บท 192: Chapter 270 Raid
120 Mosquito bombers, Type VI (strengthened wing structure, carrying 500 kg bombs in the fuselage bomb bay and 2 * 250 kg bombs under the wings, total payload reaching 1000 kg), were dispersed in various secret airfields, preparing to raid the six ports of Sheerness, Margate, Dover, Newhaven, Folkestone, and Ramsgate.
Bright lights illuminated the entire airfield as if it were daytime. Ground crews carefully loaded the 500 kg special bombs from the transport bomb trucks onto the bomb bay and both sides of the wings. The bomb casings were painted with blood-red paint in the shape of a large "X", making them look as if covered in fresh blood, sending shivers down one's spine.
"Inspect carefully! These are our latest secret weapons! Make sure every bomb explodes, no duds are allowed!" A middle-aged technician checked the detonation devices on the bombs while loudly giving instructions.
"Yes!" All the young apprentices replied solemnly, with many clear female voices mixed in.
If Japan's weakness was its territory and the Republic's weakness was technology, then Germany's weakness was undoubtedly its population.
With just over eighty million people, Germany severely lacked human resources in various fields. In Wilhelm's plan, expanding the defense forces to ultimately reach 7 million was a massive pit, military and civilian factories in various industries were competing for more workers, hospitals needed medical staff, schools needed teachers and staff, farms needed laborers, and fishing grounds needed fishery workers. In every profession, there were countless loopholes to fill. Even if Germany's population doubled, it still wouldn't be too many.
Wilhelm didn't have a quick solution to the population issue, after all, this wasn't a Red Alert game where you could spend 100 bucks to buy a soldier with formidable, even overpowered combat capabilities.
He had been encouraging German women to have more children, and it had indeed shown results (now wasn't the era of rampant feminism, no one would shout resolutely, 'I am not be a childbearing machine.' Wilhelm wasn't against feminism, but using the reproductive function of the uterus as a bargaining chip to claim equality, raise the status of women, reject toxic masculinity, reject dick cancer, and refuse to be a childbearing machine was both ridiculous and ironic. If one thought such methods would be effective, it's recommended to read Teacher Zheng Yuanjie's "The Last Egg" or the TV series "The Handmaid's Tale"). Currently, German families had at least two children, and having three or four was common. The number of people receiving the "Heroic Mother" medal for giving birth to five or more children was increasing, after all, if you already had three or four, why not have one or two more to exchange for the glorious title and generous subsidies?
The number of babies born just last year had already surpassed 4 million. With Wilhelm's attention, Germany had established a very comprehensive childcare system, greatly reducing the pressure on parents and not affecting their work efficiency.
Although this was a remarkable achievement, these children would grow into adults in more than ten years. By then, regardless of the outcome, the war should have ended, and it wouldn't be very helpful in solving the current problem of a shortage of labor. On the contrary, the ubiquitous childcare system consumed a considerable amount of manpower and resources.
Since that was the case, Wilhelm assigned extremely dangerous work to the prisoners in the concentration camps. After all, they didn't need to be paid, didn't care about life or death, and could be used without any reservations. Dirty and tiring tasks were handed over to the prisoners of war in the concentration camps, and if there weren't enough young adults, then the elderly and children had to be used. If there weren't enough elderly and children, then women had to step up.
Now, posters supporting women going out to work were posted everywhere in German territory. In the first year of the women's work plan, 200,000 job positions were provided for women, and this number was constantly increasing.
The vast number of women liberated from the role of full-time housewives immersed themselves in the joy of liberation. The capitalists who employed them were also delighted to pay only two-thirds of the wages required for male workers.
The Guards were the first to recruit female soldiers and establish combat units. The explosiveness of women joining the military exceeded everyone's imagination. On the first day of registration, the number exceeded 50,000, and in just four days, it reached 300,000. These were all reserve personnel who had undergone regular military training since junior high school and fired over 100 shots annually. Even if these female soldiers didn't go to the battlefield, just maintaining order in the occupied areas could save a considerable number of male soldiers' spots.
Meanwhile, the defense forces are gradually recruiting female soldiers for roles in grassroots communication, secretarial work, nursing, anti-aircraft gunners, and other professions.
In the original timeline's World War II, German women were among the most passionate and actively participated in the military, outnumbering female soldiers in the UK and the US. Germany also legislated that women must serve in the military, therefore, their presence could be seen in various branches such as the army, navy, and air force.
Aviation units also had corresponding female ground crew units, and the practical results showed that when using female soldiers to maintain bomb-equipped weapons, they seemed to be more meticulous than their male counterparts. Moreover, female soldiers who smoked were very few, significantly increasing safety efficiency.
The formation of Mosquito bombers loaded with bombs took off one by one under the command of the dispatch desk, forming a fleet heading towards the predetermined targets.
"Enemy aircraft!"
As the first light of dawn illuminated the port of Sheerness, a piercing air raid siren echoed over the port. Unfortunately, the ground anti-aircraft units without radar warning had a slow reaction time. Even a bomber formation flying at a speed of over 400 kilometers per hour could not be intercepted. The bomber formation easily broke through the anti-aircraft firepower net and surged into the port.
"Heh, quite a few ships!" A bombardier on one of the bombers looked at the densely packed large and small ships below, numbering at least two hundred.
"Hold steady, hold steady!" The bombardier concentrated and locked onto a densely packed area of ships in the center of the crosshair, then pulled down the bomb release lever sharply. As the 500 kg bombs detached from the bomb bay, the flying speed suddenly increased. Immediately afterward, he aimed at another location and dropped the two 250 kg bombs under the wings. With these heavy loads released, the bomber's flight speed rapidly increased to 600 kilometers per hour.
Twenty bombers in total dropped 20 bombs of 500 kg and 40 bombs of 250 kg.
In a series of crisp explosion sounds, these large bombs cracked open, releasing several small bombs with parachutes. The small bombs, resembling cylindrical beer barrels with a long iron rod extending from below, floated down under the parachutes, evenly distributed across the entire port airspace.
Then, amid the successive explosions that were much quieter than usual bomb blasts, the numerous ships below were shrouded in clouds of white gas.
Although they heard the alarm, the people on the ships couldn't make it to the shore in time to take cover in air raid shelters. They could only hide in the ship's compartments, silently praying that the German bombs wouldn't fall on their vessels. However, they found that the explosion sounds were very soft, lacking the deafening roar and the feeling of earth-shaking.
Could it be that the Germans dropped only small bombs?
Someone looked outside through a glass window and found that the outside seemed to be covered in a white mist, as if fog had suddenly appeared. The air also seemed to carry a pungent smell of chemicals.
"What's going on?"
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