Three days later, at dawn, when the sky was hazy, nearly 300 US carrier-based planes swooped down on various Japanese strongholds in eastern Luzon. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 After two months of hard fighting, the Philippine Resistance Alliance has uprooted more than 100 strongholds of the Japanese puppet army, annihilated more than 40,000 Japanese puppet troops, and forced the Japanese puppet army to adopt a strategy of shrinking the defense and concentrating its forces in large and medium-sized cities and transportation hubs. In the absence of heavy weaponry, the Resistance would inevitably pay heavy casualties and risk defeat if it were to take these strongholds. The arrival of the US carrier-based aircraft group with bombs was like a charcoal in the snow, which made the fighters of the Philippine Resistance Alliance extremely excited......

"Look, it's red fireworks, arrow-shaped, and the target should be the walled building."

"Yes, I saw it. Guys, sit tight, the show is now on! ”

In the tandem cockpit of a silver-painted Avenger carrier-based bomber, the pilot, bombardier, and machine gunner perform their respective duties, and communicate in real time through onboard communication equipment.

As one of the main carrier-based bombers in service with the U.S. Navy, the "Avengers" are highly praised for their handling, and unlike the "Hell Divekers" with a single role, they can perform both torpedo bombing missions and dive bombing, which has won the favor of U.S. aircraft carrier commanders. In fact, as Irish-made air-launched rockets are increasingly used in the training and exercises of the U.S. Naval Air Force, the need to improve accuracy by dive-dropping bombs has been greatly reduced, and when carrying rockets to attack ground or sea targets, they only need to make a short low-angle straight flight from thousands of meters away to achieve a 70-80 percent hit rate, and this value can be increased to more than 90 percent if expensive radio-guided rockets are used. The improved high explosives make a 5-inch rocket have the power of a 1,000-pound aerial bomb, which virtually improves the attack efficiency of carrier-based aircraft.

"Entering the attack trajectory, target confirmation ......"

"Confirm the target, you can fire!"

"Yes, fire!"

In other words, the pilot pressed the rocket firing button -- the rocket launch can also be controlled by the bombardier, and the pilot uses a simple sight with direct aiming, and the bombardier's position is equipped with an accurate optical sight, but after a large number of live-fire tests and training, people have found that the fighter pilot's grasp of the flight state and firing timing is better than that of the bombardier, so when the combat situation allows, it will be carried out in accordance with the complete procedure of the pilot's aiming-bombardier correction-pilot's launch, if the pilot wants to take into account the enemy's situation, the targeting, correction, and firing tasks will all be handed over to the bombardier.

Only a piercing scream was heard, and eight unguided 127-mm aerial rockets smashed into the Japanese stronghold. The tremendous force of the explosion instantly leveled several buildings inside and outside the wall, and the ground suddenly burst into flames and smoke, and dozens of Japanese soldiers wearing khaki uniforms scattered in panic. Inside the stronghold, machine guns and small-caliber machine guns were roaring wildly, but their pitiful range was helpless against the American carrier-based aircraft firing from a distance.

A moment later, the other three fighters in the formation fired rockets one after another, successfully bombing the defense system of this Japanese stronghold, and the Philippine Resistance Alliance, which was waiting for the opportunity on the periphery, took the opportunity to attack from all directions. Seeing that the Japanese ground anti-aircraft artillery fire was silent, the two "Avengers" happily dived down and strafed the Japanese positions with large-caliber machine guns. Before the U.S. pilots could enjoy themselves, their communication channel came with familiar English in love:

"Avengers, Avengers, Thunderbirds Call Avengers! There is a formation of Japanese fighters coming from the northwest direction, you go first, we are behind! ”

The improvised four-plane formation consisted of two Avengers and two IR-39Ts, the latter known for their speed and firepower, and in addition to their own weapons, they could carry eight 80mm or four 127mm rockets on attack missions, plus a 360-liter auxiliary fuel tank. The Thunderbird's fame is not only due to its superior performance, in fact, this Irish carrier-based aircraft was the first to be equipped with an integrated airborne radar for detection, fire control, bombing, and friend or foe, and even the arrogant Germans had to admit that their hardcore allies were once again leading the technological trend. It was their brilliant performance in the confrontation drill that made the US military not hesitate to introduce the production license of Ireland's airborne radar and air-launched rockets at a high price, and then embarked on a route that was different from the old time and space.

"The Avengers received it, return immediately, and good luck to you!"

"Thunderbird received, see you later!"

After the communication, the two IR-39Ts immediately climbed upwards. Within their radar detection range, 14 Japanese fighters were attacking at full speed, but the task of blocking the enemy did not completely fall on the shoulders of these two Irish carrier-based fighters. In this 10-on-14 air battle, the battle-hardened Japanese pilots took the initiative in the classic but outdated Zero fighter, but the "Hellcat" was unusually sturdy and worthy of the prestige of the "aluminum tank", making the 20mm guns that were invincible in the Japanese Zero War against the Soviet Union no longer magical. After more than 20 minutes of fierce fighting, the US forces defeated six Japanese fighters at the cost of losing three fighters, and the losses of the pilots on both sides were 1 to 5 -- only one Japanese pilot escaped the search and capture of the Philippine Resistance Alliance, while the US pilots were rescued by the Philippine guerrillas and were able to return soon after, except for one who was killed on the spot.

The US carrier-based aircraft unit again carried out a large-scale air raid on Luzon Island for the first time in three days, greatly worsening the Japanese combat situation in the eastern part of Luzon Island, causing thousands of Japanese troops to be killed or missing, and greatly shaking the Japanese military leadership. Since the main force of the Combined Fleet had not yet been assembled, the Navy General Staff Headquarters urgently dispatched the Southeast Front Fleet stationed in Chinese waters to the Philippines to support the war. Compared with the Mainland, Northern, and Southern Fleets, this southeastern fleet, which is deployed in Chinese waters all the year round, is the weakest, with only 3 old battleships, 4 cruisers, and 9 destroyers, and the rest are light ships that are not suitable for ocean-going activities.

By the time the mainland had received the order, Kurita and his southern fleet had already sailed to the northwest of the island of New Guinea. When they learned that the US carrier-based planes had swept over the eastern part of Luzon Island, the "cautious Kurita" suddenly became the "depressed Kurita." There is no doubt that his judgment of the enemy's movements was completely wrong, and there are now two roads before him: one is to go north at full speed without disturbing the enemy and rush to the Philippine waters to deal with the US fleet together with land-based air units, and the other is to attack and disrupt the US military deployment on the island of New Guinea and nearby waters to lure the US fleet out of Philippine waters and southward. The first path is steady, but if he can't achieve a victory in the later stages, Kurita's reputation will definitely be damaged, and he is unwilling to do so; If the U.S. fleet ignores the attacks of the Kurita fleet and continues to operate in Philippine waters, repeatedly attacking Philippine land targets and intercepting Japanese ships in the waters around the Philippines, Kurita's situation will become even worse.

The instructions of the Naval Staff Headquarters and the Combined Fleet Command gave Kurita a good step, and he immediately ordered the fleet to turn around and sail to the Philippines, but a few hours later, a sudden change occurred, the whereabouts of the Japanese fleet were discovered by US reconnaissance planes, and although the port of Carmela was 700 nautical miles away from this sea area, when dusk came, more than 20 US long-range bombers still chased after them and launched a round of attacks on the Japanese ships on the sea in the form of high-altitude bombing. In the face of the interception of dozens of Japanese carrier-based fighters and the artillery fire of Japanese warships, the US bomber group damaged two main Japanese aircraft carriers with the help of wireless-guided bombs -- following the Japanese-Soviet War, the Japanese once again tasted the power of guided bombs, and after a few years, the radio-guided bomb technology from the Western Allies became more and more practical on the battlefield, and the waterline compartment of the "Kasaki" was broken through, and it had to be urgently filled with water to maintain the balance of the ship's hull, and its sailing speed was barely restored until a day later, and the "Ikoma" The ship's luck was even worse, its armored flight deck was blown out of a big hole, and more than a dozen carrier-based aircraft located in the upper hangar were damaged in the explosion.

After nightfall, the Japanese fleet began to be attacked by American submarines, and although the capital ships did not suffer any further losses, the accompanying destroyers were exhausted, and the officers and men of the ships had to be on high alert, a situation that also annoyed Kurita. Fortunately, the leakage of the "Kasaki" was controlled, the speed was raised again, and the Kurita fleet was able to rush to the Philippine waters at full speed, and the American fleet that attacked the Japanese army in the Philippines again quickly got rid of the counterattack and tracking of the Japanese air force as it had done before, and disappeared without a trace in the vast Pacific Ocean.

According to Kurita's prediction, nine times out of ten, the U.S. fleet, which has superior strength, will go south to look for an opportunity to fight with itself, and if the two sides are engaged in a sea area too far away from the Philippines or the East Indies, then the more than 2,000 land-based combat planes deployed by the Japanese army in Southeast Asia will not be able to intervene, so in the process of going north, Kurita repeatedly calculates the position of the fleet, and frequently liaises with the Japanese garrison headquarters in the East Indies and the Philippines, and tries his best to coordinate the ground aviation units to cooperate with the navy. Not only did he not worry that radio communications would expose his position to his opponents, but he hoped that the American fleet would follow the air waves.

(End of chapter)