The biggest mistake of the Japanese North China Front Army Aviation Corps was not sending Captain Sasaki!
Otherwise, with the rich combat and escape experience of Captain Sasaki and the Four Elements Regiment, they would never make such low-level mistakes.
But it is undeniable that Captain Sasaki has made all his efforts. Before departure, he was designated by his aviation wing commander to explain to all Japanese pilots the key points to pay attention to when bombing the Fourth Army Regiment's positions.
"You must fly high and fly fast! After dropping the bombs, return immediately, and you must not be reluctant to fight! Otherwise, the Chinese will definitely resort to the trick of dying together." Japanese pilots kept these two points in mind.
In short, it will be over soon, so don’t smoke afterward!
Applying mechanically in the exam will only result in a low score, but if you do it on the battlefield, the consequences will be huge.
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The lessons learned from the Battle of Panzhai made the Japanese pilots on the expedition very cautious. The 36 Japanese planes that took off from Baoding Airport maintained an altitude of 3,000 meters along the way.
When he was still 80 kilometers away from Lincheng County, he sent a notification to the 10th Division via radio. Yoshio Shinozuka also ordered the artillery regiment to change to incendiary bombs. He wanted to use raging fire to indicate the exact bombing target for the fleet at high altitude.
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"Sir, where are the Japanese playing? Why did they switch to incendiary bombs at this time?" Xia Dayu looked at the flames that were constantly being ignited by incendiary bombs in the wilderness, and was puzzled.
The land around Zhaojiazhuang is either farmland or wasteland. There are some woods, but most of them are loess. There are also artillery holes in the trenches. Unless the incendiary bombs are bombarded at the entrances of the artillery holes, there will be no lethality. Then there are so many Japanese troops.
What is the purpose of consuming incendiary bombs?
Tang Dao, who walked into the lookout post, also looked at the sea of fire in the distance with a telescope and frowned slightly!
As the saying goes, "When things go wrong, there must be monsters." The Japanese artillery's sudden change of ammunition must have a plan, but Tang Dao can't read minds. I wonder what Yoshio Shinozuka wants to do?
Anyway, with the Japanese people's pee-picking nature, they would never come here to clear their inventory.
When Tang Dao had a headache, Erya, who stayed at the regiment headquarters and temporarily served as the captain of the regiment's medical team and military secretary, ran over from Radio No. 2 and handed Tang Dao a piece of information.
Tang Dao's face turned slightly solemn.
It came from a secret intelligence station deployed by Gong Shaoxun in Handan City a few months ago. It had five intelligence personnel and a low-power secret radio station. It took the risk to send out intelligence at a time when the Japanese army was on high alert. You can imagine the criticality of this intelligence.
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But soon, when Tang Dao read the information, his expression softened.
Originally, he didn't know what the Japanese wanted to do, but now through this information, he finally guessed Yoshio Shinozuka's intentions.
"Dozens of Japanese fighter planes flew over Handan City!" The intelligence officer could not report the number clearly at all, and could only send a rough number in the telegram, which shows how anxious he was at that time.
Indeed, the scale of 36 fighter planes in three squadrons is extremely rare, let alone the North China battlefield, or the Central China battle battlefield where both sides invested more than one million troops last year.
"Shinozuka Yoshio is going to give his bombers a target!" Tang Dao let out a long sigh of relief.
Tang Dao had already planned the dispatch of Japanese aircraft, which had complete control of the air. When digging anti-gun holes and various machine gun fortifications, Tang Dao gave instructions. The anti-artillery standards should not only focus on the Japanese 75mm mountain cannon, but also
Consider the heavy bombs.
Therefore, the top of the infantry class's gun-proof hole is usually covered with a one-meter-thick layer of loess and supported by strong logs. Unless the thief is unlucky enough to be hit in the head by a heavy aerial bomb, it still has enough survivability.
The battlefield in Zhaojiazhuang is wide enough, with a radius of nearly 4 kilometers. Not to mention the Japanese army dispatching 36 fighter planes, even if it were doubled, the Type 96 fighter planes would not be able to achieve full firepower coverage with the scumbag load of the Type 96 fighter planes.
The 12 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns are very powerful, but if they fire rashly and are targeted by Japanese fighter planes at high altitude, there will be losses. After all, there will be dozens of Japanese planes attacking this time.
But being passively beaten is definitely not Tang Tuanzao's personality. After thinking for ten seconds, Tang Dao raised his eyebrows: "Since Yoshio Shinozuka can point their planes in the direction, we can do the same! Why, he has incendiary bombs
, I don’t have the Four Elements Group?
Order the howitzer company and heavy force company to load me with incendiary bombs and return fire in five minutes! Starting from 200 meters in front of the forward position, it will extend 1,500 meters to the Japanese position in the rear!"
At this point in time, Tang Dao has made precise calculations. The straight-line distance between Handan and here is about 80 kilometers. According to the speed of the 96 fighter plane with a full load of nearly 300 kilometers per hour, it will take about 13 minutes.
There was a certain delay in the intelligence. At this time, the Japanese fighter planes were approximately 9 minutes away from the battlefield.
At the normal rate of fire of 12 150-heavy mortars and 12 80mm howitzers, approximately 300 rounds of artillery shells can be fired in 4 minutes. Calculated as half of them are incendiary bombs, 150 rounds of incendiary bombs are enough to burn down the Japanese positions.
There was a blazing fire.
In other words, Tang Dao used this move to easily resolve Yoshio Shinozuka's attempt to use firelight to guide the bomber group to its target.
If they have the ability, the Japanese bomber group will lower their altitude and visually distinguish the positions of both sides that are almost close to each other. The 12 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns are not vegetarians. They can chase down the Japanese aircraft group from 1500 meters to 4000 meters.
meters and above.
Tang Dao believed that even if the Japanese military's communication methods had evolved to allow instant communication between the ground and the sky, the Japanese bomber group in the sky would not be able to find the correct target just by talking on the ground.
Tang Dao really thought about the Japanese Army at this time. The Japanese aircraft at high altitude could report to the 10th Division. It was to send a message back to the aviation regiment headquarters and then forward it to the aviation regiment. The efficiency was appallingly inefficient.
In fact, if the Japanese Army Aviation had not suffered huge losses in the battle with the Chinese Air Force more than a year ago, which made the Japanese Army headquarters realize the importance of radios on aircraft for coordinated air operations, I am afraid that the Japanese Army Aviation would still have to rely on
Use gestures in the air to communicate!
Of course, at this time, Tang Dao still wanted to confuse the view of the Japanese Army Aircraft Group at high altitude, forcing them to lower their altitude so that they could find better fighters for the anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns deployed on the ground.
Even Shinozuka Yoshio understood this intention after thinking hard for two minutes, and ordered with an ugly face: "Power up the Army Aviation Corps and inform the Imperial Army Aviation warriors that the forward positions of our division were also bombed by incendiary bombs. Previously,
The tactic of using firelight to indicate bombing targets is invalid, and the warriors of the Imperial Army Aviation are asked to find bombing targets on their own."
But obviously, both Shinozuka Yoshio and Tang Dao underestimated the foolish criticism of the Japanese North China Front Army Air Force pilots who seemed a little too nervous.
‘The Chinese actually have large-caliber anti-aircraft guns imported from the German Empire!’ This piece of information has always been a dark cloud hanging over the minds of Japanese army pilots.
Even though there is a huge fleet of aircraft around them that almost covers the sky, the number of fighter planes cannot dispel the dark clouds in the brows of Japanese Army Air Force pilots.
After all, when a speck of ashes of the times falls on an individual's head, it is like a mountain! No matter how many fighter planes there are, as long as one shell hits your fighter plane, you will be dead.
Therefore, 10 kilometers before arriving at the battlefield, after a reminder from the fleet commander, the bomber group of 36 fighters rose instead of falling, raising the altitude to nearly 4,000 meters.
Because of the spherical surface, it happens to be the blind spot of the air station, completely blocking information from the ground.
Therefore, the telegram sent by the 'wise' Yoshio Shinozuka was in vain.
What's even more terrible is that the Japanese bomber group happened to enter the battlefield from the northeast, which happened to be the direction of the Japanese position.
In the summer of July in the north, the visibility is very good. Even at an altitude of 4,000 meters, you can clearly see the dots of firelight on the ground.
"Yo Xi! Gentlemen, the 10th Division on the ground has pointed out the target for us. There are the hateful Chinese people, blow them up!" A Japanese army aviation major who led the team looked sideways at the porthole, his eyes filled with excitement.
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"In addition, please pay attention to maintaining altitude. You must pull up after diving to 3,500 meters! Do you understand?"
"Hi!"
Faced with the commander's heart-warming reminder, the Japanese Army Air Force pilots all agreed via wireless communicators.
As a result, what can be called the largest accidental bombing incident in the history of the Sino-Japanese War occurred.
More than a dozen Japanese fighter planes roared and dived from an altitude of nearly 4,000 meters. Their ferocious posture was like an eagle soaring in the sky that discovered a cute little rabbit on the ground and wanted to kill it with one strike.
"Long live the Empire!"
"The empire's military fortunes are prosperous!"
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On the ground, the Japanese soldiers of the 10th Division, who were looking up in the trenches to watch the performance of their own fighter planes, cheered thunderously.
As a result, what was surprising was that while they were still high in the sky, the proud eagles of the empire stopped swooping, and small black dots were thrown down from the belly and under the wings of the aircraft.
What do the imperial eagles want to do? It is still several kilometers away from the Chinese position! The bomb dropped at this time has wings, so it can fly to the Chinese position on its own?
After all, the 10th Division is also a permanent division. Most of the surviving veterans have experienced many actual battles with Imperial fighter bombing support, and they still have some understanding of how far bombs can glide in the air.
Since this distance cannot reach the Chinese position by gliding, where will the gliding go?
The Japanese veterans who had this question in their minds turned pale instantly!
The Japanese infantry who reacted quickly bent down and hid in the trenches, while those who reacted slowly looked up and watched the "little black dots" falling from the sky, slamming into their own positions, and creating huge fireballs.
That's a super combination of 500-pound aerial bombs and 50-pound aerial bombs!
The Type 89 tank, the main force of the Japanese Army, weighs 10 tons. Even if a 75mm mountain gun shell explodes next to the tank, it can't do anything to this big iron lump.
But in front of the 500-pound aerial bomb, it was nothing.
An 89 tank that was still 1,200 meters away from the front line was already very cautious. Seeing a bomb exploding hundreds of meters away, it immediately stepped on the accelerator and hid in a fortification, hoping to use the fortification to avoid the possible impact.
shock wave.
But a heavy aerial bomb that exploded 40 meters away from the tank gave the armored monster no chance. In the face of the violent shock wave, its 10-ton weight was too much for it. The entire tank rolled several times in a row before it fell onto its back.
fell down in the wilderness.
The steel body of the tank looked like it had been smashed by a group of Li Yuanba with drums, urns, and golden hammers, and there were still pieces of meat stuck to it.
Those were all the Japanese infantrymen who had no time to escape and were crushed into cakes by the "rolling logs" created by their own army aviation.
Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, who was located more than 2,200 meters behind the front line, had no chance to watch this feast led by his own army aviation warriors. When the first aerial bomb fell and violent air waves swept around, the two loyal
The guard jumped to the ground, the division commander who was half-sunk into the command post on the ground.
It really depends on these two people to react quickly enough. A 500-pound aerial bomb exploded less than 200 meters away from Shinozuka Yoshio's headquarters. The violent air waves not only swept over everything on the ground, but also swept away two sandbags.
The wooden heavy machine gun fortifications, the people inside, and the heavy machine guns were swept into the same plane. A 92 heavy machine gun was even swept up by the air wave like a bullet and hit the observation port directly in front of the command post.
That is to say, because the command post of the Lieutenant General of the Japanese Army is half-sunk into the ground, the nearly one-meter-long building exposed above the ground is also specially reinforced with steel plates and logs. Its frontal defense can almost withstand direct fire from 75mm mountain artillery. Otherwise, just this one,
Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka may become the first Imperial Lieutenant General killed by a Type 96 fighter in the history of Japanese Army warfare.
Just because Yoshio Shinozuka escaped this disaster, it does not mean that others in the division he led could.
In this area, in addition to the more than 300 people in the escort squadron directly under the division, the 10th Division Headquarters also has nearly 40 people in the division headquarters' communications corps, medical corps and other arms.
After the Japanese bombers dropped all their bombs and flew away from an altitude of 4,000 meters unscathed and proudly like a little rooster in heat, Shinozuka Yoshio greeted the Japanese North China Front Army Air Corps with all his known names without any aristocratic style.
Female close relatives of military officers.
He did not know the losses of other units of the 10th Division yet, but his division headquarters actually suffered nearly half casualties, including the escort squadron on guard in the trench less than 300 meters away from his headquarters.
What the Chinese were unable to do, the fools like the Army Air Corps of the Front Army did it easily.
After the war, Yoshio Shinozuka even took the matter to the Japanese Army base camp without hesitation, even if it offended the Army Air Corps of the Front Army, which would definitely provide him with air support in the future.
From this aspect, Yoshio Shinozuka is quite loyal to his subordinates, and he is even willing to risk his own future.
Of course, everyone understands that if they don’t change the topic quickly, Yoshio Shinozuka, the supreme commander who formulated all tactics on the southern Hebei battlefield, would have to bear the consequences of defeat.
Unfortunately, even though Yoshio Shinozuka has been so willing, this shocking scandal is still far beyond the control of Yoshio Shinozuka.
As we all know, Japan only has two armies: navy and army. There is no such thing as an air force. All fighter planes are either from sea aviation or army aviation. As the war situation continues to change, the navy has an advantage in resource support. If the army aviation
If the scandal spreads throughout the country again, then the Japanese Army will not be criticized by the Navy and the Mainland for being stupid!
In the end, the Japanese prince personally came forward and called to comfort Yoshio Shinozuka, who returned to Heibei City in despair after the defeat, and promised that he would not be held responsible. Only then did Yoshio Shinozuka calm down.
If we want to say that the defeat of the 10th Division in Zhaojiazhuang has much to do with the own incident caused by the Army Aviation idiots, then at least there must be 20 to 30% responsibility.
The hundreds of Japanese soldiers from the 10th Division headquarters who were taken away by a heavy aerial bomb were only one-tenth of the Japanese soldiers who died in this round of self-inflicted incidents.
Although the pilots of the 36 fighter planes dispatched by the Japanese North China Front Army Air Force refused to admit their mistakes and said that they carried out effective bombing based on the target indicated by the light of fire called by the 10th Division Regiment Headquarters before the war, no one could calculate the final number of Japanese troops.
How many bombs were dropped by the bomber group on the 10th Division's positions and how many were dropped on the Chinese positions.
However, according to battle reports from both sides, the 10th Division suffered more than 1,200 casualties, including 929 dead, and more than 30 people missing.
The medical team located in Zhaojiazhuang on the Four Lines Regiment received 59 remains and 46 wounded people. The total number of casualties was just over a hundred. It can be basically judged that the Japanese position had withstood at least more than ten tons carried by 36 fighter planes.
More than sixty percent of the damage from explosives.
The reason why the casualties on the Chinese side were much smaller was due to the fact that the Chinese side on the defensive side had more complete fortifications and its anti-artillery capability was several levels higher than that of the Japanese army.
Before the war officially started, an infantry brigade was erased from the establishment list. If we add in a security army infantry battalion that was destroyed by blasting by the Chinese army, the battle losses of the 10th Division were close to 2,000.
Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, who had nearly 20,000 troops, instantly became a commander with 80,000 troops, almost catching up with a major general detachment leader.
This is because Yoshio Shinozuka did not receive the damage report from the infantry and cavalry who were "clearing the wilderness", otherwise Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka's face would have been green instead of white.
The elite 600 Four Lines Regiment on the vast plains around Zhaojiazhuang are not ordinary pheasants. Anyone who comes up with a gun can harvest them.
Even when Japanese planes bombed the Chinese and Japanese battlefields overwhelmingly, the fighting in the wilderness never stopped.
Until dark, fighting broke out in at least four uninhabited villages and six plain wilderness areas around Zhaojiazhuang.
When the Japanese army invested the most troops, it even reached the level of more than a thousand people. However, the Chinese soldiers who relied on the villages to resist had tunnels and few troops. They could always use the booby traps to successfully evacuate the villages through the tunnels and escape.
Since this day, the Japanese army has never participated in the field clearance battle at the brigade level.
It's not that Yoshio Shinozuka was not afraid of the harassment by a small group of Chinese elites, but in just one day, the 10th Division, which violently attacked the positions on three sides, suffered more than 2,000 casualties, plus the losses caused by the stupid operations of the front army and aviation in the morning.
and the losses in clearing the wilderness. Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio, who received the damage reports from various departments in the evening, seemed to have aged seven or eight years in an instant.
In just one day, the 10th Division suffered more losses than in the past month. ()
This chapter has been completed!