Long after the anti-aircraft fire had subsided, the B4, flying over the crimson volcano and yellow flames, was often pushed thousands of feet into the air by the swirling gas -- an air lieutenant of the Air Force reported: "The gusts of wind blowing from the flames were so strong that the people on board the bombers swirled around the ship like dice spinning in a cup." The wooden floor of the ship was lifted, and all the utensils that were not tied tightly were thrown outside. "In a bump, a B4 was blown over, and the driver struggled to turn around before rising into the air. Some bomber pilots could not control the plane, and the fuselage rushed into the air above the cremation pyre, setting off a large cloud of blood, fire, dust, and dust, staining the windshield, and filling the plane with a disgusting stench of burning human flesh, which made the disgusting pilots hurriedly put on oxygen masks.

On the street, Japanese firefighters and police could not control the flames rushing forward, nor could they stop the frightened fleeing crowd. Many people were so panicked that they rushed around, not knowing where to go or the burning clothes they had salvaged in their hands. Dr. Shigetoku Kubota led Tokyo's only military ambulance team, and his nine doctors and 11 nurses arrived in Shitamachikoki before dawn. They were faced with a horrific looting, and it was a bit of a horror. The fire was still raging, and the bridge over the river was crowded with people fleeing for their lives. "In the black Sumida River, there are countless corpses floating in the river, some clothed and some naked, all as black as charcoal, which is unbelievable. These are corpses, but you can't tell if they're men or women, and you can't tell if they're arms or legs, or charred pieces of wood. Shigetoku Kubota described what they saw at the time.

Dawn came, the night wind stopped, and the fire burned out. On a cold morning in spring, people saw the magnitude of the destruction and it was terrifying. A large area in eastern Tokyo has disappeared: 60% of the city's commercial center has been destroyed, and 150,000 buildings, houses, shops and factories have disappeared; 600,000 people were left homeless, fleeing in panic to the outskirts, with nothing but their lives. According to Japanese official statistics, nearly 200,000 people were killed and wounded in the bombing of Tokyo that night.

On the night of May 9, General Wei Lihuang, commander of the Standard Air Force, sat in his headquarters and waited anxiously for news. The night is silent, and the stars and moon are gone. General Wei Lihuang stared at the dark sky, his two mustaches set off his thirties much older than he really was, his teeth clenched the end of the cigar, almost biting the huge Havana cigar in two. He was counting the time, waiting for the call from Major General Yin Chengzong, who was leading the team this time. He muttered, "Well, if I fail, of course there is nothing to say, I know the skills of these little Japanese, and I thought we could fly in and drop incendiary bombs and fly away without risking heavy losses." And sighed softly again and said, "It must be that I was wrong." "At this time, every officer and soldier around Wei Lihuang firmly believed that Deputy Commander Yin would definitely be able to complete the task, and if he did not complete the task, the telegram should be sent back at this time." Let's hope he hadn't been intercepted, or our trip would have been over. "Since nightfall, Wei Lihuang has almost looked at his watch for the hundredth time, and the last time he looked at his watch was at 1:15 a.m. on the 10th. Lieutenant General Wei Lihuang speculated: "If we don't hear back immediately, they must be in trouble." After a long time, and still not receiving a callback, Wei Lihuang became even more anxious, the cigar drooped from the corner of his mouth, and his thick eyebrows were furrowed until his eyes narrowed into a slit. He raised his hands and scratched his hair, wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned to the staff officers gathered in the room and said: "This decision was completely made by me, of course, I bear a responsibility, I have to report to General Yang and the general seat...... At this moment, the door of the command room slammed open, and an urgent telegram was handed to Lieutenant General Wei Lihuang. "From Deputy Commander Yin!" When General Wei Lihuang read it silently, he suppressed the excitement in his heart and read calmly: "The bomb has been dropped, the target area is under fire, the anti-aircraft artillery fire is dense to sparse, and there are no fighters in sight. "The time of the report was 1:21 a.m. The room burst into cheers: "Long live the air force!" ”

Upon receiving reports of a bomber group consisting of two wings, General Wei removed more than 21 small flags from a map of strategic targets around the Japanese capital, which marked what was said to be a factory in the Shitamachi district. Of the more than 400 B-4 "ballistic" bombers dispatched by the Wehrmacht, only four did not return home, but five of them were saved at sea, a loss figure that was smaller than the loss rate of the last high-altitude bombing attack. No one doubted that the Molotov cocktail terrorist attack on Tokyo killed thousands of Japanese civilians, but three months after the start of the war, reports of the frenzied atrocities committed by Japan in the battles between Sam-han and Taiwan reinforced the view that all the subjects of the Japanese emperor deserved such a fate, and that the responsibility should be borne by the emperor and those who started the war. In response to this vicious night attack on Tokyo, the three air force generals Yang Shihai, Wei Lihuang, and Yin Chengzong became even more convinced of the important role of strategic bombing. Horrific incendiary air raids on Japanese cities clearly became a means of finally striking at Japan's war potential. This unprecedented attack on the Japanese mainland from the air meant that Japan could be conquered from the air without risking the massive casualties that would inevitably result from a landing operation. The results of the air raids undoubtedly shortened the journey to victory.

Put 40% of Tokyo in flames, and the bomber group returned to base. However, within 24 hours, another 400 B-29 bombers flew into the sky again, and the navigator headed north to Nagoya. That night, they were going to set fire to the 4.8-square-kilometer triangle in the heart of Nagoya, an industrial city. Nagoya's relatively modern buildings and better firefighting equipment did their best to control the fire, but thousands of tons of incendiary bombs still caused massive damage. As a result, some more markings were removed from the marker map in Yang Shihai's office. His next target is Osaka. On the night of May 14, the port, which is also the center of Japan's heavy industry, was razed to the ground in a Wehrmacht air raid, destroying many military factories, steelworks and docks. Three days later, the Standard Air Force used the same tactics against the port of Kobe, turning Kobe into a city of fire with 700 tons of incendiary bombs, and the Kobe shipyard was reduced to nothing in the flames. Then the 37th Bomber Wing was sent to attack Nagoya to destroy the parts that had not been eliminated by the previous air raid. After this operation, many B4 "ballistic" bombers were equipped with high-explosive aerial bombs and aviation submunitions due to the lack of incendiary bombs left.

By May 18, when the strategic bombing was on the tenth day, Japan's 17 megacities had been patronized by bombers, and the modern industrial system and scientific research institutions that had been established since the Meiji Restoration in Japan had been burned down. At the same time as industry was destroyed, electricity, railways, roads, bridges, and municipal facilities were selected as key targets, power plants were flattened, railways were blown up, roads were littered with time* bombs and submunitions, many hospitals were destroyed, and a large number of wounded people died in makeshift ambulances in the open air. Due to the shortage of machinery and lack of manpower, the municipal volunteers everywhere had to pile up the collected corpses with the wooden remains of the building and collectively incinerated them, and the ashes of a jar of ashes were placed in the temple by the monks, and the living dragged the hungry bodies busy, and from time to time someone fell to the ground and became a part of the next pile of crematories. The heavy losses of domestic industry could not destroy Japan immediately, but when the Chinese bombers dropped incendiary aerial bombs on the granaries and grain carriers, the Japanese found that their rice bowls were about to be smashed, and local grain production has always been insufficient, and there is no way to break through China's maritime blockade for overseas transportation, and even if a large amount of grain stocks are burned, Japan will soon fall into famine. The embassies of various countries also suffered losses, but the Chinese air force did not target the embassy area, so the diplomats of various countries did not suffer much losses, but they were already shocked by the tragic situation in Japan, and they sent detailed reports to their own political leaders, reporting on the heavy losses caused by China's strategic bombing in the past 10 days to Japan, and their pessimistic predictions about Japan's ability to continue the war.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, our embassy in Japan has submitted a report on the Chinese Air Force's air raid on Japan to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. To be honest, I never imagined that a second-class power country could be brought to the brink of extinction by relying solely on air power, which is simply terrifying. Sir Winston Churchill, First Minister of the Admiralty of the British Empire, shook his huge head. Although I do not think that our alliance with Japan will have any real significance for the stability of East Asia under such circumstances, we should foresee that even after the handover of Hong Kong is completed on schedule, China's already high national sentiment will spread in Southeast Asia and even the whole of Asia, with a very bad impact on our Singapore, Burma, and even India. The argument of decisive victory in the air makes it possible for the indigenous monkeys to introduce aircraft against our Far East Fleet, which will pose a serious challenge to the Imperial Navy, so from the perspective of defending the core interests of the Empire in the Far East, I would like to ask the Prime Minister to mediate the Sino-Japanese conflict and prevent China from continuing to expand inch by inch. ”

"My dear Sir Winston, your concerns coincide with mine, and the behavior of the Chinese shows that they have long been fully and effectively prepared for the use of maritime air power and the mode of operation of strategic air strikes, and their realistic aim in doing so is, of course, the Japanese Empire, but it cannot be ruled out that they have targeted the existence of our Far Eastern military forces. What disturbs me all the more is that the spread of this tactical approach will challenge the Empire's absolute control of the seas, and that we will face the most serious challenge since the time of Queen Victoria, yes, even more so than the High Seas Fleet, sir, I think I can give you the great task of mediating the Sino-Japanese conflict, and I hope that you will bring the dawn of peace in the Far East to Your Majesty and the British Empire. Prime Minister Stephen smiled awe-inspiringly, with his knowledge of Churchill, this guy who looks eight points similar to a boxer dog even has a similar personality, and it is indeed a good government to let this aggressive and sensitive old fritter deal with the chaos in the East.

The same scene is repeated in the White House, at the Elysee Palace, and at the presidential palace in Rome, and the major powers of the world have sensed that the conflict between China and Japan is leading to a worldwide all-out war. It is not too late to learn from the First World War, and the major powers do not intend to do it again, although the positions of various countries are different, but the only consensus reached by all countries is to bring China and Japan to the negotiating table. The sixth round of Sino-Japanese peace talks was held in Manila under the organization of Britain, the United States, France and Italy, but will peace really come to the bloody banks of the Nakdong River? Can you really stop the mountain of columbarium altars in Honganji Temple?