"Please inform Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama that our troops have been cut off from supplies. If the empire continues to provide no support, our troops will launch a final charge against the enemy before exhaustion in two days!" Major General Itsuya Tsuruya desperately reported to the 11th Army that night after the food shortage.
The military headquarters sent a farewell message.
In fact, Tsutani Ishara has never given up hope of walking out of this mountain alive. He believes that Yokoyama Isamu will not give up the 231st Infantry Regiment and his Hidani Detachment, whether it is for himself or the Imperial Army.
But as time went by, the hopes that had once turned into despair, until the commander of the baggage troop reported to him that the last rations carried by the baggage troop were gone.
But support is still far away, and Yokoyama Isamu's reply to him is always "Wait a little longer, support will arrive in a few days!".
Itsuya Atsuya was not as furious as he imagined, but accepted everything very calmly.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the weather was a bit gloomy, and there were some rare snowflakes floating in the sky. Looking at the snowflakes flying all over the sky, Zhitani Yiyuan seemed to have seen his own ending.
He will be skin and bones from hunger, crawling like a mummy in the mountains of China in winter. Perhaps the snow will freeze his body and gradually rot in the spring breeze of March. Or maybe it won’t take that long for hunger in the mountains to
The wild wolves would dig up his carcass, which had not much meat at all, and feast on it.
I couldn't help but tremble. For Itsutani, he didn't want to choose either of these two endings.
Therefore, Atsuya Yihara sent a forced-forcible message to Yokoyama Isamu.
If supplies are no longer available, the last 2,000 officers and soldiers of the Needle Valley detachment will launch a final charge against the Chinese defense line in two days until all members are killed.
Between starving to death and dying in battle, Itsuya chose the latter!
As for such a telegram, Tsutani Itsuhara not only sent one copy, but also sent one to the 34th Division Regiment Headquarters.
This was actually the true purpose of Itsuhara Hayatani. He wanted more people to know that the main reason why he chose to push 2,000 people to the final desperate end was that the Lieutenant General Commander of the Empire's 11th Army did not rescue them.
And he also believed it, but many people were happy to see this, including Isamu Yokoyama himself.
If he doesn't want to be affected by this, Yokoyama Isamu has only one way to do his best to supply the Needle Valley detachment with supplies.
As for whether to offend Lieutenant General Yokoyama Isamu, how could this be considered by a dying man?
Although Isamu Yokoyama's reply still contained the same words: "Wait a little longer," only the headquarters of the China Expeditionary Forces in Japan knew that Isamu Yokoyama even put aside his dignity as a lieutenant general commander and personally called Itagaki, the chief of staff of the China Expeditionary Forces.
Lieutenant General Shiro, in an almost pleading tone, requested that he come forward to negotiate with the Commander of the Imperial Navy's Third Fleet, Ao Hasegawa, and ask the Navy to dispatch a transport aircraft formation to airdrop the two trapped Japanese troops.
It's not that Isamu Yokoyama is not generous enough, but after the Battle of Shipai, the Japanese Navy lost more than 30 fighter planes of various types stationed in Jiangxia, and its strength was only half of what it was before the war. They have lost the ability to fight the Chinese Air Force again.
Faced with the pleadings of several senior army generals, Hasegawa Ao, the top Japanese Navy general in China, finally decided to help these unfortunate people.
30 Zero fighter jets and 12 Type 97 bombers departed from Songhu and flew to Jiangxia at noon on the second day of the Lunar New Year. All kinds of supplies with parachute bags that had been prepared were transported onto the plane, plus the previous supplies from Jiangxia.
Bombers, a total of 24 bombers carrying nearly 24 tons of supplies flew to Shipai under the escort of 46 Zero fighter jets.
This is probably the first time that the Japanese Navy has used so many Zero fighter jets to escort a purely 'transport' aircraft formation.
It also fully demonstrates that the Japanese Navy attaches great importance to the Chinese Air Force, not to mention contempt and contempt, and even regards it as an extremely terrifying opponent.
All the attention is paid on the battlefield.
In the Battle of Shipai, the Chinese Air Force participated in a total of 13 battles and dispatched nearly 400 fighter sorties. At the cost of 26 battle losses, the Chinese Air Force shot down and damaged 47 Japanese aircraft, and still had the upper hand.
Of course, this does not mean that the Chinese Air Force has surpassed the Japanese Navy in terms of aircraft performance and pilot level, but it is caused by several factors.
First of all, the main target of the Japanese Navy is the Chinese Army. The aircraft formations basically use Zero fighters to escort the bomber formations. However, the Chinese Air Force does not focus on dealing with the Japanese troops on the ground. They dispatch Wildcat fighter jets that focus on air combat.
Secondly, the Wildcat fighter jets of the Chinese Air Force are thick-skinned and can often continue to fight vigorously after being hit by dozens of bullets. Even if they are severely damaged, they can make an emergency landing in an open field in the mountains, with a success rate higher than 100%.
sixty.
The same cannot be said for the Japanese. Needless to say, the Type 97 bomber is a big and thin-skinned bomber. Once it is bitten by the latest Wildcat fighter equipped with a 20mm cannon, it is basically finished. The Zero fighter often bursts into flames, so it has to be
I gritted my teeth and flew to the nearest airport, not daring to make an emergency landing on the spot.
Practice has proved that pilots who make forced landings in Japanese-occupied areas are in danger, let alone forced landings on territory controlled by the Chinese army. Those Chinese mountain people holding hoes and hatchets surrounded them, let alone only wearing the Southern Fourteenth Style.
It's a small pistol, even holding a light machine gun is hard to use.
Dead people are dragged away like wild boars, and airplanes can be torn apart by the Chinese!
It would be difficult for the aircraft to have a burning fighter plane run for tens of kilometers in the air! This is also a main reason for the high damage rate of Japanese aircraft.
Therefore, with the threat of the lives of 2,000 Imperial Army soldiers by Itsuya Tsuruya, and the coordination of senior generals of Japan's China Expeditionary Force, the Japanese Navy dispatched the largest fighter formation since the Battle of Shipai, just to provide relief to the thousands of Japanese troops in the two encirclements.
Dropped 24 tons of food rations and the same urgently needed medicines.
On average, in fact, each Japanese soldier could not get much food. Even if he got it all, it would last for another week.
To use a Chinese saying: It was really a waste of effort, but only a monk could buy the comb - there was a bastard who could use it.
The 46 Zero fighter jets are also murderous. On the one hand, they are escorting the 24 transport aircraft. On the other hand, they are seeking revenge for their fallen colleagues and seeking a decisive battle with the Chinese Air Force.
The Japanese are not stupid. They know that the Chinese have imported a batch of new American fighters, but China lacks aircraft production capacity. It will be difficult to replenish this batch of new fighters if they are lost. Through the fight with the Chinese Air Force in the past six months, it can basically be inferred that the Chinese Air Force
The approximate loss is around 50 frames.
To compete with the combat effectiveness of 46 Zero fighters, the Chinese Air Force must dispatch at least the same number of fighters. That may be the last strength of the Chinese Air Force.
In the hangars of Yiling Airport and Jingmen Airport, where the runways have just been repaired, there are still 24 Zero fighters hidden. They are waiting for news of the appearance of Chinese fighters. In 30 minutes, they can all arrive at the battlefield.
After a fierce battle, the Chinese Air Force struck a fatal blow.
On the surface, it was an all-out escort, but secretly, it was actually an aerial ambush.
If the Chinese Air Force's new fighter fleet can be severely damaged so that it will have little combat effectiveness within three months to six months, it can be regarded as making up for the failure of the Battle of Shipai.
It can only be said that the generals of Japan's navy and army are not completely stupid, and they still have some skills.
It's a pity that the Chinese Air Force has not dispatched it. It's not that it can't afford it, but it's not cost-effective.
The current Chinese Air Force is much stronger than the Japanese expected. The latest modified Wildcat fighter jets equipped with a 20mm cannon began to be installed as early as January. Although forty or fifty Wildcat fighter jets were lost in the past six months, after
After the supplement, there are 8 squadrons of Wildcat fighter jets distributed at 6 airports in Sichuan Province, which is close to 100 aircraft again.
If we were to have a decisive battle with the 70 Zero fighters dispatched by the Japanese Navy, it would be hard to say who would win and who would lose.
But in the later stages of this kind of battle, it would be a bit of a loss to fight for the 20 tons of supplies and dozens of Zero fighter jets that the Japanese army was about to airdrop.
Do you think that the Japanese troops in the encirclement can comfortably get the supply packages dropped from the sky?
Take the Needle Valley detachment, which is surrounded by a mountainous area of less than 3 square kilometers as an example. If bombs were dropped, the hit rate that could be dropped into this small Japanese position was estimated to be higher than 70%.
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But the supply bag is not a bomb, right? In order to prevent it from falling, a parachute must be attached to the supply bag. If it is a parachute, it must float. It depends on the wind direction.
Wushan, which is located on the side of the river, is not very windy.
What's more! This kind of operation of accepting "pie in the sky" is the first time for the Needle Valley Detachment, but for the officers and soldiers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the Four Lines Regiment, they are already familiar with it.
The Japanese used this trick last year when there were more than 1,000 little Japanese in the 1st Division of Zishanwei. They had plenty of experience in robbing the Japanese.
Therefore, when the Needle Valley detachment received an order from Isamu Yokoyama: Air support will arrive at around 4 p.m.! They immediately lit bonfires on the sides of each highland or on the top of the mountain, and used flames and smoke to instruct the aircraft formation.
Leng Feng, who had received news of the unusual behavior of the Japanese in the encirclement, thought for a moment and concluded that the Japanese army might receive airdropped supplies, and immediately ordered all highlands to follow the same tactics as the Japanese army.
Looking down from a high altitude, there are dots of flames or plumes of smoke rising up everywhere. There is no way to tell which is the high ground of the Chinese and which is the high ground of the Imperial Army.
Do you want to lower your altitude and make your shots more accurate? Sorry, there are 40mm anti-aircraft guns from the Four Rows Air Defense Battalion on the ground and 7mm heavy machine guns that are enough to form a fire net at medium and low altitudes.
All 40mm anti-aircraft gun positions have received military orders. Japanese fighter planes can drop them at an altitude of 4,000 meters. They can do it. If the altitude drops, let them do it.
"Damn the Chinese! Squadrons are ready to receive supplies!"
Watching the transport plane formation hovering in the sky for several times without daring to lower its altitude, they could only drop strings of white 'mushrooms' at an altitude of 4,000 meters. Itsuhara Yatani, who was eager for the supplies, almost broke his back molars.
When the Chinese imitated the detachment and lit bonfires, the real Li Kui who met the fake Li Kui naturally knew what the Chinese were planning, but he really had no way to fight against the fake, even if he could have a live connection with the fighter jet formation.
There is no way to provide manual navigation for pilots at an altitude of 4,000 meters.
If the transport aircraft formation could lower its altitude, for example to about 1,000 meters, he could use military flags to guide them, but the constant appearance of small white mushrooms in the sky destroyed his ambitions.
The Chinese use anti-aircraft anti-aircraft guns to constantly remind the fleet at high altitude: Don’t lower your altitude, if you dare, I will beat you!
If you drop a parachute bag at an altitude of 4,000 meters, how accurate is it? You can only rely on luck.
Looking at the hundreds of umbrella bags floating in the sky, Itsuya's eyes were full of hope, as long as one-third of them could land on his own position!
No, God bless Amaterasu, one-fifth is acceptable.
Seeing most of the parachute bags swaying and drifting into the distance under the influence of the mountain wind above, the painful Major General Hazutani Itsuhara quickly revised his wish.
It's a pity that Amaterasu may bless you, but he will never provide free shipping.
Of the hundreds of parachute bags, when they dropped to a height of 800 meters, seven or eight out of ten of them had already floated over the heads of the Japanese and were thrown towards the Chinese position.
Just a tenth of it will do! That can feed at least 2,000 people.
Only those who have experienced hunger know how terrible it is.
Don't worry, I have been without food for less than two days. I also had a small amount of wild vegetable soup to satisfy my hunger, but my body responded quickly to the lack of energy.
For example, after the blood sugar supply is reduced, the brain will often feel dizzy; for another example, the human body increases the metabolic rate in order to maintain normal physiological activities. At this time, the sympathetic nervous system will help dissipate heat by regulating the secretion of sweat glands. Sweating can lower the body temperature, which is the body's response to hunger.
a self-protective response.
Even the vagus nerve is stimulated, causing diaphragm spasm and causing hiccups.
In short, the whole person showed an extremely abnormal state, including the Japanese army major general who secretly had a rotten rice ball to satisfy his hunger. He didn't sleep much last night, and the gurgling sound from his empty belly could be clearly heard in the dark night.
Creepy.
Being able to have a full meal is the biggest wish of the 2,000 people in the needle valley detachment currently under siege.
But even this wish was shattered by the Chinese.
"Dong dong dong!" The Chinese anti-aircraft guns actually fired at this time.
What they were targeting was not a fleet of aircraft that had returned from airdrops, but parachute packs that were only a few hundred meters above the ground.
After judging the wind direction and impact point, China launched an air strike on the parachute package that was stubbornly falling towards the Japanese position area.
The main thing is that if you can't get it yourself, don't even think about getting it to the detriment of others!
Yes! What China lost was precious artillery shells. In terms of their value, they far exceeded the rice and canned meat tied under the parachutes.
But for Leng Feng and Cheng Tieshou, if the artillery shells are gone, they can be remade and bought again. The Japanese can kill people if they have a full belly.
Then let them continue to be hungry!
The wooden box containing the supplies was only 1 cubic meter, and the target was small and difficult to hit, but the parachute bag was large enough, and its descent speed was like a turtle's flow compared to a speeding fighter plane.
Not only are the 40mm anti-aircraft guns constantly bombarding, but at an altitude of about 500 meters, 20mm anti-aircraft guns with a range of 2,500 meters and 7mm anti-aircraft machine guns deployed on the front line are also involved.
"Baga! Order the infantry artillery and mountain artillery to fight back at the Chinese anti-aircraft artillery firing area!" Itsuya Tsuruya just watched helplessly as a wooden box was exploded by artillery shells in the air, and the materials inside were scattered in front of his eyes. He was completely mad.
.
"Your Excellency, detachment leader," the Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff swallowed, but did not dare to remind the Imperial Army Major General who was already going crazy.
Given the depth of their current position, once the mountain artillery fires, the rising smoke will be immediately observed by the Chinese. The mortars that the Chinese have been waiting for will definitely wash the area of the artillery position with a hail of bullets.
Unfortunately, the Japanese Army Lieutenant Colonel guessed correctly.
The remaining artillery pieces of the Japanese army have always been a thorn in the side of China. Without killing the remaining artillery pieces of the Japanese army, Leng Feng, who was unwilling to further reduce his own strength, would never attack.
The purpose of bombarding the Japanese army's airdrop of supplies was to prevent the Japanese army from easily obtaining supplies, and also to hope that the Japanese army's artillery would not be able to resist counterattack.
A total of 8 150-weight guns and 6 80-mm howitzers with their gun jackets removed were waiting for them. In addition, the 82-pound guns equipped in each company were also required to carry out a basic projection.
No one expected that an airdrop of supplies that was supposed to quench a thirst far away would eventually become the trigger for the complete destruction of the last eight 75mm mountain guns of the Needle Valley detachment.
The Japanese artillery position, which had no depth at all, was just hidden. When the artillery was fired, the smoke rising above it could be seen for miles.
Nearly 500 artillery shells were fired in half an hour, plowing three Japanese artillery positions back and forth five or six times. No living thing can survive this level of artillery fire intensity, not even steel.
Seeing the harvest of less than 600 kilograms of supplies in total, and hearing the report that 8 mountain guns of the artillery brigade were destroyed and 148 artillerymen died, Major General Itsutani cried.
The dignified Major General of the Imperial Japanese Army squatted in front of the pile of supplies, which was pitifully small for the entire detachment, crying like a child who had had enough of being wronged.
Seriously, I have seen bullies, but I have never seen anyone bully like this!
........
ps: Yesterday, my daughter finished her last exam at 6:15. She originally wanted to go home and code, but her classmates said to celebrate that her daughter was finally out of the sea of suffering. I didn’t have to worry about it every day. They asked me to buy a drink and they were responsible for the food. Because of this, yesterday
no update.
I only drank 2 taels of 2 bottles of Wuliangye vintage wine, but the others drank happily. I, who was responsible for buying the wine, always felt that something was wrong.
