When the new head of the German Navy in Japan, Lieutenant General William Mashar (the Lieutenant General Mashar who lost the Schánhorst) drove quickly across the streets of Tokyo, the city had just held a celebration of the capture of the Bataan Peninsula and captured 75,000 American and Philippine officers and soldiers. Many buildings also had inspiring slogans and bright flags hanging on the exterior walls of many buildings, exuding a thriving atmosphere in the spring sunshine.

After occupying the Hawaiian Islands, the Japanese Empire seemed to have gotten out of the dilemma overnight!

Although the cost of capturing the Hawaiian Islands was high, not only did it lose many excellent pilots, but it also lost one battleship and two army aircraft carriers. More than 18,000 officers and soldiers were killed, died of illness or seriously injured on the battlefield in the Hawaiian Islands.

However, the success achieved at a high price is even more eye-catching. If Japan only attacked Pearl Harbor and sank several old battleships, then no one would believe that Japan could maintain its advantage in the Pacific for a long time, and the US counterattack would inevitably come soon!

But now that the Japanese Empire has taken over the Hawaiian Islands, the Americans have no even a base to advance if they want to counterattack. Moreover, the waterway to Australia is under the threat of the Japanese fleet in Hawaii, and at least two fleet aircraft carriers must be escorted to ensure safety.

As for the use of submarines and camouflage attack ships to break through, the "climax period" between December 1941 and February 1942 (actually not very high, the total tonnage of Japanese ships sunk by British and American submarines and attack ships was only 160,000 tons). The reason was that after the fall of Singapore and Manila, British and American submarines lost supply bases closer to the front line and had to attack with Australia as a stronghold. This made it difficult for a large number of submarines with insufficient endurance to participate in the war, unless they risked sending submarine supply ships to dangerous waters.

Under this circumstance, the attitudes of the East Asian continent and the Soviet Union towards Japan also took a 180-degree turn, the supply of various industrial raw materials increased significantly, and the once tense situation in Manchuria also significantly eased.

Although Britain and the United States destroyed oil fields and various mining facilities as much as possible when they were defeated from the South China Sea, even the oil fields in the Netherlands East India were attacked. However, Japan's various resource and grain imports since January 1942 have rebounded continuously, and by April 1942, it had almost returned to the level before the British and American sanctions.

The increase in resource input also allowed Japan's industrial sector to have sufficient raw materials to start production, and the domestic food supply has also improved greatly. The market, which was originally depressed due to sanctions, has also become prosperous.

While the domestic economic situation has improved significantly, one good news after another has continued to spread to Tokyo, Hawaiian Islands, Guam, Wake Island, Midway Island, Manila, Malaya, Singapore, Borneo, Myanmar... The Japanese Empire's army played triumphant songs all the way, and it was invincible. In just a few months, it swept from the Hawaiian Islands to the border of the British Indian Empire!

Just a few days ago, the Bataan Peninsula, an important stronghold in the Philippines, was also captured by the "invincible Japanese Imperial Army". The defender commander, Major General Edward Jin, led the remnants of 75,000 people (including 9,300 US troops) to surrender to the Japanese army.

Now the United States' large stronghold in the Far East and Western Pacific is the only island of Correcido, which is at the entrance of Manila Bay, but it is only a matter of time before the fall of this isolated island is.

By then, Japan seems to be the absolute overlord of the entire Far East and Western Pacific region, so during this period, there is optimism everywhere in Japan that victory is everywhere.

However, there was not much optimism in the Japanese Naval Province Building in Kasui, Tokyo. At least when Lieutenant General Mashar and Ambassador Todman arrived, they felt only a cold feeling.

The cold attitude of Japanese naval officers is certainly reasonable, because the Germans released Japanese pigeons on the issue of declaring war on the United States. According to the original agreement, the German government should follow up immediately after the Japanese Empire declared war on the United States, but the Hitler government dragged on the issue of declaring war and did not declare war on the United States until April 1942.

Regarding Germany's delay, the Japanese Army did not care about the invincible Japanese Imperial Army. Whether Germany joined or not could win. Moreover, the Germans just refused to declare war immediately, and the aid they should provide was equally large. Although Ceylon Island had not been captured yet, a fleet of transport ships escorted by aircraft carriers still detoured to Singapore and transported more than 100,000 tons of supplies, including more than 100 tanks that the Japanese Army wanted the most. The German military delegation also began to help the Japanese Army establish armored divisions according to German standards. Therefore, the German delegation to the Japanese Army (there are now two German military delegations in Japan) was very popular.

However, most of the officers of the Japanese Navy knew the United States and knew how much they were. Therefore, since December 8, 1941, they kept urging the Germans to join the war. However, the Germans always tried every means to delay, and things did not make any progress until a few days ago.

The German Navy is preparing to attack the US Atlantic Fleet in the name of the Japanese Navy, and is also preparing to advance to the Dutch Guiana in South America. Any Japanese naval general who knows the United States knows that even if the Japanese Navy voluntarily admits to sending the USS Mu Ao battleship to attack the US fleet, it is a high probability that the United States will start a war, because the United States will never tolerate Germany's involvement in South America.

As for the war caused by the German fleet's sneak attack on the American Atlantic fleet, or the war caused by the Dutch Guiana incident, it was just a matter of propaganda war.

Therefore, after Japanese Navy Minister Shimada Shimada Shintaro finalized the aid plan for the "110 Project" and "111 Project" (i.e. Yamato's ship No. 3 and ship No. 4) (German provided the special steel required to complete the two battleships) and jointly carried out a battle to completely open the Indy Ocean route (mainly to capture Ceylon Island), he agreed to let the battleship Muro, which had long become a "water ghost", take on the responsibility of sneak attacking the Atlantic Fleet.

"A major victory was achieved!" After meeting Shimada Shintaro in the office of the Minister of the Navy Province, General Mashar told Shimada in English with joy, "Sank 2 South Dakota-class battleships and an Omaha-class light cruiser!"

"Oh? Is that true?" Shimada Shintaro was very polite to the visiting General Mashar and said with a grin.

The Americans lost two South Dakota-class ships, which means they currently have only one new battleship available.

Now the Yamato has returned to China for overhaul. The Musashi has not yet entered service and the Musashi has sunk again. There is only one Japanese warship that can truly fight against those American battleships with 406mm caliber cannons.

If the two South Dakota ships were not resolved by the Germans but were used on the Pacific battlefield, then the Second Battle of Hawaii might have started in May.

"It seems that it will be impossible for the Americans to counterattack Hawaii in 1942." Lieutenant General Mashar said with a smile, "But after 1943, the Iowa and Essex levels of the Americans will be in large numbers. Moreover, the Americans will definitely imitate our wired remote-controlled gliding bomb."

Shimada Shintaro laughed: "By 1943, the Hawaii Fortress has been consolidated, and our Yamato-class No. 3 Shinono, as well as the large-scale construction of Dafeng-class and Yunlong-class will all begin to serve, and there will be nothing to worry about at that time."

Due to the power shown by the Yamato in the Naval Battle of Hawaii, the construction of Yamato-class 3 and 4 will not only not be cancelled, but will also be accelerated. Therefore, the Yamato-class 3 Shinno will be in service in 1943, and the 4th ship Anyi will be in service in early 1944.

In addition, the Battle of Hawaii and several major naval battles in Europe also made the Japanese Navy fully realize the importance of aircraft carriers. Therefore, while expanding the battleship troops, it also formulated an ambitious aircraft carrier construction plan, preparing to build 5 Dafeng-class armored aircraft carriers and 15 Yunlong-class medium-sized rapid aircraft carriers as the cost of confronting the Essex-class and Cleveland-class in the United States.

Such a huge shipbuilding plan naturally requires Germany's strong assistance. After receiving resources from the Middle East and North Africa (not only oil, Sinai Peninsula, Turkey and Iran are rich in rare metals), the metallurgical industry of European countries under Germany began to make efforts in early 1942, and the output of steel, especially special steel, hit a new high every month, not only fully meeting the needs of Europe and the Atlantic battlefield, but also having spare no effort to support Japan in expanding its navy to contain the United States. Now, when the Indian Ocean route is fully opened, the source of materials will be continuously transported from Europe to Japan.

It is precisely because of these tangible aid that the Japanese Navy has not been too entangled with when Germany declared war on the United States.

Shintaro Shimada understood the purpose of Lieutenant General Mashar and smiled and said, "Please rest assured that our broadcast ship deployed in Hawaii will soon broadcast the news of the Mu Ao victory, and the country will also carry out corresponding publicity... This is also very beneficial to enhancing the national morale of our empire."

Mashar received a satisfactory reply, and naturally knew that he should have expressed that Big Head had already agreed before, so now I will give you some more tips to contact you.

He took out a document from a bag he brought with him and placed it on Shintaro Shimada's desk. He smiled and said, "This is some information about the ju.390 six-round heavy bomber. I believe it is a reference for your country to develop ultra-long-range bomber with a combat radius of 5,000 kilometers. We will provide a prototype later. Samples of the HS293 line-controlled gliding bomb will also arrive in Japan with this aircraft. If you are preparing to build ultra-long-range bomber, we will provide more help." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!