At present, the various meetings of the Japanese cabinet and the base camp are basically the shameless naval chiefs and army deer haggling, as if it were a vegetable market. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

And the result of the bargaining was, of course, that the navy was not satisfied with the army, because the Japanese empire could not share this resource.

So the request made by Yamamoto Isoroku was not 100% met at the emergency meeting of the Cabinet on March 19, Showa 18 (1943).

The final bargaining result was that the six Unryu-class aircraft carriers were fully completed, and the Daiho, Shinano, and Kii battleships were all completed and put into service by the end of May of Showa 19 (1944).

In addition, the Kaga and Akagi will also be retrofitted at the right time, adding armored decks and improving their air defense capabilities.

At the same time, the army and navy also reached an agreement to eliminate the standardism, coordinate materials and personnel, and strive to economize and improve efficiency, so as to eventually increase the annual production of Japanese aircraft to 50,000 aircraft. The aircraft production plan for Showa 18 will also be adjusted to 30,000 aircraft, of which 20,000 will go to the Navy and 10,000 to the Army.

In return for the Army's concessions on the distribution of aircraft, Isoroku Yamamoto also agreed to support the Army's plans to expand its tank force and move south into New Zealand.

The Japanese Army will complete the formation and training of 4 tank divisions by the end of May 19, but the plan for 7 independent tank brigades has been cancelled.

The Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet would form a Southern Fleet, dedicated to operations in the South Pacific, to support the Japanese Army's plan to attack Australia.

As for the most critical issue of oil, the Japanese army and navy have also agreed on a distribution plan in addition to the 150,000 tons of oil per month necessary for domestic production. The rest of the oil navy gets 7 percent, and the army gets 3 percent. At the same time, it will increase investment in the Nanman oil shale project and the Fushun coal liquefaction project, and all the fuel oil obtained from the oil shale and coal liquefaction will be at the disposal of the army and will not be included in the overall oil distribution plan.

Finally, the top brass of the Japanese Navy and Army happily agreed to appeal to the European Community and the Roman Empire.

A week later, the new Japanese Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Aoi, Privy Adviser Kichizaburo Nomura (the Japanese ambassador who wanted to cut the stomach at the U.S. State Department), and the Japanese ambassador to Germany, Lieutenant General Hiroshi Oshima, arrived in the German capital Berlin with a long list of requests for help.

……

"500 tons of tetraethyl lead additives, 10 sets of Beggeus hydrogenation equipment with a daily output of 500 tons of synthetic fuel, 200,000 tons of special steel for ships, 50,000 tons of steel for combat vehicle armor, 100,000 tons of special plywood for aircraft, 3,000 tons of special glue for aircraft......"

German Defense Minister Schleicher, who had been made Marshal of the Reich and had also received the title of Marquis, wore reading glasses and whispered the list brought by Ribbentrop in the conference room of the High Headquarters at 73 Wilhelmstrasse.

"Hehe," he put down the list halfway through his reading, smiled at Hersman, who was back in charge of the General Staff, and said, "Our Japanese friends seem to have matured a little, and it is relatively easy to meet the demands made this time." ”

"That's because you took the British mainland," Hersman said in a flattering tone, "If there were no factories in the United Kingdom, we would not have been able to produce so many tetraethyl lead additives, nor could we have produced 100,000 tons of aircraft plywood and 3,000 tons of glue, and marine special steel is not as rich as combat vehicle armor steel." ”

Tetraethyl lead additives are used to increase the octane number of gasoline - gasoline with tetraethyl lead is the famous leaded gasoline of later generations! After adding this additive, the octane number of gasoline can be increased by 20-30, for example, the octane number of gasoline refined from Romanian light crude oil in Germany was originally 87, and it can be increased to 97-107 after adding tetraethyl lead, which is the so-called C3 fuel.

However, C3 fuel is not the most octane jet gasoline, and in 1943 both the United Kingdom and the United States had mastered gasoline with an octane rating of 130-150 - of course, the British and American high-octane gasoline with a rating of 130-150 was not much ahead of the German C3. It's just that the test methods of the two sides are different, and the United Kingdom and the United States use a dedicated single-cylinder variable compression ratio engine that allows for higher test data.

However, it is undeniable that Britain and the United States have a leading edge in gasoline antiknock agent technology. This is because before the outbreak of the world war, both Britain and the United States had large oil companies that could invest heavily in antiknock agent research. And if there is no such company in Germany, it will not be possible to accumulate technology.

Fortunately, at the urging of Hersmann and the efforts of Farben (through the exchange of synthetic gasoline technology for the technology of producing tetraethyl lead additives from the United States), Germany was able to gain this knowledge.

However, the production of tetraethyl lead additives in Germany has always been small, after all, the oil production currently controlled by Germany is also very limited, and there is no need for much gasoline antiknock agent. In addition, the production of tetraethyl lead additives for aviation gasoline is expensive and technically difficult. If it hadn't taken the British mainland, the 500 tons of tetraethyl lead additives that Japan wanted would not have been able to be evenly distributed by Germany.

Although the level of special plywood (wooden aircraft) and special glue for aircraft is almost the same between Britain and Germany, Germany does not have the rich production capacity to supply Japan. The British mainland has been blockaded by Germany for a long time, so it has focused on the development of the plywood industry, and now has a large production capacity to provide.

In addition, Germany is now making ships and tanks with all its might, and there is not much rich special steel to sell to Japan. Therefore, the 250,000 tons of special steel proposed by the Japanese side must also rely on British factories for production.

"Two Reich marshals," said Minister Hess on behalf of Hitler, who was visiting England, at this time, "the Japanese have not abandoned their plans to attack New Zealand, and will Britain therefore refuse to supply tetraethyl lead, plywood, glue, and special steel?" ”

"They won't refuse," Hirschman, who knows the British better, smiled, "but will be very active in getting the order, and then slowly tricking the Japanese!" ”

"So what are we going to do?" Hess asked, "You can't punish Britain for Japan, can you?" ”

The Nazis were racist in their bones, and both Hitler and Hess were dissatisfied with Japan's insistence on attacking New Zealand, and it is estimated that they will secretly cause trouble for the Japanese people in the future.

"What can we do?" Hersman shook his head, "Let's do the work of the Japanese and let them give up attacking New Zealand, because in my opinion, the Americans will not wait until 1944 to attack." Our Japanese friends are about to get into a bitter battle! ”

He glanced at the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy again, because the aircraft carriers and missile cruisers of the German Navy participated in the Panama campaign, and also sent a military delegation to the Japanese Navy. Therefore, there is some understanding of the situation of the Panama campaign and the subsequent deployment of Japan.

"In the Pacific theater, the Panama campaign was supposed to be a turning point, and Japan's strategic offensive posture was virtually untenable," Raeder said. The top brass of the Combined Fleet was more pessimistic about the war than the Japanese had informed us, believing that the American offensive would soon begin.

Because the Japanese Navy exposed very serious shortcomings in the Panama campaign, their surface ships' air defense capabilities were seriously insufficient. The American dive bombers paid almost nothing when breaking through the network of anti-aircraft fire of Japanese ships. And the Japanese Zero fighters are also difficult to fight against the American P51, F4U and F6F...... If we were not able to provide effective emergency assistance to Japan, the Battle of Panama would not have been the only setback for the Japanese Navy in 1943. ”

"So what's the priority?" Schleicher asked.

"Yes, to provide the Bofors anti-aircraft artillery system." Raeder said that "the air defense systems of Japanese ships could withstand only torpedo attack aircraft and not dive bombers, because they did not have medium-range anti-aircraft artillery systems." ”

The anti-aircraft artillery system is not a 40mm cannon with a high firing angle, but involves a series of problems such as artillery manipulation, protection, observation and sighting, and fire control, and it is very troublesome to integrate this antiaircraft artillery system into Japanese ships.

Schleicher nodded, noncommittal, and asked, "Is there anything else?" ”

"There is also a need to help Japan improve the Zero fighter," Raeder said, "and if Japan is going to face a decisive battle in six to 10 months, then their new fighter simply won't have time to equip a lot of troops." ”

"Maybe we can supply them with planes or aircraft engines." Hess reminded.

"You can provide some, but it won't do much." Hersman took over the topic and said, "In 1942, the Japanese produced 18,000 planes and consumed no less than 15,000 planes, so how much can we provide?" ”

Aircraft during World War II were consumables, and with a fleet of less than 10,000 commonly used aircraft in Japan, more than 15,000 aircraft were consumed a year (of which only 30-40% were damaged in battle), and more engines were consumed, more than 20,000 units. It is not very useful for the Germans to supply 2000-3000 units, and if they want to supply them in large quantities, then Germany's own aircraft engines will not be enough.

"So what should we do?" Hitler's successor was in charge of everything, regardless of Minister Hess's questioning. "You can't just watch the Japanese being defeated by the United States, right?"

Hersman snorted lightly and said, "Even if we provide engines and even a large number of planes, these confused Japanese will still be defeated by the United States!" And the time was about 1944...... They will be beaten by the Americans, and then beg for mercy in search of a peace that will preserve part of the fruits of victory. So we will have to face the behemoth of the United States alone! ”

"Is it that serious?" Hess was stunned by Hesman's words, and his face was ugly.

"Yes." Hersman nodded and said, "So the question now is not to aid Japan, but to use aid to force Japan to obey our will." Japan must listen to our command if it is possible to defeat the United States with us in the future.

Otherwise, we might as well concentrate our resources on the defeat of the USSR! (To be continued.) )