Iron Cross

At 8:12, the second wave of Japanese attack returned to the port. At this time, nearly 3 hours had passed since the first wave of attack launched its attack.

The situation in Pearl Harbor was of course still deteriorating. The heavy oil that was burning was flowing recklessly. The fuel depots concentrated in the entire Pearl Harbor had all exploded in the flames. The heavy oil was thrown high in the explosion and splashed around, and then "added bricks and tiles" to the fire. The fire dragon ruthlessly took away everything they could sweep. The whole city was shrouded in a layer of smoke. Even a few hundred meters outside the center of the fire, you could feel the burning and despair. The temperature in the central burning area continued to accumulate and exceeded thousands of degrees. All the trees, vehicles, houses, and municipal facilities were burning fiercely. Even the decorative iron blocks on the houses, kilometers, and iron fences of the houses were burned red and fell off, and then fell into the increasingly thick layer of heavy oil and turned into lumps of black iron.

The fire spread to low-lying areas as the heavy oil flowed. All the communities and people swept into it turned into black charcoal, and all the combustible things were added to become new combustion aids. The heated air formed strong convection, and the influence of the sea breeze at the end of October further fueled the fire.

Everyone avoided it as much as possible, and even the fire brigade had no way to do anything. They could only block the flow of heavy oil to the core area as much as possible according to the requirements of the army. The black and thick heavy oil even penetrated a large part of the municipal sewage pipes along the ground gullies. At first, it seemed to reduce the amount of flow, but as the heavy oil continued to accumulate and float in the sewer, finally the entire sewer system began to burn fiercely - this made the military look even more bitter.

Everyone knows that in addition to sewage pipes, underground pipelines also include wire pipes, gas pipes, etc. Even in the sewage pipes that cannot be burned, there are still a lot of naturally formed methane. It is not a big problem at ordinary times, but now it is all flammable, explosive and dangerous goods that are prone to accidents. Usually, explosions anywhere are a big problem, and today it is estimated that there will be no escape.

As expected, as the fire spread, hundreds of manhole covers were blown up one after another, gas pipelines were blown off, flames dozens of meters high were ejected, underground and overhead cables were engulfed by flames, causing explosions and short circuits. Although the power was not as strong as the explosion of the fuel depot, it was equally serious. The situation was slightly under control only after all heating, power supply, and gas supply systems on Oahu were cut off. However, all civilian power and communications in Pearl Harbor were also cut off, and the situation became even more chaotic.

In the critical moment, there were also American heroes who stood up. Donald Krent was a company commander of an engineering company. He ignored his humble status and ordered his men to work according to his requirements without telephone, telegram, and road blockade. Then he personally wore fireproof protective clothing and gas masks, and with great courage, armed and crossed the fire zone and ran into the city defense headquarters, telling them that he was ready to blow a channel facing the port area to guide hundreds of thousands of tons of heavy oil to pour into the port - let them flow into the sea! Although heavy oil will float and burn on the water, there are at least not so many flammable materials in the water, and it will not cause greater loss of life and property.

After discussing for 5 seconds, several bigwigs decided to adopt this suggestion. On the one hand, they authorized him to take immediate action and sent two companies from the headquarters to his command. On the other hand, they notified the surviving ships on the sea and asked them to leave quickly to avoid being affected. For the sake of solemnity and convenience of command, Ingram took off his rank shoulder straps and pinned them on Krent's shoulders, and gave him his officer's cap: "Young man, now you are a temporary admiral. Gather all the people you can find and do it boldly! If there is any responsibility in the future, I will bear it!"

At the moment when the flames of Pearl Harbor soared to the sky, the remaining aircraft on the army, navy and aviation on several other affected smaller islands and Oahu had taken off in batches and rushed to the north, but this counterattack and attack lacked effective unified command, and the order was very chaotic-the big explosion of Pearl Harbor and the fierce attack of the Japanese army not only made it extremely difficult for personnel from all places to gather, but also the overall command system was in chaos. All officers only deployed counterattacks blindly or according to their own understanding. The pilots took off in twos and threes, and then formed into echelons automatically when they met their companions in the air. At this moment, the US military was much more proactive than the Japanese pilots, who could not attack alone without the dispatch and order of their superiors. The Americans didn't care about these things. They just found the plane and flew it, and then they swarmed to the north.

At 8:29, the first wave of Japanese attack returned to the four regular aircraft carriers, Katsuragi, Kasagi, Chitose, and Chiyoda, which were deployed at the rear and landed. Although this desperate attack was not really a desperate attack, the casualty rate was not small. Only 98 of the 174 aircraft that attacked returned, and the overall combat loss rate was as high as 44%. More than half of the lost aircraft were shot down by the fighters that took off from the US military one after another, a small part was shot down by ground anti-aircraft firepower, and a few were lost due to explosions and other reasons.

Hori Teikichi nodded solemnly and thanked the pilots personally. The pilots swallowed rice balls or chocolates (which Hori Teikichi requested) in big mouthfuls while bragging to the ground crew and reserve pilots around them, both familiar and unfamiliar.

In order to speed up the pace of operations, the ground crew also began to imitate the US military and push the severely damaged aircraft directly into the sea. Since the third attack wave was cancelled, the attack aircraft will be temporarily withdrawn, but the fighter jets will continue to replenish oil bombs and replace them with new pilots. Although the ground crews who had been busy since about 1 o'clock were quite tired by now, because the overall battle situation was favorable, they were all in high spirits. In addition to regretting their comrades who were unfortunately killed or missing in action, the atmosphere was very optimistic, and the pilots were also in high spirits, especially It was the young pilot who was fighting in the war for the first time. While eating and dancing, he described the scene of Pearl Harbor to others, "It was really a sea of ​​fire..."

At 8:39, the forward radar sent a report that some enemy aircraft were approaching, and the number was estimated to be between 40 and 50. Matsuda Chiaki knew that this was not the second attack wave returning home, so he ordered 32 direct cover aircraft to come forward to intercept. . His estimate was correct. This was the Army Air Force stationed on Hawaii Island. After receiving the order to counterattack, they did not go to Oahu to join in the fun, but went directly to find trouble with the Japanese fleet. The support fleet is now more than 650 kilometers away from Pearl Harbor and even further away from the southernmost island of Hawaii, but these US troops are still here.

Six minutes later, just as these aircraft exchanged fire, the forward radar reported that some enemy aircraft were approaching from the west. The number was estimated to be more than 60. This was an attack group taking off from the island of Kauai in the northwest of Oahu. They No losses were suffered during the Japanese attack, and all available aircraft were dispatched. However, their luck was not as good as that of the defenders of Hawaii Island - although they were dispatched earlier, it took them a while to find the direction of the Japanese fleet. Matsuda Chiaki sent out 40 direct cover aircraft to intercept.

After 8:55, before the second attack wave entered our radar control screen, another 40-50 enemy attack groups were reported. Matsuda Chiaki, who was sweating profusely, dispatched 32 fighter jets. Now the remaining direct There are only 20 cover planes left - fortunately Horikichi canceled the third attack wave, otherwise there would be no 124 air defense fighters, and it would be more difficult to deal with air attacks now.

After 9 o'clock, no more US military attack aircraft appeared in the sky until the second attack wave of Jiangcao Rongfan, who returned at 9:17, appeared in the distance. Matsuda Chiaki's hanging heart was finally relieved, because the winner of the first interception air battle had been decided. The Japanese army repelled the US military with a record of 9:37, and then the vacated fighter jets, under the command of Niyodo, Immediately disperse and join the other two battle groups to help your own fighters quickly overwhelm the opponents.

The U.S. military suffered heavy losses in the first round of attacks. They were shot down 107 aircraft by the nearly equal number of Japanese interceptors, but only shot down 19 Japanese aircraft. The results in the air were pitiful, and the effectiveness of the sea attack was not significant, with only 19 Japanese aircraft sunk. The Japanese destroyers Shirayuki and Hatsuyuki (Fubuki-class) and the Zhongchuang auxiliary aircraft carrier Shanying lost their ability to take off and land, but they could still move, and their speed dropped to 11 knots.

But the results reported by US military pilots are quite a lot:

Sunk 1 aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers, and 3 destroyers;

Damage an aircraft carrier, 1-2 cruisers, and destroyers each;

There are also 4-5 warships that are not sure to be sunk or damaged.

Instantly expand the results several times.

The reported situation of the Japanese fleet is even more frightening:

Found 28-32 Japanese aircraft carriers of various types (actually counting all warships that look like aircraft carriers, there are only 19 in total);

4-5 battleships (actually 0) - Since the US military lost all its heavy cruisers in previous battles, in the eyes of inexperienced novices, heavy cruisers and battleships are indistinguishable. They look like battleships when they are bigger. :

There are more than 20 cruisers of various types (actually a total of 9 light and heavy cruisers);

There are more than 60 destroyers (actually 32); in addition, the Japanese fleet also has more than 30 S-boats imported from Germany (all of which are treated as destroyers by the US military).

Someone else cleverly added that the huge Japanese fleet covered the entire sea surface 700 kilometers north of Hawaii!

There were also too many errors in the reports of Japanese fighter jets reporting air interceptions, with more than 300 reported (actually 124). What’s even more maddening is that because the first wave of US military counterattacks was sent by three independent teams, the reports reported by each other were conflicting. Even the specific location of the Japanese fleet was wrong. Some said it was more than 500 kilometers, and some said it was more than 600 kilometers. Kilometers, some say more than 700 kilometers. Finally, the direction is correct. They all said it was due north and was "escape".

After receiving such contradictory and bizarre telegrams, Ingram and Doolittle, who were badly burned by the fire, felt helpless. They were still Japanese-minded and knew that the Japanese army would never have 4-5 more battleships. Tsunoda The battleships in the fleet and the Tsukahara fleet are all aware of it. Everyone is also aware of the two Japanese ships including Mutsu that have sunk in Panama. There are 3 Yamato-class ships, 1 Nagato-class ship, and 2 Kongo-class ships. If the Japanese fleet still has 4-5 battleships did not show up, which is really an insult to the intelligence of the two people.