Canteen System Assistance Notes

Sergeant Hidei Xiaofei, the most educated and insane, laughed wildly after the "ineffective appeal" was announced. Seeing his cards exposed and that he would be held accountable no matter what, he cursed and swore, struggling fiercely. But he was quickly pinned down by the soldiers beside him.

He shouted loudly: "You bunch of ZN people! This time you were just lucky and shot us down! You must know that the Empire is capable of more than just this!"

"The Imperial Empire's factories can produce tens of thousands of heavy explosives a year. When the time comes, even more heavy explosives, even more bombs and poison gas will fall on you, sending you to hell!" ...Sentenced to death, executed immediately!"

The frantic shouting drifted farther and farther, gradually disappearing into the fields. Soon, several gunshots were heard, and the shouting stopped abruptly like a goose with its neck pinched. From then on, apart from the faithful recording of everything by the tape recorder present, nothing more could be heard.

The crowd clapped their hands in relief, discussing topics such as "What a pity to have him executed" and "Those Japanese are not good people", and dispersed in an orderly manner under guidance - the direct executors of this crime, through the people's trial, officially received the end they deserved and received the criticism they deserved.

However, the Eighth Route Army soldiers present were not at ease.

While the flight sergeant's dying boast wasn't 100% correct, it was still 30% or 50% accurate. If one attempt didn't work, there was always a second attempt. As long as the Japanese still harbored ambitions for China and hadn't eradicated the minions of Nazism and fascism, they would continue bombing Shandong Province, perhaps even with larger-scale poison gas and biological attacks. The Eighth Route Army's interception efforts would inevitably lead to fatigue and errors, potentially causing even greater damage.

After all, all discerning people understand that even if representatives from other allied countries in the anti-fascist camp were invited to participate, it would be difficult to stop the atrocities of the Japanese army by simply using the "weapon of criticism".

Therefore, "the weapon of criticism cannot replace the criticism of weapons, and material force can only be destroyed by material force." While preparing for the public trial, the Eighth Route Army must also prepare a "thorough and convincing" "theory" to convince those criminals who were unable to attend. At Rushan Airport, not too far from here, another criticism was making a dull hum and began to set sail towards the distant East.

Chapter 688: Surgical Strategic Bombing

Since the Eighth Route Army has not yet conquered North China, the road from the border area to the base in Shandong Province still requires vehicles, animal power and human transportation, or expensive air transportation, so the scale of bombing that the Eighth Route Army can currently support in Shandong Province is not very large.

The Eighth Route Army calculated that, if they exerted their full strength, they could maintain a two-week bombing campaign, even without improved transportation, using the standard American bomber group (30-40 aircraft, B24/1T7 class). However, when reporting to the US military, they were reluctant to disclose the existence of "dual-use materials," so they only showed the US military what was historically limited. The US military estimated that they could maintain a monthly bombing campaign.

Therefore, the US military drew 7 "Liberator" bombers from the 7th Bomber Group in the China-India-Burma Theater, prepared 7 photojournalists and 2 Hollywood editing and production teams, and planned to infiltrate the Japanese mainland through Rushan Airport by night flight to carry out strategic bombing. The target, just like the original time and space history, was the Yawata Iron and Steel Works in Yawata City in northern Fukuoka Prefecture (that is, Yawata District of Kitakyushu City after the war, which is not in the same location as Yawata City in Kyoto Prefecture on the current map).

However, this plan was not successfully implemented. The British, having withdrawn their bomber forces from the North African theater, bombed the Japanese mainland before the Americans could, and, in the name of an alliance, they consumed a significant amount of fuel and ammunition, forcing the American bomber program to be postponed. Finally, after consultation between Colonel Doolittle, who was in charge of coordinating the initial bombing, and Brigadier General Wolfe, it was decided to simply wait a few days and double the number of aircraft in the initial raid.

They decided to add seven bombers from the 436th Squadron, newly converted B-24 Liberators, to the bombing, totaling 14 aircraft to attack the Yawata Iron Works. At the same time, considering the British might have already alerted the enemy, the US military decided to switch from the originally planned unguided night bombing to guided bombing. The First Army Air Force brought in six F5 reconnaissance aircraft, converted from P38 fighters. After transferring two to the Eighth Route Army for training, the remaining four were incorporated into the bombing squadron, ready to perform target identification and carry flares to indicate the formation's target.

On July 16, at the forward airfield in Rushan, Shandong Province, 14 B-24s finally assembled and completed all preparations for takeoff. Under the cover of night, they took off in succession and formed a formation to fly towards Japan.

As luck would have it, the Eighth Route Army Air Force, which also had a clear bombing plan and targets, also joined in the fun. In the Haiyang area west of Rushan, five of the Eighth Route Army's "Halifaxes" and a strange "special number plane" also completed the loading and refueling work at the local alternate airport and embarked on their expedition again.

Their goals are naturally different from those of the US military.

The use of poison gas bombs by the Japanese army in China was nothing new.

Regardless of the fact that the Japanese army set up institutions in the Northeast region to poison the masses and anti-Japanese patriots in an organized manner for the purpose of so-called "research" and "experimentation", on the battlefield inside the Great Wall alone, the authority to use tear gas "red barrels" was delegated to the brigade level, which was unscrupulous and cruel.

In addition to anti-virus and disinfection, the Eighth Route Army has come up with many ways to stop such attacks.

In addition to trying and executing those who ordered the use of weapons, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army also carried out many operations, such as releasing poison gas from air raids on the troops' formations and bases; using commandos to capture the subordinate institutions of the "Northern Branch 1853" troops in Lucheng, Datong, Jinyang, Pingyang and Yuncheng before the Japanese army burned the evidence; and raiding the "Northern Branch 1853" troops near the Temple of Heaven during the lack of defense in the city of Sijiu.

These operations yielded significant results and served as a significant deterrent to the use of poison gas by Japanese troops in China. However, whenever the Japanese army was surrounded and on the verge of collapse, many units would resort to desperate measures and release poison gas without distinguishing between friend and foe. If even the Japanese troops in China were like this, the war planners and massacre initiators in Japan would probably have even less scruples.

The Eighth Route Army's current "organochlorine" chemical production line is fully dedicated to synthesizing chemical pesticides to support agricultural recovery and overcome famine and disaster. While this does give the Eighth Route Army the ability to produce chemical warfare agents, it lacks the ability to simultaneously maintain agricultural production and produce sufficient chemical weapons to ensure "mutually assured destruction."

(The "organophosphate" industry didn't develop or expand until after World War II.)

After extensive discussions, the Central Committee concluded that as long as China did not achieve the United States' ability to launch a full-scale chemical warfare and form a terrifying deterrent against Japan, even if China set aside all principles and insisted on launching a retaliatory counterattack against the Japanese mainland, the Japanese military headquarters would probably not stop the chemical warfare because of the casualties among the people.

When did they ever care about the lives of the Japanese people?

What if the Eighth Route Army retaliates? Can the Eighth Route Army's combat range cover the whole of China? If poison gas cannot be used in North China, then it will be increased to Central and South China.

What can the New Fourth Army do?

Moreover, the current generation of senior leaders are indeed revolutionaries who have strict discipline and moral standards for themselves. For these realistic idealists, judging everything with the most utilitarian attitude is probably quite inappropriate.

However, is there nothing the Eighth Route Army can do against the devils who have "low moral advantage"?

"No, there is still a way."

"Although Japan was an industrial nation, it did not have a complete industrial chain. Furthermore, while many industries in Japan were decentralized, hidden within home workshops and factories, the poison gas industry was not one of them."

Long before, the Central Military Commission had discussed how to stop the Japanese army from using poison gas. At the time, Comrade Liu, then still undecorated as an "advisor," submitted a well-researched report to the Central Committee, demonstrating from multiple perspectives the theoretical basis and feasibility of the "most effective means."

Japan's poison gas industry, with the exception of a very small amount of laboratory production capacity in some colleges and universities, the vast majority of production capacity is concentrated in two places, and the one that is closely related to us is mainly the Okunoshima poison gas plant affiliated with the Japanese Army.

Located on Ōkunoshima Island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea, isolated from the mainland, the factory primarily produced the red-colored tubes commonly used by the Japanese, as well as highly dangerous chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas and Lewisite. To maintain secrecy, the Japanese Army even obliterated the site from its own published maps. All workers employed there were considered "loyal and honest individuals" who had undergone background checks and were transported to the island by ferry.

“The production equipment on the island is mainly arranged in two chemical synthesis workshops, and the main equipment of the two workshops is imported from Germany and France respectively.

There are very few domestically produced equipment in Japan - it can be said that the Japanese have no ability to carry out heavy

Build two such poison gas factories."

Liu Helian brought up maps and aerial photos of Okunoshima in later generations on the slides, and even a topographic map of the entire island made using 3D modeling.

On the island, the storage tank area, factory area, dock area, and power station area are clearly visible.

They are even thoughtfully marked with different colors, making them very eye-catching.

Rather than relying on international condemnation, Allied deterrence, or hoping that the Japanese would be frightened, a precise surgical strike would be launched: once this place was destroyed, the Japanese Army would lose more than 90% of its chemical weapons production capacity throughout the war.

"And if we further destroy the Sagami Arsenal in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa, we will be able to destroy almost all of Japan's naval and army chemical weapons production capacity!"

Blades whirred, aluminum wings sliced ​​through the air, and the two groups of aircraft quickly formed up and flew southeast. The all-black Halifax, the dark blue Liberator, and the F-5 reconnaissance plane began to race towards their respective targets.

The American pilots, feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement at their first battle, struggled to maintain a loose diamond formation in the night sky. They followed the "navigator" F-5 reconnaissance aircraft in radio silence, ready to follow the magnesium flash of the flares and drop their bombs on the target Yawata Steel Plant.

The pilots of the Eighth Route Army, with some of the laziness of veterans and a serious sense of mission, obeyed the one-way position report from a high-tech atmospheric observation aircraft and rushed towards the target in a wedge formation. Unlike the Americans, their ammunition bays were filled with heavy time-delay bombs weighing 1 ton, with whisker-shaped antennas and movable wings.

Unlike ordinary high-explosive and incendiary bombs, the nose cones of these bombs had long been covered with transparent glass. Within the deep lens, red flashes seemed to rise and fall like breathing. Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night for the Japanese fascists.

Chapter 689: Fatal "Black Eye"

The dark night is like a curtain, covering the sky and the earth.

The weather was very good on July 16, 1942. Although there was no moonlight, when the plane broke away from the thin clouds covering the coastline of Shandong Province, the brilliant Milky Way jumped out from the dark night and crossed the sky - and the Eighth Route Army fighter planes flying in the dark night were like sailing in a long river of shining light.

Although this was not the first time they attacked Japan, these red war eagles were not at ease.

Because the parts needed to maintain these aircraft had to be shipped thousands of miles from Canada, they even had to cherish every training opportunity. Because these five Halifax aircraft were the Eighth Route Army's only strategic delivery force, they couldn't afford to launch continuous attacks as long as they had enough fuel and ammunition like the wealthy US military. They had to seize and make good use of every attack flight...

Therefore, these soldiers who flew to Japan for the second time to carry out "surgical strikes" to eliminate the Japanese Army's poison gas production capacity had already shed a lot of sweat and made countless efforts on the training ground.

After the successful completion of Operation Red Net and the impending launch of Operation Black Eye, they diligently studied the target aerial views, maps, and 3D models provided by a consultant named Liu, repeatedly planning bombing routes and conducting flight rehearsals. With the help of engineers, they even recreated a full-scale model of the "Okunoshima" bombing target on the grasslands of Yili League and conducted rehearsals using the new guided bombs.

The soldiers' technical and tactical prowess was also demonstrated during the Shanxi Province counterattack in March: two Halifax bombers, carrying heavy semi-armor-piercing bombs, blasted through key points in Pingyang City's defenses with a 100% accuracy, opening a path for the ground attack. Afterwards, the Eighth Route Army Air Force's sole heavy bombardment unit received a letter of appreciation from a fellow unit and a certificate of commendation from the campaign headquarters, acknowledging their combat achievements.

Now, even though they are still not relaxed and a little nervous, a strong sense of mission and honor is still driving them. They hold the joystick tightly in their hands, follow the navigation signals beyond time and space, and fly towards the actual combat targets that have been rehearsed dozens of times.

The Eighth Route Army quickly parted ways with the US forces. Because the Yawata Iron and Steel Works was closer to Ōkunoshima, the Halifax bombing formation took off earlier than the Liberator bombing formation. Furthermore, considering that the British had been pursued by Jong-do fighters after their previous bombing of a Korean port, they, guided by their special-number planes, circumvented the Korean Peninsula to the southeast, using the extra 200 kilometers of range to avoid possible Japanese interception.

They quickly crossed the pitch-black Korean Peninsula and, using Jeju Island as a navigational landmark, completed position corrections and turns, heading west toward the Seto Inland Sea. After several hours of forced marching in the dark, the pilots, who had been flying instruments for so long, finally received the announcement that sounded like heavenly music.

"Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Chibi is about to appear at the 12 o'clock position on its course, 100 kilometers away. Prepare for bombing!" "Guan Yu/Zhang Fei/Zhao Yun/Ma Chao/Huang Zhong received!"

A call from a special aircraft codenamed "Liu Bei" came through the headset, and the "Halifaxes" who became the call sign of the "Five Tiger Generals" began intensive and orderly preparations for the bombing.

It was just dawn, the sun hadn't risen yet, and 100 kilometers was far beyond the limit of visual observation. However, the crew members with excellent eyesight could already see the outlines of the islands dotting the Seto Inland Sea with the faint morning light reflected by the atmosphere.

The island, which didn't exist on Japanese maps, was now within sight. "Five Tiger Generals, attention! Target 50 kilometers away."

The radio operator and bombardier at the rear of the cabin performed a final self-check of the ammunition and began to manipulate the rows of buttons and trackball mice at their combat positions. Lines of code flashed and scrolled on the screen in front of them, and finally turned into a control interface with a large number of parameters.

"Bomb power up!"

A crisp motor hummed as the bombardier and radio operator, donning large glasses that covered half their heads, gripped the control handles in front of them. They expertly turned a few knobs, conducting a final check before dropping the bomb.

"Wing inspection complete, communication link successful, everything on board is normal!"

"20 kilometers to the target."

The navigator at the front of the cabin pulled a screen from a side shelf, attached to a multi-directional stick, and pressed a red button on the control panel. The next second, a spherical mechanism in the fuselage's jaws swung open, revealing a bluish-gray mechanical eye with several black "pupils"!

"Infrared laser channel activated!"

The telescopic gimbal designed for urban "Skynet" monitoring and fire detection is not a military observation pod. The telescopic probe, which was originally capable of observing license plates and human figures up to 10 kilometers away, must rely on active infrared laser illumination to achieve night vision function even after being reinforced and windproofed. However, as the aircraft descended to an altitude of about 4,000 meters, the distance to the target continued to close. The outline of the "poison gas island" was finally captured by the fog-penetrating camera and revealed on the surveillance screen.

"Target 'Chibi' sighted, illumination ready! Open the bomb bay door!"

"10 kilometers to the target!" The guidance aircraft "Liu Bei" finally announced with some emotion, "Entering bombing sequence!" "Pre-planned target, two rounds from 'Black Eye', bomb!"

"bomb!"

The pylons broke loose, and the heavy one-ton bomb quickly separated from the flying Halifax, falling under the pull of gravity. But soon, the V-shaped dorsal fins on the back of the bomb quickly deployed. Together with the long side fins and cross tail fins on the bomb, they formed a static and stable aerodynamic support for the bomb, transforming its free fall into a stable gliding trajectory.

The flashing strobe tracer light at the tail of the bullet looks like a shooting star across the night sky.

The two operators sitting in the cockpit instantly stabilized their vision. A dual-mode white light/infrared motion camera, mounted in the warhead's optical compartment, was recording the scene at a 1080P/6 ohm refresh rate. The camera then transmitted the data in the form of a digital Wi-Fi data stream via the missile's whisker-like antenna to the "long-distance wireless communication bridge" antenna located under the Halifax's belly, ultimately displaying it on the two operators' FPV goggles.

At the same time, the communication control signals from the carrier aircraft are also fed back to the servo motor and several pneumatic control surfaces on the missile along this advanced information pipeline. The communication bridge that can support a transmission slant range of up to 20 kilometers and the time-tested 802.11 series transmission protocol are conveying the operator's will to the bomb carrying destruction with guaranteed quality and quantity.

In the white light channel, the outline of Ōkunoshima has become clear, and the many functional building complexes on it are emerging; in the infrared channel, the infrared laser illumination representing the intended attack target is also shining above those tanks, workshops, warehouses and factory buildings.

There was no way it could go wrong. These Eighth Route Army soldiers had been training for months for this very moment. They'd memorized the procedures, practiced ground and air drills, and iterated over and over again on the bombing sequence and firepower distribution plan. They'd bombed and rebuilt the imaginary target on the grasslands of Ikh Ju League, then destroyed it dozens of times.

At this moment, they are like the meteors themselves.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

Huge explosions began to rise above this "non-existent" island.

Chapter 690: Self-inflicted Destruction

While the Eighth Route Army possessed strategic bombing capabilities, the total weight of a single bomb was limited. A Halifax bomber, with its bomb bay doors removed and its underwing hardpoints fully loaded, could carry a maximum of 5.8 tons of bombs. And if it wanted to carry the one-ton "Black Eye" TV-guided bomb, it could only carry four.

Therefore, how to make good use of this round of 20 bombs is a very critical issue.

Because the airspace over Ōkunoshima was a no-fly zone, the Eighth Route Army couldn't conduct reconnaissance by disguising flights. Fortunately, Liu Helian had filmed the area from all angles on his return from Tokyo, and later conducted several more reconnaissance missions at different times, taking numerous photos.

After converting these photos into maps and comparing them with the data in the future materials, the Eighth Route Army quickly found several key strategic locations and developed a detailed firepower distribution plan for each aircraft.

According to the plan, the Eighth Route Army Air Force needed to drop two bombs in the first round of air raids to attack the mustard gas synthesis workshop, the Louis morale/sneezing gas synthesis workshop, two semi-buried finished product warehouses and the raw material tank area on Okunoshima Island. These places were filled with highly flammable chemical gas products and even more flammable synthetic raw materials. As long as the attack hit, a chain reaction would occur, creating a high-temperature fire scene filled with dangerous toxic gases, hindering the entry of subsequent rescue efforts.

After the first round of bombing, the two planes codenamed "Guan Yu" and "Zhang Fei" were required to take care of two additional targets - the power station and ammunition depot on the northeast side of Ōkunoshima Port. The remaining three planes were required to carry out follow-up attacks on key targets, or attack secondary targets such as the port pier and unloading machinery, depending on the damage done, to delay the Japanese army's subsequent rescue efforts on the island.

However, it is obvious that the Eighth Route Army did not have much practical experience with the horrific chain reaction and secondary explosion power of the chemical factory under the attack of the extremely precise "black eye" bombs and aluminized high-explosive incendiary charges.

The almost completely clean radio environment became the Eighth Route Army's best accomplice. The signal transmission of one bomb occupying a dedicated frequency band made the transmission of the video signal highly stable, and the low-drag aerodynamic layout revised by a suicide squad made the Black Eyes "like a speed skater shuttling across the ice, with a flashing fluorescent trail, whizzing into the predetermined target area."

Immediately, the guidance module in the warhead was crushed by the warhead's immense inertia. The warhead's impact fuse and the inertial firing pin at the tail of the projectile activated almost simultaneously. After a brief delay, they activated the detonator tube in the middle of the projectile, completely detonating the aluminized RDX-TNT mixture!

But the next moment, the navigator on the plane saw five miniature "suns" rising in the sky above Ōkunoshima!

High-explosive hot charges with thermite effect detonated the tank area at the port, causing the fuel and chemical solvents inside to flash explode. In an instant, the huge shock wave blew the tank into pieces. The air that was strongly squeezed even condensed on the spot, forming a circle of classic explosion clouds; the flying bombs penetrated into the warehouse at the foot of the mountain where poison gas was stored, detonating a large amount of finished and semi-finished poison gas stored therein, and this secondary explosion ejected many unignited poison gas storage barrels like cloud bombs.

These gas canisters, trailing flames and thick smoke, shattered on the ground one after another. Then, as the gas and liquid inside them leaked, they bounced and rolled around, spewing out colorful smoke screens, as if they were devil eggs about to hatch.

At the same time, the remaining bombs, with their time-delay fuses activated, pierced through the reinforced ceiling and fell into the poison gas workshop, which was operating on a double-shift basis. They turned the workshop, also filled with flammable materials, into a ball of fire. Following the unclosed valves, the continuous explosions began to spread rapidly along the chemical pipelines, eventually triggering an even larger explosion!

In just a few minutes... in just a few tens of seconds, the Japanese Army's only large-scale poison gas industrial complex was completely engulfed in flames and almost completely destroyed!

"Destructive effect...good. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, complete the bombing as planned. Ma Chao, remain with us. Everyone, prepare to execute plan three. Prepare to drop one bomb."

Even at an altitude of around 400 meters, nearly 8 kilometers away, the Eighth Route Army pilots could still hear the explosions and feel their terrifying power. The entire factory area, warehouse area, and tank farm were now engulfed in thick smoke and flames. Even the areas not on fire were filled with a vast expanse of multicolored "smoke"—a deadly mixture of multiple toxic gases and chemical raw materials—creating a scene resembling hell.

The five aircraft maintained their formation and began to circle Ōkunoshima to the south. Because of the remote control slant range, at their current altitude, they could launch attacks from up to 15 kilometers away, without having to enter the air defense range of the Japanese Type 5 anti-aircraft guns on the island.

They then moved to the east side of the island and began attacking several targets on the east and south sides of the island's mountains.

A total of three one-ton "Black Eye" bombs accurately hit the power centers of the entire island, destroying heavy oil boilers, steam turbines and substations, and blowing up the heavy oil fuel depot built on the mountain, extending the scope of the fire to the east side of the island.

Another "Black Eye" bomb, facing away from the rising sun, followed the roadway and penetrated the coastal artillery ammunition depot on the east side of the island. Perhaps due to budgetary constraints or a lack of vigilance due to the depths of the Seto Inland Sea, this ammunition depot, half-buried within the mountain, lacked even a blast-proof door. When the bomb's fuse activated, releasing powerful chemical energy within the cave, all the ammunition within exploded.

Boom!

The power of the explosion was so astonishing that the Eighth Route Army could even see flames gushing out of the ventilation holes in the ammunition depot on the top of the mountain.

And a few seconds later it was hit by the blast wave.

Bang!

"Oh my goodness..."

In the field of vision of the seven pilots, the scene on the east side of the island was equally shocking: the aluminized high-explosive charge ignited the heavy oil in the storage tank, and the flames in turn melted the viscous fuel, forming a lava-like flowing flame and emitting billowing black smoke; the detonation of the ammunition depot also knocked out a large number of "red tubes" stored therein, which flew and scattered on the gray-white smoke cloud, like the spikes on the exploded sea urchin balls, spreading gray-white fog everywhere.

The black and white smoke intertwined, like a pure stage of destruction.

The Ma Chao's final bombing attempt was no longer able to discern any significant targets, and the nearly devastated island infrastructure left little to destroy. Helplessly, the bombardier dropped his final "Black Eye" on the island's dock, destroying the only cargo pier and delaying the Japanese rescue effort.

"Five Tiger Generals, please take note. Use the third set of contingency procedures and begin your course turn. Prepare for the next round of bombing."

As Liu Bei's instructions came through the headset, all the pilots began to turn their planes and flew towards Zhonghai City in the north of the island. Because the bombing of the target was unusually successful, all the planes retained the "last bullet" originally used for finishing off the attack. There, there was a factory responsible for assembling "red tube" smoke bombs, and Zhonghai Port, responsible for transporting workers to work on Okunoshima.

Now that we're here and have bombs left, we can't take them back with us, right?

but.......

The navigator, crouching in the nose observation window, turned his head to gaze at Ōkunoshima, bathed in flames and smoke, a hellish scene, and sighed. The raging flames had already ignited the island's dense pine forest, forming a forest fire that surrounded the three Japanese artillery turrets on the hilltop from all sides.