The Rise of the Third Reich

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Noto and Sado Island electrical detection stations have reported that a large number of incoming enemy planes have been detected, with the number exceeding 200!"

At 9:55 pm, Tokyo time, Lieutenant General Nishi Takijiro, the deputy director of the Japanese Navy’s military command department, who hurried into the underground conference room of the Prime Minister’s residence, loudly reported the discovery of two radar stations affiliated with the navy.

By the way, Onishi Takijiro's report is also quite Japanese. Since Japan's homeland was threatened by US imperialism, it has established a general defense army affiliated with the base camp. Theoretically, all defense forces in Japan should be under the control of the General Defense Forces Headquarters.

However, the Japanese Defense General Army is led by the Army. When the General Army was established, the person in charge in Japan was Tojo Hideki Omaka. However, how can the sacred mission of defending the homeland and protecting the emperor be monopolized by the Army? How could the navy be convinced? Therefore, the Navy led by Yamamoto was angry with Tojo at that time and refused to hand over the "Moonlight" night fighter unit controlled by the Navy to the General Defense Forces.

The "Moonlight" is the only reliable night fighter in the hands of the Japanese Army and Navy. There are not only cannons that can fire upwards, but also high-power searchlights and prototype radio detection machines (which means very unreliable radars).

Without "Moonlight", the Japanese Army's useless twin-engine bombers equipped with searchlights to make do as night fighters would not be able to deal with the night bomber groups of the United States, China and the Soviet Union. Not only was it unable to deal with the B-17s, but what was even more embarrassing was that Tojo Omaka's "night fighter" actually destroyed a lot of B-17s.

It turns out that the American B-17 also has an air combat version - this is a very wicked design. It looks the same as an ordinary B-17, but there are no bombs on the plane. Instead, the fuselage is filled with bombs. The guns were specially reinforced, and of course radars and searchlights were installed for night fighting. This kind of B-17 often hangs around the bomber group and engages in "fishing" air combat. Those stupid Japanese "night fighters" (actually modified from bombers) will definitely be killed or injured if they get together!

As a result, after several months of night air battles, the Japanese Army's "night fighters" were shot down by B-17s. Moreover, it does not play any role in protecting the city, and solidification occurs everywhere in big cities such as Tokyo, Osaka, Yokohama, Kobe, and Kyoto. The fire destroyed countless houses and small workshops and factories hidden in low-rise residential areas made of wooden buildings. Unlike the large factories common in Europe and the United States, Japan's industrialization still relies heavily on small businesses. Workshops and small factories. Large factories often do final assembly work, while factories that produce parts are small factories as big as sesame seeds and mung beans. Of course, these small factories do not have decent factory areas, and they often open in densely populated residential areas. Ordinary bombing poses no threat to them, but the fire caused by solidification can burn down the entire block where these small factories and workshops depend.

Therefore, the Chinese Red Army and the Soviet Red Army, which were very familiar with the situation in Japan, did not take "detours" in bombing Japan. They started with a fire attack. Although the intensity of the bombing was not large, the burning continued for several months, which also caused a great blow to Japan's domestic industrial production.

In addition, God seems to have a hard time with the Japanese. Just when Japan's major cities were suffering heavy losses from enemy fire attacks, there was a massive earthquake in the Southeast China Sea in December 1944, which destroyed Mitsubishi's aircraft engine factory and greatly delayed the production of many new aircraft models. Among them is the "Xuguang" night heavy fighter, which the Japanese Army has high hopes for.

Without serious night fighters, the Japanese Army could only compromise with the shameless Navy and let the Navy set up a local air fleet (a fleet without ships) to be responsible for the night air defense of Japan.

However, the performance of the Japanese Navy's domestic air fleet with "Moonlight" night fighters is not much better, but the "Moonlight" fighters are not so easily shot down by B-17s. It is also difficult to shoot down the B-17 because the Americans sent in the F-13 early warning aircraft. With the command of the early warning aircraft, the B-17 bomber can easily avoid the "Moonlight", which is not very fast.

So after discovering that Japan had a more useful night fighter, the B-17s of the United States, China and the Soviet Union immediately changed their tactics, from fighting to hiding, avoiding the interception of the "Moonlight", and throwing incendiary bombs to finish.

The countermeasure of the Japanese Navy's domestic air fleet is to use a large number of "Moonlight" night fighters to intercept them layer by layer. Although it cannot shoot down a large number of B-17s, it can force these aircraft to drop their bombs and escape.

However, Yamamoto Isoroku, who had received the information in advance this time, planned to play a big game. Nearly 300 "Moonlight" night fighters were concentrated at the airports on the Noto Peninsula and Niigata Prefecture - this is almost the "Moonlight" fighter owned by the Japanese Navy. Three-quarters of the total.

"Okay," Yamamoto Isoroku breathed out softly, "It seems that the German intelligence is accurate. Tell Yamaguchi-kun that this time we must beat up the invading enemy no matter what. And... we cannot kill an enemy. Put the plane over Tokyo!"

"Hai!" Lieutenant General Onishi Takijiro nodded heavily, turned and left the conference room.

Yamamoto then said to Kanji Ishihara, chief of the Army Staff Headquarters who was present: "Ishihara-kun, the anti-aircraft artillery units defending Tokyo must also be prepared to fire at any time."

Since a large number of "Moonlights" are concentrated on the northern coast of Japan's Honshu Island to disrupt B-17s flying from North Korea and Vladivostok, there are not many "Moonlight" night fighters on the airports around Tokyo. The various night fighters modified from bombers used to make up the numbers are of little use, so tonight's defense over Tokyo can only rely on anti-aircraft guns.

However, Japanese anti-aircraft guns do not have radio proximity fuzes to use, and they do not have fire control radars. At night, you can only rely on searchlights and cat eyes to find targets. You can know the effect without even thinking about it.

…

"Ta-ta-ta-ta..."

A rapid "tacking" sound rang out in the cabin of the F-13C radar early warning aircraft on which Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbetts was riding.

"Got it, received the navigation signal!"

The navigator in the cabin, Ensign Johnson, shouted excitedly. "Lieutenant Colonel, we found Tokyo!"

The "tap-tap-tap" signal is the sound emitted after one of the two Lorenz beams is received by the F-13C radio. This shows that the bomber group commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbets has flown near Tokyo. Now just fly along the "tap-tap-tap" signal (if the aircraft deviates from the course, the signal will become weaker and weaker, and vice versa), and then receive another Lorenz beam, the bomber group will arrive over Tokyo. .

"Okay, keep the altitude." Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbetts looked at the darkness outside the cabin, "Pay attention to the radar search... The Japanese also have radar stations, they should be able to detect us."

Although Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbetts had never bombed Tokyo, he still knew the Japanese air defense capabilities very well. I know that the Japanese also have radar, which can detect targets about 100 kilometers away. Moreover, the Japanese's high-altitude fighter planes are not very good. Above 10,000 meters is basically a safe zone. If F-13s are under command, the bomber group will not suffer any losses without escort.

Reports from the Soviet Red Air Force and the U.S. Air Force assisting the Soviet Union told Paul Tibbetts that the Japanese army in Tokyo had many twin-engine night fighters (Moonlight), which would still pose some threat to the B-17s flying at night. Therefore, the F-13C early warning aircraft must remain at the ultimate altitude of 12,000 meters and conduct searches carefully.

In addition, the Soviet report also said that Tokyo's light control was very good. It's basically pitch black at night. This is because coal supply from Japan's power plants is very tight, and it's impossible to guarantee power supply to cities at night. Therefore, in the fleet commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Paul Tibbetts, there are several B-29C bombers flown by veteran pilots and navigators who have been to Tokyo. These B-29C bombers will use solidification to ignite Tokyo first. house, guiding the remaining B-29Cs to bomb targets.

…

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, Chiba Prefecture's Radar Station No. 21 has detected a group of unidentified aircraft flying from the direction of the Pacific Ocean!"

When Japanese Prime Minister Isoroku Yamamoto was waiting in the basement of the Prime Minister's Office for news of the successful air battle in the Sea of ​​Japan, an Army Major suddenly hurried into the conference room, bowed to Army Chief Kanji Ishihara, and handed over a A note. Ishihara glanced at the note, jumped up immediately, and loudly reported unexpected news to Yamamoto Isoroku.

"This is a false alarm." Lieutenant General Nishi Takijiro, deputy director of the Naval Command, said with certainty. "It is impossible for a plane to fly from the Pacific direction. The closest stronghold controlled by the Americans to the Japanese mainland is Midway Island, which is 30 kilometers away from Tokyo." Nearly 5,000 kilometers!”

Japan does not know the existence of the B-29C ultra-long-range bomber. According to the information they have, the maximum combat range of the B-29B is less than 6,000 kilometers. It can fly from Midway to Tokyo, and after dropping bombs, it will not go to Vladivostok. And Midway is so big. Even if a runway can be built that can take off and land B-29s, it won't be able to accommodate many B-29s.

As for taking off from Oahu, the distance is more than 6,000 kilometers. What aircraft can fly that far with a bomb? Even the Germans don't seem to have bombers that can fly that far with bombs, right?

"Could it have taken off from an aircraft carrier?" Yamamoto Isoroku was still a little worried. Although it was impossible for shore-based long-range bombers to come from the Pacific, it could not be ruled out that an American aircraft carrier formation had sneaked closer to the Japanese mainland. .

"It's not very likely," Onishi Takijiro thought for a moment. "The Navy's One-Type land attack has been carefully searching the ocean south and east of the Japanese archipelago. There are also sentry ships of the Navy's 7th Fleet conducting continuous searches there. Patrols are unlikely to allow a U.S. aircraft carrier formation to come within 1,000 nautical miles of the mainland without being noticed.”

Yamamoto Isoroku nodded, he knew that what Onishi said was the truth. Although Japan's aviation power is now a bit weak, it is unable to annihilate the American fleet approaching the mainland from the air. But it’s definitely not to the point where you can’t even discover it! Therefore, the possibility of false alarms from radar stations is indeed high - false alarms are a normal phenomenon for Japanese-made radars, and the top brass of the Japanese military have long been accustomed to them.

"It is indeed impossible to be an aircraft carrier," Yamamoto said, "but we still cannot take it lightly and order the General Defense Force and the Naval Air Force near Tokyo to dispatch."

…

"Sir, the radar has detected the target."

At 11:35 pm on May 28, 1945, Tokyo time, the radar observer on Paul Tibbetts' plane suddenly reported loudly: "10 o'clock direction, distance 120, altitude 2000, number 10-20... Oh, they It’s climbing!”

"They should have just taken off from the airport," Paul Tibbetts smiled coldly, "But it doesn't matter, we just avoid them."

As he spoke, he turned on the radio on the plane and began to issue orders: "Children, I am Paul (this is his name and code name). There is a rat (referring to the Japanese aircraft) 10 o'clock ahead at 10 o'clock. , 20 at most, climbing the mountain (referring to climbing), we went up to 10 floors (climbing to 10,000 meters), and then went around at full speed, and everyone followed. "

The B-29C has lost weight in order to increase its range, and its engine horsepower is also larger than that of previous models. Therefore, after most of the fuel is consumed, the speed of the aircraft can be raised to a very high speed. It can fly more than 630 kilometers at an altitude of 10,000 meters. If there is a tailwind, it can even fly at a speed of 690-700 kilometers per hour. There is no way Japanese planes can catch up.

Less than 30 minutes later, the fleet led by Paul Tibbetts avoided two Japanese fleets and had already flown into the sky near Tokyo. The soft sound of "didi-dip" began to be heard, which mixed with the previous "dip-dip" sound and turned into a "didi-dip-dip" sound.

"Sir, we have arrived above Tokyo!"

Paul Tibbetts, who heard the report from his subordinates, immediately gave the order: "Fire-breathing snake (referring to the B-29C carrying incendiary bombs), it's up to you, give me some light!"

"Copy that, sir."

"Haha, we can finally set fire to the Japanese!"

"There are also germ bombs! It's time to let the Japanese know how powerful we are!"

"Yes, let the Japanese know how awesome it is!"

Paul Tibbetts's men cheered, but no one felt guilty about dropping germ bombs on Tokyo. After all, the Japanese themselves have used germ bombs a lot, and now they are just retaliating with tit-for-tat.

When Tibbetts thought of this, the dark land ahead suddenly burst into dazzling fire like a volcano erupting. Tibbetts raised his telescope and looked in the direction of the fire, and sure enough he found a large number of houses.

Tokyo city has arrived!