Chapter 815 Is There Any Hope for the Mentally Retarded?
"Abandon...the New Zealand war?"
When Hiroshi Oshima, the Japanese ambassador to Germany, heard Hersmann's conditions for Japan to abandon its march south to New Zealand at the Heinsberg Manor in Zossen, his face was immediately filled with embarrassment.
"This, this..."
"Is there a problem?" Hersman met Oshima and his wife at dinner - Oshima, a Japanese Japanese, was a fan of Germany and had many friends among the top German military and political leaders, but Hersman's relationship with him was average. But Chloe and Mrs. Oshima are good friends, so they often visit Heinsberg Manor.
Today, he came to visit on official business, with the purpose of lobbying Hersman to support the Japan aid plan.
What Japan now wants is not only the items on that list, but also hopes that the European Community can follow the United States and pass a Lend-Lease Act to aid Japan, so that when Japan is unable to pay enough for gold, rubber and rare metals, Much needed war supplies could still be obtained.
"Is there a problem?" Hersman glanced at Oshima's Chinese-character face, then took a sip of the champagne from the Heinkel family (the family of Ribbentrop's father-in-law) and said, "What you want must be from the British. If you don't give up your national policy of invading New Zealand, it's hard for me to guarantee that you can get high-quality products in time. In addition... you don't have the ability to occupy New Zealand now. If you insist on attacking, it will inevitably cause serious consequences. "
"Will they be defeated?" Oshima Hiroshi was stunned, and then immediately shook his head, "Your Excellency, Imperial Marshal, this is impossible. The Southern Army has a strong force, and the control of the sea in the South Pacific is still in our hands."
"Sea dominance in the South Pacific?" Hersman glanced at Oshima Hiroshi and said, "Lieutenant Admiral, the report I received is completely different from that."
Hiro Oshima was stunned for a moment and thought to himself: "Is the shameless navy lying about its record? They were actually defeated miserably in the Battle of Panama?"
"According to the reports I have received, your combined fleet has huge shortcomings." Hersman said, "Do you know about the barrel effect?"
"Barrel?" Oshima Hiro shook his head. He hadn't used a barrel for a long time. As a rich and powerful German fan, he used Villeroy & Boch and Hansgrohe enamels when he showered, washed his face, feet and butt. Pots, no outdated wooden barrels.
"No matter how high a bucket is, the height of the water it holds depends on the lowest board in it." Hersman said, "Lieutenant General, do you know where the shortcomings of the Japanese combined fleet are?"
In the shameless naval officer! Oshima Hiro wanted to answer like this, but in the end he held back his words.
"In air defense." Hersman said while cutting the steak on the plate. "The air defense capabilities of the Japanese combined fleet are very weak. According to the reports of our military observers, your 127mm anti-aircraft guns were useless during the Battle of Panama. , a complete waste. The 25mm cannon has insufficient range to reach the American dive bombers, and the magazine feeding method is too inefficient. In fact, the Japanese combined fleet is a fire net. A fleet without anti-aircraft firepower!"
This conclusion was reached by the Eastern Squadron of the European Combined Fleet that participated in the Battle of Panama.
"Ah..." Hiro Oshima was stunned again and again, and said to himself: "The Navy is so shameless. It spent so much money and didn't even have a useful anti-aircraft gun."
"So in the Battle of Panama, when the US dive bombers broke through the defenses of the Zero fighters, they could easily sink your Soryu and Hiryu." Hersman frowned as he spoke.
To some extent, the Battle of Panama was a replica of the Battle of Midway in another time! It was only because Ozawa had better luck that the losses were relatively small. The main reasons for the failure of the Battle of Panama and the Battle of Midway were actually the same, that is, the Japanese fleet's anti-aircraft firepower was too tragic.
If it were replaced by a European combined fleet equipped with 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and equipped with radio proximity fuzes, it would definitely not lose two fleet aircraft carriers.
"If the Americans discover this," Hessman said slowly, "they can even cancel the carrier-based dive bombers and carrier-based torpedo bombers, and directly let the F4U and F6F attack with bombs."
"Cancel carrier-based dive bombers and torpedo bombers? Is this really possible?" Hiroshi Oshima didn't know much about the navy and asked with some uncertainty.
"Why not? Our Fw-190Ts in the Pacific also serve as dive bombers?" Hersman shrugged. "The Americans' F4Us are larger than our Fw-190Ts, and they also have very good hydraulic catapults. (Currently being installed), the aircraft can fly with 500 kilograms of bombs. If the Americans use F4U to attack your aircraft carrier, your Zero will not be able to stop it. "
What Hessman is talking about now is actually his son's opinion. Although the younger Hessman is not a top fighter pilot (he is also an ace, but not of high quality), he is a tactical expert on carrier-based aircraft.
Immediately after witnessing the Battle of Panama, several tactics were suggested that the Americans might have used to quickly defeat the Japanese navy.
The most worrying one is the "total war bombing assault". Hersman Jr. believes that the Americans are likely to abandon their SBD dive bombers and TBF torpedo bombers, which are not very survivable on the battlefield, and adopt a full fighter-bomber configuration, installing bomb hooks on the F4U and F6F.
Although the anti-ship attack capability of the fighter-bomber is not as good as that of dive bombers and torpedo planes, and its protection is not as good as that of bombers and attack planes, it is the most suitable to deal with Japanese surface ships that actually have no air defense capability.
For example, let the USS Essex fight against the Japanese Akagi. The Essex is equipped with 45 F4Us and 45 F6Fs, while the Akagi is equipped with 24 Zeros, 24 Comets, and 24 Tenzan. Then the ratio of fighters on both sides is 90:24.
After leaving 18 F6Fs as direct cover aircraft, the Essex can still send 72 F4Us or F6Fs to attack the Akagi.
The anti-aircraft firepower of the Akagi is basically unable to fight against dive bombing, and can only rely on 24 Zeros to fight 72 enemy planes! Moreover, the Zero aircraft is not a good interceptor. It is impossible to hit a big guy like the F4U with one shot. Therefore, 24 Zeros can only entangle 24 F4Us or F6Fs at most. Even if only 10% of the bombs of the remaining 48 F4Us and F6Fs hit, the Akagi will not be able to take off and land planes. Then, won't it just wait for death?
Hessman paused and continued in a tone of teaching students: "Therefore, our naval experts believe that the main task of your naval combat ships in the next 12 months is not combat, but large-scale modification. All ships must be equipped with 40mm anti-aircraft gun systems... provided by us."
It turns out that changing anti-aircraft guns is more important than changing aircraft! Otherwise, even if the Gale was completed in 1943, it would not be able to stop the F4U with bombs. In the Battle of Midway, the US Navy, which only had F4Fs, sank 4 Japanese aircraft carriers with Zeros and a lot of ace pilots?
"In addition to anti-aircraft guns, your shipborne radar system must also be replaced." Hersman went on to talk about a series of suggestions that were also put forward by the Far East Squadron. "Your radar performance is too poor, and you can only detect enemy aircraft at a very close distance. Moreover, you don't have a fire control radar, and air and sea shooting all rely on optical aiming, which is very insufficient..."
"Also, the Japanese Navy's anti-submarine capability is very weak. The sonar is very poor, there are no hedgehog bombs and anti-submarine rockets, the number of anti-submarine patrol aircraft is insufficient, and the performance is relatively backward, and it is in urgent need of strengthening. Because the US torpedoes will pass the test sooner or later, and by then your sea transport lines will face a threat several times greater than now.
Finally, your aircraft carriers are not good either. How can they work without catapults? In the Battle of Panama, your Zero aircraft had almost no way to land and add fuel and ammunition, which is not enough to cope with high-intensity confrontations, and must be installed. All of the above are urgent matters."
"In addition, what do you want 50,000 tons of tank armor steel for? You are still thinking about forming an armored division now? What do you want an armored division for? To go to war with the Soviets?"
When it comes to Japan's purchase (I don't know if there is a way to pay?) of tank armor steel, Hersman is very angry. Of course he knew the purpose of the Japanese in making tanks. These Japanese devils were about to face disaster, but they still didn't forget their territory in the north! They wanted to buy 50,000 tons of armored steel for tanks in one go. How many tanks were they going to make? Did they think the oil supply was not tight enough?
Hiroshi Oshima nodded when he heard Hessman's question and said, "Your Excellency, Imperial Marshal, our country needs armored divisions to fight against the Soviet Union, which is the common enemy of our two countries!"
Herssman snorted, looked at Hiroshi Oshima and said, "The Soviet Union is not our mortal enemy, nor is it your enemy. For our two countries, there is only one truly dangerous enemy, and that is the United States!
If you agree with this opinion, then we will consider passing a European version of the Lend-Lease Act to provide you with supplies. However, what kind of supplies to provide and how you use these supplies must be decided by our military advisory group. Moreover, our people must participate in every campaign-level military operation you take. Only in this way can we ensure that both sides will work together to defeat the great enemy, the United States.
Finally, I would like to give you advice: Don't try to fight the Soviet Union. Because your national strength cannot afford a new war at all... We can deal with the Soviet Union alone. You should go all out to resist the US attack in the Pacific!"
Before the Battle of Panama, the German High Command hoped that Japan could have some conflicts with the Soviet Union and cut off the Soviet Union's lifeline in the North Pacific.
But now, the offensive and defensive positions in the Pacific have changed, and the Japanese navy has exposed many problems. If Japan does not concentrate all its forces on the Pacific defense and modify and upgrade its naval ships, it will probably be defeated by the United States in 1944. Therefore, Japan no longer has the spare energy to challenge the Soviet Union and solve the so-called Manchuria issue.