The reactionary attack by the 1st Guerrilla Detachment of the Japanese Combined Fleet, which began in the early morning of 28 December, on the southeastern column of the British and American navies in the Indian Ocean, was absolutely the most ferocious of World War II.

At about 7 o'clock in the morning, the southeast column had just finished its chaotic antisubmarine operations in the early hours of the morning and was ready to take off carrier-based planes to search the sea, but only a few TBMs had just taken off, and a Japanese attack plane group with more than 100 planes was instantly killed from the north. Within three minutes, all the American planes that had taken off were shot down, the escort aircraft carrier USS Suwannee sank on the spot, and the air defense cruiser USS Carybdis, which Rear Admiral Burroughs was under the command of the ship, fought back with the six-headed Banshee (Scylla) and a group of destroyers, but only four enemy planes were shot down, but they themselves were sunk one after another, and then the Japanese attack aircraft group, which still had ammunition left, began to attack the transport ships.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the first attack wave of the Japanese army left, and the surviving transport fleet of the main force scattered in all directions while spontaneously salvaging the people who had fallen into the water, trying to win a glimmer of life for themselves by rushing wildly, but this struggle was doomed to be futile, because their speed was too slow. At 11 o'clock, the second attack wave of the Japanese army flew again to the surprise attack, and although the transports were weak and weak and used the ship's anti-aircraft guns to fight back, they had little effect, and the transports sank one after another, and the sea was full of British and American officers and men struggling after falling into the water.

From early morning to 3 p.m., the Japanese fleet attacked a total of 3 times, and this was not the most terrible scene, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, everyone witnessed the most desperate scene: the menacing Kongo-class team arrived with 4 top class heavy cruisers at a high speed of 29 knots, and began to sweep the sea with 356mm or 203mm guns. Wantonly massacre of fleeing transport ships, although the Japanese were interested in transport ships, they were very unhappy with the Americans who refused to stop and surrender. Without hesitation, send them to the bottom with large-caliber naval guns.

The killings continued until the sun went down, and the two U.S. infantry divisions and naval personnel totaled more than 40,000 people, and the only transport boat that managed to escape after dark was a transport boat, with a total number of less than 1,200 men and a survival rate of less than 3%. In addition, only 2 ships were taken prisoner intact, one of which was a fast tanker. The Japanese needed tankers, and no matter how the tankers ran, the Japanese would not sink them. Instead, planes were sent to follow them first, and finally heavy cruisers pounced on them to capture them; The other is a fast transport ship, and it is an upgraded version of the rare Victory Ship (a freewheel, which can reach speeds of more than 15 knots. The tonnage and carrying capacity are also stronger than those of the free wheel. Although the ship also ran very fast at first, it obediently raised the white flag and anchored and stopped in the face of the Japanese warship that came to intercept, and did not try to destroy or open the sea valve to sink the sea like other ships.

After boarding the ship and inspecting it, it was found that there were more than 40 Sherman tanks on it, as well as a whole battalion of 155mm cannons (commonly known as M1 long-legged Tom) and related accessories. As for the other ships. Takagi Takeo, who commanded the artillery battle, sank him with a "very heavy" heart -- he was not mentally disturbed by the massacre of the Americans, but he was annoyed that the Americans were dying and refused to surrender. Sinking these transports was as painful to him as sinking his own booty. He unceremoniously directed the warships to sink countless lifeboats and rafts as for those US officers and men who would rather sink their own ships than fall into the hands of the Japanese navy -- and as for saving people, he lacked the slightest interest and patience.

"Sir, a great victory!" Mitsuo Fuchida, who commanded the group of planes, got off the plane and said to Ryunosuke Kusaka with a smile, "And I also found a very interesting situation." ”

"Tell me about it."

"Today the planes are a lot more powerful and seem to be faster." Mitsuo Fuchida laughed at himself, "Could it be that people are in good spirits when they are happy, and even their judgment is confused?" ”

"It's normal because you use American gasoline." Minoru Genda quickly revealed the mystery, "Logistics says that the American gasoline label is higher than ours, and the performance is better than ours, have you ever used No. 100 gasoline (octane number 100)?" ”

"I used some before the war, it was rare, and then I couldn't see it even more when the United States embargoed it, and there is still this thing in China?"

"One more point, I guess it's a few hundred tons...... For testing new aircraft, combat units don't think about it. Genda said in a helpless tone, "But the problem is that what the Americans casually take out is No. 100 gasoline - what you are using today is only a mixture of American gasoline and domestic gasoline, and it is not pure American gasoline, and you are not happy to use the latter?" ”

"Oops......" Mitsuo Fuchida had a painful face: In order to save high-grade gasoline, Japanese planes used low-grade gasoline of No. 79 when they made transfer flights.

"The gap between us and the United States is too big, how will this battle be fought next?"

"Don't overthink it." Ryunosuke Kusaka comforted him, "Chief Takagi has captured another oil tanker today, and it is estimated that there will be American gasoline on it, and Chief Tsukahara said that as long as he is in charge of the mobile fleet for a day, the high-grade gasoline will be open for you to use - nothing more important than combat." ”

"It feels so good!" Mitsuo Fuchida looked eager to try, "Now I really want to go back to Socotra Island and experience the performance of the new aircraft provided by the Germans, if it is paired with American gasoline, it will be perfect." ”

At this moment, Tsukahara 243 walked out of the command tower, his face gloomy, and he didn't seem to be happy about today's victory.

"Sir?!"

"I just received a telegram that Lae has been lost, more than 10,000 officers and soldiers are shattered, and the defensive posture of Bougainville Island is also precarious, I am afraid that we will not be able to hold it back." Tsukahara took a few deep breaths, "Send a telegram to Vice Admiral Takagi, asking him to leave 1 heavy cruiser and 2 destroyers to escort the prisoners slowly, and the rest will return at full speed, and I will also fight the American northbound column - not a single American soldier wants to run from the Indian Ocean to support the Pacific Ocean!" ”

The mobile fleet headed by Tsukahara 243 and Kusaka Ryunosuke did not initially think that the supplies provided by the German side were useful: the German side could not use either bombs or torpedoes with Japan, and it might be possible to use it for reconstruction, but it was not realistic to carry out large-scale transformation at a time when the war was so fierce, and as for gasoline, American gasoline was even better than German gasoline, and with a lot of captures, it did not seem to be necessary.

But then they became excited: instead of simply sending torpedoes and bombs, the Germans replaced them with supporting aircraft, and according to the report of the trio of Germans, the combat capability of the new German carrier-based aircraft was stronger than that of the mobile fleet's current equipment. In order to continue to fulfill the blockade obligations and smoothly receive German equipment, Horiyoshi immediately ordered the Marines to land and occupy Socotra Island, and also used the captured American supplies to repair the airfields on the island as soon as possible - the blow up of them was also due to the mobile fleet carrier-based aircraft.

The German support list included a total of 60 aircraft in the early stage: 30 Bf-219, 20 He-218 and 10 Ju-98. The Ju-98 is the latest finalized product of the Junkers company, which can be regarded as a German upgrade of the Tianshan carrier-based aircraft. Bf-219 and He-218 can be used on the Eastern Front, so the order volume is very large, and there is no worry about sales, while Ju-98 can only be used in the Navy, the market is small, and it will also impact Ju-87C orders, so Junkers is very unhappy to open an additional production line, and just wants to deal with Ju-87C in a so-so way, but after the Navy obtained the Italian Aquila aircraft carrier, HNA forced Junkers to put into production through Speer, as for the Ju-87C that has been produced, HNA vowed to put it on the list of aid supplies to Japan and would never let Junkers' investment go down the drain.

After Hoffman learned about this, he reprimanded the Junkers boss in the name of the commander of the Air Force, on the one hand threatened to cancel the company's bidding for four heavy bombers, and on the other hand, he added 300 personnel to HNA, so the official establishment of HNA was expanded to 800 people in three wings, and Richthofen was excited, and ran to place an order for 200 Ju-98s.

Among the new aircraft, the Bf-219 is the fastest in production, and the Bf-109 has been replaced one after another on the Eastern Front, and the 200 Bf-109s that the Italians will receive are actually replaced from the Eastern Front. In the pilot's words, after using the Bf-219, I feel that my side has twice as many planes at once, because the Bf-109 can only fly for more than 2 hours, deducting more than one hour in takeoff, landing, and return, and the time that can really be used for combat is generally not more than 45 minutes, but the Bf-219 can easily reach 4 hours, and after deducting the halfway time, the time of staying in the air and engaging fire is as long as one and a half hours, which virtually doubles the combat time. It is especially good when it is used to pursue Russian bombers: in the past, Russian planes always bullied Bf-109 with short legs, and often ran away after throwing bombs, if they were not caught at the first time, Bf-109 would not have enough fuel to chase after them, and now when they encounter Bf-219, the Red Army will use this tactic again is a complete dead end.

The He-218 has also won praise from the front-line troops, although its bomb load and ability to resist attacks are not as good as Stuka, but the speed is too fast, when throwing away the bomb and running away, the average Red Army fighter cannot catch him at all, and the evaluation of the air forces on the Eastern Front is very pertinent - fighting with this kind of aircraft is called blitzkrieg! As a result, a large number of Stuka were pushed out of the ranks of dive bombers and began to switch careers to serve as ground attack aircraft.

The Italian leader was also interested in the He-218 and wanted to be authorized to produce it in Italy, and he wanted to use it in an attack on the island of Malta - Speer agreed without saying a word. (To be continued.) )