Chapter 876 Truman

Even Washington, hundreds of kilometers away, could see the smoke rising into the sky from New York.

"Oh God! How many bombs did the Germans drop?!"

Commander Arnold sighed deeply. "The pilots reported that all the Germans dropped were incendiary bombs."

"Can air-raid shelters be able to stop such a fire?" Although air ducts have been added to those air-raid shelters, can they stop such a raging fire all over the city? Will the entire air-raid shelters be burned to ashes?

"I'm afraid there will be many casualties."

"Damn it, these damn Germans are so crazy. This is a sheer massacre of civilians." The top U.S. officials immediately issued a broadcast, denouncing Germany's bombing as a cruel practice that violated humanity and moralism and should be condemned by the whole world. condemn.

The result was immediately sprayed back by the German propaganda department, saying that Germany was only destroying the war potential of the United States. If the top leaders of the United States really cared about the casualties of civilians, they should surrender immediately.

And Yannick even scoffed at the Americans' rhetoric. There is an interesting question for later generations. The ultra-large-scale strategic bombing of the Axis powers by the British and American coalition forces in World War II, such as the bombing of Dresden (the exact death toll is difficult to count, the lowest is 50,000 to 30,000, and the highest is 250,000 ~300,000 people), the burning of Tokyo (83,793 people died, nearly 100,000 people were burned or choked), and the subsequent nuclear attacks (more than 100,000 people were directly killed). Each of these air strikes can kill tens of thousands or even more than 100,000 people. of civilians died. It is impossible for the top Allied forces not to know how many civilians the air strikes they planned could kill. Is this considered a massacre?

Strictly speaking, such strategic bombing is indeed massacre, and the victorious country has never denied doing these things.

Conduct long-range air strikes against enemy countries’ rear cities, industrial bases and other strategic targets. In this way, the confidence and will of the people of the hostile country to continue the war are destroyed through a large number of civilian casualties, and the enemy's war potential is weakened by destroying the industrial facilities of the hostile country, thereby forcing it to give up resistance and surrender, and ultimately win the entire war; although From a moral point of view, this method of combat is an immoral and even criminal act against humanity. However, from a military point of view, it is a very advanced and even epoch-making active offensive idea. It is the first combat method to achieve the goal of "bringing the flames of war to the enemy's territory." Before the emergence of missiles, only long-range aviation, a technical arm that can maneuver without any terrain restrictions, had the capability to carry out this combat. method capabilities.

Moreover, the ban on strategic bombing of non-defense areas was a convention established after World War II, and the International Court of Justice was only established in 1946. Therefore, strategic bombing during World War II was at best in violation of humanity and had no legal restrictions.

In short, the winner is the king and the loser is the enemy.

The United States was left speechless. After all, they could not surrender just because of civilian casualties in one city.

The unprecedented bombing of New York this time caused another problem, which was that it scared the residents of other big cities so much. Who knows which city the Germans will bomb next, and they fled to the countryside. Take refuge. After all, the United States is truly vast and sparsely populated (the mainland United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) covers an area of ​​approximately 90,000 square kilometers. Based on land area, it can accommodate a population of 6 billion. At this time, the population of the United States is less than 4 billion), there are so many places to hide.

At this time, the U.S. government is preparing to hold a new round of elections, but people are busy running for their lives. Who has the heart to vote for the new presidential election?

In desperation, Congress discussed it and decided to adopt special measures for a special period. After agreeing to President Wilkie's resignation, he allowed him to nominate a vice president, who would then act as president.

President Wilkie agreed, but no one in the Republican Party was willing to take up the position of vice president. The Republicans collectively blamed the Democratic Party, saying that it was because of former President Roosevelt's reckless behavior that the situation was in such a bad situation today. , the Democratic Party should be responsible for cleaning up the mess.

The Democratic Party was so angry that the two sides argued for several days. The Democratic Party was too lazy to continue the quarrel and simply introduced Harry Truman as the vice president. As for why he was chosen, it was not because of his outstanding abilities, but mainly because Truman came from a grassroots background (Truman's father was a farmer in Missouri, and his mother was an ordinary housewife. The family was so poor that there was no genealogy record, or even It's unclear whether his ancestors came from Ireland or England), and he didn't have a strong backer.

Because his family was very poor, Truman worked extra hard to study when he was young and tried to change his destiny. However, after he graduated from junior high school, his family could not afford the tuition, so he had to choose to apply for a publicly funded military academy. However, the military academy also required good eyesight, so Truman was diagnosed with myopia. After coming down, he was forced to drop out of school and work. After his father passed away in 1914, after several years of working hard, Truman saved some money and invested in zinc mining in partnership with his friends. But it was their first time doing business, and both of them had no experience. The company went bankrupt 2 years later. In the same year, he and his friends opened an oil refining company. As World War I was raging, Truman was called into the army again and had to transfer the company. After retiring in 1919, Truman and his comrade Eddie Jacobs opened a men's clothing store. Not long after, the U.S. economic recession caught up and the clothing store was forced to close. Several business failures left Truman deeply in debt, and he decided to abandon business and enter politics.

However, Truman in the original time and space was quite lucky. When Roosevelt ran for the fourth presidential election, Truman was nominated as the vice presidential candidate. As a result, less than three months after taking office, President Roosevelt died of illness, and Truman took over.

When he took office, it was a good time, a good place, and a good situation in the United States. And the atomic egg happened to be developed, which was crucial to consolidating the United States' world status. At this time, Truman was just sitting back and enjoying the fruits of his labor.

But Truman himself not only had little culture, but also little courage. Objectively speaking, he did not have the qualities to be a president. In addition to signing the order to drop atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, which accelerated the end of World War II, his other political achievements were average. At that time, there were two more ambitious and capable congressmen who despised the successor president from the bottom of their hearts, so they would not consider Truman's opinions at all during daily meetings. They pursued their own doctrines and made various policies. Truman did nothing but wait for good news and enjoy the fruits of his labor. If things went wrong, the person who did it would be responsible. If things went well, it must be the president's leadership.

This time, Truman was forced to serve as vice president. Facing the terrible situation, he even wanted to cry.