New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

At dusk on February 1945, 2, Saipan was busy.More than 6 b-29 bombers are preparing for take-off.The planes had been stripped of their self-defense machine guns and cannon, which worried the crew a bit. Most of the bomber pilots of the No. 20 Air Force have experience in carrying out strategic bombing missions in Europe, but they do not have much experience in carrying out night bombing missions.In Europe, the bomber unit of the U.S. Army Aviation has traditionally carried out precision bombing missions during the day, and the bombing at night is basically done by bombers of the Royal Air Force.In Europe, the daytime bombing would of course be strongly resisted by the German army and suffer heavy losses.However, the loss of British troops performing night bombing missions was not small.The German night fighters are not easy to mess with, and there are even some super aces with more than one hundred shotdowns in this unit.

Some time ago, the U.S. military’s b-29 bombers did carry out a lot of night-time mining missions, but these missions were all over the sea. First, there was no threat of ground anti-aircraft guns. Second, the attack Nor was it the most heavily defended target of the Japanese.And there is also a very important point. If you are shot down on the sea, you can still parachute. There are American submarines nearby to respond. Many pilots who were shot down and parachuted can be rescued by the submarine and can return to the army.

But being shot down over Tokyo is another story.Not to mention whether they will be beaten to death by those after landing, even if they fall into the hands of the Japanese army alive, there may not be any good results.The Japanese were not a signatory to the Geneva Conventions, and it never promised to give preferential treatment to prisoners.However, the U.S. military has not landed on the Japanese mainland to liberate the U.S. prisoners who were locked in the Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.However, it has long been no secret that these captured persons were persecuted by the Japanese army.When the intelligence agencies of the United States and Britain collected information on the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, they also learned a lot about the torture and even massacre of prisoners of war by the Japanese army in Southeast Asia.What's more, when it was shot down over Tokyo, Tokyo was probably burning.If you parachute over that big fire pit, you might turn into a roast pig before you land on the ground.

So all the aircrew are on this mission, and they feel a little bit drummed in their hearts.However, even with a drumbeat in his heart, this mission still has to be done.Moreover, in this operation, General Li Mei and another officer who is said to be not low in rank will personally participate, so the flight attendants have nothing to say.Now the incendiary bombs have been installed, because removing the self-defense weapons saves weight, and this mission adopts a lower and most economical flight altitude, which saves fuel, so each of these bombers has installed as many as 6 bombers. Tons of napalm, and now the leading b-29 has completed all preparations.As soon as the last two crew members are in place, it's ready to glide to the runway and take to the air for combat.

At this moment, a jeep drove over, and the jeep drove to the side of the pilot plane and stopped.The door opened, and two men in flight jackets got out of the jeep and walked straight towards the plane.

"General, are you here?" The navigator recognized that the person walking in front was their commander—General Li Mei.

Li Mei didn't answer, just nodded towards him, and boarded the plane along the boarding ladder, and the person behind him also boarded the plane with him.

"Okay, put away the ladder and set off." Li Mei said, "What are you still doing?"

General Li Mei likes to take the bomber unit to carry out combat missions in person, which is also well-known among the US Army Aviation.But after I became a general, the number of times I did this gradually decreased.After all, it is difficult for the US military to tolerate a senior commander always taking risks on the front line.But this time, Li Mei found a good reason for himself: this operation was an experiment of a brand new method of warfare, and he had to participate in the whole process in order to better perfect it.

Everyone sat in the seats of the bomber and fastened their seat belts.The four engines of the aircraft began to start in sequence.Then the huge fighter plane began to taxi along the runway. At this time, the sun that was already westward cast golden-red sunlight into the plane.The inside of the cabin was glowing red with sunlight.

After the pilot plane took off, the other planes took off one by one.Because the bombing mission was carried out at night, and the planes had no self-defense weapons at all, there was no need to form a tight box formation. Therefore, these planes just followed the order of takeoff, one after another towards the distance flew over.

The distance from Saipan to Tokyo is very long, and the plane is full of napalm bombs, and the flight speed is not high, so it is expected that when the plane reaches the sky above Tokyo, it will be completely dark early.But it's not a particularly deep night, and it's estimated that the Japanese haven't all slept to death yet.However, this is not a problem. According to the plan of the US military, the lead bomber will first cast a cross-shaped wall of flames, and then other bombers will use incendiary bombs to connect the tops of the cross to enclose the target area. , and then other bombers dropped incendiary bombs in this circle.The scope of this circle is very large. Even if the Japanese in the circle are awake, even if they all run as fast as Olympic [-]-meter champions, not many people can escape from this circle.

A few hours later, it was completely dark.The plane has also approached the Japanese archipelago.During this process, General LeMay had been discussing tactical issues with the other officer.When they talked about it, they even spread out the map on the floor of the bomber, then turned on the flashlight, and pointed to the map to make gestures.

During the day, General Spruance's carrier-based fighter jets and carrier-based bombers conducted another round of strikes on Japanese targets in the Tokyo area, and then fought a round of air battles with Japanese planes that came out to counterattack. Today, Japan's air force They were hiding in their own base and licking their wounds. They never expected what kind of blow they would receive tonight.

"General, we are now close to the Japanese archipelago, and we will reach Tokyo in 10 minutes at most." The captain, Captain Baker, said to General Li Mei who was pointing on the map, and at the same time began to lower the flight altitude.

"Ah, it's almost here." Li Mei straightened up as she said, and then said to the officer who had been discussing with him: "Ron, let's put away the map first, the real drama is about to begin."

"Okay, General." The officer replied while tidying up the map.

"We're over the target area," Navigator Kerry said.

Ron and Li Mei quickly opened their eyes wide and looked down.But it was so dark down there that I couldn't see anything.Because the Japanese have been blackouting for a long time.However, the people on the ground probably have already noticed the approach of the bomber fleet. There is no reason why the roar of more than 600 engines of more than [-] bombers cannot be heard as long as they are not deaf.Several searchlights came on, and their beams began to dangle in the air.However, the number of searchlights in Tokyo is far from that of Berlin, and the difference is more than an order of magnitude.This amount is simply not enough to maintain the night air defense of a big city like Tokyo.

"Get ready! 1, 2, 3, bombing!" The bomber pulled down the bombing handle, and a string of napalm bombs swayed and fell from the bomb bay.After dozens of seconds, a long burning zone immediately appeared on the ground behind.The orange flame rose up, looking from the sky, it looked like a hole had been opened in the ground, and hot lava burst out from the ground.

Immediately afterwards, this opening was added.The incendiary bomb dropped by another b-29 drew a wall of fire perpendicular to this wall of fire.At this time, the pilot plane had dropped all six tons of incendiary bombs and began to climb to the heights.And Ron and Li Mei watched the situation below carefully through the observation window.

A group of bombers began to draw a circle of flames around the cross.With the light of the flames and the telescope, the narrow streets of Tokyo can be faintly seen.At this time, a bright flame also ignited in another direction.

"Where is that?" Ron asked.

The navigator turned on the flashlight, checked the map, and replied, "It should be the Kudanzaka area in the Chiyoda area. There is an important target there."

Ron laughed. It seemed that the Yasukuni Shrine and the like probably couldn't escape the fire.Moreover, considering that the United States will become the father of Japan in the future, even if the Japanese want to repair this shrine and restore its functions, there will probably be some additional troubles.Among other things, what do you mean by restoring this?Does it mean that Dad blew it up wrong?Does that mean dad shouldn't fry it?

At this time, more bombers have already dropped their incendiary bombs, and the fire is getting bigger and bigger. The firelight shines through the huge transparent observation window on the head of the b-29, and the cabin is red. If anyone wants to check the map now, There is absolutely no need to turn on the flashlight again.

……

Fuchita was a sailor retired from the Navy. During the Battle of Guadalcanal, he was blown off by a 127mm shell fired from an American destroyer. Just retired.The so-called loss of a horse is a blessing in disguise. Now his comrades have fed sharks in the Pacific Ocean. Only he, although disabled, is at least alive, and with the knowledge he learned on the warship, he has found a job that can Reluctantly support himself and his wife's job - fire liaison officer.

When the Americans dropped the first string of incendiary bombs, he was still trying to organize personnel to fight the fire, but the continuous falling incendiary bombs made him immediately understand that such a fire was absolutely uncontrollable.The most important thing now is not how to put out the fire, but how to escape from the fire.

The surrounding air was already terribly hot, and several panicked guys started running along the street.But Fuchita knew that even under normal circumstances, people would not be able to escape such a fire, not to mention that the narrow streets full of debris made quick escape impossible.Fuchita looked at the streets that had been engulfed by the fire, and he understood that if he wanted to escape from these streets, those who fled along the streets would only turn the quick escape into a quick escape.That's the kind of fire that's guaranteed to cook you to perfection before you run out.In a panic, Yuantian saw the river not far away, so he shouted loudly: "Follow me, swim out of the sea of ​​fire from the river." Then he took a few steps with his subordinate firefighters and jumped into the into the river.

Relying on his proficiency in water, Fuchida swam quickly along the river.However, the fire seemed to be boundless. No matter how he swam, he was surrounded by blazing flames. Now, every time he emerged from the water, he would feel his face being scorched and painful, and the hot air he inhaled made him feel sick. His lungs were in terrible pain.And he also gradually felt that the originally cool river water began to heat up.He didn't choose a fast maturing path, but God seems to have only arranged for him a slow maturing path.Whatever it is, it seems that being mature has become his destiny, and all his efforts are just to turn roasted into cooked.