Chapter 917 Chicago Fire (3)

"Return home!"

After dropping all the bombs in a swagger, the German bomber formation sailed away.

More than 500 tons of napalm and thermite bombs were dropped in the downtown area of ​​Chicago, and a raging fire broke out; and the industrial area in the suburbs was even worse, with more than 1,000 tons of napalm and thermite bombs, and the entire industrial area was reduced to ashes.

The sirens of emergency vehicles and fire trucks were everywhere in the city; but when the firefighters took high-pressure water guns and sprayed water columns at the distant fire, the raging flames did not go out, but burned more and more vigorously. Faced with the high temperature heat wave, the firefighters could only retreat step by step.

"Damn it! Stop spraying! Turn off the water gun!!" Looking at the increasingly raging fire, the fire captain ordered loudly.

"Captain, what's going on?" Some rookie firefighters who had just started working for a short time looked at the fire in the distance with horror and asked in a trembling voice.

The captain frowned. "It should be that the Germans mixed some chemical accelerants into their incendiary bombs." As an experienced firefighter, he had participated in countless firefighting operations and naturally knew that fires caused by certain chemicals could not be extinguished with water. Water and chemicals would react to release oxygen and hydrogen that would help combustion. Using water to extinguish the fire would be like adding fuel to the fire.

His guess was correct. When making napalm bombs, various active alkaline metals such as calcium and barium would be added to make them combine with water to release hydrogen that would burn again, increasing the combustion power. At the same time, at high temperatures, the oxides would continue to decompose and release oxygen to maintain combustion.

"What should we do then?"

The captain sighed. "This kind of fire can only be covered with sand or foam." But with such a large burning area, where could they find so much sand or foam to put out the fire in a short time? "Water the nearby buildings to cool them down." This was the only way to stop the spread of the fire. There was no other way, unless there was a sudden rainstorm like the fire in 1871. But he knew that in Chicago this month, not to mention heavy rain, even drizzle is impossible. Fortunately, Chicago today is not the wooden buildings of 1871. Reinforced concrete has replaced the original wooden structure houses.

However, reinforced concrete is not 100% fireproof. Not to mention that the core temperature of napalm and thermite bombs when they explode is enough to melt steel. Even in ordinary fires, a building will not only have steel bars, but also a large number of combustibles. For example, interior doors, wooden floors, curtains, furniture, clothing, home appliances, various plastic pipes, wire sheaths, etc. As long as the temperature is high enough to reach the ignition point of these materials, they will burn. Once they cannot be controlled in time, they will gradually ignite other combustibles around them, and the fire will spread.

Just as these firefighters were struggling to spray water on nearby buildings, a firefighter on a motorcycle hurried over. "Captain Lewis, the fire in Blocks 15 and 18 is about to get out of control. White asked me to tell you to evacuate the city quickly, otherwise you will be surrounded by the fire!"

"Oh, shit!" Captain Lewis was shocked and quickly called the other team members. "Quick, pack up and prepare to evacuate!" If they were surrounded by such a fire, they would be dead.

The crowd didn't care to continue spraying water, and immediately packed up their equipment, got in the car, and drove to the suburbs.

"These damn Germans! It's so hateful!!"

In the car, many team members angrily cursed these hateful Germans, who actually dropped so many terrible incendiary bombs at once, which was simply crazy!

Some people also cursed the high-level officials in Washington. "The officials in Washington are not good people. If you can fight, fight. If you can't fight, make peace. What's the point of being a coward and getting bombed all day long like now?" If you can't win, negotiate. This is a matter of course. The party proposing peace talks should pay some money and cede some land. Who makes you weaker than others? If you are not convinced, you can conserve your energy and plan for a future war. But now, the Germans bombed one city after another. What will be left in the United States in the end? Hundreds of cities turned into ruins and thousands of corpses? These losses alone are enough to pay several times the compensation, right?

Someone took over. "I heard that they also thought about peace talks, but the conditions proposed by the Germans were too harsh, so they didn't reach an agreement."

Others were immediately interested when they heard this. "What conditions did the Germans put forward? Why can't we accept them?"

"I don't know the details, but you can refer to the fate of the British Empire. Didn't the Germans put British Prime Minister Churchill on trial as a war criminal? They will definitely put former presidents Roosevelt and Willkie and even current Vice President Truman on trial as war criminals in Europe. The Germans also stationed troops in the UK and will also demand to station troops in our US mainland. In addition, there will definitely be a sky-high compensation."

After hearing this, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. It would be strange if they would agree to bring the former president and the current vice president to trial.

"At the beginning, the British did not agree to these conditions, but later they were attacked by the Germans on their mainland."

"Are the Germans going to attack our US mainland too?"

"Otherwise, why would those bastards build the 'Atlantic Defense Line' and the 'Pacific Defense Line'? It would be better to research more powerful fighters to intercept German bombers than to build these defense lines." It has been so long since the first bombing of the US mainland, and there is still no way to intercept these bombers. They are simply a bunch of rubbish!

"Why don't these Krauts bomb Washington?"

"I heard that there are thousands of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns deployed around Washington, and the German bombers can't get close at all."

"Bullshit, I heard that Washington has been bombed into ruins. What's the point of the Germans continuing to bomb the ruins? As for those large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, they can't intercept the Germans' flying bombs and super-high-altitude bombers at all. They are just like decorations."

The car has already driven out of the city and stopped in an open space while everyone was talking. Everyone got out of the car and looked at the city with thick smoke in the distance, feeling very uncomfortable. After all, they are firefighters, and putting out fires and saving people is their first responsibility, but now they are away from their battlefield like deserters.

Captain Lewis sighed and muttered in defense. "This is also unavoidable. If we continue to stay there, let alone putting out fires, we will even lose our lives." Fortunately, most of the city's residents have been evacuated to the nearby countryside in advance, and the casualties caused by this fire should be much lower than those in New York City.