March 19, 1943, Tokyo, Japan. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Amid the shouts of celebration of the victory in the Panama campaign, the most powerful ministers or commanders of the Japanese Empire gathered in the prime minister's office in Nagata Town. The expressions of each of them were solemn, and there was no joy that should be felt after a "decisive victory".

Because each of them saw in the report of the "Panama victory" the terrible prospect of the Japanese Empire being drowned in the sea of aircraft carriers and planes of the United States -- even if the battle of Panama had achieved the goal of destroying the canal locks, it would only delay the arrival of the aircraft carrier sea and the aircraft sea by 6 to 10 months.

"Ladies and gentlemen, although the battle of Panama was won by the hard work of the Imperial Army......," at the beginning of today's emergency cabinet meeting, Marshal Isoroku Yamamoto, Minister of the Navy, once again emphasized that the outcome of the Panama campaign was victory.

Then this "Japan's No. 1 Hero" was silent for a long time, his eyes swept over the faces of every dignitary present, and finally fell on the face of Hideki Tojo, whose face seemed quite calm.

Yamamoto lowered his tone and said word by word: "But victory still can't hide the fact that the contrast between strength and weakness on the Pacific battlefield has changed!" The victory of the navy in the Panama campaign only lasted 6-10 months for the empire. If we can't make good use of these 6-10 months to build up our naval capabilities and complete a tight defense in the Hawaiian Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and the Gilbert Islands, once the Panama Canal is restored, the empire will be plunged into an unprecedented bitter war! ”

On the surface, these remarks are about preparing for war and arming, but in fact they are still asking for money and resources.

And Hideki Tojo, the housekeeper of the Japanese Empire, is a "clumsy woman", and there are not a few grains of "rice" in her hands. Except for some rare metals and rubber that are relatively rich, there is no shortage of major strategic resources.

Of all the very scarce resources, the most stuck, and the most inexplicable, is undoubtedly oil.

Other resources, such as steel, electrolytic aluminium and copper, can be compensated by imports from the European Community. But oil was almost not for sale in the European Community, and only the Roman Empire (i.e., Italy) could get a quota of 200,000 tons per month - not to mention that the Germans now had more than 40 million tons of oil at their disposal, but they were also not much richer to maintain a navy that dominated the Atlantic and an army that could defeat the Soviet Union.

However, the Japanese Empire, which had an annual output of 8 million tons of oil, was able to use only more than 6 million tons to maintain Japan's economy and the war against the United States due to the attacks of British and American submarines and saboteurs. And with the scale of the Combined Fleet today, the fuel consumed in one day of dispatch is more than 10,000 tons!

The fuel that can be obtained from the refining of more than 6 million tons of oil will not be much left after the consumption of the combined fleet to maintain high-intensity operations throughout the year. Although the Combined Fleet will not be adrift at sea all year round, the Japanese Navy is more than just a large fuel guster for the Combined Fleet. Once a war of attrition starts in the Pacific, it will cost the lives of naval aviation pilots! And these pilots are fed with oil.

The Americans can now take out tens of millions of tons or even 100 million tons of oil to feed, how much can the Japanese take out?

After seeing the report submitted by Jizaburo Ozawa on the confrontation between Japanese and American fighters and the heavy losses of carrier-based pilots, Yamamoto Isoroku's first thought was that it was necessary to strengthen the training of naval pilots before seeking high-performance fighters from Germany.

Moreover, Yamamoto also knew that it was unlikely that the Japanese Navy would acquire high-performance fighters from Europe in the short term.

Because the German fighter development ideas are too different from the Japanese Navy, the Germans pursue "airspace superiority", and they divide the daytime fighters into several categories according to the applicable airspace, such as extremely high altitude, medium and high altitude, medium and low altitude, and each category has a corresponding model and engine. The pursuit is absolute airspace superiority, not cross-airspace superiority.

However, this style of play may not be suitable for Japan, because dividing the daytime fighters into three airspace is equivalent to dividing the limited fighters into three parts. The invading enemy planes are likely to concentrate their forces in a single airspace, which will further expand the numerical superiority of the Americans.

In addition, Isoroku Yamamoto found that the Japanese navy's air forces as a whole were in a state of serious inadequacy -- before the Panama Campaign, Japan was on the offensive in the Pacific theater, and the United States was on the defensive. Therefore, Japan did not need to defend everywhere on a vast battlefield, but could concentrate its forces on the offensive. Naturally, there is no problem of insufficient aviation forces.

But now, Japan is about to become on the defensive. At this time, Yamamoto realized that there were many places that needed to be defended!

In the Central Pacific alone, there are three places in the Hawaiian Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and the Gilbert Islands that need to be heavily defended. And the Hawaiian Islands, which are behind the islands, are Midway, Wake Island, the Marshall Islands, and the Mariana Islands cannot be left behind.

Moreover, these islands that need to be defended are far away from each other, and it is impossible for the planes scattered in various places to form a joint force in wartime, so they can only fight on their own. Therefore, Yamamoto Isoroku found that the lack of numbers was the biggest problem that Japan would face in a protracted defensive war in the future.

Therefore, it was simply impossible for the Japanese Navy to build an air force that would focus on airspace superiority along the lines of the Luftwaffe/Naval Aviation. In this way, the Germans could not use such aircraft as the FW-190 series and the Fokker Zero D to the Pacific theater -- and Germany's superiority in the Atlantic was based on the JU288 equipped with a 24-cylinder liquid-cooled engine and remote-controlled gliding bombs.

Therefore, after thinking about it repeatedly, Yamamoto Isoroku found that the most realistic strategy for the Japanese naval aviation to seek more numbers in the defensive operations that may start after 6-10 units.

It is necessary to pursue not only the number of aircraft, but also aircraft carriers, especially fleet carriers that can move quickly. Because Japan simply does not have enough aircraft to disperse and deploy to the many Pacific islands of the Hawaiian Islands, the Aleutian Islands, the Gilbert Islands, Midway, Wake Island, the Marshall Islands, and the Mariana Islands -- if all the important islands that could be attacked by the United States are deployed accordingly, Yamamoto's 10,000 shore-based aircraft may not be enough.

Therefore, Yamamoto's plan was to concentrate on the defense of the Hawaiian Islands (referring to the shore-based forces of naval aviation) and use a small number of troops to defend the remaining important islands (the worthless army deer could be put more). At the same time, a powerful mobile fleet was formed for the implementation of mobile defense in the Pacific Ocean.

To this end, Japan must go all out to produce the Zero Type 52 (including an upgraded version of the Zero Type 52), the Comet Ship Explosion (the production of the Tianshan Naval Attack can be reduced, because the US Navy does not have many battleships available now, and they are all a bunch of aircraft carriers that have not been bombed), as well as the cheap and high-quality Yunlong-class aircraft carriers. At the same time, it is also necessary to increase investment in pilot training and train more carrier-based pilots.

But at this time, the Japanese Army was still preparing for war on the northern front and attacking New Zealand. Deploy a large number of army aircraft on the Korean Peninsula, northeastern China, and islands in the South Pacific.

In addition, the Japanese Army has put forward an ambitious plan for the development and equipping of combat vehicles, and wants to build a strong armored force consisting of four tank divisions and seven independent tank brigades.

The army's big deer want to use this powerful armored force to complete the three major missions of the decisive battle on the northern front, the defense of the Pacific islands, and the Australian strategy.

"Your Excellency Marshal," Hideki Tojo said lightly, looking at Yamamoto Fifty-six with a worried face, "After all, the Panamanian Empire has won, and the canal will be impassable for the next 6-10 months. These 6-10 months can be used both to lay out the defense and to organize the offensive. ”

"Attack?" Yamamoto Fifty-six was stunned for a moment, now that the defensive strength is insufficient, how can he still attack?

"Where's the attack?" Nagano Shushen, the head of the Navy's military command, wore the same pants as Yamamoto, and immediately opened his mouth to ask questions for Yamamoto.

"New Zealand." The chief of the General Staff Headquarters, "Fool Moto" Sugiyama Moto, took over the topic and replied, "As long as New Zealand is captured, the United States will not be able to launch a counterattack from Australia." Then the empire will be able to concentrate on defending the Pacific...... There is no need to guard for too long, and the official estimates that the Soviet Union will not survive next fall. Once Soviet Russia is destroyed, our empire will be able to win the war. So not only is the situation not very pessimistic, but victory is in sight! ”

His analysis is not entirely unreasonable, no matter how severe the situation in Japan is, it is still much stronger than that of the Soviet Union. At least in 1943 it was already difficult for the United States to organize a truly powerful offensive in the Pacific theater. Germany is likely to defeat the Soviet Union in 1943, and once the Soviet Union is defeated, the United States will naturally be alone. And now the crisis in Japan is a false alarm.

"But the Empire can't help but prepare for the worst!" Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head, "If the Soviet Union does not collapse in 1943, then our empire will have a great disaster, so we must deal with it with all our might." ”

Hideki Tojo nodded and said, "Within 1943, we can go all out to build four aircraft carriers, including Taiho, Unryu, Amagi, and Katsuragi, and the materials for the two battleships Shinano and Kii must also be 100% guaranteed." The three ships of Kasaki, Aso, and Ikoma (also of the Yunryu class) are trying to hold out in the first half of 44.

But the Army's plans to move south and north must also be carried out at the same time. It was imperative to go south, and to go north was supposed to take place when the USSR collapsed. Therefore, there must be certain resources to ensure it...... The budget and resource allocation plan for Showa 18 should not be adjusted too much, and as for Showa 19, it depends on the situation of the Soviet-German war. ”

In fact, Tojo made some concessions and agreed to speed up the construction of 4 aircraft carriers under construction and 2 battleships under construction. But at the same time, he was unwilling to compromise on the issue of oil quotas, because he and many of the Japanese Army's big red deer and the living gods in the Imperial Palace in Tokyo had not forgotten about the northward expansion...... Of course, when the Soviet Union was about to be defeated, it was to pounce on the Soviet Far East and snatch this piece of fat, and by the way, to solve the Manchurian problem. (To be continued.) )