Chapter 135:
Chapter 135
“Those damn Reds have created all kinds of evil things in this world. Robert, what do you think?”
“Hahaha… I’m just grateful that they’re on our side.”
Ha. The commander of the 305th Bombardment Squadron, Lieutenant Colonel Curtis LeMay, snorted at his subordinate’s words. He didn’t like the ‘Reds’.
He liked the vile, cowardly, and filthy Japs even less. That’s why he enjoyed playing along with the ‘tricks’ of the Reds, didn’t he?
“Besides, their analysis is very efficient. At this rate, we can effectively destroy Japan’s infrastructure with the least amount of sortie!”
“You’re concerned about efficiency. I’m a commander, so I give orders to my subordinates.”
Robert McNamara smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. Lieutenant Colonel LeMay didn’t seem to like the mission he had given to his subordinates.
This plan, which Stalin himself had told President Roosevelt, had concluded that it would be able to efficiently destroy Japan’s infrastructure.
They had not yet secured a proper bombing base, so they had to escape to the Soviet Union by one-way flight, which was a drawback, but the number of sorties required was much less than regular bombing, so it was tolerable.
“The only problem is… this operation may cause civilian casualties.”
“There are no innocent civilians. You know that, don’t you?”
“Hahaha…”
Afraid that another long speech would start, McNamara immersed himself in the operation plan again. This operation was honestly evil, to say the least.
It didn’t spill blood, but rather. It was an operation that would make them beg to die in blood.
***
In a rural village in Tochigi Prefecture, where the crops were ripening, an untimely siren rang out.
Wheeeeee! Wheeeeee!
[The bombers of the British and American invaders are flying over now! Residents, please evacuate to a safe place and avoid the air raid!]
What does this mean? The farmers were startled.
“Where did those American invaders fly their planes from?”
“What’s here, huh?”
Anyway, the alarm was an alarm, so the people gathered in threes and fives and hid in their homes. The siren rang for a while and then turned off.
[Ah, ah, we inform you. The bombers have passed by, but since no bombs have been dropped, it is suspected that they are reconnaissance planes. Residents, please rest assured and engage in your livelihood.]
Just then, the tail of the flying bomber was visible.
“What’s that?”
“Huh?”
The bomber was scattering something instead of bombs.
Was it fuel falling from being hit by an anti-aircraft gun? The farmers still didn’t know the horror of bombing. They didn’t know what it was, because their learning was too poor.
The United States had sporadically bombed the Japanese mainland, but due to the problems of range and payload, they had not been able to cause much damage.
Even that was concentrated on large cities where ports or factories were located, and it was nothing more than a foreign country’s affair to the farmers.
“Well… anyway, it would be nice if our Taro came back safely.”
“Yeah, yeah. Our invincible imperial army will step on the noses of those stingy Yankees, so Taro will come back with a medal or something, won’t he?”
Similar things happened all over Japan. Countless bombers flew over and sprayed something strange.
The rural people just shrugged at the sight of the unfamiliar invaders’ bombers and spent another day.
The US bombers sprayed something weird on the fields or reservoirs, or on the mountains.
The people had no clue, because neither bombs had fallen nor anything had been destroyed.
Until shortly after.
“Ha, haha, hahaha…”
“Wha, what the hell is this?”
“Oh, oh! We’re doomed!”
The farmers were stunned to see the fields that had been golden until a while ago wither and shrivel up in an instant.
And that wasn’t all.
“Goro! Goro! Hey, open your eyes!”
“Ugh…”
The weakest people, such as children, elderly, and pregnant women, started to get sick first.
Children collapsed everywhere.
The elderly also fell ill, and pregnant women had bleeding and miscarriages.
It was not hard to associate this with the US plane bombing ‘failure’ that had happened a few days ago. But the people didn’t know how this could happen.
“God is angry! The invading American bastards have violated the sacred land of the Yamato people!”
“Oh, God! Please forgive us!”
There was a nationwide uproar.
The shamans and priests of the shrines in various places had to explain to the naive and ignorant country people what this was in their own way.
Of course, that wasn’t all.
“What kind of freak is this!”
“Emperor, Emperor! This is…”
In front of the emperor who visited the cabinet, the prime minister and all the ministers of the cabinet bowed and saluted.
The news of the crops dying and the people vomiting and bleeding to death was also delivered to the emperor in the palace in the center of the capital. But when it was reported that the military, which had virtually taken over the country, had no countermeasures, Hirohito personally visited the cabinet.
“What did those invading Americans do! Is there no one who knows anything now!”
“That is… I…”
While the other ministers were trembling, either out of courtesy or sincerity, the minister of agriculture raised his hand and muttered.
“I beg your pardon… It is presumed to be a kind of herbicide.”
“What? Herbicide?”
“Yes, that’s right. It was mainly concentrated on farmland and forests, and plants were seen to wither and die. Some of it flowed into water sources like reservoirs and poisoned people as well…”
Hirohito sighed. The other ministers had nothing to say and sat there nervously, sweating profusely.
“What were the anti-aircraft guns doing! Where were all those fighters of the empire!”
“We apologize. It’s just that most of the fighters were out in the southern and Pacific battlefields, and we shot down a few, but the bombers were so widely spread and came in from everywhere…”
“Heh…”
If the attack had been focused on a certain place, the defense system would have been concentrated as well and could have blocked it. If they had attacked the city, the city would have been able to defend itself with its well-equipped armament.
But this attack had spread across the country.
It was impossible to sprinkle anti-aircraft nets all over the land, and the US had never attacked the countryside before, let alone done so, so the places that were hit this time were empty.
“Is there no antidote? And what about food self-sufficiency!”
“We are researching the antidote, but…”
Behind the faint voice was ‘but that doesn’t mean we can bring back the dead’. Hirohito grunted and groaned.
“Ah… in such an unexpected place… do we have no way to counterattack?”
“We are sorry, but the imperial army’s bombers cannot fly to the US mainland because of the range, Your Majesty…”
Ugh, Hirohito clenched his teeth and slammed the armrest of the chair.
“It can’t be done, it can’t be done! Is that all you have to say, ministers? You said you smashed the US fleet, what is this nonsense!”
“We apologize!”
“If you apologize one more time, the fate of this empire will be on the brink of extinction.”
“Urgent news!”
A communications officer opened the door and rushed in.
Seeing the emperor himself, the officer was startled and almost rolled over, but luckily his reflexes were quick and he managed to pretend to bow.
“What is the urgent news!”
“US, US bombers have flocked in and dropped mines!”
“What!”
The naval minister forgot his manners and screamed, jumping up from his seat. His face turned red, then white, then livid, showing a variety of colors.
“Where did you say?”
“That is… the Seto Inland Sea, the waters off Ise Bay, the waters off Tokyo Bay, and everywhere…”
Ugh, the naval minister screamed and grabbed the back of his neck and sat down again. The other ministers were also shocked by the names.
Just the three places that were named were important areas where the lifeline of Japan was hanging.
“What if mines are dropped there! Already…”
The Seto Inland Sea was the sea surrounded by three of the four large islands that make up Japan, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku.
It had been an important place for Japan’s logistics since ancient times, as the land routes were rough and there were few large rivers, so they depended on coastal shipping.
If it was blocked by mines…
“No, they sprayed herbicide all over the Kanto Plain and ruined the harvest here, what if there’s a blockage there!”
“We apologize, Your Majesty!”
“Apologize, apologize, damn apologize!”
To bring the food produced in the countryside to large cities like Tokyo and Osaka, coastal shipping was needed. But if so many mines were dropped, the transportation of logistics by water would be virtually stopped.
On top of that, they sprayed herbicide all over the Kanto Plain, the largest plain in Japan, and ruined the farming there, so Japan’s food situation was bound to be the worst ever.
“Where can we import food? Damn…”
“We apologize, but even if we import food, the way to transport it…”
When the emperor made a face that said he would chop off their heads if they said apologize one more time, the ministers all shut their mouths like clams.
“I shouldn’t have been complacent about catching the fleet… to that battlefield…”
“…”
The US had pierced Japan’s weakness in a bizarre way.
Rather than burning the cities that produce the goods, they had strangled their throats with food, something no one had ever imagined.
Was this how Britain felt when it was hit by Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare?
He had sneered when he heard that the powerful Britain had been pushed by Germany’s power and had collected potatoes and canned goods to distribute them.
But now it was Japan’s turn to overwrite that sneer.
“…For now, gather the food you have and distribute it well. Don’t let any complaints arise…”
“We will follow your orders! Your Majesty!”
Looking at the ministers of the cabinet who were as loud as their voices, Hirohito sighed deeply and walked out. He regretted that he should have put a brake on their aggressive arguments until the end.
‘The enemies are all around.’
It had been five years since they had invaded China as if they would crush it in one go, but the army was floundering in that vast continent.
The US, which was more powerful than that, had acted as if they could annihilate the fleet and subdue them in one blow, but now they had returned with this vile method.
Who was next?
Far away in the west, the Soviet Union, which had been fighting with Germany, the ally country, seemed to have gained the upper hand.
He could tell by the way the German ambassador was getting thinner every day.
The iron man with the red flag, the white czar, would he keep the peace with Japan after he finished off Germany?
He shivered as he imagined it.
Stalin was too capable. He had transformed Russia, which was only big but weak and flimsy, into such a powerful country in no time.
China, the US, the Soviet Union. Could Japan stand alone against the three countries that were among the most populous in the world?
Hitler of Germany said in a letter that he had a new weapon that could do that and was developing it, but Hirohito couldn’t trust him at all.
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