Text/Editor: Liuyun
At the end of World War II, the United States bombed the Japanese mainland in order to finally destroy Japan's economic power and disintegrate Japan's military morale. From April 2, 1942, until the end of the war, the United States bombed the Japanese mainland 81 times, 145.69 million sorties, and dropped 140,000 tons of bombs, thus accelerating the collapse of Japanese militarism.
In fact, as early as 1938, the Chinese Air Force carried out a "bombing" of the Japanese mainland, but this "bombing" was a bit special.
In the First World War, the entry of aircraft into the war, changed the course of the war. Let the countries of the world clearly understand that the air force can play a vital role in war.
However, at this time, China was still in a period of warlord chaos and fragmentation. In view of the continuous civil war in China, the European and American powers jointly signed an agreement on "banning arms sales to China" to prohibit large-scale arms sales to China. Since then, China's military and military equipment has gradually lagged behind the world. However, the warlords could still import some old aircraft that had been eliminated from the battlefields of the First World War by smuggling them into the name of commercial use. However, there is no supporting industrial system in China. Therefore, these planes are only used for reconnaissance, scattering leaflets and other tasks, and they have no combat effectiveness at all.
With the fall of the Beiyang government, countries began to recognize the Nanjing Nationalist government. The lock-up agreement was also repealed accordingly. In the military inspection and recommendations of the German military advisory group, the Nationalist Government recognized the importance of the air force in modern warfare, and in 1929 began to plan the formation of an air force belonging to China, and drew up a detailed plan for its formation.
The original plan was that in six years, there would be about 4,000 pilots and 2,000 planes in the country. However, it was not until 1937. At this time, the national army's aircraft manufacturing capacity was still zero, and it only had 600 aircraft, and all the planes came from Western countries, and there were even old planes from World War I. There are only 1,400 people in the country who can fly planes, and only 700 fighters.
After the "918" Incident, the "128" Incident, the "Great Wall War of Resistance" and other events, the Nationalist Government has understood that a future full-scale war between China and Japan is inevitable. As early as the end of 1936, the General Staff Headquarters of the Military Commission of the Kuomintang Government formulated a "National Defense Operation Plan" for the 1937 year. The plan is divided into two options: A and B.
Plan A called for the Air Force to dispatch all its heavy bombardment planes to attack Japanese cities from Sasebo to Yokosuka, as well as Japanese air bases, and to destroy important cities along the line from Tokyo to Osaka.
Plan B calls for the entire heavy bomber fleet to attack Japan's naval and air bases and resource areas, such as Tokyo, Osaka, Sasebo Military Port, Japan's arsenal in Liaoning, and Taiwan's air base.
But unexpectedly, not long after, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, and the all-out war of resistance began. By the first half of 1938, almost all of North China had fallen, and most of East China and Central and South China had been lost. In the process, the Chinese Air Force and the invading Japanese army launched thrilling battles over Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing, and Hangzhou. Relying on its own courage, the Chinese Air Force inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Within more than three months, the invading Japanese army lost 230 planes and killed 327 pilots. But the Chinese Air Force also suffered heavy losses, and by the time Nanjing fell in December 1938, the Chinese Air Force had almost lost its strength.
The plan to bomb the Japanese mainland had to be put on hold for the time being.
In October 1937, the Soviet Union provided military assistance to China with six TB-3 heavy bombers. The plan was once on the agenda, but when Nanchang was conducting bombing training, the Japanese bombed Nanchang Airport, blew up 2 planes on the spot, damaged 3, and the remaining fighters were forced to fly back to Lanzhou to avoid air raids. The plan was shelved again.
Just when people were worried about the bomber incident, a number of volunteer pilots from the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and other countries came to China to participate in the war, and at the same time brought four Martin-139WC bombers, seven Voltie V-11 light bombers, and several Northrop G2E light bombers that had just been eliminated from Europe and the United States. The Kuomintang Air Force seemed to see hope again, but the foreign pilots said that the mission was too risky and offered a hefty remuneration that was unacceptable to the Kuomintang government. As a result, the Kuomintang government's aviation committee decided that Chinese pilots would carry out this task.
The Kuomintang Aviation Committee selected several outstanding pilots from the 19th Squadron of the 8th Flight Group and the personnel of the 14th Squadron pre-selected by Captain Xu Huansheng to form a special bombing squadron. However, because the number of bombers is too small, it is difficult to achieve a deterrent effect by dropping bombs on these planes alone. The original plan was revised and, in order to shorten the voyage, the targets were changed to Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Kitakyushu on the island of Kyushu.
At 15:23 on May 19, 1938, three warplanes took off from Hankou Wangjiadun Airport and landed at Ningbo Lishe Airport two hours later to replenish fuel. At 23:48, two of the fighters left for Japan on a mission.
In the early morning of May 20, 1938, the owner of a sushi restaurant in Nagasaki, Japan, opened the door and suddenly found that there were leaflets everywhere in front of the door. The leaflet was printed with the words of the Chinese and Japanese pairs: "The invasion of China by the country is a serious crime. No matter how inferior you are, a million leaflets will become a thousand-ton bomb, and you will quit again. ”
On the same day, Fukuoka City and Kitakyushu City, both on the island of Kyushu, also found a large number of leaflets warning Japan from China.
Yes! This is the special "bombing" carried out by the Chinese Air Force on the Japanese mainland. A total of 1 million leaflets were dropped over the Japanese island of Kyushu like snowflakes.
The Chinese Air Force's "bombing" of the Japanese mainland has greatly boosted the morale of the people throughout the country, and the major media across the country have reported on it. As soon as the news came out, it caused a sensation at home and abroad.
On behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Eighth Route Army Office, Zhou Enlai, Chen Shaoyu (Wang Ming), Wu Yuzhang, Luo Binghui and others personally went to the Kuomintang Air Force Headquarters to express their condolences to the triumphant pilots and present them with a pennant with eight big characters written on it: "Both Dewei and Wisdom are used together, and wisdom and courage are both complete."
The British and Soviet news media also followed suit, and they did not hesitate to praise the special operation of the Chinese Air Force. Other mainstream media in the world also believe that the Chinese Air Force's night attack on the Japanese mainland has ruthlessly extinguished the arrogance of Japanese imperialism and greatly encouraged the anti-fascist struggle of the people of the world.
Six years later, Life magazine in the United States published photos of 12 of the world's most famous pilots, and Captain Xu Huansheng was among them. The photo reads: "Xu Huansheng was the first person to bomb the Japanese mainland before General Doolittle of the U.S. Army." ”