ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (1)

Battle of Mesto 3

Ground battles are hard.

- Bokutotsu Zen'u

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February 15

Sky over the Imperial Domain, Crossnellyard Empire

Sixty-six carrier-based fighter jets, which had taken off from two aircraft carriers, were flying in the sky. The planes were loaded with as many Mark 77 bombs as they could carry, provided by the USFJ.

"We'll be over the target in a few minutes."

"Roger, we are dropping altitude."

The E-2D Hawkeye early-warning aircraft reported, and the planes descended to below the clouds. The ground was covered with tranquil plains and trees.

"I never thought we would actually be the ones to drop the Mark 77 bombs..."

Lieutenant Junior Grade Gosuke Sasanuma, piloting the lead plane, felt a certain freshness about this mission. It was the first time the SDF, which does not own incendiary bombs, unlike the USMC, had dropped them.

'Airstrike operations in this world are basically against unarmored targets. Following the trial reactivation of cluster munitions, they would probably look into manufacturing incendiary bombs as well...' Sasanuma thought.

Various types of weapons such as cluster munitions and incendiary bombs, which were once subject to international restrictions due to their inhumane nature, will not be subject to any criticism from abroad once the restrictions are lifted, since the countries that signed the treaty banning them have disappeared due to the transference.

In the early days of the transference, the Japanese government, in order to acquire new settlements overseas and establish a trade zone where it could take advantage of its own position, began to establish a new trade zone based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, GATT, and many other treaties it had concluded with its former allies. The treaties were declared invalid one after another, and among those declared invalid were even the Convention on Cluster Munitions and Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

While Sasanuma was deep in thought, a small forest, the target of the attack, came into view.

"The drop points are mainly at the edges of the forest, and some in the center of the forest. To prevent enemy soldiers from escaping from the fire, we will form a fire net encircling the forest to cut off their escape routes from the forest. The things we are piling up are new to us, but we will do it calmly as we have been trained to do."

"Copy!"

The pilots received instructions from the E-2D Hawkeye and approached the point to which they have been assigned. The birds, startled by the roar of the fighters, were seen flying out of the forest one after another.

"Mark 77, drop ready... now!"

"Copy!"

With the command of the lead plane, Mark 77 bombs were dropped from the pylons of each plane into the Mesto Forest. These incendiary bombs, which were made as a substitute for napalm bombs that were once restricted, started fires in the forest, spreading kerosene instead of naphtha. The flames quickly spread to the trees and fallen leaves that were sprayed with kerosene, causing forest fires here and there simultaneously in the forest.

"Ignition confirmed... fire successfully started."

"We're returning!"

One after another, the planes that had completed their missions reversed their course and returned to the east. What was left behind after they left was a forest that had turned into a hellscape, where the peaceful atmosphere had been replaced by fires everywhere and the soldiers who had been hiding were running away screaming.