cicada

Chapter 1187 Tokyo and Hawaii

Tokyo, Naval Command.

Doihara, Commander-in-Chief of the Military Command, Prince Fushimi Miyahiro, and Minister of the Third Department, Minoru Maeda, sat around the table. The three of them looked at the message sent by the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu and showed a satisfied smile.

"Xingxi, Hase-kun is indeed the flower of intelligence of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his subordinates are very elite." Prince Fushimi Miyahiro Kyo praised his cheap relative.

Maeda Minoru also nodded in agreement. The imperial intelligence agency suffered many defeats in the Republic of China, but the Hase agency was able to successfully lurk in the mountain city. It really cannot be explained by the word luck.

This time, the other party was responsible for the mission in Hawaii. It took less than a month to obtain the hydrological and meteorological data of Pearl Harbor. Their capabilities and skills were indeed impressive, and they must have been under a lot of unknown pressure behind them.

Seeing that the two of them were satisfied, Doihara and Ariei Yan were the recommenders of Ryosuke Hase.

He wiped his mustache reservedly, picked up the message and said softly: "With the information sent back by Hase-kun's men, the Navy can conduct simulated attack training on the mainland first."

Hearing this, Fushimi Miyahiro Prince and Maeda Minoru nodded slightly. They had the same idea at the moment.

According to the instructions of the base camp and Tianlu, attacking Pearl Harbor was the first step of the southward plan, occupying Southeast Asia was the second step, and the west coast of the United States was nothing more than a smoke screen used to confuse enemy spies.

In recent years, the Locust Army's external military plans have been continuously leaked, and its intelligence activities have been frustrated many times. There must be something wrong within the empire.

In order to lure out this hateful mole and prevent the United States or other countries from receiving the news in advance, even Ryosuke Hase, who was in charge of the specific task, did not know where the empire's real goal was.

Now that Pearl Harbor intelligence is in hand, preliminary preparations are imminent. A perfect raid requires precise and meticulous planning.

"Soldiers, the important affairs of the country, the place of life and death, the way of survival, must be observed."

Prince Fushimi Miyahiro Gong quoted a passage from "The Art of War: Strategy Chapter" in Republican dialect. After speaking, he looked at Maeda Minoru and motioned to the other party to introduce the navy's arrangements for the attack plan.

"Hay."

Maeda bowed, walked to the wall and opened a green curtain, revealing a large map of the Pacific underneath. Then he picked up the baton and poked several locations on the map and spoke.

"This attack on Pearl Harbor was named Plan Z by Commander Yamamoto of the Combined Fleet. The first thing we have to solve is the choice of route. As we all know, there are three routes from the empire to Pearl Harbor.

One is the northern route that goes eastward through the waters south of the Aleutian Islands and then goes south.

One is the central route that passes near Midway Island often used by merchant ships from various countries.

The other was the southern route approaching Pearl Harbor from the southwest via the Marshall Islands.

The advantage of the northern route is that the possibility of encountering merchant ships is very small. The disadvantage is that the weather is bad, the waves are heavy and foggy, and it is difficult to sail in large formations.

The advantages of the other two routes are that the weather environment is better and the wind and waves are not very strong. The disadvantage is that they are easily discovered by the US military shore-based aviation. "

Minoru Maeda talked about the advantages and disadvantages of the three routes, fully demonstrating the professionalism of the Japanese Navy, and then put down the baton and said confidently.

“After working on the map and calculating the winning rate, the key to the success or failure of the operation lies in whether it can achieve surprise. In the end, the Military Command decided to conduct the raid through the northern route.

To this end, Commander Yamamoto formulated two combat plans, "sneak attack" and "strong attack".

One is to carry out a 'sneak attack' when the Americans are completely unprepared.

First, torpedoes were used to attack surface ships, then dive bombings were conducted on ground airports and dock facilities, and then high-altitude horizontal bombings were carried out.

The second is to carry out a 'strong attack' when the Americans are prepared.

That is, after first seizing air supremacy with fighter jets, dive bombers are used to destroy airport facilities and ground air defense positions, and then torpedo attack aircraft and bombers are used to destroy important targets such as ships and airports. "

Doihara listened carefully to the other party's report, compared the performance of the navy and army officers in his mind, and couldn't help but sigh secretly.

The navy, which learned from the British, is much better than the army in terms of equipment level, operational thinking, and personnel quality.

If the Army Staff Headquarters were to plan the action, I am afraid that in the end we would only reach one conclusion, that is, the Japanese locust army is invincible and the US Navy is vulnerable.

As for the plan, what plan? Just fight in and then fight out.

On the other side, Maeda Minoru pulled the rope, and the Pacific map on the wall was slowly put away, and a map of Japan appeared in front of the three people.

“Based on the intelligence sent by Hase-kun’s men and the empire’s previous understanding of Pearl Harbor, I think that the carrier-based aircraft participating in the operation can conduct ship attack and torpedo attack training in Kagoshima.

The reason is that the water depth of Kagoshima is not much different from that of Pearl Harbor, both are about 15 meters, and the terrain is similar to that of Pearl Harbor. After flying over the mountains, there is a military port below.

Diving from a high mountain to launching a violent attack more than ten meters above the sea and then quickly rising into the air, while also dodging ground artillery fire, is very demanding for pilots and must be familiar with it in advance. "

Pointing to an area in southern Kyushu, Maeda Minoru expressed his opinion, and then stood aside with his hands tied, waiting for Prince Fushimi Gonghiro's order.

He was able to find a suitable training ground with just one piece of information. It was obvious that Maeda Minoru had memorized the data of all the ports in the country. His encyclopedic knowledge and strong memory were truly jaw-dropping.

Prince Fushimi Gong Hirokyo was secretly proud that his subordinates had shown their faces in front of the army, and the most glorious one was him, the chief of the Navy Command Department.

Doi Principle smiled forcefully, thought for a while in his mind at high speed, and asked a few questions, trying to save some face for the army.

"Your Excellency, Maeda-kun, if I remember correctly, the Empire's "100" torpedoes will dive meters on their own after falling into the water, and the water depth in Pearl Harbor is only more than ten meters. How to solve this problem? Moreover, the voyage of the Northern Route is as high as Nearly nautical miles, coupled with extremely strong winds and waves, it is very difficult to supply fuel to the fleet. Do the navies have any countermeasures? "

Prince Fushimi Miyahiro and Minoru Maeda looked at each other and smiled. The latter took out a document and handed it to Doihara, with hundreds of problems that needed to be solved densely written on it.

(1) The total number of ships anchored in Pearl Harbor.

(2) The ship’s hull number and name.

(3) Berthing locations of battleships and aircraft carriers.

(4) The berthing and mooring conditions of the battleship.

(5) Dynamics of battleships and aircraft carriers entering and leaving the port.

(6) The time it takes for a battleship to move from its anchorage to the outside of the port.

(7) The day when the largest number of ships are docked in Pearl Harbor each week.

(8) Are mine protection nets installed when the battleship is berthed?

(9) The number of days and place where the battleship will be docked.

(10) Are battleships tied up side by side? Is this a special situation or is it often the case?

(11) Are there any large aircraft patrolling at dawn and dusk? If so, how many aircraft will be dispatched?

(12) Aviation bases and permanent troops in the Hawaiian Islands.

(13) When an aircraft carrier enters or leaves the port, does the carrier-based aircraft take off outside the port?

(14) Number of aircraft at Ford Island Airport in Pearl Harbor Bay.

(15) Are there any blocking balloons in the Pearl Harbor airspace?

…………

Doihara understood that since the Navy had noticed even these small things, the torpedo depth and fuel problems had naturally been planned in advance, and he immediately lowered his head and saluted Prince Fushimi Miyahiro.

"I was rude, Your Excellency."

When Prince Fushimi Miyahiro bowed his head, he laughed loudly and supported him: "Doihara-kun, you don't have to be like this. The Hase you recommended is very good. I will ask for credit from His Majesty Tenchu."

The atmosphere at the scene immediately became harmonious.

Doi Yuan reciprocated the favor and said that he would contact the Honolulu Consulate immediately to urge Hase's agency to clarify the information in the document as soon as possible.

As the two sides talked to each other, Plan Z gradually moved from paper to the implementation stage, and the good days of the Americans were coming to an end.

That afternoon, an extremely long telegram was sent from Tokyo to Oahu. The U.S. ONI technical department responsible for monitoring the Japanese consulate intercepted the telegram and quickly reported the matter layer by layer.

Nathan Hall, who led the team to monitor Zuo Shige and Ozawakawa not long ago, fell into deep thought after receiving the report.

As the person in charge of ONI in Oahu, he instinctively felt that a crisis was approaching, and the source of the crisis was the Japanese everywhere.

During this period, the frequency of telegrams from the Japanese Consulate in Honolulu increased significantly, which was extremely abnormal given the stable situation in the Pacific.

However, Japan and the United States are not currently at war. Without conclusive evidence, ONI's surveillance activities on Japanese diplomats must remain low-key to avoid causing diplomatic conflicts between the two countries.

After much hesitation, Nathan Hal reported to Washington on the one hand, and on the other hand, he ordered to strengthen surveillance of the Japanese consulate and track all consulate staff who went out.

The plan is good, but the problem is that in front of the experienced Japanese agents, ONI agents who lack actual combat experience are like children in kindergarten, and the so-called tracking is in name only.

The next morning, several Japanese consulate personnel suddenly walked out of the gate separately. These people walked around the streets of Honolulu for a few times and left the American intelligence personnel behind them without a trace. They did not reappear until three hours later.

Afterwards, just when Nathan Hal was furious at his men, Zuo Zhong had already taken the information from the dead mailbox and returned to the Sugar Trading Company, without the ONI agents along the way noticing at all.

Ozawakawa, who had been waiting for a long time, saw Zuo Zhong and asked hurriedly: "Nan Jiajun, what is Tokyo's order? How soon can we retreat?"

He didn't want to stay here for another minute. If he could choose, he would rather go to the United Fleet to fight the Americans with real swords and guns.

Zuo Zhong glanced at him, took out the stone containing the information, split it in half with a tool, took out a piece of paper, read it quickly and threw it to Ozawa.

Looking at the investigation requirements on the note, Ozawakawa really wanted to grab the collars of those big shots in Tokyo and slap them hard.

They are spies, not staff officers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Americans will not open the door to Pearl Harbor and let them record this sensitive information.

For example, temporary mooring and mooring, one is a short-term mooring that can be left at any time, and the other is a long-term mooring. The difference is whether there is a cable pile connected to the dock.

The two are indistinguishable from a distance and must be seen closely to see clearly.

He and Nanjia couldn't row a small boat into Pearl Harbor. One by one, they must be sure. The U.S. Navy sentries were not blind or deaf.

Facing Ozawa's desperate eyes, Zuo Zhong was very calm. If there were many problems, he would solve them one by one. Pearl Harbor is not a dragon's den, and as long as you work hard, you will always find a solution.