At dusk on February 6, 1945, Saipan was busy. More than 400 B-29 bombers were preparing for takeoff. These aircraft had been removed from the machine guns and cannons used for self-defense, which allowed the crew to

The crew were a little worried. Most of the bomber pilots of the 21st Air Force had experience in carrying out strategic bombing missions in Europe, but they did not have much experience in carrying out night bombing missions. In Europe, the tradition of the US Army's bomber force is

The daytime precision bombing missions and night bombings are basically done by Royal Air Force bombers. In Europe, daytime bombings will certainly encounter strong resistance from the German army and suffer serious losses. But the British troops performing night bombing missions

The losses were not small. The German night fighters were not easy to mess with. There were even some super aces in this force who had more than 100 kills.

Some time ago, the US military's B-29 bombers did carry out many night minelaying missions, but these missions were all over the sea. Firstly, there was no threat from ground anti-aircraft artillery. Secondly, the attack

It is not the most heavily defended target by the Japanese. And there is a very important point. If you are shot down on the sea, you can parachute. There are American submarines nearby to assist you. Many pilots who are shot down and parachute can be rescued by submarines and can be revived.

Return to the army.

But being shot down over Tokyo is another matter. Let alone whether they will be beaten to death by those who landed on the ground. Even if they fall into the hands of the Japanese alive, there may not be any good results. Japan

Japan is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention, and it has never promised to give preferential treatment to prisoners. However, the US military has not yet landed on Japan's mainland to liberate those US military prisoners held in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. But there are concerns about these captured personnel.

The persecution of the Japanese army is no longer a secret. When the American and British intelligence agencies collected intelligence on the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, they also learned a lot about the Japanese army's abuse and even massacre of prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. What's more, when they were shot down over Tokyo

, Tokyo is probably burning. If you parachute over that big fire pit, you may become a roasted pig before you even land.

Therefore, all the air crew members were a little drumming in their hearts for this mission. However, even if they were drumming in their hearts, this mission still had to be carried out. And during this operation, General Li Mei and another officer who was said to be not low-ranking

will participate in person, 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.

To save fuel, each of these bombers was equipped with up to 6 tons of napalm. The leading B-29 has completed all preparations. As long as the last two crew members are in place, it plans to slip

Head to the runway and take off into the air for combat.

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

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

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

"Okay, put the ladder away and set off." Li Mei said, "Why are you still hanging around?"

General LeMay likes to personally lead bomber units to carry out combat missions, which is also famous among the U.S. Army aviation. However, after becoming a general, the number of times he did this gradually decreased. After all, it is difficult for the U.S. military to tolerate a

A senior commander always takes risks on the front line. But this time, Li Mei found a good reason for himself: this operation is an experiment of brand-new tactics, and he must participate in the whole process in order to better improve it.

it.

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

Entering the plane, the cabin was illuminated red by the sun.

After the guidance aircraft took off, other aircraft took off one after another. Because they were performing a night bombing mission, and the aircraft had no self-defense weapons at all, there was no need to form a tight box formation.

, so these planes just followed the order of take-off, and flew into the distance one after another.

It's a long way from Saipan to Tokyo, and the plane is loaded with napalm and the flying speed is not very high, so it's expected that by the time the plane reaches Tokyo, it will be completely dark. But it's not too deep yet.

Late at night, it is estimated that the Japanese have not all slept to death. However, this is not a problem. According to the US military's plan, the lead bomber will first throw a cross-shaped wall of flames, and then other bombers will use incendiary bombs to destroy this cross.

The tops of the circles were connected to enclose the target area, and then other bombers dropped incendiary bombs in this circle. The scope of this circle was extremely large. Even if the Japanese in the circle were all awake, even if they were all running as fast as

Not many Olympic 100-meter champions can escape from this circle.

A few hours later, it was completely dark. The plane had also approached the Japanese archipelago. During this process, General Li Mei had been discussing tactical issues with another officer. When the talk came up, they even

He spread out the map on the floor of the bomber, then turned on his flashlight and started pointing at the map.

During the day, General Spruance's carrier-based fighters and carrier-based bombers carried out another round of strikes against Japanese targets in Tokyo, and then fought a round of air battles with Japanese aircraft that came out to counterattack. Today, Japan's aviation power

Hiding in their base and licking their wounds, they had no idea what kind of blow they would receive tonight.

"General, we are now close to the Japanese archipelago. In ten minutes at most, we will arrive in Tokyo." Captain Baker, the captain, said to General LeMay, who was pointing at the map, and at the same time began to lower the flight altitude.

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

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

"We have arrived over the target area." Navigator Kerry said.

Ron and Li Mei quickly opened their eyes and looked down. But it was so dark below that they couldn't see anything. Because the Japanese had already implemented a light control. But the people on the ground had probably noticed the approach of the bombers.

As long as you are not deaf, there is no reason why you cannot hear the roar of more than 1,600 engines of more than 400 bombers. Several searchlights turned on, and their light beams began to swing in the air. However, Tokyo's searchlights

The number is far less than that of Berlin, and the difference is more than an order of magnitude. This number is simply not enough to maintain the night air defense of a big city like Tokyo.

"Ready! 1, 2, 3, drop the bomb!" The bombardier pulled down the bomb release handle, and a string of napalm bombs swayed and fell from the bomb bay. After dozens of seconds, a long line of napalm bombs appeared on the ground behind.

The burning zone. Orange flames rose up. From the air, it looked like a hole opened in the earth and hot lava suddenly emerged from the ground.

Immediately afterwards, another hole was added to the hole. The incendiary bomb dropped by another B-29 drew a wall of fire that crossed perpendicularly to this wall of fire. At this time, the pilot aircraft had dropped all six tons of incendiary bombs and began to attack the hole.

Climbing high, Ron and Li Mei carefully watched the situation below 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 could be faintly seen. At this time, a bright ball of flames was also lit in the other direction.

flame.

"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 seems that the Yasukuni Shrine will probably not be able to escape this fire. Moreover, considering that the United States will become the father of Japan in the future, the Japanese will even want to repair the shrine and restore its functions.

, I’m afraid there will be some extra troubles. If nothing else, what do you mean by restoring this? Does it mean that Dad blew up wrong? Does it mean that Dad shouldn’t bomb?

At this time, more bombers have dropped their incendiary bombs. The fire is getting bigger and bigger. The firelight shines through the huge transparent observation window on the head of the B-29, illuminating the cabin red. If anyone wants to check the map now,

There is absolutely no need to turn on the flashlight again.

…

Fuchida was a sailor who had retired from the Navy. During the battle on Guadalcanal, he had one of his hands blown off by a 127mm shell fired from an American destroyer. He was no longer qualified for his job, so

So he retired. It is said that a blessing in disguise was a blessing in disguise. Now his comrades have all fed the sharks in the Pacific Ocean. Only he, although he has become disabled, is at least still alive, and with the knowledge he learned on the warship, he is still alive.

I found a job that could barely support myself and my wife - fire liaison officer.

When the Americans dropped the first string of incendiary bombs, he tried to organize personnel to put out the fire, but the continuously falling incendiary bombs made him immediately understand that such a fire was absolutely uncontrollable. The most important thing now was

It's not about how to put out a fire, it's about how to escape from a fire.

The surrounding air was already horribly hot, and several panicked guys started running along the street. But Fuchida knew that even under normal circumstances, people would not be able to escape such a fire, let alone a narrow and crowded place.

The cluttered streets also made it impossible to escape quickly. Fuchida looked at the streets that had been engulfed by fire. He understood that if he wanted to escape from these streets, those who fled along the streets would only turn a quick escape into

Quickly cook and escape. Such a fire can guarantee that you will be fully cooked before you run out. In panic, Fuchida saw the river not far away, so he shouted loudly: "Follow me, swim from the river

Get out of the fire." Then he took a few subordinate firefighters and ran a few steps and jumped into the river.

Relying on his skillful water skills, Fuchida swam quickly along the river. However, the fire seemed boundless. No matter how he swam, he was surrounded by blazing flames. Now, every time he emerges from the water, he will

He felt that his face was being roasted and hurt, and the hot air he breathed in made his lungs extremely uncomfortable. And he gradually felt that the originally cool river water was starting to get hotter. He did not choose a road to maturity, but
Chapter completed!