The Rise of the Third Reich

December 18, Oahu, Hawaiian Islands.

When the first ray of morning light shines on this key island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds or even thousands of balloons of various colors suddenly rise into the sky.

These colorful balloons are very huge, and what looks like a basket is hung underneath the balloon, just like a manned hot air balloon.

But this is not a hot air balloon, nor is it the most common anti-aircraft balloon in World War II, but a hydrogen balloon with a bomb attached!

They are used to bomb the continental United States and are the vanguard of "Operation Jet-1"!

This weapon, which the Japanese call the "sailboat bomb", first showed its potential in early 1943. However, shortly after the Battle of Panama, Japan stopped using the "Sailboat Bomb". Because the method of using "sailboat bombs" at that time was relatively stupid, in order to pursue the hit rate, ships such as seaplane carriers had to be launched. The cost of bombing the United States once was not low, and there were also risks.

In addition, after the United States frantically strengthened its air defense on the west coast, shooting such balloon bombs became a project for training American fighter pilots.

However, after Japan stopped its floating bombing operations, it did not give up the "Sailboat Explosive Bomb" project. Instead, a series of improvements were made so that it could take off from the Hawaiian Islands to bomb the continental United States.

At the same time, Japan is still stepping up its stockpile of "Sailboat Explosive Bombs" - although this weapon does not burn oil and does not require expensive raw materials, it is completely handmade and the output is not very high.

In order to use a large number of these "sailboat bombs" in "Operation Jie-1", the Japanese spent several months pasting balloons, and now they have finally accumulated 300,000 sailboat bombs (a total of more than 10,000 in history) ).

These 300,000 sailboat bombs are a strategy for the Japanese to weaken their enemies, and they are also a means to intimidate the United States.

Starting from December 18, 10,000 sailboat bombs will be released every day. About three days later, these sailboat bombs will float near the west coast of the United States. Of course most of them will be shot down by the American P51 and P47 - this is an opportunity to practice marksmanship! But at the same time, it will also make American pilots exhausted.

After continuous "target training", in the early morning of December 25, when the real Japanese bombers arrived, the Americans would definitely miss the best interception opportunity due to fatigue and negligence.

After the Me264 bomber dropped ceramic bacterial bombs, a small number of ceramic bacterial bombs would be installed on the "sailboats" floating towards the United States - not to kill many Americans, but to continue to create panic.

At this point, some people may ask why they don’t use sailboat bombs to drop ceramic bacterial bombs. In fact, the Japanese have used this idea, but according to the intelligence provided by German agents, these sailboat bombs have no accuracy. The spots are scattered, and most of them fall in sparsely populated areas. The number of sailboat explosive bombs that Unit 731 can provide is very limited. Only a few thousand have been manufactured so far. If only 1% of ceramic bacterial bombs fall in densely populated areas, I am afraid not many Americans will be infected.

Moreover, "Operation Jet-1" started in December 1943. Only the Southern California area in the United States was relatively warm due to its low altitude and the influence of the Pacific Warm Current, and was suitable for the use of ceramic bacterial bombs.

In Northern California, as well as Oregon and Washington states in North America, it is now a land of ice and snow. The mosquitoes and fleas responsible for the rise and fall of the Japanese Empire are likely to freeze to death. As for the states further east, the population is even smaller...

…

"Vice Admiral, the Pacific Fleet Command just called. Their destroyers and B-24 aircraft discovered that a large number of balloon bombs were approaching the west coast."

At noon on the 21st, Lieutenant General James Harold Doolittle, commander of the Fourth Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces in charge of air defense on the west coast of the United States, received a report from his staff while having lunch.

"Another balloon bomb?"

Doolittle put down his knife and fork and looked at Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault, who was sitting opposite him.

"How many?" Chennault asked.

In this time and space, Chennault had "poor official luck" and did not become the commander of the 14th Air Force. He was only the chief of staff of the 4th Air Force. However, he himself is very satisfied with his current situation, because the 4th U.S. Air Force is the strongest in the U.S. Army Air Forces, with more than 5,000 commonly used aircraft!

And in addition to less than 1,000 B-17s, B-24s, B-25s (nearly 300 B-25s were converted into night fighters, code-named PB-25K) and B-26s, the remaining 4,000 The aircraft are all the latest P47, P51, P38 and P61 (night fighters, not many in number). The West Coast of the United States is almost defended like an iron wall!

"More than 1,000." The staff officer answered in a very relaxed tone.

These balloon bombs are now discovered by the US Navy's "Destroyer Reconnaissance Line" and B-24 scattered in the Pacific. The so-called "Destroyer Reconnaissance Line" excludes about 100 destroyers and escort destroyers equipped with radars in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the United States. Draw a dotted line to form an outpost air defense/anti-submarine warning network to increase the reaction time of the U.S. Army Aviation and Naval Aviation.

In addition, for the same purpose, there are also B-24-modified reconnaissance aircraft in the air that conduct 24-hour patrol flights.

Although it is impossible to achieve 100% detection, Japan's large fleet and numerous bomb balloons cannot escape the radar of these aircraft and destroyers - from this perspective, if the Japanese listen to Hersman's The idea is to use the Me264 to sneak attack San Diego. Even if the "Silver Death" is launched 200 kilometers away, the 100% success rate is still very guaranteed!

"Let the P51s go," Lieutenant General Doolittle began to issue the order, "Send out 500 first, which should be enough... In addition, notify the Coast Air Defense Team and ask them to prepare anti-aircraft guns. No matter what, we cannot let a Japanese bomb Falling in a densely populated area.”

"Understood, Lieutenant General." Chennault stood up, gave a military salute, and immediately went to the combat command center with a relaxed mood to take command.

It’s nothing more than 1,000 or more balloons…just use it as target practice!

But in the next few days, both Doolittle and Chennault felt that something was wrong - nearly 10,000 balloons with bombs floating slowly from the Pacific Ocean every day!

Although these balloons are just targets, there are as many as 10,000 of them, and no one can guarantee that they will be shot down 100%.

Moreover, not all of these balloons flew in during the day, but many of them flew in the middle of the night. In this way, P51, P47 and P38 were useless, and only PB-25K (night fighter) and P61 could be used to intercept them. However, the total number of these two types of aircraft is less than 400, and the effect of fighting at night is not as good as during the day.

By December 24, more than 5,000 sailboat bombs had slipped through the net and landed in densely populated areas.

…

"Mr. President, the Japanese have too many bomb balloons..."

William Leahy and Commander of the Army Air Forces, Admiral Arnold, as well as Secretary of Naval Operations Ernesto King and Army Chief of Staff Marshall were all summoned to the White House on Christmas morning to discuss countermeasures.

"Yes, there are at least 10,000 of them every day!" Admiral Arnold said helplessly, "And half of them fly to the United States at night. We don't have enough night aircraft."

The P-61 has just been put into production and is still in the trial stage. It will take some time to ramp up production. As for guest night aircraft like the PB-25K, its combat effectiveness is very limited.

"Ten thousand a day..." Roosevelt took a puff of Camel cigarettes. "Is this just the beginning?"

At least 20% of the 10,000 balloons landed in relatively densely populated areas - of course this "relatively dense" cannot be compared with the center of Tokyo, but it still caused some casualties.

Since December 22, dozens of deaths and injuries have been reported every day. As of Christmas Eve, the 24th, the death toll has exceeded 100.

Almost every day, more than 50 American citizens die under such fatal balloons!

In addition, all large and medium-sized cities on the West Coast of the United States, including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, will hear the roar of anti-aircraft artillery every night starting from the 22nd.

"10,000 balloons a day, that's 3.65 million a year..." Marshall immediately did an arithmetic problem.

"They can produce so many," Admiral Arnold said immediately. "I have seen those balloons, they are all made of paper, and 10 female workers can paste one in a day. If there are 1 million Japanese making balloons, we will be in trouble That’s big.”

100,000 a day!

Balloons can definitely be made, but those bomb balloons also have a complex mechanical control device, and there are many bombs and hydrogen. It is impossible for Japan to produce 100,000 copies of these things in a day. In fact, they can't even produce 10,000 copies. It can't be made... Japan is not the United States after all.

"It seems we have to consider seizing the Hawaiian Islands," the U.S. president looked at the generals in front of him and asked in a gentle tone, "Is it possible now?"

Roosevelt was not stupid, and he certainly would not have muddle-headedly ruined the fleet and hundreds of thousands of landing troops he had finally built up just for the tragic deaths of dozens of citizens every day.

"Unlikely."

"Mr. President, the current conditions are not mature."

"We should stick to the existing strategy and continue to consume Japan..."

The answers of several generals were similar, and they did not support an immediate attack on the Hawaiian Islands.

Just when Roosevelt was about to do what he was doing, his aide-de-camp Colonel Cotton suddenly brought unexpected news.

"Mr. President, the Pacific Fleet reported that they have detected Japanese bombers approaching the west coast."