Colonel Ishii was confident about this battle because the imperial army had sufficient combat effectiveness at Linfen Airport.
This is because the Imperial Army has to face Eagle Jiang's aircraft, and there is intelligence that the first batch of 10 is probably just the first batch, and more aircraft will follow to reinforce the Eighth Route Army.
Therefore, Linfen Airport, which suppressed the Eighth Route Army Air Force, became the front line.
In addition to hundreds of bombers and fighter jets, Okamura Neiji also mobilized five air defense wings.
These air defense units were all deployed around Linfen Airport, surrounding Linfen Airport like a bucket.
Especially the west... This direction is diagonally opposite the Eighth Route Army's airport, and the west is Luliang Mountain, which is a radar blind spot. Because I was worried that enemy aircraft would suddenly appear from the direction of Luliang Mountain, I deployed them one on the left and one on the right in this direction.
Two air defense wings.
Once an enemy plane appears from this direction, it will be hit by crossfire from the two air defense wings.
I didn't expect that the Eighth Route Army would be so stupid as to rush into the encirclement from this direction.
Colonel Ishii thought for a while and issued two more orders:
"All air defense units, turn on searchlights to search for targets!"
"The Third Squadron is preparing to take off to intercept!"
The first order is to worry about not being able to detect the target in time in the dark, and the second order is to use as many fighter planes as possible to intercept the enemy planes.
Colonel Ishii hoped to make it impossible for enemy planes to come back.
If all 10 Hawker 81s can be shot down, it will save the Imperial bombers from bombing Wanxian Airport again and again... At this time, the Empire is in urgent need of fuel and bombs, so wasting it on the Eighth Route Army's airport, Ishii is a little bit
Muscle pain.
If the Eighth Route Army carried out conventional bombing, it would indeed have plunged headlong into the encirclement, which would almost certainly have resulted in the total annihilation of the entire army.
Because according to Ariga Chiri and Ishii's layout...
Even if the Hawker 81 can break through the air defense network of the air defense wing, it will still have to face the encirclement and suppression of more than 30 enemy aircraft when it flies over the airport.
By then, the Hawker 81 will still be able to bomb and dive and straf?
I'm afraid it's too late to save my life and escape!
Even if there are a few planes that can shoot regardless of their own life and death, the damage caused to Linfen Airport will be extremely limited!
Therefore, there was no problem with Ariga and Ishii's command, and even Okamura Neji's order to scramble the fighter planes to intercept them.
The problem is that the Eighth Route Army changed its combat mode...
At this time, Major Doug was leading the fleet of aircraft to climb along the firelight.
Major Doug said on the radio: "Once we climb, we will most likely appear on the enemy's radar, and the enemy will know our location! Are you ready?"
"Yes, sir!" the pilots replied one after another.
"Attention!" Major Doug added: "Even if an enemy plane comes to intercept, you cannot avoid it. You must maintain a high altitude and launch the rockets. Do you understand?"
"Understood, sir!"
After a moment of silence, Major Doug added: "If I am hit by the enemy, I will choose to fly the plane towards the enemy airport! I wish you good luck!"
Everyone was silent, and they were all thinking about one question: Will there be that moment? If that moment comes, will they choose to parachute or rush to the enemy's airport?
But after thinking about it, they knew that Major Doug was right.
Because this is not heroism, nor is it for the motherland or to win this war, it is all for yourself...If you fall into the hands of the devil, they will make your life worse than death.
Even Yingjiang pilots have heard of this.
(Note: At this time, many people in Eagle Sauce had been captured and killed by the Japanese on the Pacific battlefield)
Zhou Yuankai and Li Dongcheng did not understand Major Doug's words... They only had time to write down all the commands, such as "climb", "formation flight", etc., but they were confused about the rest.
But it’s not a big deal, Zhou Yuankai thought, it’s just some morale-boosting words anyway, I’ve been through big storms, why are I still afraid of this small battle?
"Brother!" Zhou Yuankai took the microphone and shouted to Li Dongcheng: "I have to thank you!"
"Thank you for what?" Li Dongcheng sounded a little confused.
"If it weren't for you..." Zhou Yuankai said: "Today I would be stabbed in the back by the puppet army in front of a traitor!"
Li Dongcheng said "hey": "What else can I say! Damn it! After this battle, let's drink him until he's drunk!"
"Okay!" Zhou Yuankai nodded: "Let's ask the team leader to treat us!"
"Yes, let the leader bleed some blood!" Li Dongcheng agreed.
As they said this, the two of them laughed "hehe".
Although Major Doug could not understand Chinese, he could understand their relaxed laughter.
Major Doug was a little surprised. He couldn't believe that at this last moment, the Chinese pilot who flew the Hawker 81 for the first time could still laugh!
If they have such courage, can the Eagle Sauce pilots still be compared?
At this time, Major Doug felt a little ashamed, and then the fear in his heart became less and he became calmer and calmer.
What Major Doug didn't know was that the other Yingjiang pilots were also impressed by the courage of these two Chinese pilots and were infected by them and relaxed.
Major Doug was right. When Hawker 81 climbed higher to cross the Luliang Mountains, the Japanese radar reacted.
The radar soldier stared at the screen almost non-stop, and suddenly several abnormal ripples appeared on the screen (old-fashioned radar was displayed in the form of ripples).
The radar soldier immediately became nervous, then immediately picked up the phone and reported to the headquarters: "An enemy plane was found, heading due west! Major Ariga's intelligence is correct, they are crossing the Luliang Mountains!"
Without any hesitation, Colonel Ishii immediately notified the two air defense wings of the intelligence through his staff, and at the same time ordered the fighter planes to take off to meet the enemy.
On the other hand, he contacted the Ariaga group: "They have crossed the Luliang Mountains. You surround them from the rear. Don't let them escape!"
"Yes!" Ariga Chiri responded, and then ordered his subordinates to divide into two teams and move towards the airport to outflank them.
but……
What they didn't expect was that it was already too late.
And their outflanking is meaningless.
Because their outflanking was aimed at the enemy flying over the airport.
But the Eighth Route Army's planes did not need to fly to this location; they had returned home before that.
Major Doug suddenly saw a lot of firelights in front of him. The firelights formed an arrow, pointing directly to Linfen Airport ten kilometers away.
At the same time, the sun in the east finally rose, and a ray of sunlight spread across the Luliang Mountains to Linfen Airport, illuminating the densely packed various types of aircraft parked there...