Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 118



Only Noblemtl

##118

When Mustangs first appeared over Berlin, German air defense forces thought they were friendly aircraft.

“That color looks a bit strange.”

“What’s so strange about it? It’s obvious at first glance that it’s our Bf109.”

“Is that so?”

Although it was not intentional, it was due to the similar appearance of the Mustang and the German Bf109.

Of course, it wasn’t just because of appearance.

First of all, it was common sense that it would be unthinkable for an American military plane to come all the way to Berlin.

“How did they get here from London?”

“Oh, oh. That’s right.”

It’s not like there wasn’t any Allied bombing during that time.

However, the Allied attacks were concentrated along the coast bordering Britain.

That was understandable, because the aircraft they had had similar performance to those of the Germans.

“They say the Americans have large bombers that can travel thousands of kilometers.”

“Oh, that guy that was caught in France last time?”

“Oh. It’s big, but it’s still our food.”

“Ha, ha. That’s right.”

And even if there were aircraft that could get here, they had the Luftwaffe.

I believed that there was no way that any enemy force could penetrate the Luftwaffe’s defenses and reach Berlin.

“There were a few of them here a few months ago.”

“Yes, so I made this here too···.”

“I was just letting my guard down for a moment then. There’s no way it’ll break through again, right?”

“Is that so?”

“That’s right. If it breaks through again, the real Goering will be Meyer.”

That’s why everyone believed without a doubt that the familiar-looking planes seen in the Berlin sky were Luftwaffe Bf109s.

But their faith was shattered in just a few minutes.

“Oh, oh, what is that over there?”

Why are you crying? Why are you crying?

The large plane that appeared behind the Mustang was clearly not theirs.

“No way, no way.”

Only then did they realize that the fighter planes they had seen earlier were not friendly aircraft, and a harsh scream burst out from their mouths.

“Shoot, shoot.”

Dadadadada.

The German soldiers fired their weapons at the fuselage of the huge bomber that had descended at low altitude.

But it was no use.

Boom, boom, boom.

But the bombers did not budge and continued dropping the bombs they were carrying.

Hururuk.

And, as expected, red flames shot up from the spot where the bomb had fallen.

Why are you crying? Why are you crying?

The siren started to sound only after the bombs fell.

Red flames were billowing out from all over the city, and the streets were filled with the cries and groans of panicked people.

Berlin was burning.

“Ah, ah. We’re done.”

“We lost the war again.”

“Oh, this can’t be happening.”

Especially the older people cried out that it was all over.

-Wow. I thought it wouldn’t work because it’s a stone. It works pretty well.-

-Is Berlin really hot?-

-Hehehe. Okay.-

As incendiary bombs rained down from low-altitude bombers, flames began to rise up all over Berlin.

In an instant, the city became as bright as day.

-Okay, wake up, everyone-

-yes-

-That tower. It’s really sturdy, isn’t it?-

-So be careful. Don’t cry when you get hit by a blind bullet-

-Don’t worry too much-

The communication network was noisy with voices clearly expressing excitement.

-Okay, now let’s go back-

-Enemy formation approaching at 7 o’clock.-

-We will go.-

-The rest are raised in altitude.-

As the bombers, having finished dumping their bombs, began to climb for their return, the communications network was barely silenced by the reappearance of the Luftwaffe, which had finished refueling.

-Okay, let’s finish this quickly and go back-

-All right.-

Although they said it with a smile, those who turned their noses toward the interceptor formation swallowed dry saliva and gripped the joystick tightly.

Coming to Berlin wasn’t that difficult.

This was because immediately after crossing the channel, the British Spitspears and P-47 Thunderbolts were able to push forward with greater numbers.

Due to range issues, they were able to overcome the German airspace they entered after returning by attempting a preemptive strike before the Luftwaffe’s interceptors could assemble and form formation.

Especially after they got deep inland, there were quite a few who mistook them for friendly forces, so it was easier. However, the way back would be different.

‘Even I would never let it go.’

Looking at the burning city of Berlin, I could see how desperate the Luftwaffe was going to be.

And his prediction was not wrong.

-Eww.-

-I got caught.-

-Wait, I’m coming.-

We barely managed to shake off the interceptors and climb to high altitude, but the German attacks continued.

How frantically did the battle continue?

-From now on, we will take charge of the Luftwaffe.-

-British Army!-

-okay-

-Thank you for your hard work.-

As soon as we arrived in French airspace, we were met by the British Air Force who came out to greet us.

A squadron of Spitfires, which had turned back due to range issues, came out to greet us after refueling.

##

bang.

“Does this make sense? Berlin, this Berlin, is being bombed again!”

“···”

Everyone gathered in the bunker bowed their heads at the sight of Hitler banging on the table and shouting.

“Goering, what on earth is going on?”

It wasn’t the first time Berlin had been bombed.

During the last Battle of Britain, the British actually attempted an air raid on Berlin in revenge.

This was the reason why there were anti-aircraft gun towers here and there in Berlin, including the zoo anti-aircraft gun tower.

Although the bombing was shocking at the time, it was still able to be dealt with somehow because the damage was minimal.

But this bombing was different.

The damage was so severe that those who remember World War I cried out that the war had been lost.

“In the past, the escorts who had turned back in the middle stayed with us until the end.”

“So it was impossible to intercept the bomber.”

The B-17 was a fighter with good defenses as well as its size. It was difficult to catch the B-17 alone,

“It seems that the forward units were unable to properly deal with them, especially since their strategies have changed from before.”

The Mustang formation, which attacked first on its own rather than moving with the bombers, was quite difficult to deal with.

While they fought frantically, being shot down or returning when they ran out of fuel, the bombers leisurely passed over the sky.

“You call that talking?”

“I will never send you back like this. I will catch you no matter what.”

Hitler responded with a fierce look to Goering’s blood-spitting words.

“You call that talking? Of course it is.”

But everyone knew that the chances of Goering’s words coming true were extremely low.

If you can’t stop them from coming in, how can you stop them from going out?

It was Goebbels who spoke to Hitler, who was still furious.

“First, we need to make the damage situation known on a large scale.”

“what?”

“In particular, we must exaggerate the civilian casualties. The United States and the coalition forces are accusing us of inhumanity. But they are also committing inhumane war crimes by massacring civilians. We must make this widely known…”

Goebbels’ argument was the most effective response Germany could make at the time.

As you can see, they did come down at low altitudes for precision bombing. However, civilian casualties were enormous.

That’s because the bombs they used were incendiary bombs.

“We need to focus on the incendiary bombs and attack them on a large scale, claiming that they violate the Geneva Convention and are a massacre of civilians. To do this, we need to exaggerate the damage even more…”

puck.

Before Goebbels could finish speaking, something Hitler had thrown passed his ear.

“Gun, Mr. President.”

“It’s already shameful that Berlin has been bombed again, so why are we exaggerating the damage? Why aren’t we advertising that our Germany is going to collapse?”

“Ha, but···.”

How could it be hidden if we tried to hide it? What kind of people are the American soldiers? Goebbels, who knew very well how much they had advertised with vivid video footage from the last Tokyo bombing, was frustrated.

It was clear that as soon as they returned, the image of Berlin on fire would be advertised to the whole world.

It was only natural that their advertising targets would include German soldiers scattered throughout France, Russia, and other places.

If we couldn’t hide it anyway, we had to use it to our advantage as much as possible.

To do that, we had to fight against time more than anything else. We had to strike first before the Yankees and the Allies could use the information they had fabricated to their liking.

Seeing the president running wild for so long seemed like he had crossed the river.

##

“Our military launched an air raid on Berlin using a large bomber formation, and the operation was successful.”

Charararat.

As soon as I finished speaking, the camera shutter sounded. The flashes of light flashing here and there were so bright that my eyes were stinging.

“In this attack, our military attempted to carry out precision bombing targeting German military bases, railways, roads, and military factories as much as possible.”

“But I heard that civilian casualties were enormous.”

“Isn’t the use of incendiary bombs itself a problem?”

The reporters’ questions were sharp.

As soon as word got out that incendiary bombs had been used in the operation, questions immediately poured in as to whether it was an operation that ignored civilian casualties.

Especially journalists from neutral countries like Sweden and Switzerland did not just pass it by but criticized it.

“The incendiary bomb was used because of performance problems with the bombs previously used by the British Air Force. It was simply used to increase the effectiveness of the bombing.”

Half truth and half lie.

The original purpose of using incendiary bombs was to maximize damage.

That way, it would be worth the effort to go all the way to Berlin.

The reason Mitchell’s successful Tokyo air raid was so effective despite causing little damage was because it was a ‘first’.

For the Japanese, who had never been attacked by a foreign power in over a thousand years, what was important was not the number of bombs dropped or the damage done, but the fact that bombs were dropped on their heads.

But Berlin was different.

Because this bombing wasn’t the first.

Berlin had already surrendered during the last war, and the British had successfully bombed it once in this war as well.

At a time when Germany was pouring bombs to invade the British Isles, the enraged British Air Force risked their lives to bomb Berlin and succeeded.

In any case, because of the bombing at that time, anti-aircraft defense facilities such as the famous zoo turret were built and operated in Berlin.

Therefore, the goal of this bombing was not simply to be ‘successful’, but to burn Berlin to the ground, just as the operation name suggested.

Many people opposed my suggestion that we use incendiary bombs instead of the original bomb.

“No matter how precise the bombing is, there will definitely be civilian casualties.”

“Then, of course, there will be a huge amount of criticism.”

“Then, if you carpet bomb at high altitudes, won’t there be any civilian casualties?”

“That, that···.”

In the current situation where there are no guided missiles, bombing is nothing more than dropping bombs from the air.

Since precision is low, the current bombing is about dropping a lot of projectiles and hoping that they hit the target.

Naturally, most bombs ended up landing in random places around the target.

“Civilian casualties are unavoidable in bombing operations anyway.”

“···”

“And swearing? Say it.”

“Commander.”

“I can take all the abuse. If I have to kill ten German civilians to save one of my soldiers, I, MacArthur, would be a devil all my life. And above all, if we want to reduce the number of deaths, shouldn’t this damned war end quickly?”

Quick end to the war.

That was my best.

This is a war with a set ending. I will do everything I can to end it as quickly as possible.

Wouldn’t that be a way to save at least one more person, whether they are a soldier or a civilian?

“We have to burn Berlin. That way we can send the right message to the German people.”

“Is this a message?”

“Yes, we have to let them know that Hitler, whom they believe in, is not so trustworthy, and that no matter how hard they try, they will be defeated.”

And above all, the real target was not Berlin.

“Luftwaffe. It is of the utmost importance to capture the German Air Force. Once we have air supremacy, we can easily do whatever we want with the factories, the railways, etc.”

Doolittle smiled as he continued what I was saying.

Can an air force be maintained just by making airplanes?

More important than anything else was the pilot.

It wasn’t for nothing that special forces rushed to rescue a single pilot who fell behind.

Raising a good pilot takes time as well as money.

And Germany was not going to be given that time.

“Wouldn’t it be important to secure air superiority for future landing operations?”

“I understand. But wouldn’t it be better to also come up with measures to minimize the criticism?”

“That’s obvious.”

That’s why this press conference was prepared.

If I were Goebbels, I would definitely exaggerate the civilian casualties and portray our American soldiers as murderers and devils.

The battle of public opinion was a sure win.

And the quickest and cleanest solution is to reveal and apologize for your mistakes rather than trying to hide them.

“Bombing at high altitudes is still technically difficult to achieve due to lack of precision. Even if you drop a bomb targeting a military factory, it often ends up in a civilian residential area hundreds of meters away. To prevent such incidents, we risked our lives by going low.”

“But in the end, civilian casualties from the soy bombs···.”

“I heard that something happened. We did our best in this bombing of Berlin, but since it was done by people, there were mistakes. I sincerely apologize to the innocent citizens of Berlin who were harmed by our military’s operation.”

“···”

There was talk that the use of the incendiary bomb was intentional, but I ignored it and apologized with a somber expression.

“but···.”

“The responsibility for this incident lies with MacArthur, who oversaw all operations. The soldiers who participated in the operation are not responsible at all. Please place all the blame on me, and I ask that you only praise the heroes who are now returning for fighting with their lives at stake.”

As soon as I finished speaking, airplanes began to appear one by one in the sky.

And the sight of the B-17 landing on the runway first was enough to capture the attention of reporters who had just been raising their voices in arguing over civilian casualties.

My brother’s usefulness