Chapter 46 Chapter 45: The End of Hiroshima

Afternoon weather forecast for August 5, 1945: Takeoff is possible after midnight.So, at 3:30 pm local time, the "little boy" weighing four and a half tons was hoisted onto the trailer.The shell of the bomb was covered with slogans in chalk: "Send Hirohito to the guillotine", "Let the Japanese go to hell", "I wish this trip a great success" and "Thank you, Ballets" and other slogans - Pakistan Colonel Letts was the captain of the B-29 heavy bomber "Guy" who carried out this special bombing mission. He was only twenty-nine years old.The trailer dragged the "little boy" slowly into the scorching and dazzling sun.Eight armed guards walked slowly on either side of the trailer.After the solemn ceremony, a convoy of jeeps and other vehicles escorted the bomb on a slow crawl to the airport, a mile away.A roadside scavenger described: "It's like a funeral procession!"

A total of seven B-29s were dispatched.One flew to Iwo Jima first-in case the "Guy" failed, it could be replaced at any time; two escorted the "Guy" to the vicinity of the target; one was responsible for photography; the other was responsible for aerial experiments, At that time, three sets of instruments will be dropped by parachute, and the measurement data will be recorded and sent back.There are also three weather reconnaissance aircraft.After breakfast in the middle of the night, I did a religious ceremony. As soon as the crew of the "Guy" and two escort planes arrived at the take-off location in a truck, they were surrounded by arc lights, flood lights, generators, cameras, photographers, film directors, and photojournalists scurrying around. It's leaking.General Perry made up his mind: fight to the death, stop here in terms of "secrecy", and must record the whole process of this great event!

At 1:30 a.m. local time, three weather reconnaissance planes first took off at the same time. At 2:30, the last group photo was taken, and the twelve crew members climbed onto the plane one by one.General Perry's representative, Commodore Lawrence, stood by the gangway to see him off.Suddenly, he waved his hand at Hull, signaling the lieutenant colonel to stop. Countless eyes are focused here.Hull was stunned for a moment and was very nervous; did the general notice that there was something wrong with his leg movements when he walked, especially when he climbed and climbed?Will he get cold feet?He blushed and stammered: "General..."

Lawrence asked, "Where's your pistol?" "Oh, this, this..." I see!Hull breathed a sigh of relief.The crew members are equipped with pistols, and the holsters on their waists are very eye-catching; everyone also carries sodium cyanide capsules on their bodies-if they are shot down and encounter the Japanese, they can choose one of the two "methods" kind. Hull brought the capsule but forgot the pistol.It's this time, what should I do? "Well, take it!" Unexpectedly, General Lawrence immediately untied the pistol from his waist and handed it to Hull together with the leather case, "Come back and return it to me."

Hull knew it as soon as he weighed it. It was a small and exquisite Browning.Along with the pistol, the general's warm hands were handed over. The order to take off was received at 2:37.At 2:45, Colonel Balletts ordered the co-pilot: "Alright, let's go." Weighing 150 tons and carrying 7,000 gallons of gasoline, the "Guy" taxied slowly forward on the oil-stained runway.The runway is three miles long, and the taxiing distance has exceeded two miles, and it still cannot leave the ground.Seeing this scene, the crew members looked at each other in blank dismay.Before them, many fully loaded B-29s fell from the end of the runway into the sea...

"No, the plane is too heavy!" The co-pilot was terrified and shouted, "Pull up quickly, quick, quick!" Colonel Balletts remained calm and let the plane go on, go on, go on!Seeing that the runway was about to end and the earth was about to disappear, at the moment when the blue sea rushed towards him, Barretts pulled the nose of the plane, and the B-29 finally struggled, roaring and trembling violently, and the belly of the plane almost wiped The sea water finally left the ground... "God," General Lawrence on the conning tower put down his binoculars, wiped the cold sweat off his face, and shouted into the radio receiver, "I have never seen such a long runway for a plane to take off. I thought I would fall into it." The Pacific Ocean!"

"Don't worry," Perry laughed as he was far away in Washington, "I can't go wrong choosing Balletts." In view of the particularity of this flight mission, Lieutenant Colonel Hull was given an important mission in addition to his "job" as a bombardier, which was to use a tape recorder to simultaneously record the entire process of flight and combat.If it returns safely, the original tape will be archived, and the content of the recording will be documented and eventually sent to the president, the government, Congress, the military, the "Manhattan Project" command agency and other relevant departments...

Hull was overjoyed.He was different from the rest of the crew.He often said that he participated in "World War II" and supported China's Anti-Japanese War much earlier than the US government!He used to be a member of the Flying Tigers, with numerous military exploits and serious injuries, he was awarded a medal and the title of "Flying Tiger Hero" by the Chinese government; a part of his life was bestowed by the Chinese, and he has a special love for China and the Chinese people Understanding and deep affection... Of course, all of this is closely related to Joan.He and Roman understand Joan's inner conflict, understand the pain, humiliation and resentment she has endured for the broken country of the motherland and the suffering and killing of her compatriots.He knew he was deeply in love with Joan.He sometimes even thinks that even for Joan, everything he has done and will do is worth it-and the greatest, most tragic and most thrilling scene that "will" happen will undoubtedly be the one that will happen soon from now on. That epoch-making event that happened, and his possible death for it!Hull intends to give Joan a copy of the recording steel wire after returning to the base after completing the mission, let her know the whole process, and make her feel relieved and happy...

The B-29 was still parked on the runway, the four engines had just started to rotate, and Hull had already entered the working state, reporting the situation into the recording microphone.After the plane ascended into the dark night sky, the work continued: At three o'clock, the final assembly of the bomb began. At 3:15, assembly is complete. We avoided the large cloud cover south of the Ogasawara Islands and flew steadily through the starry sky until dawn. The "Gay" went from the even-numbered time zone of the Mariana Islands to the odd-numbered time zone of Japan, but we continued to use Mariana time.

At 6:05, at the agreed position above Iwo Jima, we met with two wingmen and flew in a V-shaped formation, with the "Guy" as the "knife tip", making a big bend and flying towards the Japanese archipelago in the northwest direction.Occasionally, wisps of white clouds passed by, the sky was blue, and no enemy planes were found. Up to this point, we still do not know which of the three target cities, Hiroshima, Kokura, and Nagasaki, will be bombed.The closer the theater is to the crew, the more nervous they are.Hardly anyone talks, let alone jokes... At seven-thirty, the red plug is inserted—this is the kind of fuse that guarantees the explosion of the atomic bomb after it is dropped.

At 7:41, it began to climb and fly into the sky over Honshu.The weather reconnaissance plane sent back a report that the weather in the first target Hiroshima and the third target Nagasaki was good, and the second target Kokura area was bad.Without saying a word, the electronic engineer entered the bomb bay and connected the last circuit of the detonator.Knowing that there is such a horrible thing on your back makes me uncomfortable, and I don't think anyone else will.God bless! Eight twenty-five.The leading weather reconnaissance plane sent back a report saying that there were no Japanese aircraft over Hiroshima, the anti-aircraft artillery firepower was also weak, and the cloud cover rate at all altitudes was less than 30%. It is recommended to "prioritize"... The captain announced through the microphone: "Attention, we are about to drop the world's first atomic bomb on Japan soon!" At 8:38 we were flying at 32,700 feet, or 10,000 meters. At 8:47, the electronic fuze was checked and it was confirmed to be in good condition. At 9:04, we started sailing westward. At 9:09, Hiroshima was in sight.The automatic control system starts.Colonel Balletts announced with a microphone: "Attention, Hiroshima is below!" All crew members saw the outline of a city on the ground through the thin clouds.Colonel Balletts ordered: "Everyone on position, ready to drop bombs! Wear goggles." ... Hull joins them in putting the goggles on their foreheads.The bombing was mainly based on visual observation, supplemented by radar.The weather is fine now, it’s morning again, and the visibility is high. You don’t need radar, and you can achieve good bombing results by visual inspection... Hull thought, maybe this is God’s will?He also knew that the Japanese were used to seeing hundreds of thousands of American planes overwhelming the sky and carrying out so-called carpet bombing, dropping thousands of tons of bombs at a time-but this only refers to the Japanese in other places, including Tokyo.Hiroshima has never been bombed, and the people here have never thought about why they are so "unique"! The Gay had lowered its altitude slightly, but was still more than 30,000 feet high.From the ground, it is either invisible to the naked eye, or looks very small and lonely; and in the eyes of the citizens, this kind of routine reconnaissance aircraft has seen too much-this is a terrible illusion, which produces this. People who have this illusion will soon pay a heavy price!While thinking about it, Hull stared down intently.With many years of flying experience, he can feel that this is a medium-sized city with a well-organized layout and normal operation; when he puts his eyes close to the telescope, he can see the ant-like crowd. in the eyes.Maybe some people are drilling air-raid shelters, but the vast majority of people do what they should, which will increase the number of casualties several times or ten times... At 9:13:30, everything began to revolve around the bombing, with the bombardier Hull directing the flight operations.He has studied every aerial reconnaissance photo more carefully than others, and is familiar with every detail of Hiroshima, especially the "Aioi Bridge" in the city center.Now, he used the scope to hold onto the T-shaped bridge, and the crosshairs in the lens moved forward quickly... At the same time, Hull remembered what Perry had said to Joan: This bomb will kill thousands or tens of thousands of people, or hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people!Then he remembered another sentence the general said to Joan: "Yes, I haven't forgotten Pearl Harbor. But, I'm not wrong. It's you, Joan, who forgot Nanjing..." To this moment, Hull's heart still throbs when he thinks of the general's words. Hull's eyes alternated between the scope and the timer.At 9:15:17, he moved his gaze from the chronograph to the scope, and extended his right hand to the bomb bay control hand switch.At this moment, he thought of and understood Joan's tears, Joan's crying, and Joan's cry of "Evil comes with evil"... The moment Hull held the hand brake, tears and shouts rushed at the same time And out: "For the Pearl Harbor Incident, for the Nanjing Massacre!" The bomb bay door popped open.The B-29, which was flying at an altitude of 31,600 feet, suddenly lost four and a half tons of weight, suddenly shook violently, and rose sharply.Colonel Balletts quickly made the plane make a 60-degree dive and a 158-degree right turn, and evacuated from the explosion area as quickly as possible.All the crew quickly put on their welder-style goggles and looked back. The "little boy" fell sideways, and then adjusted itself. The warhead first pointed downward obliquely, and then pointed directly downward... The "Guy" used an automatic analyzer to test the internal control system every half an hour during the flight to ensure that there was no mistake.Now, the control system is working again.A set of instruments ensures that the atomic bomb will not explode within fifteen seconds; afterward, another set of instruments is activated to ensure that the atomic bomb will not explode in the air above 3,000 meters... The moment the "little boy" fell to the "best height" of 1,850 feet above the ground, a small piece of uranium 235 was shot forward at a speed of 1,500 meters per second like a bullet in the chamber of a gun. A larger piece of uranium 235 collided! Before the "Guy" made a 158-degree right turn, the crew saw a small purple-red spot through the goggles.A dazzling flash of light swooped over, illuminating the entire plane brightly; it was as if the halo on a distant planet suddenly burst and enveloped everything.In less than a millisecond, the small bright spot suddenly expanded into a purple fireball with a diameter of about 800 meters. The whole thing boiled and rolled, and the raging red and purple fire rose into the sky, surrounded by circles of gray smoke. This giant pillar of fire; when it rises to a height of three or four kilometers, the turbulent flames roll outward, forming a mushroom cloud; the smoke and dust at the bottom of the pillar of fire spread to several kilometers wide, engulfing the remaining part of the urban area around the "Zero Zone" All combustibles were reduced to ashes.At an altitude of 40,000 to 50,000 feet, a second mushroom cloud appeared... Fifty seconds after the bomb was dropped, the "Guy" was hit by a direct shock wave; then, it was hit again by a ground-reflected wave.At this time the "Guy" was fifteen miles from the epicentre.Intense shock waves rolled in with the sound of explosions, playing the "Guy" in the palm of your hand... The phone on Ding Jieqiong's desk rang. "Who? Ah, hello, General." She put down her pen. "Where are you?" "Where can I be? Only in Washington." Perry's tone was steady, as if nothing had happened: "Joan, how are you doing there?" "All the radios and tweeters are broadcasting the statement of the President of the United States. In his speech, Truman read almost the entire text of your report on the successful atomic bombing of Hiroshima!" the female scientist said, a little out of breath, "the whole Ala Moss is boiling! The scientists brought out the whiskey, juniper berries, brandy and vodka that have been hidden for a long time..." "And you?" "I drank several glasses in a row." "Isn't Alamos forbidden to drink?" "Ask what you know!" The female scientist laughed.It is known to all that the smugglers have been smuggling all the liquor to Alamos. "I seem to hear some sort of continuous pop." "That's another atomic bomb—a salute from my reveling colleagues!" "Really, what's the view like?" "It's so beautiful! There are brilliant sparks in all directions; the mountain peaks made of sandstone are illuminated red, like countless jumping torches..." "Why is this happening?" "Because our labor has not been in vain, because the war is coming to an end, and because we have won..." "Also," the general interrupted the female professor, "because you are so right: 'Evil is rewarded with evil!'"