At a time when the war had already begun to be deployed, Roosevelt and his staff had been paying attention to the army's every move by intercepting the army's radio signals. But they don't know when and where the army will act. To make matters worse, the United States has never been able to decipher the codes of the Army and Navy. As a result, on December 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor became the most tragic war disaster in the history of the United States.

Unfortunately for the United States, one aircraft carrier and two main battle cruisers of the Pacific Fleet were not in port on the day of the surprise attack. Although the only remaining warships of the Pacific Fleet were also lost in the battle, the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor was not a complete brilliant victory, and it just found the best excuse for Roosevelt, who was in charge of the main battle, to declare war on him, and he no longer had to persuade the US Congress to declare war on him in the name of protecting the British and Dutch colonies. The American people, who had been hesitant to enter the war, immediately united and joined the ranks of the war because of this incident.

"After destroying the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the next step will be to target our country." Gu Weijun said worriedly.

"It's inevitable." Yang Shuoming said, "But before that, they won't necessarily make a move on us right away. Their next target should be Nanyang. After the South Seas, it will be our turn. ”

Hearing Yang Shuoming's words, Wu Peifu's heart couldn't help but chuckle, but the expression on his face did not change at all.

"The United States, Britain and the Netherlands have declared war on the country," Gu said, "and there are already members of Congress who have introduced a bill to fight against the country." ”

"Oh." Wu Peifu looked at Yang Shuoming and took over the conversation, "Whether we declare war on Yueben immediately or not, it is up to the Congress to decide." After all, China faces two enemies. If we can delay it for one more day, we will have one more day to prepare. ”

"That's what the president said." Gu Weijun sighed, "The Soviet Union and the Soviet Union are both my strong enemies of China, and neither of them is easy to deal with." Fighting on two fronts is a taboo for soldiers......"

Hearing Gu Weijun's words, the hall fell silent. Wu Peifu couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he noticed that none of the generals spoke today.

Of course, he also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"We won't be able to drag on for long." Yang Shuoming looked at everyone and said calmly.

White House, Washington, USA.

By the time Stimson, Knox, Hull, Admiral Stark, and Marshall held their first defense meeting at the White House that afternoon, the offensive was still going on. Roosevelt, who was tightly in control of the situation, quickly issued a series of orders: to defend military facilities and factories, to stop all private jets from flying, to stop all amateur radio amateurs from sending reports, to set up a system of censorship, and to order the FBI to arrest him.

At this meeting, where telephone reports from Pearl Harbor were received from time to time, they enthusiastically discussed the president's declaration of war that must be read to Congress. The first person to call was British Prime Minister Winston? Churchill. U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom John? After Wynant finished speaking on the phone, Churchill's raspy voice was heard as he and Wynant were having dinner at Chequers Villa when the BBC's Concise News reported the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

"Mr. President, what's going on with me?" The British Prime Minister asked. Roosevelt interrupted him impatiently and said, "Yes, they attacked Pearl Harbor." We're all in this together. Churchill told him that Ben was preparing to launch an attack in Malaya. They agreed that the United States and Britain would declare war on Libon at the same time.

The phone call was followed by Chinese President Wu Peifu, who briefed him on the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Hawaiian Islands and hoped for help from the Chinese navy. Wu Peifu said that China would firmly stand on the side of the United States, and after receiving strong assurances from the Chinese side, Roosevelt's mood became slightly better. But when he received the news that Admiral Kimmel, commander of the Pacific Fleet, and Short, commander of the Pearl Harbor Army, had all been killed, his mood hit rock bottom again. Roosevelt's entire cabinet, who had gathered at the White House that night, found the president in a heavy mood. He told them that it was the worst meeting since Lincoln's cabinet meeting at the outbreak of the Civil War. Secretary of Labor Francis? Perkins' record says: "I am distinctly aware that the Navy has been attacked by surprise, and that alone is enough for the president to feel uncomfortable." ”

At half past nine, the leaders of the Cook Party and the Republican Party in Congress were ushered into the chamber. Roosevelt again recounted the terrible events that had taken place and the futile negotiations with him. Outside the unusually dimly lit portico of the White House, the crowd that had gathered outside the railings of Pennsylvania Avenue all afternoon chanted "War on you!" Declare war! slogan.

Ernest? Admiral King's warning call reached Manila. When MacArthur heard the news, he exclaimed in surprise: "Pearl Harbor! It should be our strongest stronghold! "While MacArthur was getting dressed, the Director of Army Operational Planning, Leonard? Brigadier General Gero also called to confirm the news and told the general, "If you are attacked in the near future, it will not be a surprise." "The commander of the Philippine Air Force, General Britton, was arrested a few minutes before four o'clock in the morning by MacArthur's chief of staff, Richard Brown? Sutherland woke up. He immediately ordered his pilots to put on alert - many of them had just returned to base from a party at the Manila Hotel. An hour later, Britton arrived at the Manila Command, where he wanted to immediately send B-17 bombers to bomb the homeland, but his chief of staff insisted on conducting preliminary reconnaissance because the pilots had little idea of which targets to bomb on the homeland.

At half past five in the morning, MacArthur received a telegram from Washington, ordering him to immediately carry out the "Rainbow 5" battle plan, but MacArthur insisted, "The order I received clearly told me not to do anything to myself first." The current series of shocking events seemed to blur his judgment, and he seemed to still believe that "the Philippines will remain neutral and will not be attacked by himself." Some accuse MacArthur of being stubborn, and it is surprising that he did not allow Britton to carry out a preemptive air strike on the home soil, because at 6:12 a.m. the report of Admiral Hart's command had already provided the reason for the air strike: that Ben's carrier-based aircraft were bombing the "William? USS Preston. MacArthur feared that he would be attacked, and he ordered the remaining "B-17" bombers on Clarke's base to be evacuated to the safer island of Luzon. He knew that even if he allowed Britton to carry out a preemptive air strike, the Philippines would not be saved, although later intelligence proved that due to the bad weather, the bomber could not take off from the airfield and could easily become the target of the US "B-17" bomber. If MacArthur had ordered an attack, it would at best disrupt the timetable for the invasion and would not change the situation of American forces in the Philippines.

General Arnold then telephoned General Britton from Washington and told him that the bombers parked at the airfield must not be allowed to repeat the mistakes of Pearl Harbor. At this time, radar on the island at the Ibaa airfield, 85 miles north of Manila, reported that a group of planes of unknown nationality were approaching, and Britton urgently dispatched 56 "P-40" fighters, but did not find the enemy planes, and shortly after these planes returned to the airfield, 70 Army bombers that managed to take off despite the bad weather began to bomb the Baguio and Tugagarao airfields in northern Luzon. By this time, the dense fog on the sea had disappeared, and 232 planes of the 11th Air Force of the Navy had taken off and began their long-distance flight to the Philippines.

The U.S. military radar at the Iba airport spotted the intruding plane. He alerted Clark Airport with a teletyped telegraph. Due to the lack of rapid action. Fighter jets at the Iba airfield were refueling when they were suddenly attacked by more than 100 fighter jets and bombers. Clark Airport was also attacked. The air raid sirens sounded, and the crew rushed to their planes, while the others fled in all directions, or crouched on the ground, and the first planes whistled overhead, machine guns spewting tongues of fire, and bombs bursting into fireballs on the ground. Several U.S. "B-17" bombers that tried to take off never flew up, and the bombs exploded them into a sea of fire, and those planes that were still neatly parked in front of the hangar were also hit and caught fire. Four Warhawk fighters finally flew into the air, but they could not stop the frenzied bombing of Clark airfield by three well-coordinated groups of enemy aircraft. This is a repetition of the attack on Pearl Harbor, where Clark Airfield and other airfields were engulfed in the explosion of bombs and the fire of burning aircraft.

At 1:37 p.m., the plane rumbled away, leaving behind piles of charred and smoking wreckage, and MacArthur's air force was dealt a fatal blow. Only seventeen "flying fortresses" in Mindanao survived, and three-quarters of the fighters were destroyed. In half an hour, he won the air superiority needed to successfully invade the Philippines. That afternoon, Britton received a phone call from General Arnold scolding him, asking him to explain "why" he was caught off guard after receiving so many alarms.

At a time when the Americans were in disarray, the situation for the British was not much better.

At the Singapore Fortress, on the battleship "Prince of Wales", anchored there, the captains and staff officers of the main British battleships met together, and at this meeting, the pale Tom? Sir Phillips must decide what action to take in response to a call from the Admiralty the afternoon before: "The Expeditionary Force marching in the South China Sea has indicated that they are intending to invade, and on the basis of this estimate what action may be taken by the Navy or Air Force." ”

Confusing intelligence poured in, leaving Vice Admiral Phillips without a clear picture of the whole situation. He was warned that the landing force had departed from the mainland. But at this time, they received another piece of information that said that the fleet that was preparing to invade Malaya and Siam had only two battleships!

Phillips was sweating profusely in the command cabin, which was as hot as a steamer, and he now realized that his deterrent mission had failed. He did not want his capital ship to be parked in the harbor and become the target of the bombing of his plane. He outlined his battle plan: set sail at dusk to meet the invading enemy. Success depended on surprise and fighters providing adequate cover for his warship.

As the sun slowly sinks behind the big city of the British Empire's eastern colonies, the Prince of Wales and the Counter Attack slowly sail out of their moorings and out of the Straits of Johor. For the few who saw them leave the port with their own eyes, it was a concrete manifestation of the Governor's proclamation, which was posted in English, Malay and Chinese: "We are ready; We received a large number of alerts, and our preparations were not only done, but tested...... We have faith. In fact, Vice Admiral Layton, the Supreme Commander of the British Navy in Singapore, did not have such confidence, and as he watched Unit Z leave the port, he prophesied that this would be his last meeting with the daring admiral who had been sent to replace him. Tom? Phillips's uneasiness at his mission was already evident, and he said to the captain of the flagship on the bridge of the Prince of Wales, which had sailed into the open sea: "I am not sure if Poorford understands why I attach so much importance to having fighter planes cover us on the tenth day." This unease, however, did not reach the more than two thousand sailors below deck, who were happy to leave the smothering harbor and eager to take part in the battle. That afternoon, when Tennant, the captain of the Counterattack, told them that "we are going out and asking for trouble," they cheered loudly.

At about the same moment, the crimson muzzle flame and the "Bang! Bang! Shells that fell on the sands of this coral island, known as America's "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, spoiled the beautiful moonlight of the peaceful ocean night. The fleet began shelling Midway, but the night battle was only a disruptive attack, as they exchanged bombardments with a U.S. coastal artillery battery, a hangar caught fire, and a U.S. Marine officer was killed.

The Pacific Ocean is now pitch black, and it has become the largest battlefield in the world. Lights have been put in place in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and that night the alarm sounded after a reported discovery of the aircraft carrier Ben offshore, put people's allergic nerves and defenses to the test. On Oahu, the rescue of the sailors trapped in the Oklahoma is still under intense intensity. On the isolated island of Wake Island, the Marine Corps garrison is manning an artillery battery in anticipation of an enemy attack. In Guam, with no heavy artillery to protect them, it was another long night of despair. In Manila, MacArthur and his commanders were measuring the day's military defeats and considering how they could repel an invading enemy on a beachhead without air support.

That night, the last remaining glimmer of hope was dealt a final blow, and that glimmer was that China might be able to stop the frenzied wave of conquest of the Far East. The Chinese government condemned the invasion of the United States and announced mobilization, but there was no news of the dispatch of the Chinese navy.

On the first night of that global war, after suffering a complete crushing defeat during the day, only British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was content to go to bed, and he was relieved that the United States and China would henceforth fight side by side as allies. He wrote: "Well, we have finally won, and I went to bed and slept peacefully. ”

When the "Anglo-Saxon states" began to suffer a crushing defeat militarily, Winston? Churchill's immediate response was just that. He knew in his heart that the attack on Pearl Harbor had forced the United States to resolve to engage in a global war. In the hours following the incident, the White House telephone exchange desk was busy, with members of Congress and key members of the "American First Committee" calling to pledge their support for the war. A nationwide excitement swept across the United States, and it was strongly expressed when Roosevelt, supported by his son, Navy Captain James, walked into the House of Representatives at noon the next day. With a steel frame on his legs, he stood in front of the podium and delivered a historic speech to an emergency session of Congress. He deliberately slowed down his voice, and the radio network broadcast his speech live to the nation:

"On this day, December 7, 1941 — a date of eternal disgrace — the United States was deliberately attacked by the Imperial Navy and Air Force." With a heavy heart, he recounted the "unprovoked vile sneak attack" that took place on that day, and then warned: "The fact that our people, our territory, our interests, is in grave danger. At the end of his 10-minute speech, he asked Congress to declare war on him, and he confidently prophesied: "With the boundless determination of our people, we will win the final victory." ”

Roosevelt prayed "God bless us" at the end, and as soon as he finished speaking, the crowded House of Representatives erupted in cheers and stomping, no doubt the least controversial of the many demands he had made to Congress during his nine years in office. In the same hour, the request was passed "unanimously" in the Senate and opposed by only one dissenting pacifist member in the House of Representatives.

In the afternoon of the same day, Roosevelt wore a black armband mourning the fallen soldiers and signed the declaration of war. Around him, surrounded by the leaders of both houses of Congress and many flashing lights. It was the middle of winter, and the streets outside were unusually dark due to the nationwide light control. Soldiers patrol strategic factories, ports and shipyards. Machine gun sentry posts were erected on various buildings in the White House and Washington's political axe. Treasury Secretary Morgenthau tripled the president's guard, but failed to convince him to place tanks on Pennsylvania Avenue.

(To be continued)