Flags were played at the ground airport, leaving two aircraft on reconnaissance missions in the air, and the rest landed at Hickam Airport.
McCluskey left two Wildcats circling outside Pearl Harbor to guard against the third wave of Japanese sneak attacks, and then led three squadrons led by Kim Lindsay and Best to land at Hickam Airport.
Seeing Pearl Harbor turned into a hell on earth, all the pilots' eyes were full of anger. They couldn't wait to find the Japanese fleet and fight to the death.
All 36 fighter planes were fully loaded with ammunition, but they just flew in from 220 nautical miles away and needed to be refueled.
Immediately, the airport commanded the refueling truck to quickly refuel the fighter planes of the 3rd Squadron.
Kimmel issued an order that communications between the command room and fighter planes must be restored at Pearl Harbor within 20 minutes.
In fact, during the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese pilots focused all their attention on battleships and other ships, and did little damage to shore facilities. After the bombing, the US military, which shared the same hatred of the enemy, quickly restored various land-based command systems.
They only focused on attacking warships on the water and fighter planes on the airport, but failed to seriously damage land-based facilities. This was also a major failure of the Japanese.
Because land-based facilities were quickly restored, and the waters inside Pearl Harbor were shallow, the U.S. military quickly salvaged the severely damaged warships one by one, quickly repaired 80% of them, and went into battle in the Battle of Coral Island... …
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With the addition of two squadrons of Wildcats and one squadron of Fearless, the lineup was suddenly much stronger, which gave Zhou Zhihan even more confidence.
Time to give the Japanese a good beating.
Zhou Zhihan gathered all the pilots together and briefly arranged the combat missions of each type of aircraft and the coordination between the fleets. After refueling, all the fighters took off from various airports and assembled over Pearl Harbor five minutes later.
About when Mitsuo Fuchida was about to land on the aircraft carrier Akagi, Zhou Zhihan led the American fleet to prepare for takeoff.
At 11:10 after Zhou Zhihan led the fleet to take off, US President Roosevelt met alone with Dr. Hu Shi, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, and had a secret meeting for 40 minutes.
By this time, Kimmel had roughly reported the damage at Pearl Harbor to the White House.
During this period, reporters swarmed into the White House press briefing room, waiting for Roosevelt to answer questions about the specific circumstances of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Inside the Office of the President.
Roosevelt was very frustrated and told Hu Shi: "After preliminary verification, at least 3 of the 8 battleships of the Pacific Fleet were completely sunk, 2 destroyers moored in the dock were blown up, 2 battleships were seriously damaged, and the dock was also damaged. to destruction.
Fortunately, God is always on the side of the United States, because a colonel from China saved the United States, the battleships Nevada and Utah, and the oil tanker Neosho, and most importantly Yes, he guarded the super oil depot in Pearl Harbor that stored 18 million liters of fuel. "
Roosevelt told Hu Shi that the United States would formally declare war on Japan tomorrow at the latest. Since Zhou Zhihan saved the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, from now on, the United States will unconditionally assist China with various strategic supplies and become an ally with China. At the same time, the United States will open Hump Air Line to China.
Hu Shicheng immediately stated that China would follow the United States and declare war on Japan. (1)
There is no doubt that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor completely awakened the indulgent and arrogant Americans. Since then, the extremely angry Americans have developed a bone-deep hatred for Japan.
Since the Japanese dropped the first bomb at Pearl Harbor, the United States has no longer watched other countries' wars from afar. An eagerness to directly participate in the war has twisted the United States into a rope.
It was what the Japanese did that prompted every American to support the war against Japan without hesitation.
Not long ago, when some observers on the Pacific coast saw some ships transporting steel and other materials of strategic value from the United States to Japan, they predicted that these things would one day be manufactured by the Japanese. into bombs, and then returned to the United States by force.
At that time, American leaders believed that this was just unfounded nonsense. However, with the sudden outbreak of the Pearl Harbor incident, the entire United States can only tacitly admit that the predictions of observers do have long-term implications. insights.
Regarding this point, an American news newspaper once summed it up in a very concise sentence: "It can now be seen that Japan is the customer who has been most sorry to us."
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[Akagi] Aircraft carrier conference room.
The easy victory made Nayun dizzy and made his operational decision-making thinking lose focus.
He now only wants to minimize the losses of the task force, rather than further inflicting heavy damage on the enemy and annihilating the enemy to the maximum extent.
In fact, Nagumo did not understand Yamamoto's spiritual connotation. In Yamamoto's view, if it is inevitable to fight an enemy who is much larger than himself, then the best strategy is not how to save himself, but how to defeat the enemy to the greatest extent. Only by making a surprise attack and destroying the enemy as much as possible can you truly and effectively protect yourself.
Because the best defense is offense.
Only by seizing the opportunity and defeating the enemy in one fell swoop can we preserve ourselves to the greatest extent.
If it was just to preserve power, Yamamoto would not have made a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. He would have honestly abided by Japan's established strategy, recharged his batteries, lured the U.S. military into Japanese territorial waters, and used territorial advantages to consume the enemy.
So when his subordinates asked Nagumo whether he wanted to send more fighter planes to attack important targets such as Pearl Harbor's shipyards, oil depots, and submarine bases, all he could think about was that he had made enough and he could leave. Don't be too greedy. It’s not worth taking any more risks for uncertain results.
In fact, Nagumo was able to serve as the commander of the First Fleet not because of his superior talents, but because of the seniority convention within the Japanese army.
The First Fleet was an important and formidable instrument of Imperial Japan's maritime power, and its commander was anything but trivial.
In his military career, Nagumo did not have any qualifications related to the Air Force. He was an old-fashioned officer with a rough walking posture and a rough manner. He had rich experience in torpedo warfare. He participated in World War I and was a master of torpedo attack and maritime warfare. However, many Everyone thought that he was not suitable for this position because he had no idea of the strength and potential of the aviation force.
Nagumo also knew that he lacked experience in naval aviation, so he relied heavily on his chiefs of staff, Ryunosuke Kusaka and Minoru Harada.
Almost all Japanese officers who participated in the war knew that from the day he became the commander of the task force, Nagumo was no longer an ordinary lieutenant general. From that day on, he shouldered the responsibility of the Japanese Navy and the entire Japanese Empire. Hope, shouldering the dream and history of the Japanese nation, if this trip is successful, he will inevitably become a hero of the Yamato nation, an idol that people worship, and a symbol of victory. Even if he dies in battle, he will be enshrined in a shrine to be honored. People worship him, but if he fails, it is very likely that the entire Yamato nation will fall into eternal disaster because of his failure.
The responsibilities and burdens on his shoulders are beyond anyone's imagination. His every move not only determines the fate of the thousands of soldiers and battleships accompanying him, but also determines the fate of the Yamato nation. Moreover, this action broke all conventions. There are no examples to be found.
At the moment, the question of whether to return or continue the attack was like two roly-poly men going back and forth in Nanyun's mind. Both seemed reasonable, but neither seemed feasible. He felt deeply that he was powerless and weak at this time, and deep down in his heart he could only think. I want to pray to the gods to bless me and give him the correct answer.
Just when Yamamoto issued an order instructing all fleets to "cancel attack preparations" and issued a flag to prepare for a full northward retreat, Fuchida Mizuo, who was sitting in the restaurant and devouring his meal, went straight to Nagumo angrily. At this time, the second Commander Yamaguchi Wenda of the Air Fleet had already gone directly to Nanyun a little earlier.
Yamaguchi Wenda said directly to Nagumo: "Your Excellency, Commander, we should launch another attack. The soldiers are very eager to attack Pearl Harbor again to further expand the results and cause greater damage to the enemy."
Nanyun's face couldn't help but sink, but he suppressed his inner unhappiness: "The general's courage and fighting spirit are admirable, but we should not be involved in adventures again at the moment. It is meaningless to attack again, and the movement of the enemy's main aircraft carrier is currently unknown. , our army is not suitable to continue to take risks here."
Yamaguchi Wenduo heard this and shouted angrily: "How can I give up such an excellent opportunity? How will I explain it to the warriors who are eager to go to war? Is the commander willing to bear the reputation of a coward?"
The command room suddenly fell silent, eerily quiet.
