.On January 21, 1929, at 11 a.m., the northwest coast of Kyushu Island, Japan, Sasebo Military Port.

As a traditional shipbuilding center and important naval base in Japan, this beautiful military port has witnessed the rise and prosperity of the Japanese Imperial Navy. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and Russo-Japanese War, it twice became the home port of the Japanese joint fleet and the naval base. Countless Japanese citizens watched their fleets go on the expedition here and welcomed the soldiers to triumph here.

Today, Sasebo still has a unique geographical environment. This is still the best among the three deep-water military ports in Japan. However, the glory of the Japanese Imperial Navy is no longer there. The lively scene of masts and gunboats as mountains has gone as history. There are only a few pitiful small ships in the huge harbor. There are several cruisers that have not yet been completed before the completion of the shipbuilding area. In sharp contrast to this defeated scene, the gorgeous marble platform that was once the Emperor's Imperial Ship. In order to avoid German bombing, a large white camouflage net was set up on the platform. Every railing and every stone below were cleaned up spotlessly. A team of fully armed naval soldiers even guarded and patrolled there day and night to ensure that no sabotage elements could get close to it.

"There will be a day when the empire will regain the world's first-class navy. His Majesty the Emperor will inspect the powerful fleet here. Any country will surrender to the prestige of the empire. There will be that day!"

Whenever he was on duty on shifts, a Japanese naval officer who seemed to be over fifty would gently stroke the stone railing on the outermost side of the Imperial Ship Platform with his right hand with only four fingers left, and repeat this sentence tirelessly. Every time he said this, the soldiers following him not only expressed doubts, but even had expectations in his eyes.

There are not many pedestrians in the dock with many deep berths today, let alone ships and workers coming to unload the cargo. Apart from the two days when the German bomber group visited each week, it is quiet here. Occasionally, the silver fighter jets that appear less and less frequently. As one of the Japanese military forces still existed in Sasebao and the westernmost link in the entire Japanese air defense system, the 9th Air Force of the Army is responsible for defending the sky of this harbor.

However, since the airport and aviation facilities on Tsushima Island were completely flattened by the Luftwaffe, the air defense alert range of this air force has retreated 50 kilometers from the east. After the fall of Busan, they had to compete with German dive bombers and even fighters with faster speeds and stronger maneuverability. In just two months, they suffered dozens of defeats in a row, and finally reached the point where they could only perform limited alert tasks. When the giant ship of history irreversibly entered 1929, it was still safe

There was a number of the Air Force. In fact, there were less than 40 aircraft left in this force, one-third of which were paralyzed or semi-paralyzed due to the lack of repair parts. Because of the limited fuel, even the airlift warning must be approved by the Chief of the Air Force Command. In other words, this harbor protected by an Army Air Force has long lost the most basic air barrier, and the task of defending the port naturally fell on the shoulders of the naval garrison and the army ground forces.

In Sasebo, the port area, a few steps away from the pier, has long lost the vitality of its heyday. There are very few pedestrians on the streets and alleys. Most of them can be seen are naval soldiers wearing dark blue military coats or army soldiers wearing yellow coats. Their age, experience and even weapons are different. Some of them have been in Southeast Asia. Some of them served on the Korean Peninsula in the fall of 1928, and some of them were recruited into the army half a year ago. It is not an exaggeration to describe them as miscellaneous troops. It is such a patchwork of naval and army garrison troops that have taken on the defensive responsibility of the Sasebo Port Area and surrounding military facilities.

When the last Japanese army unit on the Korean Peninsula was destroyed, islands such as Tsuma, Yanyuan, and Yiqi became the westernmost strongholds of Japanese local defense. Fukuoka, Maguan and Sasebo, which are dozens of kilometers away from these islands, are the focus of defense on the western front. There are not many defenders stationed here. In just a few dozen square kilometers, there are more than 5,000 soldiers from the 17th Guard Brigade of the Navy and 17,000 troops from the 35th Division of the Army, of which 2/3 are responsible for coastal defense. The other 1/3 are dedicated air defense forces.

However, a large number of defenders used relatively backward weapons and very limited aerial early warning power. Those 20mm and 40mm anti-aircraft machine guns have long been proven to be difficult to threaten German heavy bombers flying at high altitudes, while 75mm, 80mm and 100mm anti-aircraft guns are also difficult to achieve due to their slow firing rate and poor accuracy. As the first anti-aircraft warning radar "Type A" radar developed by Japan during wartime, its warning range is only 20 kilometers, and it is often unable to work normally due to weather reasons and interference from the other party.

Not only weapons and equipment, but also logistics supply. The Japanese troops stationed at Sasebo have been plagued for a long time. They lack ammunition and oil, vehicles and medicines, meat and alcohol. To some extent, they can even be said to be short of everything. In the past three months, due to the German army's successful occupation of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a huge air force base with Busan as the core, a large number of German fighter jets were able to take off from an airport only 200 kilometers away from Kyushu. Many German fighter jets, including fighter jets and dive bombers, made it common to enter Japanese airspace.

While the defense difficulty of the Japanese air defense artillery units increased sharply, casualties also increased sharply. The 35th Division of the Army alone lost nearly 3,000 soldiers and more than 60 air defense artillery. However, the Japanese military headquarters not only faced the dilemma of being short of troops, but even if they wanted to mobilize reinforcements on the local area, the severely damaged transportation facilities made both cavalry, armored soldiers and infantry a purely pedestrian army. The German air strikes came one after another, but Sasebo's garrison was told over and over again that the weapons supplies and reinforcements they needed were still on the "way" in a long time.

Despite all these difficulties, it is undeniable that the Japanese soldiers have the most powerful fighting spirit and indomitable spirit in the world. They have always despised the value of life. They regard the meaning of survival as loyalty to the emperor. In many cases, they have to use their willpower to make up for the disadvantages of weapon technology and commander quality. The same is true in this Sasebo Military Port. Their enemies are so powerful, their military headquarters are so incompetent, and their situation is so bad. However, few of them have become deserters. Today, they still bravely defend this basically abandoned harbor. Many of them believe that as long as the Yamato nation is immortal and as long as the Sasebo Military Port is not destroyed, they will always make a comeback.

At 11:02, the soldiers in the kitchen were preparing lunch. The sound of chopping vegetables and the gradually drifting smell of the rice made people temporarily forget the bad war and think about their stomachs. Three meals a day can only eat half full, but the soldiers are more looking forward to their next meal. Although the slight, sometimes uncommon buzzing sound has lasted for more than an hour, the reconnaissance and surveillance of German aircraft is already very common for them. Since their artillery fire cannot reach the other party and the other party will not disturb their meals, then continue to be in peace!

Suddenly, a loud bang came from the west of the port area, and there was no sign before that, no nervous air defense alarm sound. There was no familiar sharp sound when the aviation bomb fell. There was no gunshot or cannon sound, everything was so normal.

Less than a second after the first loud bang, the second and third loud bangs followed one after another. When people habitually looked up at the world, the scene surprised everyone here, whether it was naval soldiers, army soldiers or ordinary civilians hiding behind the windows!

Meteorites, to be precise, are gray arrow-shaped artificial meteorites with flames, which are flying at a speed of more than 1 km per second, one by one, descending on this already riddled land like a meteor shower. People cannot even see a trace of an enemy, let alone make any resistance.

One after another, the explosions stimulated people's fragile eardrums. Thousands of smoke rose everywhere. Even if the explosion point was thousands of meters away from them, people could still clearly feel the impact of the huge power. If the distance was closer, people would even fall due to the violent shock in an instant. In an island country like Japan, people have experienced even more intense earthquakes. However, when this situation was artificially created, people still felt deep fear from the bottom of their hearts.

It was half a minute after the 12th loud noise subsided.

The whimpering air defense alarm sounded in the port area, and the soldiers began to turn their air defense artillery hard. Soldiers and civilians from non-air defense forces began to pour into the air defense bunker, but it was too late, and the enemy's attack had just begun!

Before the panic subsided, people began to ask each other what was going on.

Was it the German bombing? Obviously not, their trajectory when they landed was completely different from that of aviation bombs!

Was it a German warship shelling? Obviously not. The veterans knew clearly what kind of explosion was caused by the main guns of the battleship, and no one could see clearly what happened when the shells fell.

What is that? Is it the legendary flying immortal from the sky?

In order to solve this mystery, people began to explore the traces left by the strange bombs. The nearly round pits were so big that they even exceeded the largest craters people had ever seen. Every inch of the soil inside showed a charred color after high temperature roasting. Everything within the explosion range seemed to be crushed into powder, and most of the buildings within dozens of meters around collapsed!

"I've seen the gunfire of the Kii, which is comparable to the power of its 410mm main gun!"

The words of the navy veterans made people look at the sea again, but where were there any traces of German warships? Moreover, the power of 12 such bombs is actually far greater than the damage and panic caused by a volley of the super battleship Kii.

Time passed in such a strange atmosphere full of doubts, continuous tension and fear. Ten minutes later, the air defense alarm was lifted, and people began to return to their posts or residences one after another. Twenty minutes later, the officers and soldiers of the air defense forces lifted their first-level combat readiness. Half an hour later, when people thought that all this was a thing of the past, the meteor shower came again!

At this time, at the A17 rocket launch base in Busan, many senior generals and technical experts, including Chen Tian, ​​were listening to the observation reports from the three high-altitude bombers above Sasebo:

"7…8…9…10,11…oh,12, yes, we observed that all 12 a17s exploded on the ground. Except for one that fell offshore, the other 11 were all in the Sasebo Pond. We were able to observe all the smoke columns, which made Sasebo a birthday cake with candles!...Confirm again, all 12 a17s fell as expected, and the time was very accurate, almost every minute and second!"

"That pilot is very interesting!" Chen Tian said to Juliana beside him, "The birthday cake with candles is so vivid!"

"It's so incredible! Without pilot control, they hit the target exactly after flying more than 200 kilometers! It's so incredible!" Since seeing those big "pencils" take off one by one with long tail flames, Juliana seemed very surprised, and she was also a bit of admiration in her surprise. Her worship of this super new technology is also a worship of the great creativity of human beings.

"No, it is not accurate to say that it is not even a bit different. At this distance, our A17 allows for a certain deviation. The landing point within this expected deviation range is considered successful even if it is launched!" Chen Tian said in a language that seems quite professional to others. "For example, the rocket that landed near the sea deviated from our target, that is, Sasebo's port area, but it is also a qualified rocket. After all, our rocket navigation technology is still improving!"

"So that's how it is!" Juliana and several generals next to her, including Tirpitz and Oli, all looked like they suddenly realized. In front of Chen Tian, ​​the "prophet", their understanding of the Rockets was indeed in a very early stage.

At this moment, a technician in a white coat came to the subjective observation hall accompanied by the emperor's attendant.

"Your Majesty, the Doctor asks you whether the next batch of A17s will be launched at 12 o'clock on time!"
Chapter completed!