At 4 o'clock in the afternoon of December 7, 1941 (Hawaii time), after repelling 50 American warplanes that took off from the aircraft carrier "Raider" (19 were shot down and 8 were damaged), the day's fighting basically came to an end in the sea near Hawaii. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

It was not that the pilots on the Japanese aircraft carriers could not fight at night, but that the fighting was too fierce throughout the day today, and all the pilots were exhausted and needed a good night's rest.

And for Nagumo Tadaichi, the commander of the 1st Mobile Fleet, the night of December 7 must have been another sleepless night.

There were two reasons why Nagumo Tadashi couldn't sleep, one was that the loss of the Japanese carrier-based aircraft pilot on December 7 made him a little painful. Not counting bombardiers, operators, etc., just the captain, the 1st Mobile Fleet lost 69 men in this day, and one German foreign aid was killed.

Of course, it wasn't Hersman Jr. who died. Hesman Jr. had a tough life, and he achieved his 27th victory today, shooting down an American F4F "Wildcat" fighter and landing on the "Akagi" intact. Dressed in a crisp uniform of the German Naval Aviation, he was sitting at a long dining table, listening to beautiful European classical music (played by a military band) and enjoying a delicious Western-style meal that he had come to the Commander's Hall as a guest of Commander Nagumo.

Such treatment he had never enjoyed in Germany or Italy...... Although everyone knew that he was the son of Marshal Hessmann. But in Japan, Hersman Jr. clearly felt the meaning of "privilege" and "superior N".

It is not the first time that I have sat in the commander's hall and dined with a bunch of generals and adjutants like now.

And in order to take care of little Hesman, who didn't understand Japanese, Nagumo Tadaichi and the Japanese officers in the commander's hall all spoke fluent English.

"Your Excellency, Commander," Hesman Jr. paused, as if knowing that he should not say anything related to tactical issues in front of these high-ranking Japanese naval officers, but he could not help but point out, "In today's operation, many excellent Japanese pilots have died because of some low-level mistakes, which is very harmful to the war potential of the Japanese Empire!" ”

Nanyun Zhong let out an "oh" and did not show any unhappy expression. Hersman Jr. went on to say: "The lives of pilots are very valuable, and this has been proven time and again on the European battlefield. The disadvantage that Britain is in now is largely due to the fact that in the battles of 1940 and the first half of 1941, they lost too many excellent pilots, which caused the overall quality of the pilots to continue to decline...... In fact, the British have no less than we do with the usual number of aircraft. ”

Little Hesman glanced at the expressionless Nagumo again and said, "The current Japanese Empire seems to be following the old path of Britain!" Your pilots don't care so much about their lives that they go into battle without even a parachute...... Moreover, your Zero fighters are too thin and lack the necessary protection, making it difficult to make a forced landing once hit. If the pilot does not parachute, he will sacrifice his life in vain. On the American side, the situation is the opposite, not only do their pilots parachute, but they also fly planes that are sturdy and can protect the pilots well. In addition, the Americans attach great importance to the search and rescue of parachutists, which allows them to maximize the protection of the rare resource of good pilots. ”

Nanyun Zhongyi let out a soft "oh" again, noncommittal. In fact, he knew everything that Little Hersman said. However, Japan has its own national conditions, and he, the commander of the First Mobile Fleet, has nothing to do.

Of course, it is still possible to order the pilot to bring a parachute on the plane, but it is difficult to say if these young people who think they have a bushido spirit do not listen......

"Captain Hersman, do you think those American planes this afternoon are from aircraft carriers?" Nagumo Tadaichi suddenly opened his mouth at this time, and shifted the topic from "pilot support" to the American planes that followed the returning planes to find the Japanese aircraft carrier this afternoon.

The 50 or so American planes certainly did not pose any threat to the Japanese aircraft carriers, and even before they could get close, they were driven back by 60 Zero fighters piloted by German foreign aid. The Americans lost almost 20 aircraft, and the skills of the Germans were really speechless, only 2 planes were shot down, one of the pilots parachuted and rescued, and one pilot unfortunately died.

But then Hersmann Jr. and several other German officers who had joined the war submitted reports with the same content - they all believed that the object of today's engagement was carrier-based aircraft!

"Yes," Hersman Jr. nodded, "the Americans must be using carrier-based aircraft, and the American SBD Dreadnought dive bomber is also divided into carrier-based and shore-based, and we have fought with both SBDs in Europe and know the difference between the two." Moreover, if the Americans were using shore-based aircraft, then they would definitely use Mustang (P51) fighters to escort them. The Mustang is a very good fighter that can compete with the Zero, and it has a great range. But today we do not see a single Mustang, which indicates that the planes took off from American aircraft carriers. ”

That is, there is at least one American aircraft carrier in the waters near the Hawaiian Islands!

Nagumo Tadaichi's face finally changed, and this time he looked a little excited. If the six aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet are all near the Hawaiian Islands, then Nagumo Tadaichi will definitely retreat as soon as he sees well.

But if there's only one, that's a chance to destroy the enemy!

……

"Nineteen planes were shot down and 31 made it back, eight of them wounded but repaired."

Kimmel is now finishing his meal, a sandwich with meat and lettuce, and a cup of coffee, discussing military information with his subordinates in the operational command center of the Pacific Fleet Command.

"When will the Pennsylvania be ready to start? What about the USS Tennessee and USS Nevada? Can it be dispatched? Kimmel asked, frowning.

"Admiral, the Pennsylvania has been launched, it will be able to move in the early hours of tomorrow morning, the Tennessee is fine, the bow of the Nevada is flooded, and the speed may drop a little, but it will not affect the sortie."

The Pacific Fleet is about to be dispatched! Kimmel probably thought that the Japanese would come to bomb tomorrow, so they couldn't let the fleet stay in the harbor and be bombed. Therefore, it is planned to lead the ships that can leave the port before dawn to join the aircraft carrier "Raider".

"Okay," Kimmel nodded, "then move the headquarters to the Pennsylvania." He thought for a moment, and then commanded, "As for the West Virginia and Maryland, which are still fighting, let the tugboats tow them to the edge of the Williston Battery and run aground." ”

The USS West Virginia and the USS Maryland were Colorado-class battleships with 4 twin 16-inch guns! The two battleships together are 16 16-inch cannons, plus the 2 16-inch cannons of the Williston battery, for a total of 18 16-inch cannons!

The Williston battery was in an excellent position to fire 360 degrees without dead ends (of course, it was impossible for all 18 cannons to fire at the same time, and naval guns always had dead ends), so that the two Colorado-class battleships ran aground there, and they could support the defense of Oahu with large-caliber guns - although Kimmel still did not believe that the Japanese would actually attack Oahu, he could not be unprepared at all.

……

"The commander, Lieutenant General Tsukahara 243, reported that Kaohsiung Airport was hit by an air raid by the US military, 22 planes were blown up and damaged on the ground, 4 Navy Zero fighters and 9 Army Type 1 fighters were shot down......"

In the "Yamato Hotel", Yamamoto Isoroku was also enjoying a sumptuous Japanese meal while listening to the staff officer's report on the latest progress of the war.

The war did not go as smoothly as expected, except that the Guam Raiders ended before the start of the bombing by American planes, and the attack on the Philippines also started unfavorably. The planes that took off from Taiwan to bomb the first attack wave of the US military's Clark airfield had just taken off from the airfields in Kaohsiung and Tainan, and the American bomber group arrived in Kaohsiung.

That's 36 B-17s and 36 B-25s, which can drop hundreds of tons of bombs at once! Fortunately, the level of bombing dropped by the American pilots was not good, and only a small part of the bombs fell on the Kaohsiung airfield, and the damage caused was not large. But the Japanese fighters that took off to engage the American planes were shot down 13!

"How could 13 Zeros and 1s be shot down?" Yamamoto Fifty-six's face became a board, "How did Tsukahara two-four-three do it?" Why are so many planes shot down? The fighters of the Americans are so powerful? ”

"Commander, most of the planes were not shot down by American fighters." Ugaki pestered the telegram sent by Tsukahara, frowned, and said, "There are 2 Zero and 5 Type 1 that were shot down by the American B-17 ......"

"Baga!" Yamamoto Isoroku was so angry that he threw his chopsticks away, and he didn't even have an appetite for tuna sashimi. "Actually shot down by a bomber, these pilots are stupid, they should all be seppuku."

"Commander, none of the pilots on the downed fighter plane carried parachutes, and they have all become gods!" "But our Zero and 1 planes were shot down not because the pilots were stupid, but because the American B-17s flew too high, and they flew to ...... above 10,000 meters" (to be continued. )