vrcanaries Chapter 441: It is simply a dream to rely on fighter planes to bomb the devils into surrender!
Chapter 441: It is simply a dream to rely on fighter planes to bomb the devils into surrender!
At Lin Zhenhua's urgent reminder, the light transport aircraft formation and the heavy transport aircraft formation immediately changed their direction according to the order to avoid encountering the enemy's aircraft group. Zhao Gang and Xing Zhiguo were not idle either. They took out all the air defense weapons in the base and deployed eight air defense phalanxes according to the No. 1 combat plan, waiting for the enemy's aircraft group to attack.
"The Third Thunder Fighter Squadron will take off immediately and intercept the incoming Japanese fighter planes. All bombers on standby at home, do not wait for fuel to be refueled, take off immediately and head for the nearby temporary airport. The action must be quick and must be completed within an hour."
Zhao Gang's reaction was not slow at all. As soon as he received Lin Zhenhua's reminder, he ordered the fighter squadron to attack. At the same time, he also transferred the remaining two bomber squadrons in the base and carried out emergency camouflage on the airport. After completing all this, the Japanese air force was still a full hour's flight away from the base.
When Major General Fujiwara attacked the base of the Independent Regiment, he was very cautious. He divided the fleet into three formations. If he really encountered a large number of enemy aircraft interception, he could also adopt the tactic of sacrificing pawns to save the king. At 10:30 in the morning, the Third Thunder Fighter Squadron engaged in a firefight with the first formation of the Japanese. The battle between the two sides was extremely fierce and reached a white-hot level from the beginning.
The double-plane formation tactics firmly suppressed the enemy's Zero fighters, and both sides were always in an awkward situation of fighting but not breaking, and neither side gained a huge advantage. This was very clear to Major General Fujiwara in the rear, especially when he found that more fighters were coming from the rear, Major General Fujiwara immediately issued an order to retreat.
"All fighters should immediately make a tactical shift, stop the plan to bomb the independent regiment's base, and return to Taiyuan Airport immediately. Our enemy's strength is growing rapidly. With our current air power, we can no longer gain a decisive advantage. In addition, the enemy also has extremely strong anti-aircraft firepower. It is difficult to achieve great results in this operation. We need to retreat immediately and preserve our manpower. Only in this way can we play a huge role in the future spring sweep."
Major General Fujiwara led the fleet to quickly evacuate the battlefield. The six Zero fighters that were fighting with the 3rd Thunder Fighter Squadron also quickly evacuated the battlefield after the main force withdrew. In this battle, both sides suffered minor losses. The only good news was that no fighter planes were shot down on either side. This sudden air battle ended like a joke.
After receiving the news from the front, Zhao Gang and Xing Zhiguo finally breathed a sigh of relief. Their original plan was to drive the Japanese away, and they really had no intention of keeping them. After ordering the fighter squadron to continue patrolling nearby, the two immediately informed Li Yunlong and Lin Zhenhua of the situation, and also called back the fighter planes that had been dispatched.
At 2 pm, two transport planes carrying out the transport mission successfully landed at Maoershan Airport. Zhao Gang immediately mobilized his staff to unload the food from the transport planes, and arranged for people to immediately overhaul the transport planes. Due to the transport missions in recent days, the transport planes had undergone multiple overhauls, and today was the time for overhaul. They had to stop the afternoon flight mission and were busy until 11 pm to complete the overhaul of all transport planes. All engines were replaced with new ones, and the parts with more serious wear were also replaced. Even part of the aircraft's wings were replaced as a whole due to stress fatigue.
At five o'clock the next morning, hundreds of transport planes took off successfully from Maoershan Airport under the guidance of dim lights, and arrived at Ningyuan Town Temporary Airport after daybreak. The large grain transport team, which had been waiting for a long time, immediately loaded the grain into the cabin of the aircraft. After nearly an hour of work, they completed the loading of the grain.
Hundreds of transport planes, after refueling, formed a huge formation at nine o'clock in the morning, left Ningyuan Town, and returned to the base again.
"Old Li, the Japanese have been fighting for a whole day and still haven't broken through our defensive positions. I guess the Japanese will never give up and will probably withdraw troops from nearby again. This will increase the pressure on the blocking troops. Let's mobilize more troops to provide support!" Lin Zhenhua suggested with a serious face.
Li Yunlong checked the battle reports from the frontline and felt that it was time to send in reinforcements. He immediately gave the order: "Send out the Seventh and Eighth Battalions and have them reinforce. No matter what the cost, you must hold the position for me and never let the Japanese reach Ningyuan Town."
"We have only completed three trips and haven't even used up half of the supplies. It will take at least two more days to transport all the captured supplies. Ningyuan Town is getting more and more dangerous. Once the Japanese draw all the reinforcements from the nearby counties, we may be surrounded by them."
"College student, it seems that we have to restart your night transportation plan. We must transport all the supplies within two days, otherwise we may be surrounded by the Japanese. Even if we can finally break out with the advantage of weapons and equipment, the casualties will probably be very large. There are mountain roads around here, which makes our mechanized march difficult. If our tanks could not easily pull three-wheeled motorcycles, it would be very difficult for us to pass through these three roads."
Lin Zhenhua agreed with this very much. Ningyuan Town is located in a mountainous area, which is not conducive to the combat of armored forces. In the previous offensive, they had the cover of air fighters, so they could attack Ningyuan Town so smoothly. Once the Japanese attacked from the mountains, it would bring them great trouble. Even if they sent fighters to bomb, it would be difficult to achieve great results.
"Lao Li, the bombing effect of our bombers in the mountainous area is very poor, otherwise the Japanese colonel would not have escaped. This is a very painful lesson. Don't think that you have everything just because you have fighter planes. In mountainous combat, it is impossible to rely on bombing to make the enemy surrender."
"Whether a weapon is useful or not can only be known after it is used on the battlefield. We were too optimistic before, always thinking that with advanced weapons, the Japanese would no longer be a threat. However, the Battle of Ningyuan Town this time made me understand many things. It is not what we imagined. Only after a real battle can we know what kind of weapon is most suitable for the battlefield, and it also points out the direction for the next step of weapon improvement."
Li Yunlong also agreed with him, "Since the weapons produced by our arsenal have become more and more advanced, even I have become excited. This time, the battle of Ningyuan Town just poured a bucket of cold water on us, making us realize that our heavy artillery is very difficult to use when fighting in mountainous areas, and light artillery is still necessary. The production of 60mm mortars and the Japanese Type infantry guns must not be stopped, and the production capacity of submachine guns cannot continue to decline, otherwise we will suffer a great loss."
"College student, you have always said that you want to come to the front line to see the real effect of the use of weapons and equipment. At the beginning, I was very opposed to it, but now I agree with it. The firepower of the submachine gun that has been improved again has been maintained continuously, which has effectively reduced the casualties of the troops. The MP 40 submachine gun that is now specially equipped has been fully recognized by the soldiers."
Lin Zhenhua's improved MP40 submachine gun has not undergone just a slight modification, but rather an improvement of more than 1/3, which makes this submachine gun more suitable for the current combat environment. The frontline soldiers all speak well of it after using it.
"Lao Li, we can't keep Tian Dazhu and Tian Dayu any longer. They don't tell the truth. I went to the No. 300 mine yesterday and rescued more than 2672 people. In total, we have rescued 5896 prisoners and miners. We must make arrangements for them, otherwise, even if they leave, it will be difficult for them to survive. The final result will be either they will be killed by the devils or sent to other places to mine."
"What I mean is that those who are willing to leave will be given travel expenses, and those who are unwilling to leave will be taken back to the base. This is the best solution at the moment. If we use air transport to transport all these people back, it will take three days to complete the transportation. In addition, two days will be spent on transporting supplies, which means we will need to stay in Ningyuan Town for another 5 to 6 days. The time span is too long, and it is too dangerous for us."
Li Yunlong was also a little distressed about this matter. If he broke through with these captured soldiers and miners, they might really be divided and surrounded by the Japanese. But if he left without taking these people with him, then their final outcome would be death.
"College student, let's use air transport. This is the only method we can control at the moment. The night transport plan will start immediately. You will be responsible for all aircraft dispatching. Regardless of fuel consumption, let the transport planes fly at the fastest speed. As for the intermediate transfer time, increase the original 2 to 3 trips a day to 3 to 4 trips. Only in this way can we complete the transfer of materials and personnel within four days."
"As for the retreat, there is no need to worry too much. Don't forget that we are a mechanized force. As long as the armored forces can tear a hole from the front, we can quickly fight out from the gap. In addition, I plan to send two more battalions out to perform tasks. We must disrupt the enemy's combat deployment and prevent the enemy from forming an encirclement. Only in this way can we have no worries."
"Send out more fighter planes and bombers in the next two days. Try every possible way to cause trouble for the Japanese and make them run around in a hurry. Only in this way can we be invincible!"