The new head of the German naval mission to Japan, Wilhelm Anderson. Lieutenant General Mashaal's car was speeding through the streets of Tokyo at a time when the city had just celebrated the capture of the Bataan Peninsula and the capture of 75,000 American and Filipino troops. Many of the buildings www.biquge.info also have inspirational slogans and brightly colored flags hanging on the facades of the buildings, giving off a thriving atmosphere in the spring sun.

After the occupation of the Hawaiian Islands, the Japanese Empire seemed to be out of the woods overnight!

Although the cost of the capture of the Hawaiian Islands was high, not only did it lose many excellent pilots, but also lost one battleship and two army aircraft carriers, and more than 18,000 officers and men were killed, sick or seriously wounded on the battlefields of the Hawaiian Islands.

But the success achieved at a high cost is even more remarkable, if Japan only attacked Pearl Harbor and sank a few old battleships, then no one would believe that Japan can maintain its superiority in the Pacific Ocean for a long time, and the US counteroffensive will inevitably come soon!

But now that the Japanese Empire has taken the Hawaiian Islands, the Americans don't even have a base to advance if they want to counterattack. Moreover, the shipping route to Australia was under the threat of the Japanese fleet in Hawaii, and it was necessary to use at least two fleet aircraft carriers to escort the ship to ensure safety.

As for the use of submarines and camouflaged raid ships, the use of submarines and camouflage raid ships to break diplomatic relations quickly declined after the "climax of breaking diplomatic relations" from December 1941 to February 1942 (in fact, it was not very high, the total tonnage of Japanese ships sunk by British and American submarines and raid ships was only 160,000 tons). The reason is that after the fall of Singapore and Manila, British and American submarines lost their supply bases relatively close to the front line and had to attack from Australia. As a result, it is difficult for a large number of submarines with insufficient endurance to participate in the war, unless they risk sending submarine supply ships to dangerous sea areas.

Under these circumstances, the attitude of the East Asian continent and the Soviet Union toward Japan also made a 180-degree turn, the supply of various industrial raw materials increased significantly, and the once tense situation in Manchuria was also significantly eased.

Although the British and Americans destroyed as many oil fields and various mining facilities as possible during the rout from the South Seas, even the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies were subjected to air raids. However, from January 1942 onwards, Japan's imports of various resources and grains continued to rise, and by April 1942 they had almost returned to the level before the British and American sanctions.

The increase in resource imports has also allowed Japan's industrial sector to have enough raw materials to start production, the domestic food supply situation has also improved significantly, and the market that had been depressed by sanctions has become prosperous.

While the domestic economic situation has improved significantly, one good news after another has also spread to Tokyo, Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Wake Island, Midway, Manila, Malaya, Singapore, Borneo, Myanmar...... The army of the Japanese Empire sang a triumphant song all the way, and was invincible. From the Hawaiian Islands to the borders of the British Indian Empire in just a few months!

And just a few days ago, the Bataan Peninsula, an important stronghold of the Americans in the Philippines, was also captured by the "invincible Imperial Japanese Army". Kim led the remnants of 75,000 men (including 9,300 U.S. troops) to surrender to the Japanese.

The only major U.S. stronghold in the Far East and Western Pacific is Corregido Island, at the entrance to Manila Bay, but it is only a matter of time before it falls.

At that time, Japan seemed to be the absolute hegemon of the entire Far East and the Western Pacific, so optimism that victory was in sight permeated Japan during this time.

However, in the building of the Japanese Navy Ministry in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, there is not much optimism. At least when the two Germans, Lieutenant General Machar and Ambassador Todman, arrived, they felt only a cold mood.

The indifference of the Japanese naval officers was certainly justified, since the Germans released Japanese doves on the issue of declaring war on the United States. According to the original agreement, the German government was supposed to follow up immediately after the Japanese empire declared war on the United States, but the Hitler government continued to delay the declaration of war and did not declare war on the United States until April 1942.

The Japanese Army did not care about this kind of delay by Germany -- the Imperial Japanese Army was invincible in the world, and it could win the war with or without the participation of Germany. Moreover, the Germans simply refused to declare war immediately, and the aid that should have been given was just as much. Although the island of Ceylon had not yet been captured, a convoy of transport ships escorted by aircraft carriers made a detour to Singapore, carrying more than 100,000 tons of supplies, including more than 100 tanks that the Japanese Army most wanted, and the German military delegation began to help the Japanese Army build armored divisions according to German standards. Therefore, the German delegation to the Japanese Army (there are now two German military missions in Japan) was very popular.

However, most of the officers of the Japanese Navy know the United States, and they still know how many pounds and taels they have. Therefore, from December 8, 1941, they urged the Germans to enter the war. But the Germans always tried to procrastinate, and until a few days ago things progressed slightly.

The German Navy was preparing to attack the US Atlantic Fleet in the name of the Japanese Navy, and was also preparing to enter Dutch Guiana in South America -- any Japanese admiral who knew the United States knew that even if the Japanese Navy took the initiative to admit that it had sent the battleship Mutsu to attack the American fleet, there would be a high probability that the United States and Germany would go to war, because the United States would never tolerate Germany infecting the Americas.

Whether the war was caused by the German fleet's surprise attack on the US Atlantic Fleet or because of the Dutch Guiana incident is nothing more than a matter of propaganda warfare.

Therefore, after the Japanese Navy Minister Shigetaro Shigetaro finalized the "Project 110" and "Project 111" (that is, Yamato's No. 3 and No. 4 ships) to aid the construction of the plan (Germany provided the special steel needed to complete the two battleships) and jointly carried out the operation to completely open up the Indian Ocean route (mainly to seize the island of Ceylon), he agreed to let the battleship Mutsu, which had long become a "water ghost", assume the responsibility of attacking the Atlantic Fleet.

"A major victory!" After meeting Shigetaro Shimada in the office of the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Machar told Shimada in English with joy on his face, "Sink 2 South Dakota-class battleships and 1 Omaha-class light cruiser!" ”

"Oh? Is it? Shigetaro Shimada was very polite to the visiting General Machar, and said with a grin.

The loss of 2 South Dakota-class ships means that they currently have only 1 usable cutting-edge battleship.

Now that the Yamato has returned to Japan for overhaul, the Musashi has not yet entered service, and the Mutsu has sunk again, there is only one Japanese battleship that can really fight against those American battleships with 406mm caliber cannons.

If the two South Dakota ships had not been destroyed by the Germans, but had been used in the Pacific theater, the Second Battle of Hawaii would probably have begun in May.

"It seems that in 1942, it will be impossible for the Americans to counterattack Hawaii." Lieutenant General Machar said with a smile, "But after 1943, the Americans' Iowa and Essex classes will be in service in large numbers." Moreover, the Americans will definitely copy our wired remote-controlled gliding bombs. ”

Shigetaro Shimada laughed: "By 1943, the Hawaiian fortress has been consolidated, and our Yamato-class No. 3 ship, the Shinano, as well as the large-scale construction of the Taiho-class and Yunryu-class, will begin to enter service, and then there will be nothing to worry about." ”

Due to the might shown by the Yamato in the Battle of Hawaii, the construction of the Yamato-class ships No. 3 and No. 4 will not be canceled, but will be accelerated. As a result, the No. 3 Yamato-class ship, the Shinano, would be commissioned in 1943, and the No. 4 ship, the Aki, would be commissioned in early 1944.

In addition, the Battle of Hawaii and several naval battles in Europe also made the Japanese Navy fully aware of the importance of aircraft carriers. Therefore, while expanding the battleship force, it also formulated an ambitious aircraft carrier construction plan, preparing to build five Dafeng-class armored aircraft carriers and 15 Yunlong-class medium-sized fast aircraft carriers as the capital for confrontation with the Essex-class and Cleveland-class of the United States.

And such a huge shipbuilding program is naturally indispensable to Germany's strong assistance. After receiving resources from the Middle East and North Africa (not only oil, but also rare metals in the Sinai Peninsula, Turkey and Iran), the metallurgical industry of the European countries under the leadership of Germany began to exert its strength in early 1942, and the output of steel, especially special steel, hit a new high every month, which not only fully met the needs of the European and Atlantic theaters, but also had spare power to support Japan's expansion of the navy to contain the United States. Now, when the Indian Ocean route is fully opened, supplies will continue to be transported from Europe to Japan.

It was precisely because of this tangible assistance that the Japanese Navy did not dwell too much on the question of when Germany would declare war on the United States.

Shigetaro Shimada understood the intention of Vice Admiral Machar's coming, and said with a smile: "Please rest assured, the radio ship we deployed in Hawaii will soon broadcast the news of the victory of the Mutsu, and the corresponding propaganda will be carried out in China...... It is also very good for boosting the morale of the people of our empire. ”

Mashal received a satisfactory answer, and naturally knew that he should express something - the big head had already negotiated before, and now let some more people contact the feelings.

He took out a document from a leather bag he brought with him, put it on Shigetaro's desk, and said with a smile: "This is some information on the Ju.390 six-engine heavy bomber, and I believe that it will be a reference for your country to develop an ultra-long-range bomber with a combat radius of 5,000 kilometers." A prototype will be available later, and a sample of the HS293 wire-controlled glide bomb will arrive in Japan with the aircraft. If you are going to build an ultra-long-range bomber, we will provide more help. (To be continued.) )