“We are flying, hobbling in the darkness, We are walking on the last wing.
The tank is punched, the tail is on fire
And the car flies
On my word of honor and on one wing.
("Bombers", Leonid Utesov)
"Treaties must be respected!"
War is war, and politics is politics! At the same time, it is also not necessary to forget about the economy. Therefore, it often happens that yesterday's allies become today's enemies (the enemies promised more, so the allies bought!), And vice versa. So it was, for example, with Italy in the First World War and with Japan … in the Second. It would seem that, being an ally of Nazi Germany, she should have put all her forces into the war with Soviet Russia, but … even a victory over the latter would not have given her oil! And oil is the blood of war! Meanwhile, the US oil embargo would stifle the Japanese economy. So the Japanese started a war with Britain and the United States. And with the USSR, Japan signed a Non-Aggression Pact, and at the very least, it was observed. That just gave rise to a certain incident. According to it, all American crews of aircraft knocked out over Japan, who ended up in the USSR after that, were to be interned! Moreover, there are quite a lot of such crews of the American Air Force and the US Navy, interned in the USSR during the war years. Their planes were damaged, they ran out of fuel, and they flew to their allies, that is, in the USSR.
It was then that it became clear that, being US allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, we had not fought with Japan. And according to the norms of international law that existed then, since there was no war between us, the Americans who came to us during the hostilities against the Japanese side had to be kept in a camp "for displaced persons" until the end of the war! It's funny, of course, but "treaties must be respected." Well, the first crew who had a chance to experience all the delights of political "de facto" and "de jure" were, surprisingly, the pilots of the squadron of the famous Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, who on April 18, 1942, made a daring raid on the capital of Japan.
The Empire Strikes Back!
And it so happened that the headquarters of the US Navy was extremely concerned about the need to retaliate against Japan after Pearl Harbor. It was supposed to be a great PR, for which, however, there was neither strength nor opportunity. The solution was found by Jimmy Doolittle: to bomb Japan with B-25 Mitchell twin-engine ground-based bombers, which were supposed to take off from two aircraft carriers. Two versions of the raid were prepared. The first is the optimal one, providing for a strike from a distance of 500 miles. Immediately after that, the aircraft carriers had to withdraw, and the bombed planes had to catch up with them and land.
Aircraft carrier Hornet with B-25 aircraft on deck.
The second option was a backup. In case the operation went wrong, the planes were to fly to China, reach the territory occupied by the troops of General Chiang Kai-shek, and land at an airfield in Huzhou province, 200 miles southwest of Shanghai.
And these are 12, 7-mm machine-gun belts, prepared for stowage in aircraft on the deck of the Hornet.
"Not so" began as early as April 18, 1942, when American ships were at a distance of 750 miles from the coast of Japan, aerial reconnaissance from the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" discovered the patrol ship "Nitto Maru". The ship was immediately sunk, but it was too late. The Japanese had already sent a signal to the headquarters, so a response to the invasion by planes or ships could follow at any moment! However, the fathers in charge of the operation decided to take the risk, and Dolittle ordered the Mitchells to be lifted into the air. Sixteen bombers headed for Japan, and the carrier formation urgently turned east. Eighth in a row, at 8.35, the plane of Captain Edward York took off. The Americans managed to approach the Japanese coast at low altitudes and drop bombs on Tokyo, Kanazawa, Yokohama, Yokosuku, Kobe, Osaka and Nagoya. Not a single plane was shot down over Japan, that is, the raid was crowned with complete success. The slap in the face turned out to be cool, as was immediately announced by President Franklin Roosevelt, who spoke about this on national radio. He then said that the planes took off from Shangri-La - a country born of the imagination of the English writer James Hilton, who located it in the Himalayan mountains. Naturally, nothing was said about what happened to the crews of these aircraft then: whether they were alive or dead - all this was hidden by a "military secret." Meanwhile, none of the 16 aircraft, due to lack of fuel, could not reach the airfield they needed. Some fell into the sea, and their pilots escaped by parachute. Eight were captured by the Japanese, and three of them were beheaded, and another pilot died in the camp. But 64 pilots still managed to get to the Chinese guerrillas and not soon, but still return to the United States. Among the returnees was Lieutenant Colonel Jim Doolittle, who immediately became a national hero.
But Captain Edward York, the commander of crew # 8, turned out to be the "smartest" one. Having dropped the bombs, and, having calculated the fuel consumption, he realized that he could not reach China and headed north-west to Russia … The crew members of York were: co-pilot - 1st lieutenant Robert J. Emmens, navigator - 2nd lieutenant Nolan A. Herndon, Flight Engineer - Staff Sergeant Theodore H. Laban and Radio Operator - Corporal David W. Paul.
Crew # 8 that took part in the Doolittle Raid. The aircraft number is 40-2242. Target - Tokyo. 95th Bomber Squadron. Front row, left to right: Crew Commander - First Pilot, Captain Edward York; co-pilot, 1st Lieutenant Robert Emmens. Second row, from left to right: navigator-bombardier, Lieutenant Nolan Herndon; Flight Engineer, Staff Sergeant Theodor Leben; Radio Operator - Corporal David Paul.
Orders must be followed
After nine hours of flight, the Americans crossed the coastline and began looking for a landing site. Archival documents and, in particular, the memorandum of the Chief of Staff of the Pacific Fleet Rear Admiral V. Bogdenko to the Chief of the Air Force of the USSR Navy, Lieutenant General S. Zhavoronkov, note that the B-25 was spotted by the post of air observation, notification and communication (VNOS) No. 7516 19th separate air defense regiment of the Pacific Fleet at Cape Sysoev. But those on duty showed carelessness and … mistook the American bomber for our Yak-4, about the passage of which they were simply not notified. Therefore, the alarm was not announced, and the American plane both flew and flew. Then he was again noticed, again identified as Yak-4 and "where to" was not reported. Then, nevertheless, the message came, but the anti-aircraft gunners of the 140th battery, although the American plane flew for two minutes in the zone of their shelling, did not pay attention to the order of their operational duty officer and continued to go about their business (then all officials would be punished for negligence).
B-25 in the air.
And York continued heading north, trying to get the net as fast as possible. It was then that two I-15s came out on him, engaged in training group flying. Noticing an unknown plane, they immediately went to intercept, but did not open fire. And the Americans understood this in such a way that they were met and immediately landed at the Unashi airfield, leaving behind 9 hours of an extremely difficult flight. It was difficult to explain to the pilots and owners who sat down - none of them knew English, and their guests did not speak Russian. But York showed on the map that they came from Alaska. Well, then they began to feed and water the allies, the authorities arrived with an interpreter, and in the meantime, a message about the landed American plane arrived in Moscow. An urgent order came from there - to deliver the pilots to Khabarovsk, to the headquarters of the Far Eastern Front. Already on board the plane, they were informed that … they were interned! The surprised Americans found it difficult to understand why this Soviet command did not allow them to fly to China, because their plane was in good working order.
"War paint" B-25.
Forced tour of Soviet Russia
And then began their most real "wanderings" in Russia, or, better to say, "forced tour". First, they were transported from near Khabarovsk to the city of Kuibyshev (Samara). But there was a Japanese diplomatic mission and out of harm's way they were transported to neighboring … Penza. And not just to Penza, but a village near Penza Akhuna, where they began to live and live under the supervision of Soviet officers. They were also served by an interpreter and as many as seven women who cleaned the house and prepared food for them. In general, they lived very well.
Today Akhuny is a recreation area recognized by the Penza residents. There are several sanatoriums there, there is a beautiful pine forest, a small river, albeit a small one, flows through the village, in a word, although many people live here (there is a school, a technical school, a library and an agricultural academy!), They mainly come here to relax. Getting to the city, however, is not so easy, since there is one road leading there, and the forest around is swampy.
American pilots of crew # 14 in a Chinese village.
Well, at that time it was just a big village, from where it was from the city - oh, how many. So you yourself won't run away from there (where should you run?), And no one will find you there! Penza historian Pavel Arzamastsev tried to find out where, in what particular house the Americans lived there, but he did not succeed. But the fact that they lived there is undoubtedly, and it is strange, of course, walking along the forest paths there, among the fences of pioneer camps, old shacks and newfangled cottages, to know that once English was heard here, and American pilots could walk who bombed Japan!
But something our bosses didn’t like in Akhun and the Americans were sent to the city of Okhansk near Perm. They lived there for seven months and American diplomats also came to them, and letters from their homeland were delivered to them, in a word, "life has improved." Navigator Bob Roberts almost married their Russian mistress there. Only it was very cold there, and the pilots asked for a warmer place.
On January 7, 1943, they wrote a letter in two languages at once - to the Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, Colonel-General Alexander Vasilevsky, with the expectation that Stalin would also be reported about it. At the same time, York's wife turned to the President of the United States and asked for help "to get her husband back." And … the work has begun!
South, south
And when the Americans were about to flee, they were informed about the transfer to Tashkent, and there, on Stalin's personal instructions, they began to prepare an operation to prepare the "escape" of the pilots from the USSR. Moreover, everything had to be done so that the Americans themselves would be sure that it was they who conceived this escape and fled themselves, that the Russians did not help them!
For this purpose, not far from Ashgabat, they even set up a false border strip imitating the Soviet-Iranian border. So that everything was as "for real", because in fact there was no "border" there. Then a smuggler was sent to them, who offered to transfer them to the border for money and even told how to find the British consulate in Mashhad. Well, and then at night they were put into a truck and with all precautions were taken to the border, where they, looking around and stealthily, crawled under the barbed wire and … ended up in Iran! But this was still the Soviet zone of occupation, so the British also drove them secretly, bypassing Soviet checkpoints! On the Pakistani border they were met by … a wooden fence (!),which they broke and that's when they became really free!
On the same day, May 20, they were put on an American plane and sent to Karachi. And then, in an atmosphere of absolute secrecy, the B-25 pilots were taken through the Middle East, North Africa and the South Atlantic to Miami to Florida. Here they were given a rest, after which on May 24 they were sent to Washington, where they were personally introduced to the President of the United States. Thus ended the 14-month odyssey of American pilots who bombed Japan, but by chance ended up in the USSR!
