Chapter 145, Apocalypse of Nuclear War (Part 1)
United States, White House, Oval Office
President Truman, who had stayed here for nearly four years, had already packed up his luggage and returned to his hometown with great relief. At the same time, he left an almost desperate mess to His Excellency Douglas MacArthur, who had a corncob pipe in his mouth. .
It really is a super hopeless mess.
——Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland and Vancouver in Canada on the West Coast were all unfortunately visited by the Soviet Union's "Flying Bear" four-engine jet ultra-long-range strategic bombers on the same day. They were hit by atomic bombs. The number of direct fatalities alone There are as many as one million. In particular, the nuclear explosion at the San Diego Naval Port caused almost irreparable and devastating damage to the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet. Only the Soviet atomic bomb that fell on San Francisco seemed to have malfunctioned and failed to detonate. However, after hitting the ground, the bomb body was damaged and nuclear materials leaked, causing severe radiation pollution. The San Francisco municipal authorities were forced to conduct a large-scale evacuation of citizens. , if you really calculate it carefully, the comprehensive loss does not seem to be much worse than a nuclear explosion.
Well, several small cities were bombed by conventional aerial bombs, and hundreds of people died... Compared to the mushroom clouds of atomic bombs, this is not worth mentioning.
Of course, there is definitely no way to remedy the above-mentioned things that have already happened. The question is what should we do next?
——The Soviets obviously have more than a few atomic bombs, and the Soviet strategic jet bombers will not only come here once.
But the problem is, if the previous attack on a West Coast city can be explained as being caught off guard like the Pearl Harbor incident, then how should the Soviets explain it to the people and Congress the next time they drop an atomic bomb?
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"...haven't the aviation and air defense forces come up with an effective countermeasure against the Soviets' new jet strategic bombers?"
President MacArthur, who had just taken office less than a week ago, took out his corncob pipe from his mouth, tapped the table slowly, and at the same time stared with dissatisfaction at General Arnold, who was in charge of the Air Force, "...their next nuclear weapon The target may be Washington!”
Facing President MacArthur's angry questioning, Admiral Arnold gave a feeble smile, with a look of decadence on his face, "...This...ever since the disaster broke out on the West Coast, we have been organizing experts to discuss countermeasures. But ...The Soviets’ latest jet-powered ultra-long-range strategic bomber , its performance is so amazing that it has completely exceeded the limit of our imagination! Its flight altitude exceeds the ceiling of any of our current fighter jets, and its speed has exceeded the speed of sound, which is faster than our fastest F-86'. The Saber jet is about twice as fast!
As a result, when encountering such Soviet jet bombers, our fighter jets can neither climb to the same altitude to intercept, nor can they catch up with the enemy's speed. Basically, they can only sit and watch them drop atomic bombs from overhead. Nothing can be done..."
"...General Arnold, as a soldier, I certainly know that the performance of Soviet jet intercontinental bombers that can carry nuclear bombs across the ocean must be extraordinary, but this is not an excuse for you to give up your homeland air defense mission! You guys! Knock them down no matter what!”
Listening to these prevarications, President MacArthur was so angry that he slammed the table, "...Don't tell me that you are going to wait for engineers to develop the next more advanced new fighter jet - before that, the White House and the Pentagon It will all turn into radiation dust under the mushroom cloud!”
"...No, the situation is not that bad. Mr. President, there are still some emergency countermeasures. The first is to increase the alert level of all radar stations across the country, because the enemy comes from the sea, and most of the targets of nuclear explosions are port cities. On the ground The radar station has insufficient warning time, so ships of the Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet are dispatched to patrol and set up a long-range early warning radar network one hundred to two hundred kilometers away from the coastline.
Secondly, we have deployed a batch of B-36 'Peacemaker' bombers for emergency modification, preparing to install large-caliber aircraft cannons and aviation rockets, and transform them into high-altitude gunship aircraft - although the speed of the B-36 is far It cannot be compared with Soviet jets, but its maximum ceiling is 20,000 meters, reaching the stratosphere, and can climb to the same height as enemy aircraft. In this way, it can theoretically defeat Soviet supersonic bombers.
At present, the transformation work has been started. If everything goes well, it is expected that the transformation of the first batch of gunships will be completed in three days..."
"...Do we need to use the B-36 'Peacemaker', which is more expensive than a destroyer, to modify the gunship? This... seems a bit too wasteful, right? I don't remember that there were originally a batch of B-29' super Sky Fortress' modified air gunship? ”
President MacArthur frowned suspiciously, "...the number of B-36s currently owned by the United States does not seem to be very large!"
"...The B-29 'Super Flying Fortress' modified aerial gunship aircraft is used for ground bombardment and has poor air combat capabilities."
General Arnold replied, "...and the B-29's climb limit is only more than 10,000 meters, and it is still unable to reach the Soviet stratospheric bombers."
"...Okay, then let's use the B-36 'Peacemaker' to transform it into a gunship! Although it is a bit more expensive, now is really not the time to be economical. If New York and Washington are hit by Soviet nuclear bombs, it will cause The economic losses are definitely more terrifying than the cost of 10,000 B-36s..."
Hearing such a reply, MacArthur could only shake his head helplessly, "...will this be able to drive Soviet bombers away from our airspace?"
"...Uh... maybe... probably... at least... it can have a certain deterrent effect!" Admiral Arnold replied hesitantly.
"...What? Deterrence effect? Just a deterrent effect?" MacArthur suddenly jumped up, "...Why?"
"...Your Excellency, although the gunship modified by the B-36 'Peacemaker' can climb to an altitude of 20,000 meters and is finally at the same altitude as the enemy, its flying speed is still less than half that of the enemy aircraft! Moreover, the self-defense firepower and armor of the Soviet supersonic jet strategic bombers may not be too weak. The gunships transformed from the B-36 'Peacemaker' To deal with them is equivalent to sending a slow battleship to fight a fast cruiser, or using a heavy infantry phalanx to fight the enemy's heavy cavalry - if the enemy collides head-on, it will naturally be able to withstand it, but if the Soviet Union If people choose to avoid the battle, our B-36s will still be unable to block or catch up, just like the infantry cannot pursue the cavalry.”
Admiral Arnold's face was full of bitterness, "...unless we have a fleet of B-36 gunships that can cover the sky and build an airtight air blockade before the enemy attacks, but this is obviously impossible. The B-36 'Peacemaker' is an expensive and difficult-to-manufacture high-tech product. So far, only three B-36s have been produced nationwide. One hundred and thirty-five, after deducting various malfunctions and combat losses, as well as the losses in the nuclear explosion just now, and the most basic counterattack force that must be retained-if they are all converted into gunships, we will no longer be able to carry out targeted attacks. For the transoceanic bombing mission in Europe, we can modify at most 250 B-36 gunships, which is far from enough to defend the entire country..."
This quick answer made President MacArthur choke and roll his eyes, "...In this case, what is the use of this countermeasure?"
"...Well, with our army's existing B-36 'Peacemaker' inventory, after transforming them into gunships to the maximum extent, although it is still not enough to ensure the safety of the national airspace, it can at least support a relatively A small-scale air defense line to closely defend several key cities..."
Admiral Arnold replied, "...with our existing technical equipment, we can only do this."
"...What about other cities? Let the Soviet supersonic bombers drop atomic bombs?" President MacArthur's eyes widened.
"...In order to win the war...no, in order for the war to continue, certain sacrifices are also necessary..."
"...Haha, just to allow the war to continue? Do you also think that this war is unwinnable?"
Ignoring General Arnold's slightly reserved and guilty look, President MacArthur smiled bitterly, "...it just makes the war drag on longer, but the price is that most of the states in the United States will be destroyed in a very short period of time. , will it become a radioactive wasteland like the UK? ”
"...Well...I'm sorry, Mr. President." General Arnold could only lower his head.
"...Forget it, I don't want to accuse you." President MacArthur waved his hand. He knew very well that such wars and plans were not something that the Pentagon could make the decision at all. Even he, the president, could not make decisions arbitrarily. We can only blame the Soviets for pushing too hard and refusing to leave any way for the Wall Street consortium to survive, forcing them to tie up the entire United States and continue to suffer in this hopeless war. "...Only relying on We can never win by simply defending. We cannot show weakness, we must carry out the most powerful counterattack! General, have you made the relevant plan?"
"...there is such a plan. The other side of the Pacific is too far away, but it is still possible to continue nuclear bombing Europe. But the problem is that we currently do not know where the Soviets' new strategic jet bombers will take off from to bomb the east coast. I don’t even know if they have plans to bomb the east coast - maybe the Soviets’ new jet strategic bombers have limited production and are only deployed in the Pacific battlefield.”
General Arnold explained his difficulties in this way, "...under such a situation where everything is basically black and white, even if we send the B-36 formation to fly across the Atlantic with atomic bombs to Europe, we can only randomly find a few cities to cause chaos. Explode - it's probably an abandoned city where the residents have been removed. There's no point other than revenge and venting anger. If we want to prevent this from happening, we need more intelligence support..."
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Hearing General Arnold mention intelligence issues regarding the war against the Soviet Union, President MacArthur couldn't help but smile wryly again.
——Since the outbreak of World War III, the US military has suffered enough from the lack of intelligence, but it has been unable to do anything about this problem.
According to common sense, intelligence work is obviously very important in modern warfare. But the problem is that in most cases, if you want to transmit intelligence, you have to pass it through a third country or a neutral force. It is rare for intelligence agents to directly cross the line of fire under a hail of bullets and send letters back and forth - occasionally one or two Urgent information is okay, but if every piece of ordinary information had to be sent like this, the sacrifice rate of spies would be too high, even to the point of being unbearable. The entire intelligence network that has been laid out with a lot of money and time will be destroyed in a short period of time.
However, in the Third World War, even "permanently neutral countries" like Switzerland were destroyed by nuclear bombs. The entire world has been completely torn into two camps, and legal trade and information exchanges between each other have been completely cut off. There is no truly neutral country that can serve as a transit point. American spies in Europe, the Soviet Union, Japan and China could only use radio stations to send messages, in addition to risking their lives to sneak across the ocean.
However, in a police state with a strict system like the Soviet Union, hiding a radio station secretly and sending reports frequently was simply seeking death, and it would not take long for it to be discovered. In other European and Asian countries, counter-intelligence measures are more relaxed and relatively stable intelligence stations can be set up. But the problem is that even if the confidential information of these countries is successfully detected and sent back to the United States, it will probably be of little use to the military - the only enemy that can truly threaten the survival of the United States is the Soviet Union. It’s just a country, even the Japanese are still a level below.
For things like launching a nuclear strike, if you don't have intelligence channels within the Soviet Red Army, you usually can't find out anything.
Of course, with South Africa's independence and withdrawal from the war, a neutral country finally appeared again in the Third World War, and the U.S. intelligence agency was able to use the South African Embassy in the Soviet Union to reposition its personnel and activate the previously dormant agents... However, , due to the previous interruption of contact, the already imperfect intelligence network was further fragmented. We have not yet figured out the clues. How can we find out the accurate movements of the Soviet nuclear strike force?
Therefore, since the outbreak of World War III, the US military has mainly relied on listening to the Soviets' wireless telegrams and deciphering the Soviet Red Army's coded messages to obtain some military intelligence. But the problem is, first of all, the Soviet army's codes were changed frequently, and the speed of deciphering the codes was not ideal enough. The information finally obtained from it was often outdated after being sorted out. Moreover, high-level top-secret information on the production and storage of Soviet nuclear weapons seems to be transmitted only by wired telegraphs and telephones. The US military's radio listening personnel can hardly get a glimpse of it, which makes people scratch their heads.
In this regard, Arnold, who wanted to launch a nuclear counterattack against the Soviets but was unable to do so, could not find the target and was at a loss, so he could only stand and be criticized. But if it were President MacArthur, he couldn't think of any good ideas. For a while, he could only stare at each other, speechless...
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While Arnold and MacArthur were discussing intelligence issues, a sharp air raid siren suddenly sounded in the White House.
For a moment, everyone inside and outside the White House involuntarily stopped what they were doing, and there was a moment of silence.
The next moment, the entire White House suddenly became noisy, with banging collisions, footsteps, and hysterical screams of terror everywhere. Two strong agents directly knocked open the door of the Oval Office, dragging President MacArthur out regardless...
And a car appeared on the South Lawn of the White House at lightning speed, crushing the neatly manicured lawn into two eye-catching ruts.
——If it was an ordinary air raid, the correct response would be to quickly get into the air-raid shelter, and naturally there would not even be air-raid shelters near the White House. However, the problem is that according to the current method and rhythm of the Soviet bombing of the United States, they will definitely drop atomic bombs directly. No matter what kind of air-raid shelter, there is no one underground in the White House that can withstand nuclear bombs. The explosive underground war room.
In the same way, the NORAD underground shelter located in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, during the Cold War era, and the anti-nuclear explosion command center prepared to fight a nuclear war with the Soviets, also did not exist at the beginning of 1949. On the soil of the United States of America.
Therefore, in the face of nuclear bombs that may be dropped at any time, the only feasible self-rescue strategy is to escape from the city quickly, rush to the wilderness, hide outside the killing range of the atomic bomb, and then find a place to hide and wait for the latest Soviet jet The ultra-long-range bomber dropped the nuclear bomb and flew back...
There is no way, now, just a few days after the attack on the west coast, the first B-36 gunship that can climb to 20,000 meters has not yet been modified, facing the stratosphere from 19,000 meters high The Soviet bombers penetrated the defense at supersonic speed. The Americans, who had no choice but to close their eyes and resign themselves to their fate, could only pray to God while escaping from the city as far as possible. No matter whether they were generals, dignitaries or the president, they could not do anything. exception.
However, when he drove out of the White House before, President MacArthur seemed to be a little stunned by shock, or he didn't react for a while, but he didn't have any intention to resist, so he allowed a few agents to manipulate him. However, as the White House's evacuation convoy left downtown Washington at top speed and drove along the Potomac River, everyone in the car quarreled over its next destination - the special bulletproof limousine in which the President was riding. , General Arnold, Secretary of State Marshall and the Cabinet Chief of Staff who were hitching a ride believed that there was no way to deal with the Soviet supersonic jets at the moment. Everyone should take care of their own safety first and find a remote wilderness to get into. Wait until the matter is over.
However, President MacArthur, who had sobered up, became stubborn and insisted on going to the Pentagon to take command and grasp the attack situation on the east coast cities immediately. Even if the Pentagon was likely to become a target for the Soviets to drop nuclear bombs, he had to take the risk. ——"...The United States chose me to serve as president because it hopes that I will be courageous and unyielding in the face of any disaster, rather than letting me become a deserter in the face of crisis." He said plausibly.
In this way, several people had a heated argument and exchange of words in the car. Before any result could be reached, they suddenly saw a white light shining from the horizon in the north direction of Baltimore, like God's rod of light. Hitting the ground... everyone, including the driver, was dazzled by the light, and even felt their skin being burned. As a result, the cars in the White House evacuation convoy instantly became chaotic and a series of car accidents broke out. Unfortunately, some cars rolled down the road and turned upside down, while more cars were parked in a mess in the middle of the road, colliding with each other and forming a pile.
Then, a huge roar comparable to thunder came from the end of the horizon, making everyone's eardrums buzz. After a while, air waves that were stronger than a tornado swept over the sky. Although the destructive power of the air waves was reduced a lot due to the long distance, it still uprooted many small trees and shook several cars violently. They even rolled up rocks and smashed the windows, wiping countless blood splatters on the faces and hands of the passengers.
When the booms and air waves dissipated and everything temporarily settled, the survivors of the White House motorcade helped each other climb out of the car, stood up tremblingly, and then saw a bright and huge flower. The mushroom cloud is rising in the north...
——The Soviet strategic nuclear strike bomber force has launched nuclear bombing operations against major cities on the east coast of the United States from this moment on!
From this moment on, the United States of America, which once boasted of being "manifested by destiny," officially embarked on the road of no return toward the abyss of destruction. ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※