As Minister of State in charge of the wartime economy and president of the Planning Institute, Sadaichi Suzuki's approval of the mobilization plan for civilian ships for the Australian war was actually a formality. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because it had long been the national policy of the Japanese Empire to start the war in Australia, Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Tojo both approved this "final plan to go south", and the Minister of the Navy, Shigetaro Shimada, and the commander-in-chief of the military command, Shusei Nagano, and the commander of the Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto, supported it.

So no matter whether Sadachi Suzuki can deploy enough transport ships or not, it is imperative to attack Australia!

However, as for the purpose of the Australian war, in fact, the calculations in all aspects are quite different. Emperor Hirohito and Hideki Tojo really wanted to take over Australia - this is an unprecedented frontier! In the absence of the conquest of the East Asian continent, the capture of the Australian continent would be enough to ensure that the Japanese Empire would become the leader of the Eastern world for the next 1,000 years. So Tojo and Hirohito were very serious about fighting in Australia.

However, Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the Combined Fleet in the "Yamato Hotel" in the port of Rabaul, was not thinking about the Australian continent itself, and it was the powerful shipbuilding capability of the United States and the remaining aircraft carrier force of the Pacific Fleet that really worried him -- if the US Pacific Fleet could be destroyed, Australia would not be a problem at all.

From the beginning of 1942 to the present, Yamamoto Isoroku has been trying to set some kind of trap to destroy the aircraft carriers of the American fleet in the Pacific. However, the Americans have always avoided the war, and the US Pacific Fleet seems to have only one thing to do after the fall of Hawaii, which is to transport troops and supplies to Australia.

The six fleet aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (USS Lexington, USS Saratoga, USS Yorktown, USS Enterprise, USS Assault, and USS Wasp) all became escort carriers, taking turns to cover the movement of American transport groups between the United States and Australia.

These regiments of American transports were also not afraid of detours and did not pass 1500 nautical miles near Hawaii at all. Even if the Japanese submarines found them, it would be difficult for the fleet to intercept the American ship group from Hawaii. However, the US ship regiments are all large formations, escorted by at least three aircraft carriers, and the Japanese aircraft carriers cannot be defeated if they are sent too little, and if they are sent too much, a large number of logistical support and maintenance problems will require human lives -- the Pearl Harbor base seized by Japan is almost in ruins, and it is impossible to become a fleet home port without reconstruction. Moreover, it is impossible for Japan to deploy its main fleet to Pearl Harbor for a long time, and the logistics line of more than 3,000 nautical miles cannot bear it.

So in the first 9 months of 42 years, the US Pacific Fleet was successful in "avoiding war", and at the same time transported a large number of troops and supplies to Australia. In addition, Yamamoto received information that the Americans' engineering units were working hard to expand the ports of Brisbane and Sydney. Not only are port facilities being expanded, but also large-scale barracks, airfields and warehouses are being built.

It is clear that the US Pacific Fleet is ready to use Brisbane and Sydney on the Australian continent as base camps for launching a counteroffensive!

Once the Americans' terrifying shipbuilding program was completed, there would be enough American ships large enough to crush the Japanese Combined Fleet heading north from Sydney and Brisbane......

Therefore, Yamamoto Isoroku wanted to seek a decisive battle before the US counteroffensive deployment was completed, and break the US counteroffensive deployment by inflicting heavy damage on and annihilating the aircraft carrier force of the US Pacific Fleet, so as to win more time for Japan.

And another reason that prompted Yamamoto Isoroku to seek a decisive battle as soon as possible was because the Fokker Zero on the European battlefield was gradually showing fatigue! Even at medium and low altitudes, he encountered an opponent that was enough to compete with - the American P51 fighter!

According to the latest report of the Luftwaffe, it would be difficult for the Fokker Zero to fight the P190 without the cooperation of medium- and high-altitude models similar to the FW-51 series. This is because even the low-altitude P51 has higher altitude performance than the Fokker Zero. Once at a disadvantage in a low-altitude dogfight, the P51 has the option of escaping by diving away and quickly pulling up.

Even the P51 can take advantage of its good dive performance and constantly fight against the Fokker Zero with the tactics of dive + pull, so as to avoid falling into a fight altogether!

Therefore, in the last 2-3 months, in the case of the Fokker Zero against the P51 alone, in most cases, the Fokker Zero has been at a disadvantage. Therefore, in the latest tactical arrangements for air combat in the Luftwaffe and naval aviation, there is no longer a tactic of the Fokker Zero alone escorting long-range bombers.

This shows that the myth of Zero's invincibility has been completely shattered, at least on the European battlefield!

Of course, this is not entirely due to the fact that the performance of the Zero aircraft is really not as good as that of the P51. However, after the FW-190T was finalized, Fokker gave up the medium and high altitude performance of the Fokker Zero and launched the Fokker Zero D series focusing on low altitude.

This series of Fokker Zeros shortened the range (the combat radius without auxiliary fuel tanks was reduced to 500 kilometers), increased armor protection (reducing the weight of fuel for enhanced protection), and increased firepower (6 MG131 aviation machine guns), completely turning into a "Jacques Killer" and "Il-Killer" specializing in mixing medium and low altitudes - such a change was of course also for the needs of the Eastern Front.

The main function of the Fokker Zero has now become to cover ground forces, while escorting ground attack aircraft such as the HS-129, JU87 and Breguet BR.703.

However, the German Fokker Company's approach still sounded the alarm bell for the Japanese Navy -- the era of the Zero as an excellent all-round fighter may be about to pass!

For this upcoming change, Yamamoto 56, on the one hand, demanded to speed up the development of the new fighter "Seventeen Test Ship Battles" project (Gale); On the other hand, it is more actively preparing for Operation Mi, which aims to destroy the aircraft carriers of the US Pacific Fleet.

The so-called Operation Mi was actually a siege point to send reinforcements -- to encircle Port Moresby to lure the main force of the US Pacific Fleet to appear in the Coral Sea in the northeastern part of the Australian continent. If the U.S. Pacific Fleet sits idly by and watches Port Moresby fall, then the next step for the Japanese army will be to land near Cape York on the Australian mainland!

……

"Commander, there are 12 aircraft carriers that can now be put into operation on the Mi, including 'Fengxiang', 'Akagi', 'Kaga', 'Soryu', 'Flying Dragon', 'Zuizuru', 'Xianghe', 'Xiangfeng', 'Zuiho', 'Flying Eagle', 'Hayabusa', 'Ryuho' and so on! It is far more powerful than the six aircraft carriers that the United States may put in, and the carrier-based aircraft on these 12 aircraft carriers have also been upgraded, with all carrier-based fighters replaced with the latest Zero Type 32 and carrier-based bombers Comet Type 33. Therefore, the battle of the rice number is bound to be won. ”

The person who was talking to Yamamoto Fifty-six was the immortal staff officer Kuroshima Kameto, and he was very complacent about the current large number of strong ships in the Japanese Combined Fleet.

In fact, the 12 aircraft carriers he just reported are not all the belongings of the combined fleet. Now the Combined Fleet has also sent an Indian Ocean mission fleet, with the battleships Fuso, Hyuga, Ryuchamp, and Fengxiang as the core, to help Germany attack South Africa, Madagascar, and Ceylon.

It is precisely because of the strong strength of as many as 12 aircraft carriers that the current Japanese Combined Fleet does not bother to provide any "blue ribbon aircraft carriers" from Germany.

Moreover, since the Japanese Navy had not fought any fierce fighting in the past nine months, the loss of pilots was minimal, and new recruits who had completed their training as naval aviation pilots were constantly joining, the support of German pilots was no longer needed.

After the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, all German pilots who served on Japanese aircraft carriers left.

In addition, with the help of the Germans, Japan's Hitachi Company also successfully developed the No. 13 electric probe (air search radar) and the No. 22 electric probe (sea search radar). As a result, the air defense and night combat capabilities of the fleet were further enhanced.

"Kuroshima-kun, we have more than 12 aircraft carriers in our hands!" Yamamoto said slowly, "The Yamato and Musashi are the most powerful battleships in the world, and now that they have the 13th and 22nd detectives, their power will be even greater. Therefore, in the Mi operation, full consideration should also be given to the development of the power of the two super battleships, the Yamato and the Musashi. ”

In the Battle of Hawaii and the Battle of the Sea of Fog in this plane, battleships played a great role, so no one dares to say that battleships are obsolete weapons that will be obsolete. Therefore, the Shinano aircraft carrier will definitely not be in this time and space. The construction of the No. 3 and No. 4 ships of the Yamato is now also being intensified with the support of Germany.

Among them, the No. 3 ship Shinano is expected to be launched by the end of October and can be commissioned by the end of 43. And the No. 4 ship, Kii, will also be launched at the beginning of 43. It will be completed and put into service by June 44 at the latest. At that time, the Japanese Navy's combined fleet will have four Yamatoki battleships, which will be enough to compete with the Iowa-class and Montana-class under construction by the United States.

"Hay," replied Kuroshima Kameto, "the two Yamato-class and the four Kongo-class ships will all perform in the Mi battle. ”

Of the current Japanese battleship forces, only the Yamato-class and Kongo-class have the speed to follow fast aircraft carriers. As a result, all six battleships are now moored in the port of Rabaul, ready to take part in Operation Mi.

As for this "Mi Operation," Yamamoto Isoroku regarded it as the ultimate battle to determine the future hegemony of the Pacific. Therefore, the number of troops invested is also unprecedented, far exceeding the Battle of Midway, which also used the code name "Mi" in history.

Yamamoto Fifty-six nodded and said with a smile: "12 aircraft carriers, 2 Yamato-class, 4 Kongo-class...... This battle is indeed a sure victory. And the U.S. Pacific Fleet is unlikely to avoid war again, unless the Americans are willing to give up Australia. (To be continued.) )