“If they had made their advance then, I think it would have been the end,” he said. “It was the little ‘model aeroplanes’ as you called them which saved the day. The gas cylinders being lighter hit a little ahead, then the high explosives smashed everything to bits. The disorganization absolutely overwhelmed them and our barrage did the rest. It was a rout.”
“All the generators were smashed?” George asked.
“Every one of them by the first H.E. cylinder that the magnetic beam brought in. It was entirely unexpected and they could not switch off in time.”
“They certainly used plenty of power,” George said. “I could even feel the drag of it on my boots. But I don't suppose anyone will be using magnetic beams in the line again. Not this war, at any rate.”
“No,” Li agreed. “I don't think so.”
“Well, what now?” said George, after a pause. “You didn't bring me here for nothing, Li.”
The Chinese scribbled for a moment on a piece of blotting paper before he looked up. Then:
“Our long-distance bombers are ready. One hundred and fifty of them,” he said.
“I thought you told me a hundred.”
“Did I? Now I tell you a hundred and fifty.”
“Well?”
“They plan a raid on many Japanese cities on the night of November the 14th.”
“Indeed. What's the idea?” — “That of most raids. To drop bombs.”
“No, I mean, why should you tell me this? You mean me to pass it on?”
“Certainly.”
“But — I don't see. Do you seriously mean to raid?”
“Why not?”
“Why not! My God, didn't I tell you that they've put up great magnetic beam generators all over the place? They'll not use them in the front line again, but that doesn't mean that they've given them up altogether, far from it. You may have pulled their legs good and proper with the ordinary generators but you gave them the perfect defence against aircraft. I tell you with a system such as they've got it's millions to one against a single plane getting through. And you can't play the same trick again. The swinging beam defeats that. It just wrenches them apart in mid-air and the pieces drop. They can't go straight along the beam, like the cylinders.”
Pang Li smiled.
“It is kind of you, George, to tell me this. But I assure you it is perfectly well known to me already. And in spite of your warnings it will be done.”
“It's sheer murder to send men on such a job.”
“All war is murder, George.”
“But, look here, you really want me to tell them this?”
“I do. The night is November the 14th. You do not know what time. But you understand that the intention of the fleet is to fly in several parts. Some will concentrate on Nagasaki and the other cities of Kyushu, others on Hikoku, but the main part will attack the big cities of Honshu. You have not, unfortunately, been able to discover the tactical dispositions and courses of the raiders. You know, in fact, very few details, but you have confirmed the report from two independent reliable sources and from another less reliable.”
Pang Li paused. He regarded the other steadily. “We are relying on you, George. They must have this information. It is of the greatest importance. And the date must be right. Confirm that.”
“I will,” George assured him. “The 14th of November. That is a Sunday.”
“It is. And if you are wise you will choose on that particular Sunday to be anywhere but in Japan?”
The devastation which overwhelmed Japan on the night of November 14th, 1965, is now history, and nowhere else in written history is there a catastrophe to compare with it. The sun of the 14th set upon a proud, confident, ambitious country: the sun of the 15th rose upon a land of ashes, desolation and despair. Beside that cataclysm, the havoc of even the worst earthquakes with their terrible death roll was as nothing.
It was some days before the rest of the world learned the reason for the sudden stoppage of all communication with Japan, and longer still before rumour was confirmed by knowledge that her power and almost her whole civilization had been swept away in a single night.
Almost the first result of the definite news was that the Japanese armies in the field wilted and wavered. With their sources of supply cut off, it became impossible even within a few days for them to hold their positions. A retreat was called, but the armies were getting out of hand; it became a rout. Supplies, guns and machinery were abandoned. The intensely-trained army degenerated into a rabble pouring back across the country, each man for himself in a flight which only the sea could stop. The Chinese armies swept forward to recapture their land almost without resistance, jubilant and savage in their pursuit, pushing far ahead of their command, scarcely more disciplined than the fleeing Japanese ahead of them.
In the confusion and constantly changing positions of various headquarters which strove to keep in some kind of touch with their commands, it was difficult to trace any units. It took George White more than a week of chaotic travel by any means of transport which happened to be available to catch up with his friend Pang Li. He found him at last in a village on the border of the Che-Kiang whence he was directing the attack on Hangchow, where a Japanese remnant was making a last desperate stand with its back to the sea. George found himself a welcome visitor. Pang Li beamed upon it.
“It's all over, bar the shouting, as your phrase puts it,” he said.
“There's no doubt about that,” George agreed. “But, in Heaven's name, what did it? It's beyond believing that one raid, however big, can have laid Japan flat on her back.”
“Raid?” said Pang Li. “Oh, yes, the raid.” He smiled.
“What do you mean?” said George suspiciously. “That was the night you planned to raid.”
The Chinese made a deprecating motion.
“I must confess, George, to misleading you! We did not raid, we could not have done so at that distance if we had wanted to.”
“But your new long-distance bombers—?”
“I am afraid they were a myth.”
George put his hand to his forehead.
“But — but — for goodness sake, what did you do then, Li?”
The Chinese smiled more broadly at his bewilderment.
“It was necessary to do very little. Our Trojan Horse kicked again and did the rest.”
“The magnetic beam?”
“Yes, the beam.”
“But I don't see — Won't you explain, Li?”
Pang Li nodded. “I think you deserve it,” he said. “I will tell you.”
“Soon after dark on the 14th many seaplanes went up from ships which we managed to get into the North Pacific and some even in the Sea of Japan. The planes were specially adapted. They carried no bombs. Instead, they were fitted with powerful amplifiers and loudspeakers. By the use of the amplifiers it was possible for two or three planes to sound like a whole fleet. Also, it was very difficult for anyone listening to gauge their distance. In pairs and trios, these planes approached the Japanese coasts at various points.”
“The garrisons, thanks to your information, were on the alert and picked them up on their sound-locators. They got their beam generators going and began to wave them about the sky. Our planes kept low for safety and manipulated their amplifiers to give confusing effects of approaching and departing while doing their best to mislead the directional sound-detectors. How far they succeeded in misleading the men on the ground, we cannot tell, of course, but they succeeded in their object of bringing the beams into use. I imagine that all the anti-aircraft magnetic beams in Japan were swinging back and forth at full power that night. Unfortunately, some of our planes ventured too close and were brought down by them.”