Sakhalin Island is separated from Hokkaido by only one Soya Strait, and even if you take off from an airport in the central or northern part of Sakhalin, it will take half an hour to fly to Hokkaido, Japan, and only half an hour to Honshu, Japan. It was precisely because of this geographical distance that the Japanese government tried to prevent Germany from occupying Sakhalin.

To put it another way, in order to be able to seize the strategic initiative in the event of a military conflict or the outbreak of war, Germany's occupation of Sakhalin and Vladivostok was as significant as the capture of Newfoundland during the war against the United States. Thus, when the war between Germany and Japan finally came, Germany was able to send a large number of warplanes from these two bases, especially Sakhalin, into Japanese airspace, and this strategic advantage largely offset the adverse effects of the war away from the German mainland.

"Back then, we had to take off from Guadeloupe, Guadeloupe! It is more than 2,000 kilometers away from the mainland of the United States, and it will take nearly a day to go back and forth, eating, drinking, and sleeping in the cabin! As a result, the biggest trouble we encountered at that time was not the American anti-aircraft guns, but the heavy burden on the engines caused by a long flight, and it was normal to fly back and forth, and one or two engines stopped running! In the beginning, the attendance rate of our long-range bomber unit was once every two days, the first day it flew to the mainland of the United States, and the second day the pilots rested and the crew repaired the planes, and gradually the various parts of the aircraft wore out more and more, and the repair time of one day was not enough, and the bombing had to be delayed, and the attendance rate became once every three days and once every four days. Fortunately, the number of bombers deployed to the front line was increasing, and later the capture of Newfoundland did not drag the war back for these reasons! ”

The blonde-haired navigator looked no more than twenty-eight or nine years old, but he looked quite vicissitudes when he told the stories of the past to the descendants of the plane. For these German bombers who took off from Sakhalin and the pilots on them, the distance they flew during this bombing mission was unprecedentedly short, and it is no wonder that the veteran pilots who had experienced the war sighed when they thought of the long flight time of nine hours when they bombed the United States.

"Now it's a maximum of two hours back and forth!" The pimple-faced wireless telegraph operator said with relief, judging from the state of the cabin. At this time, the plane was still climbing, and the nose was raised upward, so those of them who sat behind the cockpit had to secure themselves to their seats with seat belts.

The old navigator replied affirmatively: "Well, if you don't have to climb to an altitude of 10,000 meters and descend again when you return home, but fly at an altitude of two or three thousand meters, I'm afraid the round trip will be over in an hour and a half!" ”

"Isn't it possible to fly 4 or 5 round trips that day?" The mechanic, with a very clean beard, asked.

The old navigator shook his head with a smile, "When air supremacy is seized, fighters and light bombers fly a few more times a day." It's nice to be able to maintain a once-a-day attendance rate for a heavy bomber like ours! ”

"Then Japanese planes will also come to bomb our airfield!" The telegraph operator asked, curious and worried.

"Of course!" The mechanic, who was a year or two older, rushed to say, "But it doesn't matter, our fighters and anti-aircraft guns are waiting for them!" ”

The navigator muttered on the side: "I hope this time it will be as smooth as fighting the Americans and the Russians!" ”

"Definitely! Isn't the dog better than the Yankees? The co-pilot suddenly poked his head out of the cockpit.

There was a hearty laugh in the cabin.

The plane entered level flight shortly after, and without the captain's warning, the crew quickly quieted down and went about their duties, and although the chances of being intercepted by Japanese fighters were slim, the machine gunners watched the cabin with full attention. At this time, the huge fleet of more than 300 Dornier IIIs at the time of takeoff had been broken up into three large formations with more than 100 aircraft. While the formation continued to fly southwestward, the group of planes responsible for bombing targets in Hokkaido had already begun to drop bombs. Almost 500 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped on the three major cities of Sapporo, Asahikawa and Hakodate almost without any resistance. Although night bombing did not allow the use of visual observation, the Luftwaffe continued to use the strategy of arranging radio beacon transmitters near enemy cities, a tactic that had been tried and tested, at least so far. Although the bomber group cannot achieve accurate bombing, it is enough to destroy the enemy's important cities and severely damage the enemy's morale!

"Received the first radio beacon indication!" The acne-faced wireless telegraph operator shouted loudly that due to technical limitations, the effective distance of radio beacon transmitters is still very limited, and the intelligence personnel lurking in various parts of Japan are using small radio beacon transmitters in the form of suitcases, and if you want to correctly guide the bomber group to fly over a target, you usually have to lay more than two beacons along the way, and if you fly from Sakhalin Island to Tokyo, the German intelligence department has prepared a full five beacon emission points for its own fleet!

As instructed by the radio beacon, the navigator turns on the small light. Quickly make calculations on the map.

"The course is 5 degrees to the left, and we are still 50 kilometers from downtown Tokyo!"

"Wow......" the mechanic and co-pilot shouted in unison, both of them looking excited. Such technology can indeed guide the bomber to fly accurately over the target, but know that intelligence officers on the ground take a huge risk. According to statistics, at the outbreak of the German-American war, the German intelligence services hid more than 3,000 spies and 325 radio beacon transmitters in various target areas of the United States, and they played an incalculable role in the early days of the war. The number of spies and radio beacon transmitters had been cut in half, but fortunately by that time the American military had lost air supremacy, and Luftwaffe bomber groups often flew and bombed during the day.

Only half a minute later, the deep voice of the radar operator came from the headphones of the crew members, "Flying objects have been found about 10 kilometers ahead, there are more than a dozen!" ”

"Report the altitude and speed of the target!" The captain's voice was heard in the headphones.

Ten seconds later, the radar operator spoke again: "The altitude is about 5,500 meters, the speed is close to 0, captain, if nothing else, it should be a Japanese airship!" ”

The captain was silent for two or three seconds before he said, "Leave them alone, fly as planned!" Soon, the wireless telegraph operator reported: "Second radio beacon indications received!" ”

The navigator quickly found the corresponding point on the map, "Keep course." 40 kilometers ahead, Tokyo! ”

After a while, the radarman reported: "We are flying over the head of the Japanese airship!" ”

The bombardier kept his eyes glued to his bomb sight, but saw nothing, and reported:

"They don't seem to have the lights on!"

The huge group of German bombers continued to fly towards the target without paying attention, but in less than a minute, a lightning-like but pale yellow light suddenly appeared in front of the cabin, and the pilots saw the ground. It was a flowery scene, and just a few seconds later, a thunderclap came.

"It's the Japanese anti-aircraft guns!"

There was not the slightest panic in the co-pilot's tone, since he was going to invade the political and economic center of the Japanese, it was reasonable to encounter Japanese resistance, and he could not rely on Lady Luck on the battlefield.

In fact, the Japanese not only had a powerful naval fleet, but their air fleet was no less large. Together with the Americans, they spent a lot of money to build a formidable air battlefleet modeled after Germany, but the air battles of the German-American war taught these guys that they thought airships would become the masters of the air. The huge airship with hydrogen gas is simply vulnerable in the face of excellent fighters and white phosphorus bullets! Nevertheless. The Japanese military has not completely rejected its hard-working airship units, most of which have been converted into aerial reconnaissance, transportation, and early warning vehicles, and some have participated in the invasion of Oceania and China. In dealing with these militarily weak countries, many achievements have been made.

After dark, more than 40 airships were sent to the airspace around Tokyo to guard, and in the absence of radar technology, these airships with turned off engines at an altitude of 5 or 6 kilometers became the best anti-air warning posts, and with the warning distance of more than 6 kilometers from the sounds, the Japanese army used the airships to form an effective perimeter air defense cordon. When the alert airship spotted the German aircraft group, it quickly sent this information to the air defense units on the ground by radio, and the German bombers' previous reconnaissance activities were advantageous in finding out the strength of the Japanese air force and the terrain of the target area, and on the negative side, it allowed the Japanese to take precautions, from the end of November to the beginning of December. The number of Japanese air defense forces deployed around Tokyo has tripled!

The co-pilot picked up the binoculars, and sure enough, he faintly saw countless tiny fires on the ground in front of him, which was the Japanese artillery position! At this time, even if there was a rain of bullets and a sea of swords and fires ahead, the German pilots could only rush forward bravely, and the high-altitude bombing was okay to deal with such a huge target as the city, but it was as difficult as a rifle to fight mosquitoes if they wanted to take out the opponent's anti-aircraft artillery positions, and when batches of anti-aircraft shells attacked, the bomber pilots had only two choices. Either quickly change the altitude, or pray silently.

Soon, the pilot bomber gave a signal to continue flying at its current altitude and speed.

Gradually, the bomber's fuselage began to vibrate under the impact of the air current, and for the pilots, for every point that this jolting felt strengthened, they were one point closer to danger. In the more than 100 days of air raids against the United States, hundreds of Dornier II long-range bombers were shot down by US artillery fire, and although most of the pilots on these planes survived, it was definitely not a fun thing to be shot down at an altitude of 10,000 meters! Fortunately, the German-Russian war a few months ago had tested the performance of this Dornier III ultra-long-range bomber - rough skin and good layout, the Russians shot down fewer than 100 German bombers, only a few of them Dornier III.

"Third Beacon Point!" The wireless telegraph operator shouted hard.

The others were silent, only the navigator reported the data: "Tokyo, 30 kilometers ahead!" ”

The explosions are getting louder and louder, which proves that the anti-aircraft shells are getting closer and closer, and that what can fly to this height is by no means possible with the shells of the less powerful 20 and 37-mm anti-aircraft guns.

According to the detailed investigation of the German intelligence services before the war, the anti-aircraft guns in service of the Japanese Army mainly have six calibers: 20 mm, 57 mm, 40 mm, 75 mm, 105 mm, and 120 mm. Although none of Japan's neighboring countries has any air force worth mentioning, the continuous growth of the Luftwaffe and the terrible strength it has shown in previous wars have terrified all countries in the world, including Japan, and in preparation for a rainy day, the Japanese army has successively developed a variety of anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft machine guns, and anti-aircraft guns, which can also play an important role in dealing with ground targets when invading weak countries. After Germany launched the war to invade Russia, the Japanese top brass was even more worried that they would become Germany's next target, and as one of the important weapons to defend the homeland, a large number of anti-aircraft guns were urgently produced, and the Japanese army also recruited reservists and militia to form hundreds of local anti-aircraft artillery batteries.

"Oh God!" The co-pilot suddenly lost his voice and shouted, and it turned out that not far from his right-hand side, a Dornier III had caught fire in the first engine on the left after being hit by artillery fire. Originally, the loss of one engine could not have become a fatal injury, but the left wing of the bomber was also broken, and the whole plane fell helplessly to the ground like a lifeless bird.

"Damn it! That must have been done by large-caliber anti-aircraft shells! The driver said indignantly that it is true that among the various anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese army, whether it is the Type 86 37-mm anti-aircraft gun, the Type 85 Type A 20-mm anti-aircraft gun, the Type 85 Type B twin-mounted 20-mm antiaircraft gun, or the old Taisho 11-year 75-mm antiaircraft gun, none of them can threaten the German bombers at an altitude of 10,000 meters, and the Japanese military top brass also has a clear understanding of this. At this time, the fierce fire on the air was all Taisho 14 type 105 mm antiaircraft guns, 88 type 75 mm antiaircraft guns, and a small number of 87 type 120 mm antiaircraft guns, these long-range and powerful guys, of which the 88 type 75 mm antiaircraft guns are not only the Japanese Army's current key equipment antiaircraft guns, but also one of the best performance antiaircraft guns in the world, but what just shot down the German bomber was the 87 type 120 mm antiaircraft guns with a slow rate of fire but huge power.