Chapter 533: The First Battle of Hawaii VI

On Christmas Day, December 25, 1941, the flag symbolizing the commander of the Pacific Fleet was raised on the battleship "North Carolina".

The "North Carolina" and its sister ship "Washington", with a standard displacement of 36,600 tons and nine 16-inch cannons, are the latest and most powerful battleships in the U.S. Navy. According to the original plan, these two battleships would be used against Germany's two Bismarck-class battleships in the Atlantic Ocean. After the other four "South Dakota" class battleships (an improved version of the "North Carolina" class) were put into service from March to August 1942, these six powerful battleships plus three "Colorado" class battleships also had 16-inch cannons. "class battleship will join the British battleships in a decisive sea battle with the German, Italian and French combined fleets!

However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. Now two of the three "Colorado" class ships are gone, and the two "North Carolina" class ships that were originally used to frighten the Germans in the Atlantic had to be quickly transferred to the Pacific. On December 25, On this day, it entered the Port of San Diego with the aircraft carrier USS Wasp.

On the same day, Nimitz moved his headquarters from the shore to the battleship "Carolina".

"Carolina, Washington, Wasp, Raider... By the way, Colorado should also join Task Force 7."

"The USS Colorado?" Rear Admiral Milo Frederick reminded Nimitz, "The speed of this battleship is very slow, the fastest is only 21 knots."

"Take it with you, it has eight 16-inch cannons." Nimitz said, "We are still very likely to have a fight with that Japanese super battleship."

"Fighting a Japanese super battleship?" Major General Frederick looked at Nimitz in surprise.

"This is the worst-case scenario," Nimitz smiled bitterly, "but when people are unlucky, the worst things always happen. The United States is not unlucky now, so it is very likely that it will compete with the Japanese super battleship encounter."

At President Roosevelt's request, Nimitz drew up a huge plan with three goals. The three goals are: 1. Transport supplies and troops to Australia; 2. Evacuate some personnel on Oahu; 3. Support operations on Oahu.

In order to achieve the above three goals, Nimitz had to find a way to temporarily divert several Japanese fleet aircraft carriers and five Japanese battleships lingering near Hawaii from the vicinity of Oahu. This creates conditions for the penetration of cruisers and destroyers and the counterattack of the Oahu Army.

If you want to implement such a risky battle plan, you must be prepared to be caught and beaten by the Japanese super battleship. This is why Nimitz wanted to bring the USS Colorado battleship - although the Colorado's 8 guns and 1 cannon may not be able to hit Japanese super battleships, it is enough to deal with other Japanese battleships, even the Nagato class. If one or two other types of battleships following the Japanese super battleships were severely damaged, then Nimitz's fleet might not have a chance to escape safely.

Looking at the sky outside the porthole, Nimitz said: "Tonight, the 7th Task Force and the SS01 fleet will set off together to leave San Diego. In this way, the German spies lurking in San Diego early tomorrow morning will think that the 7th Task Force and the SS01 fleet will The fleet is moving together and heading in the same direction.”

…

The beach line stretching for several kilometers in and around Haleiwa has become a giant military gathering place and material storage yard. The Japanese Army's ship troops indeed performed more energetically than the Navy. From the night of the 23rd to now, the transfer operation of personnel, equipment and materials has been carried out continuously for more than 30 hours. Each "ship engineer" is supported by a kind of fanatical virtual fire and performs super-loaded work. However, the infantry of the entire 2nd Division has not yet been landed, not to mention the various heavy equipment in their artillery wing, baggage wing and engineer wing. As for the 38th Division, not even a single soldier has gone ashore, and they are all continuing to get seasick on the rickety transport ship.

Although the Japanese Army Ship Command has done a lot of useful work in the past few years, it has developed various landing tools such as army aircraft carriers, landing ships, large engine boats, and small engine boats. However, Japan's national strength is limited after all, and it is impossible to give the army enough budget to build aircraft carriers, landing ships, and landing craft (large and small engine boats). Moreover, the Japanese Army did not expect a few years ago that they would one day become the overlord of the entire Pacific and would land on many islands controlled by the United States and Britain at the same time. Therefore, the preparation of various landing tools is very inadequate, which also greatly slows down the speed of the army's landing.

The troops that have come ashore, including the entire 3rd Infantry Brigade (which governs the 4th Infantry Regiment and the 29th Infantry Regiment), and the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 15th Infantry Brigade, are divided into two parts. . Among them, the 15th Infantry Brigade headquarters stayed at the beach and Haleiwa Town and continued to assist the "ship engineers" in transporting personnel and materials. The 3rd Infantry Brigade began to advance towards the nearby Waianae Ridge (Waianae Ridge is an arc, with its northern foot close to Haleiwa), and the 5th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army stationed there. A fierce battle ensued.

Originally, the U.S. 25th Division should not be able to defeat the Japanese 2nd Division, because the U.S. 25th Division was recently reorganized from the Hawaii National Guard. Although the equipment is quite sophisticated, the quality of the soldiers cannot be compared with "Yueyue". Compared with the soldiers of the Japanese 2nd Division who came out of "hard training of water, fire, wood, metal" (meaning that they practiced seven days a week without rest or human rights). However, the soldiers of the Japanese 2nd Division had been bumpy at sea for many days. They were so seasick that they could hardly find their way north. When they first landed ashore, their feet were weak, and their combat effectiveness was naturally reduced. Moreover, the 25th Division of the U.S. Army is defending its hometown and cannot do anything unless it fights tooth and nail, so it also has a bit of a long-term performance.

The battle lines between the two sides opened up at the foot of Waianae Ridge, and artillery fire continued to the sky. Although the Japanese army did not have a few land guns and insufficient ammunition, the naval artillery support was quite adequate. The artillery performance of the US 25th Division was also remarkable. They dispersed howitzers on the hillside on the back of Waianae Ridge. Not only did it avoid the suppression of Japanese naval guns, but it was also able to hit the beach of Haleiwa and explode among the scattered ammunition, supplies, food and light artillery just unloaded from the ship! It didn't cause much damage (maybe the beach absorbed considerable explosion power), but it greatly hindered the landing operations.

Lieutenant General Masao Maruyama, commander of the 2nd Division, who had served as a military attaché in the United Kingdom for many years, also came ashore and set up a headquarters in a church in the small town of Haleiwa. The chaos of the landing scene, the setbacks encountered during the deep advance, and the suffering of seasickness for many days did not make the Japanese lieutenant general discouraged in the slightest, and he still urged his troops to advance toward Wye with great vigor. The attack began on Nai Ridge, the northern foothills of which guarded the gateway to the hinterland of the Oahu plains. The name of the plain on Oahu is actually a valley. It is flanked by the Waianae Ridge and the Koolau Mountains on both sides, and there is a not-wide plain in the middle. Waianae Ridge and a ridge in the Koolau Mountains must be captured to cover the army's attack on Pearl Harbor and Honolulu through the Oahu plains.

The Kulau Mountains are taller and more steep than the Waianae Ridge, so Imamura and Maruyama set the Waianae Ridge as their target.

German military advisor Paulus also landed ashore together with his adjutant and photographer Rudolf von Ribbentrop. On the roof terrace of a three-story building near the church where Maruyama Masanami is located, he used a telescope to observe carefully, and Ribbentrop used a Zeiss camera to take pictures of the nearby beach - these are precious skills. The information will be very useful for future operations in the UK!

At this moment, the second lieutenant in charge of communications in the military advisory group rushed up and said loudly to Paulus: "Lieutenant General, this is a telegram from the General Staff forwarded by the Emperor Friedrich III."

"A telegram from the General Staff?" Paulus glanced at Rudolf von Ribbentrop, who immediately stepped forward to take the copy of the telegram, took a look at it, and then said to Paulus: "Chinese General, this is a military intelligence report. The U.S. Pacific Fleet has left San Diego, with 3 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers, and a large number of transport ships!"

"They are here to reinforce Oahu!" Paulus muttered, and strode towards the stairs. Before he even got downstairs, he turned back to Rudolf von Ribbentrop and said, "Rudolph "Dolf, I'll come as soon as I can. You stay here and continue taking photos. Remember to take more scenes related to the landing."

…

"Commander, three battleships and two aircraft carriers have arrived this time... In addition, there are at least four aircraft carriers wandering in the Pacific."

On the battleship Yamato, Yamamoto Isoroku had already received the telegram from Paulus. He smiled and said to Ugaki Matou, who informed him: "I knew the Americans would not give up. What we are fighting for now is Hawaii! But this is also our opportunity... The first battle is the decisive battle! Now is the time when our empire's combat power is at its strongest, and the United States' combat power is at its weakest. Therefore, it is of great benefit to us to have a decisive battle. The more you come, the better!”

Matoi Ugaki said: "Commander, we have sunk 8 American battleships and 1 aircraft carrier. If we can destroy 2-3 more battleships and 2 or more aircraft carriers this time, the strength of the US Pacific Fleet will not be able to do so for at least 2 years." Recover. By then, we will have already turned Hawaii into an impenetrable fortress."