Iron Cross

Hoffman's intervention in Japan's political situation finally caused a change in the situation in the Pacific War, and the Battle of Guadalcanal began to take a different path.

According to the original historical trajectory, at dawn on October 26, the Japanese and American fleets will engage in an aircraft carrier showdown in the Santa Cruz waters after the Battle of Midway, known in history as the "Battle of Santa Cruz" (Japanese called it the Battle of the South Pacific). ) However, because Nagumo Chuichi had resigned before, and Yamamoto Isoroku had resigned as commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet for a few days, both the mobile fleet and the combined fleet were leaderless. Therefore, all major Japanese fleets except the 8th Fleet maintained the "Tokyo Express" "The warships were deployed near Rabaul according to the needs of Lieutenant General Kondo Nobutake. The other warships were concentrated in the waters near Truk in accordance with the orders of Lieutenant General Kondo Nobutake. Although the situation was a little negative, they collided with the menacing attack of the US aircraft carrier task force. Passing by - On October 25, Halsey, who had been the new commander of the U.S. South Pacific Force for just one week, had issued the famous order to the aircraft carrier group commander Kincaid - "Attack, Repeat, Attack."

On the night of October 28, Colonel Masanobu Tsuji, who was tasked with the mission of "removal if not successful", boarded the first "Tokyo Express" to Guadalcanal and successfully met Hyakutake Haruyoshi. When he first heard the word "withdraw troops", Hyakutake flew into a rage, roared non-stop, and even threatened to use the "curtain memorial" power to report to the emperor and walk away alone. But Tsuji Masako's cold words shattered the other party's illusions and arrogance.

"The base camp has clearly issued an order: the establishment of the 17th Army will be abolished, and the relevant troops will be placed under the jurisdiction of the 18th Army of Lieutenant General Anda 23rd. At the same time, all landing troops on the island, with the 2nd Division as the main force, will be required to withdraw. In other words , if you do not execute the order, Lieutenant General Adachi can directly command Lieutenant General Maruyama to execute the order. Even if Lieutenant General Maruyama is willing to follow you alone, don't expect Lieutenant General Adachi to support you, let alone the 38th Division landing on Guadalcanal. Combat - the navy will not carry out this mission. If the commander insists on staying on Guadalcanal, it will only be the final destruction of the tens of thousands of soldiers on Guadalcanal."

"The base camp and the navy are going to watch us die?"

"The army and navy have unanimously decided to transfer from Guadalcanal. Not only must they transfer from Guadalcanal, but all the garrison troops on the islands east of Bougainville Island must also transfer to Bougainville."

"This is giving up the Solomon Islands, this is giving up Guadalcanal..." Hyakutake Haruyoshi rushed over and grabbed Tsuji Masanobu's collar tightly, staring with blood-red eyes, breathing heavily, "I The blood of tens of thousands of soldiers in the 17th Army was all shed in vain.”

"Seeking benevolence will lead to benevolence, and seeking death will lead to death." Tsuji Masanobu, who was choked and breathless, did not struggle, but struggled to spit out the words from his throat, "Retreat...retreat is to...protect more... The blood and lives of the soldiers, even if...all of you die in battle, Guadalcanal...can't be defended."

"Is there no room for redemption?" Hyakutake Haruyoshi let go of his hands dejectedly, hugging his head and crying. All the staff around him looked indignant.

"No. To be honest, my thoughts were the same as yours before landing on the island. As long as the situation can still be maintained, I will insist on continuing the fight even if I risk my life, but..." Tsuji Masanobu pointed to those outside. The ordinary soldier with green eyes, no longer in his human form, but barely holding on, said, "Can they still fight? Are they still human beings as army officers? They will starve to death if we drag them on any longer." The new United Fleet The commander, Lieutenant General Horikichi, has rushed to Truk Base to take over the command of the combined fleet. He is determined to stop delivering supplies to the island - the navy cannot afford to lose destroyers. "

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu""Momotake Haruyoshi's only cry was heard in the headquarters.

The actual situation was worse than what Tsuji Masanobu saw. After the failure of two consecutive attacks on the 25th and 26th, the main strength of the Maruyama Division had been lost. He himself wanted to withdraw his troops, but Hyakutake Harukichi forced him to launch another attack on the 27th. An attack was launched but achieved nothing except another increase of more than 1,000 casualties. Maruyama finally retreated despite Hyakutake's order, so he would never support Hyakutake's decision to go alone. If Hyakutake Haruyoshi still insists on fighting to the end, then Tsuji Masanobu has another trick to make Maruyama refuse to carry out Hyakutake Haruyoshi's order. Without the strength of the 2nd Division, how much trouble can the 17th Army Headquarters alone create? Come?

When the adjutant sent telegrams to Higashino Miyazaki and his brother, Hyakutake Saburo respectively, urging him to carry out the order and decisively withdraw the troops, Hyakutake Haruyoshi finally felt scared: he insisted on not withdrawing the troops, although Tokyo had no way to do anything to him now. , but as long as he leaves Guadalcanal, he will inevitably be engaged in military law in the future, or he will be buried in Guadalcanal with the tens of thousands of soldiers. After thinking through this section, he no longer insisted on his own opinion, and instead asked Tsuji Masanobu about the retreat plan.

"In view of the difficulty of moving forward from the enemy's front, Major Seshima Ryuzo of the General Staff Headquarters has formulated a plan to conceal the essence of our actions with the illusion of a large-scale attack. The Navy has agreed, and specific instructions will be sent to the island by a naval staff officer the day after tomorrow. "Your only mission now is to gather troops while alerting the U.S. military as little as possible."

"Okay, I'll notify Lieutenant General Maruyama immediately."

Seeing Hyakutake Harukichi accept the advice, Tsuji Masanobu finally let go of his hanging heart.

At this moment, at the Truk Lagoon anchorage, in the conference room of the battleship Yamato, an unprecedented joint fleet operations meeting was being held.

The newly appointed Commander of the Combined Fleet, Lieutenant General Horitsukichi, who has been in office for three days, has been demoted, including the Commander of the 1st Fleet, Lieutenant General Mitsumi Shimizu, the Commander of the 2nd Fleet, Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondo, and the new Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, Lieutenant General Kusuka Noichi. Vice Admiral Tsukahara Tsukahara, Commander of the 3rd (Mobile) Fleet, Vice Admiral Mikawa Junichi, Commander of the 8th Fleet, and other major senior officials were all present. The atmosphere of the meeting was very dull. After Nagumo resigned, Yamamoto was transferred, and Ozawa went abroad, there was a strange feeling in the combined fleet. Everyone knew that the war situation had reached a very critical moment-the Battle of Guadalcanal with no hope of victory was the current one. A true portrayal of.

"Gentlemen, according to the latest decision made by His Majesty and the base camp, the Indian Ocean strategy of Japan, Germany and Italy has been officially approved. The main force of our combined fleet is required to break into the main theater no later than December 15th to cooperate with Germany and Italy in land operations. From departure to Between the return, it is expected that various regions in the Pacific will be in a naval power vacuum for 4-6 months.”

Everyone is confused about the sudden attack on the Indian Ocean. The war situation in Nanyang is currently in a difficult situation. The higher-ups are actually planning an Indian Ocean attack in such a whimsical way. I really don’t know what it means. However, everyone here is smart. Once they saw the signs of the collapse of the Tojo cabinet, the strengthening of royal military orders, and the coordination of the army and navy to empty the cabinet, they understood the mystery. After hearing about the price provided by Germany for this strategy, Everyone also expressed their excitement.

Although Horikichi was transferred directly from the reserve and company director positions, the qualifications of the 32nd chief and naval deputy officer are still here. In addition, he exiled "Golden Mask" Ugaki Matoi as soon as he came to power. Everyone I dare not disobey his words: "In order to effectively deal with this situation, the base camp has made the following decisions: The first is to shrink the army's strength and strengthen the defense. Not only must we withdraw troops from Guadalcanal, but we must also abandon the east of Bougainville and Lae. to the southern islands; the second is to seek to deter and injure the US naval fleet, forcing it not to pose a major threat to our southern islands during the main westward movement of the combined fleet..."

Everyone was in an uproar. Although they had always had this idea of ​​withdrawing troops from Guadalcanal, the army refused to agree to it. Now, not only will Guadalcanal be abandoned, but also most of the other Solomon Islands?

"Sir, executing the Indian Ocean strategy, retreating to the islands east of Bougainville, etc. are all unimaginable before. Is this the latest policy of the base camp?" Mitsumi Shimizu asked in confusion, "The order we received ten days ago That’s not the case yet.”

"The situation is changing rapidly. The policy ten days ago can no longer guide the current operation. The Guadalcanal operation is difficult to maintain. Both Deputy Minister Ishihara and Prime Minister Tada Shun have seen the crux of the problem. After Hyakutake Haruyoshi's three attacks failed, "Can't you see clearly what the outcome of the Battle of Guadalcanal will be?" Horikichi said seriously, "We lost the air control of Guadalcanal and the daytime sea control of Guadalcanal. How can we win without these two things?" Without the support of air and sea control, the army's offensive was very bleak, and what's worse, the peace talks were also not smooth. "

The word "peace talks" was thrown into the venue like a bombshell. Facing the noisy crowd, Horikichi briefly introduced the recent changes in the political situation and the communication between Japan and Germany: "The peace talks regarding Case A and the reform of Case A They are all rejected by the United States. The empire has no way out. Our combined fleet must either surrender without a fight or rise up and fight... Gentlemen, are you willing to surrender or are you willing to fight to the end?"

This slogan is almost a replica of the one before Pearl Harbor. The only difference is that the original decision was made with trepidation and uneasiness, but now the decision is made with infinite fear of future failure.

Even the treaty faction such as Yamamoto Isoroku and Horikichi demanded a fight to the end with murderous intent. Naturally, the fleet faction headed by Kondo Nobutake could not give in. After the initial shock passed, there was overwhelming support and encouragement.

"The next phase of the combat concept is announced below. Before executing the Indian Ocean strategy, we must fight another war with the Americans." Horikichi glanced at the venue for a week, "This commander had initially conceived the relevant combat plan when he came to perform his duties. Finally, The conclusion is that the situation in Southeast Asia cannot be stabilized without severely damaging the US aircraft carrier formation, and now is the time when US aircraft carrier strength is at its weakest. Once dozens of US aircraft carriers pounce on it next year, it will be too late to fight for it. After obtaining the consent of the Military Command and After many discussions with the Chief of Staff, the core of this operation is the US Navy aircraft carrier formation.”