At 1:55 p.m. Washington time, a Japanese ambassador with a face full of shame and sweat, still panting, was taken to U.S. Secretary of State Cordell. Hull in front of him. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe Japanese ambassador is named Kichizaburo Nomura and is a retired admiral.

He was supposed to deliver the Imperial Japanese declaration of war to U.S. Secretary of State Hull at 1 p.m. However, the text of the "Declaration of War," a document sent from Japan, was long, smelly, and full of awkward words, making it difficult to translate into English. As a result, there was a lot of delay, and when Nomura finally got the translated text to meet Hull, he encountered an unprecedented traffic jam on the way.

I don't know what day it is today, the population is not large, and there are never a few cars on the road, Washington, D.C., is actually stuck in traffic. And it's not over when it's blocked! As a result, the elderly Nomura had no choice but to ignore the dignity of the general and the ambassador, got out of the car and trotted all the way, ran out of breath, and finally met US Secretary of State Cordell, whose face was full of justice, justice, and righteous indignation. Hull.

Old, obese Nomura gasped for a moment before he handed the declaration of war of the Japanese Empire to Kodel, whose face was slightly pale, with an apologetic face. Hull.

Hull already knew about the "Pearl Harbor incident". The Japanese are so hateful, too cunning, too shameless! Instead of attacking Clark Airport in the Philippines or attacking the British-controlled Singapore Fortress, they attacked Pearl Harbor without knowing whether they were alive or dead. As a result, President Roosevelt had to revise a speech that had been prepared long ago, in which President Roosevelt would have severely condemned the Japanese imperialist invasion of the Republic of the Philippines and the atrocities of killing American servicemen from the air, and would have vowed to defend the Philippines and American interests in the Far East. However, at 1:30 a.m., news came that Japanese planes had bombed Pearl Harbor, and the president had to postpone his radio address to the nation.

What is even more infuriating is that the Pearl Harbor base, which should have been on the highest alert a long time ago, was actually bombed by the Japanese by surprise and suffered quite heavy losses!

Cordel. Hull took the "Declaration of War" given by Nomura Kichizaburo and glanced at it to get the general idea of it - in fact, he knew it 40 minutes ago! But now he was furious.

He said: "This is the most outrageous, ridiculous, and reckless document I have seen in my 50 years in public office!" ”

Nomura Kichizaburo only felt ashamed, not because he was ashamed of the Americans, but because he did not do a good job of the things that the country had handed over, and he did not submit the "Declaration of War" to the Americans in time, so that the empire became a shameless country that launched a sneak attack.

"Mr. Secretary," Nomura said, "this time it was entirely my fault......

He spoke English, which Hull could understand. However, Hull did not believe that the plan for the "sneak attack on Pearl Harbor" was drawn up by Nomura, a retired admiral. Feeling deceived again, Hull twitched his face and only snorted softly.

Nomura Kichizaburo gritted his teeth and sacrificed a trick for Japanese samurai - asking for seppuku!

"It's all the fault of the next, in order to make up for the mistake, I ask for seppuku under the bottom!" Nomura Kichizaburo said loudly.

What the? Want to use a knife to cut your belly? Is it ****** in the United States? Hull felt the urge to vomit at the thought of human intestines, stomachs, livers, spleens, and other messy internal organs lying all over his office.

"No way!" Hull shouted, "You can't cut your belly with a knife!" This is not allowed, it is not in accordance with international law......" He said this again and felt that it was inappropriate, and immediately added, "If you do this, your foreign minister will also ask our ambassador to Japan to do the same!" ”

That's impossible! Nomura Shin said that Togo Shigetoku is not Tojo Hideki, how could he do such a thing. However, he still did not insist on apologetic in the American ******, and Hull said that this matter is not in accordance with international law, and since it is not legal, it will not be cut.

Nomura had to bow again to apologize, and then walked away. At the gate of the American ******, a team of gendarmes was already waiting for him. Now Nomura is no longer the Japanese ambassador, but a detained diplomat who will be exchanged with the U.S. ambassador to Japan at the behest of a neutral country.

U.S. Secretary of State Hull was outraged, as was U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He has now received reports of the losses at Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the battleship "Arizona", the heavy damage of the battleship "Oklahoma" and the loss of power, the heavy damage of the battleship "Maryland", the heavy damage of the battleship "California" and the loss of combat effectiveness, the heavy damage and fire of the battleship "West Virginia", the creation of the battleship "Tennessee" and the battleship "Nevada". Nearly 300 other aircraft were destroyed or damaged in Japanese bombing.

But this was not the thing that angered Roosevelt the most, what annoyed the American president the most was that the oil depot at Pearl Harbor was blown up by the Japanese, a large amount of fuel leaked, and it also caused a fire! Now that the entire Pearl Harbor is about to become a burning port, I wonder if it will be able to serve as the home port of the US Pacific Fleet after it is burned?

Roosevelt was an assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy, how important Pearl Harbor was to the hegemony of the Pacific!

If Pearl Harbor could not be the home port of the Pacific Fleet, then the home port of the Pacific Fleet would have to retreat more than 2,000 nautical miles to San Diego. If the fleet were to attack from San Diego, the distance of more than 2,000 nautical miles alone would have to sail for 5-7 days, and the fleet would have to bring fuel and supplies capable of sailing more than 4,000 nautical miles (taking into account the return trip). This would significantly limit the U.S. Navy's ocean-going combat capabilities.

"We must find ways to rescue the oil depots, we must extinguish the fire at Pearl Harbor as soon as possible, and we must immediately fight back -- we must teach these despicable and shameless Japanese a hard lesson!"

Roosevelt's voice was now full of anger, and his face was even more ugly than Hull's, and he was giving orders to Admiral Stark, the chief of naval operations, with a straight face.

"President, the counterattack will begin in 2 hours!" Admiral Stark looked at the President of the United States, who was about to explode, and hurriedly said an encouraging good news.

"Two hours?"

"We have 5 aircraft carriers near the Japanese island of Saipan, and it's still 3 a.m. (Guam time) there, and in 2 hours our aircraft carriers will be able to release carrier-based aircraft!"

Roosevelt's face looked a little better, and he asked, "So who is the commander of that aircraft carrier formation?" ”

"Lieutenant General Halsey."

"Well, he's a brave general." Roosevelt said, "I am confident that he will not disappoint the American people." ”

It would take another two hours for Halsey's fleet to release carrier-based aircraft, and the second strike wave, which took off from the Japanese aircraft carrier, arrived at Oahu, which was shrouded in smoke and war, at 8:30 a.m. Hawaii time, an hour and a half before Halsey sent carrier-based aircraft.

And at this moment, in the sky above Oahu, there are already thirty or forty P40, P51 and F4F fighters circling and waiting to fight!

The previous Japanese bombing of Hikeim, Wheeler, Kanuhei, and Ford Island airports had been very successful, destroying or severely damaging more than 300 aircraft. But there are still many usable planes inside Pearl Harbor.

In addition, the runways of the airfields were not destroyed by bombing - it was certainly impossible to destroy the runways of four large airfields with dozens of carrier-based aircraft, which would require much larger bombing or bombardment with large-caliber naval artillery.

In addition to the four major airports on Oahu, there are several smaller airports where a small number of aircraft are stationed. These planes and airfields were not destroyed by the first attack wave of the Japanese army, so when the second attack wave of the Japanese army arrived, fierce air battles soon began.

Because of the guidance of the radar, the American planes had already seized the high-altitude position before the arrival of the second Japanese attack wave. Seeing a Japanese plane group flying over, he immediately began to dive and attack.

The 64 Japanese Zeros escorting the escort did not hesitate to meet each other, and the two sides immediately launched a fierce air battle! Planes on both sides were constantly hit and caught fire, dragging thick smoke to the ground or the sea.

In this time and space, because the Fokker Zero has long been shining in Europe, and the Japanese elite pilots have no Chinese battlefield to train. Therefore, the superiority of the Zero aircraft in the early days of the Pacific War was not overwhelming. The Americans' P40, P51 and F4F, as long as they are used reasonably, can still shoot down many Zero aircraft......

The Type 99 dive bombers and Type 97 torpedo bombers in the second attack wave of the Japanese army seized the time to accelerate and pounce on Pearl Harbor. However, their luck was far less than that of the first attack wave, as all the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns in Pearl Harbor had been fired, and the sky was filled with smoke from the burning of heavy oil.

The oil depots at Pearl Harbor stored millions of tons of fuel, and although only a small part of the tanks were now destroyed, the smoke from the combustion still obscured the Japanese pilots' vision.

Shige, the commander-in-chief of the second attack wave, Shigeshi Shimazaki and Shaosa, found that their plane seemed to have plunged headlong into the fog, and the situation on the sea was very blurry, and only the burning battleship could be seen, and the others could not be seen.

In addition, the oil depot at Pearl Harbor is easy to find, and the biggest place where the fire burned!

As for the airfield, it was shrouded in smoke and could not be found at all. It is naturally impossible to bomb again.

Therefore, Shigeshige Shimazaki and Shaosa had no choice but to give orders to adjust the target of the attack through the radio. Let Type 97 torpedo bombers carrying 800 kg of armor-piercing bombs blow up ships that are burning on the sea; And let the Type 99 dive bomber continue to attack the oil depot and blow up more oil storage tanks. (To be continued.) )