Chapter 24 Planning 5
I found two pig teammates in World War II Germany in the original time and space.
When Germany was going smoothly, it waved the flag and cheered from behind, and often fell behind. In the later stage, seeing Germany's defeat gradually becoming apparent, Italy immediately changed its flag and joined the anti-Japanese camp. I will not go into details.
Japan, which was stronger than Italy and performed better, was able to dominate Asia because there was no strong country in Asia at that time.
After the outbreak of World War II, Japan was invincible and rampant in Asia, and its popularity was not much worse than that of Germany.
However, as an ally, direct support to Germany is minimal, and the greatest support is mainly reflected in strategy.
Japan contained the Soviet Union's troops in the Far East, forming a strategic deterrent to Britain and France, and even the United States did not dare to act rashly. But that's all. It was not until the outbreak of the Pacific War that Japan played a real (limited) role in helping Germany militarily, that is, Japan attacked the colonies of Western countries such as Britain and the Netherlands.
Although Japan's behavior caused the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands and other countries to lose some colonies and colonial troops, its behavior was undoubtedly very stupid. In other words, the Japanese were simply trying to kill themselves.
Britain, France and the United States also formed a pincer attack on Japan in Asia. As Japan's main trading country, the United States has frozen all trade in military industrial resources with Japan.
Japan is a "small country" lacking resources. When the US freeze came, oil, the blood of the war, immediately ran out of oil. Japan's domestic reserves were only enough for half a year. If it is not resolved in time, the vast majority of Japan's warships, tanks, and cars will be "paralyzed" and fall into a desperate situation of defeat without a fight.
How to get out of a desperate situation? At that time, there were only two options before Japan: Either listen to the United States, be its little brother, and strive for an unfreeze on trade by the United States. Otherwise, we should break up with the United States. Since the United States will not sell it, Japan will "steal" it on its own.
Of course, it is well known that Japan chose the second path in the end. As for why it chose this path, in addition to subjective reasons, it is largely due to the "gambler mentality" of the Japanese.
You must know that Japan relied on two wars to become a world power (the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, which made Japan the leader in Asia; the Russo-Japanese War, which made Japan a world power. Both of these wars were a gamble on Japan's national destiny). This time they couldn't help but have some thoughts again. If it launches a powerful attack on the United States and makes a big move, it may really become the hegemon in the Pacific all of a sudden.
Now that the fight is ready, the next step is to choose a target.
At that time, they had three targets to choose from: the mainland of the United States; Wake Island or Guam; and Hawaii.
But after all, the mainland of the United States is far away and has a large area. It is impossible for Japan to occupy it quickly. Although Wake Island and Guam are also important bases of the United States in the Pacific and are both close to Japan, these two places are too The two islands are small. On average, the two islands are only a few hundred square kilometers, and there are only a few hundred soldiers stationed there. If the two islands are captured, not only will there not be much benefit, but it may also arouse the anger of the Americans. The war will still break out. Instead of doing this It would be better to choose Pearl Harbor, the home of the largest fleet of the United States in the Pacific, for attack.
Japan believes that since Japan has no possibility of occupying the United States, attacking Pearl Harbor and starting a war with the United States is the best option. Because a raid on Pearl Harbor would prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from recovering and participating in the war in a short period of time. It would not only seize sea and air supremacy in the early stages of the war, ensure the security of Japan's southward flank, but also dampen the morale of the U.S. Navy and the American people. Eliminate the possibility of a surprise attack by the United States on Japanese soil.
Isoroku Yamamoto, the planner of the pre-war surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, believed that a successful attack should bring Japan a strategic advantage for about a year. By the time the United States recovered, Japan's wars in East and Southeast Asia would have ended. , it will be much easier to negotiate with the Americans.
Just like that, Japan slapped the tiger hard and pulled out a few beards, causing the tiger to grit its teeth in pain, revealing its ferocious fangs and claws.
Since Germany and Japan are allies, everyone is already tied together. Now Germany can only bite the bullet and declare war on the United States. He is simply a textbook example of a pig teammate!
If Japan can also slap the face of the United States in this time and space, Yannick would not mind bringing a piece of business to Japan. But he always felt that those idiots would definitely challenge Daming in the future. After all, in order to contain Ming Dynasty, the United States, Britain and Japan had already reached an alliance. The material aid provided by the United States and Britain to Japan made the Japanese national state at this time stronger than Japan in the original time and space when it received compensation from the Qing Dynasty.
However, if Japan really overestimates its capabilities and dares to take action, its failure will be certain. Yannick is already looking forward to the situation where the Eurasian and African joint forces will besiege the American continent.
And he also knew what these weapons independently developed by the Japanese were like. It would be better to learn from them than from Italy next door.
Except for the Zero fighter, 50 grenade launchers, oxygen-powered torpedoes and incendiary bombs carried by large hydrogen balloons, the rest can only be called dregs.
Even if it is the Zero, (the Axis is more interesting, piston fighters are basically just modified and used in the war, of course, those jet rockets of Naz are not counted, but the Allies have continuously supplemented excellent models), in fact, most of the early advantages of this aircraft are attributed to excellent pilots. Among all countries in World War II, Japanese soldiers have the highest status in the country, just like the current financial and civil service, naturally there is no shortage of talents, of course, we must also consider the legacy of the samurai. The design of the Zero is very extreme. Once the structure of the body is understood by the enemy, it will be very miserable. For example, it is difficult for the Zero to turn right when flying at high speed. The United States relies on this point to offset the maneuverability advantage of the devil; there are too many models of the polar bear. If it were not for the flash attack by the mustache, it is estimated that the research and development and manufacturing of the polar bear would be much stronger. There are many excellent classic famous machines, the pilots are formally professional, and the training system is also very strong. Unlike the devil, the experienced old FF died, and the young FF could only commit suicide by kamikaze. As for bombers and attack aircraft, the devil has few models that can be shown off.
The grenade launcher is a unique infantry weapon of the Japanese Army, and is even regarded by the US military as "the only Japanese infantry weapon worthy of evaluation". From the design characteristics and combat performance, the Japanese grenade launcher is more like a light mortar that omits the bracket and aiming device, uses visual aiming and manual firing. The shooting angle and direction of the grenade launcher are completely adjusted by manpower, so this weapon has very high requirements for the shooter. Only through long-term training can it be used proficiently. Therefore, the grenade launcher operators are usually the most experienced veterans. Once they are injured or killed, it is difficult for other soldiers to replace them.
As for oxygen-powered torpedoes and large hydrogen balloons, we will talk about them in detail later.
For various reasons, Yannick decided that Daming was the final stop of this trip. He returned to Moscow by the same route, and took Guderian and others who stayed there on the train back home.