Okamura Neiji knew that planes taking off from Linfen Airport could not be "surprise". If the Eighth Route Army already had planes, it would definitely establish a complete set of early warning mechanisms as soon as possible. The plane had just taken off from Linfen, and the news
The news will be sent to the Eighth Route Army Airport immediately. The result will be that the Imperial Army will waste a batch of bombs and alert the enemy.
Therefore, Okamura Neiji ordered the bombers to directly attach bombs when they were transiting, and then flew directly through the airspace of the recalcitrant army to the Eighth Route Army airport...
Okamura Neji made this decision after careful consideration.
First of all, even if the Eighth Route Army established an early warning mechanism, it never expected that the imperial bombers would fly over it from the direction of the recalcitrant army.
Secondly, the recalcitrant aviation force has been beaten by the imperial army and does not dare to fly into the air. Therefore, the bombers only need a few fighter planes to escort them, which also achieves the purpose of saving fuel as much as possible... At this time, the Japanese are fighting everywhere, and at the same time, Eagle Sauce
Then an embargo was imposed on it, and its fuel savings and calculations have reached an outrageous level.
Thirdly, and most importantly, Okamura Neiji knew that the Obstinate Army was at odds with the Eighth Route Army. Even if the Obstinate Army knew that a bomber was flying over them and that the target was the Eighth Route Army, the Obstinate Army would not notify the Eighth Route Army.
Okamura Neji guessed this correctly.
These Japanese bombers flew over Zhengzhou in a majestic manner, and then followed the Yellow River defense line directly into the Eighth Route Army's airport on the west bank of the Yellow River.
At this time, the 12th Army of the 3rd Group Army was stationed in Zhengzhou. The army commander initially thought that the Japanese bombers were bombing Zhengzhou and quickly ordered an air defense alert.
No wonder the army commander thought so. Zhengzhou at this time could be said to be the front line of the Anti-Japanese War... It was captured by the Japanese in October 1941 and was recaptured more than 20 days later.
But the commander hid in the air-raid shelter for a long time and did not hear the explosion of the bomb. He walked out of the air-raid shelter in confusion and raised his binoculars to look in the direction where the bombers left, and found that their direction was strange.
The commander returned to the headquarters and drew the flight direction on the map, and then he understood that the target was probably the Eighth Route Army.
But the army commander was puzzled again. Why did the Japanese go to war against the Eighth Route Army so uncharacteristically?
You must know that the Eighth Route Army has never had any targets worth bombing...either thatched houses or caves. The results of bombing the Eighth Route Army may not be worth the bombs dropped.
If there's anything worth blowing up, it's Yuncheng.
But this direction is not Yuncheng, but points directly to the west bank of the Yellow River...
The next second, the commander thought. He heard that the Eighth Route Army had recently received a batch of aircraft, and they were aircraft reinforced by Eagle Sauce. The Japanese bombers were probably heading towards these aircraft.
The military commander immediately reported his analysis to his superiors.
But you don’t need to think about it to know what the result will be...
The superior's answer was: "No need to speculate, just wait and see what happens!"
The military commander was very helpless. Although he also wanted to notify the Eighth Route Army, he had no contact information and was worried that he would be charged with the Communist Party. He could only slam the phone down on the holder, then sit on the chair and sulk.
The result was that the Japanese bombers passed through the area of the stubborn army without any danger, as if entering uninhabited territory, and then appeared over the Eighth Route Army's airport without any warning...
Many soldiers and civilians actually spotted these planes along the way, but because the planes were flying at high altitudes and couldn't see clearly, and they were coming from the direction of the stubborn army, they took it for granted that they were aircraft from the stubborn army, and even thought they were going to bomb the Japanese.
Not only did they not report, they waved and cheered.
The Eighth Route Army Airport was indeed not prepared at that time.
The reason is that the tunnels used by the Eighth Route Army to hide aircraft are not fully prepared... As mentioned before, the tunnels are relatively humid, and there is even water seepage in some places. Gu
Wang Xuexin thought of many ways, such as using lime, charcoal, etc., but none of them were ideal.
The reason is that the water vapor is constantly seeping out from the inside of the mountain. It does not mean that it can absorb the moisture from the air in the cave.
On the other hand, even if the plane is always hidden in the tunnel, it is not an option.
This is what Major Doug put forward: "If our planes are always hidden in the cave, although it is safe, it is too passive!"
Wang Xuexin nodded in agreement.
He knows what "passive" means.
To put it simply, the aircraft should take off to fight the enemy and block the enemy's fighter planes outside a safe line, instead of hiding in the tunnel all the time.
If it is kept hidden in a tunnel waiting for it to get moldy and rusty, what difference does it make between having an airplane and not having one?
Considering this aspect, aircraft should not be left in tunnels for long periods of time.
Because putting it in a tunnel and dragging it out will inevitably waste some time. When an aircraft takes off in an emergency, it is a race against time. If you spend a few minutes dragging it out of a narrow tunnel, you may lose the best fighter.
To sum up, the fighter planes have always been parked outside the entrance of the tunnel. It is more ventilated outside and does not have to worry about getting wet. At the same time, it is close to the runway. If there is an emergency, the plane can jump on the plane and take off immediately.
If there was any protection, it was a long tarp stretched over the top of the plane.
The tarpaulin can protect the aircraft to a certain extent, and it can also prevent the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft from observing the target... The Japanese reconnaissance aircraft flew in the air and looked down, and could only see the tarpaulin integrated with the ground.
In this case, if Japanese bombers suddenly appeared over the airport and bombed them indiscriminately, at least half of these ten Hawker 81s would be lost.
Fortunately, Wang Xuexin thought about the possibility of a Japanese sneak attack and sounded the air defense alarm two minutes in advance.
It was these two minutes that played a decisive role...
As soon as the air defense siren sounded, the soldiers immediately pushed the fighter planes into the tunnel to avoid bombs.
The fast ones had already entered the tunnel during the bombing, while the slow ones were still pushing in when the bombs fell.
Wang Xuexin didn't know what was going on. They hurriedly ran to the entrance of the tunnel and looked down at the airport. They saw aerial bombs exploding in the center of the airport with a roar. They were so densely packed that the originally calm airport was bombed in an instant.
It was like a pot of boiling porridge, with fire and smoke exploding radially everywhere, and the air was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.
There was even a missed bomb that exploded not far from the entrance of the tunnel... It seemed that it could not be said to have been missed, because it almost hit the headquarters tunnel.
Although the tunnel is very strong, if an aerial bomb were to hit it directly above, a large part of it would collapse.
Wang Xuexin, Major Doug and others hurriedly fell to the ground. Li Yueying was unprepared for a moment and was choked by the smoke coming up and kept coughing... Pilots don't have much experience in dodging bombs.
Wang Xuexin couldn't take care of this. At this time, he only thought about: I hope those planes can escape this disaster!