Chapter Ninety-Five: Burning Paris

-- A certain sage famously said: The greatest lesson that history has taught people is that people in any era never learn from the experience of history, and at the same time, history also tells us that even those who know history do not learn from history. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Churchill knew that the defeat of the British Empire in this war was decided, because he could not bear the consequences of defeat at all, let alone accept the collapse of the British Empire, coupled with his refusal to admit defeat, he absolutely could not bear to sign an unconditional surrender during his tenure...... Therefore, he can only close his eyes and ignore it, pinching his nose to carry out the war to the end.

To this end, he needs the US military to launch more retaliatory nuclear strikes against the red camp in Europe: on the one hand, it is of course to weaken the enemy and boost its own morale; On the other hand, it is more important to shatter the illusions of the domestic lords and factions, consolidate their ruling position, and force them to support their own war policy.

As for whether this will accumulate more national hatred and make the fate of the British Empire even more tragic...... Churchill couldn't care about any of this at all!

On the other hand, the White House is also very worried that the British will really break the jar and kneel down to Stalin to sue for peace, and strive to surrender and lose half. In this case, the US military would be driven out of Europe -- without Britain and Ireland as a springboard, the difficulty of the US military crossing the Atlantic alone and confronting the Soviet Red Army head-on was a nightmare in the Pentagon's view. In order to completely destroy relations between Britain and socialist Europe and prevent peace between the two sides, Truman gritted his teeth and took out the few nuclear arsenals that were already in his hands - in his words: "...... In order to keep the great European civilization from being tarnished, and in order to prevent the social order we know so well from being subverted, we have to tell those evil Bolsheviks that we also have atomic bombs, and we dare to drop them more than they do! Let the cruel and bloodthirsty Red Bandits know that the ground beneath their feet is also unsafe! ”

Since the entire European continent has been dyed red, let the formation of US strategic bombers carrying nuclear bombs shuttle at least 3,000 kilometers over enemy territory and directly detonate the Soviet mainland...... It seems like some of them are too difficult. But in the case of a nuclear bombing, the Soviet Union's most powerful ally in Europe was still somewhat certain that it would allow an American strategic bomber carrying an atomic bomb to take off from Sardinia, pass through all of France, drop bombs in Paris, and land at a British airfield.

Well? Why not a nuclear explosion Germany? First, because the distance was longer, and secondly, because just a year after the fall of Nazi Germany, Berlin was reduced to rubble in the final siege, and the remnants of the citizens were dragged by the Soviets to Siberia to do hard labor, even if a nuclear explosion was of little value.

Therefore, whether considering the actual strategic and tactical significance, or the old feud between Britain and France, it is clear that a nuclear bombing of France looks more effective.

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As a result, on 17 October 1946, when the "100-hour bombardment" of Britain by the strategic air force of the European socialist camp was about to come to an end, the formation of US nuclear strike bombers that had taken off from the airport in Sardinia quietly flew over the Mediterranean Sea, broke into French airspace from the south, and headed straight for Paris! By the time Red France and the Soviet troops in France found out that something was wrong, it was already too late -- in this era when there were no missiles or satellites, and the radar performance was also very imperfect, no country could 100 percent defend its airspace and take down every enemy plane that invaded its airspace......

As a result, unlike the Soviet atomic bomb in London, which unfortunately missed, the formation of American nuclear strike bombers departing from Sardinia successfully broke through the layers of interception in French airspace and accurately dropped the atomic bomb in the center of Paris, on the banks of the Seine, the most prosperous and lively city...... With a brilliant flash of light piercing the sky, a huge fireball rose from the banks of the Seine. All the citizens of Paris who did not have time to take refuge in the underground bomb shelters felt intense burning and pain in their eyes at the same moment, as if they were being exposed to the sun of a searchlight or the scorching sun of the tropical desert. Many people immediately let out a miserable cry and rolled to the ground in pain, covering their eyes with their hands......

The next moment, the real nightmare began to befall - in a deafening roar, the all-destroying high-temperature shock wave, wrapped in the scorching heat wave from the Burning Hell, mixed with all kinds of deadly rays, particles, and nuclear dust storms, smashed in all directions! Even in the Compiègne Forest, more than sixty kilometers away, people heard a powerful muffled sound and fell to the ground in horror, thinking that the end of the world was coming. Fifteen kilometers away, the Palace of Versailles, which was requisitioned as the temporary residence of the new government, all the glass was shattered in an instant, and it was thrown everywhere like a deadly shotgun, piercing through the door panels and screens, rushing towards the victims who were caught off guard, splashing blood flowers and causing a staggering number of secondary injuries!

Of course, the fate of the city of Paris must have been even more cruel - whether it was humans, animals, plants, or buildings, all of them were reduced to ashes in this foehn wind that seemed to come from hell. The fountain pool in front of the Louvre was vaporized by the astonishing heat. The famous Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre, the Champs-Élysées Boulevard, which is synonymous with fashion and luxury, the Panthéon where many great French men are buried, the Invalides where Emperor Napoleon is buried, Notre-Dame Cathedral with its immortal love story, and many cathedral throughout the city of Paris...... They were all reduced to a scorching purgatory in the blink of an eye.

Even the Eiffel Tower, a landmark in Paris, could not withstand the heat of the atomic bomb explosion, and soon melted like a candle in a firestorm comparable to a Category 12 typhoon, and finally staggered and broke into several pieces, and collapsed against the backdrop of flames.

As for the ordinary neighborhood mansions, they naturally disappeared under the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb. Most of the less fortified buildings, especially the slums of poor quality, were flattened by the tsunami-like shock wave, while the few strongest reinforced concrete buildings stood like reefs jutting out of the sea, above a mass of charred and hot bricks and rubble. Trees, cars, trams, bicycles, and pedestrians were swept into the air, then shattered to pieces, or charred in the air, and then carried around by the fiery currents.

Many of the citizens who did not have time to react were buried in the rubble, and of course, the citizens who were exposed to the open space were even worse - because they were directly illuminated by the flash of the nuclear explosion, they were burned all over the place and their skin was detached...... And the ensuing fire caused the survivors hiding in the bomb shelter to fall into a catastrophe. The heat of the explosion ignited so many flames that the fire spread uncontrollably on the rooftops of the streets, burning from house to house.

In the midst of such a devastating firestorm, tar-painted wooden telephone poles on the roadside, cardboard billboards in front of shops, curtains and furniture in houses suddenly catch fire. Gas stations, gas plants, trees, plants...... Anything that can catch fire will burn. The scattered fires soon coalesced into a sea of fire, the temperature of which could melt steel and burn cement, and continued to spread rapidly in all directions, until there was nothing more left to use as fuel. As you can imagine, the air on the surface was drained by the intense burning, and even the sewage in the sewers was already boiling, and the terrible smell of meat quickly filled the dilapidated streets. Residents rushed out of bomb shelters to flee for their lives, surrounded by flames in the narrow streets, struggling to survive the smoke and heat. In less than an hour, hundreds of thousands of French people were burned, blown up, stoned, and suffocated to death, and the number of injured people was several times greater, and many people were subjected to extremely terrible radiation and burns, which is estimated to last less than a week, and the death toll will soar exponentially.

In addition to the immediate damage caused to Paris, the explosion of the atomic bomb caused a storm of electromagnetic pulses on a large scale, breaking through the insulation, burning electrical circuits, and severely damaging all electronic components...... Not only did the radio equipment around Paris be scrapped instantly, but also the radio communications in Normandy, Brittany, Calais, and even the Netherlands were seriously disrupted, and it was impossible to shoot and send telegrams normally for several hours. Tens of thousands of planes that had just carried out the "100-hour bombing" against Britain at various front-line airfields in the coastal areas of Western Europe also fell into the embarrassing situation of paralyzed command and interruption of communications, which eventually led to the abortive of the planned next stage of strategic bombing of Britain after the "100-hour bombing."

All in all, when the stunned French learned of the tragic situation in Paris, especially the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, and the Champs-Elysées, they wept bitterly and shouted that "half of France is dead". Even when the whole French people were furious, the French Red Army, which was born from the Red Guards, was filled with righteous indignation and vied with each other to be the vanguard of the attack on Britain across the sea......

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And on the other side of the Channel, in Britain, especially London, which had just been hit by a Soviet atomic bomb, when they learned that there was also a nuclear mushroom cloud blooming over the flower capital of Paris, the British people, who were originally in deep depression and despair, were boosted by some morale - although their own country did not have an atomic bomb, the American allies had it! It's no longer one-sided, and it's only beaten and doesn't fight back, which makes people feel a little comforted.

Taking advantage of this hard-won favorable situation, Prime Minister Churchill made a national broadcast, in which he condemned the atrocities of the Bolshevik "red devils" in a truncated manner, and at the same time encouraged the British army and people to fight to the last moment against the evil enemy for the glory of the Empire, and he swore that he would never consider making peace with the enemy, let alone surrender to the invaders, and that he would lead the great nation to fight until victory came or the last Englishman on earth fell-"...... I love this country, and I have fought for its glory and greatness for half my life. I have devoted the most precious time of my life to the empire and the king...... We are engaged in a war of unprecedented proportions, and we must use any means to defend our country, our people, and all the wealth that countless ancestors have paid for with their sacrifices and sweat. We have no way out, we can only move forward, or win or perish, there can be no third outcome. But I firmly believe. Our descendants will be proud of the great work we have undertaken! ”

However, although this fat man said it so impassionedly and righteously, it seemed that he wanted to fly a fighter plane into the sky and fight to the death with the Soviet planes that were spreading death over Britain. However, while the sound of his radio speech was still being broadcast throughout Britain, Churchill himself had already slipped out of the island of Great Britain and moved to Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, with his entire wartime cabinet and war department, and was dragged away by him from Windsor Castle, as well as His Majesty King George VI and the entire British royal family......

In fact, as the wartime prime minister of the British Empire, Churchill had the strongest and safest underground shelter in London as his office - it was under a concrete office building near Stoley Gate, and the construction crew filled the basement of the original office building with high-grade cement to form a five-meter-thick concrete roof, enough to carry the largest aerial bombs in the early days of World War II. The entrance to the basement is also equipped with a one-foot-thick special armored steel door, which can last for three hours at 2,000 degrees Celsius, and will not deform after cooling, and can still open and close smoothly.

However, the underground shelter is also very spacious, with a bright lighting system and a strong ventilation system that makes you feel like you are deep underground, and the British-style interior is combined with snow-white walls and smooth floors, without the oppressive feeling of an ordinary bomb shelter. During the entire air war in Britain against Nazi Germany, His Excellency Prime Minister Winston Churchill commanded the war here.

Unfortunately, even such a rock-solid underground shelter could not withstand the terrifying destructive power of an atomic bomb...... So, having personally inspected London and several other cities that had been bombed after the nuclear bombing, and witnessing the devastation of these cities, the cargo decided to slip away and take refuge in Northern Ireland, the farthest point from the European continent in the British Empire - although in terms of range, enemy strategic bombers taking off from airfields in northern France could also reach Northern Ireland. In the just-ended, purgatory-like nightmare of the "100-hour bombing", the towns of Northern Ireland did suffer a few bombs, but compared with the devastating tragedy of England with millions of casualties, Northern Ireland, with the entire island of Great Britain as a buffer, has been called a peaceful paradise, far more suitable for the British ruling class to live for a long time than today's London.

In addition to moving the government and royal family to Northern Ireland, another important decision made by Prime Minister Churchill in mid-October was to completely abandon the Mediterranean and Far Eastern theaters at the cost of the total collapse of the colonial empire, and to recall the Mediterranean Fleet stranded in southern Italy and the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet in Singapore, so as to deal with the dilemma that the entire territory of Great Britain was almost defenseless after the collapse of the Scapa Sound Fleet.

However, of the only pitiful reinforcements on these two lines, the former was limited in size and weak in strength, and did not even have a battleship, battlecruiser or armored aircraft carrier, and could not stand alone against the Arctic Ocean Fleet and the Baltic Fleet of the Soviet Red Navy; The latter is far away on the other side of the world, and the distance is too far to add, and even if the journey is smooth, it will take at least a month or two to rush back home from the Far East, which feels a bit unhurried.

In this way, for a long time to come, the Soviet Red Army will be able to easily cross the strait and launch a landing war against the British mainland!

At present, the essence of the British Army is withered in the Far East, North Africa and the European continent, and there is an extreme shortage of major generals in the country, and the allies in Europe are only Portugal and half of Spain, which are even more precarious, and the Irish who have always had a deep enmity with the British and may defect at any time on the battlefield...... In short, it's all a bunch of unreliable scrap wood and bastards. Therefore, unless the Royal Navy can prevent the Soviet Red Army from coming ashore, once this group of beasts set foot on British soil, there is no hope of winning the battle to defend the homeland with the current defense forces of the British mainland.

However, the Grand Fleet, which had concentrated the last essence of the Royal Navy, was now finished in a mushroom cloud rising from Scarpa Bay......

In order to cope with this crisis, Prime Minister Churchill had no choice but to tap the potential of the country and announce that he would quickly train the militia to form a 1 million "National Guard" within two weeks, and plan to recruit all men between the ages of 16 and 60 in the United Kingdom who have not yet been called up for service, as well as any women who have volunteered within the length of their service. In practice, the councillors, nobles and gentry of the counties were responsible for organizing and directing them, with Prime Minister Churchill himself as the titular Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, and his chief of staff and most trusted military adviser, Hastings. General Ismay was in charge of the training and arming of these "National Guards" - on the surface of it in order to mobilize all his forces against the Soviet Red Army, or the "coalition of European socialist camps", which seemed to be about to cross the sea, and win the war...... At least to draw the war that would determine the fate of Britain; On the other hand, however, there is also the consideration of maintaining domestic social order and preventing the occurrence of civil unrest and riots. In fact, if the ironclad torrent of the Soviet Red Army really crossed the Strait and landed in the southern part of England (England), which is low-lying and plain-wide, then it would be useless for the defending side to rely solely on the outnumbered number of people in the face of the Red Army's various powerful modern weapons. If this group of improvised uncles, aunts, grandfathers, children, and girls are allowed to rush forward with the same roar as the ancient Celtic warriors, then I am afraid that the Russians will only waste some more ammunition at most.

However, if you think about it from a different angle, from the perspective of maintaining social order and avoiding the kind of civil strife that averted Tsarist Russia, this is a good move.

-- With the overwhelming bombing and the horrific mushroom cloud of nuclear explosions, countless British people were reduced to ashes along with their accumulated wealth, or they were spasmed to death in the shroud of poison gas, and their entire families died. But those who survived suffered even more, because they lost their possessions, homes, loved ones, careers and jobs in the bombardment that turned entire cities into flames...... This happened six years ago during the Battle of Britain, but at that time there were far fewer towns destroyed in Britain, and the British government had far more manpower, money and material resources than it has now, and it was able to organize rescue activities in a timely manner, provide medical assistance to the wounded, distribute some food and clothing to them, and even give them shelter and work, and in the worst case at least a tent to accommodate them.

However, by the time World War III broke out, the resources of the British Empire had long been exhausted, and the number of war refugees caused by the "100-hour bombing" to Britain was at least dozens of times that of the Luftwaffe six years earlier. In the face of so many displaced, hungry and cold war refugees, Churchill's wartime cabinet was able to organize a relief force that was completely overstretched and a drop in the bucket, and many poor people who had lost their homes and possessions could only sit helplessly on the side of the road, not knowing where to get a piece of bread to eat...... The order of civil society in the UK is already at risk of spiraling out of control.

As the saying goes: if you are cornered, don't forget that there is one last way out, and that is crime.

In peacetime, this would at best mean the growth of the underworld and the red light district. But in times of war...... Well, we can probably refer to Chinese society in the late Ming and Republican eras, or Tsarist Russia after the outbreak of the February Revolution and the sudden collapse of the imperial system.

Think of hundreds of thousands, millions of rogues roaming the country and rioters rampant, and you can see how anxious Churchill must have been.

Under such circumstances, delegating power to local forces and setting up armed militia groups on a large scale has become an inevitable choice -- similar to the reason that the Song Dynasty in China selected young and strong men from among the victims to serve as vanity troops whenever there was a famine, so as to prevent them from becoming desperate and causing chaos. Although this will certainly cause many problems and troubles in the future, such as local separatism, the growth of warlords, and financial burdens, those in power who have been completely forced into a desperate situation can often only have a headache and a painful cure, even if they want to drink to quench their thirst, they have no choice but to take care of the current hurdle first.

In this way, the British Isles, which had been tired from the war for a long time, was once again given a shot in the arm and ushered in a vigorous nationwide military training movement.