Chapter 145: Apocalypse of Nuclear War United States, White House, Oval Office President Truman, who had stayed here for nearly four years, had packed up his luggage and returned to his hometown with great relief.
He also left an almost desperate mess to His Excellency Douglas MacArthur, who had a corncob pipe in his mouth. yznn 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 direct death toll alone was as high as As many as millions.
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, there were several small cities that were bombed by conventional aerial bombs, and hundreds of people died.
Compared to the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb, 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 to 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 when the Soviets next drop an atomic bomb, how should they explain it to the people and Congress?
"Have the aviation and air defense forces not yet 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 at General Arnold, who was in charge of the Air Force, with dissatisfaction, "Their next nuclear explosion target." , maybe Washington.”
Facing President MacArthur's angry question, General Arnold gave a weak smile, with a look of decadence on his face, "Since the disaster on the West Coast broke out, we have been organizing experts to discuss countermeasures.
But the Soviets' latest ultra-long-range jet warfare The performance of this bomber is so great that it has completely surpassed the limit of our imagination.
Its flying height exceeds the ceiling of any of our active fighter jets, and its speed has exceeded the speed of sound, which is faster than our fastest F86 Saber Jet.
A fighter 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 can't do it anyway.
Gotta knock them down."
Listening to these prevarications, President MacArthur was so angry that he slammed the table, "Don't tell me, you are going to wait for engineers to develop the next more advanced new fighter jet.
Before that, the White House and the Pentagon will have to change."
It’s become 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.
Ground radar stations There is insufficient early warning time, so ships of the Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet have to dispatch patrols to set up a long-range early warning radar network on the sea 100 to 200 kilometers away from the coastline.
Secondly, we have deployed a batch of B36 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 B36 is far from comparable to Soviet jets, However, the maximum ceiling is 20,000 meters, which reaches 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 modification work has been started.
If everything goes well, it is expected that the modification of the first batch of gunships will be completed in three days."
"Do you need to use the B36 Peacemaker, which is more expensive than a destroyer, to modify the gunship?
This seems a bit wasteful, right?
I remember that there were originally a batch of aerial gunships modified with the B29 Super Sky Fortress?"
President MacArthur frowned suspiciously, "The number of B36s currently owned by the United States does not seem to be very large."
"The B29 Super Sky Fortress is a modified aerial gunship aircraft used for ground bombardment.
Its air combat capabilities are very poor."
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General Arnold replied, "And the climbing limit of the B29 is only more than 10,000 meters, which is still out of reach of the Soviet stratospheric bombers."
"Okay, let's use the B36 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 were hit by Soviet nuclear bombs, the economic losses would definitely be greater than 10,000 The cost of building a B36 is even more terrifying.”
Hearing such a reply, MacArthur could only shake his head helplessly, "Will this be able to drive the Soviet bombers out of our airspace?"
"Well, maybe it can at least have a certain deterrent effect," Admiral Arnold replied hesitantly.
"What is the deterrent effect?
It's just a deterrent effect."
MacArthur suddenly jumped up, "Why?"
"Your Excellency, although the gunship modified by the B36 Peacemaker can climb to an altitude of 20,000 meters, it is finally at the same altitude as the enemy, but its flying speed is still less than half that of the enemy aircraft.
Moreover, the Soviet supersonic jet The self-defense firepower and armor of the strategic bomber may not be too weak.
The gunboat is modified from the B36 Peacemaker.
Using a machine to deal with them is equivalent to using a slow battleship to attack a fast cruiser, or using a heavy infantry phalanx to fight against the enemy's heavy cavalry.
If the enemy hits them head-on, they will naturally be able to withstand it, but if the Soviets If we choose to avoid the battle, our B36 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 B36 gunships that cover the sky and the sun, we can build an airtight air blockade before the enemy attacks, but this is obviously impossible. b36 Peace The founder is a high-tech product that is expensive and difficult to manufacture.
So far, the national production of b36 is only There are only 335 aircraft.
After deducting various malfunctions and combat losses, as well as the losses in the nuclear explosion just now, as well as 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 operations.
For Europe’s transoceanic bombing mission, we can modify at most 250 B36 gunships, which is far from enough to defend the entire country.”
This quick answer made President MacArthur choke and roll his eyes, "In that case, what's the use of this countermeasure?"
"Well, with our army's existing stock of B36 Peacemakers, 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 smaller air defense line.
Tightly defend several key cities.”
Admiral Arnold replied, "With our current technical equipment, we can only do this."
"Then what about other cities that allow the Soviet supersonic bombers to drop atomic bombs?"
President MacArthur's eyes widened.
"In order not to win the war, but to allow the war to continue, certain sacrifices are necessary."
"Haha, just to allow the war to continue, don't you think this war can't be won?"
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 defeated in a very short period of time.
Turn into a radioactive wasteland like the UK.”
"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 final decision about.
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.
Defending is absolutely impossible to win.
We cannot show weakness and must carry out the most powerful counterattack.
Have the relevant plans been made?"
"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 currently we do not know where the Soviets' new jet strategic bombers will take off from to bomb the east coast, or even not It is possible to know whether they have plans to bomb the east coast.
Perhaps the Soviets’ new jet strategic bombers have limited production and are only deployed in the Pacific battlefield.”
Admiral Arnold explained his difficulties in this way, "In this situation where everything is basically black, even if we send the B36 formation to fly across the Atlantic with atomic bombs to Europe, we can only randomly find a few cities and blow them up.
It is very likely that It is still an abandoned city whose residents have been removed, and there is no point other than revenge and venting anger.
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If we want to prevent this from happening, we need more intelligence support."
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 information, 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 Fortunately, if every piece of ordinary information had to be sent like this, then 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. , even the Japanese are still one level behind.
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, neutral countries 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 has further fragmented the already imperfect intelligence network.
We have not yet figured out the precise 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 them 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 through 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 could not come up with any good ideas.
For a while, he could only stare at each other in silence.
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 without hesitation.
And a car also appeared on the South Lawn of the White House at lightning speed, crushing the neatly manicured lawn into two eye-catching ruts.
If it were an ordinary air raid, the correct response would be to get into an air raid shelter as quickly as possible, and naturally there wouldn't 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 shelters they have, there is no one underground in the White House that can withstand a nuclear explosion.
Underground Situation 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 flew back after dropping the nuclear bomb.
There is no way, now, just a few days after the attack on the west coast, the first B36 gunship aircraft that can climb to 20,000 meters has not yet been modified.
The Soviet bombers penetrated the defense at the speed of sound.
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 they were generals, dignitaries or the president, there were no exceptions.
However, when he drove out of the White House, President MacArthur seemed to be a little stunned by the 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.
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However, when the White House's escape convoy left downtown Washington at top speed and drove along the Potomac River, everyone in the car quarreled over its next destination.
General Arnold, Secretary of State Marshall and the Cabinet Chief of Staff 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 and wait until something happened.
Let’s talk about it later.
However, President MacArthur, who had sobered up, had a stubborn temper 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 as president because it hopes that I will be courageous and unyielding in the face of any disaster, rather than asking me to be 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 achieved, they suddenly saw a white light shining from the horizon in the north direction of Baltimore, like God's rod of light.
When it hit 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. oshow7: