Chapter 939 Bacterial Warfare VI (Second Update, Please Give Me a Monthly Vote)

December 18, Oahu, Hawaii.

When the first rays of morning light shone on this key island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, hundreds or even thousands of balloons of various colors suddenly took off.

These colorful balloons are very large, and there is something that looks like a basket from a distance under the balloons, just like a manned hot air balloon.

However, this is not a hot air balloon, nor is it the most common anti-aircraft balloon in World War II, but a hydrogen balloon with a bomb!

They are used to bomb the US mainland and are the pioneers of "Operation Jie No. 1"!

This weapon, called "Sailboat Bomb" by the Japanese, first showed its edge in early 1943. However, shortly after the end of the Panama Campaign, Japan stopped using "Sailboat Bomb". Because the method of using "Sailboat Bomb" at that time was relatively stupid, in order to pursue the hit rate, it was necessary to use a ship such as a seaplane carrier to fly it. The cost of bombing the United States once was not low, and there was also risk.

In addition, after the United States frantically strengthened the air defense of the West Coast, hitting this kind of balloon bomb became a project for training American fighter pilots.

However, after stopping the floating bombing operation, Japan did not give up the "Sailboat Bomb" project. Instead, a series of improvements were made so that it could take off from the Hawaiian Islands to bomb the US mainland.

At the same time, Japan was stepping up the stockpiling of "Sailboat Bombs" - although this weapon does not burn oil and does not require any expensive raw materials, it is a completely handmade thing and the output is not very high.

In order to be able to use this "Sailboat Bomb" in large quantities in "Operation Jie No. 1", the Japanese spent several months making balloons, and now they have finally stockpiled 300,000 Sailboat Bombs (there are only more than 10,000 in history).

And these 300,000 Sailboat Bombs are the Japanese strategy to tire the enemy, and also a means of intimidating the United States.

Starting from December 18, 10,000 Sailboat Bombs will be released every day, and about 3 days later, these Sailboat Bombs will float to the vicinity of the west coast of the United States. Most of them will of course be shot down by the Americans' P51 and P47 - this is an opportunity to practice shooting! But at the same time, it will also make American pilots exhausted.

After continuous "target training", in the early morning of December 25, when the real Japanese bombers came, the Americans would definitely miss the best interception opportunity due to fatigue and negligence.

After the Me264 bomber dropped the ceramic bacterial bomb, a small number of ceramic bacterial bombs would be installed on the "sailboat" floating towards the United States - not to kill many Americans, but to continue to create panic.

At this point, some people may ask why the ceramic bacterial bombs were not dropped with sailboat bombs - in fact, the Japanese had thought about this, but according to the intelligence provided by German spies, these sailboat bombs were not accurate, and the landing points were very scattered, and most of them fell in sparsely populated areas. The number of sailboat bombs that Unit 731 could provide was very limited. So far, only a few thousand have been manufactured. If only 1% of the ceramic bacterial bombs fell in densely populated areas, I am afraid that not many Americans would be affected.

Moreover, the day when "Operation Jie No. 1" began was December 1943. Only the Southern California region of the United States was relatively warm due to its low latitude and the influence of the Pacific warm current, which was suitable for the use of ceramic bacterial bombs.

In Northern California and Oregon and Washington in North America, it is now a land of ice and snow. The mosquitoes and fleas that bear the burden of the rise and fall of the Great Japanese Empire are likely to be frozen to death. As for the states further east, the population is even smaller...

...

"Lieutenant General, the Pacific Fleet Command just called and their destroyers and B-24 aircraft found a large number of balloon bombs approaching the west coast."

At noon on the 21st, Lieutenant General James Harold Doolittle, commander of the 4th Air Force of the US Army Air Force, who was responsible for the air defense of the west coast of the United States, received a report from the staff while having lunch.

"Again, balloon bombs?"

Doolittle put down his knife and fork and looked at Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault, who was sitting opposite him.

"How many?" Chennault asked.

In this time and space, Chennault's "official luck" was not good. He did not become the commander of the 14th Air Force, but only the chief of staff of the 4th Air Force. However, he himself is very satisfied with his current situation, because the 4th Air Force of the United States is the strongest one in the US Army Air Force, with more than 5,000 commonly used aircraft!

Besides less than 1,000 B-17s, B-24s, B-25s (nearly 300 B-25s were converted into night fighters, codenamed PB-25K) and B-26s, the remaining 4,000 aircraft were all the latest P47s, P51s, P38s and P61s (not many night fighters). The defense of the US West Coast was almost as strong as a copper wall!

"More than 1,000." The staff answered in a very relaxed tone.

The balloon bombs were discovered by the US Navy's "destroyer reconnaissance line" and B-24 scattered in the Pacific Ocean. The so-called "destroyer reconnaissance line" is to exclude about 100 destroyers and escort destroyers equipped with radar, and draw a dotted line in the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of the United States to form a forward air defense/anti-submarine warning network in order to increase the response time of the US Army Air Force and the Navy Air Force.

In addition, for the same purpose, there are reconnaissance aircraft modified from B-24s in the air for 24 hours of uninterrupted patrol flights.

Although it is impossible to achieve 100% detection, Japan's large fleet and numerous bomb balloons cannot escape the radar of these aircraft and destroyers - from this perspective, if the Japanese listen to Hersman's The idea is to use the Me264 to sneak attack San Diego. Even if the "Silver Death" is launched 200 kilometers away, the 100% success rate is still very guaranteed!

"Let the P51s go," Lieutenant General Doolittle began to issue the order, "Send out 500 first, which should be enough... In addition, notify the Coast Air Defense Team and ask them to prepare anti-aircraft guns. No matter what, we cannot let a Japanese bomb go. Falling in a densely populated area.”

"Understood, Lieutenant General." Chennault stood up, gave a military salute, and immediately went to the combat command center with a relaxed mood to take command.

It’s nothing more than 1,000 or more balloons…just use it as target practice!

But in the next few days, both Doolittle and Chennault felt that something was wrong - nearly 10,000 balloons with bombs floating slowly from the Pacific Ocean every day!

Although these balloons are just targets, there are as many as 10,000 of them, and no one can guarantee that they will be shot down 100%.

Moreover, not all of these balloons flew in during the day, but many of them flew in the middle of the night. In this way, P51, P47 and P38 were useless, and only PB-25K (night fighter) and P61 could be used to intercept them. However, the total number of these two types of aircraft is less than 400, and the effect of fighting at night is not as good as during the day.

By December 24, more than 5,000 sailboat bombs had slipped through the net and landed in densely populated areas.

…

"Mr. President, the Japanese have too many bomb balloons..."

William Leahy and Commander of the Army Air Forces, Admiral Arnold, as well as Secretary of Naval Operations Ernesto King and Army Chief of Staff Marshall were all summoned to the White House on Christmas morning to discuss countermeasures.

"Yes, there are at least 10,000 of them every day!" Admiral Arnold said helplessly, "And half of them fly to the United States at night. We don't have enough night aircraft."

The P-61 has just been put into production and is still in the trial stage. It will take some time to ramp up production. As for guest night aircraft like the PB-25K, its combat effectiveness is very limited.

"Ten thousand a day..." Roosevelt took a puff of Camel cigarettes. "Is this just the beginning?"

At least 20% of the 10,000 balloons landed in relatively densely populated areas - of course this "relatively dense" cannot be compared with the center of Tokyo, but it still caused some casualties.

Since December 22, dozens of deaths and injuries have been reported every day. As of Christmas Eve, the 24th, the death toll has exceeded 100.

Almost every day, more than 50 American citizens die under such fatal balloons!

In addition, all large and medium-sized cities on the West Coast of the United States, including Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, will hear the roar of anti-aircraft artillery every night starting from the 22nd.

"10,000 balloons a day, that's 3.65 million a year..." Marshall immediately did an arithmetic problem.

"They can produce so many," General Arnold said immediately. "I have seen those balloons, they are all made of paper. Ten female workers can paste one in a day. If there are 1 million Japanese making balloons, we will be in trouble. That’s big.”

100,000 a day!

Balloons can definitely be made, but those bomb balloons also have a complex mechanical control device, and there are many bombs and hydrogen. It is impossible for Japan to produce 100,000 copies of these things in a day. In fact, they can't even produce 10,000 copies. It can't be made... Japan is not the United States after all.

"It seems we have to consider seizing the Hawaiian Islands," the U.S. president looked at the generals in front of him and asked in a gentle tone, "Is it possible now?"

Roosevelt was not stupid, and he certainly would not have muddle-headedly ruined the fleet and hundreds of thousands of landing troops he had finally built up just for the tragic deaths of dozens of citizens every day.

"Unlikely."

"Mr. President, the current conditions are not mature."

"We should stick to the existing strategy and continue to consume Japan..."

The answers of several generals were similar, and they did not support an immediate attack on the Hawaiian Islands.

Just when Roosevelt was about to do what he was doing, his aide-de-camp Colonel Cotton suddenly brought unexpected news.

"Mr. President, the Pacific Fleet reported that they have detected Japanese bombers approaching the west coast."