At 7:00 AM on January 16, 1945, China's most elite air force units had gathered at airfields across Britain and Italy. In the cold morning air, as the four-engine bombers issued the characteristic roar of their turboprop engines and began taxiing down the runways, the control towers flashed a specific light signal: "Safe journey."

This was the Chinese Air Force's first "Thousand-Bomber Raid" on Germany. 1,024 bombers participated in the operation, carrying over ten thousand tons of aviation bombs.

The bombers were relatively slow. Only after the first wave of bombers had taken off did the fighter bases begin their own launches. Compared to the low, thundering rumble of the bombers on the runway, the engines of the J-11 fighters were quieter but far sharper in pitch.

Each fighter bore a slightly different livery. It was a customary habit among pilots to paint stars representing their confirmed kills. The Chinese pilots had designed even more detailed markings, with different star patterns for fighters, reconnaissance planes, and bombers.

When a few fighters painted with the "Golden Dragon" emblem began taxiing onto the runways, the ground crews couldn't help but erupt in cheers. A single star represented one enemy aircraft shot down; a Golden Dragon signified that the pilot’s tally had reached one hundred.

The fighter pilots participating in the campaign against Germany were all aces who had shot down at least five jet fighters. The movements of these "centurion" Chinese pilots as they took off were visibly smoother than those of their peers. That such a distinction could be perceived by the naked eye was proof enough of their extraordinary skill.

Even in China, pilots who had shot down a hundred enemy aircraft were generally no longer allowed to fly combat missions. They were the military’s most precious educational resources, bearing the heavy responsibility of training the next generation.

However, to rapidly gauge the combat effectiveness of the Luftwaffe and bring the war to a swift conclusion, the Air Force had ultimately selected forty-six of these elite pilots to participate in the battle. Among them were ten lieutenant colonels, twelve colonels, twelve senior colonels, and twelve brigadier generals. Most had fought through at least four major theaters: Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Pacific, and North America. The twelve brigadier generals had completed the full cycle of campaigns in all four.

As they approached the German coastline, the early warning aircraft issued an alert: "Luftwaffe formations approaching at eleven o'clock."

For this raid, all bombers maintained a service ceiling of 10,000 meters, while German jet fighters could reach altitudes of 15,000 meters. But the bomber crews were not particularly worried. During the North American campaign, the fighter pilots had long grown accustomed to swarms of American F-86 Sabres. Even with rumors that the United States had recently transferred large amounts of military technical data to Germany, the Chinese Air Force’s analysis suggested this would, at most, bring the Luftwaffe up to the level of the US Air Force.

Moreover, for this raid, the Chinese Air Force had dispatched 5,000 escort fighters—a number that exceeded the total sum of all German jet fighters. Even in a one-for-one trade, after the Luftwaffe was entirely annihilated, there would still be Chinese fighters left over.

Military science is a cold discipline, and the results of rational analysis are invariably ruthless.

The 18th Division of the Chinese Air Force, responsible for this sector, immediately surged forward to meet the enemy. Both sides were flying jet fighters with cruising speeds exceeding 700 kilometers per hour. In less than ten minutes, blips representing the enemy appeared on the radars of the J-11s.

Leading the Luftwaffe’s charge was *Jagdgeschwader* 52. The Wing Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Erich Alfred Hartmann, flew a fighter painted with his signature black tulip pattern.

Hartmann considered himself half-Hunanese, having grown up in Changsha. Although he had been teased as a "German brat" (小鬼) as a child, the terms "German devil" (鬼子) and "German brat" carried very different meanings in Chinese. In Hunan specifically, "brat" (小鬼) was a common term of endearment adults used for children.

The German fighters were equipped with American air-to-air radar, so Hartmann’s JG 52 did not suffer any particular disadvantage in initial detection.

Four minutes after the mutual detection, the Chinese and German fighter groups clashed in the sky.

On the Eastern Front, Hartmann had been accustomed to annihilating enemy fighters before turning his attention to the bombers. This time, however, he knew the Chinese Air Force would grant him no such luxury. The Luftwaffe's objective was to shoot down the Chinese bombers; once that was accomplished, the German fighters were to retreat immediately. Thus, Hartmann attempted to shake off his interlocutors and punch through the aerial barrier formed by the Chinese fighters.

Yet, within thirty seconds of engagement, Hartmann knew he would not be able to complete his task. These Chinese pilots were not only of the highest caliber, but their J-11s had clearly undergone upgrades. Both in terms of speed and maneuverability, they were superior to those encountered in previous battles.

Forced into a corner, Hartmann had to focus on defeating the enemy before him. It wasn't that he was stubborn; rather, he realized that if he attempted to flee now, he would likely be pursued and killed by the enemy in front of him.

JG 52 was the ace of the Luftwaffe, a wing that produced over a hundred pilots with more than 200 kills. This single wing had shot down 30,000 Soviet aircraft, accounting for 30% of the 100,000 planes downed on that front.

Even when encountering the formidable Chinese Air Force, the commander of the 1st Group, Major Günther Rall, drew first blood, shooting down a Chinese fighter. Not long after the fighter began its descent trailing black smoke, a snow-white parachute blossomed in the sky.

Though the war had entered the jet age, the probability of a pilot being killed outright remained relatively low. To destroy a fighter in one go required large-caliber cannons, yet current fighters were mostly equipped with 20mm cannons. Anything larger would cause issues due to recoil. As long as one could damage an enemy fighter enough to render it unable to fly, it was sufficient.

A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Hartmann finally found an opening in his duel with the Chinese pilot. He executed an inverted-eight maneuver, intending to cut in behind his opponent.

The effort failed. The Chinese pilot performed an even more bizarre reversal—a series of short afterburner bursts that made his flight path an erratic, non-continuous curve. Consequently, while Hartmann was elegantly seizing the high ground with his maneuver, the Chinese pilot flew an elliptical path around the outside of Hartmann’s arc, seizing the high ground himself.

Hartmann was now unable to evade. Although he tried his best to shake off the Chinese fighter behind him, his opponent was an extremely experienced pilot. The Chinese fighter clung to Hartmann’s tail, pursuing him with calm deliberation. Finally, as Hartmann attempted to accelerate and break away, entering a relatively steady flight path, the Chinese pilot opened fire.

After a series of violent vibrations through his airframe, Hartmann realized he could no longer effectively control the aircraft. With no other choice, he pressed the release button. This was an ejection escape system developed by the Americans, said to be a copy of Chinese technology.

The cockpit canopy and the pilot’s seat were blasted away, and the seatbelts automatically detached. Hartmann soon found himself suspended in mid-air. The wind was fierce, yet even so, he could still hear the faint, sharp whine characteristic of jet engines through his helmet.

Pulling his ripcord, Hartmann soon entered a relatively stable descent. Far off in the distance, tiny specks of other parachutes were faintly visible.

The Chinese and German aircraft that had not yet lost their combat capability continued to circle and chase, engaged in a fierce "dogfight." (A term used by the Air Force, where pilots described combat with machine guns and cannons as a fight between dogs).

"*Ni niǎo da ni māma bie!*" Hartmann, looking almost like a child, cursed in the roaring wind at high altitude. If his mother had heard this piece of Changsha slang, she would surely have given him a "bamboo-cane stir-fry." But shouting it out here in the sky felt truly liberating.

Hartmann was not worried about the Chinese Air Force shooting at pilots in parachutes. Having lived in China until he was nearly ten, he felt that while the people of Hunan were passionate and sometimes "barbaric" in a way that was quite startling, returning to Germany had made him truly unaccustomed to the German "moral level." The people of Hunan merely liked to scare people; it was the Germans who were truly terrifying.

At that moment, Senior Colonel Qiu Qingquan, a regimental commander in the Chinese 18th Air Division and a double ace with thirty-one kills in propeller fighters and thirty-one in jets, had just finished shooting down two German aircraft, bringing his total to fifty-four. But Qiu felt no joy. He cursed in his native Zhejiang dialect: "*Niang-xi-pi!* These Krauts deserve to die!"

Just moments ago, he had seen a German fighter deliberately fly close to a parachuting Chinese pilot. The jet wash from the engine had sent the Chinese pilot spinning uncontrollably in the air, his parachute lines quickly tangling.

They were all pilots; everyone could recognize such a loathsome tactic at a glance. Though the Air Force was said to be a branch of "knightly" chivalry, everyone was human, and the malice stirred by combat was unavoidable. Only armies with a high moral standard could prevent such malice from manifesting in action.

Cursing aside, Qiu Qingquan was powerless to stop it; Chinese political thought work didn't extend to the Wehrmacht. Moreover, this Thousand-Bomber Raid was intended to destroy Germany's industrial capacity. In the eyes of the Germans, the Chinese Air Force were simply murderers slaughtering the German public at will.

After his outburst, Qiu refocused his attention on combat command. Although he could easily shoot down more German fighters, that was no longer his primary task as a regimental commander. In an air battle, his job was to direct the fight, ensuring his pilots could eliminate the enemy more effectively.

The various fighter units advanced with the bombers, engaging the enemy one by one. The well-protected bomber formation reached its first target: Bremen.

Bremen was the capital of the state of Bremen within Lower Saxony, bordering the North Atlantic. Though the state was small, the city was of immense importance.

In the 18th century, a significant portion of Germany's overseas trade passed through Bremen. In 1817, a Bremen shipyard cast the first German-built steamship, the *Weser*. This paddle steamer transported passengers and mail between Bremen, Vegesack, Elsfleth, and Brake until 1833, its route eventually extending to Geestemünde.

From 1886 to 1895, after the river channels were improved, the navigation capacity of Bremen's inner harbor greatly increased, making it a major hub for various commodities. During the Weimar Republic, Bremen’s economy continued its previous growth. In 1920, regular flights began at Bremen Airport, and in 1928, the Columbus Cruise Terminal in Bremerhaven was completed.

Now, Bremen housed industrial hubs for shipbuilding, manufacturing, and power generation. Destroying the city would deal a heavy blow to Nazi Germany. Of the ten thousand tons of bombs carried by this raid, two thousand tons were earmarked for Bremen.

While the accuracy of high-altitude bombing from 10,000 meters was traditionally unreliable, the Chinese Air Force had achieved universal computerization. With computer assistance, the entire bomber fleet and the fighters equipped with weather-analysis devices worked in concert, transmitting data via radio to massive computation centers in Britain.

China had established four such centers, each equipped with hundreds of computers. A newly completed operating system had achieved a breakthrough in multi-threaded processing, allowing the master computer to distribute calculations across hundreds of units. Overall efficiency had reached 60% of the total computing power.

Leveraging this immense power, they calculated bombing parameters for temperature, wind speed, and humidity in a matter of seconds, updating them constantly as data changed.

Under the weight of this computational power, the citizens of Bremen saw bombs fall like rain from the sky. These were aviation bombs filled with 500 kilograms of explosives. Each bomb was designed with a certain degree of penetration and equipped with dual fuses.

Falling from thousands of meters, these bombs slammed into buildings, punching through multiple floors of masonry until they reached the foundations before detonating. Entire buildings were blown to fragments from within, with the remains of the occupants sent flying into the air.

Those that hit the ground directly plunged over a meter into the earth. Immediately, with the impact point as the epicenter, the ground convulsed violently. For those not instantly killed by the shockwave shattering their internal organs, the earth seemed to form a circular vent, with the blast carrying debris in every direction. The winds generated by the high-pressure air could reach or exceed Force 16 on the Beaufort scale; wherever they reached, buildings did not merely collapse from the blast—they were literally blown down.

Bremen trembled; Bremen wailed in agony; Bremen shattered; Bremen burned.

In less than half an hour, the next target, Hannover, felt the same destructive power falling from the sky.

At this time, German pilots scrambled into their fighters and charged at the Chinese bomber formation. Soon, they were locked in combat with the Chinese fighter groups. For their fatherland, for their homes, the German pilots expended every ounce of their flight skill and courage. They were using their lives to resist the destruction brought by the mighty China.