On August 8, 1942, on the traditional calendar of the Chinese, this day is the day of the beginning of autumn, marking the official beginning of the Mengqiu season, and the weather will turn from summer to cool. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the early morning of that day, in the northern part of the Sea of Japan, south of Peter the Great Bay, the Japanese Combined Fleet, with the Kii-class battleship "Suruga" as its flagship, came to the gate of the Russians in a murderous manner.

During World War II, the large-scale naval battles that took place in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans established the core position of the aircraft carrier's navy, so since 1936, the great powers have never commissioned super battleships with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons, Germany's "Germania", "Friedrich-Wilhelm II", Japan's "Suruga", "Tosa", and the United States' "Ohio", the pinnacle of the era of these giant ships and cannons, undoubtedly become the last remnants and witnesses of that era. From 1939 to 1941, the Japanese Navy spent a lot of money on the "Suruga" and "Tosa" to carry out large-scale modernization, which did not make them beyond the innate constraints of the ship class to become invincible, but they could make them a symbol of the Navy's spirit, and at the same time, they were capable of playing the new role of the Navy's mobile command.

Although the 1937 U.S.-Japan Armistice Agreement was regarded as a humiliating diplomatic defeat by all circles in Japan, from a strategic point of view, the next five years became the most rapid period of industrial and economic development in Japanese history, and the military strength that had suffered huge losses in the middle and late stages of the Pacific War was also quickly restored. By the time the war broke out in 1942, the Japanese navy had returned to the top three in the world, and its total tonnage was second only to Germany, which dominated the world, and Italy, which claimed to be the master of the Mediterranean.

Approaching about 200 kilometers from the port of Vladivostok, the large formation of the Japanese Combined Fleet slowed its northward speed. With a dull roar, hundreds of carrier-based planes circled over the fleet, and then flew in the direction of Russky Island and the port of Vladivostok......

By the end of the war, there were only two combat aircraft carriers left in the entire Japanese Navy, less than 300 carrier-based aircraft available, and even fewer experienced elite pilots. It is precisely because of the great losses suffered in the confrontation of the air force that after the war, the Japanese Navy focused its development on aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, and in less than five years it built and put into service a total of 10 combat aircraft carriers of the two classes of Chilong and Yunhe, in addition to a number of aircraft carriers in the stage of construction or outfitting, and the superior performance of the 97 ship attack, 99 ship explosion, and zero ship battle are comprehensively replacing those old models that were defeated by the US naval aviation on the battlefield. A large number of pilots who have been rigorously selected and trained have also joined the vigorous ranks of the Japanese naval aviation.

Compared with the Japanese Combined Fleet, which has a fairly impressive historical record, the Soviet Russian Navy has been unknown since its birth, and its size and strength have always lagged behind the army and air force. The "Kirov," a large 10,000-ton cruiser designed and built as an assault ship, played an insignificant role in any great power country, but it was a dazzling star in the Soviet Russian Navy, so after the loss of the "Kirov," the Soviet Pacific Fleet immediately adopted a defensive strategy of contraction, after which only the submarine forces left Peter the Great Bay for activities.

As one of the few legacies of the Tsarist era, the former Sevastopol-class battleships "Paris Commune" and "October Revolution" were transferred from the Baltic Fleet and the Northern Fleet to the Pacific Fleet in the fall of 1941. Although the arrival of the two battleships greatly enhanced the strength of the Soviet and Russian Pacific Fleets, the strength of the Red Fleet was still too weak in the face of the Japanese Navy -- how could these old battleships, which were more than 30 years old with 12-inch naval guns as their main weapons, compete with the Japanese Navy's super battleships or super battlecruisers that were only about 10 years old and equipped with 16-inch naval guns? When the Kirov fought fiercely with a formidable enemy, two modernized Sevastopol-class battleships were on standby in Vladivostok, but they were unable to raise their swords and defend their honor with a death-defying sortie.

As soon as the Japanese carrier-based aircraft group flew together, the ground-based radar on the Soviet and Russian sides issued a combat warning. Under the guidance of the air defense command, the Soviet-Russian battles, which took off from various airfields around Vladivostok, swooped down on the Japanese carrier-based aircraft group in a timely and accurate manner.

Soon, the Soviet Russian fighters, which took the lead in taking to meet the enemy, confronted the surging Japanese fighters in the airspace southeast of Russky Island. The first air battle was fought between 20 I-16s and 37 Zeros. Judging from the air combat records of the previous stage, the Zero fighter, which has been in service for less than two years, clearly outperforms the I-16 in solo or formation combat, and it is also quite easy to deal with the Fokker G-51 equipped by the Soviet and Russian armies, but this is on the premise that the fighters on both sides are conventional configurations. Not long ago, the Council of the League of Nations made a decision to continue sanctions against Japan, and Germany, the United States, and Ireland separately made secret deals with the Soviet and Russian governments, and a batch of advanced weapons, including radio-guided bombs, wire-controlled torpedoes, and air-launched rockets, began to be delivered to the Soviet and Russian forces.

Among the Soviet and Russian fighters in the airspace around Vladivostok to meet the Japanese carrier-based aircraft, some of them were newly equipped with German-made X-3A air-launched rockets, which were not rocket-powered bombs, but new weapons equipped with radio-controlled/inductive fuzes, which could change their flight trajectory after being launched and play an effective role through radio-induced proximity fuzes, which could be said to be the prototype of air-to-air missiles. Although there are still shortcomings such as short effective range and low reliability, it is enough to make Japanese pilots who have never seen this kind of technical weapon suffer.

In recent years, Japan's aviation industry has benefited from abundant manpower and material resources, and has received the full support of Italy and Austria-Hungary in terms of technology, and has been able to catch up, the performance of military and civil aircraft has jumped up the ladder, and the technology of aviation weapons and auxiliary equipment has also made great progress, but the aviation science and technology of Italy and Austria-Hungary are only quasi-first-class level after all, and there is still a lot of difference between them and the real first-class, and radio remote control and rocket technology are their common shortcomings. The Japanese naval pilots who stormed Vladivostok were rushing at the Russian fighters in battle formation, and they were immediately overwhelmed by the air-launched rockets that were coming with tail flames. There was a thud, and several Zero Battles whimpered and fell to the surface of the sea without firing a single shot, and another seven or eight were damaged to varying degrees......

The old Imperial Japanese Army was an armed force with the spirit of bushido as its backbone, and the tenacity of its combatants was far beyond that of ordinary armies. With the first game lost, they tried to take control with what they do best, aerial grappling. Once in the melee phase, the mobility advantage of Zero-Fight is vividly revealed. Although the I-16 is also a famous aircraft of a generation, fast, sturdy structure, and strong firepower can make the thin and light fuselage of the Zero fighter open the skin, but aerial dogfight is by no means their forte. The Russian pilots resolutely carried out the tactical strategy of hitting and leaving, but it was difficult for them to do so in the face of the Zero pilots with excellent flying skills. Both sides have their own strengths, and the fierce air battle is suddenly inextricably linked!

Not long after, a huge fleet of nearly 100 Zero-Combat and more than 100 99-9 warships appeared in the airspace of more than 4,000 meters. Receiving an order from the combat command, the I-16 and Fokker G-51, which had long been on standby at high altitude, immediately met them.

In order to cover their own carrier-based bombers, six squadrons of Zero fighters did not hesitate to rush forward against the Soviet and Russian aircraft groups. In the face of rocket attacks by Soviet and Russian fighters, about one-third of the Zero fighters were unfortunately "hit". After a moment of head-on fire, the fighters of the two sides that staggered by immediately circled each other in the strong hum of the engine, and the Japanese pilots who had tested their old ways used all their skills to drag down their opponents, so that they could not go to intercept their own 99 ship explosions, and the target in the eyes of the Soviet Russian pilots was these Japanese carrier-based bombers with plaster on their bodies and bombs hanging under their bellies!

As the battle heats up, the smooth roar of aviation machine guns and machine guns fills the middle and high altitudes, and the two groups of fighters who are striving for the commanding heights of the battlefield engage in fierce hand-to-hand combat. Different from the air combat mode of knight duel more than 20 years ago, on the battlefield in the thirties and forties, it was difficult to win alone, and the overly large fighter formations were abandoned by actual combat due to poor flexibility, and air combat has gradually evolved into a stage for small tactical formations to show their talents, these formations are often composed of two to four fighters, distinguishing the main engine and wingman, and responding to each other and attacking alternately in battle, among which the two-plane and four-plane tactics are the most famous, and they have not only been fully proven on the battlefield. Moreover, it was constantly improved in the course of war until a written and systematic tactical model was formed. Although the Soviet Russian Air Force was not officially involved in the war until 1942, throughout the thirties, they accumulated very rich flying experience in combat operations in the Caucasus and Greater Persia, and a large number of veteran pilots had more than 100 combat duties and more than 1,000 flight hours, and this valuable wealth was further appreciated in the war against Japan.

Knowing well the important military value of the Vladivostok base, the Soviet and Russian fighter pilots did their best to block the Japanese planes, but the other side had been planning for this battle for a long time, was determined to win, and gained the upper hand in strength. In order to prevent their fighters from being destroyed on the ground in vain, after the fighters took off one after another, the Soviet and Russian air forces sent all the bombers on standby, and they were divided into several formations to bypass the airspace of the fierce confrontation between the two sides and kill the Japanese combined fleet from the flank.

In the Pacific War, the Japanese military suffered the loss of outdated radar equipment, and in recent years, the Japanese military has spared no cost in making up for its homework, and the huge investment has indeed brought a lot of gains. Before the low-flying Russian bombers approached, the Japanese Combined Fleet, cruising south of Peter the Great Bay, sounded the air raid siren. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers all picked up speed, and the light and heavy anti-aircraft guns on board were also waiting for them.

(End of chapter)