In September last year, the intelligence services set up by the United States in Europe received information that Germany was probably working on an atomic bomb.

Even if there was no Einstein's letter in history, Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries were actually carrying out relevant research work, but the investment was limited.

And when Germany and the Soviet Union joined forces to carry out research work in this plane, the United States and Britain, which had been paying attention to Germany, soon discovered something unusual from some details.

Heavy water is inseparable from the construction of the atomic bomb, and the unusual actions of the Germans at the heavy water plant in Norway first attracted the attention of Britain and the United States.

In addition, in order to supplement the shortage of copper, the Germans also used silver from their stockpiles instead of copper to make wires to help extract the centrifuges needed to build atomic bombs, just as the Americans did in history.

These measures have aroused the attention of the United States, and under the chain reaction, on the American side, President Wilkie decided to increase investment in the development of the atomic bomb and launch the "Manhattan Project".

Although more than a dozen nuclear experts in the United States have died in the past decade as a result of various assassinations orchestrated by Lin Han and Hannah, some of the elite have survived. And for President Wilkie, who has suffered consecutive crushing defeats in the Pacific, counting on a superweapon to turn the tables for himself is also his last straw for him who has already lost so much.

Shortly after the Manhattan Project began, President Wilkie died of a heart attack. After Dewey assumed the presidency, he quickly obtained a piece of information related to the "Manghton Plan" from Marshall, who was in charge of the matter.

Looking at the text handed over by Marshall, the astrological investment of resources is descriptive, and Dewey's pen is signed. I didn't dare to sign it lightly for a while.

"Is this thing reliable?"

Dewey, who had just taken over the presidency, was still skeptical about the performance of the atomic bomb.

Marshall said: "The scientist has verified it in the room, and there should be no problem." Importantly, there is information that both the Soviet Union and Germany are now developing such weapons. ”

Dewey said: "Can you end the war quickly with this kind of thing?" It's incredible. ”

Marshall said, "With this thing, at least when we regain Hawaii." You don't have to shed too much blood. ”

"Hawaiian Hi"

Thinking of the eternal pain in the heart of this American, Dewey let out a long sigh, then picked up his pen and signed his name on the essay on the financial expenditure for the development of the atomic bomb.

On the other hand, the U.S. Army and Navy have joined forces, and an air raid on Tokyo, Japan, is also being prepared.

The 17th Flying Group was on this mission, and its captain was none other than the famous pilot Doolittle.

A total of 24 B-25 Mitchell bombers were transported to Mid-Continent Airlines' conversion center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for modification. Specific modifications include:

1. Dismantle the machine gun in the belly turret;

2. Considering that it may encounter relatively cold weather, de-icers are installed at the front end and tail of the wing to prevent fuel freezing;

3. Install ventilated steel plates around the top machine gun;

4. Install auxiliary fuel tanks in the bombing bay. Initially, a 265-gallon steel tank was used, but it was changed to a 225-gallon rubber tank due to a strict oil leak. A 160-gallon foldable rubber fuel tank is added above the bomb bay, which can be deflated and folded after the fuel inside is used up;

5. Installing a 110-gallon metal drop tank in the belly turret increased the B-25's total fuel load from 646 gallons to 1,141 gallons;

6. Although the Chinese side agreed that after the B25 crosses Japan and enters Chinese airspace, it will send a guide aircraft to meet it. But just in case, it will take time to find an airport to land on China, and you still need to bring more fuel. So in the radioman's cockpit at the tail of the aircraft, there was a small fuel tank of 60 gallons and ten small fuel tanks of 5 gallons. The Heavy is required to constantly fill the turret drop tank with fuel from the small fuel tank during the flight, and then drill holes in the small fuel tank. Then throw out the plane, so that the small fuel tank can quickly sink into the sea, leaving no trace of the Japanese tracking group.

7. In terms of radio communication equipment, the bulky and poorly performing tube radio stations are replaced with German-made transistor equipment, and the weight can also be reduced.

The transistor radio station is also a pain in the hearts of Americans, because the Bell Shiyàn room was successfully poisoned by Lin Han and Hannah, a pair of dog men and women, with botulinum toxin. Yiqi lost nearly 100 elites in the field of electronics, so no transistors have been developed so far.

Before the start of the war in 1939, when the Germans were frantically amassing money all over the world with transistors, the United States could only stare dryly from the sidelines. Although both the United Kingdom and the United States have increased their investment in transistors in the past two years, they can only barely produce substandard transistors in the laboratory. There is still a long way to go to break through the barriers between work production and the laboratory.

Over the years, transistors have become one of the most important exports of Germany's foreign trade, and they have made countless huge profits. For fighters of this era, having a small and lightweight transistor radio station is the dream of all pilots. During the European war in 1939~1940, the British and French air forces were extremely interested in the communication equipment on German aircraft. Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese side did not hesitate to import 2,000 transistor radios from Germany. In the past six months, the number of military transistor radios imported by the United States from Germany has exceeded 5,000.

8. Improve the bomb hook in the bomb bay so that two 227 kg blasting bombs and one 454 kg incendiary bomb can be installed in a small space with an auxiliary fuel tank, and the incendiary bombs are submunitions with 128 3 kg incendiary bombs inside;

9. Considering that the double-barreled 12.7 mm machine gun in the tail turret was not reliable and often jammed, it was decided to remove the tail machine gun to reduce the load on the aircraft. However, in order to protect the plane from being attacked from the rear, two wooden sticks painted black were installed on the tail of the aircraft to simulate the barrel of a machine gun, and this kind of "scarecrow" machine gun was quite effective in actual combat, and the Japanese pilots could not distinguish between truth and falsehood from a distance, but they did not dare to attack from behind -- this was mainly due to the deep impression that the B17 with self-defense machine guns inserted in the air battles in the Philippines and Hawaii air battles made a deep impression on the Japanese pilots.

10. Remove the Norden bombing sight and install a substitute sight invented by pilot Captain C. Ross Greening. This is because the Norden sight contains cutting-edge technology, and considering the risk of the plane making a forced landing in enemy-occupied areas, it is likely to fall into the hands of the Japanese army, so it is dismantled -- in addition, there are also reasons to guard against China, Germany, and the Soviet Union, and this batch of flying bodies is for one-time use, and all of them will be "seized" by the Chinese side afterwards, so the high-tech equipment on the plane must also be dismantled and replaced with "low-tech products"

The surrogate sight invented by RossGreening was very inexpensive, and the material was worth only 20 cents. Due to the low color of the imaging, he was nicknamed by his peers - "Mark. Tween". (Mark. Twain's eyes were colorblind, so his peers mocked the image of a sight with low color);

Historically, the United States sent aircraft carriers to bomb Japan with B25s, and there were also forward bases such as Hawaii and Midway.

And now the US Navy, in half a year of war, they have lost almost all of their bases on the flat ocean. In addition to the Hawaiian Islands, the Aleutian Islands, located in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean, were completely occupied by a detachment dispatched by the Japanese Navy during the July and August intervals when the Pacific Fleet was completely wiped out and the Atlantic Fleet had no time to be transferred back to the Pacific.

After the complete loss of Hawaii, the US Navy and Army could only launch a sneak attack across the entire Pacific Ocean by dispatching aircraft carriers from the west coast of the Pacific Ship to imagine the normal bombing of Tokyo in history.

From the dispatch of the fleet to the final retreat to the mainland of the West Coast of the United States, this was indeed an extremely risky military adventure. President Weil's delay in approving this action was also due to the risk factors.

It was not difficult to cross the Pacific Ocean and bomb Tokyo, Japan, but the difficult thing was that after the sneak attack was completed, the fleet would have to travel several thousand kilometers safe and sound and return to the mainland.

The military was initially reluctant to take this risky course of action, but with the fall of Hawaii, too much bad news of defeat pushed the U.S. government to the brink, and the populace was angry that the navy had been wiped out, and they were eager to hear a triumphant report.

For the US Navy, this was a great military adventure. According to the agreement with the Chinese side, the US side will notify the Chinese side of the "response" only after the successful bombing of Japan. Due to the distance of the target, the fleet will attack Tokyo after March.

The commander of the fleet was Admiral Fletcher, and the original commander was the famous admiral Admiral Halsey, nicknamed Bull. It was only at this critical moment that Halsey contracted herpes while playing a woman's dart (he also contracted this disease at about this time in history, ha), and General Fletcher had to take this position.

This was an extremely crazy military adventure, because the route from San Francisco to Tokyo across the entire Pacific Ocean was too long, in order to cooperate with the operation, the US Navy arranged a supply fleet coordinated by escort aircraft carriers on the route in advance, so as to facilitate the replenishment of fuel for the fleet on the way.

After meticulous preparations, on 20 February, the two Essex-class aircraft carriers, escorted by the last two South Dakota-class battleships and several cruisers, quietly left the port of San Francisco in the middle of the night and sailed to the distant shore of their fate. (To be continued......)