The news of the main force of the Pacific Fleet being dispatched again reached the huge Scaffield barracks on Oahu a little earlier. Admiral Short did not keep www.biquge.info secret from his men, but told the good news to all the officers and men in the Scaffield barracks by radio, which greatly boosted the somewhat depressed morale.

At the same time, the fierce battle that took place at the northern foot of the Wyanai Ridge attracted the attention of everyone in the U.S. Army command in Hawaii. Although in Short's plan, the Wyanai Ridge was not the decisive battlefield that would decide the life and death of American troops on Oahu. But the battle that took place at Wyanai Ridge was, after all, the first encounter between the U.S. Army and the Japanese Army.

It's the first battle! If the first battle is so difficult that people can't find the north, the next decisive battle on the plains of Oahu will not be easy to fight.

However, judging from the first day of confrontation, these Japanese devils were far less terrible than the Germans. Because their style of play is completely a battle-style, it is just a coordination of artillery and foot, and there is very little cooperation between the air and the ground. They had overwhelming air superiority, but they didn't drop many bombs on the head of the 5th Infantry Regiment, which was holding the Wyanai Ridge (the Japanese naval air force was recuperating, and only more than 20 Army Type 1 planes flew in from Kauai to support). Due to the lack of adequate air support, and the Japanese Navy's naval guns were limited in their threat to the American forces defending in the mountains. Therefore, on the first day of land engagement, the Japanese did not make any major breakthroughs. The officers and men of the 5th Regiment of the 25th Division of the US Army withstood it.

Admiral Short, although his face was tired, stood there with an excited look on his face and said to his chief of staff, Colonel Collins: "Admiral Nimitz left San Diego yesterday, and if he takes the Z-shaped route at a speed of 15 knots, he will be able to reach Oahu in a maximum of 200 hours...... We'll be able to keep it until then. When the navy draws away the Japanese aircraft carriers and battleships, it will be time for our armored forces to counterattack, these Japanese devils will definitely not be able to withstand it! ”

"That's right! They won't be able to stand it! Colonel Collins approvingly, "There is simply no infantry in the world that can hold back armored forces...... Not to mention the Japanese, even if the Germans are allowed to come, they will not be able to stop it. ”

In the last two years or so of world wars, the German armored forces have made too much impression on the world. In front of the steel monsters of the Germans, the most powerful army in the world was defeated in a matter of days, and there was not even the slightest strength to resist. The infantry, capable of holding back the German armored forces, did not exist. So now that it is replaced by American armored forces to crush the Japanese infantry, the effect should not be bad, right?

According to reports from the front, the Japanese troops who landed on Oahu were poorly equipped, there were no tanks, no assault guns, no self-propelled guns, as if there were not even cars. How could such a poor ghost infantry hold off 152 (not including reserves) American tanks on Oahu?

The thought of the tank crushing the Japanese infantry swept away the gloom on Admiral Short's face. But at this moment, Colonel Collins received another somewhat disappointing telegram from the staff officer, which was from Admiral Nimitz.

Admiral Nimitz said his fleet would approach Oahu between January 1 and 3, 1942. He hoped that the personnel who were preparing to retreat could be concentrated in advance at Kaneohe Bay...... When the time comes, light cruisers and destroyers will come and pick people up. ”

Kaneohe Bay is located southeast of Oahu, facing the sea and backed by the Kurau Mountains. Because of the "natural danger" of the Kurau Mountains, there is no landfall value in Kaneohe Bay. Therefore, the Japanese army has not shelled there until now.

In fact, it was not Yamamoto Isoroku who was negligent, but the Japanese Navy wanted to keep Kaneohe Bay for the Japanese fleet to use. Although the water depth and topography are not as deep as Pearl Harbor, it is also an easily defended bay and has some port facilities. Once Pearl Harbor was blocked by the Americans with a shipwreck, it could be used as an anchorage for the Combined Fleet in Hawaii.

Colonel Collins paused for a moment, and then said, "Commander-in-Chief Nimitz also hopes that we can be prepared to retreat to the Kurau Mountains for a long time......"

The Kurau Mountains are the largest mountain range on Oahu, with a mountain that occupies half of the island, and the terrain is difficult to defend and difficult to attack. And the mountain range stretches along the east and north shores of Oahu. In many places the foot of the mountain is the coast, if the U.S. forces retreat to the Kurau Mountains after the fall of the Oahu Plains. Then the Pacific Fleet will be able to supply them with submarines. So as soon as Nimitz took office, he asked the army on Oahu to be ready to drill ravines.

"Or do you want to retreat to the Kurau Mountains and hold out for a long time?" Admiral Short's expression, which had just looked a little better, became solemn again. He knew that Nimitz said this because he had no confidence in the decisive battle at sea in a few days...... Perhaps Nimitz didn't want to fight a decisive battle at all.

And if the Japanese firmly control the sea, then even if the battle for the Oahu Plains is won, it will only be temporary. In the end, the battle for Oahu will inevitably be lost, and the treacherous Kurao Mountains will become a refuge for the American troops on Oahu......

Admiral Short nodded and said to Collins, "I see, send a telegram to Admiral Nimitz, and we will seek a decisive battle with the Japanese landing force after his fleet arrives." If the decisive battle is not won, I will lead my troops to the Kurau Mountains. ”

……

"2,000 nautical miles, 10 knots, 200 hours even without taking the anti-submarine route...... The U.S. Pacific Fleet will arrive as early as January 3 or 4. If you want to sail in a zigzag, there is a possibility of arriving on the 7th or 8th. Therefore, the rest of the 1st Mobile Fleet will end on January 2, and on the 3rd it will arrive in the designated sea area for ambush. ”

On the battleship "Yamato," Isoroku Yamamoto was presiding over a joint military meeting of the army and navy. Tadaichi Nagumo of the Mobile Fleet, Jun Imamura of the 16th Army of the Army, and Paulus, a German military adviser, were all invited to the Commander's Hall and sat around a topographical map of the Hawaiian Islands and its surrounding waters (Yamamoto did not use a sea chart, but deliberately used a topographic map that the Army could understand).

Since neither Yamamoto nor anyone else present at the meeting expected that the main forces of the Pacific Fleet and the SS01 flotilla would act separately. Therefore, they all miscalculated the time of the decisive battle - because with the SS01 fleet, the speed of the fleet would drop to about 10 knots. Without the SS01 fleet, the speed would have been around 15 knots.

Combined Fleet Chief of Staff Ugaki continued: "It is expected that the U.S. Pacific Fleet will still use the tactics of luring the main force of our fleet away from the vicinity of Oahu, and then use the main force of the fleet to attack Oahu. However, our Combined Fleet Command has studied and decided to adopt the strategy of using the 1st Mobile Fleet to ambush the waters south of Hawaii in order to annihilate the US fleet, which is tasked with luring the enemy, and then support the 1st Fleet in its operations. At the same time, the 1st Fleet will start a decisive battle with the enemy's fleet attacking Oahu......"

"Chief of Staff Ugaki!" The commander of the 16th Army, Jun Imamura, suddenly interrupted Ugaki at this time and said, "This officer doesn't care how to fight the decisive battle at sea, he just wants to know when the navy's sneak attack on Honolulu Beach can be launched?" Now the fighting on land on Oahu is fierce, the American resistance is fierce, the firepower is fierce, and the Imperial Army does not have enough air support. Now every step forward is a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood! ”

When Imamura said this, he glanced at his good friend Yamamoto with some resentment. What a shame the Navy is! Obviously, there were so many bombers, but they refused to send them to support the 2nd Division, and they said nonsense such as "the pilots are too tired and need to recuperate" (this is what Nagumo Tadaichi, who is known for his love for pilots, said). If you are afraid of hardship and tiredness in a war, such an army still dares to say that it is a dignified Japanese Imperial Army?

Yamamoto Fifty-six knew that the army was making difficult progress on Oahu, and he smiled apologetically: "The sneak attack on Waikiki Beach will take place at the same time as the decisive battle at sea begins. Because once the U.S. ground forces on Oahu are completely wiped out, the U.S. Pacific Fleet may cancel the reinforcement plan. So that our Navy lost an opportunity to destroy the main forces of the US Pacific Fleet! Imamura-kun, there aren't many opportunities like this! ”

……

"Sir, Admiral Short has decided to fight a decisive battle with the landed Japanese Army in the early hours of January 3rd."

On the battleship "North Carolina", the chief of staff of the Pacific Fleet, Rear Admiral Frederick, was reporting to Nimitz on the plans of the Hawaiian Army.

"The army will lure the enemy deep into the outskirts of the Scaffield barracks, first use the strong fortifications there for defense, and then deploy 150 M3 tanks to counterattack after fully killing and wounding the Japanese ground forces."

"Didn't the Japanese army that landed on Oahu have tanks and anti-tank weapons?" Nimitz asked.

"The Japanese Army attacking Oahu certainly did not have tanks (but the Japanese Navy did), probably some 37mm anti-tank guns. However, the number will not be too much, and it will not be able to deal with 150 m3s. So Admiral Schott assured that the counterattack that began in the early hours of January 3 would be victorious. However, in order to maximize the success of the counterattack, he hopes to have strong air and sea support. ”

Nimitz thought for a moment and said, "Tell Admiral Short that on January 2, SBD and F4F will fly to Oahu and bomb the beachhead where the Japanese have landed. In the early hours of 3 January, New Orleans-class heavy cruisers and Cleveland-class light cruisers will break into the vicinity of Oahu, and they will be responsible for shelling Japanese positions. Then he paused again and added, "But the air support on January 2 and the shelling in the early hours of January 3 are likely to be the most powerful for a long time to come...... There is a good chance that the Hawaiian defenders will face a long and difficult time. (To be continued.) )