Republic of China game

Page 514

"Auxiliary Commander, something is wrong." Minister of the Navy Chen Si took a telegram from a naval staff officer, looked at it twice, and handed it to Luo Yaoguo with both hands. "The British battlecruiser 'Repulse' and the heavy cruiser 'Kent' led four destroyers and left Singapore's Zhangyi Naval Base on the night of November 4, whereabouts are unknown."

"Oh?" Luo Yaoguo took a look at the telegram and said with a smile, "Perhaps he sneaked off to India? That Churchill should know how stupid it is to leave the 'Counterattack' in Nanyang."

"I'm afraid things are not that simple," Chen Si shook his head and said, "We have ambushed several submarines near the Andaman Islands, staring at the Strait of Malacca. If the British fleet passes through, they should be detected by them."

"Not going to India?" He Yingqin took the telegram from Luo Yaoguo, glanced at it, smiled, and said, "What do these British guys want to do? Are we going to use battlecruisers to fight our six aircraft carriers? Then we don't want to go to India." You're welcome, let Commander Zhao's Nanyang Fleet sink them all to feed the fish!"

"Hehe, I don't think this Phillips is so stupid. He is one of the most famous generals in the British Empire Navy." Mouth graduated from the Royal Naval School, so he has a better understanding of the situation and tactics of the British Navy. He analyzed: "Britain's ability to dominate the ocean for hundreds of years is enough to prove the excellence of its navy. Although it has declined now, it does not mean that the British navy The generals are fools and will die in vain."

As he said that, Chief of Staff Zhang Da walked to the huge chart hanging on the wall, picked up a super long pointer, pointed to the Philippines and said, "The fleet sent by the British to Singapore is called the 'Z' fleet." , the strength is very weak, and a decisive battle with the Nanyang Fleet, which has 6 aircraft carriers, is courting death. But, what if this fleet sails to the Philippines to join the US Asian Fleet?"

"This is a trouble!" Luo Yaoguo frowned.Right now, China and the United States have not declared war, and the United Kingdom and the United States are allies who jointly fight against Japan... After the British and American fleets merge, they can jointly attack Japan, and the British fleet can harass China by acting alone.

"Auxiliary Commander," Zhang Yiming continued, "I believe that there is a [-]% chance that the Z Fleet will merge with the US Asian Fleet. But their target is not China, but Japan! Right now, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet has been completely destroyed. Sent to Hawaii to fight, so there is not much power in the Western Pacific. The Anglo-American mixed fleet with a battlecruiser and several heavy cruisers (including the US fleet) as the main force can completely walk sideways in the Western Pacific. All Japanese transport Flotillas and loosely defended islands are likely targets."

"Yingmei is besieging Wei and saving Zhao!" He Ying nodded in admiration, "This British guy is worthy of dominating the world for so many years, but he still has something in his stomach." He turned his head and glanced at Luo Yaoguo, "Assistant Commander, what shall we do?"

"What else can I do?" Luo Yaoguo smiled wryly, shook his head and said, "The British guy knows the priorities, and he also has self-knowledge. If he hadn't fallen now, he would really be a difficult opponent. Brother Jing, you go and inform Mamoru Shigemitsu. Let them pay attention. In addition, you also urge the Japanese to take Hawaii quickly and stop dawdling."

……

On the tall bridge of the battlecruiser Retaliation, Lieutenant General Phillips was staring closely at the three Japanese transport ships that were dragging thick smoke ahead and desperately fleeing, his deep blue eyes exuded bursts of murderous intent.

Zhang Yiming's guess is correct, the British "Z" Fleet did merge with the US Asian Fleet, and then went to the Western Pacific to play guest pirates together!And the main target they hit is naturally all Japanese ships floating on the water.No warning, no prisoners, just sink them all and leave no one alive.The luck of this Anglo-American joint fleet is really good. There are really many Japanese ships sailing from the Japanese mainland to Saipan and Truk Island in the past two days!It looks like the Japanese are sending troops there.

However, these Japanese ships did not have much escort, and most of them were only protected by armed merchant ships or light destroyers under 1000 tons.When encountering the battlecruiser Repulse equipped with 15-inch naval guns, it was naturally vulnerable. In less than a day and a half, the fleet commanded by Phillips made 2 deals and sank 6 Japanese freighters. or a warship.Two of them were troop carriers, and there were about two Japanese infantry brigades who went to the Yasukuni Shrine for no apparent reason.

And the three Japanese ships that are fleeing in front of them are the third transaction of this attack!Phillips believes that this time it must be a big deal, because the displacement of these three ships is more than 3 tons, and they are worth a lot of money at first glance, and they are escorted by a light cruiser and a destroyer... the two ships just now The Japanese warships fired on the "Counterattack" like crazy, trying to cover the three ships from escaping!As a result, in the blink of an eye, it was blasted to pieces by the artillery fire of the "Counterattack", the "Kent" and 3 American heavy cruisers.

However, this suicide attack did not delay much time, or to be precise, it did not delay any time at all.Because Phillips ordered the battlecruisers and heavy cruisers to bombard Japanese light cruisers and destroyers, he also ordered three destroyers, including the "Electra", "Quick" and "Vampire" to pursue the Japanese freighter. It seems to be ready to launch a torpedo now...

Chapter 0800 Admiral's decision (nine) depressed devil

"Your Excellency, Commander! The British destroyer is catching up! Please move to a safe place immediately."

Standing on the uppermost deck of the luxury liner "Minomaru", Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo, commander of the Second Army of the Japanese Army, stared fixedly at the destroyer flying the flag of the Royal Navy not far away. Hearing the heart-piercing roar of Chief of Staff Yukio Kasahara, he turned around and smiled wryly at Kasahara: "A safe place? Kasahara-kun, this place...is on the Pacific Ocean! Now, besides the Yasukuni Shrine, there are Where can I go? It's just a pity that I can't conquer Australia for His Majesty the Emperor, and just die in vain... I really can't be reconciled... I can't be reconciled!"

Seeing the pale face of his immediate superior and the British destroyer approaching, Kasahara Yukio couldn't help but want to cry.It's not because he is afraid of death. Of course, the Japanese army elites like him who have received militaristic education since childhood are not afraid of death!But this way of dying is really useless... The Second Army he is in is part of the Southern Front Army. It is planned to be transported to Truk Island, and then after the United Fleet captures Hawaii, they will be transported to Papua Fighting in New Guinea, after taking down Papua New Guinea, they will also attack Australia.If you can fight vigorously on the battlefield to conquer Australia, you will have no regrets even if you serve the country with your own body.

But what's going on now?It didn't even touch the edge of Papua New Guinea, but it actually ran into the Anglo-American combined fleet led by a British battleship in the Pacific Ocean!The entire Second Army Headquarters, as well as the Division Headquarters of the Fourth Division and its direct subordinates, the Fourth Infantry Brigade, tens of thousands of elite soldiers from the Imperial Japanese Army and a large number of weapons and supplies, as well as two lieutenant generals and two major generals. Dui Da Zuo Zhong Zuo and so on, just so inexplicably useless to be wiped out!And those white ghosts probably won't die alone, right?

"Commander...Your Excellency, Commander!" A trembling voice sounded in the ears of Tojo and Kasahara.

"Bage! His Majesty's samurai should regard death as home! Instead of being afraid, you pig! A pig who is afraid of death!" Tojo, who was in a bad mood (he would definitely not be in a good mood when encountering such a thing), just gave a meal Cursed loudly, and turned around after cursing, and saw a dark-skinned middle-aged man in sailor clothes standing behind him and Kasahara tremblingly.It turned out to be a sailor on the passenger ship "Minong".

"What's the matter? Don't be nervous, just speak slowly." Kasahara took a breath, calmed down, and tried to make himself look a little "death-like".

The sailor bowed, and stammered: "Oh, it's like this, the white ghost's destroyer called a semaphore, requesting... We surrender. The captain asked me to ask for instructions, do you want to..."

With a slap, before the sailor finished speaking, he slapped him with a slap, one was not enough, and two more were spared.The beating was the grumpy Tojo. After the beating, he did not apologize, but shouted loudly: "Hachi! The samurai of the Great Japanese Empire will never surrender! Never surrender!" Then he ordered Kasahara Said: "Go to the bridge and order the captain to turn the bow and hit the British destroyer! Hit and sink it for me!"

After saying these words, the angry Hideki Tojo picked up his saber and walked towards his luxurious cabin without looking back.Uh, according to the records in "History of the Japanese Army", Lieutenant General Tojo Hideki went to scratch his stomach... and the passenger ship "Minomaru" that wanted to hit the British destroyer was naturally sent by two British torpedoes. Into the cold deep sea of ​​the Western Pacific Ocean, together with this Japanese passenger ship, there were two other 10854-ton Japanese cargo ships.Including Hideki Tojo, the commander of the Second Army, all the 12 people on the three ships, except [-] sailors, were buried in the belly of the fish.

……

July 11, 19:12 noon.

About 100 nautical miles northeast of Oahu, the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi.

Major Kanfu Kengoro looked up at the dozen or so Type 96 shipboard fighters circling in the sky, and then at the surrounding light cruisers and destroyers, all the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns pointing at the air, and frowned slightly.Two hours ago, an unidentified seaplane flew in the air about 12 kilometers away from the Akagi. It is estimated that it was a seaplane sent by Pearl Harbor.At this time, the seaplanes sent by the Japanese battleships and heavy cruisers did not find anything.In other words, the American aircraft carrier first discovered the Japanese aircraft carrier!

A harsh siren suddenly sounded from the tweeter on the Akagi.Gan Fukengoro knew that this was the sound of an air raid siren, and it seemed that the sentinel plane had spotted the incoming American plane!The deck was suddenly busy, and two more Type 96s were slowly lifted onto the deck by the elevator. The air crew immediately rushed up and pushed them to the take-off assembly point at the stern. With assistance, he got into the narrow cockpit of Type 96.With the roar of the plane's motor, the propellers spun quickly, and the two planes, one behind the other, quickly flew into the sky.At this time, the densely packed American carrier-based aircraft group had swarmed in, and the anti-aircraft guns on the Akagi and the surrounding escort cruisers and destroyers began to spray bullets into the air.

Fighting and chasing between planes also started immediately... From where Gan Fu was standing, the American planes were obviously at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. There were about 4 F12Fs and more than 40 SBD "Fearless" dive bombers , but no trace of the TBD "Destroyer" torpedo bomber was found.Gan Fu guessed that the distance between the US aircraft carrier and the Japanese aircraft carrier may be too far, and the "short-legged" TBD torpedo bomber could not reach it at all, right?If it is replaced by Japan's Type 97 shipboard attack aircraft, there should be no problem.

"Onboard! Onboard!" A burst of cheers woke Gan Fu from his thoughts. He looked in the direction of the finger of an air crew beside him. It turned out that an American F4F fighter jet was shot down by Type 96!It was spinning and falling down, probably the pilot was killed.This is indeed worth applauding. This type 96 with outdated performance can actually defeat the F4F, which is a generation ahead of it, er, although it is only achieved with a three-fold numerical advantage.

At this time, the sky has long been a mess, and I can only see a large group of planes jumping up and down there, and turning a few somersaults from time to time.All fighters desperately want to go around behind the enemy's fuselage and shoot, but not many can really do so.Because the Japanese Type 96 is too old, the engine is a 610-horsepower Nakajima Kotoshi 41 9-cylinder air-cooled engine with a maximum speed of only 432Km/h, while their opponent F4F has at least a 1200-horsepower air-cooled engine!The maximum speed is estimated to be above 500Km/h, so American pilots can easily get rid of the Type 96.However, the number of F4Fs is too small, and the driving skills of those American pilots are not very good, and they are obviously a little flustered. Basically, they were chased by the Type 96, but after fighting for a long time, they did not shoot a second one. See Come to these American planes are still quite strong...

But those SBD "Fearless" dive bombers above 5000 meters were not so lucky. Because the F4F covering them was being hunted down by the Japanese Type 96, these dive bombers immediately became the remaining twenty or so A Type 96 massacre target!The performance of this American dive bomber is much better than that of the Japanese Type 98. It not only has a large range, but also has an astonishing ammunition load. There are more than 30 SBDs with 500 kg heavy bombs hanging under the belly. One piece can make a Japanese aircraft carrier unable to eat and walk around!Therefore, the Type 96 fighters covering the aircraft carrier had to deal with it with all their strength.

These "fearless" who were under the care of Japanese fighter jets quickly threw away the bombs hanging under the belly of the aircraft, and then tried to escape with full power. At the same time, the F96F, which was chased by the old Type 4 for a long time Pull up quickly and get ready to run away.

Standing on the bridge of the Nagato battleship not far from the battlefield, Yamamoto 56 let out a sigh of relief when he saw the scene of the American plane retreating, and put down the binoculars in his hand. "Haven't the US aircraft carrier been spotted yet?"

"I'm sorry," Ugaki shook his head, "The seaplanes of the battleship and heavy cruiser are searching, and I believe they will find something soon." As he spoke, he looked up at the retreating American plane. "Your Excellency, do you want to send a fleet to follow the American plane?"

"Okay!" Yamamoto turned his head and told the aviation staff officer Minodao Genda: "Let the three motherships Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu send planes to follow the American plane."

At this moment, the communication staff suddenly shouted excitedly: "Commander! The seaplane of the Mutsu reported that two US aircraft carriers were spotted on the Pacific Ocean about 220 nautical miles northeast of our fleet!"

"What!?" Yamamoto 56 let out a soft cry, strode up to the chart, looked at it and said, "220 nautical miles, which is almost 407 kilometers, is almost beyond the combat radius of the Type 98 ship explosion, how could it be so far?"

Minoru Genda went to Yamamoto and whispered, "Your Excellency, the Type 98 can still barely reach the US aircraft carrier. At the same time, we can also let the fleet advance at full speed to the northeast, at least 70 kilometers in an hour and a half. In this way, the Type 98 The blank time should be enough."

"It has to be like this." Yamamoto 56 thought for a while, then nodded in agreement with Genda's suggestion.On his seven motherships, there are still 192 Type 98 warships. If they are not dispatched, only 141 Type 97 warships will be available... If these torpedo planes are not coordinated with dive bombers, they will easily become the US military The target of F4F.

Seeing that Yamamoto agreed with his suggestion, Genda suggested again: "It is better to let the carrier-based aircraft of the two ships Akagi and Kaga follow the American fleet, and the carrier-based aircraft of the three ships Soryu, Hiryu, and Shenlong to discover the U.S. Search the sea area of ​​​​the aircraft carrier, and the carrier-based aircraft on Ruihe and Xianghe are on standby."

This plan is somewhat conservative, but it is quite satisfactory. Yamamoto 56 hesitated for a while, but agreed to this "Genda Plan" that some historians later called "destroyed the Great Japanese Empire".Of course, this kind of statement is really a bit of grandstanding and hindsight.After all, at that time, the combined fleet of Yamamoto 56 had already achieved brilliant victories, and as long as the US reinforcement fleet was forced to retreat, it would be able to ensure the capture of Oahu. In addition, the most elusive element of luck in naval battles seems to have gone to the side of Halsey, the "Bull" who commanded the US reinforcement fleet this time.

……

"Sir! The USS Yorktown Air Group reported that they fought with the carrier-based aircraft of the Japanese aircraft carrier formation about 100 nautical miles northeast of Oahu Island, and lost 1 F4F and 12 SBDs."

In the command center on the second floor of the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, a frustrated lieutenant commander handed a recently received telegram to Rear Admiral Halsey, who was smoking a pipe.Halsey was originally the commander of the 1st Carrier Task Force attached to the Pacific Fleet. The flagship was the Saratoga that was sunk in the Pearl Harbor incident.However, he himself was not on the Saratoga at the time, but was sent to visit the sea trials of the USS Hornet.As a result, after the Pearl Harbor incident, he got the position of commander of the 3rd aircraft carrier task force, and immediately commanded 3 aircraft carriers to Hawaii to find a place!

"Let them go to Pearl Harbor as originally planned." Halsey shook his head, and asked again: "What about the carrier fleet on the Raider and the Wasp? Have they still not found the Japanese fleet?"

"No." The staff officer shook his head, "The carrier-based planes sent by the Raider and the Wasp have already begun their return flight, and they can start landing around 1:50 pm."

"1:50," Halsey paused, "Where should the aircraft carrier be at then?" The staff officer beside him pointed to a certain position on the chart and said, "It's here, General, the new position has already arrived." Sent to the carrier fleet, they should be able to return smoothly."

"Okay! After the Wasp and the Assault recovered their planes, the 3rd Carrier Task Force immediately retreated to the northeast. The Japanese have already spotted us." After Halsey the bull finished speaking, he twitched again. He lit up his pipe, and looked at the flight deck below the island with two big eyes like copper bells. There are only 6 F4F fighter jets on standby, and there are 6 more circling over the aircraft carrier. These are the current USS Yorktown. All the planes of the aviation brigade are gone.

According to the plan drawn up by Nimitz, part of the carrier-based aircraft on the USS Yorktown will fly directly to a small undamaged airport near Pearl Harbor after completing an attack mission.There they would be responsible for providing some air cover for Pearl Harbor until Task Force 8, commanded by Rear Admiral Fletcher, arrived at Pearl Harbor and then evacuated together.

In addition, according to the order, after the third aircraft carrier task force is discovered by Japanese reconnaissance planes, it will begin to perform the task of luring the enemy.The three aircraft carriers of the 3rd Carrier Task Force will retreat to the northeast, luring the Japanese aircraft carrier to follow up, creating an opportunity for the 3th Task Force commanded by Rear Admiral Fletcher to approach Oahu from the south.To be honest, Halsey was extremely dissatisfied with this battle plan. If he followed his wishes, it would be best to fight vigorously with the Japanese.But dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction, and orders must always be carried out.

"General, a report from Pacific Fleet Command."

About 2 hours later, the Wasp and the Raider had just recovered their planes, and the entire fleet was about to turn around and flee.The voice of the staff officer rang in Halsey's ears again, but it was rarely joyful.

"what's up?"

"The Anglo-American joint task force composed of the Asian Fleet and the British Z Fleet successfully intercepted a Japanese troop convoy in the ocean east of the Philippines. It sank a light cruiser, a destroyer, and 3 large transport ships." Speaking of here , the staff officer raised his voice a little excitedly. "Oh, God! The telegram said that the Japanese who jumped into the sea and escaped covered a large area of ​​the sea, at least 3000 to 5000! General Phillips sent destroyers close and shot them with machine guns, killing them for a full two hours. Killed hundreds of sharks!"

Hearing this, Halsey laughed loudly and said: "Good job! Phillips is such a good British guy, he should kill the Japanese like this! As long as the Japanese are killed, the war will be won!"