Chapter 537: The First Battle of Hawaii

Admiral Short's view on the power of armored forces is well-founded, at least from the experience of the European and North African battlefields. To defeat an armored group with 150 tanks, at least dozens of tanks or assault guns must be brought out. No one can defeat an armored group with bayonets, rifles, machine guns, mortars and grenades... But the Japanese devils are always cunning, and they can never be underestimated!

In addition to rifles, bayonets, machine guns and mortars (and a small number of mountain guns, infantry guns and howitzers), the Japanese devils who landed on Oahu were also equipped with a large number of new weapons called "Iron Fist" anti-tank grenade launchers. Each infantry squad carried 10...

In addition, the Japanese army in Hawaii is not without armored forces, but the Japanese Army has no armored forces in Hawaii. However, the Japanese Navy has an armored force in Hawaii, and will soon land on Oahu. Now Lieutenant Rudolf von Ribbentrop is staying with dozens of officers and soldiers of the Japanese Navy Armored Forces on a large submarine I-16 with a surface displacement of 2,184 tons.

It is not strange that the navy has armored forces, as it is the Marine Corps. But using submarines to transport tanks is a very creative method, at least Rudolf von Ribbentrop never dreamed of it.

The officer commanding this naval armored force is a naval colonel named Sasaki Hanjiu. He is a serious navy. He has been on the sea since he graduated from the Naval Academy. He has served as the captain of a destroyer, the captain of a submarine, and the captain of a submarine brigade. During the Pearl Harbor incident, he served as the commander of the special attack force, responsible for using 5 submarines to transport mini-submarines to attack US warships in Pearl Harbor.

However, the special attack operation was finally cancelled because the US military was prepared. Not long ago, this Colonel Sasaki Hanjiu was appointed as the commander of the naval armored group by Yamamoto Isoroku, who was also the commander of the Marine Corps!

"Lieutenant Ribbentrop, you said you came to learn how to use tanks?" Colonel Sasaki Hanjiu was a genuine "marine student" and could speak fluent English. He was also very surprised that this German army officer who had participated in the Western Front and North African campaigns came to learn how to use tanks from the Japanese Navy.

"Yes, Mr. Colonel." Rudolf von Ribbentrop was different from his father, the foreign minister who was full of nonsense. He was an honest man.

"Then can I ask you first, how does your German navy use tanks?" Sasaki Hanjiu felt that he should learn from the Germans... and discuss and study the use of tanks together.

"Colonel, in fact, our German navy is behind in this regard." Rudolf von Ribbentrop said, "The German navy has no tanks and no armored forces. Now all the tanks and armored forces in Germany belong to the army."

Rudolf von Ribbentrop paused and said modestly: "That's why Lieutenant General Paulus sent me to learn how to use tanks from the Japanese Navy."

"Oh, that's it." Sasaki Hanjiu nodded, then raised his wrist to check the time, "It's almost time, it should be dark outside, it's time to surface. Lieutenant Ribbentrop, you wait for 45 minutes, and you will see how we use tanks to attack from the sea."

...

The tanks of the Japanese Navy are used for sneak attacks, which is in line with the national nature of Japan. The wars they launched always start with sneak attacks.

However, the tanks of the US Army on Oahu were also used in a "very American" way, carelessly, without any thought of showing false and hiding true. Without waiting for the sky to get dark, they started to build a pontoon bridge on the river north of the Schofield Barracks. At the same time, the M3 tanks of the brigade drove out from the hidden area and began to line up and wait on the south bank of the stream.

However, these American tanks did not wait too long, because the engineering ability of Americans in this era was the best in the world, so the pontoon bridge was built very quickly. The American engineers seemed to show off their wealth. They drove a lot of tracked engineering vehicles from nowhere, and then carried out fully mechanized construction. In less than an hour, several pontoon bridges were built, which made the Japanese scouts stunned.

After the pontoon bridge was built, the American tanks and infantry rumbled across the river, but did not attack immediately, but began to form a battle array. They did not form a battle array of various tank clusters commonly seen on the battlefields of Europe and North Africa, but a battle array of tanks leading infantry in the World War I style.

Moreover, they did not concentrate their forces to attack one point, but stretched out a 5-kilometer-long horizontal formation to prepare for a flat push, which was the way of the World War I. Although the Americans have built a lot of tanks now, they wish that each infantry division was equipped with a tank regiment. However, their officers did not know how to use these tanks, and they still followed the idea of ​​World War I, letting the tanks lead the infantry to attack, and also stretched the front very wide.

While the American infantry and tanks were laying out a wide front, the American artillery also opened fire.

The American artillery was certainly powerful, with more guns and more shells! They poured into the Japanese positions without spending any money.

Although the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions of the U.S. Army were newly established "triangle divisions" (only three infantry regiments), the divisional artillery has not shrunk at all. The large organization of 2,770 people includes 1 155mm howitzer battalion, 3 105mm howitzer battalions, 1 anti-tank battalion, and 1 anti-aircraft battalion. They are all motorized artillery, not horse-drawn, and all equipped with trucks (of course, the infantry is also motorized, the U.S. imperialists produce millions of cars a year, and the speed of moving positions is very fast. And all equipment has backups, and they can be replaced with new ones if they are broken!

Admiral Short, his chief of staff Colonel Collins, and other staff drove a car to a small hill belonging to the Waianae Ridge. Looking at the slowly unfolding steel army under his feet and the Japanese positions overwhelmed by American artillery fire. This is the most spectacular war picture! Admiral Short felt that Admiral Nimitz was too pessimistic. How could the Japanese occupy Oahu? Faced with such a powerful mechanized force and such powerful firepower, even if the Germans came, with two divisions... as long as they were not armored divisions, they would definitely be defeated.

Because they were afraid of the counterattack of the Japanese battleships, the artillery preparation time was very short, only 10 minutes, but it was enough. Because the Japanese army was attacking before the bombing this morning, and did not build a solid position at all.

"Admiral, the bombardment is over." Colonel Collins reminded Admiral Short.

Short smiled and nodded, waving his hand: "Let's start, let the tanks lead the infantry to attack and crush those damn Japanese devils!"

...

4 kilometers away from the 5-kilometer-long US offensive formation, on a small hill belonging to the remnant of the Kulau Mountains, Lieutenant General Paulus and Japanese Lieutenant General Masao Maruyama were holding binoculars and observing the American armored cluster with the help of very dim light.

After watching for a while, Paulus put down the telescope, smiled and said: "The American tanks are too scattered... About a hundred or so tanks have been deployed for 5 kilometers, and they are all light tanks. This is not acceptable. As long as your people are not frightened by the momentum of the American tanks and take the initiative to flee, you should be able to defeat them with the iron fist and 37mm anti-tank guns."

"What? Take the initiative to flee?" Maruyama Masao also put down the telescope and glared at Paulus. "How could a soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army, a warrior of His Majesty the Emperor, who is not afraid of death, run away?"

Not afraid of death? Really? Lieutenant General Paulus was very skeptical.

At this moment, in the Japanese position in the northern part of the plain of the small Oahu Island (not the front position that was bombarded just now, but the main position in the rear), nearly 5,000 fully prepared Japanese officers and soldiers had just finished their "last meal". Their "last meal" was surprisingly good by the standards of the Japanese Army. It was red beans and sticky rice, with a little pork and dried fish, and each person was given a kettle of sake. Being able to eat such delicious food before a desperate battle with the American tanks, every officer and soldier of the 2nd Division now feels that they can become gods without any worries!

Before entering the position, those daredevil soldiers who were holding the rough anti-tank weapons (the "Iron Fist") that looked like big iron hammers and were hung with grenades all said blessings to each other-see you at Kudanzaka!

Although the big figures in the upper echelons of the army praised this advanced German weapon called "Iron Fist" as magical, the officers and soldiers at the lower level had no confidence when they saw the rough appearance of the "Iron Fist" they were issued. So it is generally believed that it is more reliable to hang a few more grenades on the body and die together with the American tanks. Therefore, the first actual combat use of the "Iron Fist" in this time and space was actually as a suicide weapon.

At this time, the American tanks had rumbled up, and the sound of the rolling tracks and the rotation of the motors mixed together, getting louder and louder from far to near. The Japanese army's hastily constructed positions were so crude that there were no anti-tank trenches, no anti-tank traps, and even no anti-tank mines were buried in time. In addition to the small number of 37mm guns and battleships firing far away on the sea, the only hope was the suicide squad with "iron fists".

With the deliberately low voice of the command, the suicide squads in the trenches crawled out one after another, crawled forward for more than 200 meters, and then got into the pre-dug foxholes to wait for the American tanks to approach.

According to the anti-tank plan provided by German consultant Paulus, the more than 5,000 Japanese troops formed only the first line of defense. There was a second line of defense 3 kilometers behind them, and another 3 kilometers was the third line of defense - Paulus called this a deep defense.