January 2, 1942, at 3 a.m.

In the hangar of the USS Lexington aircraft carrier, several air crewmen slowly pushed a f4f "wildcat" carrier-based fighter with a folded wing onto the elevator, and slowly lifted the fighter onto the flight deck with the help of a hydraulic oil pump. The cool sea breeze blew towards him, which immediately made people feel excited.

The hiding and hiding for many consecutive days has finally passed. Lieutenant General Halsey just issued an order, and today will be a good day to kill the Japanese!

"Edward, how about the lights? Can it fly?"

Captain Edward O'Hell, the squadron leader of the carrier-based fighter squadron, sat in the cockpit of his F4F and rose to the deck together. At this time, the voice of Major Richard Gore, the flight control officer, came from the radio station on the plane.

It is 3 a.m. It is still dark in the waters near the equator at 3 a.m., and there are no moons or stars in the sky, and it is obviously covered with thick clouds, which is very beneficial to the US No. 1 Special Mixed Fleet. After sending carrier-based aircraft, the fleet can sail southeast under the cover of clouds to avoid the pursuit of Japanese aircraft carriers and those terrible suicide aircraft.

"It's okay, you can see clearly the people and things on the runway." Captain O'Hair replied.

Because there may be Japanese submarines nearby, the searchlights on Lexington should not be turned on too bright to avoid exposing the target.

However, although the lights are slightly dimmed, the planes flying into the sky have no way to form a team. They can only circle the aircraft carrier a few times, wait until all the planes set off take off and then flew north and then form a formation after dawn.

"Okay," Major Gore ordered, "Edward, remember that when entering 300 kilometers around Oahu, you must lower your altitude and fly across the sea."

Reducing altitude and sea-skipping flights are to avoid radars. Pilots on US aircraft carriers finally know this trick. However, night takeoff and sea-skipping flights are difficult tasks, and not every pilot can play with them. So Halsey had to concentrate five pilots on the aircraft carriers (although the Hornets were in war, the pilots on them were still alive) on the Lexington and Saratoga, and also gathered 72 F4F fighters and 74 SBD dive bombers, a total of 146 aircraft.

However, these 146 aircraft were not used to bomb the Japanese fleet, because the Americans now only know that the Japanese fleet is in the waters near Oahu and Kauai, but they cannot determine their specific location. Moreover, Halsey's aircraft carrier is now 1,000 kilometers away from Oahu, and it is impossible to send aircraft to reconnaissance. Therefore, the 146 aircraft that attacked today were all equipped with high-explosive bombs (SBD hangs 1 500-pound bomb and 2 100-pound bombs, and F4F hangs 2 100-pound bombs) to bomb the Japanese ground forces on Oahu.

After the bombing was completed, these SBDs and F4Fs could not return and would land at the temporary military airport in the Skefield Barracks on Oahu. Admiral Schott had sent people to rescue a lot of ammunition, accessories and aviation fuel from several major airports and oil depots on Oahu, which was enough for these aircraft to fight for 4-5 days on Oahu. After that, all aircraft would be blown up, and pilots and ground crews would retreat by submarine from the coast of the northeast of the Kulao Mountains.

The planes were lifted to the deck one after another, arranged neatly after the takeoff line. At the same time, the aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga began to sail at full speed against the wind, and the huge deck wind almost blows down the people standing on the deck. At this moment, the flight indicator light suddenly lit up, and the two F4F fighters started suddenly, ran along the flight deck, and then rose to the dark sky.

...

On the Oahu Plain, the war between the US and Japan armies was going on violently. For several days, the 2nd Division of the Japanese Army and the 38th Division continued to land from the Haleiwa Beach and were then put into offensive operations. The heavy firearms of the Japanese Army were gradually transported to Oahu Island. Although the Navy still refused to send their "tired" carrier-based aircraft to assist the war, the support of the naval guns was still quite powerful.

With the support of powerful firepower, the Japanese Army's attack became more and more fierce, and the Americans began to be a little unable to resist. The commander of the 16th Japanese Army, Imamura, also got ashore on December 28 and personally sat in Haleiwa Town, supervising the desperate attacks of various troops.

The fierce battle on the northern foot of the Wai'ani Mountains was also decided on the last day of 1941. After paying the price of nearly 1,000 people being killed and more than 800 seriously injured, the 4th Regiment of Sendai was almost destroyed, the Sun Flag was finally inserted into the top of the mountain on the northern foot of the Wai'ani Mountains.

After capturing the northern foot of the Wyane Ridge, the Japanese army's progress suddenly accelerated, and in just two days it advanced nearly 10 kilometers and reached north of Wahiava Town and Skefield Barracks. This is a 10-kilometer-wide "plain", and from this, it is Pearl Harbor 15 kilometers southward.

In addition, the town of Wahiava and Skefield Barracks are almost in the center of Oahu. The nearest coastline is 15 kilometers northwest (the beach of Haleiva). Considering that the battleships cannot dock against the beach, the main gun of the battleship is more than 20 kilometers away from the US positions of Wahiava and Skefield Barracks. Although this distance is within the effective range of the battleship firepower, the accuracy of the artillery has decreased.

Moreover, when the US Skefield Barracks were selected for the site, they considered the possibility of being fired by naval guns, so they chose a valley located in the middle of the Wyane Ridge as part of the camp. As long as the troops were placed in this valley, the naval guns of Japanese warships could not be fired.

Therefore, after the northern foot of Waiana Ridge, the Skefield Barracks and the nearby town of Wahiava became battlefields for bloody battles between the two sides.

The US military also took an endless stance on the front lines of Wahiava Town and Skefield Barracks. The main forces of the Army's 24th Infantry Division and the 25th Infantry Division all drove up, relying on a river north of Wahiava Town and Skefield Barracks to unfold and resist tenaciously.

In order to urge various corps to attack fiercely, Masao Maruyama, the commander of the 2nd Division of the Japanese Army, has been setting up his headquarters very close to the front line in the past few days. He also frequently went to the front line despite the danger, squatting in the muddy trenches to observe the US military's positions with his own eyes. At this time, German military adviser Paulus always took his adjutant and "videoist" Rudolph Ribbintrov to the front line with Maruyama.

He needed to observe with his own eyes how the US Army fought. Although the relationship between the United States and Germany seemed to be improving, Rudolf Hess became a guest of the White House since mid-December 1941 and studied the genealogy of the Roosevelt family with President Roosevelt. Finally, Roosevelt and Hess also concluded together that the ancestors of the Roosevelt family, Clayce Marton, Zeng, von Luxevelt, must have been a Germanic man, and it is likely that he was a German nobleman at all! So Roosevelt believed that his full name should be Franklin Delano von Luxevelt...

However, Paulus doesn't know when President Roosevelt might be the head of American Luzewirt. The telegram given to him by the General Staff of the German Welfare Forces did not have any moral and kindness. So Paulus still regarded the Americans as Germany's enemy. At 6 a.m. on January 2, he and Masao Maruyama, who was the shabby and miserable Japanese 2nd Division, walked to inspect the front line on a wooden stick, stepped on a muddy road. Because he wanted to save space to transport troops, weapons and supplies, the dignified division commander did not even have to ride a horse, so he could only go to the front line to inspect.

Of course, the 2nd Division and the 38th Division also upgraded from the mechanization of burning horse manure to mechanization of two human legs. Ammunition supply was transported to the front line by manpower, and the battle was really difficult. Moreover, the casualties of the troops were not small. On the way to the front, Paulus kept seeing the bloody and seriously injured people carried off by stretchers. This reminded him of the positional war in World War I, where the injured people were also carried off the battlefield, then died or were disabled for life.

Masao Maruyama was very excited, and he didn't care about the heavy casualties of his subordinates. He was discussing the battle with Paulus in English all the way (Maruyama is the British leader in the Japanese Army).

"The Americans are now struggling, but this is useless. They cannot withstand the attacks of the 2nd and 38th Divisions. At most, we can break through their defense in three days. After capturing the town of Wahiava and Skefield Barracks, our next target is Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. At most, one week will be Oahu, the Great Japanese Empire..."

When the pride was boasting, a team of Japanese soldiers walking in front of Maruyama and others suddenly became in chaos and dispersed to both sides of the road, and some people shouted loudly.

"Air strike! Air strike! Enemy plane! Enemy plane..."

Air strike? Enemy planes? How is this possible? Maruyama Masao was stunned for a moment. Just as he was thinking that someone must have made a mistake, the explosion had already come from the front, and then he was dragged into the woods by someone on the side of the road.

When he arrived in the woods, he found that the German military adviser Paulus was dragging him. Paulus raised his hand to point to the sky outside the woods. Maruyama Masao looked in the direction of his fingers and saw that there were densely covered planes painted blue in the sky! I don’t know how many of them were all rushing towards Haleiwa. Occasionally, a few planes would drop bombs, blowing the Japanese soldiers on the road below, and creating great chaos... (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!