In the early morning of April 20, on the frontline position of Cui Gezhen on the east side of Pingdu, an artillery position showed a ghostly figure. The black barrel of the pen www.biquge.info pointed diagonally to the sky, and the artillery was ready to enter the firing preparation. In the forward trenches, soldiers sit with their backs to the trenches, their rifles with bayonets in both hands, waiting for the order to attack. The atmosphere was very tense, but the Japanese side was silent, and it was obvious that the Japanese defenders were still in the dark and did not notice it at all.

At the two front-line airfields adjacent to Pingdu, new fighters and bombers are on standby, and they seem to be eager to try. In the headquarters of the First Corps in Pingdu, Commander He Zhi looked dignified, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous in his heart. After all, it was the first time to command a large corps to fight. "Report, the attacking troops have entered the forward positions and are on standby!" "Report, support artillery fire into firing preparations!" "Report, long-range strike artillery fire into firing preparation." "Report, field airfield fighters have entered the airspace!" "Report! All units on the front line of the Dagu River are ready for battle! "With the report of the combat staff officer, the atmosphere before the battle seemed to be more tense.

The attack was imminent, He Zhi took out his pocket watch and glanced at it and said: "There are still 10 minutes before the shelling, order the attacking troops in the front to launch an attack after 20 minutes of shelling!" "The first-line offensive deployment of Pingdu is divided into two routes, the 1st Corps and the 1st Army serve as the offensive in the direction of Cui Gezhen, the 2nd Army serves as the offensive in the direction of Yunshan Town, and the 3rd Army serves as the campaign reserve. On the front line of the Dagu River, the 4th and 5th armies attacked Laiyang on the left and right, and the 6th Army served as a campaign reserve. Wang Jiefang, deputy commander of the Corps, sat on the front line of the Dagu River to command the operation.

At 6 a.m., Wang Kun, chief of staff of the Corps, gave the order for the shelling. Immediately the artillery began to roar, and in order to maximize the efficiency of the artillery, the 1st Artillery Division of the column and the newly formed long-range heavy artillery division all participated in the battle.

At this time, the roar was endless, and the 1st Corps of the 1st Corps attacked the direction, and dense shells flew towards the town of Cui Ge, where the Japanese army was entrenched. The Japanese army was unprepared, but reacted quickly. The Japanese soldiers quickly entered the defensive position, and the shells exploded on the Japanese position, filling the smoke and shocking scene.

At the same time as the shelling began, the commander of the air combat wing, Ding Bufan, personally led 40 fighters. After 20 minutes of shelling, the soldiers began to attack, accompanied by the loud trumpets of the charge. The resistance of the Japanese defenders was very stubborn, and the heavy rain of bullets suppressed the offensive speed of the attacking troops. On a hill, the Japanese army several heavy machine guns suppressed a battalion of attacking troops in the open field ahead. At this time, two bombers flew in, and several black bombs fell on the Japanese positions.

With the violent explosion, the fire of the Japanese position quickly weakened. The attacking soldiers were in high spirits and launched another assault. This was the first air-ground battle, and it showed great power. The Japanese soldiers were overwhelmed and were forced to abandon their positions and retreat to the rear. Since the Japanese artillery needed to be concealed during the day to prevent enemy air raids. Under the sudden strike, the Japanese artillery did not have time to deploy, and the defense fell into extreme passivity. In addition to the lack of preparation of the Japanese army, in less than two hours, the Japanese defense line was completely broken.

In the headquarters of the Japanese army in Weihai, it was extremely chaotic. The enemy launched a large-scale counterattack, leaving the Japanese army scrambling. At this time, Commander Yamamoto Nagawa appeared unusually calm and said: "Don't panic, order the front-line troops to stubbornly resist and delay the enemy's attack." The second-line troops were ordered to form a strong defensive line with the first line of Laixi and Laiyang. "Your Excellency General, Ge Yunfei actually dared to launch a counterattack, which just shows that he intends to contain us first and improve the offensive preparations, and we can use defensive operations to destroy a large number of enemy forces."

"It's not that simple, Ge Yunfei dared to launch a counterattack, which greatly surprised us. All artillery brigades and regiments on the front line were ordered to enter their positions this night, and the aviation units were ordered to go out early tomorrow morning to fully protect the artillery positions. "Commander Yamamoto Nagawa's intention is very clear, the purpose is to use powerful artillery fire to effectively block the enemy's attack and destroy a large number of enemy forces." Your Excellency, the enemy launched an attack in both directions of Pingdu and Dagu River at the same time, and it is obvious that Ge Yunfei's strength has greatly increased. ”

"It's hard to tell now whether Ge Yunfei really launched a large-scale counterattack, or whether it's a temptation. Order the defending units on the front line to abandon the first-line positions, but be sure to hold the second-line positions. Let Ge Yunfei often be sweet and formulate a new deployment. The enemy did not know that we had purchased advanced British Empire fighters, and that we could completely attack them by surprise and destroy Ge Yunfei's air force in one fell swoop. Once Ge Yunfei loses air superiority, he will not be far from defeat. ”

However, the sky is not as good as the sky, and the commander Yamamoto Nagawa decided to put in the fighter unit on the second day to give the enemy a surprise blow and paralyze the enemy fighter unit in one fell swoop. However, where did he think that the enemy army had already had a sharp blade in his hand, and he was eyeing it. Nagawa Yamamoto thought that his air force would have absolute control of air supremacy as soon as it was dispatched, so he gave the stupid order for all the artillery units to enter the artillery positions that night, so that the Japanese artillery suffered a heavy blow.

In the evening of the same day, the atmosphere in the Jinan Headquarters was warm, and Chief of Staff Jiang Fangzhen said excitedly: "Commander, as of dusk on the Pingdu front, the attacking troops of the First Army successfully took Cui Gezhen, and the Second Army took Yunnan Town a little later. In the direction of the Dagu River, the 4th Army took the key point of Liujiazhuang Town on the north side of the periphery of Laiyang, and the 5th Army was still fighting fiercely in Zhugou Town. It's a little confusing, the Japanese army did not put into combat with fighters! ”

"The commander of the Japanese army, Nagawa Yamamoto, is very cunning, and his deployment cannot be said to be bad, it should be said that it is good. His intention was to use a sudden strike to paralyze our fighter units in one fell swoop. Then use the fighters to protect the artillery positions, so as to use the powerful artillery fire to inflict maximum damage on our attacking troops. The ancients said: Only by knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent can one win a hundred battles. The sadness of Nagawa Yamamoto is to rest on his laurels and look at us with old eyes. The soldier is also treacherous, and if he understands this truth, it will be too late. ”

Ge Yunfei said decisively: "I judge that tomorrow morning, the Japanese army will definitely dispatch fighter troops on a large scale. Tonight, the Japanese artillery will enter the position without any scruples and order Ding Bufan to dispatch 40 fighters and all bombers tomorrow to destroy the Japanese air fighters in one fell swoop. After hearing this, Jiang Fangzhen picked up the phone and gave Ding Bufan an order. After receiving the order, Ding Bufan immediately issued the same combat order to several front-line airfields, heralding the beginning of a tragic air battle.

At dawn the next day, the Japanese army launched 40 fighters at Weihai and Yantai airfields, and rushed to the battle area with violentness and breathing.

Originally, the Japanese government asked the British Empire to provide bombers, but unfortunately Britain had not yet installed bombers, so this request could not be fulfilled. British bombers will not be able to fight on the battlefield until next year, and air strikes have already attracted great attention from the major powers and participating countries. There is no problem with the technical capabilities of Britain, France, Russia and the United States to produce fighters, but it takes time to develop and produce them, so the British government can only supply 50 new fighters.

Although the new fighter provided by the British is biplane, it is absolutely advanced in the eyes of Japan. This fighter is a camel fighter produced by the British Sopwis aircraft factory, and its performance exceeds that of the Puppy fighter. After the first verification aircraft came out at the beginning of the year, the Royal Flying Corps of the United Kingdom did not have any equipment, so it was generously sold to Japan. The Camel fighter is armed with two boat guns and requires 3 people to operate. The disadvantage is that this new fighter is not easy for novices to control, especially for Japanese pilots who lack flight experience, and it is difficult to master the essentials of flying in such a short time.

The performance of the J-2 fighter far exceeds that of the Camel fighter. Since the J-2 fighter uses a 130-horsepower aero engine, the single wing makes the fighter more flexible, especially the turning radius is smaller. Fewer personnel and more fire control. It can be said that the comparison between the Camel fighter and the J-2 fighter is no longer on the same level. The main tasks of the Japanese fighters were, first, to deal with the enemy's bombers and protect the artillery positions, and second, to fight in the air and paralyze the enemy's fighters.

Early in the morning, a red signal flare was lifted into the air, and Ding Bufan led 40 fighters to take off at the No. 1 airfield on the Pingdu front, and then flew east in formation. About 20 minutes later, the first batch of 20 bombers took off from Pingdu No. 2 airfield. At the same time, at the Dagu River No. 3 airfield, 20 bombers rose into the air. Because the Yantai intelligence station accurately sent a telegram confirming that the Japanese fighters took to the air to fight, Ding Bufan resolutely ordered to take off to meet the enemy.

Ding Bufan led the fighter plane in the sky over Qixia Town, encountered a group of Japanese aircraft, and the air battle suddenly began. As soon as the battle between the two sides began, Ding Bufan sent a signal that all fighters attacked freely. The striking strength of the machine gun and machine gun immediately appeared, Ding Bufan skillfully piloted the fighter, quickly bit a Japanese fighter, and entered the best shooting distance, Ding Bufan pulled the operating stick, and the two wings of the fighter spewed out fire snakes, and suddenly the Japanese fighter was hit and smoked, and then the fighter began to burn, rolling and planting to the ground. Ding Bufan pushed the joystick, rolled continuously to get rid of the chase of a Japanese fighter, and bit another Japanese fighter. Fighter planes from both sides chased each other in the sky, and if you stood on the ground and looked up, the scene was spectacular.

A J-2 fighter was hit by a vital point and planted to the ground with black smoke, followed by two Japanese fighters tumbling and kissing the ground. When Ding Bufan shot down 3 Japanese fighters, the Japanese planes began to flee in a hurry. In just 20 minutes of air combat, 28 of the 40 Japanese planes were shot down, while Ding Bufan's team only lost two fighters. Soon after, Ding Bufan led the victorious fighter plane to land at the airport, and the pilot waited in the cockpit to replenish fuel and ammunition.

The air battle was one-sided, and Ding Bufan received Ge Yunfei's order, carried forward the spirit of continuous combat, did not stop doing anything, and took advantage of the Japanese army's embarrassment to directly bomb the Japanese airfields in Yantai and Weihai. The group of planes swooped down on the Japanese airfield, and the terrifying blows continued.