In order to fight the crucial first battle, Emperor Takahito, with the support of Yamamoto Isoroku, recalled Yamaguchi Tamon, who had been sent to China for military exchanges (in fact, to learn Chinese air defense tactics), and reappointed him as commander of the Combined Fleet

As a matter of fact, as early as the war of aggression against China, the high-level "southward" faction of the Japanese military regarded the United States as the ultimate imaginary enemy, but there were two distinct lines for the strategy of fighting against the United States: one was to attack Guam, the Philippines, and other places that were relatively close to Japan, and gradually encroach on the Shili range of the United States, and the other was to attack Hawaii directly and long-distance to inflict heavy damage on the main force of the US Pacific Fleet, and then turn back to deal with the US forces in the South China Sea and the islands in the western Pacific Ocean. Of the two, Yamaguchi was already more inclined to the latter, and some of the information he learned in China strengthened his thoughts

During his time in China, Yamaguchi Tawen carefully studied the previous battles between China and the Western army, and found that although the Western army showed more bravery in some battles than he imagined, it was too dependent on supplies and reinforcements, and once the two were cut off (the actual combat was especially afraid of the penetration of the Chinese army for this reason), they would often collapse without a fight, simply put, the Western army may not be much inferior to the armies of China and Japan in terms of not being afraid of death, but when it comes to hardship and psychological endurance in adversity, That's too far off

As a result, Yamaguchi became more and more determined to take the Hawaiian Islands first, with the beginning of Jihua. Japan's national strength is far from that of the United States, and even if the Americans can only divide half of the Liliang, they can easily drag Japan to death, so it is very necessary for Japan to rely on sneak attacks to gain an advantage in the early stage of the war. And there is only one chance for a sneak attack, so naturally it is necessary to inflict as much damage as possible on the Americans, and what place is there more than the capital ships of the US army gathered at Pearl Harbor?

In addition, Pearl Harbor was quite far away from Japan, and the Americans would never have imagined that the Japanese Combined Fleet would attack there by surprise. Sneak attacks are clearly more likely to be successful. And as long as the capital ships of the US Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor are destroyed. The Japanese Combined Fleet will fully establish its naval supremacy in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean, and even though there are many US troops in the South China Sea and even on the Pacific Islands, they will definitely not be able to resist the imperial forces that have been lying on the back for several years

And after discovering the Achilles' heel of the Western army, Yamaguchi Tawen came up with a new plan that was so bold that even he felt crazy. After handing it over to the sea phase Yamamoto fifty-six. The latter, who had always been bold, couldn't help but tremble. Half-ringing before asking, "Yamaguchi-kun, if this plan can be successful." Indeed, the Pacific Fleet of the United States will not be able to recover for a few years (Yamamoto, as in history, although he has given a high evaluation of the industrial strength of the United States, but still underestimated a little), and theoretically it can even pose a threat to the United States itself, and the empire will have a little possibility of defeating the United States, not just forcing the United States government to negotiate peace with us and recognize the Empire's occupation of some islands in the South Seas as in the previous plan."

Speaking of this, Yamamoto Fifty-six changed his words and muttered, "However, if your Jihua wants to succeed, you must occupy Oahu and capture more than half of the military supplies in the Mi military base at Pearl Harbor, but where is it so easy?" The Mi army is not like the Chinese Kuomintang army back then, which did not destroy weapons and ammunition when it was defeated, unless the morale of the Mi army in Pearl Harbor completely collapsed, is this possible, Yamaguchi-kun, is your Jihua too risky? What's more, those coastal forts at Pearl Harbor alone are not so easy to deal with, and even if our Nagato-class battleships are still there, it will be difficult to defeat them, let alone now."

When Yamaguchi heard this, he immediately replied confidently, "The Hawaiian fortress is not difficult to solve, but it is flawed in design in the first place, and if we can invest enough ground troops, we can completely conquer it." Well, I admit that in order to guarantee the suddenness of this offensive, ground forces and transport ships should be brought as little as possible, but even then we are not without other options. The anti-aircraft guns of the Mi anti-aircraft army could not protect the fortified fortresses, we could use bombers to sweep them away first, and surprise them with low-altitude raids, and the deployment of the enemy's air defense positions had already been detected by the Imperial agents, so it should not be difficult to do this. After completely sweeping away the anti-aircraft Liliang of the Mi army, we can dispatch Zero heavy carrier-based bombers to dive and drop bombs from high altitudes, and attack the relatively weak top of the Hawaiian fort with special 1.8-ton semi-armor-piercing aerial bombs, which will surely be able to destroy them easily. Since the Imperial warships are all out of range of the cannons of the Hawaiian forts, they will not be of any use until the end of the battle, and as long as these cannons are destroyed, the marines can calmly land and occupy Oahu, and against the remnants of the Mi army, an elite infantry brigade is enough. As for the issue of burning warehouses before the defeat of the Mi army, we can rely on the help of our expatriates on the island, as long as we can interfere for 10 minutes at the critical moment. Moreover, the Mi army has always been extravagant and wasteful, and the consumption of the imperial army is much smaller than theirs, even if only a third of it is captured, it is enough for the garrison of a division to consume at least a year"

Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head after hearing this, and said, "Even if the loyalty of those expatriates is trustworthy, they are only civilians after all, and if this happens, the fleet will not even have enough fuel to return home!" At that time, I am afraid that we will have to abandon those transport ships and that brigade (only one brigade will be used in the landing battle, and if Oahu can be captured, Japan will continue to increase its forces to one division. These are all elite troops left over from the Sino-Japanese War, so give up and leave them to fend for themselves on the island? Yamaguchi-kun, if this jihua of yours can succeed, it is indeed very haode, but if it fails, I am afraid that the national fortunes of the empire will end here, it is too crazy, too crazy, I have always thought that you are a calm and self-controlled person, how can you go to China and come back like those young staff officers of the army in the past who only think about victory and do not worry about defeat? ”

"It's not that I've changed, it's that the empire has no other choice now!" , Yamaguchi couldn't suppress his emotions and shouted anxiously. (To be continued......)