The leader of the 30th Flying Squadron, Colonel Numa Tokuo, was sitting in the cockpit of a Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft. He was shocked and angry as he looked at the clumps of fire around him.
He is considered a veteran pilot, and last year he even participated in the year-long bombing campaign against Chongqing.
In his opinion, China's air defense force can be ignored. Facing the Japanese bombing, Chongqing didn't even take off fighter planes to fight, and it didn't even have many air defense artillery. It can be said that China's air defense has now become the imperial army.
’s world.
But today, this understanding has been overturned. When the bombing started, the Chinese anti-aircraft shells kept spraying into the sky as if they were free. He made a rough count and found that there were at least thirty anti-aircraft artillery pieces on the ground.
They fired at the same time, even with large cannons. Just now, a Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft that was caught off guard was unexpectedly blown up in the air.
The sudden and violent artillery fire stunned the Japanese pilots of the 30th Flying Group, who were accustomed to fighting with favorable winds. For a time, countless voices were transmitted to Naganuma Tokuo's earphones through radio waves.
"Your Majesty Colonel, the Chinese have deployed a large number of anti-aircraft artillery, and we have lost the No. 5874 heavy bomber!"
"What's going on? Why do the Chinese have so many anti-aircraft artillery?"
"Discover China's large-caliber anti-aircraft heavy artillery and request fighter planes to open a bombing channel."
For a time, the public channel was filled with the pilots' shouts.
"Baga...shut up!"
Naganuma Tokuo shouted loudly, "Are you still the warriors of the empire? I just lost a 97 heavy bomber. Is it worth making such a fuss about you? Now everyone listens to my order, the bomber raises its altitude again, and the Falcon (Nakajima)
Type 1) fighter planes will immediately open a bombing channel for the bombers and execute it immediately!"
"Hi!"
Following Naganuma Tokuo's order, more than a dozen Type 1 fighters fell vertically to the ground, and tongues of flames swept toward the ground like long whips. For a while, the artillery positions that were firing were splashing with flying dust.
On an 88mm anti-aircraft gun position, an ammunition handler who was carrying artillery shells was hit by a string of 12.7mm bullets. His whole body was cut in half at the waist, and his intestines flowed all over the floor.
The Type 1 fighter's attack did not end. Instead, it tilted its nose slightly, and another string of bullets hit the mount of the 88 anti-aircraft gun. 7.7mm bullets flew everywhere (Note... Type 1 fighter equipment
Two kinds of machine guns, two 7.7 mm and one 12.7 mm), several gunners who were busy instantly fell into a pool of blood.
With the arrival of Japanese fighter planes, the battle suddenly became fierce, and soldiers were constantly shot and fell to the ground.
Unlike bulky bombers, fighter jets are much more flexible. Especially after the fighter jets lower their altitude, it is difficult for the 88mm anti-aircraft guns to catch up with those Type 1 fighters that penetrate defenses at a low altitude of several hundred meters. However, at this time, the artillery battalion equipment
The Swedish 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun came in handy.
This anti-aircraft gun with a rate of fire of 120 rounds per minute has outstanding performance in dealing with medium and low-altitude aircraft.
When the 24 40mm Swedish Bofors anti-aircraft guns equipped by the artillery battalion began to fire at the Japanese troops at low altitude, Tokuo Naganuma could see from high altitude that orange-red whips sprinkled into the sky like water.
After a while, a Type 1 fighter plane that had finished strafing and was flying forward with its nose raised suddenly trembled. Then billowing black smoke came out and it crashed to the ground before exploding with a burst of fire.
Gao Hongming equipped the air defense battalion with a total of 24 40mm Swedish Bofors anti-aircraft guns, all distributed around the position. When these anti-aircraft guns fired together, they quickly formed a fire network in the sky.
The pilots of the Type 1 fighters understood that unless these anti-aircraft guns were eliminated, their bombers would have no way to drop bombs at low altitude, so even though they knew that it was dangerous to open a bombing channel, they could only forcefully dive.
In the sky, Type 1 fighters are constantly shuttling through the fire net like dexterous swallows. They are like poisonous snakes looking for weaknesses in the ground fire net. Once they find that a certain ground fire point has weakened, they will immediately pounce down like hungry wolves and sweep them away.
After taking a bullet, he turned around and ran away.
The firepower on the ground was not to be outdone. As long as they didn't kill me, they would immediately turn their guns and bombard the Japanese plane's butt violently.
Gao Hongming on the ground was not idle either. Seeing that the Japanese fighter planes came down to join in the fun, they also ordered the guard battalion to drag out all the M2 12.7mm heavy machine guns and also joined in anti-air shooting. Now the battle became more intense.
It's intense.
If the 30th Flying Squadron had exchanged information with the 22nd Flying Squadron stationed in Shanxi, they would know that the Liantai Militia's anti-aircraft firepower was outrageously stronger than that of the national army.
Not only do they have an air defense battalion directly under the regiment, but the armored battalion also has an air defense company. After the red eye, even the infantry has M2 large-caliber machine guns that can be used both high and low. It is absolutely impossible for the Japanese army to bully the Liantai militia like it did to the national army's ground troops.
impossible.
As the battle progressed, although machine gun positions were constantly destroyed, Japanese planes also fell from time to time with thick smoke. In less than twenty minutes, the Japanese lost six or seven Type One fighters.
However, the Japanese aircraft's losses were not without gain. Under the desperate cover of fighter jets, the Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft also took this opportunity to bomb several positions of the Liantai militia. Many newly repaired trenches were blown beyond recognition.
, there were even some bomb-proof holes that were directly destroyed by heavy bombs.
Seeing such a scene, Gao Hongming was both distressed and angry: "You stupid little devil, you bully me just because you have a plane, right? You wait for me. After I go back this time, I will never spare you!"
But what he didn't know was that he was not the only one who felt distressed. Seeing the plane falling down with thick smoke in the sky, Tokuo Naganuma's heart ached as if it was being cut by a knife.
You must know that training a pilot is not a simple matter. Any pilot must undergo two to three years of rigorous training in an aviation school before he can be sent to the army. After being tempered by the army, he can become a qualified pilot.
pilot.
In Naganuma Tokuo's view, even if one hundred thousand Chinese people died, it would not be worth the life of one precious pilot. Now he saw that more than ten pilots lost their lives in just over 20 minutes.
I was so distressed that the muscles on my face twitched.
"boom……"
After seeing another 97 heavy bomber that had just finished bombing being hit and exploded in the sky, he could no longer bear it and gave the order to retreat: "Attention all units, Malaysia Airlines is returning... repeat it... everyone is returning!"
Upon hearing Naganuma Tokuo's order, the Japanese pilots, who had been frightened by the ferocious ground artillery fire for a long time, quickly turned around and flew back towards the road as if they had been pardoned...