Chapter 721: 7.2 Million People Die in Battle?
"Victory!"
Looking at the dusk outside the bridge of the Yamato, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's tense face suddenly showed a smile.
"Finally victory! We sank 2 large aircraft carriers, 2 heavy cruisers, 1 destroyer, and shot down more than 100 enemy planes! Our losses were only the Akagi and Kaga, and 157 planes were lost... and New Caledonia can be occupied at any time. From now on, the control of the Coral Sea belongs to the Great RB Empire!"
Isoroku Yamamoto turned around and looked at the fleet staff in the bridge, nodded with satisfaction, "Gentlemen, hard work!"
"Admiral, this is what we should do. You have now completely defeated the US Navy and are the first meritorious official of my empire. It is our honor to follow you." Kuroshima Kame took the lead in standing at attention, and then bowed respectfully to Isoroku Yamamoto.
Kuroshima's flattery actually has a deep meaning!
The result of this Coral Sea Battle is undoubtedly quite brilliant. Although the loss of aircraft and pilots was a bit high, the merits of sinking two large aircraft carriers and occupying New Caledonia were enough to make Yamamoto Isoroku a general and Nanyun Chuichi a general.
After being promoted to general, Yamamoto Isoroku was obviously not suitable to continue to stay in the position of commander. Even if he wanted to continue to be the commander, the "genius staff" of the military headquarters would find a way to push him to the throne of the SH Minister of the Navy. Because the current Minister of the Navy Shigetaro Shimada obviously has a good hand (the merit of the navy), but he just listens to the big idiot Tojo. Such a person has long caused dissatisfaction within the navy.
Now Yamamoto Isoroku has won the Coral Sea victory, which can be regarded as a complete defeat of the US Pacific Fleet and opened the route to Australia-so it is just right to "retire after success". This "first meritorious official of the Imperial Kingdom" is a great god in the hands of the navy!
And Yamamoto must not be able to become a military counselor after retiring from the position of commander. How could he sit on the bench with such a great merit? If this arrangement is to be made, there must be a (national) traitor in the court. So Yamamoto will either be a minister or the chief of the army.
If Shimada Shigetaro still has a sense of shame, he will most likely take the initiative to step down from the position of minister and let Yamamoto Isoroku take over. Otherwise, Yamamoto, the "first meritorious official of the Empire", will become the chief, and he, the minister, will also be sidelined.
So the bow of Kuroshima Kameto and others now is equivalent to saying goodbye to Yamamoto Isoroku in advance. At the same time, it is also a reminder for Yamamoto to stop while he is ahead... The Battle of the Coral Sea is a great victory wherever it is said.
Next, as long as he returns to Rabaul safely, Commander Yamamoto will become Minister Yamamoto, and then the good days of the navy and the army being equal, or even suppressing the army, will come.
Yamamoto Isoroku certainly understands this truth. Although there must be another American aircraft carrier formation on the Coral Sea. A US transport fleet should also be heading to Australia, but Yamamoto still issued the order of "victorious transfer" in the evening of November 6. His value to the navy as the "first meritorious official of the Empire" is more important than two aircraft carriers!
Kuroshima Kameto's prediction was not wrong at all. When Yamamoto Isoroku's battleship Yamato returned to Rabaul on November 9, the two great gods had already arrived in Rabaul a day in advance.
The two who came were both marshals. One was the commander of the Southern Army, Terauchi Masatake, who could not return to Tokyo because of his great contributions (if he returned to Tokyo, Tojo's Army Minister would be gone).
The other was Prince Hiroyoshi Fushimi, who had studied at the Flensburg Naval Academy in Germany. The old guy was a famous hawk in the RB Navy, advocating westward, northward, southward... In short, he wanted to expand again and again. However, he retreated to the second line before RB participated in the war, and threw the responsibility of the war to people like Shimada Shigetaro and Nagano Osami. But he still had a lot of say in naval personnel issues. After the Coral Sea victory, he immediately flew from Tokyo to Rabaul, obviously with a special mission.
"Congratulations, Mr. Yamamoto." After sitting down in the commander's room, Prince Fushimi congratulated Yamamoto. Although he didn't say what, Yamamoto knew that the emperor must be going to appoint him as a marshal.
"It's all thanks to your majesty, and the soldiers have fought for their lives. I just happened to be in the right time."
Prince Fushimi smiled and then asked: "Is the Coral Sea in the hands of our Imperial Navy now?"
"After the Imperial Army completely controls New Caledonia, the Coral Sea will be in the hands of the Empire."
"Can New Caledonia be occupied smoothly?"
"No problem," Yamamoto said, "After the US Navy lost two aircraft carriers, it dared not confront me head-on for a few months."
"So... can the army land in Australia?" asked the old prince.
Ah, here comes the point!
Yamamoto Isoroku knew that the old man was asking questions for the emperor!
His Majesty the Emperor was almost crazy about expanding his territory, and he wished he could swallow Australia whole. If Yamamoto opposed the march to Australia now, the marshal and the ministers might still fly away.
"No problem," Yamamoto Isoroku replied, "The Coral Sea is already under my control, and Australia has a long coastline, with many beaches and good ports on the east coast. Even with a million people, it is difficult to defend it, so there is no problem with the army landing."
Yamamoto said what he meant. After the Battle of the Coral Sea, the US military was no longer able to stop the Japanese army from landing in Australia. So there was no problem with landing, but whether it could be taken down was the army's business, not the navy's.
Fushiminomiya then asked: "Yamamoto-kun, the American aircraft carriers are very active now and have caused great losses to the empire. Is there any countermeasures?"
Yamamoto Isoroku nodded and said: "If you want to deal with broken aircraft carriers, you must establish a complete escort system..." He glanced at Field Marshal Terauchi Juichi, "Navy and Army ships must be under unified command and establish a unified basis. It is an escort command that is under the jurisdiction of the navy and is on the same level as the combined fleet and can cooperate with each other. "
There was no such thing as a complete escort system in the original history, because the Americans originally sent less-scary-looking submarines to the Western Pacific to look for trouble. And now the Americans are sending a terrifying aircraft carrier! It seems that the Army can deal with submarines and the like if it builds some armed merchant ships of its own.
But the aircraft carrier is so powerful. As soon as it came up, Hisao Tani's big red deer and thousands of army small red deer were drowned together! If calculated based on the number of personnel and equipment, a mixed brigade was wiped out at once!
If the Army still doesn't want to hand over the fleet, then other red deer and small red deer are likely to lose their lives on the way to Australia...
"I have no objection." Juichi Terauchi said, "As long as the southbound route is clear, we can ensure that our army continues to go to Australia."
Fushiminomiya nodded. Terauchi Juichi is the commander of the Southern Army. If he agrees to establish an escort command led by the navy to uniformly manage the sea transportation of the navy and army, then there will not be much opposition within the army.
However, with the unified planning of escort operations and the current strength of the combined fleet, it is still possible to ensure that sea transportation can be achieved.
Then the Battle of Australia is a matter for the Army... It shouldn't be a big problem, right?
…
"Admiral, am I to understand that, as a result of the heavy losses of the United States Navy in the Coral Sea and the fall of New Caledonia, Australia has become an isolated continent?"
In the Allied Southwest Pacific Theater Command in Brisbane, visiting Australian Federal Prime Minister and Defense Minister John Curtin was asking General MacArthur questions in a very calm tone.
"Uh..." Admiral MacArthur thought for a while and said, "The situation is actually not that bad. We still have two large aircraft carriers. A new large aircraft carrier will be commissioned in December. By then we will have three large aircraft carriers. So by the end of December or early January, there will be a new fleet coming to Australia.”
John Curtin looked at MacArthur and suddenly laughed, "Admiral, I hope to give a radio address to the country tomorrow to fully explain Australia's plight to the 7.2 million Australian people... Our 7.2 million brothers and sisters are now being Trapped in the Australian continent, communication with the civilized world has been interrupted. The RB Army, the most barbaric in the world, which caused the Hawaiian Massacre (claimed by the United States, denied by RB), will soon land. If they win, our 7.2 million white Australians will. Not only will they lose their home forever, but they will also lose their lives, just like the indigenous people in the Americas back then!”
MacArthur frowned, "Mr. Prime Minister, are you going to..."
John Curtin said calmly: "The 7.2 million people must know that they have no other way out except fighting!"
"Is there no other way out but fighting?" MacArthur's eyes widened. He already understood what the Australian Labor Prime Minister was planning.
This is a fight with little RB! In fact, the Australian government began mobilizing after the Battle of Hawaii. It is planned to mobilize 3-3.6 million people out of 7.2 million people, including 700-1 million soldiers! However, to this day, the progress of this huge mobilization plan is still unsatisfactory. The Australian Army has only 13 divisions (12 infantry divisions and 1 armored division without many tanks), with a total strength of less than 200,000.
The Australian Prime Minister said: "Admiral, I have 100% confidence in the ability of the Australian people to defend our continent... This continent was conquered by our ancestors with the blood and sweat of our ancestors. It now requires the lives of our generation to defend it." ! This is the price we should pay for owning this rich continent! If we cannot win, we can only die on this continent! "
Either victory or destruction, 7.2 million people will be crushed to pieces!