Admiral Schott's opinion about the might of the armored forces is well-founded, at least from the experience of the European and North African theaters. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoTo defeat an armored cluster with 150 tanks, you will have to come up with at least a few dozen tanks or assault guns. No one can defeat an armored cluster with bayonets, rifles, machine guns, mortars and grenades...... But the Japs are always cunning and should never be underestimated!

In addition to rifles, bayonets, machine guns, and mortars (as well as a small number of mountain guns, infantry guns, and howitzers), the Japanese who landed on Oahu were heavily armed with a new type of weapon called the Iron Fist anti-tank grenade launcher. Each infantry squad carried 10 ......

In addition, it is not that the Japanese army here in Hawaii does not have armored units, but the Japanese Army does not have armored units here in Hawaii. But the Japanese Navy had an armored unit in Hawaii and would soon be on Oahu. Now Rudolph. Feng. Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop stayed with dozens of officers and men of the Japanese Navy's armored forces on board the I-16, a large submarine with a displacement of 2,184 tons on the water.

It's not surprising that the Navy has armored forces, the Marines. But transporting tanks by submarine is a brain-wrenching approach, at least Rudolph. Feng. Ribbentrop never dreamed of it.

The officer in command of this naval armored unit was a naval commander named Sasaki Hanku. After graduating from the Naval Academy, he worked at sea, serving as a destroyer captain, a submarine captain, and a submarine captain. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, he served as the commander of the Special Attack Force, responsible for transporting pocket submarines with five submarines to sneak attack the U.S. warships in Pearl Harbor.

However, the special attack operation was finally canceled because the U.S. military was on guard, and not long ago, this Sasaki Hankuchi Daisa was appointed as the commander of the Navy's armored group by Isoroku Yamamoto, who was also the commander of the Marine Corps!

"Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop, you said you came to learn how to use a tank?" Sasaki Hanjiu Daisa is an authentic "naval soldier master" and can naturally speak fluent English. And he was very surprised that this German army officer, who had participated in the Western Front and the North African campaign, had come to learn how to use tanks from the Japanese Navy.

"Yes, Mr. Osa." Rudolph. Feng. Ribbentrop was not like his father, the foreign minister, who was full of nonsense, he was an honest man.

"Then may I ask first, how does your German navy use tanks?" Hanjiu Sasaki felt that he should learn from each other with the Germans...... Let's discuss the issue of studying the use of tanks.

"Dazuo, in fact, our German navy is lagging behind in this regard." Rudolph. Feng. Ribbentrop said, "The German Navy has no tanks and no armored units, and now all German tanks and armored units are in the army." ”

Rudolph. Feng. Ribbentrop paused and said modestly: "That's why Vice Admiral Paulus sent me to learn how to use tanks from the Japanese Navy." ”

"Oh, I see." Sasaki Hanjiu nodded, then raised his wrist to look at the time, "It's almost, it's going to be dark outside, it's time to float." Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop, you wait 45 minutes and you'll see how we attack from the sea with tanks. ”

……

The tanks of the Japanese Navy are used for sneak attacks, which is very much in line with the national nature of Japan, and the wars they launch always start with sneak attacks.

However, the tanks of the US Army on the US island of Oahu are also used "very American", and they are very arrogant, and they have not thought of revealing the fake and hiding the truth. Without waiting for it to get completely dark, they began to erect pontoon bridges over the river north of the Scaffield barracks with great fanfare, while the M3 tanks of the brigade drove out of the hidden area and began to wait in formation on the south bank of the river.

However, these American tanks did not wait long, because the engineering capabilities of the Americans in this era were the first in the world, so the pontoon bridge was erected quickly. As if showing off their wealth, the American sappers drove a lot of tracked engineering vehicles from nowhere, and then they were fully mechanized, and several pontoon bridges were erected in less than one hour, which made the Japanese scouts stunned.

The pontoon bridge was erected, and the American tanks and infantry rumbled across the river, but instead of attacking immediately, they began to line up. Instead of the various tank clusters that are common on the battlefields of Europe and North Africa, the columns are World War I-style tank-guided infantry formations.

And it was not to concentrate troops to attack a little, but to pull a 5-kilometer-long horizontal formation to prepare for a flat push, which was the way of World War I. Now the Americans, although they have built a large number of tanks, wish that each infantry division should be equipped with a tank regiment. But their officers did not know how to use these tanks, and they still followed the lines of the First World War, letting the tanks guide the infantry to attack, and also stretched the front wide.

At the same time that the American infantry and tanks put on a wide front, the American artillery also opened fire.

American artillery, of course, is powerful, with more artillery and more shells! Don't pour money on the Japanese positions.

Although the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions of the US Army were newly formed "triangle divisions" (only three infantry regiments), the divisional artillery did not shrink at all. The large establishment of 2,770 people, including 1 155 howitzer battalion, 3 105mm howitzer battalions, 1 anti-tank battalion, and 1 air defense battalion. All of them are motorized artillery, they don't use horse-drawn ones, they are all equipped with trucks (of course, the infantry is also motorized, and the US imperialists' annual production of millions of cars is not a fictitious), and the speed of shifting positions is very fast. And all the equipment has a backup, if it breaks, it will be replaced!

Admiral Short, his chief of staff, Colonel Collins, and other members of staff, drove in a small car to a small hill belonging to the Wyanai Ridge. Look at the army of steel slowly unfolding under your feet, and the Japanese positions overwhelmed by American artillery fire. This is the most spectacular picture of war! Admiral Short felt that Admiral Nimitz was too pessimistic, how could the Japanese occupy Oahu? In the face of such a powerful mechanized army and such a powerful firepower, even if the Germans came, with 2 divisions...... As long as it is not an armored division, it will definitely only suffer defeat.

Fearing a Japanese battleship gun counterattack, the preparation time for artillery fire was short, only 10 minutes, but it was sufficient. Because the Japanese army was attacking before the bombardment early this morning, they did not build a strong position at all.

"Admiral, the shelling is over." Colonel Collins reminded Admiral Short.

Short nodded with a smile and waved his hand: "Let's start, let the tanks lead the infantry attack and crush those damn Japanese devils!" ”

……

Four kilometers away from the 5-kilometer-long American offensive formation, on a small hill that belongs to the remnants of the Kurao Mountains, Lieutenant General Paulus and Japan's Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao were also observing the Americans' armored clusters with telescopes and very dim light.

After looking at it for a while, Paulus put down his binoculars, smiled and said, "The Americans' tanks are too scattered...... About a hundred and dozens of tanks pulled 5 km, and all of them were light tanks, so it will not work. As long as your men are not intimidated by the momentum of the American tanks and run away, you should be able to crush them with an iron fist and 37mm anti-tank guns. ”

"What? Running away on your own? Maruyama Masao also put down his binoculars and glared at Paulus, "The soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army, the samurai of His Majesty the Emperor, are not afraid of death, how can they escape?" ”

Not afraid of death? Are you sure? Lieutenant General Paulus was very skeptical.

At this moment, in the Japanese position in the northern part of the small Oahu Plain (not the forward position that had just been bombed, but the main position in the rear), nearly 5,000 Japanese officers and soldiers who were fully prepared had just finished their "last meal." Their "last meal" was surprisingly good by Japanese Army standards, with sticky rice cooked with red beans and a little pork and dried fish, and each person was given a kettle lid of sake. Being able to eat such a delicacy before fighting to the death with the Americans' tanks, every officer and soldier of the 2nd Division now feels that they can become gods without worry!

Before entering the position, the daredevils who carried poorly made anti-tank weapons (i.e., "Iron Fists") shaped like big hammers and had grenades on their bodies said blessings to each other - Kudanzakami!

Although the high-ranking officials of the army boasted about this advanced German weapon, called the "Iron Fist," the officers and soldiers at the lower levels had little confidence when they saw the rough appearance of the "Iron Fist" that had been issued. Therefore, it is generally felt that it is more reliable to hang a few more grenades on the body to die with the American tanks. Therefore, the first actual combat use of "Iron Fist" in this time and space was actually used as a suicide weapon.

By this time, the American tanks had already rumbled up, and the sound of the tracks rolling and the motor turning was mixed together, from far to near, getting louder and louder. The positions hastily constructed by the Japanese army were so rudimentary, there were no anti-tank trenches, no anti-tank traps, and even anti-tank mines had not had time to be laid. In addition to a small number of 37mm guns and battleships firing from afar, only daredevils with "iron fists" could be counted on.

With a deliberately suppressed command, the daredevils in the trenches climbed out one after another, crawled forward for more than 200 meters, and then drilled into the pre-dug foxhole to wait for the American tank to approach.

According to the anti-tank plan provided by the German adviser Paulus, the more than 5,000 Japanese troops formed only the first line of defense, with a second line of defense 3 kilometers behind them, and a third line of defense after 3 kilometers -- Paulus called this a defense in depth. (To be continued.) )