REIWA JIGOKUHEN - Chaotic Disturbance of Reiwa Era

Chapter 62 - North Pacific Storm

Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo: Prime Minister's Office

Like clockwork, the invasion of Alaska was progressing as planned. The local garrison was quickly obliterated by the landing Self-Defense Forces, and the few remnants retreated to Fairbanks with the surviving citizens of Anchorage. During the course of the operation, some 20 bombers had flown in, again shot down by F-35Bs with machine guns.

However, this was simply a natural result considering the levels of both sides, and the essence of the operation was rather what followed. In the rear were tens of thousands of men from the engineering and auxiliary units aboard large ferries and passenger ships, and they were planning to build up the ports of Anchorage and Whittier, the Elmendorf airfield, and the railroad network connecting these bases at once, establishing a major base for the "Occupation of America." A one-day delay in such construction would result in the suffering of a large number of people. Delay is absolutely unacceptable.

"And at the moment, the obstacle to this operation is the American Pacific Fleet."

PM Kato and the usual attendees were met by the Joint Staff Chief Mitsuya who explained the situation in a detached manner.

"The United States is currently actively working to retake Alaska, and it is expected that the Pacific Fleet will soon receive an order to launch a sortie. As soon as that order is issued, the Self-Defense Forces will use all of its resources to destroy the fleet in the North Pacific."

"So, total annihilation?" Kato responded emotionlessly, suddenly remembering the time immediately after the time-space cataclysm in mid-March.

What is now on the agenda is nothing more than the remainder of the carrier task force, plus some reinforcements, which at that time was debated over whether or not to annihilate the entire fleet.

"Perhaps we should have been thorough from the beginning... don't you think so, Muto-kun?"

"At that time... we had no choice, sir," Muto replied. "I honestly didn't expect them to be so over the top in their reaction. In addition, with the benefit of hindsight, the outcome of Iwo Jima and Saipan may have been the same even if the fleet had been destroyed. The same would probably be true in this attack."

"Well, I suppose it would."

"But at least the failure was not immediately fatal, and perhaps we should be most pleased that it can be recovered."

"I remember that from a book somewhere. It is not whether you fail or not, but how you recover from it that determines the outcome."

Kato looked at the area behind Mitsuya where the map was projected. The physical aspects, such as which units were where, were almost certainly obtained from the beginning. The only problem was the misunderstanding of the psychological aspect, so all they had to do was to exclude them from the evaluation from the outset and build a posture that was completely independent of the other party's intentions.

"Fine, then. Mitsuya-kun, I'm counting on you to destroy the enemy fleet."

"Understood."

"Also... give my best wishes to the elders."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oahu: Pacific Fleet Headquarters

Admiral Nimitz was prepared to be removed from his post, but he was still given the position of Commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Frankly speaking, however, it was much more difficult to bear than being transferred to the reserves. It even seemed as if it might be due to the fact that they couldn't find any replacement for him. No matter how brave the admiral was, he would not want to face the Japanese forces, which had extremely vicious aliens on their side and used superweapons that even Dr. Einstein could not understand.