I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 167 The First Bombing of Tokyo

After the U.S. military intensified its air strikes on Iwo Jima, it finally began to prepare to attack Tokyo.

On February 2, a large fleet of 23 B-174 heavy bombers took off from Guam Airport and flew north in a mighty manner.

Lin Chen and his crew were also among them.
General LeMay sent out all the B-29 heavy bombers he had, and this time, unlike previous times, all the planes were carrying napalm bombs.

This bomb contains a colloid made of gasoline and other chemicals. When it explodes, it produces high-temperature flames that splash around, generating temperatures of around 1000°C, and can stick to other objects and burn for a long time.

Ordinary fire can be extinguished by rolling or pouring water, but this kind of weapon is useless and may even make the fire burn more fiercely.

Weapons experts required ground crew members to be extremely careful when loading ammunition, and repeatedly reminded them of the precautions when using the weapon, which shows their extreme fear of this weapon.

Since there were no escort aircraft for this attack, the commander chose to have the fleet climb to an altitude of 10000 feet ( meters). During World War II, few Japanese aircraft could fly to this altitude, so it was relatively safer.

The entire flight process is very boring, and it takes about four and a half hours to fly over the target.

There are no flight crew members serving the passengers during this period of time. Their only pleasure is to have a proper chat and drink some hot water.

Of course, a considerable number of personnel must be left to pay attention to air defense to prevent attacks by Japanese suicide planes.

However, the Japanese army probably did not expect that the US military would approach the mainland with such a large fleet and at such a high altitude.

So when Lin Chen and his team descended to 5000 meters and saw the Japanese coastline, Japan's homeland defense had not yet reacted.

After flying over Nara City, the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery units began to react.
But compared with the German air defense forces, the power of these anti-aircraft guns is just a tickle.

For bomber pilots like Lin Chen who were used to big scenes in Europe, this was nothing surprising.

The distance from Nara to Tokyo is only a few dozen kilometers, and observers quickly identified Tokyo's landmark buildings.

After getting the commander's approval, everyone removed the bomb's safety device in a well-trained manner, and the bombardier pressed the release button.

Countless incendiary bombs fell all over the place, and after the explosions, countless orange-red high-temperature areas were created.
Looking down from the plane, the scenery on the ground became distorted due to the extreme high temperature, and the scene was very strange.

It’s just that the hellish scene on the ground is so rare that no one has the chance to see it.

"Let's go back, everyone!"

After the commander's order was given, everyone began to return. No one expected that such intensive bombing scenes would become normal work in the future, and the whole of Japan would be razed to the ground by its own incendiary bombs.

At this moment, the Japanese homeland defense fighters finally took off and rushed over.

During World War II, both the Japanese Army and Navy had large aviation forces, but did not have an air force as a branch of the military.

Although both the Japanese Army and Navy are equipped with propeller fighters with similar performance, the two services have completely parallel and independent fighter research and development and use systems.

Among them, in addition to traditional land-based fighters, the Japanese Navy also has relatively unique fighter models such as carrier-based fighters and sea fighters.

The Japanese Army Air Force is mainly equipped with traditional propeller fighters.

This made the Japanese Army Aviation pay more attention to the interception and air combat capabilities of new models when developing and selecting fighter jets.

By the end of World War II, Japan's homeland air defense was mainly carried out by aviation units equipped with Type 2 and Type 4 fighters.

Due to Japan's shortage of steel and the large loss of experienced pilots, even though it was equipped with new fighter jets, the performance was not as good as the early Zero.

The U.S. Army Air Force, which had accumulated a wealth of experience in carrying out strategic bombing missions in Europe, was undoubtedly superior in terms of skills and tactics.

Take a typical B-29 bomber formation of 11 as an example.

The formation includes one three-plane formation and two four-plane formations. Looking from the horizontal direction, the three-plane formation is in a triangle in the front, and the two four-plane formations are on both sides behind it, forming a diamond shape.

The maximum horizontal width of the entire formation is 413 meters.

From a horizontal perspective, the three-plane formation is in the middle, and the two four-plane formations are located on the upper and lower sides respectively, with a maximum height difference of 222 meters. This means that the distance between the aircraft can be completely covered by 12.7mm machine guns.

Japan's thinly armored single-engine fighters were simply unable to compete with the B-29s and were often shot down by the B-'s powerful formation firepower before they even got close.

This bombing completely stunned the Japanese army. They had never expected that the US military would dispatch so many heavy bombers. They thought that there would be only a few dozen of them as usual.

So a Japanese destroyer squadron of 18 Zero fighters attacked to intercept, but before they could get close, they were shot down by the crossfire of the B-29s and the entire army was wiped out.

As for the American side, apart from a small volley of bullets hitting the fuselage of a bomber, there was no other loss.

This greatly boosted the morale of the US military aircraft.

By the time the Japanese army fully reacted, Lin Chen and others' bombers were about to leave the Japanese land.

But at this moment, the interception force consisting of three Type 2 and Type 4 fighters that came to support from nearby Osaka and other places finally arrived.

Maybe the bombing was too fierce, and these fighters used a completely reckless fighting style.
They used the rapid climb of their planes and the quick attack and retreat method to shoot down two B-29s.

Because the waters outside were Japanese territorial waters, there would be no rescue if they landed, and it would be certain death, so the crashed B-29 could only forcibly change direction and make an emergency landing on Japanese land.

Looking down from a high altitude, it seemed that only one plane made a successful emergency landing. I didn't know whether this was a blessing or a curse.
The Japanese army was extremely cruel to the bomber crews and didn't care about the damn Geneva Convention at all.

However, the Japanese aircraft suffered greater losses. After several consecutive waves of attacks, the B-29 fleet climbed to an altitude of nearly meters, which was the limit of the Japanese interception aircraft's take-off.

At this altitude, the maneuverability of the Japanese fighter planes was greatly affected, so they could only leave in anger.

When the US bomber fleet was on its way back, two more bombers were forced to make emergency landings on the sea due to mechanical failures. As a result, both bombers failed to make emergency landings, resulting in the destruction of the bombers and the death of the people on board.

This made Lin Chen and his comrades feel very sad.

If Iwo Jima was in the hands of the US military, this situation could have been avoided to a certain extent.

When flying over Iwo Jima, the US warships happened to launch a fire "greeting" on the island. The entire island was bombed into a mess and thick smoke was everywhere.

Countless aircraft are providing close support.

It seems that the attack was not going well.

Sure enough, when Lin Chen and his team just landed, their superiors urgently ordered them to load napalm bombs and heavy bombs again and carry out a "carpet-style" bombing on Japanese fortifications near Motoyama in the northern part of Iwo Jima.

Many crew members complained that they had to go on another mission after flying for ten hours. But Lin Chen understood that the more this happened, the more it showed that the battle on Iwo Jima was extremely difficult, and their continuous attacks were particularly necessary.

The attack mission was completed by Lin Chen's team. When a group of more than a hundred B-29 heavy bombers flew over Iwo Jima, it was already evening, but there was still fierce fighting on the island.

Through the coordinates sent by the USS Bunker Hill and the tracer bullets fired by the US warships, the observer on Lin Chen's plane was finally able to see the approximate location.

"Let the bombs start first!"

Lin Chen issued an order, and more than 40 B-29s in the first formation began to drop 500 kg of heavy aerial bombs.

This powerful aerial bomb can easily break through the defenses of most conventional fortifications, but it may not be effective against the semi-natural fortifications built of rocks on Iwo Jima.

So then the remaining planes began dropping napalm bombs.

Conventional bombs were completely ineffective against the firing points formed by these ground bunkers. They either had to take their lives and use flamethrowers, or use napalm bombs to directly burn the air above the fortifications, causing the enemy troops in the fortifications to suffocate to death.

In order to avoid accidentally bombing friendly forces, they chose to drop bombs at low altitude.

The flames generated by the explosion instantly burned the entire northern part of the island red, and the rolling heat waves even reached the vicinity of the low-altitude bombing aircraft.

"Pull up, we are ready to return."

"Da da da~"

Suddenly, a string of 25mm anti-aircraft shells shot over from a valley in Yuanshan, and coincidentally hit the two engines on the right wing of Lin Chen and his team, causing a fire.

"Oh my God, sir, we've been hit." The co-pilot in the cockpit was horrified.

"Close the oil line and start the fire extinguishing system." Lin Chen gave the order very calmly.

"Sir, the fire-fighting equipment seems to be broken. We can't put out the fire." The co-pilot was a little panicked. "We are running low on power and it's decreasing."

"Turn off the right engine and leave one on the left. It looks like we have no choice but to make an emergency landing on Iwo Jima." This place is more than 1000 kilometers away from the Guam base. Without two engines, there is no way we can fly back.

Landing on the sea late at night is tantamount to seeking death.

He immediately arranged for a replacement pilot plane via the intercom, and then notified everyone to prepare for a collision. They had to make an emergency landing on the island while there was still some light.

He began to dump fuel frantically, trying to drain as much fuel as possible before landing.

When the commander on the aircraft carrier heard Lin Chen's request for an emergency landing, he was also dumbfounded.

There is almost no flat land on the island now, and Airport No. 1 has long been turned into a vegetable field due to continuous bombardment, so an emergency landing under such circumstances is extremely dangerous.

Considering the lack of communication, Lin Chen could only choose a place in the center of the island for an emergency landing, and they sent out Marines for rescue.

Lin Chen and his crew's plane was slowly descending with flames on it. The Japanese troops on the island seemed to have noticed this and, changing their usual stinginess with ammunition, began to rain bullets down on them.

The naval guns did not hesitate to launch suppressive fire on the Japanese positions.

"Fuck, what kind of terrain is this? I can't find a flat surface to land on. I can only try my luck."

Lin Chen could only roughly select an area, and whether he could land depended entirely on fate.

The fire on the right wing of the plane was getting bigger and bigger, so it had to make an emergency landing.

Unfortunately, this time the landing was not as lucky as before. The plane landed at night and obviously hit a rock.

After a collision, the right wing of the plane was knocked off, and the huge fuselage bounced high up and fell heavily again.

After several twists and turns, the plane stopped almost in a disintegrated state.

The only thing to be thankful for was that the plane did not cause a major explosion because it had little fuel left.

Lin Chen's physique was different from that of an ordinary person. He had multiple abrasions and a steel bar pierced his ribs, but he managed to survive without any danger.

He endured the severe pain, unbuckled his seat belt, slowly moved forward among the steel bars, and finally broke free.

When I looked to the side and behind me, I couldn't help but gasp.

The co-pilot's head and body had already been separated, and the fuselage behind him had disappeared.

It was obvious that the crew members were in serious danger.

"Hurry, capture the American pilot, the commander will reward you handsomely!" Lin Chen suddenly heard that some Japanese soldiers were searching here.

It seemed that he had landed even closer to the Japanese position, which was really bad luck.

Although he has a strong self-healing ability, it will take some time for him to recover. His current fighting ability must be very weak.
He slowly dragged his body and got out of the plane from the hole at the back, trying to find a corner to hide.

He believed that the US military search and rescue team should be on the way.

After looking through the bushes, he could see clearly that there were only six or seven Japanese soldiers coming.

If it were any other time, this wouldn't be a problem, but now it was quite difficult, especially since he only had a Browning pistol and one magazine. In such a dark scene, how could he possibly hit the target with every shot?

"Sir, the co-pilot is dead, but the captain is not in the cockpit. He might have been blown away." A Japanese soldier reported to the sergeant.

"Bastard, idiot! The seat belt was unfastened manually. He must be seriously injured and should be nearby." With the help of the firelight, the sergeant's thin face looked very hideous and terrifying, and he gave orders in a frantic manner.

"Damn it, this Japanese invader still has some intelligence. We are screwed now." Lin Chen didn't dare to shoot at all. A pistol was only accurate at a distance of more than ten meters. The scenes in some magical dramas in his previous life where a pistol was used to shoot without missing a single bullet could only make those who knew the subject laugh.

The Japanese army cautiously searched behind the big rock where Lin Chen was hiding.

The enemy was very experienced in combat and surrounded us from both sides, making the situation extremely dangerous.

Lin Chen had no choice but to fire two shots in one direction. The leading man fell to the ground. The Japanese soldiers on the other side were startled and immediately rushed over with bayonets.

Lin Chen suddenly had an idea and picked up a stone from the ground and threw it over. The Japanese soldiers on the other side thought it was an American grenade and quickly lay down in fear. It seemed that they had suffered a lot from American grenades in the past few days.

(End of this chapter)