After the Battle of Jeju Island, Lei Shaoqing no longer doubted Tan Renhao's judgment ability. For this combat operation, Lei Shaoqing was a little more confident.

"Actually, the key is not the operational issue of our fleet, but whether the ground aviation can cooperate with our actions." Tan Renhao leaned against the railing outside the bridge, and the cruiser "Li Jing" was moving at a speed of 18 knots, which is the maximum cruising speed of the fleet. "The key to the entire combat operation is whether the Japanese First Air Fleet will be fooled and will leave Iwo Jima and come to Ryukyu Island for a decisive battle with us. If the Japanese First Air Fleet is not deceived, then we will only be able to achieve one operational objective at most, and then we will have to think of other ways to accomplish the second combat mission. ”

"You asked for support from the Army Airlines to lure the First Air Fleet into falling for it?" Lei Shaoqing frowned slightly.

"No, Lu Hang is not a decoy, but smoke, a smoke covering us." Tan Renhao flicked the cigarette butt into the sea, "If the army continues to bomb Ryukyu Island for two days, then the Japanese side will strengthen the air defense of Ryukyu Island, and its main air defense fighters will be concentrated on the west side of Ryukyu Island." We were coming in from the north, so we could form a surprise strike. Of course, the key is the last round of bombing, because we have to keep the radio silent, so we can't communicate with the navy and the army, so they have to get the time right, which is the most difficult. ”

Lei Shaoqing nodded, this is also the most difficult and risky part of this plan formulated by Tan Renhao.

"However, I heard that the principal had a good friendship with Marshal Yan Dingyu, and it was the principal who sent Marshal Yan Dingyu to the front line in the Sinai Peninsula back then. This time, the principal personally came forward, and Marshal Yan Dingyu would definitely sell him face and let Lu Hang fully cooperate with our actions. Tan Renhao sighed, "Hopefully, Lu Hang's performance will not disappoint us." ”

At the same time when the fleet was sailing in the depths of the sea facing the rising sun, hundreds of bombers of the Imperial Army Air Force were launching one after another at more than 10 airfields in the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, preparing to launch the first round of bombing on Ryukyu Island. This was a bombing operation arranged by Marshal Yan Dingyu in accordance with the request made by Marshal Nie Renfeng, and personally ordered the commander of the Army Aviation, General Wei Boyu. It was also the largest bombing campaign organized by the Imperial Army Air Corps since the start of the war, with nearly 1,000 medium and heavy bombers deployed by the Army Air Force to bomb the Ryukyu Island for two days.

After the first bomber took off from an airfield near Hangzhou, nearly 500 bombers took off from more than a dozen airfields within half an hour. These bombers all carried high-explosive bombs. More than 500 bombers were divided into more than 10 formations and flew towards Ryukyu Island on the other side of the East China Sea. Just as these bombers arrived over the sea, more than 100 long-range fighters escorting them also took off from the airfield. This is a twin-engine long-range fighter equipped by the Army Aviation, although its air combat performance is not as good as the "Zero Combat" equipped by Japan, but its speed, solid body, and fierce firepower can provide some cover for bombers. And because these escort fighters are faster, they will reach the front of the bomber group over the central waters of the East China Sea.

Two hours later, the escort fighters encountered the first Japanese fighters who came to intercept them. Fierce air battles took place on both sides. The officers and men of the Japanese patrol ships that spotted these fighters in the nearby sea mistook the twin-engine long-range fighters for the medium bombers of the Tang Empire, and as a result, they misreported the situation, so that the Japanese air defense fighter units on Ryukyu Island were not fully prepared at all, and only sent less than 50 "Zero Battles" to intercept them. As a result, although the performance of these "Zero Battles" was a little better, they were outnumbered and were no match for the huge fleet of escort fighters.

Half an hour later, the first group of more than 30 bombers, which entered from a high altitude, reached the sky over the island of Ryukyu and dropped the bombs they carried, and their targets were Kadena airfield. Within the next hour, more than a dozen groups of bombers arrived one after another, attacking Kadena Airport, Naha Port, and more than a dozen field airfields built by the Japanese army on the island. It was not until the last batch of Tang Empire bombers left the sky over Ryukyu Island that the commander of the Japanese Ryukyu Island Defense Command reacted, and they were heavily bombed by the Tang Empire's army aviation.

In this bombing, the Imperial Army Air lost only 12 bombers and 8 escort fighters, but it managed to blow up more than 200 Japanese planes, shoot down more than 20 Japanese fighters, and destroy a large number of Japanese military facilities on the island, and also blew up a dock in Naha Port, destroying the salvage facilities that the Japanese had just built.

For the next two days, the Tang Imperial Army Air Force bombed the Ryukyu Island twice or three times a day, each time sending more than 300 bombers, and each sent a large number of escort fighters to escort the bomber group. The continuous bombing made it impossible for the Japanese to quickly replenish the number of air defense fighters on the island, and the damaged airfield was difficult to repair quickly. However, the Japanese army played a great role in the airfields on several other islands of the Ryukyu Islands, and a new batch of fighters were deployed at several other airfields, especially on the third day of the bombing, the two sorties of the army aviation were stubbornly intercepted by the Japanese air defense fighters, and the losses were quite heavy. In the afternoon bombing operation, the Army lost 48 bombers and 21 escort fighters were shot down, but the results of the bombing were negligible, and most of the bombers were intercepted by fighters before reaching the sky over Ryukyu Island, and they hurriedly returned after dropping their bombs.

On the night of the third day of the bombing, for the first time, the Army Aviation organized 450 bombers to carry out a night bombardment of the Ryukyu Islands. It was also the first night bombing mission carried out by the Imperial Army Air Corps after the outbreak of war. The bombers were organized into several formations, each with a long plane. The long plane first used flares to indicate the bombing target for the bombers behind them, and then dropped the bombs first, followed by the other bombers.

The Japanese air defense fighter units on the Ryukyu Islands also entered a tense state, with pilots being dispatched almost three times a day, and the perimeter guard units were also frequently alarmed due to excessive tension. As a result, the pilots are overly tired and simply do not get enough rest. However, the Japanese troops on the island did not know that an even greater disaster was about to befall them.

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