A minute later, the real bomber group arrived over the base. They were divided into two columns, and from the wide-open belly of the aircraft, each 500 kilogram or even 800 kilogram aerial bomb was thrown out like dumplings.
The entire bombing process lasted less than 20 minutes, and the sky above the base
Calmness was restored. No matter how hard the air defense searchlights on the ground searched, there was no trace of any aircraft. However, the ground was extremely busy. Fires, explosions, collapses, and the cries of survivors made it more than ten kilometers away from the base.
The town of Ellensburg woke up from their sleep.
On this night, the three U.S. Army aviation bases in Washington state, Ellensburg, Ephrata, and Omak, were almost simultaneously bombed by a group of federal bombers at night. More than 800 people stayed on the runways and hangars.
Nearly 600 aircraft were destroyed, 6 runways were severely damaged, and more than 3,000 people were killed in the bombing, most of which were US Army ground crews and pilots.
Just as the three bases were busy putting out fires and rescuing injured personnel and damaged aircraft, as a ray of sunshine appeared in the eastern sky, the second batch of federal attack aircraft visited the three army aviation bases again. They used dive bombing
The remaining buildings, hangars, oil depots, aircraft, radar stations, and anti-aircraft gun positions were cleared more accurately. After confirming that the attack target had been completely destroyed, they flew towards Vancouver with satisfaction.
After these two waves of air strikes, these three US military aviation bases are completely useless. Even if aircraft and personnel are deployed again, the airport's supporting facilities will need to be rebuilt. The big holes on the runways that were blown up will also need to be filled again.
It must be leveled and compacted, and cement must be laid, etc. In less than 2 months, it is basically impossible to take off and land aircraft here.
Without these three main bases, there will be no large airports within a radius of 400 kilometers around Vancouver that can be used by U.S. Army aircraft. If they want to use aircraft to attack the Vancouver area, U.S. military aircraft will have to take off from 400 kilometers away.
For the P40 fighter jet, which has a combat radius of only 400 kilometers, this is basically an impossible task. That is to say, at least within 2 months, US military aircraft will not be able to pose a threat to the Vancouver area unless the US military B-17
Dare to carry out an air raid on Vancouver without a fighter jet.
Destroying U.S. Army aviation airports and bases is only the first step in the federal army's counterattack. They must first ensure that their aircraft have absolute air supremacy over their own designated theaters. Then they will launch subsequent offensives. This is also the current situation.
The most basic guiding principle for this federal army when attacking the enemy is that federal generals will never attack ground attacks without air superiority unless they are sure that the enemy also has no aircraft.
At 8 a.m. on May 21, the second wave of operations by the Federal Air Force began again. 30 ab-2 and ab-3 heavy bombers took off, and 50 ab-4 attack aircraft were protected by 50 fighter jets.
, flying towards Seattle, the most important industrial city on the west coast of the United States.
The city of Seattle is located in the bay 200 kilometers south of Vancouver. It shares the Strait of Juan de Fuca with Vancouver to enter the Pacific Ocean. It is an important industrial city on the west coast of the United States. Not only does it have a developed shipbuilding industry, but it is also the home of Boeing.
The headquarters of the United States is located here, and the famous Boeing manufacturing plant is built here. In later generations, it is also the hometown of grunge music and Starbucks, the hometown of the world's richest man Bill Gates, and the home stadium of the Seattle Supersonics.
The Federal Air Force's bombing targets this time are five coastal defense artillery positions near the Seattle Port area and several nearby anti-aircraft gun positions and radar stations. After completely clearing these targets, the Federal Navy will open the route from Fuqua Seafood to the Port of Seattle.
At the same time, the Marine Corps will be dispatched to land here. The Federal Fourth Armored Division stationed in the Vancouver Port area will also, with the coordination of the Air Force, attack in the direction of Seattle, cooperate with the Marine Corps, and completely occupy the city.
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Since most of the US Army aviation aircraft were destroyed at the three airports, there will not be a large number of US military aircraft coming to support the US ground defenders in a short period of time. Therefore, the federal air force only needs to deal with the ground anti-aircraft artillery, and although these anti-aircraft artillery units
There are a lot of them, but their mobility is definitely not as good as airplanes, so the Federal Air Force is completely proactive in bombing wherever they go, and those US military anti-aircraft guns can only protect important areas.
This air raid lasted for a relatively long time, lasting from morning to evening. Federal Air Force aircraft dispatched a total of 300 sorties, divided into three waves, and bombed all the above targets several times before ending the day's operation. At the same time,
Federal Navy minesweepers, protected by destroyers and heavy cruisers, also began to enter Puget Sound to clear the mines laid by the US military in the lanes.
The navy's operations have basically not been disturbed. There are currently only two American destroyers and a few patrol boats in the harbor. Under the attack of naval aircraft and air force aircraft, they have sunk and escaped and disappeared. As for those who were in Snoqua
The U.S. Army troops on the south bank of the Mill River neither dared to get too close to the coast nor could they provide support to targets under attack. They could only watch waves of federal aircraft flying over their heads to carry out bombing near Seattle.
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Since General MacArthur temporarily left the Western Theater and returned to Washington, the command here fell to General Arnold, the deputy commander of the Western Theater. When three nearby U.S. Army aviation bases were bombed at night, General Arnold knew that federal troops were likely to attack.
There is no need to ask about the direction of attack, the only city that is closest to Vancouver is Seattle.
The defense of Seattle has always been a conflicting issue that is difficult to solve for the top brass of the U.S. military. Since this is the location of Boeing's largest aircraft manufacturing plant, many U.S. military generals demand that Seattle must be defended and the safety of Boeing's aircraft manufacturing plant must be guaranteed.
Safety. Because this is the main factory that produces B-17s, on average, more than 10 B-17s come off the production line here every day and enter the U.S. Army Air Forces.
If this factory is occupied or destroyed, it will affect the production speed of U.S. bombers to a certain extent. Although the company has other aircraft manufacturing plants near Wichita, Kansas, and Chicago, in comparison, the Seattle aircraft
The manufacturing plant is the largest and most well-equipped.
Some US military generals believe that Seattle is already very dangerous under the current situation. Not only can the federal air force and navy attack any part of the city at any time, but the federal army's armored forces are only more than 100 kilometers away from here.
If you follow the highway, you can reach the city in 2 or 3 hours.
Moreover, the U.S. military is currently struggling to cope with the federal army. It really can’t spare any time to protect Boeing’s factories. Moreover, as the war is about to end at home, many middle- and high-level employees of companies and factories have also moved away.
If you live in the center or the east, even if the army is willing to protect the factories, the workers in those factories may not be willing to stay here.
In the end, after listening to the opinions of Boeing executives, the U.S. Department of Defense decided to evacuate the aircraft manufacturing plant and evacuate other important factories and institutions in the city. However, this caused a panic for the already panicked citizens of Seattle.
Even worse, when everyone saw that the rich and big factories had moved away, they must have felt that this place could no longer be maintained, so people with the ability began to flee here. So far, only the remaining people in downtown Seattle are
With a population of more than 200,000, the population of the entire greater Seattle area is less than one million.
But such a large factory cannot be moved just by moving, not to mention that the decision of the US Department of Defense was made a bit late. They had no choice but to agree to the transfer of the entire aircraft manufacturing plant after the US military failed in its second attack. Although Boeing
Hundreds of technicians were mobilized to dismantle the large machinery and equipment all night, but the equipment still needed to be packed, classified, and loaded onto trucks. By the time federal planes carried out air strikes, less than 60% of the disassembly work had been completed.
This time, the Federal Air Force not only attacked some military targets near Seattle during the day, but also sent three attack aircraft to circle over the city, dropping leaflets as they turned. These leaflets were all printed on pink 16-inch paper.
The above information is sent to Seattle in three languages: Chinese, English and Spanish.
The residents of the city talked about the policy of the federal army. Generally speaking, the federal army will take over the city of Seattle in the near future. The army will work hard to ensure normal order in the urban area. If you encounter federal troops in the city, please obey the army's command.
