Summer 1, Norway, Biszant airbase.

Just a year ago, it was a small civilian airport, with aging biplanes carrying a dozen or twenty passengers to Oslo, more than 100 kilometers away, or Stockholm, 400 kilometers away, four times a week, with a winter break for four months of the year. Now it has become an air base with Norwegian and American flags flying on the roof of the building and flagpole, and the new main runway can accommodate twenty or thirty tons of big guys to take off and land, but compared to other air bases in Northern Europe, Biszant is not outstanding in size and quality, and it is only the shortest air base available to the Western Allies in a straight line from Leningrad, a major city in the Soviet Union. For the past year, the most important reason why it has not been a forward stop for Allied air strikes against the Soviet Union is that the straight line runs through south-central Sweden, which has maintained strict armed neutrality for more than a hundred years, and its strong military preparations have made it such that no country dares to violate its airspace and territorial waters unless it voluntarily opens them.

Since the outbreak of the New York nuclear outbreak, under the moving call of US President Harry S. Truman, not only have millions of enthusiastic young people entered the Allied recruiting stations, but many countries that had only wanted to stay out of the situation have also changed their tendencies. In just one week, the number of countries joining the war camp of the Western allies has increased by half a dozen, and the participation of Germany and Austria in the war has had an extraordinary impact on the situation on the European continent, except for Greece, Ireland, Brazil, and Italy, which are mainly based on waving their flags and shouting and supplemented by sending troops to fight. Since then, millions of German soldiers who have served the Soviet camp have faced the embarrassing situation of "treason", the morale of the army is inevitably dealt a heavy blow, and the possibility of a battlefield rebellion has also increased dramatically, and Austria has participated in international affairs as an independent country for the first time since 1938, and many people regard this historic moment as the complete end of the old German era.

Sweden was one of the countries that showed sympathy and support for the United States by entering the war, while others expressed the same position by not directly entering the war. After urgent bilateral consultations, the Swedish government agreed that the planes and ships of the Western allies would pass through in wartime, and the 1,000-kilometer straight-line distance from Biszant airbase to Leningrad had finally become a usable route for Allied bombers. The implications behind this should be well known to Swedish officials sitting at the diplomatic table.

1/6/25, sunny day, light breeze.

In a field tent at Biszant Air Base, thirty-three men in flight suits sat in folding chairs with grim expressions and listened attentively to the commander's speech. Holding a long, slender wooden stick, the stocky U.S. Air Force colonel points to a gray, grainy aerial photograph on a big screen and tells all the important information about the target.

"For a long time, the 8th Aviation Fighter Regiment of the Soviet Red Army closely guarded the city. Here they have beaten the Luftwaffe and shot down many of our bombers. In this area, we have no air supremacy, no sympathizers, the high altitude flight brought by pressurization technology is not enough to protect us from attack, and we have to lower to the right altitude before dropping bombs, which is an extremely dangerous process, so we decided to use night bombing. A radio-guided base station in eastern Norway would guide us over the Baltic Sea, but as we approached the Soviet coast, we were likely to be subjected to radio interference, and the command had 400 planes to locate and bomb the target before dusk, and unless the Soviets were able to extinguish the fire in the city within three hours or had foresight to place a sufficiently large flame decoy nearby, we would be able to locate it from a great distance. Now let's look at the arrangement of airfields and air defense facilities around the target. ”…,

There was a slight pause in the Colonel's words, and another aerial photograph appeared on the screen, with red and blue highlighting areas of color that were different or completely integrated with the surrounding area. In the past few days, the United States and Britain have dispatched a large number of reconnaissance planes into Soviet airspace to carry out aerial photographic reconnaissance of several hundred targets; even though the Soviet Air Force has gone all out to intercept and shoot down a number of Allied reconnaissance planes, they have not been able to deduce the location of specific targets from such large-scale reconnaissance operations by the Allied forces. However, questions that cannot be answered technically can sometimes be solved with strategic vision and mind.

"In general, approaching the target from the sea surface was the route of least resistance, and the Soviets did not yet have the ability to launch heavy anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft rockets from ships, they just arranged for some ships with high-power searchlights." The Colonel spoke tirelessly, and the pilots listened intently to the monotonous but intimate circumstances of concern to each and every one of them.

"Everybody is smart, and I won't too much about the nature of this operation, and if you can't evacuate because of a mechanical failure or a bullet, it's not like you still have a chance to survive in a regular bombing campaign. It's still too late to quit, we have the right replacements in every position, and this is the last time I'll ask for your opinion!

Just because no one speaks doesn't mean no one is holding back, but quitting at this point is definitely seen as a coward. After waiting for a moment, the colonel put the indicator stick down: "Alright, turn on the lights." ”

The bare light bulbs above their heads lit up, and the members of the B29 bomber crew blinked and moved in their chairs. The screen scrolled up to reveal a green and brown map of Europe with a large sign reading "Justice Prevails" in bold red letters.

"Guys, there's still 6 hours of life on the ground, take a shower, shave your beard, take a good nap, and refresh yourself." The colonel said in a tone that became full of humanity, "Before the bomb is dropped, let us bury the sorrow of New York in our hearts for the time being, and we must complete this mission in the best possible condition, and dismiss it now!" ”

The pilots did not disperse as usual, and they moved gently from the back to the front, reminiscent of the funeral in the church.

Outside the tent, two trucks had just arrived at the tarmac, and under the supervision of two officers, American soldiers wearing M1 steel helmets helped move the wooden boxes in the carriages and stack them next to the two B29s, which looked like prehistoric giant birds. These boxes resemble those of large-caliber artillery shells or ordinary aerial bombs in appearance, but judging by the relaxed expressions of the soldiers, they certainly weigh no less than the same size ammunition boxes.

"They all just came by air from China." One officer said to the sergeant-wearing sergeant-insignee-wearing orderly, "It's full of New Yorkers' grief and anger, so be careful." ”

Orderie Carney, a strong man in his early forties, with an angular face and a red neck when he basks in the sun, took off his hat and scratched his sweat-soaked sideburns: "Although I was born and raised in Florida, my parents met and fell in love in New York, and they are now almost seventy years old, and they have been talking about going back to New York for another honeymoon...... We should have spared no effort to destroy Soviet Russia 30 years ago, right? 30 years ago we had a chance! ”

"Well, don't talk about 30 years ago, we still had a chance 3 months ago, but now no matter how we reflect on it, New York is no longer New York." As the officer spoke, he looked curiously at the third B29, which was parked side by side with the two, seemingly unprepared to load the containers of the projectiles they had brought in to be filled with "grief and anger."

The chief of operations also glanced at the heavy bomber that was quietly parked on the lawn, and although the aviation unit's battle plans were kept strictly secret, it was not difficult for a true expert to read the technical details: adjusting the magazines, reinforcing the pylons, and almost demanding repeated overhauls meant that they would be used for extremely important tasks. …,

"They're going to pay for it soon!" The orderly chief said meaningfully.

The officer didn't seem surprised at all, and he said, "It's called deserved, isn't it?" ”

With the help of mechanical forklifts, more than 20 marines unloaded all the goods on the truck in more than 10 minutes, and they left with heavy thoughts, while the pilots who had finished the combat arrangement meeting did not return to the barracks to rest, they went straight to the side of the plane. The tall captain in the lead said to the orderly, "Hey, Mr. Horat, the nuts are all tightened?" ”

The oil-stained orderly grinned and said, "Don't worry, every part is in the best condition, every wire is smooth and reliable, Brooklyn, Manhattan and the queen are ready to take off at any time." ”

Naturally, the pilots were divided into three groups and gathered around their cars, and they did not usually participate in the bomb loading, but now it was different from the past, and the young men watched the ground crew unpack and load the bombs very carefully. The shells sent by the Marines were almost identical to the usual bombs, but they looked much lighter than aerial bombs filled with explosives or incendiary charges, and the silver-gray shells had written many things with a pen: for John's family, for Aunt Carly, for the 230 martyrs in Magellan's neighborhood, for the punishment of the devil, long live America... ・・・

In the sky, two "wild horses" circled lonely.

With auxiliary fuel tanks attached, their combat range is sufficient to cover the entire Gulf of Finland, but since Sweden opened its airspace and territorial waters to the Western allies in a non-public manner, Allied fighter planes have not spread all over the Gulf of Finland, and the reconnaissance planes that arrived in the western part of the Soviet Union still take off from Polish airfields.

This tranquillity, which was contrary to the general environment, was destined to be only a prelude to the confrontation, and in the next few days, a large number of fighters and bombers were stationed at the airfield in eastern Norway, and in a few hours they would rush across Sweden and pounce on Leningrad in a terrifying swarm. Clear