Chapter 509 Tiger! Tiger! Tiger Thirteen
At 1:55 pm Washington time, a Japanese ambassador whose face was covered with shame and sweat, and who was still breathing heavily, was brought to US Secretary of State Cordell Hull. The Japanese ambassador's name is Nomura Koshisaburo, a retired naval admiral.
He was supposed to deliver Imperial Japan's declaration of war to U.S. Secretary of State Hull at 1 p.m. However, the text of the document "Declaration of War" sent from Japan was long and smelly, and it was full of awkward words, making it difficult to translate into English. As a result, a lot of time was wasted, and when Nomura finally got the translated text to meet Hull, he encountered an unprecedented traffic jam on the road.
I don’t know what day it is today, but Washington, which has a small population and few cars on the road, is actually stuck in a traffic jam. And it will never end if it is blocked! As a result, the elderly Nomura had no choice but to disregard the dignity of the general and ambassador, get out of the car and run all the way. He was out of breath and finally met the US Secretary of State Cordell Husband, whose face was full of justice, justice and indignation, nearly an hour late. you.
Nomura, who was old and fat, took a moment to breathe, and then handed the Japanese Empire's declaration of war to Cordell Hull, whose face was slightly ashen, with both hands, apologetically.
Hull already knew about Pearl Harbor. The Japanese are so hateful, cunning and shameless! Instead of air raiding Clark Airport in the Philippines or sneaking a sneak attack on the British-controlled Singapore Fortress, they went to sneak attack Pearl Harbor without mercy. President Roosevelt had to revise the speech he had prepared. In the speech, President Roosevelt would severely condemn the atrocities of Japanese imperialism invading the Republic of the Philippines and killing American soldiers from the air, and would also vow to defend the Philippines and the United States. Such are the interests in the Far East. But at 1:30, news came that Japanese planes had bombed Pearl Harbor, which caused the president to postpone his radio address to the nation.
What is even more infuriating is that the Pearl Harbor base, which should have been on the highest alert for a long time, was unexpectedly bombed by the Japanese, causing heavy losses!
Cordell Hull took the "Declaration of War" sent by Nomura Koshisaburo, and after a few glances, he understood the general content - in fact, he knew it 40 minutes ago! But now he still felt extremely angry.
He said: "This is the most shameless, ridiculous, and fact-free document I have seen in my 50 years of public service!"
Nomura Kichizaburo only felt ashamed, not because he was ashamed of the Americans, but because he failed to do the things assigned by the country and failed to submit the "Declaration of War" to the Americans in time, which made the empire a shameless country that launched sneak attacks.
"Mr. Secretary of State," Nomura said, "this incident is entirely my fault..."
He spoke in English, which Hull could understand. However, Hull did not believe that the plan to "attack Pearl Harbor" was drawn up by Nomura, a retired naval admiral. Feeling that he had been deceived again, Hel twisted his face and just snorted softly.
Nomura Kichizaburo gritted his teeth and resorted to a trick only used by Japanese samurai - requesting seppuku!
"This is all my fault. In order to make up for my fault, I request hara-kiri!" Nomura Kichizaburo said loudly.
What? Want to cut your belly with a knife? ****** in the United States? Hull felt the urge to vomit when he thought about the sight of human intestines, stomachs, livers, spleens and other messy internal organs strewn all over his office.
"No!" Hull shouted loudly, "You can't cut your belly with a knife! This is not allowed. This is not in compliance with international law..." He felt inappropriate after saying this, and immediately added, "If you do this, you will The Foreign Secretary will ask our ambassador to Japan to do the same!”
This is impossible! Nomura Kokoro said, Togo Shigeru is not Tojo Hideki, how could he do such a thing. However, he still did not insist on committing hara-kiri in the United States. Hull even said that this matter was not in compliance with international law. Since it was illegal, he would not commit hara-kiri.
Nomura Kichizaburo had no choice but to bow again to apologize, and then left in despair. At the door of the American police station, a team of military police was already waiting for him. Now Nomura is no longer the Japanese ambassador, but a detained diplomat. He will be exchanged with the US ambassador to Japan under the control of a neutral country.
Secretary of State Hull was outraged, as was President Roosevelt. He has now received a report on the losses at Pearl Harbor. The USS Arizona has sunk, the USS Oklahoma has been severely damaged and lost combat effectiveness, the USS Maryland has been severely damaged and lost power, the USS California has been severely damaged and lost combat effectiveness. The battleship USS West Virginia was severely damaged and caught fire, and the battleships USS Tennessee and USS Nevada were damaged. Nearly 300 additional aircraft were destroyed or damaged by Japanese bombing raids.
But this was not what made Roosevelt the most angry. What made the American president most angry was that the Japanese bombed the Pearl Harbor oil depot, which caused a large amount of fuel leakage and caused a fire! Now the entire Pearl Harbor is about to become a burned port. I wonder if it can still serve as the home port of the U.S. Pacific Fleet after it is burned down?
Roosevelt was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. How important Pearl Harbor was to Pacific hegemony!
If Pearl Harbor cannot be used as the home port of the Pacific Fleet, then the home port of the Pacific Fleet will have to retreat more than 2,000 nautical miles to San Diego. If the fleet attacks from San Diego, it will take 5-7 days to sail the distance of more than 2,000 nautical miles, and the fleet will have to bring more fuel and supplies that can sail more than 4,000 nautical miles (considering the return trip). This will greatly limit the US Navy's ocean-going combat capabilities.
"We must find ways to rescue the oil depot, put out the fire in Pearl Harbor as soon as possible, and fight back immediately - we must teach these despicable Japanese a lesson!"
Roosevelt's voice is also full of anger, and his face is uglier than Hull's. He is giving orders to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Stark, with a stern face.
"President, the counterattack will begin in two hours!" Admiral Stark looked at the American president who was about to explode, and quickly said an inspiring good news.
"2 hours?"
"We have 5 aircraft carriers near the Japanese Saipan Island. It's still 3 a.m. (Guam time) there. In 2 hours, our aircraft carriers will be able to launch carrier-based aircraft!"
Roosevelt's face looked a little better. He asked, "Who is the commander of that aircraft carrier formation?"
"Vice Admiral Halsey."
"Well, he is a brave general." Roosevelt said, "I believe he will not let the American people down."
Halsey's fleet needs another 2 hours to launch carrier-based aircraft, but the second attack wave that took off from the Japanese aircraft carrier arrived at Oahu Island, which was shrouded in smoke and war, at 8:30 a.m. Hawaii time, one and a half hours before Halsey sent out carrier-based aircraft.
At this moment, there are already thirty or forty P40, P51 and F4F fighters hovering over Oahu Island waiting for a fight!
Although Japan's previous bombing of Hickam Airport, Wheeler Airport, Canuhei Airport and Ford Island Airport was very successful, destroying or severely damaging more than 300 aircraft. But there are still many aircraft available in Pearl Harbor.
In addition, the runway of the airport was not destroyed by the bombing - it is certainly impossible to destroy the runways of four large airports with dozens of carrier-based aircraft. This requires a larger-scale bombing or bombardment with large-caliber naval guns.
In addition, in addition to the four major airports on Oahu, there are several smaller airports, where a small number of aircraft are stationed. These aircraft and airports were not destroyed by the first wave of Japanese attacks, so when the second wave of Japanese attacks arrived, fierce air battles soon began.
Because of the guidance of radar, American aircraft had already occupied high-altitude positions before the arrival of the second wave of Japanese attacks. Seeing the Japanese fleet flying over in a mighty manner, they immediately began to dive and attack.
The 64 Japanese Zero aircraft escorting did not hesitate to meet them head-on, and the two sides immediately launched a fierce air battle! The aircraft of both sides were constantly hit and caught fire, dragging thick smoke to the ground or the sea.
In this time and space, since the Fokker Zero had long been shining in Europe, and the Japanese elite pilots had no battlefield in China to train. Therefore, the advantages shown by the Zero aircraft in the early days of the Pacific War were not overwhelming. The American P40, P51 and F4F can still shoot down a lot of Zero planes if they are used properly...
The Type 99 dive bombers and Type 97 torpedo bombers in the second wave of the Japanese army rushed to Pearl Harbor. However, their luck was far worse than the first wave. All the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns in Pearl Harbor had already been fired, and the sky was filled with smoke from the burning of heavy oil.
The oil depot in Pearl Harbor stores millions of tons of fuel. Although only a small part of the oil tanks have been destroyed, the smoke from the burning still obscures the sight of Japanese pilots.
The commander-in-chief of the second wave of attacks, Shimazaki Shige and the major, found that their planes seemed to have plunged into the fog. The situation on the sea was very blurry. They could only see the burning warships, and the others were invisible.
In addition, the oil depot in Pearl Harbor was easy to find, and the place with the largest fire was there!
As for the airport, it was shrouded in smoke and could not be found at all. It was naturally impossible to bomb again.
So Shimazaki Shige and the major had to issue an order to adjust the attack target through the radio. The Type 97 torpedo bombers carrying 800 kg armor-piercing bombs were used to bomb the burning ships on the sea; the Type 99 dive bombers were used to continue attacking the oil depots and blow up more oil tanks.