Sounds mixed with wails and curses filled the sky. The originally calm sea was now shrouded in smoke. More than a dozen various destroyers, cruisers and even the anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier were firing at
As anti-aircraft gun shells poured from the sky, black and white fireworks bloomed one after another in the sky.
At an altitude of more than three thousand meters, Chinese and Japanese fighter planes were also fighting desperately, and from time to time, smoking fighter planes fell from the sky into the sea.
Facing the overwhelming incoming aircraft, in addition to those attack aircraft and bombers without air combat capabilities, all other fighter aircraft on the Japanese aircraft carrier that had air combat capabilities had already taken off to meet the enemy. At the height of the fight, Endo Kiichi even had an armed
Reconnaissance planes were also released, and hundreds of fighter planes covered the entire sea area.
The fierce battle in the air lasted for more than forty minutes. By this time, the number of fighter planes in the sky had slowly begun to become a little sparse. Although the sea breeze in June brought the area to a very warm temperature, Endo Kiichi's heart felt as if it was frozen.
Normally. He was observing the sky intently just now. He could see clearly from below. Although fighter planes kept falling from the sky, he could clearly see that most of these fallen fighters were Japanese Zero fighters.
On the other hand, although the Chinese side also had fighter jets shot down, the number was much smaller.
"It is estimated that the Chinese bombers will come over in a while." Endo Kiichi murmured to himself. At this moment, he was standing in the control tower in the middle of the cabin. He could see what had happened without a telescope.
There were many torpedo planes and dive bombers approaching the fleet.
Soon, two dive bombers suddenly roared down from the high altitude in the east. The heavy bombs under the wings shone with a cold light in the setting sun.
Seeing this scene, Endo Kiichi immediately shouted: "Quick, order the outer warships to organize firepower to shoot down those two bombers immediately!"
In fact, without the command of Kiichi Endo, the anti-aircraft firepower of the nearly twenty destroyers, cruisers and other battleships guarding the aircraft carrier had already been aimed at them. Dense anti-aircraft shells exploded around the two aircraft, and the thick black smoke almost threatened to kill them.
surrounded.
"boom……"
When two SBD-5 dive bombers flying side by side reached a low altitude of more than 300 meters, they were hit by dozens of 25mm anti-aircraft artillery shells almost at the same time. One of them immediately exploded in the air and turned into a bomb.
There was a hot flash of light, and the other one instantly emitted thick black smoke, and it lost direction and fell towards the sea on the spot.
"Yoshi, that's it, keep shooting!" Seeing the downed bomber hit a water column rising from the sea, Kiichi Endo breathed a sigh of relief and praised him happily.
Suddenly, an officer next to him pointed to the west and shouted in fear, "No, another Chinese plane is coming from the west again!"
Endo Kiichi's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately turned his head and looked to the right. From his perspective, in the west direction, two small black dots were flying towards them quickly against the sea.
"No. It's China's torpedo planes. Kill them...kill them immediately!"
"Quick, turn the muzzle and shoot them down!"
"We must not let them get close to the fleet! Fire quickly!"
"Dong dong dong..."
The two aircraft flying at low altitude from the west were two TBF Avenger torpedo attack aircraft. This is a rare three-seater attack aircraft, consisting of a pilot, a rear gunner and a bombardier and belly
Composed of machine gunners.
At this time, all the machine guns on the west side of the fleet that had time to respond turned their muzzles and fired towards the sea. Since the Japanese Navy implemented an elite system, most of the sailors on the Japanese warships were veterans with more than three years of service. Therefore.
Both officers and gunners understand that the reason why there are only a few sporadic attacks in the current wave of attacks is that they must be used by the other party to test their own side and find loopholes in their own defense circle. If they succeed, subsequent attacks will
It will come like a tide.
At this time, all the air defense officers of the Japanese warships became excited. They drew out their command knives and desperately drove the gunners to shoot at the sea. One shining shell flew towards the sea. Many shells fell into the sea and exploded.
Waves of water jets.
Even though the artillery fire was so fierce, the two torpedo planes did not show any fear and still rushed towards the fleet without hesitation. When they persisted in rushing to a distance of about two hundred meters from the outer edge of the fleet, two flashing torpedo planes
Hanguang's mk13 torpedoes each fell into the sea from their cabins. Immediately, the motor at the tail of the torpedo started working, and the torpedo rushed towards the fleet at a high speed of forty knots.
After releasing the torpedoes, the two torpedo planes turned to one side and wanted to fly to the side. However, due to the strong inertia, they had already rushed over the fleet. Endo Kiichi could even see one of them.
From the young face of the pilot in front of the torpedo aircraft cockpit and the hateful look in his eyes, Endo Kiichi estimated that the pilot must not be over twenty-two years old.
"Boom...boom..."
Because the two torpedo planes were flying too low just now, almost flying level with the sea surface, even if they climbed desperately after dropping the torpedoes, they could only barely pass over the head of the Kaga aircraft carrier, and were then destroyed.
More than ten Type 96 25mm anti-aircraft guns on the aircraft carrier, which had been waiting for a long time, hit the aircraft carrier and exploded in the air on the spot.
"Boom...boom..."
Before the gunners who hit the two torpedo planes had time to rejoice, there were two huge explosions nearby. It turned out that the two bright torpedoes released by the two torpedo planes hit a nearby destroyer and a nearby destroyer respectively.
The torpedo weighing 800 kilograms of the heavy cruiser crashed into the interior of the warship under the impact of inertia. Two hundred kilograms of high explosives immediately exploded inside the warship. The two warships soon emitted black smoke, thick
The smoke soon shot straight into the sky.
Seeing this situation, Endo Kiichi's heart suddenly sank, and he murmured: "No, this guy is going to have to fight for his life!"
Next to Endo Kiichi, Yu Huanmao's face also turned a little pale. He understood very well that when the two torpedoes hit the imperial warship, the large number of bombers and torpedo planes still hovering in the clouds were affected by that.
Stimulated by the two torpedo planes, they would soon turn into sharks smelling blood and pounce down.
Things did not go as they expected. After seeing two torpedo planes severely damaging two warships at the cost of their own lives, dozens of bombers and torpedo planes that were originally hovering in the sky collectively moved towards the sea as if they were stimulated.
The fleet on board pounced down.
"Asshole, Lao Tuo, follow me and rush down to open a bombing channel for the bombers!"
Seeing this situation, Zhang Yang, who was still struggling with the Japanese planes in the sky, immediately became red-eyed. He immediately made a beautiful reversal and turned around to shoot down a Zero fighter that was about to sneak attack on him.
He led his wingmen to dive towards the Japanese fleet. At a low altitude of more than 300 meters away from the Japanese fleet, the six Browning machine guns on the wings fired downwards.
"Woo... da da da da..."
The flexibility of the Mustang fighter cannot be compared with the SBD-5 Dreadnought dive bomber and the TBF Avenger torpedo attack aircraft carrying heavy bombs. The two war eagles shuttled flexibly in the firelight, and the firelight under the wings also
Flashing continuously, metal bullets with a caliber of 12.7 mm hit and beat on the metal decks and buildings of the Japanese army from time to time.
"ah……"
A gunner who was holding a Type 96 anti-aircraft gun while shooting was hit by a 12.7-caliber bullet. His entire waist was torn off and even his blue-grey intestines were exposed. The gunner
He immediately lay down on the deck and started wailing.
Under the demonstration of Zhang Yang and others, the fighters behind them also began to follow suit. Soon dozens of P-51 Mustangs, F6F Vixens, F4U Corsairs and other fighters also swarmed down, and countless bullets rained down on the Japanese army.
Deck of warship going up.
The 12.7-caliber machine guns on the fighter planes were not even a scratch on the thick-skinned warships, but the Japanese gunners on the deck suffered. One characteristic of Japanese warships is that they have high air defense
The gun emplacements rarely have protective steel plates. Therefore, after being strafed by fighter planes, many gunners were mercilessly strafed by machine guns due to lack of protection. A strong smell of blood and hot water appeared on the decks of many warships.
Blood soon stained the deck red.
The large number of gunners killed directly affected the density of anti-aircraft artillery. Soon the anti-aircraft firepower on the Japanese fleet weakened. The bombers and torpedo planes that had already surrounded the Japanese warships were not polite when they saw this. Under the commander's order
Next, a group of vultures with red eyes swarmed down from high altitude and rushed towards the Japanese warship.
At this time, the pilots only heard the commander's decisive voice coming from the earphones: "Torpedo attack, torpedo attack..."
"Attack the belly of the enemy ship, attack the belly of the enemy ship!"
"Line up and attack!"
No matter what the sentence is, it all means the same thing: drop bombs and torpedoes!
As the target in the sight zoomed in, the torpedo operators sitting in the back pressed the buttons around them one after another.
"Swish, brush, brush..."
One torpedo after another detached from the aircraft body and rushed towards the target, and soon the sound of explosions was heard one after another.
Seeing the thick smoke and loud noises coming from the fleet from time to time, Kiichi Endo on the Kaga aircraft carrier closed his eyes in pain. At this moment, he knew clearly that this rescue mission had completely failed and was still waiting in Fuzhou.
The 2nd and 3rd Divisions who were trying to rescue... were hopeless...