CHAPTER XXX
Whenthe commanders of the Allied Enemy in Chicago and St. Louis received the defiance hurled at them on October 15, 1931, this reply was signed by Supreme Commander Robert Gordon. The English, German, Austrian, and Russians had never heard of this United States officer before and were at a loss to understand whom the United States had placed in supreme command. The reply was conveyed to Japanese and Spanish headquarters in Mexico and the Japanese quickly understood just who Supreme Commander Robert Gordon was and feared that he had made some wonderful invention which had made him confident of winning the war. The Japanese Generals, knowing what this might mean and fearing the great genius, Robert Gordon, asked for an allied war council to convene before making another attack. On October 21st it was decided that the War Council should be held in the City of Mexico. The allied enemy were confident that the United States would not make any attack in the near future, but would wait for them to make the next move. They felt that the great losses which had been suffered by the United States Army at the battle of Chicago placed them in no position to make an immediate attack and that they would try to strengthen their position for the next attack by the alliedenemy. It was decided that the commanding generals of all the allied enemy nations should proceed at once to the City of Mexico to hold a council and decide what the wisest and next move should be. They left in the dead hours of the night in the fastest planes and those which could rise to the highest altitudes, enabling them to travel noiselessly and at a height at which they could not be detected or captured. The scouting and cruising planes were left to patrol the lines between Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans and watch for any move that might be made on the part of the United States forces.
When the Council had convened in the City of Mexico, General Nagato, the commander of the Japanese army, arose and said: "Supreme Commander Robert Gordon now in charge of the United States forces is well known to us. He is the man who made the first flight from New York City to Japan in 1927, traveling at a speed of more than 300 miles per hour. He is the man who invented the muffler which made our airplanes noiseless. We bought it from him and it helped us to successfully wage this war. When we attacked the Rio Grande and were preparing to bombard El Paso, Gordon, we believe, was the man who successfully brought down our greatest ship, the 'Tokyo J-1.' Later we captured Gordon at the battle of San Francisco. He was flying one of our planes which was on board the Tokyo. We found that he had a wonderful Pocket-Radio by which we could communicate without any sound passing thru the air, thus avoiding our orders being intercepted. After negotiating with him, we gave him his freedom, conductedhim safely back to the American lines in consideration of his turning over to us his secret Pocket-Radio, which we worked successfully for many months. Finally it failed to work and we have always believed that he invented something by which he could prevent our communications.
"He is one of the ablest inventors that the United States has. The fact that he has been placed in command means that he must have made some great discovery or new invention which has inspired the United States with confidence of winning the war. While we have all the advantage in numbers, both in men, ships and ammunition, and to all appearance the United States is hopelessly crippled and will not be able to hold out much longer, one new invention by this man Gordon may mean our defeat. It is my opinion that the factories in Detroit, Michigan, have been working on some of his new discoveries. Our next attack should be directed at Detroit. We should capture that city and destroy the factories of the big automobile concerns and other manufacturing concerns there. All of these manufacturing concerns have long since been commandeered by the United States Government and are working on war weapons and ammunition."
When Colonel Nagato had finished speaking, the Spanish, English, German, Austrian and Russian Generals discussed war plans for many days and there were numerous disagreements before it was finally agreed as to just what the next move should be. Finally they united on the plan to make the next attack upon Detroit and if successful there, proceed to attack Boston,New York, Washington and the Eastern Coast of the United States.
The delay by the Allied Enemy was just what Supreme Commander Gordon wanted. It gave him time to prepare. He had ordered the Henry Motor Company of Detroit to proceed at once to manufacture according to his plans which he sent them, two large machines, one positive and one negative, by which he could send currents of electricity thru the air and produce a vacuum, or as he called it, a "Tunnel thru the Air." These plans had been worked out years before and there was no question but what the machines would work successfully. The Henry Motor Company had been commandeered by the United States Government and as soon as they received the order and plans from the Supreme Commander, they started running day and night working to build the two giant machines.
The fifteen days' armistice expired on October 18th, 1931. Supreme Commander Gordon was in readiness and waited the first attack of the enemy. Less than thirty days from the time that he ordered work started on the machines, they reported that the machines were completed and ready to test out. He called Colonel Kennelworth to his office in New York and explained to him that the great Vacuum Producer, as the machine had been named, had been completed; ordered him to proceed at once to Detroit and test out the machines both for short and long distance work.
Colonel Kennelworth arrived in Detroit on November 17th. The following day tested out the Tunnel machines; reported to Supreme Commander Gordon thatthey were working in fine shape and producing results according to the plans. The Supreme Commander then decided to go immediately to Detroit and establish one of the machines at a base there and have Colonel Kennelworth take the other machine to Cincinnati and set it up. The machine was transported secretly and successfully to Cincinnati and set up in one of the largest buildings in the city.
On November 20th, Supreme Commander Gordon and Colonel Kennelworth tested the Tunnel machines over this long distance. The machines were set to produce a tunnel 100 yards wide at first and were set in motion. The American scouting airplanes were sent off over a described area and on entering between these lines found that they were in a complete tunnel. They could travel quickly back and forth thru the Tunnel in the Air. This was a great triumph. Commander Gordon instructed all those connected with the test to keep it a complete secret. He knew that this was going to be a great surprise to the enemy when they started their next attack.
Supreme Commander Gordon had now completed another new invention on the same plan of the radio that he had to use in his office in New York several years before to record conversations when the manipulators were trying to catch him in the stock market. He had enlarged this machine so that it would record voices 3000 miles away and named it the "Tel-Talk."
On the night of November 19th, 1931, the Supreme War Council which had convened in Mexico City broke up and the commanding generals returned to their variousposts around St. Louis and Chicago. Supreme Commander Gordon had his powerful Tel-Talk directed so that he would get all the conversation along the lines between Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans. When he went to his headquarters in Detroit on the morning of November 20th, he went in to look at his Tel-Talk, saw that there had been a conference of the enemy held the night before. He pushed the needle of the machine back and turned it on; put his ear to the receiver and listened. He found that the commanding generals had talked over the conference in Mexico and had now decided that their next attack would be on Detroit in order to destroy the factories there and prevent the United States continuing making airplanes and inventions which might help them to win the war. He was very happy to get the plans of the enemy. It was just what he wanted. He was anxious to test the Tunnel thru the Air, capture the enemy's planes and keep them there because he knew when once he got them in the Tunnel, they would be unable to get out of it and he could keep them suspended in the air indefinitely, moving up and down in the Tunnel, or could capture them and destroy them. He was impatient and anxious for an attack upon Detroit and decided to defy the enemy and urge them on.
With the plans of the enemy in his possession, Supreme Commander Gordon decided to change the location of the Tunnel machines so as to protect the factories and large buildings in Detroit. He arranged the machines so that when the attacking planes came over Detroit at a high altitude, he could drop them into theTunnel thru the Air and thus prevent any harm to the factories or buildings in Detroit. He waited patiently for an attack upon the city, but no move of any kind was made by the enemy. When it was near Thanksgiving, he had a great desire that the battle should start around that time so that the United States might have the greatest Thanksgiving in history because he was confident that if the attack came, Detroit would be successfully defended and the enemy for the first time would find that we had outwitted them. He decided to urge the enemy to make an attack on Detroit as soon as possible, so ordered a large electric sign built with letters twenty feet high, "DETROIT IS READY—WON'T YOU COME AND TAKE US WE WANT TO BE YOUR THANKSGIVING TURKEY." The sign was placed on an airplane and lighted. This plane passed in full view of the enemy's lines at St. Louis and Chicago. What the enemy thought of this, perhaps no one will ever know. Colonel Manson later wrote that this electric sign put the fear of God in the heart of the enemy; that the Germans recalled the days when the Yankees arrived at the time of the great World War. The Japanese, the Spanish and the English realized that this was not meant for a bluff and thought they had made a mistake in allowing 15 days' armistice, now that the United States had decided to fight again. How they could hope to win, the enemy could not see. They decided to teach this young, boastful commander a lesson that he would never forget.
On Thanksgiving night, November 24th, the attack was ordered. Supreme Commander Gordon was at dinnerand a messenger interrupted him to tell him that "Tel-Talk" had picked up an important message. He rushed to the secret room and noticed that a conference had been held and orders given by the enemy to attack Detroit that night. He immediately communicated this information secretly with the new Pocket-Radio to Colonel Kennelworth in Cincinnati. Told him to be in readiness to adjust the Tunnel machine and change the location and altitude any moment that he instructed. He ordered all the lights in the streets of Detroit to be kept on that night. It has been the custom for many months, since long before the attack at Chicago, to keep all the cities in darkness at night.
He had just completed another new invention which he called the Radium Ray. With this Ray he could locate anything in the sky 75 to 100 miles away. He had the Radium Ray machine in readiness to search the sky for the first attack that night. Just before 10 o'clock he was sweeping the sky with the Radium Ray when he discovered the enemy planes approaching from the direction of Chicago. There was a large flock of them flying at very high altitudes, followed by three large supply ships. He knew that these supply ships would anchor in the air somewhere over Detroit and the bombing planes would make the attack. He decided to send Captain Morrison, the famous aviator who had distinguished himself at the battle of Chicago, to lead a fleet of decoy airplanes to meet the invading planes and to lead them into the Tunnel thru the Air. Captain Morrison led his swift cruisers into the air to the greatest heights they could rise, and as they neared the approachingenemy they began to turn loose the rapid-firing anti-aircraft guns. As soon as the enemy discovered the firing, they turned their searchlights on our planes, located and started after them. Captain Morrison obeyed orders and retreated rapidly with the other planes following. He made straight for Detroit to the vicinity of main buildings and factory districts with the enemy planes in hot pursuit. Suddenly he received a radio message from Supreme Commander Gordon to descend very low and fly Northwest. At this time the Supreme Commander was in communication with Colonel Kennelworth and they had adjusted the Tunnel machines and established the Tunnel thru the Air.
Supreme Commander Gordon was atop one of Detroit's giant skyscrapers over 80 stories high watching the action of the enemy planes. Suddenly he saw the first battalion of more than 250 planes, which were flying in a wedge formation, dive into the Tunnel. He followed them with the Radium Ray and saw immediately that the Tunnel was doing its work and that the giant battle planes were now powerless. Next came the three giant supply ships. Following the same course as the bombing planes, they dived into the Tunnel thru the Air and were powerless to proceed further. Once the planes were in the Tunnel, they were unable to communicate with headquarters or make any move because the Tunnel was a complete vacuum and no plane could move in it except the American planes which understood the combination how to navigate thru the Tunnel. As soon as Supreme Commander Gordon saw that the great Tunnel machines were doing their miraculous work, hesent another defiant message to the enemy headquarters in Chicago and St. Louis:
We have given your first battalion a wonderful Thanksgiving reception. Won't you send some more of your famous aviators to have Thanksgiving supper with us.
We have given your first battalion a wonderful Thanksgiving reception. Won't you send some more of your famous aviators to have Thanksgiving supper with us.
Immediately after this message was received, the commanding generals ordered a message sent to the supply ships which were supposed to be anchored over Detroit, asking information as to what was happening. No reply was received. This caused consternation in the enemy camp. They knew that the first battalion had either been captured or destroyed. The news was quickly flashed to headquarters in the City of Mexico and General Nagato replied: "This is some devilish trick of that genius, Gordon. Be careful what move you make. Send out scouting planes around Detroit and ascertain what is going on." Their fast cruising scouters were immediately dispatched to Detroit to see what had happened to the bombing planes and the mother ships. These planes soon came in view of the Radium Ray. After circling high over Detroit, finally came lower and lower until suddenly they plunged into the Tunnel thru the Air and like the others, were powerless to move or to communicate with their headquarters.
Supreme Commander Gordon decided to take no chances with the captured planes which were in the Tunnel thru the Air and ordered the sleeping gas turned on to put all the aviators to sleep for seven days. After waiting till after 12 o'clock for further attacks and finding the air clear with no signs of the enemy in sight,he decided to retire and get some sleep. This was the greatest day since the beginning of the war. He was very happy and knelt to offer his thanks to Almighty God. He said: "Lord, thou workest in mysterious ways thy wonders to perform. I know that by faith and thru faith were all things made. I have put my trust and my confidence in thee. Thou hast guided me safely and helped me protect my country in time of greatest need. God, not my will, but thine be done, but if it be thy will, I pray thee that when these trials and troubles pass away and once the United Kingdom of the World is established and all men live as brothers according to the law of love, it be a part of thy divine plan to return to me in safety my beloved Marie. Guide me in this great task to protect and save my country from the enemies who would destroy it. Amen."
November 25th, 1931, was a great day for the United States. They had more to be thankful for than any day since November, 1918, when the great World War had come to a close. After conferring with his commanding officers and Government officials, Supreme Commander Gordon gave orders that no newspapers were to be permitted to publish anything about the attack upon Detroit, that it was to be kept strictly a secret.
There was not much to be thankful for in the camp of the enemy. Failure of any of the planes sent out the night before to return and no message being received from them, made it plain that the United States was not bluffing and that Supreme Commander Gordon knew what he had up his sleeve when he hurled defiance at the enemy and refused to accept any terms. They werenot aware of the fact that when he defied them to come and take Detroit, he must have been anxiously awaiting the attack and had something new that he wanted to try out on the enemy planes, and that it had been successful. It was now a time to move cautiously. The next and future moves must be made in a way to conserve their resources and assure final success.
Everything was quiet and no move or attack was made until December 7th, when the enemy held a council and decided that a gigantic attack on Detroit should be made; that they should concentrate a large part of their forces there; destroy the factories and take Detroit; then proceed to attack New York and the Eastern Coast. The plan was to make a daylight attack and, if possible, to surprise Supreme Commander Gordon. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon the enemy planes were seen approaching from the East and West. He saw that this was to be a gigantic attack because there was a larger number of planes than they had used at any time since the attack of Chicago. Before he could get the Tunnel machines in working order and establish a wider range in the Tunnel thru the Air, the enemy planes had begun dropping bombs on the outskirts of the city and had destroyed many of the smaller buildings. The United States planes were attacked and being unable to rise to the heights at which the enemy planes were flying, a great many of our planes went down, but in a few minutes the Tunnel thru the Air was in working order and the enemy planes began to be drawn into it. Within less than an hour more than 2500 planes had been captured. The loss of life around the city had been smallbecause the bombs which had been dropped had not reached the thickly populated sections of the city and no plane had been able to reach the factories or business sections where the large buildings were. The Tunnel thru the Air was protecting and keeping them away from these sections. Canadian planes had come to the assistance of the United States on the Northern border and were patrolling the other side of the river and preventing the enemy from attacking from the North.
About 5 o'clock, the gigantic concentrated attack took place. It was estimated that there were more than 25,000 planes of the enemy in this attack. They were supported by about 10 supply ships which sailed at a great distance and were attempting to anchor. Supreme Commander Gordon knew that it was necessary to sacrifice some of the American planes in order to draw this attacking force into the Tunnel thru the Air. He sent more than 1000 of our best planes to meet the attack and lead the enemy in the right direction. The enemy turned loose their large 12-inch guns and they destroyed our ships rapidly. Planes were falling all over Detroit. The people were very much frightened and thought that this was going to be another disaster such as had occurred in Chicago. Finally Captain Morrison changed plans and led the enemy toward the Tunnel thru the Air. Soon more than 10,000 of their planes had gone into the Tunnel never to return again. When this large fleet of planes went down and evidently were no longer able to communicate with the giant supply ships which were not yet anchored, the enemy quickly changed plans and the supply ships sailed back toward Chicago, followedby the balance of the invading fleet which had not been captured.
When all reports were in, Supreme Commander Gordon found that the United States had lost about 400 of their best planes, but had captured more than 12,000 of the enemy planes. He was very greatly elated over this victory because he knew that when the enemy planes retreated, it was the first time they had ever returned to their base without a report of victory. He felt that this would break the morale of the enemy; make them more cautious in the future; give him more time now to complete his invisible airplane and the one which would rise to any altitude. When this was completed together with other machines for establishing Tunnels thru the Air, the balance would be easy and a mere question of time until the enemy could all be destroyed or put to sleep. People thruout the United States were still in a panicky, restless state. Ever since the attacks at Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Kansas City, New Orleans and the Southern part of Texas, every large and small town all over the country had remained in a state of fear, expecting an attack at any moment. Hundreds of thousands of people had moved from the Pacific Coast and from the Central and Eastern parts of the United States into the mountains of the West and the Grand Canyon. They felt that there were no large cities and nothing to attack around the Grand Canyon and that it was the safest place to go. Thousands of people were living in tents and there was a great scarcity of food and much suffering.
Supreme Commander Gordon decided that the peopleshould be given some encouragement and that the news of the failure of the second attack upon Detroit should be given to the newspapers; thought it would encourage and cheer the people. On the morning of December 8th, all the newspapers thruout the United States, carried big headlines: "DETROIT ATTACKED THE SECOND TIME BY THE ENEMY FORCES BUT DEFEATED. THOUSANDS OF THEIR PLANES HAVE BEEN CAPTURED. THERE HAS BEEN PRACTICALLY NO LOSS OF LIFE AND NO IMPORTANT BUILDINGS DESTROYED." The papers emphasized the fact that this meant the turn of the war and that the placing of Supreme Commander Gordon at the head of our forces had saved the country and that there was no longer need for any great alarm. It was a question of only a few months till the war would be over and the enemy would be driven from our soil.
The defeat at the second attack of Detroit had indeed put the fear of God in the hearts of the Enemy, but they had not by any means lost hope. They were getting recruits rapidly from Europe. Every nation was building airplanes as fast as the factories could turn them out and sending them to the United States to aid their allies. Practically every nation on the face of the earth, outside of France, Canada and a few countries in South America and Australia, had joined against the United States. This encouraged the Enemy and they felt that no matter what the United States had, in the end they would not be able to win. The great problem now was to find out what the Americanswere using in order to capture the enemy planes and what discovery they had to prevent their communications. The Enemy were unable to find out anything about the American plans. They demanded to know what had happened to the captured aviators, whether they were living or dead. Supreme Commander Gordon refused to give any information whatsoever about prisoners; replied that reports of anything in regard to prisoners or planes would be made after the war was over and after the Enemy had surrendered and were ready to leave our soil. This greatly aroused the Japanese, Spanish and Germans who decided to redouble their efforts to take Detroit and then attack the Eastern Coast of the United States.
Days went by and everything was quiet in Detroit. No attacks were made anywhere in the United States. December 25th, 1931, arrived and the United States had much to be thankful for. There was a great rejoicing and merry-making on Christmas. Supreme Commander Gordon had a great Christmas. The Major Electric Co. had been working on the process for making planes invisible and reported to him that they had completed the process according to his plans and that it was a success. They had also completed a new motor which he had designed with 24 cylinders. This motor was to be used in lifting our planes to great heights. It was estimated that it would carry a ship 50 miles in the air if necessary. A stabilizer and anchor had been completed in accordance with his plans. The Major Electric Co. informed him that these machines were all ready for him to test out. He ordered these new inventionsto be sent to New York headquarters. A large 24-cylinder motor was placed in "Marie the Angel of Mercy" and she was made an invisible airship. This motor was able to take its power from the air.
Supreme Commander Gordon went to New York on January 1st, 1932, leaving Colonel Morrison in charge in Detroit and ordering General Pearson to Detroit to hold the fort until he completed the test in New York. Supreme Commander Gordon accompanied only by Colonel Edna Kennelworth made the first flight in "Marie the Angel of Mercy," ascended to a height of more than 20 miles and anchored the "Marie" in the air. The new inventions were a perfect success and the machine could rise to any height and anchor and remain as long as it was desired and was absolutely invisible.
He was now in position to construct a Tunnel thru the Air from New York to Europe and sail the "Marie" in safety thru it, then rise to a height of 20 to 50 miles over any of the cities, anchor and start destruction. "Marie the Angel of Mercy" could carry enough sleeping gas to destroy or put to sleep people over thousands of miles of territory. After remaining anchored in the air for two days to test "Marie the Angel of Mercy," Supreme Commander Gordon descended to New York, anchored at the Mammouth Building to get a report of what had been happening and prepare for any attack. The Enemy were keeping quiet and making no move, evidently trying to find out what America's new inventions were before making the next great attack.
"Marie the Angel of Mercy" was now equipped with the Tunnel machine which would automatically put aTunnel thru the Air anywhere in any direction. The Supreme Commander had enlarged and improved upon the Tunnel machine or vacuum until it could be made 25 to 50 miles wide in any direction from a large city. He had also discovered how to send ships thru the air without an aviator, directing them by radio rays, which would enable them to distribute sleeping gas among the enemy's lines and prevent loss of any of his valuable aviators. He now had confidence that every city would be safe from an attack and no destruction could take place. The Henry Motor Co. and the Major Electric Co. were ordered to manufacture more of the Tunnel machines just as fast as possible so that one might be placed in each city in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington and Savannah, Ga., to protect the Eastern Coast of the United States. It was the opinion of Supreme Commander Gordon that the Enemy would eventually concentrate their final attacks on the Eastern shores of the United States and if unsuccessful in attacking New York and Washington, the war would be over. He intended to be fully prepared so that the United States would emerge victorious without much loss of life and was especially trying to protect the women and children in the large cities.
February 15, 1932—Supreme Commander Gordon was informed by the Henry Motor Co. and Major Electric Co. that the Tunnel machines were completed, that gas-distributing machines and equipment for sending airplanes by radio ray without an aviator to distribute the sleeping gas were ready for delivery. Two more "Demon of Death" machines were ready and orderedsent to Washington and Boston. The Supreme Commander was hourly expecting that the enemy would attack the Eastern Coast, concentrating on Boston, New York and Washington. The "Tel-Talk" had recorded conferences which had been held and plans which were under way to concentrate the Enemy's combined forces on the Eastern Coast. He figured that they were trying to make improvements to overcome the defeat at Detroit because the enemy had been mystified by the new invention which had been used to capture so many of their planes. He was now ready and waiting for the attack on the Eastern shore, feeling confident that he was prepared for victory.