At seven o'clock, when the Japanese people got up and were cooking breakfast, Japanese Emperor Takahito suddenly issued a speech to the nation, claiming that the navy of the Great Japanese Empire had been engaged in war with the US Pacific Fleet in the Pacific Ocean, and that the war was currently in full swing. The Emperor called on all of us to pray for the officers and men who were fighting. Japan's state religion, Shintoism, also stood up at this time and held a large-scale prayer ceremony.

Cable radio stations scattered all over Japan also began to "live" broadcast the naval battle at this time, which was still learned from the Germans, so as to help "Yamato Nadeshiko" brush up more faith points. The families of the officers and men of the navy, knowing that war had broken out, also rushed to the local temple to pay homage to His Excellency Yamato Nadeshiko, the patron saint of the Japanese Navy.

The content of the radio station and the specific situation of the naval battle are, of course, very different. The Japanese announcer took out a draft prepared in advance and described in vivid pictures how the two warships, "Yamato" and "Shinano," "rode one on one horse" and sank the "iron tortoise" of the evil American ghost beast one by one.

The Japanese people, brainwashed by militarist ideology, were even more fanatical about the war than the Germans. When the naval battle in the waters of Guam was in full swing, a large amount of faith power also flocked to the Yamato and Shinano ships across thousands of kilometers from the four Japanese islands, and the strong power of faith made Katyusha smile, even Li Huamei, who has always been calm, was immersed in the war frenzy of the Japanese people throughout the country, she originally only had C-level breasts, and because the Japanese people thought that "Yamato Nadeshiko is a beauty with a G cup" (influenced by the "Battleship Girl" comics), so that her breasts swelled several cups uncontrollably.

As part of the strategic deception against the United States, before 22 June, the young "middle two" in Japan. It has also been used by the authorities. On the one hand, the government sent people to provoke these two middle schools to make trouble in the streets, but on the other hand, they unceremoniously dispatched military and police forces to forcefully suppress them, thereby deepening the impression that the Americans mistakenly believed that Japan would not dare to go to war against the United States.

On the morning of 22 June, when these "second-year students" who were still in junior high school, high school, or college heard on the radio the "good news" that the US and Japanese fleets had exchanged fire and that the combined fleet had the absolute upper hand. Everyone was so excited that they "burst into tears", and the dissatisfaction caused by the strong suppression in the past turned into incomparable excitement and excitement at this moment.

Whenever the announcer excitedly shouted in a provocative tone on the radio, "The tuba hits the soul," and sank some of the ace ships of the American ghost animals, the Japanese people in front of the radios and loudspeakers everywhere excitedly shouted "Long live," and these "middle two" were the most excited group of people.

These "middle two" did not know what a terrible opponent the "Great Japanese Empire" had provoked this time.

On the other side, at the Japanese Embassy. A small drinking party is going on.

After issuing a declaration of war that "shocked the whole United States" to the American media, Masao Takeo finally opened champagne and celebrated with the embassy staff in a very good mood after three months of playing the public clown, celebrating that the most successful performance of his life had just ended. As for sending a notice of declaration of war to the U.S. official in paper, there are naturally others to carry it out. In the matter of sending the notice of declaration of war, Li Huamei did not want to be the first to build a memorial arch like the Japanese in history. Want to play a game of "declare war fifteen minutes ago and start war right away".

For three months, he has performed again and again in front of the public. made him sweep the floor and lose face in front of the staff at home and abroad, and even in front of the staff around him. But today, he can finally laugh and say to everyone, "You guys all fucking lied to me!" The one who thinks I'm a clown is the real clown. ”

This time last year. Masao Takeda is only an English teacher at a Japanese university, responsible for teaching American English, in order to let his students learn English faster, he set up a drama club in the school, so that students can perform drama in English.

And then one day last year. He was taken by the Japanese intelligence service, called in, and after a long talk, they prepared a script for him to play a diplomatic clown in the United States.

Six months before he was sent to the United States to serve as ambassador to the United States, Masao Takeda, who was originally a "Sven man," was officially sent by the authorities to a group of coarse, scoundrels, and underworld people to "experience life," observe them, integrate into them, learn from them, and learn from their "vulgarity" and ruffianism, so as to facilitate his future "performances" in the United States.

In the past three months, Masao Takeo's performance has been an unprecedented success.

The American people, "delighted" to see a coarse, foul-mouthed, and scathing-speaking Japanese diplomat. From time to time, American newspaper reporters can catch disgusting shots of him "picking his nose" or even "eating his nose", and then publish it in the newspaper and ridicule it, and jokes such as forgetting to tighten the zipper of the crotch also happen from time to time.

Masao Takeda succeeded in erecting such an image in the minds of Americans: "a Japanese clown who is so crude that it is "cute". ”

At 7 p.m. that day, a large number of US soldiers surrounded the Japanese Embassy in the United States. He put all the Japanese in the embassy under house arrest and took away a large number of papers. However, by this time, the sensitive information had already been disposed of by the Japanese.

Later, following the exchange of ambassadors between the United States and Japan, Masao Takeo returned to Tokyo on August 31 of that year, and was immediately greeted by the local Japanese like a hero, and it was his personal success that fooled all Americans.

Although the Japanese Navy attacked the U.S. fleet, the Americans could not confidently accuse Japan of not declaring war. This is because three months before the war, Masao Takeo and his predecessor had told the Americans countless times in front of the American public, "We will beat you, we will beat you," and they insisted on using this little trick of "the wolf is coming" to make the entire United States "habitually numb."

In the world, there is only one "outsider" who has sniffed out a little fame from Takeo Masao's performance.

This "outsider" is the former British Prime Minister, Winston. Churchill. At that time, he said to the people around him: "Hide the truth in a pile of crazy words, or let a person who pretends to be a madman, a fool, and a clown 'tell the truth' so that no one will believe that it is the 'truth'." It reminds me of the trick that the Germans played on the Shane-class battleships. ”

Churchill, of course, knew that the Germans had intervened in this matter, but no one would listen to him no matter what he said now.

The other side. At 6:10 a.m. on 22 June, the US military base at the southern tip of Palawan Island in the Philippines sounded a terrible battle alarm, and 20 B-17 bombers, which had been refueled overnight and hung with bombs, were lined up on the runway of the base. And on the other runway, a full twenty-four P38 fighters were also ready to go.

As the command signaled sorties, twenty B17 bombers took off from the airfield one after another. After the BF17 took off, the P38 fighter also took off, and the P38 Lightning fighter, which was faster than the B17, soon caught up with the B17 in the air and began to fly with the escort.

In the second half of 1941, as relations between the United States and Britain continued to deteriorate for the sake of colonial interests, the U.S. military continued to increase the strength of the Philippine garrison. The most strengthened is the Army Aviation.

Palawan Island, located in the southwest of the Philippines, near the British East Malayya in the north of Kalimantan, is an important forward base to deter the British.

With December 1941, Britain and Japan joined forces. Under the pretext of riots in Dutch Indonesia, after carving up Dutch Indonesia under the banner of "protecting overseas Chinese". Both Britain and Japan have increased their military presence on Kalimantan. In response to the joint pressure from Britain and Japan, in 1942, the United States also continued to increase the size of its military presence in the Philippines.

In 1942, the U.S. Army Air Force had three main fighters: the P40 Curtis, the P39 Flying Serpent, and the new P38 Lightning.

P39 Flying Snake. Historically, he made a name for himself on the Soviet-German battlefield, but when he served in the U.S. Army, he received rave reviews. During the European War in 1940, it was sold to Britain by the Americans as a profit, during which the German fleet captured a lot of people at sea.

The U.S. military also has part of the P39 in the Philippines, as for the P40. It belongs to an aircraft in the troubled times in the middle of the regulations, and its performance is mediocre. In 1942, before the P47 Thunderbolt combat scheduled by the Army Aviation completed the development and equipment of the troops, the main fighter of the United States Army Aviation was the P38 Lightning, which was a twin-engine fighter.

This dimension, which has been changed beyond recognition by the traverser, is the BF110 interceptor developed by Germany, which is based on the design idea of the P38.

It's just that the P38 aircraft, he may be an excellent interceptor, but it is definitely not suitable for escort missions - historically, although the P38 was good in the Pacific War, but in the European theater, in the face of a bunch of speed monsters of German aircraft, and when performing escort missions, its end was beaten by the opponent, and even evaluated by the opponent as the best Allied fighter.

In this attack on the British Malay Peninsula, the P38 was ordered by the superior to carry out escort missions that were not suitable for them, and the opponent that the P38 had to face at this time was the Spitfire V of the British Royal Air Force.

From the beginning of the war in China in 1935 to the year of war in Europe that ended in 1940, the RAF suffered enough from the generational gap. In order to save a few dollars, the official is always reluctant to throw away those old planes that have fallen behind the times, forcing pilots to fly planes that are a generation or half behind their opponents into the sky, and then they are beaten down like ducks and the results of the battle are brushed up.

After the end of the war in 1940, the British, who had learned from the pain, finally did not save money in the replacement of aircraft, and the bloody lessons made them finally understand that no matter how much they could not save planes, pilots were more valuable than airplanes.

In November 1940, after the end of the war, the first thing the Royal Air Force did in updating its aircraft was to convert all the Hurricane fighters in service to ground attack aircraft, and to replace them with 40 mm S guns to carry out ground attack aircraft missions.

The main fighter of the Royal Air Force is now an all-round Spitfire, and has been upgraded to a Spitfire V. Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the British also knew that Southeast Asia had long been a land of right and wrong, and a large number of Spitfire V fighters had been deployed here three months before the war.

When the Second White Fleet was heading west, the British government was even more nervous, for fear that the Americans would take the opportunity to make trouble and "joke" with them in Southeast Asia. When the American fleet was still on the way. Its garrisons in Southeast Asia have long been in a state of combat readiness as if they were facing a great enemy. As the U.S. fleet approached Southeast Asia day by day, the tension of the British increased day by day, the army mobilized, the radar was turned on, and the air force increased combat readiness cruises. Nothing can be done pulled down.

The British set up a military base in British East Malaya, and a large number of air defense radar stations were deployed along the coast early on. When American bombers and fighters flew off the coast of Kalimantan, a poignant air defense siren sounded from nearby British bases.

At the same time, the 12 Spitfire V fighters who were on combat readiness duty at the local base took off urgently to intercept them, and at the same time, the command of the base, who had been called out from sleep, also hurried to the command center. The British fighters in other directions, after being alerted, also took off urgently to come to support.

The intercepted Spitfire, soon under the guidance of ground-based radar. In the air encountered a group of B17 aircraft.

The British pilots and ground workers asked about the purpose of the American plane on the other side, but they were answered with an American-style national curse "fuckyou".

The P38 is a very good interceptor, but it is also a very bad escort fighter. It was obviously difficult to carry out the escort mission. Although there were only 12 British planes that went to intercept the US planes, half of the pilots who flew them were elites who had participated in the French campaign, and one of them was Major Winck, who was shot down by Li Huamei four times.

War is the best teacher. The war in Europe a year and a half ago. A series of fiascos taught the British a lot. The British, although they had not touched the P38, did not understand his performance. However, the Royal Air Force also fought against his replica BF110 many times during the French campaign. The successor to the Spitfire series is an improvement that absorbs the lessons learned from the French campaign. Two of these improvements, one is to improve the dive performance of the aircraft, which is a targeted improvement for this HHR tactic of the BF110. Another improvement was the change in the Spitfire's firepower from the original eight machine guns to two (20 mm machine guns) and four machine guns (7.7 mm machine guns). The firing junction has also changed from the earliest 270 meters to 420 meters.

Compared with the Royal Air Force, which has experienced the tempering of the war in Europe, the US Air Force is all rookie pilots. They may have plenty of time to train for flying, but they have almost zero actual combat experience.

When encountering a group of British fighter jets, these young and impulsive American cowboy pilots. While shouting "FUCK" to greet his opponent and his family, he drove the P38 fighter like a bull and rushed over to entangle with the Spitfire V. This approach of attacking the enemy with a short time quickly paid a price.

Although it has a two-to-one advantage, it is the American aircraft that has the upper hand in the scene. After some entanglement, two P38s were knocked down in the air by the Spitfire V-type in black smoke, and the other two were damaged, while the Spitfire V was unharmed. There are also two Spitfires that successfully broke through the entanglement of the P38 and rushed behind the B17 formation.

One of the weaknesses of the early B17 bombers was the lack of a tail turret, and once the opponent exploded from the six o'clock in the tail, he could only stare dryly. These two Spitfire V-shapes that broke through the interception happened to be the B17 group that broke through this plane.

However, the B17 fleet in formation relied on the cross-cover between adjacent friendly aircraft, and still used the 12.7mm self-defense machine guns mounted on the cabin to fire fiercely at the two Spitfires, but due to the poor angle of fire, the interception effect was not very good.

Eventually, a Spitfire was shot down when it broke through the B17 group's self-defense fire, and Major Wink's Spitfire V managed to break through to a B17's close-quarters location, and the plane's two guns and four machine guns were aimed at the massive fuselage of the B17 four-shot heavy bomber.

The attacking Spitfires fought from a distance of 350 meters to a dangerous distance of 50 meters, until the shells ran out and the machine guns were almost exhausted.

"What a hard plane!"

As the attack broke away, Major Wink couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the heavy American bombardment on fire on one side of the wing.

The B17 bomber that was bitten, the two engines on his right side were smoked and caught fire by the opponent, and the machine gunners and flight attendants in the crew also suffered heavy casualties, but they still refused to fall to the ground immediately. After still stubbornly holding on to flying thousands of meters in the air, it could not support itself and fell headlong, becoming the first B17 lost by the US Army after the start of the Pacific War.

The remnants of the crew on board parachuted out after confirming that the plane was unlikely to return. By this time, their plane had already entered the skies over land, and they did not have to worry about parachuting into the sea. Afterwards, most of the surviving pilots were captured by the local British forces.

In the early morning of 22 June, the U.S. Army Aviation Force, which reacted very quickly, successfully bombed two British military installations in East Malaya.

Because the British had been prepared for a long time, the specific results of the bombing could only be said to be a success. A number of ground facilities were destroyed, but due to the timely warning of the British air defense, the casualties of the selected ones were not large.

In terms of losses, the U.S. military dispatched 20 B17s and 24 P38s, during which they were intercepted by two waves of British Spitfires, a total of three B17s and eight P38s were shot down, and the British also lost four Spitfires.

The British planes fighting at home were mentally prepared for war, but they still achieved average results, mainly because the B17 four-engine heavy bombers were too coarse and rough-skinned. "As hard as cement", in order for an ordinary 20-mm machine gun to shoot them down, theoretically it would have to hit dozens of shells to have a good effect.

While the British and American air forces were killing people in the skies over East Malaya, the British ambassador to the United States was being a little baffled by the sudden questioning from Washington.

"Royal Navy attack on the US Navy? Is there such a thing? How did I not know? ”

While wiping the cold sweat from his head, he urgently sent a telegram to London, England to inquire. Although Britain had long expected a major war between the United States and Japan, it miscalculated the timing of the war and the battlefield. Faced with the sudden outbreak of war, and the situation of stirring but being splashed with. There was also panic.

The British were bent on provoking the United States and Japan to go to war, but they did not want to end up fighting the United States themselves. When the British hurriedly explained to the Americans that there was absolutely no possibility of an attack on the US Navy by the Royal Navy. The Southeast Asian side sent back an urgent telegram, claiming that the British military base on Kalimantan Island had been bombed by the US Air Force, and the pilots of the two sides even fought in the air. Moreover, the local garrison has captured several pilots of downed American planes.

"What the fuck is going on!"

This was the first thought of the British Prime Minister at the time, Attlee, after seeing this cable.

Because of the time difference, when the British received the war information, the time was 11 o'clock in the evening.

That night, the lights of the entire 10th Downing Street were turned off all night. A group of parliamentarians met urgently to discuss how to deal with this unexpected situation.

The biggest headache now is how to wash off the that splashed on themselves and wash their relationship with the Japanese.

However, some people don't want the British to wash off the smell of feces on their bodies lightly.

Shortly after the start of fighting in the waters off Guam. The Japanese Embassy in Britain received a secret message from Tokyo. This is a cipher message sent with a one-time password, and the message needs to be translated with reference to a special codebook, although it is original, but it is very secure.

After translating the secret telegram, the Japanese ambassador to Britain immediately asked people to contact several local British media to reveal to them the "big news."

That night, the lights of the Japanese Embassy in the UK were also kept on all night.

The bosses of several large newspapers in London, England, were so excited that they couldn't sleep, and some of them even sat in the printing houses themselves, listening to the Japanese ambassador's telephone call from Guò, relaying a report on the fighting situation on the Guam battlefield, and at the same time asking his editors to write a manuscript on the spot, and immediately after writing the manuscript, he asked the workers to typeset and print it, and was ready to release it as a special news in the morning to grab people's attention.

The Japanese embassy contacted small and medium-sized local newspapers in London, not major newspapers with close ties to the government. In order to earn fame and eyeballs, these tabloids did everything without moderation, and the Japanese wanted to use them to drag the British deeper into the water.

In the previous chapter, I wrote about the number of personnel lost by the Pacific Fleet, and I made a mistake in my calculations, such a huge fleet, the officers and men of the whole fleet, plus the auxiliary supply ships on the side, the whole crew should be about 30,000, and I only wrote 15,000, which is obviously a big mistake BUG, and this BUG has been corrected in the original text. (To be continued......)

PS: In the previous chapter, I wrote about the number of personnel lost by the Pacific Fleet, I made a mistake, such a huge fleet, the officers and men of the whole fleet, plus the auxiliary supply ships on the side, the whole ship should be about 30,000 personnel, I only wrote 15,000, it is obviously a big mistake BUG, this BUG I have corrected in the original text.