On July 7, 1924, Germany declared war on the United States, and the United States immediately declared war on Germany, and the long-brewing war finally broke out.

On the day of the war, Germany and Mexico dispatched a large number of warplanes to attack a large number of military targets in the southern border area of the United States, and achieved extremely brilliant results, and this news quickly spread throughout the United States and even the whole world.

After nightfall, at the military airfield of the Lynchburg Army Barracks in Virginia, people were discussing terrible war and bad first war, but because it was more than 2,000 kilometers from the southern border, no one was worried that the fighting from the south would spread here in a short time, and the pilots seemed to be more concerned about what the mighty German Navy would do, after all, it was only 300 kilometers from Norfolk, the largest military port on the east coast of the United States. According to the usual thinking, the American Atlantic Fleet stationed there must have been the primary target of the German Navy.

It was 9 o'clock at night, because it was a Monday, and almost all the pilots stayed in the dormitory, playing poker, bragging, and entertainment such as darts and billiards were available here, except for the strictly forbidden drinking. The midsummer night was a little stuffy, and the occasional wind blowing from the direction of the sea was also hot, and the electric fan in the room was spinning desperately, but the sound was as annoying as mosquitoes.

The airport not far from the dormitory has a wide, straight runway, and most of the planes go into the hangar at the end of the day, except for a dozen or so half-canvas P-5 and P-7A fighters lying lazily on the runway. The searchlight on the guard post was still on, but the pillar of light also seemed weak.

It is less than 280 kilometers north to Washington, which belongs to the "Alert Circle" of the US capital, so there are two squadrons of 36 fighters stationed, because of the outbreak of war, two P-5 fighters have carried out night patrol missions for the first time, but there are still 300 kilometers to Norfolk here, and more than 2,000 kilometers to the southern border area where air raids have been encountered, and no one thinks that this kind of patrol will have any practical significance. The military airships are usually responsible for the night air vigilance in this area. They are concentrated at the airship base at Norfolk Naval Harbor, which is also the largest naval airship anchor in the United States.

In just a few minutes, the pilots gathered in the combat command room not far from the runway and stood by, while the crew pushed out the fighters that had stayed in the hangar and quickly prepared each plane for liftoff.

Not much. The squadron commander walked in with a grim face.

"Very, very bad news, lads! A huge fleet of German planes is flying from south to north and will soon fly over our heads, most likely our capital, Washington! ”

Before the commander's words fell, there was an uproar below.

"This ...... How is this possible? ”

"Where did those German planes come from? Far away Mexico? ”

"I can't believe that they've flown at least two thousand kilometers in this way!"

The commander had to pat the table to silence his pilots, and at this time everyone was full of disbelief, but the facts were already in front of them.

"No matter where they come from, our task is not to let them come near our capital! It is estimated that the German planes will fly near us in a quarter of an hour, leaving us with little time left. Let's go and prepare! Wait for the bell to take off and intercept it! ”

The pilots got up from their positions one after another. "Yes!"

The starry sky outside the window is still so beautiful, and after a day of scorching sun, the airport floor is still slightly hot. At this time, the American pilots and flight crews did not think much about it. After checking the fuel and ammunition, the crew struggled to shake the joystick and started one fighter fighter after another, and the whole airport soon burst into roar.

At 10 o'clock sharp, the first fighters flew off the ground, and by 10:20 a.m., 18 fighters of both squadrons had taken off, and they were targeting a German fleet of 10,000 long-range bombers.

At this moment, the German fleet was indeed flying at high altitude not far from Lynchburg. On a Dornier DD bomber in the pilot, nine crew members were doing their jobs. The captain, Major Gakoby, had to keep his plane on the right path, which was very important to the entire fleet; The co-pilot, Lieutenant Fokk, was responsible for assisting in the piloting, as it was easy to get tired from flying in formation for a long time; Second Lieutenant Mutter, the navigator, is responsible for determining the position of the aircraft and its relative position to the target and base, as well as operating the ground radio transceiver on board; Sergeant Joseph, the bombardier, had to take care of the 2x7.92 mm machine gun in the bow, with five machine gunners each operating a twin machine gun on the back, left and right, belly, and tail, with the heavy on the back of the machine gun also acting as a mechanic.

"There are still 300 kilometers to the target, and according to the intelligence we have, the aircraft group has already entered the defense circle of the capital of the Americans!"

Second Lieutenant Mutter left his map and poked his body into the cockpit, and Major Gakobi was intently piloting the plane. Lieutenant Fokker was holding a binoculars and looking at the ground ahead, and all three had oxygen masks hanging from their ears - they had recently climbed to an altitude of 7,000 meters to avoid an attack by a group of American warplanes, and in this thin air, the pilots had to use supplemental oxygen equipment to get enough oxygen.

A large formation of this size had been flying on American soil for nine hours, but the German bomber group had not yet been seriously threatened. When passing through Tennessee in the afternoon, two groups of American fighters took to the air to pursue, but what is laughable is that the speed of those P-5 fighters is so bad that even the Dornier DD bombers flying at a cruising speed of 260 kilometers per hour cannot catch up, and there is no way to talk about interception operations - although Boeing's P-7A and P-7B have a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour, the entire US Army is only equipped with 120 aircraft, And most of them are deployed in the south and northeast, where the strategic location is most important, and the only thing used to defend the entire central United States is airships and slow fighter jets such as P-3 and P5.

So far, the greatest effort the Americans have made to intercept the German bomber group is to send four "Beechcraft" aircraft carriers from their base in northeastern Tennessee in the evening, and they released 24 fighters at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, and these small planes quickly climbed to the same altitude of 5,000 meters as the German bomber group, in order to get rid of these poor little flying insects. The 125 Dornier 44 bombers did only one thing - climbing, 5500 meters, 600 meters, 6500 meters, 7000 meters, the German bombers were still rising, but those P-4s were in big trouble at an altitude of 6000 meters - their engines were non-pressurized, as long as the flight altitude exceeded 6000 meters, not to mention that the pilots in the open cabin could not stand it, and the engines could not get enough oxygen, so they had to reluctantly give up the pursuit.

Thanks to the invention of mechanical supercharging technology by Mr. Carl Benz, the owner and chief designer of Mercedes-Benz. The German Warhawk was able to break through the 6,000-meter altitude limit (Historically, Bentz's invention was originally used in automobiles, and in 1919 there was the first supercharged engine for fighter jets, the "Liberty" type, which was the mainstream of engine supercharging technology until the advent of turbocharging technology). In addition, the pilots of the Dornier DD bomber also wore special flight suits, and there was oxygen equipment in the cabin for high-altitude flight, but because the mechanical pressurization technology was still in the development stage at this time, and the plane did not use a pressurized cockpit, the practical ceiling of the Dornier was only 8000 meters, but this was enough to get rid of any American aircraft or airship.

As an important part of the Titans' plan. This long-range strategic bombing was the focus of the German High Command. The generals believed that the greatest threat to the fleet was not American fighter jets and airships, but that the real threat would come from the ground – by 1924, in order to confront Germany and Japan. The two military technologies that the United States is focusing on developing are airships and anti-aircraft artillery equipped with a large number of warships. On a South Dakota-class battleship, 127-mm, 76-mm, 40-mm and 20-mm anti-aircraft guns abounded, of which the 127-mm anti-aircraft guns were most likely to pose a threat to high-flying German bombers, with a maximum firing height of 10 kilometers!

The fighter planes that took off from Fort Lynchburg and tried to squeeze the German fleet in the vast night sky, but the sound of the P-5 and P-7A's own engines seemed to interfere with the judgment of the American pilots, and it was not long before they encountered a formation of airships flying from the direction of Norfolk. And even the best German airships could reach this level, and it was only in the early days that they had an advantage in the ceiling in front of the aircraft.

The reason why these Dornier 44 returned to an altitude of 5,000 meters was to save fuel and protect the pilots on the one hand, and the other point was that the long-range bomber navigation technology was not very developed at this time, and the visual navigation method, dead reckoning algorithm and astronomical navigation method were still the three main navigation methods, and radio navigation could only play a role at a relatively short distance and in the presence of signal transmitters. Therefore, descending to an altitude of 5,000 meters is more conducive to German navigators judging their course from the ground characteristics - as the world's most developed industrial power, most of the major towns in the United States are still lit up at 9 or 10 o'clock at night. Unless the U.S. government is determined to implement total light control, the German bomber fleet will still use the ground target signature as a very primary means of navigation.

After discovering the German aircraft group, 8 P-7A with a speed of 310 kilometers per hour were the first to accelerate and climb, and 24 P-5s with a speed of only 210 kilometers per hour were slow, but the position of the two sides was destined to be able to intercept directly in front of the German bomber group this time, at this time, the "Beechcraft" in the airship formation also released their own small P-4 fighters, and in just ten minutes, the fighters carried by 36 land-based fighters and airships became the roadblocks for the German bomber group.

On the pilot Dornier, the German pilots also spotted the American fighters and airships from low altitudes, and Major Gakobi immediately decided:

"Signal, the swarm starts to climb, and we get rid of the Yankees with the height!"

Lieutenant Mutter then used the tail signal light to signal the German fleet in the rear, and in this way, the Dorniers, with four high-horsepower engines, began to climb one by one, and fired at the American fighters flying in front with their nose and belly machine guns. In front of these 125 heavy bombers flying in dense formation, the American pilots found themselves not only at a loss for what to dodge, but also had to constantly make evasive maneuvers to avoid the fierce fire of the other side.

Dense streams of machine-gun bullets flew through the air like a stream of light. It disturbed the dreams of many Americans.

Washington, White House.

"What? Not only did not shoot down a single German plane, but they damaged 3 fighters, but also allowed the opponent to swagger through the defense circle of our capital? ”

Warren Harding jumped out of his seat in anger when he heard the news from the Lynchburg barracks, and although the American fighters opened fire on their targets before they flew to their maximum ceiling, their 7.62mm machine guns could hardly hit their targets from 500 yards away, let alone the German bombers that were more than 1,000 meters taller than themselves.

In this way, 125 German bombers flew to the heart of the United States.

In this gorgeous office. General Leonard Wood, Secretary of the Army, General William Benson, Secretary of the Navy, General Peyton March, Chief of Staff of the Army, and General William Simms, Chief of Staff of the Navy, were all worried. In the whole afternoon of fighting, the American army only lost in the southern part of the homeland, but in the evening even the capital was under attack from the other side, and now the German way of fighting is really more and more incomprehensible to them, you must know that this is only the first day of the war, the most powerful navy of the Germans has not yet struck!

"Our planes and airships are so useless!" Warren Harding slammed his fist down on his desk.

"Mr. President......" General Curnowjackson, the commander of the garrison in Washington, looked like he was about to say something.

"Do you still need to ask? Raise an air raid siren and let the citizens hide in the nearest bomb shelter as soon as possible! Warren Harding looked extremely frustrated when he gave the order.

"I hope it doesn't cause a big panic!" William Benson muttered quietly.

"Let's hope our air defense facilities are enough!" General Leonard Wood shook his head.

At 11:42 p.m. on July 7, 1924, less than 12 hours after the outbreak of war, air raid sirens sounded in Washington, the capital of the United States, and citizens were alarmed to tell each other: German planes are coming!

12:31 p.m. A group of German bombers flew over Washington. The entire city was filled with suffocating tension, most of the lights were extinguished, and only the searchlight posts were still moving in the sky. For the defense of Washington, more than 120 anti-aircraft guns fired continuously in the air from 35 minutes, and all the pilots of the six fighter squadrons were on standby in the engine room. However, the noisy night was always performed only by the American air defense forces, not a single bomb fell in the air, and after a quarter of an hour, the German aircraft group left the airspace over Washington.

On the German bombers in the pilot, the navigator and bombardier were nervously calculating the navigation, line and target position of the group, and the reason why they flew over Washington and did not drop the bomb was not because the Americans thought they had found the wrong target. The Kaiser and his high command did not simply assume that razing Washington would lead to the surrender of the Americans, not forgetting that the British had occupied and burned Washington in 1814 and risked their efforts to provoke the Americans to resist. It would be more practical to drop bombs on the industrial arteries of the United States.

At 12:49, the German bomber formation flew to Baltimore, more than 60 kilometers northeast of Washington, and a few minutes later, the first bomb fell from an altitude of more than 6,000 meters, thus opening the prelude to the strategic bombing.

Baltimore is not only an important seaport in the northeastern United States, but also an important industrial city in the United States. As the world's strongest industrial country, the industry of the United States in the 1920s was mainly concentrated in two regions - the Northeast Coastal Industrial Zone composed of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and the Great Lakes Industrial Region composed of Detroit, Chicago, and St. Paul. The Northeast Industrial Region is the largest industrial area in the United States and the world. The main reason is that it is rich in natural resources and convenient transportation, and most of the steel, machinery, automobile, electricity, and chemical industries in the United States are hit in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, and São Paulo.

High-explosive and incendiary bombs rained down from Dornier bombers, and although such high-altitude bombardment was not accurate, the power of 100-ton high-explosive bombs and 200-ton incendiary bombs was enough to turn large areas of Baltimore into a sea of fire. The bombs that landed on the port area severely damaged the docks, warehouses, railways, and shipyards there, and the fire also affected some large cargo ships moored in the port, and the bombs that fell on the thermal power plant, chemical plant and smelter in the northern part of the port area caused a series of fires and explosions, and the two huge chemical storage tanks of the Skeet chemical plant became deadly killers, and thousands of people were injured or even killed because they thought they had inhaled toxic gases. In the bombardment, which lasted more than half an hour, the shipbuilding, munitions, and machinery industries in the south and southwest were not spared, and this famous industrial city was burning in the dark night, and even Washington, more than 60 kilometers away, could see the red sky.

Standing at his own window, Warren Harding was speechless.

After the bombing, the German warhawk turned around and flew over Washington once again. Although the US military dispatched a large number of fighters, it could only watch as these German heavy bombers flying high in the air flew away. (Full Text)