It was already October 5, 1941, and there was less than one month left before the planned mobile forces of the Japanese Combined Fleet to assemble at Single-Crown Bay on the island of Setoki in northern Japan. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

And Rudolph, Hersmann's eldest son, arrived in Japan a week ago along with 79 other German Navy carrier-based pilots. However, Hirschman Jr. and the others were not immediately sent to their aircraft carrier by the Japanese, but arranged for them to spend three days in Japan's scenic spots, and then sent them to the dormitory of the Etajima Naval Academy to settle down.

After that, the instructors of the naval academy explained to them the various rules and regulations of the Japanese Combined Fleet, the special flags, and taught them to recognize the appearance of Japanese and American ships. On the morning of 5 October, Minoru Genda, an aviation staff officer of the Japanese Combined Fleet, made a surprise visit and found Little Hersman who was taking a class in a classroom in the Etajima Naval Academy.

Genda came for the pre-war special training of the Japanese aircraft carrier aircraft unit, and he found Hirschmann Jr., who had a relationship with him in Germany, and asked the following question: "Mr. Hirschmann, you are an ace pilot with 26 shot downs, so you must know the tactics and characteristics of British and American planes very well, right?" ”

"Of course," said Hersman Jr., smiling, "I have shot down 26 enemy planes, 18 of which were fighters, and I have been shot down three times. ”

Minoru Genda nodded, and then asked, "All of your achievements were achieved with the Zero aircraft?" ”

"It's the Fokker Zero," says Hersman Jr., "it's not quite the same as your Zero, with a self-closing fuel tank, a stronger body, and more horsepower, and the latest modification has a one-stage, two-speed supercharger and the MW50 system, which boosts engine power for a short period of time by injecting a 1:1 mixture of water-methanol." ”

Hesman Jr.'s uncle is Anthony, the owner of the Fokker Aircraft Company. Fokker, he learned the difference between the Japanese Zero and the Fokker Zero from his uncle.

"Although the Fokker Zero is a better aircraft than the Japanese Zero," Hersman Jr. said with a smile after glancing at the expressionless Minoru Genda, "but its grappling performance at medium and low altitudes may not be as good as that of the Japanese Zero." This is because the improvements made by Fokker increased the weight of the aircraft, thus negating the advantages of the engines. In addition, the one-stage two-speed supercharger does not work at medium and low altitudes, it only improves the high-altitude performance of the aircraft, and the MW50 system does not work much at medium and low altitudes, these things will increase the weight. ”

"And what's the point of the improvements made by Fokker?" Minoru Genda asked with a frown.

"Of course it makes sense," Hirschman Jr. smiled, "Fokker improvements can improve the pilot's chances of survival after being shot, and improving the aircraft's high-altitude performance will also give the Fokker Zero a little more chance of winning against a fighter with good altitudes like the Spitfire." ”

"Is it to seize a high-altitude position and prevent enemy aircraft from a high position to dive?" Minoru Genda asked. He had been studying air combat on the European theater of war, so he knew some of the British's methods of fighting the Fokker Zero.

Little Hersman nodded and said, "When the Fokker Zero first appeared, the British didn't know how to deal with it. At that time, they would fight us in low and medium air, so it would be easy to take them down. However, later, the British gradually figured out the two major shortcomings of the Fokker Zero's poor high-altitude performance and poor diving performance, so they adopted a high-altitude dive and one-hit approach. We used the tactics of using the BF-109 or FW-190 and the Fokker Zero to match high and low.

However, the Fokker Zero always has a chance to be alone, because it has a large range and can escort the JU88 and S.M.79 for long-range attacks, while the BF-109 and FW-190 have a small range. Therefore, in order to give the Fokker Zero a certain high-altitude performance, a supercharger and MW50 system were installed. And in order to improve the pilot's chances of survival in air combat, some armor has been added. Therefore, the Fokker Zero is getting heavier and heavier, and the corresponding low-altitude combat performance has decreased, but it is still enough in the European battlefield. ”

The smaller upgrade space is the biggest disadvantage of the Zero. Because the aircraft was too small and took the route of the light mobile team, it was difficult to make improvements. Although Fokker has made several modifications of the Fokker Zero to improve the pilot's chance of survival in combat and the aircraft's high-altitude performance, it has sacrificed a lot of agility and maneuverability. The reason why Hirschmann Jr. feels that the low-altitude performance is "enough" is because he is getting more and more experienced in actual combat, and his opponents are getting more and more vegetables.

However, in Japan in this time and space, because there is no "China Incident" for pilots to train, the elite of the Japanese Navy has no actual combat experience.

"Then the Americans must know how to deal with the Zero fighter, right?" Minoru Genda frowned and expressed the worry in his heart.

Hersman Jr. nodded and said, "They must know that they actually developed an aircraft specifically to deal with the Fokker Zero. It's called the Mustang Fighter (P51), and its performance is very good, making it a difficult opponent. ”

Because of the "Second Fokker Disaster" in 39, the British were more actively seeking advanced fighters, which prompted the P51 to enter service ahead of schedule. However, the current P51 is not equipped with the high-performance "Merlin" engine. As a result, it is a low- to medium-altitude aircraft, and although its fighting performance is not as good as that of the Fokker Zero, its dive performance greatly exceeds that of the latter, and it is very strong.

"This kind of plane is more agile and difficult to catch, but the British and American pilots who fly this kind of plane do not fight with us, and still use the method of hitting and leaving, and if you miss, you will dive and escape, and as soon as you chase it, you will either roll or accelerate down. So be sure to seize the opportunity to open fire and hit directly with a 20mm cannon. It must be fast, accurate, and ruthless......"

What Little Hersman said was the Tao, but Minoru Genda frowned when he heard it, and the place that the Zero fighter was proud of was the low-altitude combat. But now the British have been trained by the Germans with the Fokker Zero for 2 years, and they have already figured out some ways to deal with the Fokker Zero. However, the Japanese naval aviation pilots did not know the characteristics of the British and American planes, and they were afraid that they would suffer losses when they went to war.

"Captain Hersman," Minoru Genda asked, "can you fly an airplane to imitate the tactical maneuvers of British and American planes?" ”

Minoru Harada's first assignment for these German aces was to serve as sparring partners for elite Japanese pilots who had never been on the battlefield, so that they could master the methods of dealing with the P51 and P40 American fighters in the shortest possible time.

Little Hersman smiled and said, "Of course you can, but you can't use the Zero Style." Its dive performance is not very good, and in general, we use the BF-109 to imitate the 'Spitfire' aircraft for tactical training. ”

Now the German air regiment, whether it is the air force or the navy, has a training group, and having old pilots fly the BF-109 or D.520 to imitate the "Spitfire" aircraft to attack is almost a must for the training group.

"No, not with zero." Minoru Genda smiled, "We have 30 HE-112s, which we bought from Germany, and have been in the warehouse since we bought them, but they are very well preserved, and they are the same as new...... Can any of you fly? ”

……

"No, no...... Plans to attack Malaya, Singapore, and the Philippines have long been submitted to His Majesty the Emperor, and we have promised His Majesty that we will occupy Southeast Asia within 100 days. How can you change your plans now and redirect your forces to Hawaii? ”

October 5 was also the day of the Japanese base camp liaison meeting to discuss the war in Hawaii. The one who spoke against it was Chief of Staff Motomo Sugiyama. The territory of Southeast Asia, which is easy to clean up, is not big, and the hard bones of going to Kenya and Hawaii seem to him to be complete nonsense.

And Oahu is a fortress island, where is it so easy to capture? If you don't do it, tens of thousands of people will die like the Lushun Fortress, of course, there is nothing to die, how can the imperial army be afraid of death? But after a few months, will the Navy be able to guarantee constant logistics?

Even if the Navy dares to pack a ticket, the Army resolutely does not believe it, this thing will definitely not work! Because it will definitely be the army that will starve to death at that time, and the army cannot be the navy.

Nagano Shusei and Kagawa Kojiro looked at each other, but the army disagreed, and the navy had no troops to use even if they wanted to.

However, the navy will not just give up, perhaps inspired by Hersman, or it may be that there are 80 more ace carrier-based pilots, and Yamamoto Isoroku is much more emboldened, and at the navy's own operational meeting, he proposed an alternative plan to capture Hawaii in two steps.

The first is, of course, a decisive battle for the fleet, which may not seem like an easy one, but a decisive battle with the U.S. Navy near Hawaii is entirely feasible - and a prerequisite for the capture of Hawaii.

Therefore, Yamamoto Isoroku pondered that he could create a false impression that Japan was going to attack Hawaii, and attract the American fleet roaming outside (reconnaissance found that the American fleet was very dishonest and often went out to waste fuel) to the vicinity of Hawaii and gathered to annihilate it. If the goal of gathering and destroying can be achieved, it will not be too late to deploy troops to fight Hawaii. This two-step approach is much more reliable than the all-and-nothing approach proposed by Marshal Hersmann.

Nagano said: "Since the army is not in favor of attacking Hawaii, then the navy still has a feint, and there is no need to use five divisions, it is enough to use a few thousand people to form a brigade first...... Are you willing to sacrifice thousands of men for the cause of the Empire? ”

Thousands? It's nothing, even if the imperial army dies, it can bear it.

Sugiyama and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo looked at each other, and then Sugiyama nodded and said, "When has our army ever been afraid of death?" As long as it does not affect the southward operation, the army is not afraid of anything. Say, how do you want to fight? (To be continued.) )