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Text Chapter 982 Sea of ??Fire (End)

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    "March 23, 1941, I will always remember this day. Before that day, the government was broadcasting good news every day and promoting victory every day. Everyone was in high spirits, and young people were eager to wear it.  We are proud of our military uniform. But after that night, my family and I realized that those propaganda were all false and deceptive. The Japanese government and us had begun to lose this war.

    The bombs were so dense that they erupted into strips of sparks about every fifty meters.  Yes!  Like a belt.  I can't describe it in words. If you haven't experienced it, you will never know how scary it is.  I took my children and grabbed my wife, and we ran as fast as we could!  Many people got into air-raid shelters, but those simple air-raid shelters were not safe at all, because the flames would flow and suck the air in the air-raid shelters. In the end, they all died of lack of air or choking on the smoke!  All the houses are burning!  Post offices, shops, Yamada's cotton clothing factory and many more.  I was so scared, but luckily I saw a reservoir and our whole family jumped in.  The water temperature was very hot, but fortunately the fire around it was not big, and many people crowded in.  We survived, but the whole neighborhood was gone¡­.  "¡ª¡ª

    Tokyo bombing survivor, Yuda Norio.

    *******

    At four o'clock in the afternoon, the damage report of the Deshan bombing had not yet come out, but the Mishan base was already buzzing with people.  Next to four airports not far away, many local villagers who had finished their work gathered around the barbed wire isolation belt and watched the people coming and going in the airport they helped build.  Four groups, with a total of 472 H-7s, were waiting quietly on the tarmac, and each one was crowded with busy soldiers.  Tank trucks, oxygen trucks, charging trucks, etc., shuttled back and forth among the fleet.

    That¡¯s not all. In order to leave a ¡°profound¡± memory for Japan, in addition to the main base in Mishan, five airports and six bombing groups in Qingdao, Weihai and Hangzhou are also actively preparing for a total of 708 bombers.  "Commander, this is the Rainbow 4 plan." He Hai, 29 years old and a graduate of the Air Force Academy, quickly opened the door and handed the bombing plan to Xu Huansheng, who had already put on his flight suit: "All 10 brigades, including  6 went to Tokyo, and the remaining 4 groups went to Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba. This is the call code of each escort and bombing formation. This is for the guidance aircraft. A total of 3 radar guidance aircraft and 126 'Yejiao' fighters were dispatched (  The night combat version of the Air Force J-6 Double-Headed Jiao)"

    The Rainbow 4 plan was a bombing plan against Japan drawn up by the Air Force before the war. There were seven types in total according to different circumstances.  Among them, Rainbow Four was developed for the current environment.  In fact, as early as the end of January, the Air Force had made all preparations to bomb the Japanese mainland, but it had been postponed until now due to various reasons.  "Is Deshan's assessment report out?" Putting on his pistol, Xu Huansheng asked about the bombing report at noon.

    "Not yet. The reconnaissance plane said that the smoke was so thick that it was impossible to distinguish the ground targets. The only thing that is certain is that the fire in the oil depot has not been extinguished, and there have been multiple explosions. The last one was at three o'clock in the afternoon, causing a large area of ????the mountain.  Landslides, large amounts of rocks and soil poured into the Seto Inland Sea However, I estimate that the toxic smoke produced by the heavy oil will probably cover a larger area than our bombing tonight."

    "Haha, Gao Zhihang and the others did it hard enough." Xu Huansheng couldn't help but curl up his lips when he heard that the explosion caused a large-scale landslide.  He put on his tactical vest, put the plan in his jacket pocket, and walked out: "Come on, come with me to see the preparations."

    After walking out of the office, most of the bombers had already hung up their bombs and were undergoing the final oxygenation work.  The early H-7 was not a fully pressurized sealed cabin design, so it did not need oxygen because the cruising altitude was low.  However, as the air defense forces and fighter jets of various countries become more and more advanced, the air force began to order the supercharged version in June last year.  Compared with the original model, the new H-7 adopts a fully sealed cabin, a more advanced twin-mounted electric turret, enhanced bulletproof capabilities of the wings and belly, and a two-stage supercharged engine with better high-altitude performance.  While the speed remains unchanged, the improved H-7's dead weight has increased by 2 tons, the bomb load has dropped from the maximum 10 tons to 7 tons, but the cruising altitude has increased to 10,000 meters.  It seems that the bomb load is reduced, but in fact the radius is too short when fully loaded, so the impact is not significant. On the contrary, the survivability is stronger after the cruising altitude is increased.  This is because many fighter jets from Japan and the Soviet Union have data service ceilings exceeding 10,000 meters. However, in fact, due to poor boosting technology, engine problems often occur when reaching 8 kilometers.  Moreover, at this height, the small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns with the largest number of equipment in various countries cannot reach it.

    Xu Huansheng¡¯s phone, like everyone else¡¯s, has been equipped with 35 120kg small napalm bombs.  Napalm was developed very early but was produced very late, mainly because it was difficult to preserve.

    After checking the ammunition, he was about to get into the cabin to check the situation of the aircraft, when a Y-5 transport plane suddenly appeared at the end of the runway.  "Huh? You're a political person, why are there US troops?" After the plane stopped, the sharp-eyed He Hai saw two officers from the Political Department leading three US troops.The officer came out.  This surprised everyone. How could the US military appear here?

    "Commander, Commander Xu!" A moment later, a jeep carrying five people arrived.  As soon as the car stopped, an officer from the Political Department with the rank of major ran towards him.

    "It's Xiao Wang, why are you here?" Xu Huansheng knew the visitor. He was Major Wang Meitang from the Air Force Political Department.  The Political Department does not care about actual combat, so why is it here?  Looking at Wang Meitang, his eyes turned to the three U.S. military officers who got out of the car and pointed here, and asked another political department officer from time to time, "Who are they?"

    "Haha, pilots from the US military delegation." Wang Meitang took out the folder and handed it to him: "This is the commander-in-chief's order. They will act with you to observe this bombing operation."

    "What are you doing! How can you let Americans come to see it?" Xu Huansheng scratched his head.  I was somewhat reluctant to arrange for the US military to observe the bombing, not because I was afraid of leaking secrets, but because the two sides were not very friendly at the moment.  Wang Meitang chuckled and leaned closer: "It's not about purchasing fighter jets yet." It turned out that after the U.S. Army Aviation and Navy suffered heavy losses on aircraft, they realized that their fighter jets were not as good as their opponents, and the progress of new development was too slow.  , so we had to decide to outsource the part first to make up for the gap.  What the U.S. military most hopes to obtain is the Chinese "dual-power" fighter jets and the British "Spitfire", but Yang Qiu has been reluctant to subsidize it. Instead, he hopes to subsidize the "Storm" fighter jets that competed with the "dual-power" fighters but were eventually eliminated.  U.S. military.  For this matter, he also wrote a letter to Churchill specifically, asking the British government to strictly abide by the contract and not to export the simplified version of the "Thunder and Lightning" of the Chinese military to the US military.  With Roosevelt already in the trap, Churchill, the "King of Tricksters", was very happy for the United States to spend a lot of unjust money to avenge the "exchange of destroyers for islands", so he used the contract as an excuse and very cooperatively refused to deliver two aircraft.  "Thunder and Lightning" is a matter for the US military to study.

    The performance of the "Storm" fighter is worse than that of the "Double Electric", which is similar to the historical F6F, but its size and range are smaller.  The US military is not a fool, so it refused at first.  However, the situation in Europe has changed recently. Seeing that our new fighter aircraft will not be commissioned until the end of 1941 at the latest, we began to test the "Storm".  After many test flights and comparisons with U.S. military fighter jets, it was confirmed that the performance of the "Storm" fighter jet was not much worse than that of the "Double Electric" (actually a simulated air battle with a simplified version of the Thunderbolt), and it met the current requirements. Only then did we agree to pay the one-time payment  5 million US dollars to buy all the patents, and will pay Chinese Airbus a patent fee of 3,000 US dollars for each aircraft manufactured.  But in the procurement, the US military also has an additional condition, which is to observe the combat operations of the Chinese Air Force.

    For this large order, Air Force Commander Yu Lei agreed to it after consultation with the General Staff Headquarters.

    "This is Colonel Chennault who is leading the team."

    "Hello, General Xu."

    "Do you speak Chinese?"

    Xu Huansheng was shocked by Chennault's substandard Chinese, and Wang Meitang quickly introduced him.  It turns out that Chennault was a former U.S. Army aviation pilot. After retiring, he had been living in Shanghai and had a Chinese wife.  After the Cairo Declaration, he once wanted to join the Chinese Air Force, but at this time the US Ambassador Johnson contacted him and hoped that he would serve as an observer for the US military and accept Stilwell's leadership.  After the United States entered the war, Stilwell served as the commander of the Allied forces in the Asia and Southwest Pacific theaters. However, his commander now had no authority and no troops. He only had a few hundred U.S. military "advisors" managing some of the Philippine guerrillas.  Chennault originally wanted to form his own flying team, but gave up because China refused to provide a base.  At this time, the United States happened to be purchasing fighter jets, and a member of the U.S. Armed Forces Procurement Committee was established, making him the head of the delegation responsible for purchasing aviation and military technology and materials from China.

    "Thank you for allowing us to participate in this operation. What is the target this time?" Compared with Xu Huansheng's lukewarm attitude, Chennault and the other two pilots were very happy to have the opportunity to observe the actual combat operations of the Chinese Air Force.  What's more, looking at the scale of the surroundings, you can tell that this is probably a very large operation.

    "It's Tokyo." Although it doesn't like it, the military still has to obey the political tasks from above.  What's more, this big business can greatly promote China's aviation industry and build the reputation of a large number of large companies such as Airbus and Meteor, so Xu Huansheng is still willing to actively cooperate and proactively inform the bombing targets.

    "General, can we see the aircraft?" Chennault couldn't wait to see how the world-famous H-7 was different from the US military's **17 and the upcoming **24 bomber.  Xu Huansheng did not refuse, but only asked Wang Meitang not to let them enter the fire control cabin under the nose of the aircraft.  This is because the navigation radar and reflective bomb sight of the new H-7 are in this position, and these two technologies cannot be leaked for the time being.

    Seeing Chennault happily getting in and out of his plane, Xu Huansheng smiled bitterly.  Fortunately, during the Battle of Wake Island, several stray **-17s landed onOn Gan Island, these aircraft have been transported back by the Air Force for research, and they finally did not suffer a loss.  However, I thought that the US military had no shortage of skills. The main problem was experience, so I grabbed He Hai and whispered: "Change the plan. Quickly inform all the brigade to cancel the box formation and change it to the flying geese formation."

    The box bombing formation, like the multi-layered four-four tactics in a domain, is a new tactic explored by the Air Force, which can maximize the self-defense firepower of bombers.  He didn't want to give such an important tactic to the Americans for free.

    At six o'clock in the evening, Xu Huansheng and Chennault got into the plane and issued a signal for action.

    Signal Signal: Rainbow!

    As the signal was sent out, bombers that were already ready to go took off from the runway. The huge roar spread for several miles, attracting many nearby villagers to come out to watch.  The flashing red navigation lights on the fuselage painted beautiful streams of colors and slowly gathered to form several huge bombing formations.

    An hour later, the second batch took off.

    Two hours later it¡¯s the third batch¡­.

    A total of five batches, a total of 3 Y-8 modified radar navigation and command aircraft, 126 "Yijiao" fighter jets, and 1,118 bombers, roared towards Tokyo Bay¡ª¡ª

    At this time, Tokyo also has a very unusual atmosphere. On one side is the collective anxiety of the top management, and on the other side is the ignorance of the people.

    "Your Excellency, Prime Minister" Shunroku Hata's loud voice echoed fiercely in the Prime Minister's residence.

    After taking office, he was immediately faced with the beginning of war between China and Japan. Hideki Tojo saw the destruction of his naval and air forces with his own eyes, and his heart was as sharp as a knife. The news that Tokuyama had been destroyed and bombed was like a sap that hit him and the military with stars in their eyes.  He still didn't understand what kind of bomb China used, which could actually penetrate the surface nearly ten meters deep and destroy the oil depot.  Of course, these details were irrelevant. What really made him anxious was that after the three million tons of oil reserves in Deshan Oil Depot were burned, the country's oil reserves had plummeted to 1.3 million tons.

    Without oil, how can warships, planes and tanks operate?

    "Someone must be responsible for Tokuyama!" Shunroku Hata glared at Navy Minister Shitaro Shimada.  In the eyes of the Japanese army, the navy was the culprit of this series of failures. If they hadn't been embarrassed, how could they have reached such a desperate situation?  Shitaro Shimada, who had just become the Minister of the Navy, was worried about how to solve the source of oil. Unexpectedly, the army did not think of a solution first, but instead burned the fire on himself. He suddenly slammed the table in anger: "Hata Shunroku, what do you mean? We didn't do it at the beginning?"  Those who support the war against Japan! It¡¯s your army who says that the rise and fall of the empire must be fought here! If there is a problem now, is it our navy¡¯s responsibility? Let me tell you, the empire was destroyed by you bastards! What kind of samurai spirit?  , all the talk about expanding territory for the empire is nonsense! So you just want to shirk responsibility by saying this!"

    "What responsibilities does our army have? The Tokuyama Oil House is controlled by your navy. Normally we would like to order more oil but you wouldn't give it to us. Now that it has been blown up, do you think we should be held responsible? Look at the kind of war you are fighting so far.  Sasebo, Mariana, Truk, Marshall are all losing! Is this the navy you spent on the empire to build the third largest navy in the world and the largest in Asia? This is a disgrace! The empire is disgraced  I¡¯m going to embarrass you all.¡±

    "Have you won? Why can't you cross the Yalu River in North Korea? Why haven't Myanmar, Vietnam and India heard any news of victory?"

    "Baga! Isn't North Korea victorious?!"

    "Okay, okay, don't get excited, don't get excited. Let's work together to figure out what to do." Foreign Minister Togo Shigetori saw the disagreement between the two armies and quickly stood up to be the peacemaker.  In fact, he could also see that the army and navy were really anxious this time.  After the Tokuyama Oil House was bombed, the aircraft, tanks, and ships of both companies were in danger of running out of oil.

    "What to do? There is only one way, and that is to fight!" Hata Shunroku was furious.  To be honest, since the war started, no matter whether it is the navy or the army, there is still a fire in their hearts.

    Because the opponent doesn¡¯t play according to the routine at all!

    In the minds of Japanese high-level officials, China will definitely fight a land war first, because the several Central Asian battles before the war between China and Japan proved that the army is the trump card in Yang Qiu's hand.  Therefore, after the war began, the Army was the most cautious and worried among Japanese people. They also formulated a series of measures to deal with failure, and even made preparations to use the mountainous areas of Korea and the dense forests of Southeast Asia to fight guerrilla warfare for a long time.  But what about Yang Qiu and the Yanjing General Staff?  Except for one attack in Vietnam, it has gradually retreated and retreated in areas such as North Korea and Myanmar.  Even in India, if the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India had not joined hands, they might still have turned a blind eye.

    The expected army war has not yet broken out. What about the other side?  But the sea keeps attacking!  Raid on Sasebo, bombing of Okinawa port, Battle of Mariana, TrukNaval battles, up to the ongoing Battle of Wake Island, Marshall and Gilbert.  Uncharacteristically, Yang Qiu did not use his strongest force. Instead, he bypassed the army and implemented a strategic encirclement from the sea through surprise attacks. He used his advanced and newly emerged naval power to continuously attack Japan's strongest navy!

    This style of play really makes the Japanese senior management feel uncomfortable.

    It feels to them like fighting with others. They have put on a good posture, are upright, and even planned how to escape after failure, but their opponent has been hammering away at the same position with hundreds of punches from beginning to end!

    It¡¯s uncomfortable, it¡¯s so uncomfortable!

    Faced with this situation, it¡¯s no wonder that Shunroku Hata is not very angry!  Roaring: "The empire is very difficult, but the more difficult it is, the more it proves the tenacity of our Yamato nation. We must keep fighting! Like all enemies of the empire, it proves that the Yamato nation is invincible!"

    "Then I would like to know how your army is going to solve the oil problem?" Shimada was also furious: "Coal and steel can still support it, but the oil reserves only have 1.3 million tons left, which is only enough for the joint  The fleet dispatched twice!¡±

    "We still have Huatai Island, as well as Palembang and Balikpapan! If it doesn't work, don't there still be oil fields in Hokkaido?" (During World War II, Japan had a small oil field in Hokkaido with an annual output of 200,000 tons) Shunroku Hata shouted: "  I believe that the empire will win the final victory! Of course, as long as some people stop holding back our army."

    "Baga! Hatawhat's going on?"

    Seeing that the quarrel was about to start again, all the lights suddenly went out. Before Dongxiang could finish speaking, a piercing air-raid siren sounded throughout Tokyo, and the guards quickly rushed in: "Prime Minister, please take shelter for a moment."

    "Why are you panicking! Are there many such noises?" The quarrel just made Tojo very angry, especially when Shimada pointed at the monk and scolded the bald man, which made him very embarrassed.  Because everyone knows that he is currently also the Minister of War, and he was responsible for the war against China.  So when he saw the guard in a panic, he scolded him a few words before he stood up with everyone else.

    When Tojo and the ministers hid in the air-raid shelter of the Prime Minister's residence under the escort of guards, Yuda Norio was also awakened by the piercing air-raid sirens.  But like most ordinary residents, he did not panic too much. Instead, he opened the window to see if there was really an enemy plane.  It's not that he's not vigilant, it's that they've all been false alarms lately.  What's more, the radio station and the government said that Japanese planes can't fly here. Even if they fly over, they will be shot down by more advanced imperial planes and cannons, so there is nothing to worry about.

    But soon, he and everyone felt something was wrong.

    "Dong dong dong" A series of ground artillery shells and searchlight poles shot straight into the sky. As the shells became denser and denser, the harsh buzzing sound poured into the ears from the sea like a tide.  .  "Aiko! Aiko! Get up!" Yuda Norio saw that something was not going well. He was so frightened that he immediately hugged the child, grabbed his wife and ran towards the nearest air-raid shelter.  At this time, the streets were in chaos, with disheveled residents rushing out of their homes everywhere, shouting and crying children one after another.

    But it¡¯s all too late!

    "Down to 3000 meters!"

    After seeing Tokyo through the light of anti-aircraft fire, Xu Huansheng immediately ordered to lower the altitude.  "General, this is very dangerous!" Chennault was startled by this order.  But Xu Huansheng disagreed and smiled: "Don't worry!"

    After the bomber descended, the power of the artillery fire began to appear.  The shells that kept exploding around the fleet disrupted the airflow, making everyone feel like they were entering a bumpy tunnel, and the dozens of tons of bombers were shaking violently in the firelight.  "Loss occurred, loss occurred! The tail wing of Mallard No. 37 was hit."

    "Male Duck No. 71 reports that my wing is on fire, please return and make an emergency landing!"

    As the bomber continued to approach the coastline, the sound of being hit gradually increased in the loudspeaker.  Chennault turned around and saw that the left tail of the hit 37 bomber was almost invisible. Even if it could complete the mission, it was destined to be unable to land safely.  Just when he was most worried, the navigator finally sent a signal: "Arrived at target!"

    "Wild Duck No. 2! Call Wild Duck No. 2, and guide the bombing with me!"

    "Male Duck No. 2 understands!"

    After arriving at the target, Xu Huansheng and his wingman immediately broke away from the formation and used their descent to accelerate ahead.  Then, it quickly dived towards the bustling commercial area on the ground at an angle of forty degrees.  It was not until nearly one thousand meters that the two bombers leveled off and dropped their bombs while leveling.  A total of 35 120-kilogram incendiary bombs left the magazine one after another, each of which can cover an area about 500 meters long and 60 meters wide.  The new napalm bombs are much more powerful than the old incendiary bombs, and the flames after the explosion even rise hundreds of meters into the air.  Sparks burst out and flew into the air, quickly igniting the surrounding flammable materials and then spreading.  At the same time, the wingman also dropped an incendiary bomb, but the angle at which the wingman dropped the bomb was?Hao and Xu Huansheng were at a ninety-degree angle, so that the two fire dragons formed an obvious and huge cross, providing coordinates for the fleet behind them.

    The first batch to enter the sky over Tokyo were three groups with a total of 354 H-7s. They filed down from high altitudes and dropped bombs into the surrounding dark areas with the cross as the center.  Looking from the sky, the ground is flashing, like countless flashing lights flickering on and off.  This was a veritable rain of bullets, totaling 1,474 tons in just one hour!  12,285 napalm bombs were dropped, and the dense fireball covered almost half of Tokyo, creating a spectacular night scene!

    In less than a moment, the entire urban area of ??Tokyo was covered in flames and smoke. From a distance, it seemed as if there was a layer of red liquid flowing on the surface.  Civilians fled in all directions to avoid the explosion and fire. The Japanese city defense troops also quickly launched evacuation and did everything possible to put out the fire.  But they still underestimated the power of napalm. The chaotic wooden buildings became the best place for arson. As time passed, the sporadic fireballs gradually connected to form several large flares.  Then they converge again, eventually forming a storm of flames!  Quickly sweeping the entire Tokyo!  The sea breeze from Tokyo Bay fueled the fire. In the high temperature of thousands of degrees, all combustible objects began to burn!  Houses collapsed, bodies were scorched, and even metal began to melt!  The fire spread like a flood, and people fled in all directions.  But the flames quickly swallowed them up one by one, spitting out charcoal.  Some people trying to survive began to jump into ponds and rivers, but at this time the water temperature was close to boiling. If they jumped, they would be scalded to death!  Due to shortages of materials and other issues, the simple air-raid shelters have become a nightmare. Countless people hiding inside were either burned to death or choked to death by the thick smoke that poured in!

    An hour later, the second batch of 118 H-7s continued to drop bombs into the dark area, followed by the third and fourth batch

    At the same time, Yokohama, Kawasaki and Chiba were also bombed at the same time.

    It was later confirmed that in just four hours of bombing, 22 arsenals in Tokyo were destroyed, and 43% of the industrial area was burned.  In commercial and residential areas, the figure is as high as 60%!  A total of 450,000 houses and buildings were burned to the ground, 100,000 people were burned to death, and another 150,000 people were injured to varying degrees.  Including Yokohama and other three places, 300,000 casualties were caused in just one night!  The bomber group led by Xu Huansheng lost only 11 aircraft, 7 of which finally made an emergency landing in the open sea, and the crews were all rescued by submarines.

    A few hours later, Radio Tokyo broadcast a report.  On the radio, the announcer, representing the Japanese government, strongly condemned the Chinese Air Force's "big rape" of the Japanese people!

    But in fact, the large-scale bombing operation code-named "Rainbow" has just begun.  In the following two weeks, the Air Force used a total of 3,300 bombers of various types to once again conduct continuous air raids on places including Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Okinawa.  A total of 152,943 napalm bombs were dropped, causing 850,000 casualties and 3 million homeless. In 11 cities, more than 80% of the fire-damaged area was affected!

    Afterwards, Chennault, who witnessed the "Sea of ??Fire" with his own eyes, reported the results of the Tokyo bombing to Marshall. Soon after, the "Sea of ??Fire" spread from Asia to the European continent

    (To be continued.)
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