Iron Cross

The height of the attack group is only 40 meters. Due to the curve of the earth, the U.S. military's Oahu radar station has not detected it yet, but the radar soldiers have discovered that there are several bright spots floating on the screen - they are the night clouds being investigated in the air. Their The altitude is not low. They must not only indicate the direction of the attack group, but also bear the task of turning the US military's attention from low altitude to high altitude.

At this time, the Japanese army has fully mastered the electronic countermeasures of throwing aluminum foil as a way to jam radar, but it is rarely used in practice because it can be inferred reversely: if a good radar is suddenly jammed, it is probably because an enemy plane is about to launch an attack, and it is not suitable for sneak attacks. It was beneficial, but the release of four Ye Caiyun flying at medium and high altitudes actually aroused the suspicion of the US military.

"Is this an enemy plane?" the radar soldier asked the sergeant major next to him.

The latter was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at the screen. After watching it for a full minute, he found that there were always 4 bright spots, but their trajectories were very regular - flying in circles with a large distance between each other, and there was no trace of them at all. Breaking into the core area - Ye Caiyun has received the US military radar waves and knows that he has been locked. They can completely monitor Pearl Harbor from their current position, so there is no need to force their way inside. It would be more confusing to stay on the outside and fly. sex.

He shook his head: "This is probably our night patrol plane!"

"Do you need to verify? I remember there were never four patrol planes before, at most one, and they didn't fly like this."

"It's a bit weird." The sergeant major was about to make a call. The staff officer on duty frowned after hearing his report that there were 4 patrol planes north of Oahu: There were a total of 6 patrol planes deployed in Hawaii tonight. How is that possible? All 4 planes are concentrated in the direction of Oahu?

Just when he was about to tell him to be vigilant, the receiver started shouting: "Enemy planes! Enemy planes! A large group of enemy planes appeared! The altitude is 500 meters, oh, no, it seems to be still climbing, the speed is 475 kilometers, oh, God, it's still there Accelerate, heading, 194 degrees; number, densely packed, no less than 150..."

At this time, the Japanese military aircraft group was close to a place only more than 70 kilometers away from the radar station. Even if they conducted a low-altitude assault, they would inevitably be tracked. They simply pulled up and prepared to enter the attack state.

"Alarm!" The piercing siren sounded immediately, and soon resounded throughout Pearl Harbor!

The US fighter pilots in the duty room were chatting and playing cards. Someone came to take over them at dawn, and then they could go back to rest comfortably. When they heard the sudden siren, everyone was stunned for a moment, and then it was like a dream. He rushed towards his car as if he had just woken up - although it was difficult to see at night, the plane must fly.

The fast-responsive anti-aircraft artillery unit responded 15 seconds after the alarm was sounded. The searchlights immediately flashed and looked for enemy aircraft everywhere. The anti-aircraft artillery guarding the airport even screamed nervously into the air - under normal circumstances, the enemy would definitely have fired first. Come attack the airport.

Seeing the lights coming on in front of him, and hearing the indiscriminate firing of anti-aircraft artillery in the distance, Lieutenant Colonel Xinxiang Yingcheng, who was leading the team, squeezed out a trace of ridicule from the corner of his mouth: "You guys are too slow! You are as slow to react as ever. !”

As he spoke, he took the lead in dropping the flare, quickly determined his position by the light, and ran towards the oil depot - there was no need for them to fight in the first place, because that idiot Chuichi Nagumo refused to let go of the third wave of attacks three years ago. group! If he had been released at that time, how could there be so many things happening now?

"Follow up each formation!"

"About to enter the oil depot!"

"The oil depot is below, the whole army will attack!"

With a "bang", as soon as the order was issued, Xinxiang Yingcheng took the lead in throwing down the 400 kilogram bomb he carried, and then dispersed the attack.

The Japanese army is very familiar with the location of the oil depot. The defense facilities in other parts of Pearl Harbor may have changed, but nothing will change in this place. It still stands there as it did three years ago. The only difference is that the US military is equipped with more isolation facilities and fire prevention facilities. and fire-fighting equipment - but this does not change the shortcomings of the oil depot itself that is prone to deflagration. The US military has indeed built underground fuel depots, but the capacity is not large. The total storage scale is only 12% of the total, and 500 kilograms of semi-armor-piercing bombs can be blasted away. This time, for the sake of safety, several Meteors have modified them. It's an 800kg aerial bomb.

"Torah...Tora...Tora..."

As soon as he received the code name, Matsuda Chiaki almost jumped up with joy: "Sir, the surprise attack was successful!"

"Thank you for their hard work! Turn the fleet and break away!"

After the first wave of surprise attacks was successful, Horikichi also had a slight smile on his face: "The mission of the third attack wave was cancelled, the air defense fighters took off, and the fleet reorganization was completed according to the scheduled air defense plan!"

He issued three orders in a row, and the staff immediately executed them.

"Lift the radio silence, inform Tsunoda and Tsukawara of our fleet's position, and ask the Second Air Force to move closer to me. Well, just say that our department's situation is tense and ask for his support!"

Matsuda Chiaki suppressed a smile and responded: There is no problem with the tense situation of the support fleet. On the contrary, if the Tsunoda fleet does not come, it will probably run out of fuel. The officer said this just to give Tsunoda a reminder, and I hope he can reflect on it.

"Onboard!"

The second attack wave also received the signal from the first attack wave, and they all cheered. Now that the attack was on all fronts, there was no need to hide the traces. Under the command of the support force's flight chief, Colonel Takashige Egusa, they began to increase and speed up. speed.

"Sir, we're attacking!"

Tsunoda and Tsukahara also received the coded telegram "Tiger Tiger Tiger". Although they did not clearly understand what it meant, they were completely aware of it.

However, the subsequent telegram from Horikichi asking the Second Air Force to move closer quickly made Tsunoda scratch his head in embarrassment: He was not an idiot and could completely understand the meaning between the lines of the telegram - who was in a tense situation? On the other hand, it's almost the same.

At 6:04, the first anti-aircraft fighter of the support fleet took off. The driver was Second Lieutenant Shoichi Sugita, known as the King of Purple Lightning. He had just been awarded the rank of second lieutenant before departure. As a preparatory student at an aviation school who had just graduated two and a half years ago, he was not yet 21 years old. He only opened the scoring two years ago (October 1942), but his level was good. Selected during the selection of carrier-based aircraft pilots. After boarding the ship, he showed extraordinary talent, and his number of kills increased linearly. Especially after switching to Zidian, his technical ability became more outstanding. He was not inferior at all against ace pilots such as Akamatsu Sadaki, considering his age. And qualifications are amazing!

Historically, Shoichi Sugita was one of the pilots who escorted Yamamoto's fifty-six and eventually witnessed its downing. However, his life path has obviously changed significantly now, and he has begun to perform ship-to-ship combat direct guard missions.

The protagonist Takahashi of "Space Battle" has absorbed a piece of his story: In 1940, Sugita and his friend Mizushima Kunio entered the Maizuru Preparatory School. The training was very difficult. The two teenagers, who were only 16 years old, couldn't bear it and had the idea of ​​​​escape. However, they met on the way to escape. I went to a commander and took them to see a new fighter plane - the Zero (in the film, the commander took Takahashi, who wanted to be a hero but was not able to endure hardships because he was born in a wealthy family, to see the car of a navy ace. The tail fin was painted with shooting down marks. logo), and then gave up the idea of ​​deserting, and the commander who inspired him crashed and died during training (the commander died in battle in the film).

Within 15 minutes, all 124 Zidian Kai or Gale Kai with auxiliary fuel tanks and rockets took off. The fighter jets exempted from the escort mission of the third attack wave will join the direct cover force and be responsible for fleet air defense. At this point, all fighter jets in the support fleet (including the two transport ships in the early morning to replenish and mobilize reserves) have all taken off. Except for more than 70 attack aircraft and more than 20 Caiyun (Ye Caiyun), there are no other available aircraft on the deck.

At 6:23, the sky slowly began to lighten up. While the support fleet released all the Saiunkai, it also organized three wheel-shaped air defense formations according to Horikichi's instructions: the southernmost one was an interception formation with 5 escort aircraft carriers as the main force. The light cruiser Niyoto provides forward radar surveillance; in the middle is a camouflage array with 6 escort aircraft carriers and 2 evacuated transport and supply ships as the core (looking like the main aircraft carrier force); and at the end are the two Unryu, Katsuragi and Kasagi. The command formation of the class and two other aircraft supply ships, the light cruiser Oyodo with the strongest communication capability (historically served as the flagship of the combined fleet) closely followed the flagship Katsuragi.

When the second attack wave came with great momentum and the support fleet was deployed across the board, the first attack wave's air strikes on the oil depots had entered a white-hot state.

One after another, 250-kilogram bombs exploded in the oil depot area, penetrating the thickened oil storage tanks and causing flames. The U.S. defense forces who had reacted frantically poured anti-aircraft firepower into the air while desperately trying to extinguish the flames.

More than 300,000 tons of various fuels are stored in the oil storage area, of which more than 85% is heavy marine oil, and the rest is lubricating oil, gasoline and other oil materials. The most important and valuable aviation fuel is basically stored underground. Heavy oil is as viscous as tar and cannot burn easily most of the time, but when it does burn, it will be very difficult to put it out. In order to achieve the attack effect, the Japanese army not only allowed the ships to carry bombs, but also had some meteors carry incendiary bombs. They waited for the heavy oil storage tanks to rupture and the heavy oil to flow all over the ground before releasing incendiary bombs.

"It's burning! It's burning!"

Murata Hiso, who was driving a Meteor Kai, saw the incendiary bombs dropped by Nakamura in the back seat igniting the ground. Facing the "rivers of fire" flowing wantonly, he suddenly shouted: "It's so spectacular, so majestic. !”

"Boom!" This was a diesel tank that was not hit directly but was ignited and detonated by the "river of fire". The explosion of air not only took away the surrounding US officers and soldiers who were desperately fighting the fire, but also ignited a fire. A mushroom cloud more than 80 meters high.

"Boom, boom, boom!" U.S. anti-aircraft guns fired fiercely at the low-flying Japanese aircraft.

Murata, who was very proud just now, was about to pull up to escape, but he couldn't pull up after several attempts. The height of the plane kept falling, and he screamed: "Nakamura-kun, the plane has been hit!"

"Can I still fly back?"

"I'm afraid not. The control stick no longer works. You can parachute."

"Skydiving?" Nakamura shook his head, "I would rather die than be a prisoner! You go skydiving, you are the only son in your family!"

"No! Before we set off, our commander encouraged us to fight bravely. Why should I be taken as a prisoner? Let's go together?"

Nakamura in the back seat put his hand on Murata's shoulder: "Murata-kun, see you at Kudanzaka!"

"See you at Kudanzaka!" Murata lowered the nose of the plane and dived towards the ground.

With a "boom", the injured Meteor Kai finally rushed into the U.S. anti-aircraft gun position on the ground and exploded violently. The pilot and the U.S. military were all killed...