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Authors: John Schettler
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the
war.
The
Russians had the bomb… Why
they never used it again on the Germans remained a mystery, and it was
eventually decided that the considerable resources, technical knowhow and time
required to produce a bomb while under all out attack from Germany had
prevented them from creating any more bombs until late in the war. By the time
they were ready, Germany had already been defeated.
Yet
now the Russians appeared again, with the same blighting footprint on the
hallowed ground of peace as before. They used it not on their enemies, but on
their friends, or so the Americans believed. They blasted yet another American
battleship in a gruesome echo of the dastardly attack made in 1941. Only a very
few knew of the fate of the Mississippi and TF-16, and of these no more
than ten men alive on the earth at that time knew all of what had really
transpired.
But
none of that mattered now. Tibbets got the order, and the Enola Gay got
the bomb. The planes were in the air the day after the Iowa was sunk,
and not two hours after the Soviet authorities had issued a venomous denial of
all charges leveled against them and a refusal to withdraw.
The
skies were bright and clear that morning, but they had floodlights up to
illuminate the runway just the same. The video cameras would record the takeoff
for posterity, a newsreel for the ages. One by one the big engines sputtered to
life, turning over and spinning the massive props on the enormous engines of
the bombers. Tibbets felt the vibration of all four engines shaking his plane,
and just before he taxied away he leaned out the side window and waved. Then it
was out on the tarmac and down the long runway of North Field, Tinian.
“Hey
JS, look at ‘em go!” A group a Seabees were watching near the hangers. “And to
think we built the damn airfield that made all this possible.”
They
had seen the bombers go many times before, but never with this kind of fanfare,
and by direct Presidential order. It was awesome, as all real military power
was meant to be. And it was terrible beyond the soul’s capacity to measure, 425
superfortresses in the sky, and one with the power of the sun itself in its
belly, all flying north for the vengeance the nation demanded. Only the final
raids on Japan had been bigger, with two massive raids involving 464 and 520
planes in late May.
There
was no sign of the awful fire that had ravaged the seas the night before. The B-29
bombers were in the air, flying in a massive formation northwest from Tinian.
It was a little over 2000 miles to Vladivostok, and with a range just over 3500
miles the bombers would not be returning to the island that day. Instead they
would land on airfields cleared and now well established on Okinawa.
If
the Russians had any more ships equipped with their new missile weaponry, they
would have 425 planes to shoot at, and odds were that the Enola Gay would get through. The Russians had built at least two bombs, and the great
risk was that they had more. What if they were to load one on another of their
fearsome new aerial defense rockets to blast the entire bomber formation? In
the end it was decided that, in spite of Truman’s dire fair warning, the US
would have the element of surprise.
Part III
Invincible
“One
day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered... I'm going to put a
mask on and scrawl my name across the face of the world…
— Austin
Grossman: Soon I will Be Invincible
Chapter 7
“Captain?”
Karpov
heard the voice, but it seemed to quaver in the air about him with a strange
echo. He backed slowly away from the viewport, seeing the distant cloud of doom
slowly fade in his vision, feeling dizzy and feather light.
There
came a sudden mist, rising thickly about the ship, and many on the bridge crew
thought they had been enveloped in the impenetrable haze that accompanied
nuclear detonations at sea, known as the “Wilson Cloud,” but this was not the
case. The
war.
The
Russians had the bomb… Why
they never used it again on the Germans remained a mystery, and it was
eventually decided that the considerable resources, technical knowhow and time
required to produce a bomb while under all out attack from Germany had
prevented them from creating any more bombs until late in the war. By the time
they were ready, Germany had already been defeated.
Yet
now the Russians appeared again, with the same blighting footprint on the
hallowed ground of peace as before. They used it not on their enemies, but on
their friends, or so the Americans believed. They blasted yet another American
battleship in a gruesome echo of the dastardly attack made in 1941. Only a very
few knew of the fate of the Mississippi and TF-16, and of these no more
than ten men alive on the earth at that time knew all of what had really
transpired.
But
none of that mattered now. Tibbets got the order, and the Enola Gay got
the bomb. The planes were in the air the day after the Iowa was sunk,
and not two hours after the Soviet authorities had issued a venomous denial of
all charges leveled against them and a refusal to withdraw.
The
skies were bright and clear that morning, but they had floodlights up to
illuminate the runway just the same. The video cameras would record the takeoff
for posterity, a newsreel for the ages. One by one the big engines sputtered to
life, turning over and spinning the massive props on the enormous engines of
the bombers. Tibbets felt the vibration of all four engines shaking his plane,
and just before he taxied away he leaned out the side window and waved. Then it
was out on the tarmac and down the long runway of North Field, Tinian.
“Hey
JS, look at ‘em go!” A group a Seabees were watching near the hangers. “And to
think we built the damn airfield that made all this possible.”
They
had seen the bombers go many times before, but never with this kind of fanfare,
and by direct Presidential order. It was awesome, as all real military power
was meant to be. And it was terrible beyond the soul’s capacity to measure, 425
superfortresses in the sky, and one with the power of the sun itself in its
belly, all flying north for the vengeance the nation demanded. Only the final
raids on Japan had been bigger, with two massive raids involving 464 and 520
planes in late May.
There
was no sign of the awful fire that had ravaged the seas the night before. The B-29
bombers were in the air, flying in a massive formation northwest from Tinian.
It was a little over 2000 miles to Vladivostok, and with a range just over 3500
miles the bombers would not be returning to the island that day. Instead they
would land on airfields cleared and now well established on Okinawa.
If
the Russians had any more ships equipped with their new missile weaponry, they
would have 425 planes to shoot at, and odds were that the Enola Gay would get through. The Russians had built at least two bombs, and the great
risk was that they had more. What if they were to load one on another of their
fearsome new aerial defense rockets to blast the entire bomber formation? In
the end it was decided that, in spite of Truman’s dire fair warning, the US
would have the element of surprise.
Part III
Invincible
“One
day you wake up and realize the world can be conquered... I'm going to put a
mask on and scrawl my name across the face of the world…
— Austin
Grossman: Soon I will Be Invincible
Chapter 7
“Captain?”
Karpov
heard the voice, but it seemed to quaver in the air about him with a strange
echo. He backed slowly away from the viewport, seeing the distant cloud of doom
slowly fade in his vision, feeling dizzy and feather light.
There
came a sudden mist, rising thickly about the ship, and many on the bridge crew
thought they had been enveloped in the impenetrable haze that accompanied
nuclear detonations at sea, known as the “Wilson Cloud,” but this was not the
case. The
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