At dusk on February 6, 1945, Saipan was busy. More than 400 B-29 bombers are preparing for liftoff. The planes had been dismantled from their machine guns and cannons for self-defense, which worried the crew. Most of the 21st Air Force's bomber pilots also had experience in strategic bombing missions in Europe, but not much experience in night bombing missions. In Europe, the tradition of the bomber units of the US Army Aviation was to carry out daytime bombing missions, and the night bombing was basically done by the bombers of the British Royal Air Force. In Europe, daytime bombing, of course, would have been met with strong resistance from the Germans and heavy losses. But the losses of the British units on night bombing missions were not small. The Germans' night fighters were not easy to mess with, and there were even some super aces in this unit who shot down more than a hundred.

Some time ago, the U.S. B-29 bombers did carry out a lot of night mine-laying missions, but these missions were all over the sea, first, there was no threat from ground anti-aircraft artillery and the like, and second, the attack was not the most heavily defended target of Rì himself. Moreover, it is also very important that if they are shot down on the sea, they can also parachute, and there are American submarines nearby, and many pilots who have been shot down and parachuted can be rescued by submarines and can return to the army.

But shot down over Tokyo, that's another matter. Let's not talk about whether they will be beaten to death by those after landing, even if they fall into the hands of the Rì army alive, there may not be any good results. Rì himself was not a signatory to the Rì Neiva Convention, and it never promised to treat prisoners preferentially. However, the U.S. military has not yet landed on the mainland to liberate the U.S. prisoners who were held in the prisoner-of-war camps of the Rì Army. But it is no secret that these captives were persecuted by the rì army. When the intelligence agencies of the United States and Britain were collecting intelligence on the rì army in Southeast Asia, they also learned a lot about the abuse and even massacre of prisoners of war by the rì army in Southeast Asia. What's more, when it was shot down over Tokyo, Tokyo was probably burning. Parachuting on top of that big fire pit, I'm afraid that before I can land, I will turn into a roast pig.

So all the aircrew members were on this mission, and they were all a little drumming in their hearts. However, even with the drums in my heart, this mission still has to be done. And in this operation, General Li May and another officer who is said to be not of low rank will personally participate, so the flight attendants have nothing to say. Now that the incendiary bombs have been loaded, because the weight savings by dismantling the self-defense weapons, and the fact that the mission is at a lower and most economical flight altitude to save fuel, each of these bombers has been loaded with up to 6 tons of napalm, and now the B-29 that leads the flight has completed all preparations. As soon as the last two crew members are in position, it is ready to slide to the runway and take off into the air.

At this moment, a jeep drove up, and the jeep drove all the way to the side of the pilot plane and stopped. The door opened, and two men in flight jackets got out of the jeep and headed straight for the plane.

"General, are you here?" The navigator recognized the man who was walking in front of them as their commander, General Li May.

Li Mei didn't answer, just nodded at him and boarded the plane along the boarding ladder, and the person behind him followed him to the plane.

"Alright, put the ladder away and go." Li Mei said, "What are you still doing in a daze? ”

General Lemay likes to personally take bomber units on combat missions, which is also well-known among the U.S. Army Aviation. But after becoming a general, the number of times he did this gradually decreased. After all, it is difficult for the US military to tolerate a senior commander who is always on the front line taking risks. But this time, Li Mei found a good reason for himself: this operation was an experiment in a new tactic, and he had to participate in the whole process in order to better perfect it.

Everyone sat down in the seats of the bomber and fastened their seat belts. The four engines of the aircraft began to start in turn. Then the huge fighter plane began to glide along the runway, and at this time, the sun, which was already in the west, threw the golden red sunlight into the plane. The inside of the cabin was glowing red with sunlight.

After the guide plane took off, the other planes flew one after another. Because they were carrying out a night bombing mission, and the planes no longer had any self-defense weapons at all, there was no need to form a tight box-shaped formation, so these planes just flew into the distance one after another in the order of takeoff.

It was a long flight from Saipan to Tokyo, and the plane was not loaded with napalm and the flight speed was not high, so it was expected that by the time the plane reached Tokyo, it would be completely dark. However, it is not particularly late at night, and it is estimated that Rì himself has not slept to death. However, this is not a problem, according to the plan of the US military, the pilot bomber will first throw a cross-shaped wall of flames, and then the other bombers will connect the top of this cross with incendiary bombs to enclose the target area, and then the other bombers will drop incendiary bombs in this circle. The scope of this circle is particularly large, and even if the rì himself in the circle is awake, even if he runs as fast as the Olympic 100-meter champion, not many people can run out of this circle.

A few hours later, it was completely dark. And the plane has also approached the Rì main archipelago. In the process, General Li May had been discussing tactical issues with the other officer. When they were talking about it, they even spread out the map on the floor of the bomber, and then turned on the flashlight and pointed to the map and made a comparison.

During the day, General Spruance's carrier-based fighters and carrier-based bombers carried out another round of strikes against the targets of the Rì Army in the vicinity of Tokyo, and then fought another round of air combat with the Rìben planes that came out to counterattack.

"General, we are now close to the Rìmoto Islands, and in ten minutes at most, we will reach Tokyo." The captain, Captain Baker, said to General Li May, who was pointing at the map, as he began to reduce the flight altitude.

"Ah, it's coming." Li Mei straightened up as she spoke, and then said to the officer with whom she had been discussing, "Ron, let's put the map away first, and the main show is about to begin." ”

"Okay, General." The officer replied as he quickly gathered up the map.

"We're above the target area." Navigator Kerry said.

Ron and Li Mei quickly opened their eyes wide and looked down. But it was dark and dreary underneath, and nothing could be seen. Because Rì himself has been doing light control for a long time. But the people on the ground were probably already aware of the approach of the bomber group, and the roar of more than 1,600 engines of more than four hundred bombers, as long as they were not deaf, there was no reason why they could not hear it. Several searchlights lit up, and their pillars of light began to dangle in the air. However, the number of searchlights in Tokyo is far from being comparable to that of Berlin, which is more than an order of magnitude worse. This is simply not enough to maintain night air defense in a large city like Tokyo.

"Ready! 1, 2, 3, bomb! The bombardier pulled down the handle, and a string of napalm swayed and fell from the bomb bay. Dozens of seconds later, a long burning band immediately appeared on the ground behind it. The orange flames rose up, and from the air, it looked like a crack had been made in the earth, and hot lava had burst out of the ground.

Immediately after that, another one was added to this opening. Another B-29 dropped an incendiary bomb that cut a wall of fire that crossed perpendicular to the wall. By this time, the pilot had dropped all six tons of incendiary bombs and began to climb to a high place. Ron and Li Mei watched carefully through the observation window.

A group of bombers began to draw a flaming circle around the cross. With the light of the flames and binoculars, you can faintly see the narrow streets of Tokyo. At this time, a bright flame also ignited in the other direction.

"Where is that?" Ron asked.

The navigator turned on the flashlight, checked the map, and replied, "It should be the Kudanzaka area in the Chiyoda area." There is an important goal there. ”

Ron laughed, it seems that the Yasukuni Shrine or something will probably not be able to escape this fire. Moreover, considering that in the future, the United States will become the father of Rìmoto, when the time comes, even if Rì himself wants to repair this shrine and restore its function, I am afraid that there will be some additional trouble. If nothing else, what do you mean by restoring this? Did you say that Dad blew it up wrong? Is it saying that Dad shouldn't have blown up?

By this time, more bombers had dropped their incendiary bombs, and the fire was getting bigger and bigger, and the fire shone through the huge transparent viewing window on the head of the B-29, illuminating the cabin red, and now anyone who wants to check the map definitely doesn't need to turn on the flashlight again.

……

Fuchida, a sailor who had retired from the navy, was discharged from service after a 127-mm shell from an American destroyer blew off his hand during the battle on Kuah Island, and was no longer capable of his job. Now his comrades-in-arms have fed sharks in the Pacific Ocean, and only he, although disabled, is at least alive, and with what he learned on the warship, he has found a job that can barely support himself and his wife - fire liaison.

When the Americans dropped the first string of incendiary bombs, he also tried to organize personnel to put out the fire, but the constantly falling incendiary bombs made him immediately understand that such a fire could not be controlled. Now the most important thing is not how to extinguish the fire, but how to escape from it.

The air around them was already terrifyingly hot, and a few panicked guys sprang up the street. But Fuchida knew that even under normal circumstances, people would not be able to escape such a fire, not to mention the narrow streets full of debris that made it impossible to escape quickly. Fuchida looked at the streets that had been engulfed in flames, and he understood that if he wanted to escape from these streets, those who fled along the streets would only turn a quick escape into a quick escape. This kind of fire is guaranteed to roast you to ten times before you run out. In a panic, Fuchida saw a river not far away, so he shouted, "Follow me and swim out of the river to the sea of fire." Then he took a few subordinate firefighters and jumped into the river.

With his skillful water, Fuchida swam quickly along the river. But the fire seemed to be boundless, and no matter how much he swam, there were raging flames all around him, and now, every time he came out of the water, he felt the pain of his face being burned, and the scorching air he inhaled was also very uncomfortable for his lungs. And he gradually felt that the originally cool river water was also starting to get hotter. He didn't choose a fast ripening path, but God only seemed to have arranged a slow ripening path for him. Either way, ten ripening seemed to have become his fate, and all his efforts were to turn roasting into cooking.