"Boom!"

The sound of artillery rang out in the large playground inside the Japanese Army Tank School in Chiba Prefecture. www.biquge.info This is a "Weasel" 2 tank destroyer purchased from Germany firing, and a 75mm gun of 48 times caliber fired a high-speed armor-piercing bullet using a black alloy core. In just an instant, the projectile accurately hit a thick steel plate 1,000 meters away that was placed vertically on a cement base.

"Effective breakdown!"

One of the officers in charge of checking the results of the shooting rushed over, looked at the steel plate pierced by the projectile, and then waved a flag in his hand vigorously and shouted.

"Mixi!"

Japanese Prime Minister and Minister of War Hideki Tojo, who watched the shooting of the "Weasel" Type 2 tank destroyer, nodded with satisfaction, and said to the fool Motowa and Navy Minister Shigetaro Shigetaro beside him: "If we can penetrate the frontal armor of the American M4 tank from a distance of 1,000 meters, then there should be no problem on the army side...... Next year it should be possible to carry out operations south to Australia. If the army and navy can work together, the empire can greatly expand its territory. ”

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, there is no problem with the Army." Sugiyama Moto said with a smile, "I have already discussed with the engineers of Mitsubishi Corporation and the Osaka Arsenal, and I will definitely be able to change a better fighter tank than the 'Weasel' with a 15-ton Type 97 medium tank." The specific design work can be completed within the year, and the modification of 300-500 vehicles can be completed by the end of June of Showa 18. Now it is only necessary to import a few hundred KWK40 75mm tank guns from Germany. ”

The Germans can change the "weasel" with the 9.5-ton 38t and the 7.2-ton No. 2, and the Japanese have no difficulty in changing it with the 15-ton Type 97. However, Japan does not have a suitable 75mm gun now, so it can only export the German KWK40 first, and then copy it.

"However, the production of the Type 97 fighter is always a stopgap measure," said Hideki Tojo, "The research on the Tiger tank needs to be accelerated, and the technology of the Tiger must be thoroughly understood as soon as possible, and then the world's first heavy tank based on the Tiger will be developed!" ”

"Hay!" Sugiyama Motomei smiled and replied loudly.

The Japanese have always been fond of "world-first" things, and now the navy has the "Yamato" class of such world-class warships. How can the army lag behind? Why don't you build the world's best tank?

In fact, before the introduction of the Tiger tank, the Japanese Army was already developing a 100-ton super-heavy tank. However, this kind of heavy tank, codenamed "Baishi", because the steps are too big, and the brain hole is also too big, there is no practical possibility at all, and it can only be regarded as a scientific research project. This is also the purpose of the Japanese Army's desire to introduce the Tiger tank, and with the Tiger as the foundation, it will be much easier for Japan to develop the "world's first" tank.

Hideki Tojo smiled again and nodded at Admiral Minister Shimada, "Shimada-kun, do you think you are sure that the ultimate operation to attack Australia will be launched in the second half of 18?" ”

Australia is now the end of the Japanese Empire's southward journey! It was on the agenda after the war in Hawaii.

However, at that time, the Imperial Japanese Army had too many places to attack, and the fuel consumption of the Hawaiian War and the series of southward operations that was carried out later was too great, and the oil depot at Kure Gungang almost bottomed out.

In addition, going south to Australia cannot be achieved overnight, but is a steady and steady process.

The first is to take control of the main islands of the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands, and then the Bismarck Sea, the Solomon Sea, and the Coral Sea. Then pull out Port Moresby, an important stronghold of the US and Australian troops on the island of New Guinea. And after taking control of the Solomon Islands and Port Moresby, the gateway to Australia was completely controlled by Japan. After that, it became possible to carry out an Australian landing operation.

Now, the Japanese army has firmly controlled the Bismarck Islands, and is also building on Rabaul on the island of New Britain to build it into a large Japanese stronghold in the South Pacific. Both the 8th Front of the Japanese Army and the Southeastern Front of the Navy are now stationed there.

As for the Solomon Islands, they are now largely controlled by Japan. At this time, the United States lost Hawaii and was beaten by the German Navy in the Atlantic, and it was unable to compete with Japan for Guadalcanal. Therefore, important islands in the Solomon Islands, such as Tulagi Island and Guadalcanal, were also controlled by the Japanese army.

The forward positions of the US military in the South Pacific are on the island of Espírito Santo (belonging to Vanuatu), more than 500 nautical miles southeast of Kuah Island, and the island of New Caledonia near the island of Espírito Santo. These two large islands, together with Rockhampton, Gladstone, Downsway, and Cairns on the east coast of Australia, as well as Cape York and Port Moresby at the northeastern tip of the Australian mainland, together form the defense line of the US and Australian forces in eastern Australia.

If the Japanese Navy can break through this line of defense, the war will be fought on the Australian continent!

However, when Navy Minister Shigetaro Shimada asked him if he was sure by Hideki Tojo, his brows were furrowed.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister," said Shigetaro Shimada, "if you want to launch an Australian war in the second half of '18, the navy will indeed have some difficulties. If the time to go south to Australia can be advanced to the end of the year, the navy will have a greater grasp. ”

"Oh? Why is that? ”

Shimada shook his head and said, "Because the Zero fighter, which the Navy is currently relying on, is losing its advanced nature day by day, and the successor model, the '14 Test Fighter', is not very successful." ”

The "14 Test Fighter" was the later "Thunderbolt" fighter, which was the successor to the Zero designed by Jiro Horikoshi (the designer of the Zero). But this aircraft is far less successful than the Zero, except for better dive performance, better defense, powerful firepower, and the ability to install high-power engines, it cannot be compared with the Zero. Moreover, during test flights, it was also found that the drive shaft of such an aircraft was prone to breakage, and reliability was also very problematic.

The unsuccessful situation of the "14 test fighter" was also heard of by Hideki Tojo. In fact, the Japanese Army's Type II fighter (Zhong Kui) was also unsatisfactory, and now it had to develop new fighters while trying to improve them by introducing German technology.

"Could we consider introducing a new aircraft from Germany?" Hideki Tojo made a suggestion.

Shimada shook his head again and again and sighed: "Your Excellency, in fact, Germany's own new carrier-based fighter FW-190T is not very successful. If it weren't for the 2,000 hp BMW 801S engine, the aircraft would have failed. But even if it is a barely successful FW-190T, its circling performance and low-altitude performance are much inferior to the Zero type. ”

The FW-190T is a carrier-based aircraft that Fokker has overhauled on the basis of the FW-190A-4. Although the name FW-190 is still used, in fact its FW-190A-4 is very different, and the aerodynamic shape has been greatly modified to allow it to take off and land on aircraft carriers. And also increased the capacity of the internal fuel tanks, designed a foldable wing.

However, after many improvements, the Fokker company and the German naval aviation still regretted that the fighting ability of this aircraft at medium and low altitudes was not as good as that of the Fokker Zero, and the range could not be compared with the latter, and the climb was comparable. Only high-altitude performance, dive performance, and bomb load surpassed the Fokker Zero. Therefore, such an aircraft could not replace the Fokker Zero at all, and could only exist as a supplement to the Fokker Zero.

Eventually, the aircraft was taken over by German naval aviation as a medium-altitude escort aircraft, and was said to work with the JU288 to enable the latter to drop Fritz-X remote-controlled gliding bombs at an altitude of 7,000 meters - a tactic that was very effective in the Atlantic, and the British and American fleets avoided the JU288's combat radius throughout the spring and summer.

However, the method of dropping remote-controlled gliding bombs from ultra-long-range land bombers cannot be played in the Pacific. Because the Pacific Ocean is much larger than the Atlantic Ocean, the combat radius of more than 2,000 kilometers is very powerful in the Atlantic, but it is still not enough in the Pacific Ocean.

And...... The Germans also did not have a surplus JU288 to sell to the Japanese, and such a high-altitude high-speed bomber with a super-large range would never be enough for the Luftwaffe and naval aviation!

As for the imitation by Japan itself, it is impossible for them to do it with just one engine. The Japanese have not even eaten the 12-cylinder DB601 liquid-cooled engine now, and it is impossible to imitate the engine of the 24-cylinder Jumo222 series?

Shitaro Shimada said worriedly: "The successor aircraft of the Zero is progressing slowly, while at the same time, the Americans have many excellent models in service. Their P51 was enough to fight the Type Zero at low and medium altitudes, and this P51 fighter had a large bomb load and a robust fuselage, allowing it to be used as a fighter-bomber.

In addition, according to the intelligence of the Germans, a carrier-based fighter with the code designation F4U and possibly superior in performance to the FW-190T may well have entered service. This aircraft may not be as good as the Zero in low-altitude combat, but it is also difficult for the Zero to destroy it.

If the Navy seeks a decisive battle with the US Navy in the second half of '18, the situation will be quite unfavorable. ”

Since the Fokker Zero has been arrogant in Europe since 1939, its performance has long been understood by its opponents. In low- and medium-altitude combat, except for the P51, which can fight (that is, fight), no other aircraft can do it. However, as long as you increase the height, dodge the Fokker Zero, or take the method of diving attack, you can still deal with the Fokker Zero.

"Then the Navy means ......" Hideki Tojo looked at Shigetaro Shimada.

"A decisive battle should be provoked as soon as possible, the sooner the better!" "The repair of the Yamato has now been completed, the Musashi has entered service, and the advanced nature of the Zero has not been completely lost," Shimada said. So the combined fleet is now at its strongest! (To be continued.) )