant-class delivered by the United Kingdom has arrived in the Indian theater of operations, carrying out sea trials and combat readiness duties, and the overall operation is good, and the No. 2 ship will be delivered in December this year, and the commander instructed to put it into the northern combat readiness patrol (to guard against eastern Russia);

3. In terms of war materials, the oil tankers promised to be delivered by European and Middle Eastern countries are being delivered on schedule, and the delivery of petroleum products is slightly delayed, mainly because the German army has hoarded a large amount of oil in the South African battlefield, and we understand this; We delivered 320 tons of gold, more than 700 tons of silver, 14 tons of mercury, 70,000 tons of rubber and other tropical products according to the agreement have all been delivered, according to the end of July, we still owe Germany a huge amount of money, in view of the empire's gold and silver reserves are not much, and the post-war stable economy also needs gold and silver and other heavy metal reserves, so it is not appropriate to deliver in large quantities, at present, the agreement to offset with Guinea Island has been reached, and the German army will officially send troops to Guinea after the South African campaign;

4. In terms of the war in the Pacific, the Second Air War cut off the supply line to Hawaii, and the main force of the Combined Fleet has now occupied the Galapagos Island and is advancing to Lima to prepare for the supply ......"

"Just excuse me, some of the things here are a little uncertain, and I made adjustments." Horikichi stood up and added, "After our troops occupied Christmas Island, they were originally going to use the attack on the west coast as a bait to lure the American troops to attack, so that our troops could take advantage of the situation to destroy their Hawaiian fuel, but the situation changed abruptly, and the American fleet that had sneaked from South Africa to Australia suddenly went north and strengthened the defense of Pearl Harbor; Tsukahara-kun, who couldn't make a plan, immediately adjusted his strategy, preparing to use the Tsunoda fleet as a bait to lure the enemy fleet to attack, and he was ready to either destroy the enemy fleet or take advantage of the situation to attack Hawaii, but after waiting for 3 days, the enemy army did not move, and only concentrated on resting in Hawaii, just at this time the German side sent a note, and I first instructed Tsukahara to attack the Galapagos and feint Panama......"

The note was that after Dewey made a request for peace talks, Hoffman asked the Japanese Combined Fleet through Cole to exert pressure on the Central American front line and disrupt the rhythm of American combat readiness -- not always let the United States send troops to Recife, but to transfer it to the Panama line to facilitate the subsequent German campaign.

He explained the reason for this: "The German Führer's war speech to the United States a few days ago was listened to by the Reich Embassy in Brazil. From the standpoint of the empire, if Japan and the United States could not make peace, they naturally hoped that Germany and the United States would continue to fight, and should not have helped to 'force the United States to seek peace,' but after much consideration, I finally agreed.

First, Germany has repeatedly reiterated that it will not damage the alliance between Japan and Germany, and in practice it will provide various assistance to the Reich, and that this time the purchase of oil tankers from European countries would never have been so quick and sufficient without German pressure and coordination.

Second, the withdrawal of Truman from the election of the United States and the election of another presidential candidate, John Dewey, seem to be a foregone conclusion.

Third, the stronger and more powerful Germany is and the more capital it has, the more humiliating it will be to put forward peace terms with the United States, and the more difficult it will be for the United States to accept......

Horikiyoshi's words need to go around several times to understand, because there are some things he did not say completely: the most important condition for the United States to hope for an armistice with Germany is to break up the Japanese-German alliance, and if Japan ignores Germany's demands now and acts on its own, then Germany should not be blamed for kicking Japan away in the future; On the other hand, if Japan stands on Germany's side and constantly puts pressure on the United States, Germany will certainly be very happy, and in the short term, Japan and Germany will not only not be at risk of turning the other cheek, but will become more harmonious, so that it will be easier to exert maximum pressure on the United States.

As for the cooperation between Japan and the United States to jointly oppose Germany, Horikichi thought about it, but he also knew that it was absolutely impossible at present, and perhaps the United States, which was isolated after the war, would want to warm up with Japan.

"From a tactical point of view, this is also beneficial: the main force of the Combined Fleet attacking south can create a sign that the main force of our army is not around Pearl Harbor, and lure the American fleet to eat the Second Air Battle, while I myself lead the support fleet to attack Pearl Harbor again." Horikichi concluded, "In the new battle concept, the Tsukahara fleet is a blind man, the Tsunoda fleet is the real bait, and the main officer's support fleet is the ultimate kill." ”

After listening to the explanation, everyone looked at the chart carefully, and instantly understood Horiyoshi's thoughts. Of course, Yamamoto Fifty-six was still frowning, he felt that Horiyoshi had divided his forces too much and was easy to be broken by others, Inoue Narumi reminded him: "Tsunoda has 2 regular aircraft carriers, Tsukahara-kun is 3, and the commander still has 4 in his hand (since 2 are light air carriers, in fact, the total number can be converted into 3 Yunryu-class), in the case that both sides have no shore-based aviation support, any two fleets combined forces are not something that the US military can easily deal with, and can only be divided into three, otherwise the Americans will not dare to come out at all." ”

"The decision of the Commander has proved to be correct, the Führer is very satisfied with the occupation of the Galapagos Islands by our troops, and Special Envoy Colle has sent a note hoping for the opportunity to attack Central America together, with our forces mainly naval forces invested, and Germany will invest in army and landing forces, and the concept of a campaign is currently being planned." Matsuda Chiaki paused and said, "At present, the main force of the fleet has gone in the direction of Lima and replenished fuel; The Tsunoda fleet disengaged from Pearl Harbor and concealed its whereabouts, creating the illusion that the two fleets were working together to attack Panama. ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief: as long as Germany was still thinking of attacking Central America, it showed that the other side's appetite was very great, and the general conditions could not satisfy the Germans, which was crucial for Japan's next campaign. Japan's cooperation with Germany in fighting in Central America was welcomed by Japan with both hands, and on the one hand, it could exert endless pressure on the United States, and in the future, it could get a lot of benefits from Germany -- there were not many good things to gain fame and fortune and to earn face, and even Yamamoto Isoroku was full of smiles.

"This time the support fleet is personally led by the commander, in addition to the main force of the three air battles and the five air battles, including a large number of land forces, so the transport fleet will go together, according to the commander's opinion, Vice Admiral Kurita Keno is still leading the first transport fleet to maintain the Indian Ocean, the South Sea, and the mainland first-line transportation; Vice Admiral Yorizo Tanaka led the 2nd Transport Fleet and Rear Admiral Masafuku Kimura led the 1st Mine Squadron to Hawaii with the support fleet. ”

There is a significant difference between Horikiyoshi and Yamamoto Fifty-six, and it is even more different from other high-level officials, like the general people generally ridicule Kurita Keno as timid, he thinks that he is cautious, self-preservation, and can be used to be in charge of transportation, and it turns out that he sees people accurately, after Kurita Keno is in charge of transportation, although he is cautious and evades the slightest trouble, and makes a lot of jokes about anti-submarine, but it has reduced a lot of losses compared to other people who are very arrogant. Horikichi praised him, "Kurita-kun used his most precious honor to save ships and supplies for the empire, is there anything braver than this?" He also ranked third in terms of military exploits, which moved Kurita Keno to tears.

Another example is Tanaka Yorizo, who was under pressure from all sides in the Kuah Island Express, and thought that he did not dare to command from the front and that desperate supplies were meaningless, and he was also affirmed by Hori Yoshikichi, "What is the meaning of the commander?" It's not to die arrogantly, but to endure humiliation and bear the burden to survive and complete the task, gentlemen, I want a general who can complete the task, not a reckless man who will only die! ”

"Gentlemen, tomorrow I will go on the expedition, if I unfortunately die in battle, please Yamamoto-kun concurrently serve as the privy envoy, please Tsukahara-kun as the chief of the military command department, and ask Ozawa to return to Japan as the commander of the combined fleet!"

"Sir!" The crowd exclaimed!

Horikichi smiled: "Although I'm not too superstitious, I can rest assured that some things are arranged." Please remember one sentence, the combined fleet is the dry city of the empire, as long as the fleet is there, there is hope for the empire! ”