The commander of the Pacific Fleet, who had been ordered at the time, left his post for several months and withdrew to the island of Hawaii, 345 kilometers southeast of Oahu.

This was another blow to the morale of the remnants of the U.S. forces on Oahu, but the negative impact was negligible, as morale was already quite low.

The president, who was far away in Washington, saw nothing to regret in this battle, and the commanders and soldiers had done their best, and they could not be blamed for the fall of Oahu.

In the final analysis, this is the result of the United States' own making—if the army is maintained to a decent level in the interwar period; If, immediately after the outbreak of war, the army is fully expanded; Suppose three months ago a division of the expeditionary force sent to Europe was transferred to Hawaii......

Before that, there were many opportunities to save, but unfortunately the wood was already in the boat, and there were no more ifs.

「…… We can't afford to lose our bases in the Pacific, Maui, Lanai, and Big Island should defend with all our might and repel the Chinese, otherwise (the equivalent of) losing the entire Pacific Ocean, and it will be difficult for the fleet to fight an enemy with a large number of aircraft after sailing two thousand miles......

「…… The impact of air power on the tide of battle was decisive, and we had to replenish the aircraft of the Hawaiian defenders, and a clever naval staff officer, Major Semuel Williams, came up with a great idea that would allow us to quickly deploy aircraft to the airfields of Kahului and Hiro......

Ernest King, who is now the commander of the Atlantic Fleet, wrote a report that he presented to the president, stating his views.

The voyage from the west coast to Hawaii is about 3,800 kilometers, and there are no islands and reefs in between that can be used for mooring, transit, or resting, which means that the US fleet has to cross the vast ocean and go straight to its destination after leaving home, which virtually raises the difficulty by one level.

Moreover, the Ming army occupying Hawaii can station a large number of air force units, there are three airfields on Kauai, and there are six airfields on Oahu, and it can be further expanded, theoretically the Ming army can deploy a huge aviation force of 2000~2400 aircraft in the Hawaiian Islands.

Aviation of this scale is daunting, enough to resist the counteroffensive of the US fleet, even ignoring the performance gap between shore-based aircraft and carrier-based aircraft, the US military needs 20~24 aircraft carriers to compete with it.

Another problem also arises - it is impossible for the Ming army not to send a fleet to defend Hawaii, and the deployment of 8~10 aircraft carriers as a mobile strike force also has 600~800 carrier-based aircraft.

As for the "good idea" mentioned by Ernest King, it is actually to use the two existing aircraft carriers, the USS Saratoga and the USS Enterprise, as a maritime transit airport, anchored halfway between Hawaii and the West Coast.

In this way, planes taking off from mainland China can land on the carrier to resupply, and then take off to reinforce Hawaii.

On the evening of 4 August, a search detachment of the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion and a reinforced platoon of the 1st Marine Regiment met on the western outskirts of Honolulu.

The soldiers of the Ming army were able to see the spire of the Aloha Tower in the city, and if they held up their binoculars to observe, they could also see the large clock above.

Because the various units involved in the battle gradually loosened up in the course of the continuous pursuit, Zhou Changfeng ordered the pursuit to be stopped one kilometer west of the city, and fortifications were built and the troops were gathered.

At the same time, some artillery units received a batch of freshly printed leaflets, which were loaded with propaganda shells and fired towards Honolulu.

Eight Air Force Type 37 dive bombers took off from Kauai's Weiyuan Airport and flew over the city, dropping leaflets to persuade them to surrender, and thousands of pieces of paper fell in the sunset like scattered flowers.

The last Navy personnel at Pearl Harbor are boarding and evacuating, and a dozen or so remaining transport boats and barges will transport them to Honolulu or the Kapole area.

If you are willing to continue to resist, then go to Kapole to the west; Instead, go to Honolulu in the east.

Numerous large-caliber shore defense guns are still defending Pearl Harbor, so even though the waters off Oahu have been blocked by the Ming fleet, the interior of the harbor is still free to pass, just be careful to avoid the wreckage of the ships that were sunk by the Ming air raids.

"I've been working at Pearl Harbor for eight years, and the enemy has eight minutes to arrive, and the port will be destroyed in eight seconds." Someone wrote so in a diary.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! Rumble! ”

Suddenly, the flames burst into the sky, and the shockwave swept in a few seconds later.

The rumbling explosions continued, and the supply warehouse and parts warehouse were destroyed by the blasting of US sappers, and the remaining supplies inside were also poured with gasoline and burned.

The steel frame of the crane at the dock was affixed with thermite, the dazzling white light was dazzling, the extreme heat melted the steel into a red liquid state, and the huge crane collapsed with the creak of the steel twisting!

Named after the 1,010-foot length of the Dockyard at the Navy Yard, the Shipyard's large dock that can maintain any of the Pacific Fleet's megaships is not immune to destruction. U.S. sappers dug a large amount of explosives to fill the holes, and a total of 21 tons of explosives and 760 shells were collected.

The storage tanks in the Upper, Lower and Middle areas were also blasted one by one, igniting a monstrous fire, and the diesel and heavy oil flowing out were blocked by earthen embankments (protective walls), and each area became a veritable sea of flames, and about 3.9 million tons of fuel oil were incinerated in this way.

The silence of the night exhausted the patience of the Ming soldiers, and many were eager to take over the city.

It wasn't until dawn, less than twenty minutes before the deadline given by the perimeter wind, that a Dodge SUV with white flags on both sides of the front of the car drove into the Ming-controlled area.

The visitor accepted a series of terms on the leaflet to surrender, and the order to surrender was given by Brigadier General Jacob Devers, and the next surrender ceremony was ready to take place.

The officers in the command headquarters suddenly smiled, and some breathed a sigh of relief, which can be regarded as avoiding the disaster of soldiers and saving a lot of trouble.

Street fighting is too easy to smooth out the gap between the two sides, although the US troops in front of them are already defeated, but if they really have to resist stubbornly and fight to the death, they are afraid that they will have to suffer hundreds or thousands of casualties.

At 9:15 a.m. on August 5, Brigadier General Jacob, commander of the 9th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, led a group of officers to the western suburbs of Honolulu by car.

More than a dozen white flags have been planted in the middle of the battle lines between the two sides, and eye-catching wooden boards with the words "Ceasefire Zone" written in large white letters have been erected, and four small tables have been put together to form a large table.

It stands to reason that such an occasion should be dressed more formally, but Zhou's regular clothes were left in the stranded Lu Xun, and the battleship was not less beaten in the next few days, and all of them were hit by three or four aerial bombs and more than a dozen shells.

So Zhou Changfeng simply came to the scene in a field uniform, with a pistol holster around his waist, binoculars around his neck, and three colored pencils in his breast pocket.

As soon as they met, he smiled and said, "A few days ago, you persuaded us to surrender. ”

Hearing this, the expressions of several Americans on the other side were not very natural.

After a brief silence, Brigadier General Jacob calmly replied: "Unfortunately, we were not able to succeed. ”

"This battle has been fought back and forth, and it is indeed not easy." Zhou Changfeng bowed slightly, and commented: "The reason for your failure is arrogance, if you are willing to transfer one more division over, it will be difficult to say the final victory or defeat." ”

A lieutenant colonel staff officer of the 9th Infantry Division couldn't help but say: "The Germans are too strong, and any division sent to Portugal is important." ”

If we conduct a review of the campaign, it seems that there is nothing wrong with the deployment of the US military before the battle began.

The Hawaiian Islands have a total of 24th Infantry Division, 7th Infantry Division, 9th Infantry Division (owing one infantry regiment and one artillery battalion), two tank battalions, and one self-propelled anti-tank gun battalion.

Most of these forces defended Oahu directly, and if they could be properly used, there was hope that the Ming army that landed on the island would be driven into the sea, and no matter how bad it was, it would be able to hold out for an extra month or two.

The biggest mistake of the American army was to counterattack Kauai, and the battle was pointless, causing heavy losses to the originally fully equipped 7th Infantry Division - more than 2,000 casualties.

Although the U.S. military urgently airlifted the 501st Airborne Regiment to bolster Oahu's defenses, it was far from making up for the mistake.

Seeing that the draft was written as a ceasefire at 0:00 tonight and surrender tomorrow morning, Zhou Changfeng decisively refused, "Ceasefire again in the middle of the night today, and then surrender tomorrow?" Grinding and chirping, no. ”

He demanded that the U.S. forces surrender at 12:00 more than two hours later, or else they would attack immediately.

Brigadier General Jacob had no choice but to agree.

Trucks with horns are lining the main roads of downtown Honolulu, informing citizens that the remnants of the U.S. Army have given up resistance and that the city will be welcomed by the occupying forces in the afternoon.

Half-collapsed houses can be seen in the streets, as well as scattered debris and rotting garbage - the city is already in a bit of chaos due to the imminent threat of war.

The Honolulu administration was instructed to stay at their posts and to maintain order and stability to the greatest extent possible pending the transfer of jurisdiction by the occupying forces once an interim Government had been established.

However, a considerable number of people, fearing persecution, chose to flee to the docks under the advantage of their powers, or forged documents to pretend to be ordinary people.

The gunfire that lasted for an unknown number of days and nights finally stopped, and groups of Ming planes flew over the city but did not bomb.

The long-lost tranquility seems to be coming? However, this is only temporary.

Out of fear, many shop owners closed their doors, refused to sell anything, and refused to answer the police's knocks.

In order to maintain the stability of the market, they had to force their way in and put their goods out for stalls.

The trunks of some cars were stuffed with all kinds of luggage, and the back covers could not be closed, and the couple drove out of the city with their children and drove southeast to the towns of Kaimonki and Kahala.

Many people can't tell why they want to go there, but they simply feel that the more remote villages and towns are more suitable for refuge.

Near a clinic, Heller, a reporter for the travel magazine Holiday, hurried home with some medicines, and on the way saw several shops and department stores looted, including film, cameras, watches, canned food, macaroni, and everything else.

There was a fierce exchange of fire between the robbers and the oncoming police, bullets flew everywhere, and the surrounding pedestrians fled in panic......

At 12:12 p.m., an advance team composed of the 17th Division and the 1st Marine Brigade took the lead along the road from the western suburbs into the city of Honolulu.

There were two overturned and stone-stuffed buses at the intersection as roadblocks, and the American troops, who had lost all their technical equipment, could not move them away, so they had to wait for the Ming tanks to drag them aside.

At the same time, a battalion of the 4th Marine Brigade crossed the Koolau Ridge and entered the city from the northeast through the Nuanupari Gullet.

However, an unexpected battle began a quarter of an hour later - and there seemed to be a force of American troops near Aloha Tower who was still resisting.

"What the hell is going on? Didn't receive an order to surrender? Go ahead and ask. ”

"Order!"

It wasn't until half an hour later that it turned out to be stragglers who refused to carry out the order, unwilling to give up Honolulu without resistance.

The U.S. force, which consisted of more than 100 men from the 7th Infantry Division, plus some officers and men from other units, and a small number of National Guardsmen, totaling nearly 200 men, had built a stronghold around Aloha Tower under the command of Artillery Captain Martinez.

Brigadier General Jacob and the mayor of Honolulu were worried that this would anger the occupying forces and trigger unpredictable consequences, and hastened to explain that this was not intentional, and that they did not expect anyone to refuse to surrender.

"Junza, can we still fight?" Xie Wancheng tilted his head and held the microphone and looked at Zhou Changfeng on the side.

"Do you understand the beauty of adults?" The latter stretched, looked at Alohatta in the distance, and said relaxedly: "Ask for mercy, the enemy will let him perish if he does not surrender." ”

The final battle did not start quickly, because it was impossible to exert too many troops, so Zhou Changfeng and the others pondered for a long time before deciding on a specific strategy.

The 1st Marine Brigade sent four tanks to the combat convoy, the 2nd Marine Regiment Assault Artillery Team sent three wheeled assault guns to provide support, and the 6th Battalion of the 2nd Regiment was responsible for the main attack.

Aloha Tower, a clock tower built fourteen years ago, is a Honolulu landmark, but it was unexpectedly devastated as the battle drew to a close.

After more than three hours of fierce fighting, all six buildings on the periphery had been cleared, and the Marine infantry slowly advanced forward accompanied by tanks and armored vehicles.

In the evening, the remaining enemy soldiers had been compressed into the square where Aloha Tower was located, but the battle continued, and bullets were fired at Ming officers and soldiers from all directions.

Aloha Tower's neat façade was crumbled by a barrage of 48mm and 80mm anti-explosive shells, a dense 7.36mm rifle that carved it in, and the hour and minute hands of the large clock stopped forever at 18:16.

"Get on the left and right sides together, clamp the two loaves, let the chariot drive forward, don't be cowardly."

"His grandmother's, the meal is coming."

"Brothers, work hard, it's time for dinner after the toss!"

"What's this called, 'Extinguishing this faint food'?"

Three wheeled assault guns ran out of ammunition and had to be withdrawn from the battle to replenish ammunition.

As it got dark, the flames became more conspicuous, the tracer bullets fired from the light and heavy machine guns intertwined into a web of fire, and the blazing fire dragon spat out from the flamethrower seemed to be dancing its teeth and claws!

Some Marine infantrymen wearing Type 39 individual armor bravely launched a charge, using submachine guns and automatic rifles to engage in close combat with close enemy soldiers......

The battle under the Aloha Tower ended at sunset, and the battle for Oahu finally came to an end.

The biggest problem has been solved, but there are still many troubles in front of the generals of the Ming army.

[The capture of Oahu is significant, so ......]

(End of chapter)