The Rise of the Third Reich

October 30, 1942.

In the early morning, when the sun jumped out of the sea east of the Japanese archipelago, on the Pacific Ocean 1,500 kilometers away from the Japanese archipelago, the red flag of GC doctrine was slowly lowered from an aircraft carrier of more than 10,000 tons.

At the same time, George Herbert Walker Bush, who had just turned 18, took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier in a brand new TBF "Avenger" torpedo bomber.

This torpedo bomber, produced by Grumman and entering mass production in 1942, is probably the carrier-based aircraft with the strongest anti-ship capabilities during this period. Compared with its "predecessor" TBD "Destroyer" torpedo bomber, the performance of TBF has been significantly improved. It has a high-power Wright R-2600-8 14-cylinder air-cooled engine (can output 1,700 horsepower). Equipped with bulletproof glass, the bulletproof armor of the fuselage is also unprecedentedly strong.

Moreover, the TBF torpedo bomber's flaps are equipped with speed brakes, giving this torpedo bomber the same dive attack capabilities as a dive bomber. In a fleet decisive battle, this function may be a bit useless (the TBF is too large and can easily be hit by the anti-aircraft guns on the ship), but when performing a break-up mission, this function is very practical.

When dealing with Japanese freighters, four 500-pound bombs are definitely more reliable than one poor-performance Mk13 torpedo - there are not so many stringent requirements for dropping bombs, and low-tech bombs are not as powerful as high-tech torpedoes. Many failures.

So now the TBF torpedo bomber driven by Bush does not carry torpedoes, but four 500-pound bombs.

"Four 500-pound bombs... are enough to kill a boatload of Japanese devils!" The 18-year-old young pilot couldn't help but feel excited when he thought of the Japanese screaming and struggling all over the sea.

"Guys, I'm Captain James Watt!" A gruff voice came from Bush's earpiece, "The commander in chief of today's air raid."

Captain James Watt is the commander of the torpedo bomber squadron on the Independence and Bush's immediate superior.

"Guys, what we are going to carry out today is a real combat mission!" Captain Watt continued, "For most of you, this is also the first battle in your life! It may be a little dangerous, but I promise, After this battle, you will become real men, and you will also like the feeling of killing Japanese, because every one of them deserves to die! God bless you! "

"Kill all the Japanese and protect America!"

A loud cheer came from Bush's earphones, and he cheered too.

At this time, Captain James Watt's voice came again: "Guys, raise the altitude to 4,000 meters and follow me. Let's find the Japanese troop carrier!"

The Japanese troop transport had been discovered long ago, otherwise Colonel Mitchell would not have sent out 9 TBF torpedo bombers and 9 SBD dive bombers early in the morning.

The Japanese ship was discovered by a "Sea Bream" class submarine operating in the waters between Saipan and the Japanese archipelago. This is a large submarine with a surface displacement of 1,450 tons and a large endurance, so it can operate in waters near Japan. It did not carry torpedoes, but carried mines to mine the Bungo Channel in Japan.

Now that the mine-laying mission has been completed, the submarine did not return immediately. Instead, it conducted reconnaissance in waters of 200-500 nautical miles on Saipan. Last night, the submarine discovered a transport convoy consisting of a large cruise ship, four cargo ships and two armed merchant ships (ad hoc gunboats), sailing from north to south.

The large cruise ship in this fleet is the Daiyo Maru with a standard displacement of 14,458 tons. It was originally a cruise ship built by Germany before World War I. Later, it was delivered to Japan as war compensation and became one of the few high-end cruise ships owned by Japan. After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the cruise ship was immediately requisitioned by the Japanese Army and turned into a troop transport ship.

Now riding on it are the headquarters of the 17th Army of the Japanese Army and the division headquarters of the 6th Division under the 17th Army, as well as the communication teams, field hospitals and a military comfort station of the 17th Army and the 6th Division. There were also some journalists and engineering technicians accompanying the army (who went to work in the arsenal in Rabaul), totaling more than 1,500 people.

In addition, more than 2,000 tons of supplies were loaded on the ship, mainly communication equipment, medical equipment and medicines, including more than a dozen anti-tank guns purchased from Germany at high prices.

Naturally, General Hisao Tani, the commander of the 17th Army, and Lieutenant General Kanda Masane, the commander of the 6th Division, also rode on this luxury troop ship.

Admiral Hisao Tani was taking a leisurely walk on the stern veranda at this time, doing a few stretching exercises from time to time. This trip by boat to the south is a long one. The straight-line distance is more than 2,500 nautical miles. If we take the anti-submarine route, we will add 60%, which is more than 4,000 nautical miles. At a speed of 12 knots, it will take almost 2 weeks. If you don’t do some exercise, you may not be able to walk by the time you get to Rabaul.

The commander of the 6th Division, Kanda Masane, followed Hisao Tani, also expanding his chest and arms. He is an expert on the Soviet Union in the Japanese army. He has spent his whole life studying how to fight the Soviet Union (Russia) and establish the hegemony of the Japanese Empire on the mainland in one fell swoop.

But I didn't expect to command the 6th Division to conquer Australia... To be honest, the Japanese Army really didn't know anything about Australia as a continent. They looked through the General Staff Headquarters and the Naval Command Department and even found a military map of Australia. None can be found. In the end, I could only get some travel maps and make do with them.

Another thing that makes the Japanese Army Deer of Kanda's level feel a little uneasy is that there are not enough transport ships available.

Now the Japanese Empire has become very large, expanding to the Burma-India border and Malacca in the west, taking over the Aleutian Islands and Hawaii in the east, expanding to the Solomon Islands in the south, and actually controlling Manchuria in the north.

Such a vast and scattered maritime empire must be maintained with a large number of transport ships. Resources from all corners of the empire needed to be transported to the Japanese mainland by ship, and the troops that maintained the empire's rule in various places also had to be transported by ship. In addition, Japan's local economy and industry also require merchant ships to transport supplies.

However, the Japanese Empire only had about 6 million tons of merchant ships before the war. In the 11 months after the war began, some merchant ships were completed one after another. Of course, many merchant ships were sunk by British and American submarines and destroyers. . If the current inventory is too large, it is about 6.2 million tons.

To be honest, it is already difficult to maintain the current territory with these ships. If we want to go south to Australia, it is really a bit unpopular.

But the problem is that now the Americans are unwilling to sign an armistice treaty with Japan. They have not finished transporting troops to Australia, making it clear that they will counterattack from there! If we don't take advantage of the fact that the U.S. military strength in Australia is not sufficient and the U.S. shipbuilding plan is not completed, we can conquer Australia in one go. Then when the Americans counterattack, the military destiny of the Japanese Empire will not last long.

When Kanda Masane was about to discuss with his boss Hisao Tani about where to land in Australia, the air raid siren suddenly sounded.

"Air strike! Air strike!"

Kanda heard a trembling voice shouting, that person was obviously a frightened sailor, if it was the Army, it would not be scared.

"Air raid? Baga, isn't this within the absolute national defense circle?" Hisao Tani, who was walking in front of Kanda Masane, cursed when he heard the siren, "Who is sending the siren indiscriminately? Is this to disturb the morale of the military? "

Before he finished speaking, someone behind him shouted: "Plane! It seems to be an enemy plane!"

Hisao Tani turned around a little angrily to see who the bad guy was who disturbed the morale of the army, but found that the man was actually Lieutenant General Kanda Masane, the commander of the 6th Division.

A dignified lieutenant general actually shouted so loudly, which undermined the majesty of the imperial army... Hisao Tani was just about to say something unusual, when the sound of machine gun fire came to his mind.

This time, the Admiral also knew that something was wrong. He quickly raised his neck and looked around, and saw two groups of blue-painted single-engine planes suddenly appearing in the sky. They were flying from the sky behind the Daiyo Maru. The two leading planes Suddenly the nose of the plane dropped and it rushed down towards the Dayang Maru, as if it was about to hit the Dayang Maru.

"Baga! American plane!" Hisao Tani shouted now, "We were deceived by the navy, it's not safe here at all!"

"Kill all the Japanese and protect America!"

George Bush yelled, pressed the control stick hard, and followed Captain James Watt's plane in front to plunge towards a ship of more than 10,000 tons on the sea 3,000 meters below.

There were three crew members on his plane, one of whom was responsible for dropping the bomb. So Bush only needs to aim the nose of the plane at the Japanese ship below, and then rush at a 60-degree angle. When the bomb indicator light in the cabin lights up, the bombardier sitting behind him will drop the bomb.

Then Bush could pull the plane up while praying in his heart to the Almighty God.

boom! boom!

Just as the TBF torpedo bomber driven by Bush was rushing high into the sky, two loud noises were heard from the sea below.

"Hit! God! The Japanese ship exploded," the shouts of rear gunner Mike came immediately. "It's so beautiful. This is the most beautiful scene I have ever seen in my life! I took it down, Then put it in the frame..."

"This is the first Japanese ship I blew up!" Bush thought to himself. "I will definitely ask Mike for a photo to keep as a souvenir for my son."