Chapter 1038 Hawaii (1)

The plaintext telegram sent by the Tsukahara fleet was naturally intercepted by Nimitz. At that time, the fleet was sailing in the waters between Fiji and American Samoa.

Although they were indignant, Nimitz and MacArthur did not have much psychological fluctuations. Doolittle could bomb Tokyo, and the Japanese could certainly bomb back now. There was nothing to be wronged or complained about. It was just that the Japanese were so arrogant that people were uncomfortable.

Doolittle went quietly at the beginning, fearing that the Japanese would find out. How could Tsukahara be so swaggering and send a pre-notification letter?

Based on the principle of political correctness, the two "firmly opposed and resolutely fought back", but in their hearts they hoped that Tsukahara would go to the west coast, so that they would have the opportunity to rely on the Army Aviation to weaken the Japanese fleet. Even if they could not catch the other side, they could divert the main force of the Combined Fleet and create opportunities for themselves to break into Pearl Harbor.

To be cautious, Nimitz ordered the fleet to slowly move northeastward, dispatched all fleet reconnaissance aircraft, and ordered the Army Air Force to conduct a detailed survey of the surrounding waters. It took the fleet 8 days to drive from Australia to Fiji, and 3 days to replenish and rest, but it took 3 days to travel from Samoa to Tokelau, which was only more than 500 kilometers.

On September 28, Major General Doolittle, the commander of the Army Air Force currently stationed in Pearl Harbor, sent a telegram (Doolittle was promoted to brigadier general after returning to the country after successfully commanding the bombing, and was promoted to major general at the beginning of the year. He was originally in charge of the air force on the West Coast, and was transferred to Pearl Harbor by Arnold to be responsible for the Army Air Force's war against Japan). After repeated investigations, it was confirmed that the main force of the Japanese fleet did not exist in the sea area where Nimitz was about to move forward (at least not in the reconnaissance field of vision).

Only then did Nimitz order the fleet to accelerate suddenly, increasing to 18 knots at once, and even ignoring the anti-submarine route, and directly rushed towards Hawaii, more than 3,600 kilometers away. The overall route first goes north and then turns northeast, with a total journey of nearly 4,000 kilometers, and it is required to reach the destination within 6 days!

Late at night on September 29, the TF48 fleet passed the junction of the Christmas Island and Midway Island air blockade, and then rushed all the way. This is the most nervous moment for the entire fleet. Although the enemy will not send aircraft for reconnaissance at night, what if they hit it?

Maybe Nimitz had experienced too many hardships before, and everything went smoothly when passing the blockade. After dawn, the fleet was 1,200 kilometers away from Christmas Island-theoretically, it had escaped the Christmas Island air defense circle. But unfortunately, the Japanese reconnaissance plane on Christmas Island did not find the US fleet, but an Ar-372 stationed on Washington Island (Terraina Island) and performing routine flights discovered this large fleet, which shocked the observer and sent a telegram. The US military immediately noticed this uninvited guest and quickly sent 4 F4Us to attack.

The F4U was not the F6F that could not catch up with the Japanese reconnaissance planes. It shot down the daring Japanese underwater reconnaissance plane in a few minutes, but Chief of Staff Smith was still livid - the fleet intercepted the radio waves, and the Japanese sent out the most important information.

MacArthur was a little nervous, fearing that the enemy bombers would arrive in a few hours.

Nimitz carefully looked at the nautical chart and comforted him: "It's not a big problem. It's far away from the island controlled by the enemy. Except for the confidentiality of the itinerary, everything else is not a big problem."

"Will they send planes to attack?"

"No. The Japanese land-based aircraft are not many, and even fewer can reach the fleet. As long as we don't touch the main force of the Combined Fleet, we are capable of defeating other small fish and shrimps."

"Sir, one of our underwater reconnaissance planes on Washington Island has lost contact. Previously, a telegram was sent to report that the US fleet was heading northeast, with 2 aircraft carriers and 6 light ships. Aircraft carrier, no battleship, other details unknown, then the signal suddenly cut off, and has not been returned so far. The base speculated that it was shot down. We wanted to continue reconnaissance, but since our air force in Midway Island or Christmas Island was not strong and the distance was far, we did not send out an attack group, but only focused on defense, and sent a few submarines to investigate the situation. "

Tsukahara nodded and said, "This should be what the German side reported. The remaining troops of the US military after the South Atlantic naval battle, it is estimated that they first went to South Africa, then went to Australia from the Indian Ocean, and then went to Pearl Harbor-if they don't go this way, the United States People can't send regular aircraft carriers to Pearl Harbor."

"There are a lot of troops." Kusaka Ryunosuke was a little nervous about this. "According to intelligence, the US military now has at least 2 regular aircraft carriers, more than 10 escort aircraft carriers, and 2 battleships. The Kakuta Fleet may not be a match. Are we..."

Tsukahara looked at the sea chart carefully and shook his head: "If the enemy is determined to go to Pearl Harbor, we can't intercept it even if we turn back now."

"What should we do with the Kakuta Fleet? They are not as strong as the US military, not to mention that the latter has support from the Army Air Force."

"The Second Air Fleet does have It may be a little troublesome, but isn't it also an opportunity for our army? "

"Opportunity?" Kusaka Ryunosuke was stunned, "Do you want to gather and annihilate them?"

"No! This is a very favorable opportunity for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor." Tsukahara pointed to the sea chart and explained, "If I give the US military an illusion that the main force is not near Pearl Harbor, do you think they will send this fleet to trouble Kakuta?"

"It is very likely! The US military is now stronger than Kakuta!"

Neither Tsukahara nor Kusaka Ryunosuke knew that there was another regular aircraft carrier damaged in the Nimitz fleet, but they still treated it as two.

"When this fleet attacks the Kakuta fleet, let Kakuta not rush to fight, but take them around in a circle, the farther the better. "

"Bring them to us?"

"No, lead away from Pearl Harbor. Taking advantage of this empty period, I will lead the troops to attack Pearl Harbor!"

"What about Tsunoda?"

"Be careful and you won't get into trouble. If you can't fight, why can't you escape? Our army can fly faster than the Americans!"

Ryunosuke Kusaka immediately remembered that the slowest escort carrier of our side was 21 knots, and the fastest American Casablanca class could only run 18.5 knots. This 2.5 knot advantage was still valuable before contact.

On the evening of September 30, the atmosphere in Washington was very tense. The dangerous moment when the Japanese army was about to attack the west coast was getting closer and closer. However, there was not no good news at all. On this day, I received two pieces of good news at once:

The first good news comes from the Navy. After all the hard work, the Nimitz fleet has entered the 1,200-kilometer air defense circle in Hawaii. It will arrive at Pearl Harbor safely in two days, providing engineers, workers, materials and equipment for comprehensive repairs of the Wasp. All spare parts are ready;

The second good news is about the Army Aviation. After negotiations with the new China Theater Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Wedemeyer and secret negotiations with the Stalin regime, the Army Aviation is expected to recover a group of skilled pilots from China. This group of pilots include those who initially supported the Southeast Asian theater in India and then retreated to China, as well as those who originally flew the Hump route for transportation.

The whole thing was very complicated to handle, but Wedemeyer was much more tactful than Stilwell. He understood the ways of the world and knew how to deal with the British, Chinese and Russians. He used many other means to successfully complete the task and received high praise from Washington. praise.

The specific process is that the United States dispatches multiple C-54 heavy transport aircraft via the Aleutians, Kamchatka Peninsula, and Irkutsk, and then to Chongqing, China to pick up the crew and return home - this is almost the same route that Stilwell and others took to return home.

Fuel, routes, safety, and navigation in Russia and China will all depend on the Soviet Union, so Wedemeyer first communicated with the Chongqing authorities and asked the United States to pay a considerable price—penicillin worth more than 30 million U.S. dollars (compared to Gold of the same value is lighter) as fees, 85% to Stalin, 10% to Chongqing, and 5% to the middlemen.

For the sake of this cargo, the Soviets readily agreed. Not only did they pat themselves on the back to ensure the safety of the escort, they also agreed to fill up the plane with fuel in Russia and carry aviation fuel to China (for the plane's return). Of course, it was useless for Stalin to ask for so much penicillin. After he kept a tenth of it, he directed diplomatic channels to use the rest to trade grain and other light industrial products.

After the failure of the Eastern Front War, the Bolshevik regime ignored its own capabilities and forcibly moved 30 million people to settle east of the Ural Mountains. The task of resettling these people has become a mountain of pressure. Heavy industry is easy to handle, but light industry and food cannot be replaced. In addition to accelerating land reclamation, the only option is to buy. Stalin did still have some gold in his hand, but it was at the bottom of the box and he didn't want to take it out, so he emphasized exchanging it with other materials. Use oil, steel, or even B2 diesel engines in exchange for Japan. Of course, penicillin, which Japan calls a "special medicine", is also in short supply. It is very popular in both Japan and China, and the transaction effect is better than that of stupid, big, black and crude industries. The quality is much better.

Of course, even if the transaction is in the Chinese market, it will still end up in Japan's pocket, because if you buy goods in China, you need to pay a 30% transit fee, but you don't need to buy them directly from Japan. Although the price offered by Japan is expensive, plus 30% After % of the transit fee, Japanese products are still cheaper.

For the Americans, there is only 30 million US dollars in reproducible penicillin (the cost does not cost that much), and more than 400 extremely valuable skilled crews. There is no need to judge what is more important.

In addition, South America has entered a truce period, and the consumption of Army Airlines has also decreased in the past two days. It is expected that by the time these pilots return in early October, the number of skilled crews of Army Airlines will return to more than 3,000. The clever Wedemeyer even had an idea for British pilots in Pakistan (Japan had just released a group), and wanted to recruit them with high salaries to fight in the United States, but Mountbatten did not agree, and in the end only a few were taken away. indivual.

So even though the Japanese threat was approaching, Truman was in a slightly better mood.