1890 King of Southeast Asia

On the night of August 9, Baghdad.

The 11th Division was dispersed in the southern part of Baghdad in regiments.

On the night of August 9, the entire 11th Division was on high alert, as if facing a great enemy, but the only enemy of the 11th Division, the Mesopotamians in Baghdad, did not react at all.

Han Fei was located in the southeastern suburbs of Baghdad, only 1 km away from the city of Baghdad. He sat bored by the phone, chewing a piece of grass.

"Captain, we received the airship signal!" The staff officer opened the tent and walked in.

Han Fei stood up and spit out the grass in his mouth:

"Have you reported it to the higher authorities?"

"I have reported it to the brigade headquarters and we are confirming it."

"Order, the entire regiment enters the third level of chemical defense combat status, and strictly follows the chemical defense requirements. Political commissar, please supervise and inspect." Han Fei took out the gas mask from his waist.

"Okay!" The political commissar took the gas mask and hurriedly left the tent.

The 11th Division had no experience in chemical warfare. The few times that chemicals were used in Arabia, they all used No. 2 gas, which is an advanced version of chlorine.

No. 2 gas has enhanced degradation ability. When used in non-enclosed areas, it usually takes only one night to degrade.

But this time was obviously different. The Special Military Operations Command and the General Staff of the 6th Army, two combat command centers, paid special attention.

In particular, the latter was only responsible for the command of the army group and strategic tasks. They sent telegrams to the 11th Division several times, requiring the 11th Division to strictly complete the biological and chemical exercise tasks.

Under pressure, the 11th Division was full of curiosity and confusion.

"Brigade order! Start the storm operation." The telegraph operator stood up and shouted.

"Light the torch, all regiments, turn on the searchlights." Han Fei picked up the phone.

"Quick, pour it." Eight soldiers took four barrels of gasoline and poured them desperately on a pile of dry firewood. In the distance, there were two places doing the same thing.

"Okay. Retreat!" After pouring the gasoline, the leading soldier dared to say.

He took out the torch that he had prepared long ago - a rag dipped in gasoline.

Use a lighter to light it like this.

feng~ (4 sounds)

Gasoline will produce a deflagration effect. To ignite a pile of dry wood covered with gasoline, it must be ignited from a distance. The power of gasoline explosion at close range is not small.

Seeing that his teammates have reached a safe distance, he calmly took out a cigarette, lit it with a torch, and took a puff.

"Hu..." After spitting out the smoke, he threw the torch fiercely from a distance of more than ten meters.

The moment the torch fell out of his hand, he turned around and ran wildly, still holding a cigarette in his hand.

Boom!

There was a heat wave in the air, and there was also a roar, which was the sound and temperature of gasoline explosion.

Similarly, torches were lit in the other two places. From the air, the three piles of fire were arranged in a triangular shape. Connecting them together would form a triangle.

The bottom of this triangle is relatively short, only 300 meters, but the length of the two hypotenuses is 600, which is used to assist the airship in pointing the direction.

If the triangle is regarded as an arrow, the position pointed by the scissors is the direction of the center of Baghdad.

At the same time, there are 6 such torch scissors in the entire southern Baghdad. From the map, if the lines are extended along the arrow direction, the intersections are all around the central area of ​​Baghdad.

This can reduce the difficulty of night bombing, at least the bombs will not be dropped on uninhabited areas or even on their own heads.

The searchlight is modified from car lights and metal plates, and the effect is very limited, but it is better than nothing.

The 11th Division has searchlights, but they are all in Oman or Kuwait.

…………

Over Baghdad, the airship support brigade.

Ma Cang looked at the busy people in the airship and looked at his watch again.

It was already ten o'clock in the evening.

"Where are we now?" Ma Cang walked to the driver's seat and asked.

"According to the route, we have approached Baghdad, but because there is no reference, we don't know the specific location." The driver said.

During the day, you can adjust your own course according to the river, but at night you can only rely on a compass and can't even see the stars.

Especially today, there is no moonlight, and there is a dark cloud overhead. Originally, the position of the airship could be confirmed by the projection of the airship, the shadow of the river or the reflection, but now it is no longer possible, and we can only fly blindly.

With a compass, the general direction will not deviate, but small deviations are inevitable, such as now.

"We have contacted the ground and asked whether to take action." The liaison officer said loudly.

There was silence in the airship at first, and then a series of breathing sounds could be heard, which was the sound of their relief.

They all knew what was on the airship. Although they did not know the specific power, if they could not complete the mission, the front-line offensive might be delayed because of them.

"Send a telegram to start the storm operation." Ma Cang tidied his clothes.

"On the left, there is a torch ignited."

"On the right? ... Two places."

"According to the torch coordinates reported by the ground, we deviated by about 16°, and we almost flew off the track." The political commissar held the calculation results and exclaimed that he was lucky.

Twenty minutes later, they would have flown past the southwest corner of Baghdad. Turning the airship formation around in the dark sky was a hassle, and it would take one or two hours. The ground battle would start at 45:00 in the morning.

"Turn on the indicator lights, keep a safe distance between the boats, adjust the posture, use the No. 6 formation, and enter the battlefield in batches according to the boat numbers." Ma Cang said calmly.

"Calculate the heading, the preliminary result is 23..."

The night was too dangerous, especially since the twelve airships had long lost their formation. Forming a formation was not only time-consuming but also dangerous.

In the dark, it was difficult to determine the specific position of the other party. In case of a collision, the airship crashing was a small matter, but the poison gas falling on their own positions was a big deal.

Even if chemical defense preparations were made and no large-scale casualties were caused, the army could only retreat after the materials were contaminated, and all pollutants had to undergo a series of complex treatments before they could continue to be used.

This was limited to vehicles and weapons. As for food, medical supplies and other things that seemed ordinary but were actually vital, they could not be recycled.

So, the airships pulled away from each other and lined up to fly to the target area one by one.

At 10:37, the airship entered the city with the guidance of the torch. A message requesting guidance was sent.

On the ground, the four 762mm cannons that had been deployed long ago were equipped with flares and continuously fired flares at Baghdad with low trajectories.

In order to avoid the airship, the trajectory was very low, and the initial velocity was too fast. Each flare could only provide ten seconds or even a few seconds of light, and the shell body was low, so the lighting effect was average.

The Mesopotamians were awakened by the sound of the cannon, and looked at the flares flying all over the sky, some of them were terrified and some were confused.

"What is this?" Someone found the burning flares on the ground and watched from a distance.

Some flares fell into the firewood pile and caused a fire.

Some fell directly on people who had just left the house. Barium nitrate, magnesium powder, and Lu powder were mixed and burned, and his temperature was completely worthy of his brightness.

...

"Found the target building, the mosque, confirmed the target, about 4,500 meters to the left." The observer found the target.

"Received, heading adjustment, turn left..."

10:07.

"Arrived above the target, confirmed the target again." Ma Can took out a cigarette and kept sniffing it under his nose.

Fireworks are strictly prohibited on the airship. You can smell but not light it.

"Confirm the target angle again." The observer observed the torches. As long as they could see three complete torches, that is, nine fire points, their position was correct.

"Confirm the target." The entire airship could only hear the roar of engines and artillery, and everyone looked at Ma Cang.

Ma Cang looked at the looming mosque in the dim light and couldn't help but smile.

"This is my first mission, and it is also the first bombing mission of the South China Air Force. I also passed the mosque..." Ma Cang smiled.

"What are you waiting for? Throw incendiary bombs to mark the location. Everyone put on gas masks. After the location is marked, start the battle." Ma Cang sat back in the commander's position.

"After the throwing, go straight ahead and leave Baghdad at full speed. Turn around half an hour later, and each boat will return on its own after completing the mission."

"Mark the location... Release!" The bombardier relied on his experience and took advantage of a certain balance point to release an incendiary bomb.

Incendiary bombs are specially equipped for night operations. Their main function is to mark the target location. Subsequent airships only need to use this as a coordinate to perform the mission without repeatedly calculating their own position.

boom!

The incendiary bomb landed, and after the explosion, it ignited the gelatinous gasoline, and the gunpowder burned fiercely, accompanied by bursts of thick smoke.

"No. 1 warehouse is ready." The bombardier wiped the sweat from his palms.

"Get ready... release!"

Bang!

As the bombardier pressed the bomb button, dozens of steel bombs fell off, and there were parachutes behind the bombs, which opened automatically when they were detached.

At the 15th second after the bomb fell, when it was still 100 to 200 meters away from the ground, the time fuse was triggered, and the explosives in the inner layer of the bomb steel shell exploded. After a delay of a few seconds, the several kilograms of bombs inside exploded, pushing the liquefied gas far away.

No. 4 gas is in a gaseous state at room temperature. When the liquefied gas comes into contact with high temperature, it evaporates violently. Soon, the surrounding area of ​​nearly 100,000 square meters will be filled with gas and continue to spread outward.

The airship ignited and ran at full power. A few minutes later, it arrived at the next throwing area.

"No. 2 warehouse is ready." The bombardier shouted as the indicator light turned green.

Seeing that everyone had a good grip, he repeated the operation again.

As the bomb left the airship, it rose higher and higher. After the bomb was dropped, it headed north.

The subsequent airship used the burning point of the incendiary bomb as a reference and dropped it once at a distance.

It only takes one minute of exposure to No. 4 gas to make the body feel uncomfortable, and after five minutes, the organs will be irreversibly damaged.

If not treated in time, pulmonary edema will appear after ten minutes, and after two minutes, shock will occur due to inability to breathe.

Poison gas bombs have been used continuously since their appearance because they are powerful, have a wide coverage, and are cheap.

The biggest cost of No. 4 gas used by Nanhua is the bomb body, which accounts for more than 60% of the total cost, followed by liquefied gas cans. As for the gas itself, it is a cheap product.