Episode 32 The Yellow River Bridge

Starting from the 21st, the People's Guard made a big move. Xiang Xiaoqiang transferred two armored divisions of the left army group to the Eastern Theater Command, and then transferred three mechanized divisions of the right army group to the Western Theater Command. In this way, a situation was formed: all five armored divisions were concentrated in the Eastern Theater Command, while all five mechanized divisions were concentrated in the Western Theater Command. The armored forces of the Ming Army in the Eastern Battlefield were greatly enhanced, while the armored forces of the Ming Army in the Western Battlefield were greatly weakened.

The early morning of the 21st, the mobilization was carried out along three highways, and all of them were completed by noon on the 22nd. Such a large mechanized mobilization did not escape the eyes of the Beiqing. The five armored divisions of the Ming army gathered in the eastern battlefield, with 1,000 concentrated medium and heavy tanks eyeing them, and tank battalions scattered in dozens of Army Motor Infantry Divisions... These all made the Qing army commander, who had experienced the powerful armored clusters in the previous stage, frightened. The Beiqing commander was therefore more firmly convinced that the Ming army was about to launch an attack in the east.

From the 21st to the 25th, Guangwu ordered the orders and at all costs, he accelerated the dispatch of troops from northern Zhili to Shandong and the Central Plains.

The convening of troops for many consecutive days has almost all the traffic concentrating on the North China Railway Network. Not only are the buses, containers, and even the open cars, there are soldiers. When the train runs, they are exposed to the bitter cold wind, shrank their heads, and squeezed together to keep warm with each other.

In late October, the weather in the north became colder and colder, but most parts of the Northern and Qing dynasties were seriously short of coal. Ordinary people could not buy coal at all, and even some officials and wealthy businessmen had to rely on their relationship to find a way to get some coal. - In previous years, the peak of coal transportation from Shanxi to the outside world began. But now, all railways and all the carriages are used to transport troops, tanks, and cannons, and there is no extra use to transport coal.

In order to ensure the safety of the North China railway network and eliminate the destruction of the underground organization of the Nanming, Guangwu specially removed two second-rate divisions, nearly 30,000 infantry, so that they would not have to do anything else and just pay attention to every inch of the railway. These 30,000 soldiers, according to the average density of one soldier per 100 meters, completely guarded several railways in North China tightly. Under the railway subgrade, a soldier carried a rifle every 100 meters, and could see each other. This indeed made the destructor unable to start.

Facts have also proved that after using the "human sea tactic" to guard the railway, no railway damage occurred.

...

On the morning of the 22nd, a Ming army's aircraft carrier submarine left the Dongjiang fleet and drove into the Bohai Sea.

This squadron consists of two aircraft carriers and 20 destroyers, led by minesweeping boats, swaggeringly, completely ignoring the continuous firing of the Qing army's fortresses 20,000 meters away on both sides, and once again openly broke into the front yard of Beiqing: Bohai.

This time, the Ming army's fleet composition was very "simple". In addition to minesweeping boats, they were aircraft carriers and destroyers. The purpose was obviously very simple, and it was an air mission. Moreover, the escort force equipped by the Ming army aircraft carrier was very strong - the two aircraft carriers were equipped with 20 destroyers. On average, each aircraft carrier had 10 destroyers to support it. This was not intended to allow the Qing army torpedo boats to get close.

At sea, destroyers and torpedo boats are completely a relationship between hunting dogs and rabbits. Destroyers originally appeared as nemesis of torpedo boats. The word "destroy" in destroyers means to drive enemy torpedo boats from their own fleets. In the early days, they were "destroyed" torpedo boats, and of course, they later had the mission of "destroyed" submarines.

...

As soon as the Ming army aircraft carrier fleet entered the Bohai Strait, it began to release planes. This time, all of them were loaded with fighter jets. The two aircraft carriers carried a total of 164 fighter jets. This time, 120 were released at one time, and they rushed towards the southwest, Shandong Dongying.

The news that the Ming army fleet entered the Bohai Strait immediately reached Beijing. The Beiqing Air Force had a big head and immediately knew where the Ming army was going to bomb again this time, which was probably the prelude to landing in Shandong. They knew that the Ming army must have used the same trick this time, first carrying short-range fighters to approach the target, and then take off the long-range bombers from the Changshan Islands. Fighters and bombers formed at designated locations, and then flew to bomb the established targets.

The Air Force reported to Guangwu, and Guangwu immediately issued an order, and the fighter jets of Dongying Airport and Tangshan Airport took off to fight.

When Guangwu issued the order, he was sweating coldly on his back. He knew there were only two possibilities: one was the prelude to the Ming army landing in Shandong. The other was that the Southern Ming Air Force planned to seek a decisive battle from the Qing Air Force. Through several such active attacks, he exhausted the Qing air power and then cleared the sky for the next Northern Expedition.

No matter which one it was, Guangwu was extremely terrifying to think of it. But he had no other choice, so he could only bite the bullet and order the precious fighter jets of the Qing Dynasty to take off to fight.

But this time he did not plan to be led by the Ming army again. He ordered the Dongying Aviation Regiment to face the Ming army's fighter fleet directly, and then asked the Tangshan Aviation Regiment to take off and ambush the side, waiting for the Ming army to fly from the Changshan Islands to follow-up bomber fleet.

Guangwu planned that even if the Qing Air Force suffered heavy losses this time, the Ming army bombers would have to be the back. In short, we must show the Ming army the strong and let them taste the taste of heavy bleeding.

The Dongying Aircraft Group first had a fight with the Ming Army Aircraft Group 100 kilometers outside the sea of ​​Dongying. The Dongying Air Force Dongying Combat Aviation Regiment had three brigades, one brigade Haidongqing and two brigades Zhebe, with a total of 126 fighter jets. Now, except for the 28 brigades that were unable to take off for various reasons, the other 98 were all in full swing. However, in the Liaohai Air Battle on the 19th, the Dongying Combat Aviation Regiment lost 13 brigades, and there were 29 brigades left. In other words, of these 98 fighters, 69 of them were old-fashioned biplane.

Such an old aircraft group had to fight against the Ming army's 120 aircraft group, which was the most obvious disadvantage. Within ten minutes of the battle, 26 Zhebe and 5 Haidongqing were shot down, while the Ming army lost only 9 Kingfishers.

The Qing army's fighter leader was fighting hard while looking forward to the friendly forces from Tangshan Airport to reinforce. In that way, the two combat aviation regiments combined would have more than 200 fighter jets. Haidongqing would have no choice but to compete with the Ming army. But he saw Zhebi falling down one by one in the sky, Haidongqing fell one by one from time to time, and the headphones were filled with curses from brothers, but the reinforcements from Tangshan would not come.

While fighting, he roared and asked the base when the reinforcements from Tangshan would come. Finally, he had an answer: The Tangshan Combat Aviation Regiment has another mission and cannot come to reinforce for the time being, so he asked the Dongying Aviation Regiment to hold on.

Hold on? I can't hold on now.

After a cold water was poured down, the morale of the Qing army group was beaten to nothing. Then, the brothers of the group began to report "focus on oil". Without waiting for approval, they left the battlefield one by one and returned to "come on".

The Ming army fleet suddenly discovered that more and more planes on the other side had left the battlefield, and their own advantages immediately increased at a geometric speed. Within ten minutes, 20 Zhebe and 8 Haidongqing were shot down. At this time, except for the 39 fighters leaving the battlefield, there were no Qing fighters over the Bohai Sea.

The Ming army was shot down 23 planes at this time, and there were 97 left. These 97 kingfishers took advantage of the victory and chased the 39 escaped Qing army planes. When they flew over Dongying Airport, the 39 Qing army planes were either landing or refueling. 97 kingfishers rushed down from a high altitude and directly fired the Qing army planes on the runway. The airport was suddenly filled with horror and chaos.

Dongying Airport is a regiment-level airport, and the anti-aircraft gun positions are still very strong. Amid the shrill alarm, the anti-aircraft gun group opened fire in intensively, and the sky was covered with black clouds. During the strafing, no Qing army planes at the airport were flying, but since the Ming army aircraft group was all fighter jets, they could only strafing aircraft with large and fragile targets. For anti-aircraft guns with sandbag protection, it was difficult to suppress them by strafing alone.

During the strafing, more than a dozen Qing army planes at the airport were engulfed by fire. The fuel and cloth skin burned wildly, leaving only the skeletons collapsed in the fire. However, the kingfishers of the Ming army were also hit by artillery fire and fell to the ground. At this time, the exchange ratio between the two sides tended to level.

The Ming army leader felt that this was not worth the effort, so he ordered his return.

The remaining 85 kingfishers, carrying nearly exhausted fuel, re-hit the formation and flew towards the sea aircraft carrier.

...

On the way back, the Kingfisher fleet encountered a squadron from Cangzhou and a squadron from Dezhou, with a total of 50 Qing army fighters intercepted. However, these 50 aircraft were all old-fashioned sages and did not have Haidongqing. In normal times, this was definitely a good opportunity to "fight ducks". However, the leader of the Ming army considered that after the two battles just now, the formation was not much fuel and could no longer fight with the Qing army's new forces. So he called for reinforcements and responded to the fleet, and ordered the aircraft fleet to increase the accelerator and with the speed of the monoplane, he threw away the Qing army's biplane.

This worked very well. The Qing army's Zhebei Machinery Group didn't want to fight against these 85 kingfishers. Now, she was just right and pretended to increase the accelerator and chased after it for a while, but she couldn't catch up, so she reported to the base: lost the target.

The Ming army's 85 kingfishers flew to the sea and were meeting 40 kingfishers who came to pick up the aircraft carrier. The 40 kingfishers protected the 85 nearly exhausted planes back to the aircraft carrier. When they lined up to land one by one, they guarded and were vigilant.

At 10:30 a.m., all 85 aircraft landed on the aircraft carrier. 40 kingfishers with sufficient fuel dispersed and reconnaissance was on guard.

The first phase of the Ming army aircraft carrier fleet was completed. A total of 21 Qing Haidongqing fighters and 56 Zhebe fighters were wiped out. 28 Kingfisher fighters were lost.

...

The Qing army's Tangshan Combat Aviation Regiment had been ambushing the road that was expected to pass for Ming bombers, hovering in the sky for almost an hour, and never waiting for the legendary Ming bomber group. Tangshan has 200 kilometers here, and it takes 200 kilometers of return. The round-trip range alone requires 400 kilometers of fuel. The maximum range of Qing army fighters is similar to that of Ming kingfishers, both about 650-700 kilometers. They had been hovering in the sky for almost an hour, and the fuel had been consumed. If they waited, they would not even have enough fuel for the return flight and they had to fall into the sea.

The leader of the Tangshan Combat Aviation Regiment could not care about so much. He looked at the fuel meter and simply said to the base that he "must return" and then led the entire regiment to turn around and retreat.

In the afternoon, the Ming army aircraft carrier fleet also turned around and returned, swaggeringly crossed the Bohai Strait again, and returned to the Dongjiang Fleet. From beginning to end, no bomber got involved.

In this mission, in addition to shooting down 77 Qing army fighter jets, it also sank 6 Qing army torpedo boats.

...

After hearing all the reports, Guangwu was so angry that he smoked. He did not catch the Ming army's bomber formation, but instead lost 77 fighter jets and 6 torpedo boats.

The Ming army was always fighter jets, and no bomber appeared. It seemed that this was an air decisive battle that was actively sought. Obviously, this decisive battle was very beneficial to the Ming army. The number and quality of the Southern Ming aviation army were not only higher than that of the Qing Dynasty Air Force, but also had higher aircraft output and reserve pilots than the Qing Dynasty Air Force. What's more serious is that every time this "air decisive battle", the Southern Ming always achieved a very good exchange ratio.

If the "decisive battle in the air" continues like this, the Qing Dynasty Air Force will be exhausted soon. And after exhaustion, it will be difficult to recover.

Guangwu thought about the recent battle situation.

For the past ten days, after the land battlefield has become silent, the sea and air battlefield has been extremely lively. And every time it was launched by the Nanming. The southern Ming Dynasty's land aviation and HNA have frequently attacked, harassing the rear of the Qing Dynasty, as if they were seeking opportunities for battle. Once the Qing army aircraft took off and faced the battle, they always suffered heavy losses, and they lost to the Ming army in a large exchange.

This is what the Ming army hopes! What they are seeking!

Guangwu looked at the map, gritted his teeth, and knocked his fingers hard on the table. He knew the strategy of the Ming army. The reason why the Ming army stopped for so long and did not take advantage of the victory and headed north after the Battle of Jianghuai was because he was too superstitious about the support of air forces on the ground and relied too much on air forces. They planned to destroy most of the air forces between the two battles, and then continue to attack under the protection of absolute air supremacy.

Guangwu used to disagree with "air supremacy" and at least he didn't take it seriously. He felt that the aviation army had support for ground combat, but it was not as good as artillery. This was also the general attitude of the military circles of various countries in this era.

However, the war had only started for more than twenty days, and Guangwu's concept changed greatly. The cruel facts taught him a lesson. Countless battlefield reports showed the same pattern: the Ming army bombers bombed the head and the Qing army was almost dispersed. Before they could reorganize, the Ming army tanks had already rushed in front of him. Then, naturally, it was a natural surrender.

The planes have appeared for too short, only thirty years. They have only been used in wars for more than twenty years (that is, they have only been used in world wars for a few years, and the next ten years are all blank). It is really difficult for people to react. No matter how outstanding military strategist is, they do not know what kind of gaze to look at this new thing, and how much expectation should be placed on this new thing.

Guangwu is no exception. From the time he disapproved, to the time he is now extremely afraid, it is too short, only a dozen days. What should we do next? How to use the plane better? How to use the plane to protect ourselves and attack the enemy?

It was completely confused. I had no experience or theory before. There was no experience in the whole world, and there was no theory, and everything had to be explored.

Use my plane and my pilot's blood to explore little by little.

Guangwu was so angry that he gritted his teeth and said fiercely:

"...Why doesn't he need to fumble at all in Nanming? Why did they use it so well as soon as they got up?...I know when to use it, I know everything!...It seems that I have been fighting with planes for decades!"

After careful consideration, Guangwu made two decisions:

First, this kind of air decisive battle will definitely be avoided before the next large-scale attack by the Ming army. The existing aircraft should be evacuated to various airports as much as possible. The Ming army aircraft should be provoked. Unless a large number of bombers come, try to avoid confrontation.

Second, we immediately started diplomatic efforts, actively negotiated with Japan, and tried to make Japan sell fighter jets to themselves. At the same time, we had a positive influence on Moscow, and told Stalin how terrible the Southern Ming was. The Qing Dynasty was in danger of destruction, and the Qing Dynasty and the Soviet Union lost their lips and teeth...

Guangwu also knew that Stalin was cunning and wanted him to give him a favor to the advanced fighter jets of the Qing Dynasty, but he didn't even have any other choice. At most, he could buy some ragged old antiques at a high price.

However, if, in the future, the Qing Dynasty really came to that point - that is, the Qing Dynasty lost the Battle of the Central Plains, the Nanming took Shandong and Henan, and advanced to the Yellow River - then Stalin would also see the danger of the Qing Dynasty. At this point, he would definitely understand that the danger of the Qing Dynasty was also the danger of the Soviet Union... At that time, he hoped to buy a large number of advanced fighter jets from the Soviet Union in time to make the situation come back.

...

At dawn on the 23rd, the second day of the Dongying Air Battle, the second phase of the Ming army's Dongjiang Fleet began.

It was still the same aircraft carrier formation, and it drove into the Bohai Sea in the morning and released 120 fighter jets.

However, this time, the Qing Dynasty Air Force received Guangwu's order and no longer took off to fight. The planes at several major airports were also evacuated and parked scattered on small airports everywhere. They either hid in the hangar or covered with camouflage nets and disguised as bushes. Anyway, they were not afraid of shooting at the airport.

The Ming army fighter fleet circled around, but did not find the Qing army planes facing each other, so they sent back a radio signal. Ten minutes later, a large group of dive bombers emerged from the northeast direction, joined forces with 120 combat opportunities, flew over Dongying, and flew all the way over Guangrao, Zibo, Zouping, Zhangqiu, and rushed straight to Jinan.

An air defense alarm over Jinan City was a huge blow, and the whole city was panicked. Soon, the sky above Jinan was covered with black clouds of anti-aircraft guns.

Running on the Yellow River Bridge in Jinan, the Qing army entering Shandong looked up at the sky, and was stunned. There were congested teams and military vehicles in front and behind, and the surging Yellow River on both sides, and there was no place to hide.

The Ming army fleet was obviously aimed at the Jinan Yellow River Bridge. 36 dive bombers rushed down one after another, and after a strafing, they dropped bombs at the bridge.

In the Beiqing River in 1936, there were only two fixed bridges on the Yellow River. One was in Jinan and the other was in Zhengzhou. These two were dual-purpose railway and highway bridges, one was built by the Japanese and the other was built by the Germans. In other sections of the Yellow River, there were some permanent pontoon bridges, similar to those of the permanent pontoon bridges on the Yellow River in later generations. However, these pontoon bridges had limited traffic capacity, and every early spring, many of the "flood season" when the Yellow River thawed, were temporarily demolished to avoid the river bank breaking. Those who can truly form strategic transportation capacity all year round and pass the train were these two bridges.

Now, on both sides of the Yellow River Bridge in Jinan, bombs fell down like dumplings, and the muddy yellow water columns rose one after another. In some places, mud and sand were silted into dark beaches, and the water was very shallow, and the bombs exploded directly. The water column and smoke column exploded, which was earth-shaking.

The crowded Qing army on the bridge fell into panic and stepped on each other and squeezed towards both ends of the bridge, completely out of control.

The Ming army fighter jets rushed down unscrupulously and repeatedly strafed the bridge deck. The bridge was narrow and crowded, and the Qing soldiers had nowhere to hide, and the blood flowed into a river, and the bridge was full of corpses. The surviving Qing soldiers threw away their equipment, climbed over the railing and jumped into the Yellow River. Some were directly swept away by the turbulent river water, and some fell to the beach and fell seriously injured. A few lucky people climbed onto the bridge pier and shivered in the water.

Jinan urgently sent a telegram to Beijing, and Guangwu was so angry that he was so angry that he secretly scolded him that it was too much.

However, if the Yellow River Bridge is blown up, it will not be the loss of several planes, but it may be the entire Shandong. There is no way, so he had to order the evacuated fighter planes to take off and gather again and rush to Jinan for rescue.

The Ming army fleet finally ushered in the Qing army fleet. Half of the fighter jets escorted the bomber back, while the other half stayed for a melee.

Another big battle, the Qing army lost more than 30 fighter jets, and the Ming army's fighter jets and bombers combined also lost more than 20. So, the Ming army's planes voluntarily left the battlefield and returned.

Most of the Qing army's planes were bi-winged, and they could not catch up, nor were they willing to catch up to increase their losses. Therefore, the two sides broke off contact and the air battle came to an end.

At the same time, Guangwu received another emergency call from Zhengzhou:

The Yellow River Bridge in Zhengzhou was also bombed by the Ming army!

Guangwu reacted sensitively: This is not as simple as the Ming army seeking air combat!

The Ming army actually bombed the two Yellow River Bridges in Zhengzhou and Jinan at the same time. What are they trying to do?...Don't they really want to cross the Yellow River? Maybe the ambition of Nanming will stop at the Yellow River?
Chapter completed!