Chapter 928: Still Defeated - Theory of Victory and National Destruction

Tokyo time, October 10, 1943, bad news came one after another.

First, the US commerce-breaking fleet disappeared. Since the afternoon of October 9, the Japanese reconnaissance planes have not found this large commerce-breaking formation consisting of 3 battleships, 1 heavy aircraft carrier and 10 cruisers. Now the main force of the Combined Fleet and the First Mobile Fleet can only meet first, and then split into three routes (each with a Yamato) to search for the enemy in the North Pacific-it is guessed that the US commerce-breaking fleet will retreat from the North Pacific, but the North Pacific is very large. Once the US fleet is lost, it is not easy to intercept it.

Secondly, the Japanese bases on Amakenak Island (the island where the Dutch Harbor is located) and Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Islands have been continuously attacked by large-scale air strikes by the US military!

The US aircraft that attacked these two islands were all land-based aircraft, taking off from bases in Alaska. The main participants in the air raid were the US B-17 long-range bombers, which adopted the tactic of high-altitude penetration and were escorted by a large number of P47D and P51B/C fighters.

It was the first time that the Japanese Army Air Force stationed on Amakenak Island and Unalaska Island encountered P47D and P51B/C fighters with excellent medium and high altitude performance, and suffered heavy losses. In particular, the P47D fighter equipped with a turbocharged engine can completely beat the Japanese Army's proud Swift fighter at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters.

In the first wave of air raids, 43 Swifts were shot down by P47D and P51B/C, and another 41 Swifts were lost in the second wave of air raids. In the third wave of air raids, as many as 51 Swift fighters were shot down. In less than two days of fierce air battles, 135 of the most advanced Swift fighters of the Japanese Army Air Force stationed in the Aleutian Islands were shot down in air battles, and 102 pilots died!

In addition to using P47D and P51B/C to defeat the poor-performing Swift fighters at high altitudes in air combat, thousands of American B-17 bombers also dropped thousands of tons of bombs over Japanese airfields, ports and camps, causing considerable losses. This also forced the ships of the Japanese Fifth Fleet to leave Dutch Harbor on the night of the 9th and retreat to Attu Island (more than 600 nautical miles from Dutch Harbor), another important stronghold of the Japanese in the Aleutian Islands.

The withdrawal of the fleet also meant that Amakenak Island and Unalaska Island would soon be blockaded by the US military, and tens of thousands of Japanese troops on the two islands would be in a dilemma of being cut off from support.

The third bad news came from the South China Sea. A fleet of oil tankers departing from Sumatra was besieged by at least 15 US submarines on the night of October 9 (Tokyo time)! Six oil tankers were sunk, including the 10,000-ton oil tankers Kamikoku Maru and Nichiei Maru, the 5,000-ton special transport ships (coal and oil tankers) No. 6 Shinsho Maru and Sanko Maru, and the 14,000-ton oil tankers Kakuro and Hayatomo.

In addition, the escort destroyer Natsushio and four submarines No. 24, No. 25, No. 26, and No. 27 (all with a displacement of 460 tons, mainly used to deal with submarines) were sunk, and Lieutenant Colonel Haruyama Ryo, commander of the 13th Escort Squadron, was killed.

At first glance, the news that the oil tanker fleet was attacked by submarines did not seem very bad. Similar things happened repeatedly in the nearly two years after the outbreak of the Pacific War. However, this time the incident seemed very serious. Not only did it lose 5 oil tankers and tens of thousands of tons of precious Sumatran crude oil at once, but the attack took place in the South China Sea, which was regarded as an inland lake by Japan!

Moreover, the US submarine force also adopted the wolf pack tactics commonly used by the Germans for the first time, organizing at least 15 submarines to launch a cluster attack, not only sinking 6 oil tankers in one fell swoop, but also sinking 1 escorting destroyer and 4 anti-submarine submarines.

This submarine attack incident sent a very terrible signal - the range of activities of US submarines has been greatly expanded, and the combat effectiveness has also been substantially improved.

If Japan wants to ensure its maritime lifeline, it must invest more in escort operations.

Not only must it invest in active destroyers with strong combat effectiveness to escort the South China Sea-homeland voyage, but it must also deploy a large number of long-range anti-submarine reconnaissance patrol aircraft on various important islands in the South China Sea to conduct long-term and large-scale anti-submarine patrols... However, the Japanese Navy has only about 200 active destroyers (including a large number of old ships), of which the first-class destroyers with real combat effectiveness (about 150 ships) are mainly used to escort the main ships of the Combined Fleet, and more than 100 old second-class and third-class destroyers are also mainly used for aircraft carrier escort formations on the Pacific route. The destroyers that can be used for escort in the South Pacific are really stretched.

As for large patrol aircraft, the number of them owned by the Japanese naval aviation is also limited, and they must be used in the Pacific battlefield first, so there is not much for anti-submarine warfare in the South Pacific - this is not a question of whether there are aircraft or not, but a question of fuel. Because large training aircraft are oil guzzlers, burning more than 100 gallons of fuel per hour (the Zero also burns 35 gallons) is the minimum. If 100 large patrol aircraft are maintained over the South Pacific Islands for 20 hours a day, it will be hundreds of thousands of gallons a day, hundreds of millions of gallons a year, equivalent to hundreds of thousands of tons of aviation gasoline... Yamamoto Isoroku cannot convert these extra hundreds of thousands of tons of oil!

If the US submarines are allowed to operate in the South Pacific Islands, more oil tankers will be sunk, so the amount of crude oil available to Japan will further decrease, and it will no longer be able to sustain the war.

At the same time, on the frontal battlefield in the Pacific, fuel was being consumed at a heartbreaking rate.

On the one hand, almost all the ships of the Combined Fleet are running around at sea; on the other hand, Japanese patrol aircraft on the Pacific battlefield are also extremely active during this time, searching for the missing U.S. break-up fleet and the U.S. 7th Fleet with unprecedented intensity. Main force.

Now every day's fuel consumption is the same as the loss of excellent pilots, which is rapidly weakening Japan's continuous combat capabilities in the sea and air.

"...Although the results of the current battle in the Pacific are greatly in our favor, the consumption is also staggering. The navy's fuel reserves are being lost at an alarming rate, and excellent pilots are also losing a lot in the fierce battle. And the US military's offensive is now There seems to be no sign of relief, and one battle after another. If the Navy cannot immediately receive additional fuel and pilots, its ability to continue operations will be greatly reduced, and the Aleutian Islands Campaign is likely to be lost."

At an emergency meeting at the base camp held on the afternoon of October 10, Navy Minister Isoroku Yamamoto, after reporting on the recent major victories, began to vomit his bitterness again.

"Yamamoto-kun," Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sugiyama, who also held the rank of marshal, seemed to be confused by Yamamoto Isoroku's inconsistent description, and asked: "Did the navy win or defeat?"

"Of course we won!" Yamamoto Isoroku replied, "But if we win a few more battles like this, the Japanese Empire will fall!"

ah? Can you win a war and subjugate your country?

"Yamamoto-kun, please be careful what you say!"

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo hurriedly reminded Yamamoto Isoroku to be careful what he said - now is the base camp meeting, how can we say that Japan is going to subjugate?

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister," Yamamoto Isoroku said, "I am only telling the truth...Judging from the number of ships lost in the battle during this period, our side is certainly a great victory, but victory does not come without a price. The price of victory is the consumption of fuel and the loss of pilot lives! If this kind of victory continues, the Japanese Empire will collapse because it cannot afford the price of victory.”

Subjugating a country because it cannot afford victory... This is probably the most incredible way to subdue a country, right?

"There must be a solution, right?" Tojo Hideki asked quickly. He did not want to report to Emperor Showa one day in the future: Because our navy and army officers fought bravely to kill the enemy and were invincible, the Japanese Empire could only perish...

"The solution... The first is to carry out the Jie-1 operation of course!" Yamamoto Isoroku said, "Secondly, the navy needs more fuel and pilots. Only with enough fuel and pilots can the Jie-1 operation be carried out. It’s possible to win.”

Although the core of the Jie-1 combat plan is to fight a war of attrition by defending the island, it is impossible to win the island defense war with ground troops anyway. If the combined fleet and air force are unable to move due to lack of oil, the Hawaiian Islands will ultimately be unable to defend itself.

Therefore, Yamamoto Isoroku once again raised the request to increase the Navy's fuel supply at today's base camp meeting, and also raised the issue of insufficient pilots - Yamamoto wanted to get some skilled pilots from the Army. If the Army refused to release them, , at least more pilot regiments must be mobilized to the Hawaiian Islands.

"The Army can send a few more pilot regiments to the Hawaiian Front, but the Army's fuel gap is also huge." Gen. Sugiyama, Chief of Army Staff, understood that Yamamoto wanted to use the Army's meager fuel supply, and quickly raised objections. , "Now the Army has 4 tank divisions, 27 aviation divisions, and many automobile and transport fleets (the total tonnage of ships owned by the Japanese Army far exceeds that of the Navy, and it is really impossible without fuel), so It requires a lot of fuel, and the battle against Chilu is on the string and may be launched at any time..."

"Naked" is the Soviet Union. The Japanese call Russia "Lucia". Red Lucia is of course the Soviet Union. While the Navy is fully preparing for "Operation Czech No. 1", the Japanese Army is also preparing for war with the Soviet Union!

It sounds incredible, but the reality is this. According to a group of Showa staff who like to "play big chess", the reason why the United States is unwilling to make peace with Japan is because the Soviet Union is still resisting. If the Soviet Union completely collapsed, the United States would be at war with the whole world and would have to sue Japan for peace.

In addition, the Japanese Empire was reluctant to be a neighbor of a super-European Community that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Therefore, it is necessary to send troops to the Far East after the fall of Moscow...