The Rise of the Third Reich

"More than 10,000 meters?" Yamamoto Isoroku frowned, remembering the British bombing of Rome. At that time, the British also dispatched B-17s to penetrate the defenses from an altitude of 10,000 meters, but they were still shot down several times by the German Fokker Zeros. After that, the B-17s never used daytime bombing again.

"How many enemy planes did we shoot down?" Yamamoto thought for a while and asked.

"What is certain is that there are 1 B-17, 3 B-25s and 3 P51s." Matoi Ugaki replied, "The American B-25s and P51s penetrated from an altitude of 5,000 meters, and were blocked by Type Zero and Type 1 They achieved relatively good results. However, their B-17 broke in from an altitude of 10,000 meters. When our Zero and Type 1 flew to this altitude, the performance of the engines would drop significantly. Moreover, according to reports from returning pilots, the Americans did not. The B-17 has very powerful self-defense firepower. The slow approach of the Zero and Type 1 is very dangerous, and the B-17 is very strong and difficult to shoot down..."

It turns out that Lieutenant General Tsukahara 243 asked the returning pilots immediately after the "Kaohsiung Air Battle", and now he has figured out the situation. The American B-17 is a very tough target. It can not only penetrate defenses at high altitudes, but also has powerful self-defense firepower.

Because the Type Zero and Type 1 are not equipped with a suitable supercharger, their performance above 10,000 meters is very poor, they have no speed and are not flexible. They can easily become a living target for the large-caliber machine gun on the B-17.

"It seems that the Americans have improved the B-17!" Yamamoto Isoroku frowned tightly.

Because the British's use of B-17s to bomb Rome was very unsuccessful, Yamamoto Isoroku did not pay much attention to this "failed aircraft." I didn’t expect that the B-17s deployed by the Americans in the Philippines would become so difficult to deal with... They must have been improved!

"Commander, this B-17 aircraft has a very long range. It can fly from Gibraltar to Rome to drop bombs..."

As soon as Ugaki Matoi's words came out, Yamamoto Isoroku's expression suddenly changed. The distance from Gibraltar to Rome is only 1,670 kilometers, and the distance from the Philippines to Kyushu is just over 2,000 kilometers. If the B-17 can fly from Gibraltar to Rome, then it is not impossible to take off from the Philippines to bomb southern Kyushu.

If Kyushu is bombed, the Japanese mainland will be bombed. This will greatly damage the morale of the people and add unnecessary trouble to the Navy's operations in Hawaii.

"The US military airport in the Philippines must be destroyed as soon as possible!" Yamamoto Isoroku immediately issued an order, "Tell Tsukahara that the US military airport in Clark must be destroyed at all costs, and fast!"

…

When Yamamoto Isoroku gave the order to Tsukahara 243, a fierce battle was going on over Clark Airport.

MacArthur currently still has 61 P51s, 64 P40s and 32 F4Fs available for combat, especially the 61 P51s that can compete with the Japanese Zero aircraft. Therefore, in the air battle on December 8 (Philippines), the Far East U.S. Air Force commanded by Colonel Doolittle was evenly matched with the Japanese.

Although 12 P51s (including those lost in the Kaohsiung air battle), 17 P40s, 6 F4Fs, 1 B-17 (lost in the Kaohsiung air battle) and 4 B-25s (lost in the Kaohsiung air battle) were lost in air combat . Another 20 aircraft were damaged in the Japanese bombing.

However, it also shot down 13 Type Zeros (including the results of the Kaohsiung air battle), 9 Type 1s (all shot down in the Kaohsiung air battle), 13 Type 97 heavy bombers, 10 Type 96 land attack aircraft and 6 Type 1 land attack aircraft. Get on the attack plane. In addition, 22 Japanese aircraft at Kaohsiung Airport were destroyed and damaged.

"60 aircraft were lost..." MacArthur looked at Colonel Doolittle who came to report to him and asked, "James, how long can the Air Force hold on?"

"Five days at most." Colonel Doolittle shook his head and said, "Maybe it won't last five days... The problem now is that there is no way to replenish fighters and pilots. The Philippines is too far away from the mainland, and there is no way to get reinforcements."

To put it bluntly, the battle in the air in this era is about attrition. Although the United States has more than 400 aircraft (including backup aircraft) in the Philippines, which is actually a lot, it still cannot fight a war of attrition. As long as the Japanese risk the loss of 300 aircraft, they can wipe out the US Far East Army Air Force, which is damaged and useless.

"If the air force is exhausted, the Philippines will not be able to defend it!" MacArthur said solemnly, smoking his pipe.

It is definitely not possible to rely on the army to defend the Philippines. Although the U.S. Far East Army claims to have 130,000 people, there are only 30,000 authentic Americans. The real main force is the Filipino natives, who will not fight to the death for the United States. Moreover, most of these Filipino soldiers have only been in the army for a short time and have not received the necessary military training.

Colonel Doolittle frowned, "If it cannot be replenished in time, the Far Eastern Army Air Force will cease to exist in five days... Lieutenant General, instead of doing this, it is better to do something spectacular before the air force is exhausted."

"Vigorous?" MacArthur stared at Doolittle with wide eyes. He thought of driving a B-17 loaded with bombs to ram an aircraft carrier... Unfortunately, this was not Doolittle's idea.

"Bomb Tokyo!" Doolittle gritted his teeth and expressed his plan. "We can drop the bomb on the head of the Japanese Emperor!"

Last time in Rome, didn't the British B-17 kill a Pope? Why not try to blow up the Emperor this time, just in case he gets killed? This will greatly increase the national prestige of the United States!

"Is the voyage enough?" MacArthur asked, "It's almost 3,000 kilometers from the Philippines to Tokyo, right?"

"Before one o'clock," Durant said, "the B-17 will definitely not be able to fly back and forth."

"Is there no return?" MacArthur was stunned. "Or is it a suicide attack?"

"No, of course he didn't commit suicide." Doolittle quickly shook his head and explained, "We can first transfer the B-17 to Guam. The distance from Guam to Tokyo is relatively short, about 2,500 kilometers."

"Where will we go after the bombing?" MacArthur asked. "The range of the B-17 is not 5,000 kilometers.

"Go to the Soviet Union." Doolittle said, "It is about 1,000 kilometers directly from Tokyo to Vladivostok in the Soviet Union. We can land there. If we are lucky, the dispatched B-17 will not suffer any losses. "

The slight loss of B-17s in the air battle over Kaohsiung already speaks volumes - the intelligence that Japan had no high-altitude fighter aircraft was accurate. Moreover, the high-altitude performance of their Zero fighter is not as good as that of the Fokker Zero, and it is simply unable to fight at an altitude of 10,000 meters. If the B-17 penetrates Tokyo at an altitude of 10,000 meters, it is likely that there will be no losses.

"But the whole journey is 3,500 kilometers?" MacArthur thought for a while, "Isn't there still not enough fuel?"

Doolittle said: "If we install fewer bombs, reduce the weight as much as possible, and carry aviation gasoline in the cabin, we should be able to fly hundreds to a thousand kilometers more. In this way, we can take off from Guam to Tokyo to bomb the Emperor!" "

The odds of killing an emperor were certainly low, but bombing the Japanese capital would certainly do a lot to boost the morale of the American people.

…

"Bomb Tokyo?" Before Franklin Roosevelt was about to leave to address Congress, he learned from Army Chief of Staff Marshall about MacArthur and Doolittle's plan to bomb Tokyo.

"I think that's a good idea," Roosevelt said, looking furious, as if he was thoroughly angered by the Japanese's adventurous behavior. "The American people will be heartened to hear this news! I hope the Army Air Corps can implement this plan as soon as possible... As for the issue of aircraft landing in the Soviet Union."

The President of the United States glanced at Secretary of State Hull. Hull said: "Mr. President, this is not a problem. Stalin will definitely send our people back to the United States as honored guests."

Japan has now gone to war with the United States, and of course it will not go and challenge the Soviet Union. If it does, it will not be dizzy, but seeking death. Therefore, Stalin could blatantly return the American pilots who landed in Vladivostok to the United States. Although such behavior obviously violated the principle of neutrality, Japan did not dare to do anything to the Soviet Union.

"This is best," Roosevelt nodded. "Now is the time for Stalin to clarify the Soviet Union's position."

If the Soviet Union adheres to the principle of neutrality and seizes American pilots entering the country, then Roosevelt will seriously consider whether to continue to win over the Soviet Union.

If the Soviet Union disregards the principle of neutrality and returns the American pilots. Then the Soviet Union clearly told Japan that they were on the side of the United States, which would definitely put a considerable constraint on Japan's military power.

"In addition, we should develop long-range heavy bombers with a range of more than 6,000 kilometers as soon as possible." Roosevelt said, "The operation to bomb Tokyo from Guam cannot be carried out only once, but must be carried out repeatedly."

"President," Marshall replied, "This project has been going on for a long time. We call it the Super Bomber program. The winning bid is Boeing's B-29 program. This is a heavy bomber with a combat radius of 2,800 kilometers. The Army 250 have been ordered, and the first B-29 is expected to be delivered in September 1943."

"Increase to 1,000!" Roosevelt said. "Order 1,000 first. We will need a lot of B-29s because there are too many enemies to bomb!"

He glanced at the think tank Hopkins sitting in the corner. "Harry, what do you think?"

Hopkins said: "President, it would be best not to mention Germany in your speech this afternoon... Now is not the time, and Congress will not agree to declare war on Germany because of Pearl Harbor."

Roosevelt nodded, "Okay, now let's see if Hitler and Hessmann can help me solve this problem."

Hopkins smiled and said: "This is also a problem for the Germans!"