Chapter 573 The Happy Life of the Scapegoat

When the car of Vice Admiral Wilhelm Marshal (the same Vice Admiral Marshal who lost the Scharnhorst), the new head of the German naval military delegation to Japan, was driving fast through the streets of Tokyo, the city had just held a grand victory celebration - celebrating the capture of the Bataan Peninsula and the capture of 75,000 American and Filipino officers and soldiers. Many buildings were still hung with inspiring slogans and bright flags on their exterior walls, exuding a thriving atmosphere in the spring sunshine.

After occupying the Hawaiian Islands, the Japanese Empire seemed to have gotten out of trouble overnight!

Although the cost of occupying the Hawaiian Islands was high, not only did it lose many excellent pilots, but it also lost 1 battleship and 2 army aircraft carriers. More than 18,000 officers and soldiers were killed, died of illness or were seriously injured on the battlefield in the Hawaiian Islands.

However, the success achieved at a high price is even more remarkable. If Japan had only attacked Pearl Harbor and sunk a few old battleships, no one would believe that Japan could maintain its advantage in the Pacific for a long time, and the US counterattack would surely come soon!

But now that the Japanese Empire has taken over the key point of the Hawaiian Islands, the Americans have no forward base to counterattack. Moreover, the route to Australia is under the threat of the Japanese fleet stationed in Hawaii, and at least two fleet aircraft carriers must be used to escort it to ensure safety.

As for the use of submarines and disguised attack ships to disrupt commerce, after the "high tide of disrupting commerce" from December 1941 to February 1942 (in fact, it was not very high, the total tonnage of Japanese ships sunk by submarines and attack ships of Britain and the United States was only 160,000 tons), it quickly waned. The reason is that after the fall of Singapore and Manila, British and American submarines lost their supply bases closer to the front line and had to attack from Australia as a base. This made it difficult for a large number of submarines with insufficient endurance to participate in the war, unless they took the risk of sending submarine supply ships to dangerous waters.

Under such circumstances, the attitude of the East Asian continent and the Soviet Union towards Japan also took a 180-degree turn, the supply of various industrial raw materials increased significantly, and the once tense situation in Manchuria also eased significantly.

Although Britain and the United States destroyed the oil fields and various mining facilities as much as possible when they were defeated in the South Seas, and even the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies were attacked by air raids. However, Japan's imports of various resources and food have been rising since January 1942, and by April 1942, they had almost returned to the level before the British and American sanctions.

The increase in resource inputs also allowed Japan's industrial sector to have sufficient raw materials to start production, and the domestic food supply situation was greatly improved. The market, which was originally depressed due to sanctions, also became prosperous.

While the domestic economic situation has improved significantly, one victory after another has been continuously transmitted to Tokyo, Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Wake Island, Midway Island, Manila, Malaya, Singapore, Borneo, Burma... The Japanese Empire's army has been triumphant all the way and is invincible. In just a few months, it has swept all the way from the Hawaiian Islands to the border of the British Indian Empire!

Just a few days ago, the Bataan Peninsula, an important American stronghold in the Philippines, was also captured by the "invincible Japanese Imperial Army". The commander of the garrison, Major General Edward King of the United States Army, led 75,000 remnants (including 9,300 American soldiers) to surrender to the Japanese army.

Now the only major stronghold of the United States in the Far East and the Western Pacific is Corregidor Island at the entrance of Manila Bay, but the fall of this isolated island is only a matter of time.

By then, Japan seems to be the absolute overlord of the entire Far East and the Western Pacific, so during this period of time, Japan is full of optimism that victory is in sight.

However, there is not much optimism in the Japanese Navy Ministry building in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. At least when the two Germans, Lieutenant General Marshall and Ambassador Todman, arrived, they felt only a cold mood.

The cold attitude of the Japanese naval officers is of course justified, because the Germans stood up Japan on the issue of declaring war on the United States. According to the original agreement, the German government should follow up immediately after the Japanese Empire declared war on the United States, but the Hitler government kept delaying the declaration of war and did not declare war on the United States until April 1942.

The Japanese Army did not care about Germany's delay - the Imperial Japanese Army was invincible and could win with or without Germany. Moreover, the Germans just refused to declare war immediately, and the aid they should give was no less. Although Ceylon had not yet been captured, a transport fleet escorted by an aircraft carrier still arrived in Singapore via a detour, transporting more than 100,000 tons of supplies, including more than 100 tanks that the Japanese Army wanted most, and the German military delegation also began to help the Japanese Army establish armored divisions according to German standards. Therefore, the German delegation to the Japanese Army (now there are two German military delegations in Japan) is very popular.

However, most of the officers of the Japanese Navy understand the United States and know their own strengths. Therefore, starting from December 8, 1941, they kept urging the Germans to join the war. But the Germans always tried to delay, and things did not make a little progress until a few days ago.

The German Navy was preparing to attack the U.S. Atlantic Fleet in the name of the Japanese Navy, and was also preparing to march into Dutch Guiana in South America. Any Japanese naval general who knew the United States knew that even if the Japanese Navy voluntarily admitted that it had sent the Mutsu battleship to attack the U.S. fleet, a war between the United States and Germany was a high probability event, because the United States would never tolerate Germany interfering in South America.

As to whether the war was caused by the German fleet's sneak attack on the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, or whether the war was caused by the incident in Dutch Guiana, it was just a matter of propaganda war.

Therefore, Japanese Navy Minister Shitaro Shimada finalized the "110 Project" and "111 Project" (that is, Yamato's No. 3 and No. 4 ships) assistance plans (Germany will provide the special steel needed to complete the two battleships) and joint After conducting operations to completely open up the Indian Ocean route (mainly to seize the island of Ceylon), it was agreed that the battleship Mutsu, which had long since become a "water ghost", would assume the responsibility of sneak attacks on the Atlantic Fleet.

"A major victory has been achieved!" After meeting Shitaro Shimada in the Minister's Office of the Navy Ministry, Admiral Machar told Shimada in English with a face full of joy, "Sinked two South Dakota-class battleships and an Omar Ha-class light cruiser!”

"Oh? Really?" Shitaro Shimada was very polite to the visiting General Machar and said with a grin.

The loss of two South Dakota-class ships by the Americans means that they currently have only one available cutting-edge battleship.

Now the Yamato has returned to China for overhaul, the Musashi has not yet entered service, and the Mutsu has been sunk again. There is only one Japanese battleship, the Nagato, that can really fight against those American battleships with 406mm caliber cannons.

If the two South Dakotas were not eliminated by the Germans but were used in the Pacific battlefield, then the Second Battle of Hawaii would probably begin in May.

"It seems that it will be impossible for the Americans to counterattack Hawaii in 1942." Lieutenant General Machar said with a smile, "But after 1943, the Americans' Iowa class and Essex class will be in service in large numbers. Moreover, the Americans will definitely imitate our wire-controlled glide bombs.”

Shitaro Shimada laughed: "By 1943, the Hawaiian Fortress will have been consolidated, and our third Yamato-class ship Shinano, as well as the massively built Taiho-class and Unryu-class will begin service, and there will be nothing to worry about by then. Yes."

Due to the power shown by the Yamato in the Battle of Hawaii, the construction of the Yamato-class No. 3 and No. 4 ships will not be canceled, but will also be accelerated. Therefore, the Yamato-class No. 3 ship Shinano will enter service in 1943, and the No. 4 ship Aki will enter service in early 1944.

In addition, the Battle of Hawaii and several large-scale naval battles in Europe also made the Japanese Navy fully aware of the importance of aircraft carriers. Therefore, while expanding the battleship force, an ambitious aircraft carrier construction plan was also formulated, preparing to build 5 Daifeng-class armored aircraft carriers and 15 Unryong-class medium fast aircraft carriers as a countermeasure against the United States' Essex-class and Cleveland-class capital.

Such a huge shipbuilding plan naturally requires strong assistance from Germany. After acquiring resources from the Middle East and North Africa (not only oil, the Sinai Peninsula, Turkey and Iran are rich in rare metals), the metallurgical industries of European countries under the leadership of Germany began to develop steel, especially special steel, in early 1942. The output has reached a new high every month, which not only fully meets the needs of the European and Atlantic battlefields, but also has spare power to support Japan's expansion of its navy to contain the United States. Now we just have to wait for the Indian Ocean route to be fully opened, and supplies will continue to be transported from Europe to Japan.

It is precisely because of these tangible assistance that the Japanese Navy did not get too entangled in the issue of when Germany would declare war on the United States.

Shitaro Shimada understood Lieutenant General Marshall's intention and said with a smile: "Don't worry, Lieutenant General, our broadcast ship deployed in Hawaii will soon broadcast the news of Mutsu's victory, and corresponding publicity will be carried out domestically... …This is also very beneficial to improving the morale of the citizens of our empire.”

Marshal received a satisfactory answer, so he naturally knew that he should express something - the big head had already reached an agreement before, so now let's add some more to strengthen the relationship.

He took out a document from a leather bag he brought with him, put it on Shitaro Shimada's desk, and said with a smile: "This is some information about the Ju.390 six-engine heavy bomber. I believe it will be useful to you." It is a reference for China to develop an ultra-long-range bomber with a combat radius of 5,000 kilometers. We will provide a prototype later, and the sample of the Hs293 wire-controlled glide bomb will also arrive in Japan along with this aircraft. If you plan to build a super-long-range bomber. Long-range bombers, we will provide more help.”