December 9, 1941 afternoon, Tokyo, Imperial Palace. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the palatial Senkusa Room, Showa Emperor Hirohito, dressed in military uniform, sat on a Western-style throne and listened to the latest reports on the battle situation by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, Chief of Staff Motomo Sugiyama, and Chief of Naval Command Shusei Nagano with a smile on his face.

Contrary to the common impression after World War II in another time and space, Emperor Hirohito of Showa was not a vase at all, but the de facto leader of Japan in World War II. The three major culprits of Japan's war, Hideki Tojo, Sugiyama Moto, and Nagano Shusei were actually chosen by Emperor Showa to come to power.

Sugiyama Moto, who was first put on the throne of chief of staff headquarters and became the number one person in the army, was known as the "fool yuan" -- although this person was "stupid", he could understand the holy will, and as soon as he came to power, he actively prepared for the war against Britain and the United States, and led the comprehensive transformation of French Indochina and the infiltration of the Kingdom of Siam.

Then, under the intervention of Emperor Showa, the chief of the naval command department was Admiral Shusei Nagano, who was one of the few figures in the Japanese navy who advocated war against the United States. Of the three candidates who were likely to succeed the head of the Imperial Family, King Hiroshi Fushimiya, as the head of the Imperial Family (it was actually Hirohito's plan to step down from the position of head of the Imperial Family, in order to avoid responsibility for the war), Gengo Hyakutake and Mitsumasa Yonechi were both war avoidance theorists against the United States, and if they came to power, there would be no way to fight the war.

Immediately after becoming the Minister of Military Order, Nagano submitted a report, "The Attitude of the Imperial Navy in the Present Situation", in which he advocated a march to Thailand and southern French Indochina (present-day Vietnam) to secure the oil resources of Dutch Indochina (present-day Indonesia), and openly advocated that he would not hesitate to go to war against the United States. And he also argues that "even if there is a certainty of victory over the United States, it will become less and less certain over time." It's already hard to hold on...... Since the conflict is inevitable, the later the time, the more disadvantageous", advocating that the war should start as soon as possible.

In the end, the emperor pushed the boat to the prime minister's throne was Tojo Hideki, who only had the rank of lieutenant general at that time (in order to enhance Tojo's prestige, Emperor Showa also promoted Tojo to be a general).

After Tojo became prime minister, Japan's military and political power was entirely in the hands of hardliners who advocated war against the United States. At the two Imperial Council meetings on November 2 and November 30, and at the entrance to the palace on October 5, Tojo, Sugiyama, and Nagano reported to the emperor on the battle plan and preparations for war, as well as an analysis of the changes in the strength of the United States and Japan, as well as the various situations that Japan might have to face. Of course, it also included the timing of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the outline of the battle plan.

Today, Tojo, Sugiyama, and Nagano entered the palace early in the morning and began to report to Emperor Showa about the unprecedented victory of the navy on the first day of the war.

“…… Judging by the current situation, the battleship forces of the US Pacific Fleet have been paralyzed, 5 of the 9 battleships are either sunk or completely destroyed and cannot leave the port, and 1 of the remaining 4 is undergoing major repairs on the mainland. Three more escaped Pearl Harbor in the early hours of this morning, but the First Mobile Fleet will surely sink them all.

In addition, bombers taking off from Taiwan also carried out devastating bombing of US military bases in the Philippines! The Clark airfield has been completely blown up......"

The head of the Navy's military order, Shusei Nagano, and the chief of staff, Sugiyama Moto, have finished reporting, and now it is the turn of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to summarize.

Although Japan did not start the Pacific War smoothly at all (compared to another time and space), in some places such as Guam-Saipan was defeated, Taiwan was also bombed, and the 5th Army Air Corps and the 11th Air Force of the Naval Base Air Corps, which were responsible for air raids on the Philippines, suffered heavy losses. However, Hideki Tojo still felt that victory was in sight, after all, Pearl Harbor was now in flames, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet would not be able to use the base for at least the next 12 months.

This means that Japan will have the initiative for at least 12 months, which is enough to establish an absolute defense circle that includes the resource-producing areas of Southeast Asia and many important islands in the Pacific!

And just when Hideki Tojo shook his head and said that after the establishment of the Absolute Defense Circle, the Japanese Empire would be among the world's great powers. Suddenly, there was a sound of hurried footsteps coming from a thousand kinds, and it was obviously against court etiquette to walk so loudly. The little minister Kido Yukiichi, who was waiting for the emperor, frowned, bowed to the emperor, and walked silently outside the thousand kinds.

After about 2 minutes, Kido's shouting suddenly rang out: "Baga! How is this possible? Are the army and navy all stupid? ”

Hearing this, the emperor and Tojo, Sugiyama, and Nagano were all stunned. What medicine did this Kido take wrong? How dare you openly insult the invincible Great Japanese Navy and Army in the Imperial Palace? Aren't you afraid of being punished by heaven?

When the three of them were wondering, they saw Kido Yukichi running in with his feet scattered, and instead of saluting His Majesty the Emperor (the mistake of losing honor before driving), he grabbed the Emperor's arm and dragged him somewhere. He also said incoherently: "Oh no! Oh no! The Americans sent planes to bomb Tokyo......"

American planes bombed Tokyo!?

How is this possible!

As soon as the word "impossible" came to the minds of Tojo, Sugiyama, and Nagano, the terrible sound of a bomb explosion rang out.

"Bomb dropped! Bomb dropped...... Bombs were dropped on the emperor's head! ”

"Wow, I saw the bomb explode, and it's in the capital of the Japanese, it's such a beautiful sight!"

"This will definitely kill a lot of Japanese!"

Colonel Doolittle's headset was heard paging the captains of the B-17 bombers who had just finished dropping bombs.

The 35 B-17 bombers commanded by Colonel Doolittle took off from Guam Airport at 3 a.m. today, each with fuel tanks filled in its cabin. And in order to reduce the weight as much as possible, the self-defense machine gun was dismantled, and the crew was reduced to 4 people.

The plane immediately adopted radio silence after liftoff, and then flew for 10 hours at the most economical speed and altitude, and only at about 1:20 p.m. did it break through the skies over Tokyo from an altitude of more than 10,000 meters.

At this time, Japan had imported technology from Germany, and already had a practical air search radar. So as soon as these B-17s entered Tokyo Bay, they were detected by Japanese radar. However, because Japan's self-made radar technology is still relatively backward, the detection range is relatively close. As a result, the interceptor aircraft were not given enough time to rise into the air, and the B-17s flew to an altitude close to 11,000 meters, which was difficult for a fighter deployed near Tokyo to fly that high.

Moreover, the Japanese did not expect that their capital would be bombed so quickly, so they did not deploy many heavy anti-aircraft guns in Tokyo that could shoot shells at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters.

So 35 B-17s flew almost unhindered over Tokyo and dropped more than 70 tons of high-explosive bombs!

I saw "small" fireballs rising from the dense Japanese buildings on the ground. Doolittle was in a good mood and said loudly to the operator on the plane: "Send a telegram to Manila: the air raid was successful, and the palace of the Japanese emperor is being bombed!" ”

……

"What? A bomb landed in the Imperial Palace? How dare the Americans do this? ”

Inside the "Yamato Hotel", Yamamoto Fifty-six heard the bad news, and his whole person trembled. Although the capitals of all the countries participating in the war in Europe were bombed by planes, no one in the Japanese Empire, bent on dominating the Pacific, dared to imagine that one day a bomb produced by the United States would fall into the palace of the Japanese emperor.

This kind of evil act of attempting to kill the "living gods" is simply an enemy of 100 million Japanese people (supposedly, in fact, there are not so many)!

"Unforgivable!"

"Damn the American ghost beast!"

"Kill all the ghost animals in the United States!"

"Hang Roosevelt!"

The Combined Fleet staff officers who were attending the meeting in the commander's office all shouted as if they had blown up. Chief of Staff Ugaki coughed and glanced at everyone sternly, so that no one continued to shout.

Ugaki said to Yamamoto Isoroku: "It was the B-17s that attacked Tokyo, and they should have taken off from Guam. ”

"Guam?" Yamamoto Fifty-six frowned, "But Guam is nearly 2,500 kilometers away from Tokyo, and it's 5,000 kilometers round trip...... How could the B-17 have such a long range? ”

"The telegram said that these B-17s flew straight north after bombing Tokyo and disappeared over the Sea of Japan."

"Went to the Soviet Union?" Yamamoto Isoroku immediately thought of where these planes were going.

Ugaki nodded and said, "The Foreign Minister has urgently met with the Soviet ambassador and asked the Soviet Union to hand over all the B-17 pilots who landed on its territory to our side!" ”

"What did the Soviets say?" Yamamoto Fifty-six hurriedly asked.

"The Soviet ambassador said that not a single B-17 aircraft landed on the territory of the USSR......"

Yamamoto was stunned for a moment, and then let out a long sigh, "It's okay." ”

Ugaki looked at Yamamoto incomprehensibly, and Yamamoto said with a wry smile: "My empire has provoked a behemoth now, can it still provoke the Soviet Union again?" If the Soviet ambassador said that the American planes were all in Vladivostok, but the USSR decided to return them to the United States. What can Minister Togo say? Do you dare to declare war? Now the Soviets say that there are no B-17s landing, which shows that Stalin did not want to fall out with our empire yet. ”

At this point, his face was already gloomy. "But it has become very clear that the Soviet Union and the United States are on the same camp, and if our empire cannot achieve a landslide victory in the Hawaiian campaign, the Soviet Union is very likely to take a more hostile stance against our empire." (To be continued.) )