Wang Xuexin had long expected that the Eighth Route Army's air supremacy would not last long.
This is an unavoidable problem, and it is also the most important point... Okamura Neji attaches great importance to air supremacy, and Wang Xuexin also attaches great importance to air supremacy. Both of them know what is most important in this game and have not been led by "high fire"
crooked.
The reason why air superiority is more important is because the Eighth Route Army's "high fire" missiles cannot travel hundreds of kilometers with quite high accuracy like modern missiles.
At this time, the "High Fire" has a maximum range of only 50 kilometers, and its accuracy depends largely on luck. This means that it is currently unable to suppress enemy airports, especially "zero-war" airports.
Just kidding, the "Zero War" can fly more than two thousand kilometers without an auxiliary fuel tank. In principle, it can fly to the battlefield a thousand kilometers away. This distance is undoubtedly far beyond the range of the "High Fire".
Secondly, there is the tactic proposed by Zhou Yuankai of reconnaissance aircraft cooperating with ground air defense forces to intercept "high fire"... This tactic requires reconnaissance aircraft, and the reconnaissance aircraft must conduct reconnaissance near the "high fire" launch silo. To achieve this, air superiority is required.
Thirdly, if the Japanese want to gain a foothold in China, they must regain air supremacy.
Last time, the Japanese air force was almost wiped out by "high fire", and then the strategic locations of the Japanese North China Front were bombed and suffered heavy losses. This was not only a material problem, but also shaken the Japanese military in China.
Even the stubborn army is beginning to prepare to launch a counterattack...
Because when Chongqing saw it, it was wrong!
When did the Japs become so weak?
More than a hundred "Hawker 81"s of the Eighth Route Army can blow up the Japanese as if they were in an uninhabited land. Don't we have any planes?
Not only do we have them, but we also have "Hawker 81", which is more and better than the Eighth Route Army. It is even equipped with aerial bombs that the Eighth Route Army does not have...
If the Eighth Route Army can bomb us, why can't they bomb us?
If air supremacy is regained, will ground combat become easier?
As a result, a large-scale counterattack plan was brewing, with the potential of "a storm is about to come".
To put it simply, it is "if the wall falls, everyone will push it".
The rise of the Eighth Route Army Air Force gave the Chinese military and civilians the hope of victory, so there was a situation of "attacking in groups".
In order to break this unfavorable situation, Okamura Neiji must reorganize the air force and regain air supremacy.
Wang Xuexin knew this, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly...
Wang Xuexin believed that the Japanese should at least discuss the proposal to deal with Okamura Neiji, or change the commander of the North China Front Army, and then form an air force to compete with the Eighth Route Army for air supremacy.
Unexpectedly, there was nothing. In just a few days, the Japanese Air Force secretly entered China and began to counterattack.
The Japanese counterattack was very fierce. After shooting down more than ten "Hawker 81", they immediately sent more than fifty bombers to bomb Wanxian Airport...
Wang Xuexin's command actually prevented the Eighth Route Army Air Force from being completely wiped out.
In this batch, Okamura Neiji received more than a hundred "Zero Fighters", fifty Type 96 Battleships retired from the Navy, and eighty Type 97 bombers.
The most astonishing thing among them is the more than one hundred "Zero Fighters".
You must know that in 1942, due to the pressure of the Pacific battlefield, the Japanese invested all the resources across the country to expand production of the "Zero War" and only produced 3,500 aircraft.
This type of carrier-based fighter jet, which was originally a navy, has been deployed on the Chinese battlefield in several batches. This time, an unprecedented 100 aircraft were deployed.
In this way, the air power of the Japanese North China Front Army against the Eighth Route Army, not counting other things, just the "Zero War" versus the "Hawker 81" is close to one to one.
Okamura Neji’s battle plan is as follows:
When the Eighth Route Army did not know that the Imperial Air Force had been reorganized and was still bombing the imperial-controlled areas, it first used bombers to bomb Wan County Airport under the cover of "zero war"...
The reason why bombers were used to bomb the county airport first was because Okamura Neiji wanted to use a big victory to boost morale and at the same time let those guys who were ready to make moves in China see clearly who was the real boss.
This plan is not without its viciousness.
Because once the Wanxian Airport was bombed and the runway was bombed into a mess, the "Hawker 81" that flew into the air would not even land, and would have to be shot down by enemy planes or forced to land in the air.
No matter which one you choose, the final result will not be much better.
This is why Okamura Neiji needs to spend time preparing... "Zero War" is easy to put in place, but the Type 97 bomber and the aerial bombs it uses will take some time.
In the end, the Japanese accidentally let the news out.
In fact, it cannot be said that the Japanese were not careful, but that even if the plane was flying at night, the "rumbling" sound of the engine would still attract the attention of intelligence personnel.
If it were in the past, intelligence officers might have been used to it.
But now when they heard the sound of the plane, the intelligence officers felt strange:
Wasn't the Japanese Air Force completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army? Why is there still the sound of planes!
Is it an Eighth Route Army plane?
It's unlikely. There's no explosion and no shooting. How about wasting this oil?
So I secretly followed the direction of the plane's sound and soon found the Japanese's secret airport and saw planes landing one after another with my own eyes.
Therefore, it is not that the Japanese did a poor job of keeping secrets.
But the Japanese are in China, surrounded by Chinese people. If they want to transport the plane in without anyone noticing, they can't just fly at night.
If the Japanese could keep it secret, the Eighth Route Army Air Force might really be bombed this time.
Fortunately, Wang Xuexin got the information and withdrew the air force back in time.
The frustrated Okamura Neiji could only order the unprepared bomber formation to bomb the Wanxian Airport.
There were not many results. Only two fighter planes that had just landed and had no time to advance into the aircraft castle were blown up, and there were no casualties in the rest.
The situation suddenly became tense, and telegrams flew to Wang Xuexin's headquarters like snowflakes.
A moment later, a brigade's "zero battle" was discovered here, and a moment later a brigade's "zero battle" was discovered there. The air was filled with Japanese fighter planes.
The Japanese fighter planes seemed to be demonstrating but also seeking revenge. They strafed and bombed Yuncheng. For a while, Yuncheng was bombarded with flames everywhere.
Half of Li Yunlong's headquarters was destroyed by the bombing, and many guards and correspondents were carried out. Fortunately, Li Yunlong was out on patrol at the time, otherwise he would have inevitably suffered a loss.
While directing the rescue, Li Yunlong yelled angrily: "These damn little devils are still going strong! It's Northeast, why can't our plane get on? And what about the 'high fire'? Can't that thing blow up the plane?"