Iron Cross

ps: The second update for the leader "Zhang Juzheng no longer exists in the world"...

"I was fooled... I was fooled..." Halsey burst into tears after receiving a telegram from Ingram about the attack on Pearl Harbor, including the sinking of six escort carriers and heavy overall losses, "I am a fool! I'm an idiot! I'm being led by the Japanese!"

"Sir, we were not fooled, but we are thankful." McCain tried to comfort him. "Think about it, what would have happened to the fleet in Pearl Harbor? Is the fleet still there now?"

Halsey didn't say anything, but several staff officers behind him nodded silently: Obviously, with such a fierce air attack, if the fleet still stayed at Pearl Harbor, the two battleships might not be sunk, but the other dozen or so aircraft carriers together with the I am afraid that a large number of aircraft and pilots will be killed.

"Yes! We still have a fleet!" Halsey suddenly held back his tears, "Change the route and attack north of Pearl Harbor! I want to take revenge!"

"Sir, calm down... there is still a fleet that we haven't dealt with yet? Besides, you need to report to Washington if you change the direction of operations." McCain said, "The Japanese can't occupy Hawaii, they just bomb it to harass it. , but TF50 is currently the only maneuvering and containment force in the Pacific direction. If we have another problem, I'm afraid..."

"The route remains unchanged for the time being. The reconnaissance aircraft will expand the search range, and then inform Washington and Pearl Harbor of the combat plan, asking them to find out the specific location and number of ships of the Japanese attacking fleet. I cannot let them go so easily!" In McCain's words After persuasion, Halsey regained his composure and began to issue orders in an orderly manner.

In the early morning, the Tsunoda fleet had moved closer to a position 1,000 kilometers north-east of Pearl Harbor as requested by Horikichi's telegram. The overall route still maintained a southwesterly direction, but more westward. The distance from the Halsey TF50 fleet continued to shrink, but the speed The difference has changed from the initial 35 km/h to 28 km/h.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, the Tsunoda fleet was about 1,300 kilometers away from Halsey, about 2,100 kilometers away from Horikichi, and the distance between Horichi and Halsey was about 1,900 kilometers. Masafumi Arima re-estimated the fuel of each ship and believed that if they rushed to the designated rendezvous position (1,200 kilometers north-east of Hawaii) except the Musashi, which was at the greatest risk, all other warships could sustain it. If the Musashi is short of oil, it will be much easier to handle. Tonight, we can collect a few hundred tons of heavy oil from the Kongo and several other heavy cruisers and pump it to Musashi. This surplus can still be adjusted. If nothing else works, he can only lower his face and ask the commander to bring the fleet closer to the rescue - a training will definitely be inevitable, and Tsunoda and he are fully mentally prepared.

"Caiyun took off... to search for enemy conditions within a 1,500-kilometer range. We must overlap with the commander's search circle and pass the detailed information to the commander and Commander Tsukahara." The impatient Tsunoda now began to be careful, "Avoid any enemy forces that may support the enemy. The harassment of the fleet will allow the commander to concentrate on the attack on Pearl Harbor!"

"Now, what should we do about the situation in Pearl Harbor and even in Hawaii as a whole?" Truman sat dejectedly, holding his head in his hands, with a depressed look on his face. The presidential election is less than half a month away from voting. He doesn't want to think about anything now. He just wants to hand over the power safely. Whether it is war or peace will be decided by Dewey. He even thought that as soon as the results of the general election are announced and the legal procedures are completed (the electoral college votes after the referendum), he can hand it over in advance. He has had enough!

But Japan had just bombed Seattle two days ago, and today it bombed Pearl Harbor again, which made him want to cry. In particular, Pearl Harbor was attacked by a sneak attack last time, and this time it was raided. Last time, there was an excuse that Japan was fighting an undeclared war. How to clean it up this time? The Japanese had issued notices a month in advance!

Truman felt that he was the most unlucky person in the world. If he had known, he would not have accepted this vice president!

Boeing employees who suffered the bombing announced a one-day strike today and held a large march in Seattle to protest the inaction of the military and government. The content sounded embarrassing: "...In the past three years, Boeing has delivered tens of thousands of aircraft to the United States. We paid hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and contributed everything we could, but in the end not only could we not save the factory, but more than a thousand workers were injured and killed. What are the government and the army doing?”

Helpless, Truman could only send two scapegoats, Secretary of State Hull and Secretary of War Smith Timson, to face the people in Seattle. These two people had had enough, and they would definitely not appear in the power arena again in the next term.

The telegrams received by the Joint Chiefs and Halsey were different. Washington received a later and more detailed report: the fuel depot burned and exploded, the training fleet sank, hundreds of aircraft were lost, tens of thousands of people panicked, and Pearl Harbor fell into trouble. The scene of a sea of ​​​​fire was transmitted back via telegraph - such earth-shattering news shocked everyone.

Half a day later, Nimitz spoke with difficulty: "The top priority is to repel the Japanese attack as much as possible. I think it is unlikely that the Japanese will launch a large-scale landing later, but it cannot be completely ruled out. The losses at Pearl Harbor are still ongoing. , we can only be prepared to lose all the fuel. However, several other islands have not been attacked by air, and the army and navy deployed above have begun to counterattack. As long as Hawaii is kept, our military situation is extremely passive, but it is still within control. ”

Spruance added: "General Halsey sent a telegram and wanted to attack the Japanese fleet that raided Pearl Harbor. The specific situation of the fleet is currently unclear. I have advised him to maintain the current route unchanged and wait for Pearl Harbor. We will take action after receiving accurate enemy information; we also recommend that the transport fleet currently outside Los Angeles return to the port and wait for the next decision on when to send it.”

The transport fleet returned to the port and everyone unanimously agreed. Now that the fierce battle at Pearl Harbor was in full swing, Halsey had no time to distract himself from protecting the transport fleet. The main force of the combined fleet in the south continued to move north. If they did not return to port, this transport force would be eaten up entirely. Danger.

Clark frowned and asked: "When we analyzed the situation, the Navy thought that the Japanese fleet active on the west coast should be its main force, but judging from today's raid, Japan still has a fleet that is not inferior to the current two fleets. For other fleets, is our enemy's situation miscalculated or is there some other reason? I don't know much about the navy, but now it feels like not only our Pacific Fleet is weaker than our opponents, but the entire United States Navy is also weaker than Japan! Talk about the entire axis.”

This sentence made everyone's faces suddenly turn pale: The United States is famous for its two-ocean geography. If the navies on the east and west coasts are not as good as their opponents, how can this war be fought?

Truman nodded solemnly. He tended to support Clark's opinion from the bottom of his heart - it's not that we are incompetent, it's that the Axis is too strong now!

In fact, this idea is not wrong: after the Panama Canal was closed and the Pacific Fleet lost its fleet aircraft carrier, Japan and the United States actually did not fight a big battle. The United States did build more warships than Japan, but all of them were lost. In the battle with Germany, if Nimitz hadn't desperately brought two fleet aircraft carriers to the Pacific and quickly repaired them, Halsey wouldn't even have a chance to leave the port!

Li Hai said with a gloomy face: "The navy's shipbuilding capabilities need to be improved. I suggest that the Seattle Shipyard expand its capabilities to build fleet aircraft carriers!"

Everyone, including Nimitz, shook his head after hearing this. It would take 9-12 months to expand the shipyard, and another 14-15 months to build the Essex class. When will we be able to catch up with the war? Will Japan stop building warships in the past two years? Didn't the Seattle Army Air Force reconnaissance plane discover that Japan has a new fleet aircraft carrier this time? It looks very similar to the Flying Dragon class in Midway Island, but it seems to be a bit larger, and it must be more powerful in combat. As for the larger and stronger aircraft carrier in the Tsukahara fleet, the staff has clearly learned from the direction of Panama that this is a newly built aircraft carrier.

"What I mean is..." Clark was very dissatisfied when he saw Li Hai bring the topic to building more warships, and stressed, "There is no way out to continue fighting on two fronts, regardless of the strength of our army or its combat effectiveness. We are all at a disadvantage, and we urgently need a truce. If we continue to fight, we will suffer huge losses. I personally not only agree with the truce with Germany, but I even think what Turner said is good. If we can have a truce with Germany, why can't we have a truce with Japan? If Germany continues to fight to the end, can we also form a compromise with Japan? I heard..."

Truman looked a little embarrassed. The decision to reject Japan's armistice proposal was made by him. At first, he thought that Japan could not be so cheap. But now Japan's lethality is so huge that it far exceeds his understanding. He feels that it is very difficult. Clark's repeated mention of the old words made him somewhat regretful, but he could not show it on his face, so he said lightly: "The original rejection of Japan's peace proposal was unanimously approved by the cabinet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it was in line with the will of the people and morale. Maybe we didn’t think comprehensively and thoughtfully enough, but the decision has been made and cannot be reversed. Or are we waiting for Mr. Dewey to come up with new opinions?”

Anyway, he made up his mind: I want to make peace with you. I have no objection, but I will not sign this word. That is Dewey's price - otherwise, this president is so easy to be elected?

Seeing that the discussion was somewhat off-topic, MacArthur coughed slightly, added a sentence, and redirected the discussion to respond to the current situation at Pearl Harbor: "The army's coastal fortifications and defense forces have been prepared, and there is no problem in the anti-landing war." Arnold The general sent a telegram from Los Angeles. He had asked General Doolittle to fight back with all his strength. He also asked the strategic airlift forces to prepare to provide emergency supplies to Pearl Harbor by air once the situation stabilized. He was only concerned about the production of various aviation companies. Equipment must be delivered at all costs!”

"Now that our army's counterattack has begun, let's wait for the battle report first and let Hawaii report the losses and damage quickly!" Truman thought for a while, then turned to Li Hai and told him, "As for armaments production, please You are responsible for everything, including aircraft production and ship construction."