The Imperial Palace, as the name implies, is the residence of the emperor, no, the emperor, um, the Imperial Palace for short.
The words must be written in seal script to show solemnity.
Even when Xiao Rizi walked to the Nijubashi Bridge in front of the Imperial Palace Square, Xiao Rizi had to bow before passing through, otherwise he would be a "non-citizen".
In Xiao Rizi's heart, the green area in the center of Tokyo separated by the Passport River is not an ordinary residence, but the residence of God on earth.
And now, the residence of God on earth has been bombed by the devilish bombs of the United States!
"Damn Americans are bombing the Imperial Palace!"
The Japanese pilots who took off to meet the attack shouted in fear. For a while, all the radio stations over Tokyo were filled with the screams of Xiao Rizi pilots as if their father had died. Those words that made them feel guilty, and those who didn't know would think that they had set fire to the Imperial Palace.
As they desperately attacked these "super air fortresses", bombs exploded in groups of smoke near the palace. After the first guide dropped the bombs, the follow-up planes also dropped bombs.
After 12 bombs hit the target accurately, not only did they blow up the palace, but they also caused a fire in the Japanese palace. The other bombs fell on nearby buildings.
The explosion of the palace made the Japanese pilots crazy. Seeing that the machine guns and machine guns hit the B29 bomber, they just made a hole. They were unwilling to fail and simply crashed directly.
"Ban Ya!"
Amid the excited shouts, a Zero fighter desperately crashed into the B29, but it was blown up in mid-air 300 meters away. However, other planes still followed suit and launched a crash, fearing that the Americans would continue to drop bombs on the Imperial Palace.
Soon a B29 bomber was shot down, it was shot down by a damaged "Zero" deliberately crashing into its tail. The B29 with a broken tail flew north for several miles, dragging black smoke, and then fell like a lead sinker.
For a while, the air was full of cheers.
But if they saw where the plane fell, they would not be able to laugh at all.
Water plant!
The falling B29 directly crashed into a large water tower.
It didn't seem to be a big deal.
If...
If the bombing was not around seven in the morning, if it was not at this time, the women in Tokyo were preparing breakfast for their families, if, because the poor people could not afford gas, especially those living near factories, most of them used charcoal stoves.
However, this was a day, at this time, the women were cooking at home. When the air raid alarm sounded, there was no time to turn off the fire or the stove. People hurriedly fled to the nearby simple air raid shelters, and then the bombs fell.
Although only dozens of bombs fell in the factory, the rest fell into the civilian area. Although the high-explosive bombs had limited lethality to the simple houses made of wood, bamboo and paper, the shock wave of the explosion collapsed the wooden house and the paper was blown away, but the charcoal stove that was cooking breakfast was also knocked down.
The red charcoal fire ignited the surrounding wood and paper in an instant. As for the straw tatami, it was a natural ignition material. Hundreds of fire points appeared at once.
Not only was the population near the factory dense, but most of the civilian houses were wooden structures. The charcoal stove provided a fire source, and the wooden structure house was a good fuel. The combination of several factors caused a big fire.
The fire turned into a sea of fire in an instant, with explosions and cries for help from people in the fire.
After the fire broke out, the fire was difficult to control, and the bombs were blown away by the wind and spread over a large area. In addition, the wind was very strong over Tokyo today, which helped the fire. The area where the fire broke out immediately turned into a sea of fire. The wind helped the fire burn more and more fiercely. In just a few minutes, the fire points continued to merge together and merged into a large sea of fire. Not only that, the strong wind also spread the fire in all directions. Wherever the fire spread, there was a huge fire. Factories were burning, schools were burning, and residential houses were burning...
Just like the Great Kanto Earthquake more than 20 years ago, it seemed that everything was burning. Starting from the factory area of Nakajima Company in northern Tokyo, wooden houses were engulfed in flames, as if the sky was burning and the earth was burning.
The speed of the spread of the fire was beyond people's imagination. During the spread of the fire, whenever it encountered flammable and explosive items, there would be either a huge explosion or flames rising to the sky. Due to the dense population and narrow streets, the fire could spread unhindered.
After the fire, Tokyo's fire brigade and civil defense team went out in full force to fight the fire, but they found that there was no water in the underground water pipes - the collapse of the water tower caused some areas to lose water. The firefighters and civil defense team naturally could not fight the fire with their bare hands, and the collapsed houses blocked some streets, making it impossible for fire trucks to pass. The fire trucks could not move even after entering the fire scene. Faced with a fire, especially a fire burning in multiple areas, people were almost helpless and could only let it rage.
People who survived the bombing ran to the streets, but they were not so lucky in the face of the fire and smoke. People who were choked by the smoke fell to the ground, covered with blisters and blood from the fire. But compared to those who were burned to ashes, they might be lucky. The most tragic thing is the survivors who were trapped in the sea of fire. If there was no fire, these people would have walked out of the simple air-raid shelters built on the roadside and might have survived.
But after the fire started, many air-raid shelters were engulfed by the fire, and the people in the air-raid shelters suffocated to death because the air was exhausted. Some people who escaped were also surrounded by the fire. The billowing smoke knocked them down, and the raging fire burned them to death. The air was filled with the pungent smell of burnt human flesh. How many lives did those piles and pieces of ashes contain? No one knows... Millions of people turned into charcoal in the fire.
This bombing had too many accidental factors. Time, weather and accidents, all factors just happened to cause a disaster.
No, it should be said to be a feast!
Although the damage caused by the bombing itself was not great, the fire after the bombing burned for two days and one night, until the sky was dark, until everything in the fire was reduced to ashes.
The people who survived the bombing had to hide from the terrible fire in terror. The panicked crowd left the residential area, left the fire scene, and rushed to the open areas outside. Streets, squares, parks, beaches, school playgrounds and other places have become refuges for people to escape the fire. Many open areas are crowded with people.
In order to avoid the fire, countless citizens crossed the Sumida River and took refuge in the east area of the river. About 40,000 to 50,000 people gathered in the open space of the Army Clothing Factory. However, a few hours later, the wind brought a few sparks, igniting the luggage carried by the citizens and piles of military uniforms in the clothing factory. In addition to a dozen survivors, about 40,000 to 50,000 people were burned to death, and the fire in the clothing factory lasted for several hours.
No one thought that the bombing of Tokyo with less than 200 tons of bombs could cause such tragic consequences, but the impact of this bombing on the Japanese was immeasurable, not just because nearly 100,000 people died in the flames.
More importantly, the war finally burned to the Japanese mainland, and this was just the first barbecue in Tokyo!