"Imamura-kun, what do you think of this Yamato?"

During the day on 22 December, Yamamoto Isoroku hosted a banquet on the battleship Yamato, anchored next to Kauai Island, to entertain the newly arrived commander of the 16th Army of the Japanese Army. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although the Japanese army and navy have always looked down on each other, Yamamoto and Imamura are well-known good friends in the army and navy, both of them have good tempers, are easy to get along with, and have a common hobby - gambling money. And so a friendship was established that transcended the sea and the earth.

After welcoming Imamura to the Yamato from a dilapidated merchant ship requisitioned by the Army, Isoroku Yamamoto enthusiastically and somewhat ostentatiously took Imamura on a "ship tour" like a nouveau riche who had just bought a beautiful house.

"It's really luxurious, no wonder some people call it the Yamato Hotel, I think it's the most beautiful hotel in Tokyo and not half as good as the Yamato." Imamura-kun grinned, and said in a somewhat envious tone, "If I had such a comfortable headquarters, it would be better to give me a war minister." ”

"Isn't it just a comfortable headquarters," Yamamoto Isoroku said to Imamura with a smile as he dragged Imamura-kun into the most luxurious cabin in the entire Yamato-Commander's Hall, "As long as you take Hawaii, it's not easy to find a headquarters as luxurious as the Yamato?" Americans are very good at enjoying it. ”

At this time, a long table for eating Western food had been set up in the commander's hall. It was customary for the officers on board the Yamato to serve Western food for lunch, and the whole meal would be served in the order of soup, fish, meat, vegetables, and desserts. If you eat in the commander's hall, there will be orderly soldiers waiting for you. At the same time, there will be music to be enjoyed during the meal, which is played not in the commander's hall, but on the nearby aft deck. Normally, when the commander starts drinking black tea after eating, the music is just over.

Before it was lunch time, Yamamoto Isoroku sat down separately with Imamura-kun, Ugaki, and Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao, the commander of the 2nd Division, and began to discuss the battle situation.

The battle was certainly ideal, with the main batteries on Oahu already destroyed, and only one West Virginia still had a few 16-inch cannons to fire. However, it is not an opponent of the Yamato, and it will take at most one night to destroy. In addition, the large-caliber mortars of Fort Ruger (located on Diamond Hill) were not destroyed because they were in the dead end of the naval guns.

"That means that the 23rd Division of the Japanese officer will be able to land on Oahu?" Vice Admiral Maruyama Masao was so seasick and dizzy along the way, his face was pale, but he was still in a hurry to fight - the army is not as delicate as the navy, and he can endure any hardship, and seasickness is a fart!

"The 23rd?" Yamamoto Fifty-six glanced at Maruyama Masao, frowned, and said, "It's okay on the night of the 23rd, but the 2nd Division has been adrift for so many days, can it really be carried out immediately to land operations?" ”

"No problem!" Maruyama Masao patted his chest and said, "My Sendai Division is the elite of the imperial army, and I am not afraid of bumps. ”

Sendai people are not afraid of seasickness? Yamamoto Fifty-six didn't believe it, but he didn't argue with Maruyama Masao about anything, anyway, seasickness and fainting were the army's own business. He continued: "This time the navy has also mobilized a small number of marines and 30 internal fireboats, so it wants to carry out a surprise attack and seize the port of Honolulu in one fell swoop. ”

Oahu has two large harbors, one is Pearl Harbor, the home port of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which is a port located in the bay with narrow passages and surrounded by land, which is very easy to defend. One is the port of Honolulu, which is right next to the city of Honolulu, there are no bays, and there are Waikiki beaches that are suitable for landing to take advantage of.

Insiders and Marines can rush straight to the beach and head straight to the U.S. positions at Diamond Hill and capture the harbor of Honolulu. As long as the port can be taken, the large forces of the 16th Army will be easily disembarked.

Maruyama Masao frowned and was about to provoke a thorn, but Imamura Jun had already smiled and said, "Okay, the army can refer to the navy's plan, but the landing battle is mainly the army after all...... The plan had to be reworked by the command of the 16 Army. Commander Yamamoto, what do you think? “

"That's rightfully acted." Yamamoto said: "In addition, my officer has received information that the United States has amassed a large number of ships and troops in the ports of San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles on the west coast, apparently to reinforce Hawaii. ”

"Oh? No problem, right? Imamura asked, a little worried.

Although the vast majority of Japanese believed that the Imperial Navy was invincible, Imamura, as a vice admiral of the Army, had always known that the navy was not reliable. Before he got on the ship and set out for Japan, he gave an order: if he drowned, the commander of the 2nd Division, Maruyama Masao, would command the 16th Army, and if Maruyama drowned, he would directly command the 2nd Division. However, fortunately, there were no American ships and submarines along the way, and the transport group, which was not protected by many naval ships, actually arrived in Hawaii safely.

"In fact, the reinforcement of Hawaii by the Americans is exactly what the Navy wants." Yamamoto said with a smile, "So the Navy's 1st Fleet and 1st Mobile Fleet will go out to fight the U.S. Navy before the end of the month, and then they will not be able to support Oahu with naval guns and aircraft." ”

"There is no problem, as long as our army can go ashore, we can take Oahu without the help of the navy." Imamura replied confidently.

Maruyama on the side muttered in his heart: When did the Great Japanese Army think that it would rely on the Navy to win the war? If it weren't for the lack of budget, the army ship unit would build more ships, and maybe even the naval battle would have been fought by itself!

Wanting to fight a naval war was not Maruyama's personal idea, but the will of the entire Japanese Army. At this time, the Japanese Army had a military-level ship command, and in addition to army aircraft carriers and Yanglu ships, there were also combat ships (converted from merchant ships), attack boats (torpedo boats, gunboats, etc.), and even army submarines were being developed. In addition, the Japanese Army has its own shipyard and ship training department (roughly equivalent to the naval non-commissioned officer school), and it is really the most proficient army in naval warfare in the world.

……

On the same day that Yamamoto entertained his gambling friend Jun Imamura, Colonel Kimmel, Admiral Nimitz's old classmate, also returned to San Diego in disarray.

Because he was lucky not to die in the night battle on Hawaii Island, the black cauldron of the loss of Hawaii and the crushing defeat of the Pacific Fleet was borne by Kimmel alone. Before the others had even gone ashore, the order for dismissal, demotion and forced retirement had already been sent to the destroyer USS Symus!

As for the commander of the Hawaiian Army, Short, cannot now take the blame with him, because the Chief of Staff of the Army, Admiral Marshall, cannot now find another lieutenant general willing to go to Oahu to replace Short. Therefore, Short could only be promoted to general, and was ready to die for his country with a smile on Oahu.

"Chester, congratulations, you're now qualified enough to be a fleet commander." Colonel Kimmel with gauze on his head and a plaster cast on one arm arrived with Rear Admiral Fletcher (Fletcher is the commander of the aircraft carrier and is now being used, so he is still a major general). Seeing Nimitz hang up the rank of general, sitting in his own office, Kimmel really regretted it. Why can't he refuse President Roosevelt with all his heart? Otherwise, now he is the commander-in-chief, and Nimitz is behind the black pot.

"yes, I'm finally qualified enough." Nimitz smiled apologetically at his old classmate - this pot should have been on his back!

"But I'm still inexperienced," Nimitz asked Kimmel and Fletcher to sit down, and then poured a glass of whiskey for each of them, "so I still need your help." Hesbend, I'm going to ask you to be an advisor to the Pacific Fleet. ”

"Advisor?" Kimmel took a sip of his glass, "I thought I should find a place where no one is around." ”

"Introspection?" Nimitz shook his head, "Taking responsibility doesn't mean being at fault, and we all know that Pearl Harbor is not a good home port." ”

"But losing it has serious consequences." Kimmel sighed and said, "It's my fault...... I should not have allowed Halsey to bomb Saipan, and if the Japanese did not know where Halsey was, they would not have dared to continue attacking. By the way, Chester, I saw a lot of warship transports when I entered the port, and I also saw a lot of army ships boarding, is it going to reinforce Hawaii? It's not easy to succeed! ”

"Because of that super battleship?" Nimitz asked.

"That's right!" Kimmel nodded, "At least 80,000 tons of displacement, 9 18-inch cannons, and the armor is extremely strong, a 14-inch cannon can't hurt it at all." I reckon that even a North Carolina-class 16-inch cannon would have a hard time penetrating its broadside armor defenses. In addition, the boat is fast, with a speed of at least 27 knots, and even 28 knots! As long as it is in Hawaii, no surface ship can get close to Oahu. ”

The Yamato was not as powerful as Kimmel said, but because the Yamato took out three battleships with strong armor protection at one time, many people in the U.S. Navy are now replaced by "Yamatophobia". Now that the thinking of "Yamato is invincible" is a bit deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Nimitz has also been affected a little, and after listening to Kimmel's introduction, he nodded and said, "It's really terrible...... Still, I'll have to lead a fleet to take on this steel monster. ”

"What? Chester, do you really want to do this? Kimmel was taken aback by Nimitz's words.

Nimitz smiled bitterly and said, "2 North Carolina-class, it will arrive in a few days." I'm going to use them to divert the Japanese super-battleships so that the destroyers and cruisers can get close to Oahu. (To be continued.) )