"Imamura, what do you think of this Yamato?"

During the day on December 22, Yamamoto Iroku held a banquet on the Yamato battleship parked next to Kauai to entertain the commander of the 16th Army of the Japanese Army. Lieutenant General Imamura, who looked like an old farmer.

Although the Japanese army and navy have always been disgusted with each other, Yamamoto and Imamura are famous good friends among the army and navy. They have good tempers, are easy to get along with, and have a common hobby of gambling. So they established a friendship beyond the ocean and the earth.

After welcoming Imamura from a dilapidated merchant ship requisitioned by the Army to the Yamato, Yamamoto Iroku was like a nouveau riche who had just bought a beautiful house, taking Imamura on a "ship tour" with him with enthusiasm and a little show.

"It's so luxurious. No wonder someone calls it Yamato Hotel. I think even the most beautiful hotel in Tokyo is not as good as the Yamato." Imamura kun laughed and said in a tone with some envy, "If I had such a comfortable headquarters, I wouldn't be the Minister of the Army."

"Isn't it just a comfortable headquarters?" Yamamoto Iroru pulled Imamura into the most luxurious cabin commander's hall in the entire Yamato, and said to Imamura with a smile, "It's not easy to find a headquarters as luxurious as the Yamato as the Yamato, as long as you take down Hawaii, it's not easy to find a headquarters as luxurious as the Yamato? Americans are very good at enjoying it."

At this time, a long table for Western food was set up in the Commander's Hall. According to convention, the officers' lunch and Western food will be served in the order of soup, fish, meat, vegetables and desserts. If you eat in the Commander's Hall, there will be service personnel. At the same time, during the meal, there will be music from the military band to be watched. The military band will not be played in the Commander's Hall, but on the nearby back deck. Generally speaking, when the commander starts drinking black tea after the meal, the music will be finished.

Now that lunch time is not yet here, Yamamoto Iroku, Imamura, Ugaki, and Lieutenant General Maruyama Masato, the commander of the 2nd Division, took his seat separately and began to discuss the situation.

The battle situation is of course very ideal. The main turrets on Oahu have been destroyed, and only one West Virginia still has several 16-inch cannons to fire. However, they are not an opponent of Yamato, and they can be destroyed in one night at most. In addition, the large-caliber mortar in the fortress (located in Diamond Hill) was not destroyed because it was in the dead corner of the naval gun.

"In other words, the 2nd Division of the Japanese officers can land on Oahu Island?" Lieutenant General Maruyama was very seasick all the way, with a pale face, but he was still eager to fight. The Army is not as delicate as the Navy. He can eat any hardship. It's a waste of seasickness!

"Dan?" Yamamoto Iroru looked at Masao Maruyama and frowned and said, "It's okay day and night, but the 2nd Division has been wandering for so many days. Can I really start landing operations immediately?"

"No problem!" Maruyama Masao patted his chest and said, "My Sendai Division is an elite of the Imperial Army and is not afraid of bumps."

Sendai people are not afraid of seasickness? Yamamoto Iroku didn't believe it, but he didn't argue with Masao Maruyama. Anyway, seasickness is also the army's own business. He continued to talk about his plans: "This time the Navy also mobilized a few marines and 30 internal fire boats, so he wanted to launch a surprise attack to capture the port of Honolulu in one fell swoop."

There are two large ports on Oahu, one is Pearl Harbor, the home port of the US Pacific Fleet. This is a port located in the bay. The passage is narrow and surrounded by land, which is very easy to defend. The other is the port of Honolulu, which is right next to Honolulu City, with no bays, and there are also Waikiki Beach suitable for landing.

The internal fire boats and the sneak attacking Marines can rush directly to the beach, then go straight to the US positions on Diamond Hill, and the other way is to occupy the port of Honolulu. As long as the port can be captured, the large troops of the 16th Army will be easily landed.

Maruyama Masao frowned and was about to raise his head, but Imamura said with a smile: "Okay, the army can refer to the Navy's plan, but the landing war is the main plan of the army, after all, the plan must be re-formed by the 16th Army Command. Commander Yamamoto, what do you think?"

"That's right." Yamamoto Iroku said: "In addition, I have received information that the United States has assembled a large number of ships and troops in ports such as San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles on the West Coast, which are obviously used to reinforce Hawaii."

"Oh? No problem, right?" Imamura asked with some concern.

Although most Japanese believe that the empire's navy is invincible, Imamura, as a lieutenant general, has always known that the navy is not reliable. Before Japan boarded the ship to fight, he issued an order: if he drowned, the 2nd Division commander Masao Maruyama commander, and if Maruyama drowned, he would directly command the 2nd Division. Fortunately, he did not encounter American ships and submarines along the way, and the transport fleet that did not protect many naval ships actually arrived in Hawaii safely.

"In fact, the American reinforcements to Hawaii are something the Navy wants." Yamamoto Iroku said with a smile, "So the 1st Navy Fleet and the 1st Mobile Fleet will attack before the end of the month to fight the US Navy. At that time, the naval guns and aircraft will not be able to support Oahu fighting."

"No problem. As long as our army can get ashore, we can take down Oahu Island without the help of the navy." Imamura answered confidently.

Maruyama, who was standing beside him, muttered in his heart: When did the Japanese Army think that they had to rely on the navy to win a battle? If it weren't for the lack of budget, the army ships would build more ships, and maybe even naval battles would be able to fight by themselves!

It was not Maruyama's personal idea, but the intention of the entire Japanese Army. At this time, the Japanese Army had an army-level ship headquarters. In addition to the army aircraft carriers and Yang land ships, there were also combat ships (converted from merchant ships), attack boats (boats, gunboats, etc.), and even developing army submarines. In addition, the Japanese Army also had its own shipyard and ship practice department (about equivalent to the Naval Non-Commission School), and was really the best army in the world to fight naval warfare.

...

On the same day when Yamamoto was entertaining his gambling friend Imamura, General Nimitz's old classmate Colonel Kimmel also returned to San Diego in a mess.

Because he was lucky enough to die in the night battle in Hawaii Island, Kimmel took the blame for the fall of Hawaii and the defeat of the Pacific Fleet alone. Before others even arrived, the orders for dismissal, demotion and forced retirement had already been issued to the destroyer Sems!

As for the commander of the Hawaiian Army, Short, no one can take the blame with him now, because General Marshall, the chief of staff, cannot find another lieutenant general in the army, willing to go to Oahu to replace Short. So Short had to be promoted to general and prepare to die for the country with a smile on Oahu.

"Chester, congratulations, you are finally qualified to be the commander of the fleet." Colonel Kimmel, who was holding gauze on his head and plaster on his arm, arrived with Major General Fletcher (Fletcher is the commander of the aircraft carrier, and now he is worth it, so he is still the major general). Seeing Nimitz taking the rank of general and sitting in his office, Kimmel was really regretful. Why couldn't he refuse President Roosevelt ruthlessly? Otherwise, he would be the commander-in-chief now, Nimitz would take the blame.

"Yes, I finally got enough experience." Nimitz smiled apologetically at his old classmate. He should have taken the blame!

"But my experience is still insufficient," Nimitz asked Kimmel and Fletcher to sit down, and then poured a glass of whiskey for each of them. "So I still need your help. Hesbend, I plan to ask you to be a consultant to the Pacific Fleet."

"Consultant?" Kimmel took the wine glass and took a sip. "I thought I should have found a place where no one was going to reflect on myself."

"Reflection?" Nimitz shook his head, "Taking responsibility does not mean that there is really a fault. We all know that Pearl Harbor is not suitable for being a home port."

"But losing there means serious consequences." Kimmel sighed, "This is my fault... I shouldn't have let Halsey bomb Saipan. If the Japanese don't know Halsey's location, they dare not continue to attack. By the way, Chester, when I entered the port, I saw many warship transport ships, and many army boarding. Is it necessary to reinforce Hawaii? This is not easy to succeed!"

"Because of that super battleship?" Nimitz asked.

"That's right!" Kimmel nodded, "at least 80,000 tons of water displacement, 9 18-inch cannons, and their armor is extremely strong. The 14-inch cannon cannot hurt it at all. I estimate that even the North Carolina-class 16-inch cannon will be difficult to penetrate its side armored defense belt. In addition, the ship is very fast, with a speed of at least 27 knots, and can even reach 28 knots! As long as it is in Hawaii, no surface ship can get close to Oahu."

Yamato was not as powerful as Kimmel said, but because Yamato killed three battleships with strong armor protection at one time, many people in the US Navy have now replaced it with "Yatura phobia". Now the "Yatura Invincible" thinking is a bit deeply rooted in people's hearts, and Nimitz was also affected. After listening to Kimmel's introduction, he nodded and said, "It's so terrible... But I still have to lead the fleet to challenge this steel monster."

"What? Chester, do you really want to do this?" Kimmel was startled by Nimitz's words.

Nimitz smiled bitterly and said, "The two North Carolina-class ships will arrive in a few days. I will use them to divert the Japanese super battleships so that destroyers and cruisers can get close to Oahu." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!