Volume 1: Entering the War of Resistance Chapter 42: Bombing Tokyo

  Although it is still a distance from Tokyo, it has entered the range of bombers. Under Zheng Shaoyu's command, the floating airbase first launched three fighter squadrons of the 11th Wing and then released three bomber squadrons of the 12th Wing. Looking at the bombs hanging under the wings of the 96-style land-based attack aircraft, He Junci was still a bit worried. These were installed with fuses, if one was not careful during takeoff, the floating airbase would be exposed. Fortunately, although it was the first time to take off with live ammunition, Xu Huan's team was well-trained and all took off successfully, letting He Junci breathe a sigh of relief.

  One squadron of J-1s was responsible for protecting the floating airbase, while two other squadrons of J-1s escorted bombers to their designated positions. One squadron of bombers carrying high-explosive bombs dove towards the Nakajima Aircraft Company factory on the outskirts of Tokyo, where the engines for Zero fighters and many other Japanese combat aircraft were manufactured. Another squadron of bombers carrying incendiary bombs targeted a working-class residential area in Tokyo. Xu Huan-sheng led the last squadron carrying special ammunition to the military base, which was seized at Hankou Airport, and He Jun-cai immediately recognized that the green-skulled bombs were poisonous gas bombs. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, poison gas for poison gas!

  The Japanese had never imagined that their capital would be bombed, and the war seemed far away, with only reports of the Greater Japanese Empire's triumphs visible in the newspapers. All of Tokyo did not implement blackout measures, and the Nakajima Aircraft Factory was still brightly lit, with workers working overtime to produce aircraft engines in three shifts. It can be said that the Japanese paid great attention to the development of aviation technology, from 1911 to 1940, they had already become an aviation power, and now Japan's engine and overall aircraft performance have surpassed the world, which is the pride of Japan's aviation industry.

  Yamamoto is the production line administrator, he glanced at his watch, still 4 hours until the end of work, long-term night shifts are really a torture for the body. Yamamoto decided to go out and smoke a cigarette, this is also one of his privileges as an administrator, if it were other workers, they would have to file a report even to use the restroom.

  On a cool autumn night, Yamamoto finally managed to light his cigarette while leaning against the factory gate. Cigarettes had become a luxury during wartime rationing, and it was only thanks to a good relative that he could get them at all. Just as Yamamoto was savoring the smoke, a loud rumbling sound came from the night sky. Yamamoto looked up in puzzlement - this was unmistakably the sound of an airplane engine, and after working at the engine factory for over ten years, he could even tell it was the unique sound of a Nakajima engine. But how could that be coming from the sky?

  It wasn't until he heard the whistling of the falling bombs that he realized they were being bombed. Although he didn't understand why Tokyo was being bombed, Yamamoto quickly took off running, his target a drainage ditch along the factory road.

  Bombs fell without warning and exploded, due to the short distance of the attack, 12 G4M1s carried the maximum payload, carrying a total of over 18 tons of bombs. These high-explosive bombs were evenly distributed in the Nakajima aircraft factory, destroying one building after another. A raging fire broke out on the ground, and workers who were rushing to work in the workshop were either crushed by collapsing houses or burned to death, with only a few clever people like Yamamoto escaping disaster.

  The same thing was happening in the workers' residential area of Tokyo, but this time it was incendiary bombs specifically designed for Japanese wooden houses that were being dropped. It's worth noting that these incendiary bombs were originally produced by Japan and were intended to be used against Chongqing. Yamamoto didn't know that his house had been set on fire and he was now homeless. Even Xu Huan Sheng, who was some distance away, could feel the scorching heat from the ground. Japanese houses were originally built with a lot of wood and were closely packed together, so the fire quickly spread out of control with the help of the wind.

  Xu Huan-sheng led the 12 96-type land-based attack aircraft, which were the farthest from their destination. They were going to bomb the Japanese Imperial Guard Division's barracks. Xu Huan-sheng looked up at the 8 J-1 fighter jets covering them and was full of confidence. He thought back to two years ago when the Chinese Air Force had never been so powerful. This bombing would be a hundred times more eye-catching than the "paper bomb" incident. He glanced at the four poison gas bombs hanging from his wing, and he was delighted to return these bombs to the Japanese.

  The Japanese had finally realized they were being bombed, and some hastily opened searchlights began to sweep the night sky wildly. Xu Huan-sheng flew over the military camp and gave orders, aiming at the largest building and dropping the carried bombs. Due to the sudden weight loss, the bomber suddenly surged upwards, and the pilot quickly controlled the plane. At this time, the anti-aircraft fire on the ground had already started firing, but since it was a toxic gas bomb, Xu Huan-sheng did not lower his altitude in pursuit of bombing accuracy, so he was safe above 3,000 meters.

  It wasn't until the soldiers of the Imperial Guard discovered that the bombs dropped on them didn't explode but instead emitted white smoke that they realized it was a gas attack. However, it was already too late, as the Imperial Guard had not distributed gas masks because they never thought they would be attacked with gas at home, and the masks were locked in the military warehouse. The barracks became almost a dead city, with nearly 10,000 people directly killed by the gas, and more than 10,000 others suffering long-term torment. The elite Imperial Guard had not even gone to the battlefield yet, but died at home for the Emperor's sake. Only high-ranking officers such as the division commander and chief of staff escaped because they did not live in the barracks.

  After the Japanese fighter planes took off, the Chinese air force planes had already completed their mission and left. They circled around and found the floating airbase on the sea surface under radar guidance, landing one after another. After all 24 fighter planes and 36 bomber planes landed safely, He Juncai let out a sigh of relief. Although he was prepared for losses, no losses were still the best. If any planes were lost, it was likely that the secret of the floating airbase would be exposed.

  The long black night was still going on, the floating base began to return, leaving Tokyo shrouded in flames and thick smoke. On the way back, the 11th and 12th squadrons struck again, bombing Fukuoka, Osaka, Nagasaki, and Nagoya along the way. These bombings were only symbolic and did not intend to be on the same scale as Tokyo, because ammunition was limited and could not support such a large-scale bombing, and Japanese cities had already sounded the alarm and implemented blackout measures.

  On the floating base, He Juncai was not idle either. Zheng Shaoyu took charge of commanding in the air, while He Juncai led a few ground crew members to transport a batch of bombs with different models that were difficult to use for bombing aircraft to the parachute exit, which was originally the garbage disposal place of the floating base. He Juncai watched with great interest as the ground crew members arranged the bombs neatly and adjusted the fuses. Then he pressed the button, and these bombs rolled out one after another, below was Nagasaki, He Juncai finally felt the thrill of personally bombing Japan.

  When daylight broke, the floating base had returned to the skies above mainland China, moving along the dense cloud layer. Currently, there are no planes that can fly above the flat layer, so as long as they have cloud cover, it's safe. Of course, the two reconnaissance planes were still in Japanese airspace, and for these small planes, it seemed like there was no need to worry about their flight path. The high-flying, low-consumption reconnaissance planes could greatly reduce their fuel consumption with just a little sunlight during the day. Their mission was to confirm the results of the battle and send some photos back home.

  The sky had brightened, and it was confirmed that the Chinese air force had left. Emperor Hirohito finally brought out the empress from the hiding place in the imperial palace, now disheveled and listless. Anyone who was dragged out of bed in the middle of the night and worried until dawn would be in this state. Yamamoto Isoroku observed the Tokyo city where the fire had just been extinguished from a high place, and he let out a deep sigh. Now more than half of Tokyo was smoking, and the losses were definitely not small. He was thinking about how to use this incident to persuade the General Headquarters to give up the northern advance and change to a southern strategy, as long as the Chinese front was stabilized, it would be enough, and the good territory had been occupied by the Great Japanese Empire, so there seemed to be no need to make more efforts. Meanwhile, Army Minister Tojo Hideki was furious, smashing several teacups, the elite divisions, how many such divisions did Japan have, almost all of them were destroyed overnight. The Nakajima Aircraft Factory was razed to the ground, although the production of parts and components had originally been scattered in small workshops, the Nakajima Aircraft Factory was only responsible for final assembly and testing, but it would still take several months to resume production. Not to mention that a large number of skilled workers were killed in the bombing, and the residential area of the workers who were resting was also bombed with incendiary bombs, causing heavy casualties among the workers.

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  At 9:00 am on September 3, the Secretary of the Presidium gathered many reporters again and told them that there was important news to be released. Many reporters crowded in the room and asked each other.

  "What's up? Shouldn't there be some inside information about the declaration?"

  "Haven't you heard? Didn't they just hold a press conference yesterday? Has your newspaper received any news?"

  Some foreign media reporters formed another circle, they were more enthusiastic about discussing the ongoing war in Europe.

  "The Chairman has arrived!" With a loud command, everyone stood up to show respect to the Chairman. Originally thought it was just a simple press conference, but unexpectedly the Chairman came in person, apparently it's an extremely important message, many reporters were excited and perked up.

  "Last night, our brave Chinese Air Force launched a surprise attack on Tokyo and other Japanese cities in retaliation for the enemy's bombing of our cities." Chiang Kai-shek dropped a big bombshell, triumphantly announcing last night's results with a meaningful glance at the Italian journalist who had questioned the air force's capabilities yesterday. The Italian journalist was already stunned, his eyes wide with shock, and Chiang Kai-shek was extremely pleased with his expression.

  "I declare that the National Government's Military Commission has designated Tokyo, Osaka and Nagasaki as combat zones. Please ask the embassies, news agencies and other institutions of various countries in these cities to evacuate to safe areas to avoid being mistakenly bombed." Chiang Kai-shek felt a sense of revenge at this moment, like eating ice cream on a hot summer day. On June 14th of this year, Japan sent out a notice to all countries, openly demanding that the embassies of various countries in China move to the "safe zone" south of Potsdam and Longmen Lake, so as to freely bomb the urban area of Chongqing, which was considered a revenge for the previous bombing.

  "Wow." A large number of reporters rushed forward, hoping to get more firsthand information. This was explosive news. It had always been said that China was invaded by Japan, but when did China ever attack the Japanese mainland? Chinese reporters naturally wanted to spread this good news to the people as soon as possible, while foreign reporters were eager to send this news back to their home countries. Many of them were spies openly sent by various countries.

  "This victory was achieved by the Air Force, I suggest you go interview them. Let me tell you a piece of good news, the Air Force Headquarters will release detailed battle reports this afternoon, and you can ask them then." Chiang Kai-shek smiled, it's indeed fitting for a great national leader like him.

  Behind something seemingly perfect, there are always compromises and sacrifices! Grumbling words, drifting away...