Chapter 95, Paris Burning
——A certain sage has this famous saying: The biggest lesson that history teaches people is that people of any era never learn from historical experience. At the same time, history also tells us that even those who understand history also do not learn from it. We will learn from history.
Although Churchill knew that the British Empire was defeated in this war, he could not bear the consequences of defeat, let alone the disintegration of the British Empire, and his character refused to admit defeat. He absolutely could not bear to sign the A letter of unconditional surrender. He was Churchill, a noble man, a great man who must be remembered in history... Therefore, he could only close his eyes and ignore it, hold his nose and carry the war to the end.
To this end, he needs the US military to launch more retaliatory nuclear strikes against the European Red camp: on the one hand, it is of course to weaken the enemy and improve his own morale; on the other hand, more importantly, it is to shatter the illusions of the domestic peace faction and consolidate himself Their ruling position forced them to support their war policies.
As for whether this will accumulate more national hatred and make the fate of the British Empire even more tragic... Churchill can no longer care about this!
On the other hand, the White House is also very worried that the British will really break the pot and kneel down to Stalin to sue for peace, striving for surrender and losing half. In this case, the U.S. military would be driven out of Europe. Without the United Kingdom and Ireland as a springboard, the U.S. military would have to cross the Atlantic alone to conduct an expedition to Europe. It would also be difficult to confront the Soviet Red Army head-on. From the perspective of the Pentagon, it would be a nightmare. In order to completely destroy the relationship between Britain and socialist Europe and prevent the two sides from making peace, Truman had no choice but to grit his teeth and take out his small nuclear arsenal - in his words: "...in order to prevent the great European civilization from being tarnished, To make our society familiar If the order is not overturned, we must tell those evil Bolsheviks that we also have atomic bombs, and we dare to throw them more than they do! Let those cruel and bloodthirsty red gangsters know that the land under their feet is also unsafe!"
Since the entire European continent has been dyed red, it seems too difficult to allow a formation of U.S. strategic bombers carrying nuclear bombs to fly at least three thousand kilometers over enemy territory and directly explode the Soviet Union. But instead of nuking the Soviet Union's most powerful ally in Europe, there is still some certainty - American strategic bombers carrying atomic bombs can take off from Sardinia, pass through the entire France and drop bombs in Paris, and then arrive at the British airport. landing.
Um? Why not nuke Germany? Firstly, because the distance is longer, and secondly, because Nazi Germany was destroyed just one year ago, Berlin was turned into rubble during the final siege, and the remaining citizens were dragged to Siberia by the Soviets to do hard labor. Even if the nuclear explosion occurred, there would be no Too much value.
Therefore, whether considering the actual strategic and tactical significance, or the feud between Britain and France, it is obvious that nuking France seems more effective.
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Therefore, on October 17, 1946, when the "One Hundred Hours of Bombing" of the European Socialist Camp Strategic Air Force against Britain was coming to an end, a formation of American nuclear strike bombers taking off from the Sardinian airport quietly Flying over the Mediterranean Sea, breaking into French airspace from the south, heading straight for Paris! By the time Red France and the Soviet troops stationed in France discovered that something was wrong, it was already too late - in this era without missiles and satellites, and with imperfect radar performance, no country can 100% protect its airspace and protect its airspace. Shoot down every enemy plane that invades our country's skies...
As a result, unlike the Soviet atomic bomb that unfortunately missed in London, the US nuclear strike bomber formation departing from Sardinia risked their lives and successfully broke through the layers of interception in French airspace and accurately dropped the atomic bomb in Paris. The city center, the most prosperous and lively Seine River... With a brilliant flash of light piercing the sky, a huge fireball slowly rose from the Seine River. All Parisian citizens who had not had time to hide in the underground air-raid shelters felt intense burning and pain in their eyes at the same moment, as if they were being illuminated head-on by searchlights, or being exposed to the scorching sun of a tropical desert. Many people immediately screamed miserably, rolled to the ground in pain, and covered their eyes with their hands...
The next moment, the real nightmare began to come - in the midst of a deafening roar, a high-temperature shock wave that destroyed everything, wrapped in the scorching heat wave from the flaming hell, mixed with various deadly rays, particles, nuclear dust storms, fierce Hit it hard in all directions! Even in the Compiegne Forest, which was more than 60 kilometers away, people heard a powerful muffled sound and fell to the ground in fear, thinking that the end of the world was coming. Fifteen kilometers away, in the Palace of Versailles, which was requisitioned as the temporary residence of the new government, all the glass was shattered instantly, flying everywhere like deadly shotguns, penetrating door panels and screens, rushing towards the unprepared victims, splashing It raised blood flowers one after another, causing an astonishing amount of secondary damage!
Of course, the fate of urban Paris must be even more cruel - whether humans, animals, vegetation, or buildings, they were all reduced to ashes in this foehn wind that seemed to come from hell. The fountain pool in front of the Louvre was instantly evaporated by the astonishing high temperature. The famous Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre, the Champs Elysées, which is known as a synonym for fashion and luxury, the Pantheon where many French greats are buried, the Invalides where Emperor Napoleon is buried, Notre Dame Cathedral where immortal love stories are spread, and Many cathedrals all over Paris... were reduced to a scorching purgatory in the blink of an eye.
Even the Eiffel Tower, the landmark of Paris, could not withstand the high temperature of the atomic bomb explosion. It quickly melted like a candle in a fire storm comparable to a Category 12 typhoon, and finally swayed. It broke into several pieces and collapsed with the background of the sky filled with flames.
As for ordinary neighborhood mansions, they were naturally wiped out under the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb. Most of the buildings that were not strong enough, especially the slums with worrying construction quality, were flattened by the tsunami-like shock wave. However, a few of the strongest reinforced concrete buildings stood like rocks protruding from the sea, standing in a large area of charred black land. On top of the hot remaining bricks and rubble. Trees, cars, trams, bicycles and pedestrians were all swept up into the air, then fell to pieces, or were burned to char in the air, and then continued to be carried around by the fiery air currents.
Many citizens who had no time to react were buried in the rubble. Of course, the citizens who were exposed in the open space were even worse - because they were directly illuminated by the flash of the nuclear explosion, they were burned to death on the spot, and their skin peeled off... and then... The spread of the fire plunged the survivors hiding in the air-raid shelter into disaster. The high temperature of the nuclear explosion ignited too many flames, causing the fire to spread unbridled on the streets and rooftops, burning from one house to another.
In such a destructive fire storm, tarred wooden telephone poles on the roadside, cardboard billboards at store entrances, curtains and furniture in houses will suddenly catch fire. Gas stations, gas plants, trees, plants... anything that can catch fire will burn. The scattered fires quickly merged into a sea of fire, with temperatures that can melt steel and burn cement, and continue to spread rapidly in all directions until there is nothing more that can be used as fuel. As you can imagine, the violent combustion drained the air on the surface, and even the sewage in the sewers began to boil. The dilapidated streets were quickly filled with the terrible smell of meat. Residents who rushed out of the air-raid shelters and scrambled for their lives were surrounded by flames on the narrow streets, struggling to survive in the thick smoke and high temperatures. In less than an hour, hundreds of thousands of French people were burned, blown up, crushed to death, and suffocated to death. Many times more people were injured. Many people suffered extremely terrible radiation and burns. It is estimated that It won't last more than a week, and the death toll will double by then.
In addition to the direct damage to Paris, the explosion of the atomic bomb also caused a large-scale electromagnetic pulse storm, which penetrated the insulation layer, burned out the circuits, and severely damaged the components of all electronic equipment... Not only did it cause damage to the surrounding areas of Paris, The radio equipment was instantly scrapped, and radio communications in Normandy, Brittany, Calais, and even the Netherlands were seriously interfered with, making it impossible to send normal telegrams for several hours. The tens of thousands of aircraft gathered at various frontline airports in the coastal areas of Western Europe and had just carried out the "One Hundred Hours of Bombing" against the United Kingdom were also trapped in the embarrassing situation of command paralysis and communication interruption, which ultimately led to the planned continuation of the "One Hundred Hours of Bombing". The next stage of strategic bombing of Britain after the "bombing" was forced to declare abortion
All in all, when the stunned French people learned about the tragic situation in Paris, especially after the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysées were reduced to ashes, every one of them cried bitterly and shouted "Half France is dead". Even though the French people were furious, the French Red Army, which was born out of the Red Guard, was also filled with righteous indignation and rushed to fight to be the vanguard of crossing the sea to attack Britain...
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On the other side of the strait in Britain, especially London, which had just been hit by a Soviet atomic bomb, when they learned that a nuclear explosion mushroom cloud was also blooming over Paris, the British who were originally deep in depression and despair were lifted up. It boosted some morale - although my country does not have atomic bombs, American allies do! At least it's no longer a one-sided situation where people only get beaten and don't fight back, which gives people some comfort.
Taking advantage of this hard-won favorable situation, Prime Minister Churchill issued a national broadcast, condemning the various atrocities of the Bolshevik "Red Devil" with cliche words, and at the same time encouraged the British military and civilians to fight the evil enemy to the last moment for the glory of the empire. He vowed that he would never consider making peace with the enemy, let alone surrender to the invaders. He would lead this great country to fight until victory comes or the last British man on earth falls - "...I love this country. , I am proud of its glory and greatness I have been fighting for half my life. I have dedicated the most precious time of my life to the empire and the king... We are engaged in an unprecedented war, and we must use any means to defend our country, our people, and countless ancestors who have used them for generations. We have no choice but to move forward bravely, and we can win or die. But I firmly believe that our descendants will be proud of the great cause we have carried out! ”
However, although what this fat man said was so impassioned and righteous, it seemed that he wanted to fly a fighter jet into the sky himself and fight to the death with those Soviet planes that were spreading death over Britain. However, while his radio speeches were still being broadcast throughout Britain, Churchill himself had already slipped out of the island of Great Britain, taking the entire war cabinet and the War Department to Belfas, the capital of Northern Ireland. Special, and at the same time he dragged him away from Windsor Castle, as well as the seriously ill 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 most secure underground bunker in London as his office location - it was underground in a concrete office building near Storey Gate. Construction workers were working in the basement of the original office building. The first floor was filled with high-grade cement to form a five-meter-thick concrete roof, which was enough to withstand the largest aerial bombs of various countries 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 that can withstand a high temperature of 2,000 degrees for three hours. It will not deform after cooling down and can still be opened and closed smoothly.
Then, the space in this underground shelter is also very spacious. The bright lighting system and powerful ventilation system make it impossible to feel that you are deep underground. The British-style interior decoration with snow-white walls and smooth floors Put together, there is no sense of oppression that ordinary air-raid shelters give people. During the entire Battle of Britain against Nazi Germany, Prime Minister Winston Churchill directed the war here.
Unfortunately, even such an underground shelter as strong as a rock cannot withstand the horrific destructive power of an atomic bomb blast... Therefore, after personally inspecting London and several other cities that were bombed after the nuclear explosion, Witnessed the devastation of these cities After the tragic situation, this guy decisively decided to run away and hid in Northern Ireland, the farthest place in the British Empire from the European continent - although in terms of range, enemy strategic bombers taking off from the airport in northern France could also get it. Northern Ireland. In the "Hundred Hours of Bombing" that just ended, like a hellish nightmare, towns in Northern Ireland were indeed hit by a few bombs, but compared to the devastating tragedy of millions of casualties in England, the entire Great Britain The island serves as a buffer for Northern Ireland, which can already be called a peaceful paradise. It is far more suitable for the British ruling class, whose life is precious, than London is today.
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 battlefield and the Far Eastern battlefield at the expense of the total collapse of the colonial empire, and recall those stranded in the South. Italy's Mediterranean Fleet and the Royal Navy's Eastern Fleet in Singapore responded to the dilemma that after the destruction of the Scapa Flow Fleet, the entire island of Great Britain was almost defenseless.
However, among the two pitiful reinforcements, the former is limited in scale and weak in strength. It does not even have a battleship, battlecruiser or armored aircraft carrier. It is simply unable to confront the Arctic Fleet and Baltic Fleet of the Soviet Red Navy alone. The latter is far away on the other side of the earth, and the journey is extremely long. Even if the journey goes smoothly, it will take at least one or two months to get back to the country from the Far East, which feels a bit slow.
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 on the British mainland!
At present, the best of the British Army is withering away in the Far East, North Africa and the European continent. There is an extreme shortage of major generals in the country. The only allies in Europe are Portugal and half of Spain, which are even more precarious. There are also some who have always had a deep hatred for the British. Hai, the Irish who may defect at any time on the battlefield... are all a bunch of unreliable losers and bastards. Therefore, unless the Royal Navy can prevent the Soviet Red Army from landing, once these beasts set foot on British soil, there is no hope of winning the homeland defense war with the current defense capabilities of the British mainland.
However, the Grand Fleet, which concentrated the last essence of the Royal Navy, has now ended in the mushroom cloud rising from Scapa Flow...
In order to deal with this crisis, Prime Minister Churchill had no choice but to bite the bullet and tap domestic potential. He announced that he would quickly train the militia and form a "National Guard" of one million people within two weeks. He planned to recruit all the people in the United Kingdom who had not been drafted to serve. Men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, and any women who are in service and who voluntarily sign up. In fact, the parliamentarians, nobles and squires of each county are responsible for the formation and command of these personnel. Prime Minister Churchill personally serves as the nominal supreme commander-in-chief of the National Guard, led by his chief of staff and most trusted military adviser Hastings Ismay. The general is responsible for the training and arming of these "National Guards" - which is obviously for In order to mobilize all their strength to resist the Soviet Red Army, or the "European Socialist Camp Alliance", which seems to be about to cross the sea, win... at least draw the war that determines the future and destiny of Britain; but another On the other hand, there is also the consideration of maintaining domestic social order and preventing civil unrest and riots. In fact, if the torrent of iron armor of the Soviet Red Army really crosses the channel and lands in the low-lying, broad plains of southern England (England), then in the face of the various powerful modern weapons of the Red Army, the defending side will simply rely on There is no use having too many people. If this group of temporarily recruited uncles, aunts, grandfathers, children, and girls were allowed to rush forward screaming like the ancient Celtic warriors, then the most that the Russians could do would be to waste more ammunition.
However, if you think about it from another angle, from the perspective of maintaining social order and avoiding the kind of civil strife that would lead to the collapse of Tsarist Russia, this can be regarded as a clever move.
——With the overwhelming bombing and the tragic mushroom cloud of nuclear explosions, countless British people were reduced to a pile of ashes along with their accumulated wealth, or convulsed and died in the envelope of poisonous gas, and their entire families died. But those who survived were even more miserable, because in this bombing that turned the entire city into a sea of fire, they lost their property, houses, relatives, careers and jobs, leaving only what they had on them. Suits and numerous scars...Situations like this also happened during the Battle of Britain six years ago, but that At that time, there were much fewer destroyed towns in the UK, and the British government's human, financial and material resources were far more sufficient than now. It could organize rescue activities in a timely manner, provide medical assistance to the wounded, distribute some reserved food and clothes to them, and even They arrange accommodation and work, and in the worst case at least have a tent to shelter 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 "One Hundred Hours of Bombing" in Britain was at least dozens of times that of the Luftwaffe six years ago. Faced with so many displaced, hungry and cold-blooded war refugees, the rescue forces that Churchill's wartime cabinet could organize were completely stretched and could only provide a drop in the bucket. Many poor people who had lost their homes and property could only sit helplessly on the side of the road. I don’t know where to get a piece of bread to satisfy my hunger... The order of British civil society is at risk of getting out of control.
As the saying goes: If you are desperate, please don't forget that there is one last way out, and that is crime.
If it were peacetime, this would at most mean the growth of underworld and red light districts. But during the war...well, we can probably refer to Chinese society in the late Ming Dynasty and the Republic of China, or Tsarist Russia after the February Revolution broke out and the imperial system suddenly collapsed.
Thinking about the hundreds of thousands or millions of gangsters roaming and thugs running rampant in a country, you will know how anxious Churchill must be.
Under such circumstances, delegating power to local forces and setting up large-scale armed militia groups has become an inevitable choice - roughly similar to the Song Dynasty in China, when there was a famine or military disturbance, young men and women would be selected from the victims to serve as Xiangjun, so as to prevent them from being desperate. And the reason for causing chaos. Although this will definitely cause many problems and troubles such as local separatism, the expansion of warlords, financial burdens, etc. in the future, those in power who are completely cornered in desperate situations can often only treat their headaches and pains. Feet, even if I drink poison to quench my thirst, I have to worry about getting over the current situation first. In this way, the British Isles, which had been exhausted from long battles, once again received a shot in the arm and ushered in a vigorous nationwide military training campaign.