Great time travel

Chapter 94. The true meaning of war is to hurt each other
Strictly speaking, the London nuclear explosion that occurred on the morning of October [-] was only part of the red camp's strategic bombing of the British mainland.

——This majestic and large-scale "hundred-hour bombing" can be said to have created a new record in the history of human warfare!
On this day, the bomber fleets that took off from the air force bases along the coast of France, the Netherlands, and Belgium carried out unprecedented crazy bombings of cities and towns across the UK in units of [-] aircraft.From Portsmouth, Coventry to Glasgow in Scotland, there were countless bombs.The farthest bomber group even flew a sneak attack on Northern Ireland, and the total number of bombers and escort fighter jets invested successively reached a frenzied [-] sorties!
In order to equip such a large fleet with crew members, the Soviet Red Army itself was overwhelmed, so it had to mobilize a large number of French, Dutch, Belgian, Hungarian, and even German and Italian pilots to "volunteer" to fight through the Communist International Organization to show "Red Europe" of solidarity.

In this way, in this "hundred-hour bombing", tons of big killers were inhumanely thrown on the heads of the British who were caught off guard.

All of a sudden, the bombing secrets of "Red Europe" flew over the towns and countryside of England like a swarm of locusts, really covering the sky and blocking out the sun, scaring the citizens to flee in all directions.The whole of the UK is full of dazzling explosions and billowing smoke, as if the end is coming.

Prior to this, although the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union had already fought on the European continent, they rarely attacked each other's home towns by air.The British Royal Air Force is out of reach - organizing bomber fleets to take off from the island of Great Britain, across the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to St. Petersburg. I'm afraid you have to be prepared to go and never come back.On the other hand, the Soviet Union deliberately restrained itself. Even if it occasionally sent planes into the sky over the United Kingdom, it mainly spread leaflets.Even if bombs are really to be dropped, the targets are limited to British air force bases, ground radar stations, and places where military industrial enterprises are concentrated, such as Lower London and areas along the Thames River.

Therefore, with the passage of time, the British civilians who had been waiting in full swing, dug air-raid shelters in their backyards to hide food, and were ready to play as groundhogs to avoid bombings at any time, gradually slacked off.Especially those towns in the north of the UK, which had never been bombed in the British air battle with the Nazis, and now naturally they don't have much experience in anti-air strikes-as we all know, Nazi Germany's military aircraft generally Famous for their 'short legs', it's hard to reach even northern England, let alone Scotland and Northern Ireland.

As a result, until now, they have to pay the price of blood and life for these untimely laxity and laziness.

——In order to knock the British Empire out of the game as quickly as possible, the Soviet Union and its allies mercilessly dropped the most powerful bombs on all British towns on the target list: against industrial towns and port terminals, mainly conventional explosive grenades and incendiary bombs; when dealing with rural towns with no industrial equipment to destroy, they aimed to kill personnel and dropped even more inhumane gas bombs of sand ♂ forest and tower ♂ Bund!

As a result, many "ghost towns" and "ghost villages" with seemingly intact buildings have sprung up all over the UK, because they have not been invaded by foreign enemies for a long time, and there are not many earthquakes Due to natural disasters, British villages and towns generally have a long history. A building can often be traced back hundreds of years. The central areas of many villages and towns still maintain the pattern of centuries ago. The streets are narrow and compact, and there are almost no gaps between houses. , Once a large gas bomb is hit, the entire town can be enveloped in a few minutes!
As a result, in the face of the latest nerve gas distribution, which is far more lethal than mustard gas in the World War I era, many ancient British villages and towns fell into catastrophe, and many village residents died in their own homes without even a chance to react. dining table and bed.

Of course, the brave British pirates...ah, no, the British gentlemen will not just be beaten and not fight back.On the contrary, the civil defense artillery in every town operated all the anti-aircraft guns that could be assembled at hand, frantically spraying a hail of bullets into the sky.Red and blue tracer bombs were flying all over the sky, which was indescribably gorgeous, but the range of most anti-aircraft guns was generally too short to threaten the strategic bomber fleet at an altitude of 200 meters.Even if they fired the barrels red, they could only watch huge bombs fall from the sky.As for the heavy-duty anti-aircraft guns that can reach an altitude of more than [-] meters, there are only more than [-] guns in the whole of the UK. They can only focus on protecting some big cities, and don't dream of less important rural areas.

At the same time, the boys of the British Royal Air Force also drove their steel warhawks, soared above the blue sky of their homeland, bravely faced the foreign enemy planes attacking from all directions, and indeed achieved certain results.However, due to the mushroom cloud of the London nuclear explosion, which greatly interfered with the command and communication systems of the Royal Air Force, each air force base had to fight on its own, without instructions or the latest information. false rumors.The result is that British fighter jets often cannot find the enemy after they go to the sky, wasting their troops in vain, and what is even more tragic is that when they run out of fuel and return, they often find that the airport runway has been bombed with potholes and they can only find a piece of grass to make an emergency landing .

All in all, in the early days of World War Three, the Soviet troops stationed in Europe mobilized the entire "Red Europe" force to launch this "hundred-hour bombing" on the British mainland, which can be regarded as an unprecedented record-breaking large-scale air raid in the history of human warfare.During these four days and four hours, the entire European socialist camp dispatched more than 6 sorties of various types of aircraft to carry out strategic bombing of more than [-] cities, villages, towns, military bases, and ports throughout the UK. , its grand scale, long duration, and heavy losses to the target far exceeded the most pessimistic expectations of the British side!

——The last backbone supporting the British Empire, and the last pride in the hearts of the Anglo-Saxons, is about to be destroyed!
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It is conceivable that amidst the devastation all over the country, the one that suffered the heaviest loss was naturally the capital London, which was hit by an atomic bomb.

In fact, compared to the tragedy of Madrid after the nuclear explosion, London's situation after the first nuclear bomb is relatively good.Because of the valiant resistance of the Royal Air Force and the dense smoke released by the ground air defense forces, it caused serious disturbance to the Soviet strategic bomber fleet, which caused the nuclear bomb to fall slightly and missed Westminster or London Finance. The core points of the city, but fell in the Wembley area of ​​​​northwest London... Therefore, the landmarks of London, such as the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Hyde Park, etc., are in London. After the first Soviet nuclear bomb was dropped, it was still largely intact for the time being—except for being covered in a layer of radioactive dust...

But even so, the world-renowned capital of the world, the heart and glory of the British Empire, was hit by an atomic bomb from the brutal Soviet Bolsheviks, and a large urban area was reduced to a radioactive wasteland. And morale, still caused a devastating blow.

If you add the loss of personnel in Gibraltar and Scapa Flow, as well as the tragic casualties caused by the strategic bombing of other British cities by the Soviet Air Force, then the death toll in Great Britain in the first week of World War III is already very explosive. It broke through the million mark in one breath.

Obviously, this is a heart-wrenching number.After all, from the perspective of population, not only can Britain not compare with giants like the United States and the Soviet Union, it is even far from "little" Japan, which had a population of only 600 million before the war.And at this moment, the number of legal citizens in the entire UK may soon fall below the 4000 million mark!And the gender ratio is even more out of balance.

If it was in the early days of the war, it would only arouse the British's hatred of the enemy, inspire their morale against the enemy, and become a blood debt they recorded on the enemy's account, inspiring them to avenge their hatred.But at this time, the feelings of ordinary people in the UK are more numbness and despair.

——It is undeniable that the citizens of the British Empire in this era are very proud. In their memory, the unprecedented and unprecedented empire dominated the world. After the Industrial Revolution, it led the world's technological trends for decades. The Royal Navy swept across the seven seas , The army also successively beat France, Russia and Germany with their heads down.Cambridge and Oxford are full of professors and scholars, and the literature and art of the Victorian era are dazzling.So in the early days of World War II, the British Empire was united as one, and people of insight shouted patriotic slogans, and loyal and brave people from all walks of life, farmers, businessmen and businesses enthusiastically signed up to join the army...

However, human society has a maximum threshold for tolerance of injury and death, and now Britain has shed blood in the war for six full years.While national pride and patriotism remain in the chest, so too are feelings of depression, numbness and hopelessness.

As a result, after a few nuclear bombs, the spirits of many British people completely collapsed.Although the propaganda department of Churchill's wartime cabinet is still trying its best to advocate sacrifice and instigate revenge, saying that the British Empire has reached its most critical moment, everyone is forced to make a final roar... Unfortunately, the result is very few responders, and everyone's heart is ashamed ——Because anyone with a discerning eye can see now that the war has reached this point, and the British Empire is already dying.The glorious Royal Navy of the British Empire has been completely abolished, and the even more glorious Royal Air Force is also half-disabled. The British Army has killed a whole generation of British boys. The empire is coming to an end!
Now that the collapse of the empire is irreversible and cannot be reversed with courage and perseverance, then even the most patriotic British citizens can only take care of themselves first—if the empire is over, it will be over!But can I let my son and husband go home first?

Such decadent thoughts are rising rapidly among the British people, and it is becoming more and more difficult to suppress... Looking at the subtle eyes around him, Prime Minister Churchill knew very well that if he could not do something to boost morale as soon as possible, he might step down with dignity There is no chance, but it is possible to be suddenly dismissed and placed under house arrest by the king like Italy's Mussolini, and then thrown on the trial seat, hanged as a war criminal...

However, after losing the main force of the Royal Navy, he couldn't do anything while guarding the British Isle.

Therefore, Prime Minister Churchill, who was in a desperate situation, had to pin his last hope on the American allies...

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Italian Peninsula, Port of Naples

When the island of Great Britain convulsed in the mushroom cloud and poisonous gas, the American and British allied forces entrenched in southern Italy were trembling in front of the torrent of iron armor of the Soviet Red Army. An astonishing wave of refugees!

At this moment, if you stand on the towering Mount Vesuvius and look down, you will see that every road, dirt road and mountain road is full of crowded and crowded refugees!Under the capitalist government's unremitting demonization education for many years, out of fear of the Bolsheviks, all Italians with a little wealth are packing up their belongings, dragging their children, taking all the means of transportation they can find, carrying All the belongings that could be taken away hurriedly left the city where they were, headed south, and fled to various ports where ships could be found.

On the various roads south of the capital Rome, which is the military demarcation line between the north and the south, the convoys of people fleeing for refuge traveled all the way south, crowding all the roads.Horse-drawn carts, cars, rickshaws, donkey carts, ox carts, and livestock all crowded the same road.Moreover, the poorer the Italian refugees, the more reluctant to give up any property. From pots and pans to furniture and electrical appliances, boxes and bags, clothes and food, they took them with them, and piled up hills on their cars. Not only slowed down the speed, but also seriously blocked the sight of the vehicles behind, which caused many traffic accidents.

For the U.S. military in combat, this untimely influx of refugees was a nightmare.Millions of refugees not only paralyzed the entire road network in southern Italy, blocked most of the high-grade highways, blocked the backup troops being mobilized to the front line of Rome, but also smashed the US military's pre-set roads on the roads. Fortifications and roadblocks, even stepped on the minefields laid by the US military... It really made the US military feel like crying.

At the same time, the urban area of ​​the Port of Naples was also in chaos. Citizens with luggage on their heads were everywhere on the street, and they flocked to the pier in a panic accompanied by screams and cries.No matter men, women, old or young, they yelled at each other, kicked and beat each other without courtesy, and scrambled to board any ship that could go to sea.Even a small sloop can accommodate 30 NO.[-] people.Many small fishing boats sank directly at the pier due to too many people on board. The refugees who fell into the water did not have time to struggle a few times before being dragged into the bottom of the water by heavy packages and coats that had absorbed seawater.On the turbid water surface that is always covered with yellow-brown foam, there are already dozens of dead bodies of poor people who drowned before, but no one on the shore will turn their backs on them. Everyone only thinks about Use all means to scramble to escape.There are also many Spanish-speaking front-line routs—due to the unsatisfactory war against Japan and the huge consumption of troops, the Pentagon had to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, and transferred elite troops stationed in Europe to the Pacific battlefield to fight fires. At present, more than half of the so-called "US-British Allies" on the Italian front are actually soldiers from South American countries.

These South American troops wore military uniforms aided by the United States and held American weapons. At first glance, they seemed to be quite decent, but after the real fight, they quickly revealed their true colors. The United States and the Soviet Union had just declared war on each other, and the two armies began to exchange fire in the city of Rome. In less than 24 hours, many disarmed and disarmed South American countries poured into Naples in jeeps and trucks.As time went by, more and more rout soldiers fled into Naples, and the port area was filled with panicked and terrified South American soldiers.And never afraid to shoot anyone who dares to stop him, a small number of dedicated US military police have been unable to restrain these damned guys, and can only watch the port become a mess.

——Standing on the marble balcony of an Italian hilltop villa that was temporarily requisitioned as a headquarters, overlooking the chaos in and around Naples with high-power binoculars, General Eisenhower, the commander-in-chief of the US military stationed in Europe, felt very heavy.

Compared with the half-heartedness of the red camp before besieging Switzerland - the Soviet Union does not know whether it has the intention of using war as a substitute for training, or the idea of ​​consuming miscellaneous brands. Basically, the volunteers from various newly established socialist countries in Europe are the main force on the Swiss battlefield. The proportion of authentic Soviet troops invested was very small, so the progress was relatively slow-on the Italian battlefield, where the Soviets were confronting the troops stationed in Europe, the Soviets could be said to have mobilized their best.

Before the attack started, Marshal Konev's Northern Italian Front already had a full strength of 85 troops and about 30 tanks.On the south side of the military demarcation line, General Eisenhower, the commander-in-chief of the US military stationed in Europe, had only [-] Allied troops and less than [-] tanks.Therefore, when the war officially broke out, Marshal Konev naturally drove straight in, destroying everything.Eisenhower could only rely on the only advantaged Mediterranean Fleet, defend several coastal strongholds, struggle under the onslaught of the Soviet Red Army, and look forward to being able to persist until the situation is reversed.

However, in this head-to-head contest, Eisenhower's cards were really bad.Not only was the strength of the troops at a disadvantage, the quality was far inferior to that of the opponent, and even air supremacy could not be guaranteed... Eisenhower was indescribably uncomfortable in such a headwind battle that was restrained everywhere.

At this time, on the map of southern Italy unfolded in front of Eisenhower, the red arrow representing the Soviet Red Army had already cut to pieces the blue square representing the defense zone of the US and British Allied Forces. The eastern defense line on the Adriatic Sea side was basically completely disintegrated and ceased to exist. The armored troops of the Red Army rushed all the way to the port of Brindisi, which was guarding the exit of the Adriatic Sea!
And on the western defense line where [-] genuine U.S. troops are stationed, because the Soviet side seems to be wary of those ancient buildings with high value in Rome, and is unwilling to invest heavy firepower in indiscriminate bombing, so the two sides are still in the city of Rome endlessly. There was low-intensity street fighting.Since the U.S. military occupied several ports near Rome, even if it was cut off from the land communication with the south and relied on sea supplies, the battle could still be fought.

But at the same time, 15 Soviet Red Army simply bypassed the urban area of ​​Rome and penetrated all the way towards the rear hinterland of the Allied forces, dividing the US military into several port strongholds that could not respond to each other. They could only rely on sea routes to maintain logistical supplies. , barely contending with the invincible Soviet army on land.

Originally, relying on the US-British United Mediterranean Fleet, which had control of the sea, Eisenhower still had the confidence to continue to persist on the Italian peninsula for one to two months.But the problem is that due to the nuclear explosion in Scapa Flow, the British mainland, which lost the protection of the Royal Navy's large fleet, was almost completely exposed to the Soviet Red Navy.After losing control of the sea and air at the same time, it seemed that the armored torrent of the Soviets could cross the strait at any time and land on the southern beachhead of the British Isle.Churchill's wartime cabinet was terrified by this, and naturally dispatched the Mediterranean Fleet to return to the mainland.

Therefore, when the last advantage was about to be lost, Admiral Eisenhower, who can't live without rice, has in fact decided to preserve his vitality, gradually abandon the Italian battlefield, withdraw his troops and supplies to North Africa, and start a new war with the Soviets across the Mediterranean Sea. confronted.

However, before withdrawing from Italy, according to the instructions of the White House and the Pentagon, he still has some things to do-"... Send another telegram to the front line, asking if the Pope has safely withdrawn from Rome? Tell the front line commander, This is the top priority!"

——The reason for this arrangement is that the current Catholic Pope Pius XII is pro-American and British. As early as World War II, he had a cold attitude towards the Nazi and Fascist regimes, and at the same time secretly tipped off the Allies.After the fascist regime in Italy was completely destroyed, and the US and Soviet armies separated half of Italy with Rome as the boundary, Pius XII jumped up and down, trying his best to incite Catholics to confront the Bolsheviks.

Obviously, this caused a lot of trouble for the establishment of the socialist regime in Italy and the strategic planning of the Soviet Red Army, and also put Pope Pius XII on the Kremlin's blacklist: it is conceivable that when the Vatican was taken by the Red Army What kind of treatment will the pope enjoy in the hands of the atheists and Orthodox Christians in the Soviet Union-although most Americans are Protestants, the entire Latin America in the south is the territory of Catholicism.If an influential figure like the Pope is sent to the trial seat or even gallows by the Soviets, it will have a very bad impact

Therefore, before the outbreak of World War III, the Allied forces have been persuading Pius XII to withdraw from Rome, and it is best to relocate the entire Holy See to a safe America. I believe that Catholics in South America will be happy to donate money to build a new church. of the palace.But Pius XII has been lingering and refusing to agree, because the Holy See, like the government, cannot give up the base at will.This world has been a winner and a loser since ancient times. Once the Vatican, the "city within a city" embedded in the city of Rome, is abandoned, how many people in the world will still recognize him as the "pope in exile"?If after Stalin captured Rome, he would install a new Pope and a new Vatican, wouldn't the Catholic world be divided for the second time?

In any case, however, the anticipation of all this was in the future, and the shells of the Red Army were just around the corner.In the end, after the outbreak of the Third World War and the city of Rome became a battlefield, Pius XII could not continue to be arrogant after all, and could only agree to the US retreat proposal half-heartedly.

Therefore, Admiral Eisenhower did not wait long, and received good news from the front line in Rome-Pope Pius XII and the cardinals had withdrawn from the Vatican, carrying a large number of holy relics and classics, and transferred them to Sardinia on six landing ships island.

But the problem is that although Pius XII reluctantly agreed to withdraw from Rome, which was directly facing the artillery fire of the Red Army, he said nothing about leaving Europe.Not to mention going to the Americas, even North Africa is unwilling to go, and insists on staying on the European map until the last moment.

"...If that's the case, let the Holy See stay in Sardinia for a while! Anyway, the Soviets don't have any fleet in the Mediterranean, and they shouldn't be able to attack the island for the time being—is the Pope really willing to die to be a Sardinian? European?"

Eisenhower said this disapprovingly, seeming to have forgotten the precedent of the Nazi German airborne troops capturing Crete, "...then, according to the latest Pentagon instructions, the B-29' super planes on Sardinia responsible for the nuclear bombing of France The Air Fortress should have already set off... Well, in order to prevent the Soviets from retaliation, the headquarters will be withdrawn to the warship later! There is no safe city in the huge Europe!"