Yamamoto Fifty-six sat in his place, looking at his huge naval fleet from the battleship Nagato. The combined fleet of the Japanese Navy almost poured out this time, with as many as 8 aircraft carriers alone, an unprecedented 8 battleships, countless cruisers and destroyers, and 30,000 elite marines to the Hawaiian Islands.

This is the last desperate battle of the Japanese Navy, and if the Americans do not surrender after the battle of Hawaii, then the Japanese have to passively wait for the Americans to counterattack. Yamamoto knew that Japan no longer had the strength to land in the United States, and even if he could barely scrape together a few hundred thousand people, it would be impossible for the United States, whose territory was about the same as China's, to be defeated by these hundreds of thousands of people.

Thinking of this, the commander of the combined fleet couldn't help but stand up and let out a long sigh. He still remembers what he said to his commander when he declared war on the United States, and when he assessed the war situation, he replied to his commander as follows: "There is no problem for a year and a half, but no matter how long it is, there is no way." ”

Now, from May 2 to mid-August, his fleet is showing signs of fatigue. After more than three months of war, most of the forces of the Combined Fleet did not get the rest they deserved, and the Japanese army, which was blooming and victorious everywhere, was also dispersed into countless forces at the same time, and it was impossible to concentrate them at all.

The Japanese army had more than 2 million troops on the battlefields in China, including the entire 750,000 Kwantung Army deployed on the Soviet border. These Japanese troops did not dare to leave the border area at a moment's notice, because there were also more than 700,000 Soviet Red Army troops on the opposite side, staring at the Japanese in China. At the same time, in the direction of the long Chinese counterattack, the Japanese had to retain more than 700,000 defensive troops, after all, the Chinese army is not what it used to be, and it still has a certain combat effectiveness at this moment.

Japan has a total of 177 divisions and regiments in China, and the standard Japanese Category A division has a strength of nearly 30,000 troops, that is to say, the strength of Japan's deployment in China has begun to shrink strictly, and many second-line troops cannot be fully established at all, and even some Category C divisions have been sent to the Chinese battlefield to replenish their numbers.

It stands to reason that a Japanese Category A division is actually a division of an army, so many times a Chinese division cannot defeat a Japanese division or regiment, because the establishment of the two sides is different. Japan's divisions are similar to those of the United States, and the top-level Category A divisions have an establishment of 28,000 men, and it is inevitable that their combat effectiveness will be stronger than that of a division of the Kuomintang Army.

But then again, if it is a C-level division, then this division may only have an establishment of 15,000 people, and if it is not good, it will be short, if it is such a division, it is conceivable how effective the combat strength is, and many C-class divisions and regiments are not even equipped with artillery, and they are still reliable to deal with the Chinese guerrillas, and it is purely a joke to use them to fight frontal battles.

"Send a telegram to General Nagumo Tadaichi and ask him to start preparing to attack the US field airfield on Oahu! After the bombing of the two groups of air forces, release the landing force and begin to forcibly land on the first island!" Yamamoto let go of the melancholy in his heart and began to give the order to attack, this battle is not easy for them to win, at least on Oahu, there are still a large number of US Army planes that can take off to meet the Japanese fighters.

Therefore, the Japanese Navy came out of the nest this time in order to be able to use its superior carrier-based aircraft to completely destroy the US combat system on the Hawaiian Islands and win more advantages for the landing operations of the Marine Corps.

The rest is to wait anxiously, Yamamoto needs to confirm the effect of the air attack on the military airfield on Oahu before issuing further combat orders. Everyone waited in silence, watching the hands of their pocket watches move little by little. About an hour and a half later, General Nagumo Tadaichi sent back the results of the air raid: "Your Excellency Marshal, the air raid was successfully carried out, 110 US fighter planes were destroyed, and air supremacy is still being contested. ”

Yamamoto's heart jumped slightly, which showed that the United States took off its own plane ahead of schedule and intercepted Nagumo's plane. Otherwise, the results should be even greater. It seems that the American radar system can already participate in real combat as an early warning, which is definitely not good news for the Japanese Navy.

"Your Excellency Marshal, Your Excellency Marshal, General Kurita has called to ask if the battle plan is going ahead as scheduled?" asked an officer softly while holding his hand over the phone. His words interrupted Yamamoto's restless thoughts, and the commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet finally decided to take another gamble.

"The battle begins!" he picked up the phone and gave the order to attack his battleship fleet at the same time, this fleet consisted of eight Japanese battleships, and the main purpose of this visit was to shell the landing area, cover the Japanese landing force to force a landing on Kauai, and then obtain an advance base to attack Oahu.

Outside Yamamoto's conning tower window, the two huge twin main gun turrets have been slowly pointing to starboard, and behind Yamamoto, the two twin main guns in the stern have gradually taken place, and the eight straight and slender gun barrels have crossed the gunwale, adjusting the high and low angles little by little.

With the number of shots provided by the seaplanes that had already taken off, and estimating that the distant island of Kauai had entered the effective range of his own cannons, Admiral Yamamoto 56 solemnly issued the order to attack with his hands behind his back, and said a purified word in short and ruthless Japanese: "Shoot!"

The officer standing in front of the microphone nodded respectfully and replied, "Hey!" After replying, the officer immediately conveyed the firing command to the four huge turrets in the same solemn tone: "Fire!"

A few seconds later, eight guns fired back and forth on the four huge main turrets in front and rear of the battleship, spewing out bright tongues of fire. The roar of the 410 mm caliber cannon was deafening, and it sounded majestic to anyone. In order to avoid damage to the hull, the salvo was actually slightly sequential, so the shock caused by the firing was relatively light, but Yamamoto could still feel the battleship trembling under the sound of artillery fire under his feet.

Not far behind the battleship Nagato, the giant ship Mutsu, which was also heading down, had already prepared its eight huge guns. Less than 10 seconds after the fire erupted from the battleship Nagato, the Mutsu also opened fire, firing the first salvo.

The Japanese battleships that followed closely behind also opened fire one after another, and the shells rained down on Kauai. This is almost the largest naval artillery operation on land in the history of human warfare. The last time the Germans used the combined fleet of Italy and France was only 6 battleships, this time the Japanese fleet exceeded the size of the battleship alone.

And that's not counting the guns of various calibers on the 10 heavy cruisers that were approaching the bombardment not far away, and although there were no carrier-based aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carriers to join them, the trouble caused by these huge guns to the Americans was already incomparable.

The United States deployed about 4,000 troops on Kauai, and these troops were deployed in three directions for defensive operations -- the near Oahu side was virtually undefended, since the Japanese could not have chosen a place between the two islands to spread out their landing grounds. So about 1,000 American soldiers faced shelling from the Japanese Navy, and these people were stupefied by the terrible sight in front of them.

A huge cannonball was enough to kick up half a football field of mud and sand, and with a huge shock wave and sound, the whole earth trembled. All the American soldiers cried on the battlefield with their weapons in their arms, but no one could come to their rescue. A heavy machine-gun position was hit directly by shells, and a dozen American soldiers inside were not spared, and even several could not even find their bodies.

"Damn the Japanese! what are you capable of sneaking up on us!" an American soldier cursed loudly as he squinted his eyes to avoid being buried in dust and mud as he held his steel helmet in both hands. And beside him, an American soldier was already crying, he was shouting for his mother, but it was muffled by the loud explosion, and many American recruits had collapsed with horror from such a terrible shelling.

In a defensive position near the sea, an American regiment commander was holding his walkie-talkie and loudly reporting the current situation: "Yes! The Japanese are shelling, and I believe that they will land within an hour, and then the battle will be even more difficult." I need support, any support I need!"

The Americans were not idle, as the battle progressed, a team of more than 1,000 American infantry began to use assault boats and barges to reinforce Kauai, at this time the US Air Force was competing with the Japanese Zero fighters for air supremacy, from time to time US planes were shot down, and from time to time Japanese fighters dived to attack these American soldiers crossing the sea.

The interception by Japanese planes cost the American reinforcement a heavy blow, and about 150 American soldiers were sunk between the two islands with their own small boats. But the remaining 850 soldiers managed to get to Kauai, reinforcing the garrison there. Armed with large quantities of ammunition, these men were determined to defend American territory to the death and fight the Japanese to the end.

The U.S. Army Air Corps fought valiantly and caused a lot of trouble to the Japanese, and although the U.S. had lost 200 planes in the airfield, the Japanese had also shot down a full 40 planes, which made the cautious Yamamoto almost give up the landing operation that had not been carried out. As the battle continued, the U.S. command on Oahu sent a telegram requesting reinforcements to the U.S. Navy, and Nimitz's fleet was converging in the distant ocean.