The commander of the Central China Dispatch Army, Shunroku Hata and the commander of the North China Front, Terauchi Shouichi, were both well-known strategic-level commanders in the army, and the capture of Wuhan, the annihilation of the main force of the Central [***] team, and the forced surrender of Chiang Kai-shek's political axe were the ultimate goals of the Wuhan offensive of the army. This battle plan was also planned and implemented by Shunroku Hata with his participation. Now, the Wuhan Raiders have been fought for so long, and they have not formed a formation to eliminate a division-level unit of the Central [***] team, and the Chinese [***] team has become more and more tenacious the more they fight, which shocked Shunroku Hata.

In the mind of Shunroku Hatata, the Chinese [***] team is divided into three types, one is the Central Army during the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, which fought to the death and did not retreat, knowing that it was a meat grinder, and kept filling the elite troops into it, exchanging human lives for positions and land; One is the Northeast Army at the time of the September 18 Incident and the miscellaneous army in North China at the time of the Lugou Bridge Incident. The other is the Eighth Route Army led by [***], which does not defend one city and one place at all, and is dedicated to sneak attacks and ambushes, and the imperial troops targeted by them are basically all jade fragments or most jade fragments.

The current situation made Hata Junroku very frightened, because the tactics of the Central Army in the Wuhan Raiders were very different from those during the Battle of Songhu, not only taking advantage of the Xiongguan Pass to fight desperately with the Yue army, but also never desperately defending it, and each army could finally retreat, so that the Yue Army's attempt to completely destroy any division-level Zhong [***] team was in vain. And every retreat is not a rout, it seems that there are troops behind to respond, and the army is not panicking, which is completely different from the performance of the [***] team in the North China operation after the Lugou Bridge Incident.

In Shunroku Hatata's view, what is particularly odious is the destruction of the logistics supply lines of the Chinese army by the [***] team, which is simply done to the extreme. The eastern sections of the Jinpu Road and the Longhai Road, which were responsible for supplying the troops in the Henan battlefield, were often damaged by the squadron, and the damage to the roads was even more serious, and military supplies were often looted, so that the troops fighting in the Henan battlefield often stopped offensive operations because they could not be supplied.

Hata Junliu thought about it and felt that he had to kill the [***] team in the middle, otherwise, the road to Wuhan would really be covered with the corpses of the imperial army.

Shunroku Hata felt that the Wuhan Raiders had come to an end, and it was time to release the winners. Therefore, he sent a telegram to the Emperor, demanding that the attack on Guangzhou begin, completely disrupt Chiang Kai-shek's war layout, shake his determination to defend Wuhan, and accelerate the process of the Wuhan offensive war.

The Emperor approved Shunroku Hatata's request, but since the Fifth Division was on the front line in Zhengzhou, it was easy to arouse suspicion on the Chinese side that its hasty withdrawal would easily arouse suspicion on the Chinese side, so the Emperor secretly observed that Shunroku Hata had created a false impression and announced that the Fifth Division would be transferred back to Xuzhou to clear out the resistance forces operating on the eastern section of the Jinpu Road and Longhai Road, and try to conceal the real combat objectives of the Fifth Division.

As a matter of fact, Emperor Hirohito convened an imperial meeting as early as early September, at which he determined the specific operational strategy for the capture of Guangzhou, and ordered the organization of the 21 st Army, appointing Lieutenant General Koro Furujo as commander of the 21 st Army and Major General Hisuichi Tanaka as chief of staff, and transferring the 5th Division of the North China Front, the 18th Division of the Central China Dispatch Army, and the 104th Division of the Kwantung Army as the backbone of the 21 st Army. Except for the Fifth Division, which was carrying out combat missions in the Central Plains Battlefield, all these units had already completed their assembly and had conducted landing combat training.

Shunroku Hata was not necessarily more ruthless than the emperor, but he was definitely more cunning than Emperor Hirohito, and after receiving the telegram from the base camp, he thought twice and did not want to give up the offensive in eastern Henan. Anyway, now that Terauchi Shouichi has not returned, the base camp has not appointed a new commander of the North China Front, and he is a general in North China and Central China, which is equivalent to the commander-in-chief of the former enemy of the army in China. Therefore, after discussing with the chief of staff, Kawabe Shozo, he decided to draw troops from North China and join the Central Plains Battlefield, disguise the Fifth Division to continue the offensive, and strive to take Luoyang. At the same time, the Fifth Division was secretly transferred eastward, loaded on ships in Lianyungang, and transported southward, and attacked Guangzhou.

Shunroku Hatata's plan was once again supported by the base camp of the Japanese army.

Lieutenant General Naosaburo Gangbe, the current chief of staff of the North China Front. After receiving Shunroku Hatata's order to transfer troops, Naosaburo Okabe was extremely reluctant. But who told Terauchi that Shoichi was not there? Who called Shunroku Hata a a general, and he was a lieutenant general? After several telegram exchanges, Naosaburo Gangbe still carried out the order of Shunroku Hatata, transferred wing-sized troops from the various garrison divisions in North China, cobbled together a few mixed brigades, and went south from northern Henan to join the Central Plains war situation.

It was not easy to dispatch troops, but seeing that the deployment was about to stop, the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade was born out of thin air, and as soon as it struck, it hit the army to the bone. Shun Hata is furious, when will he be able to take Wuhan if he continues like this? Therefore, he strictly ordered Central China to dispatch military aviation units to make large-scale sorties to wantonly and indiscriminately bomb the positions of the [***] squadron in Wuhan and around Wuhan, and to completely destroy the air force units of the squadron.

After receiving the order of General Toshiroku Hata, the Central China Dispatch Army Aviation Corps quickly mobilized planes from Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Anqing, and other places to sacrifice his magic weapon for a sneak attack and viciously pounced on Wuhan.

Since the Soviet Air Force volunteers entered the war, not only have their tactics improved rapidly, but their awareness of air defense has also been enhanced, and they have even agreed with Liu Yimin's idea of setting up air defense posts, and suggested that the Chinese Air Force should set up air defense posts, but they are not as many and so thorough as the air defense posts set up by Liu Yimin's instructor.

On the night of Feng Dafei's arrival in Wuhan, a liaison meeting was held with the participation of both the Soviet Air Force Volunteers and the Eighth Route Army Air Force.

This method was first proposed by the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Corps, and it was extremely successful.

At this time, although there was not much difference between the surnames of the fighters and the quality of the pilots between the two air forces, the number of fighters and the number of battle-damaged planes could be replenished at any time. Although the Chinese Air Force was able to receive some replenishment from the Soviet Union, it could not be compared with the replenishment of the Chinese army, neither in terms of quantity nor the speed of replenishment. After several major air battles, although the Chinese Air Force has always maintained impressive results, its losses have become greater and greater, such as the Fourth Brigade of the Air Force, in which two captains, Gao Zhihang and Li Guidan, heroes of the Air Force, were martyred. There was no way, Chiang Kai-shek had to order the evacuation of several air brigades to the area around Wuhan. This is also something that cannot be helped, and it is also to preserve strength and fight for a long time, not to say to some people who do not know the situation in later generations, what is a passive war of resistance and flight away.

Due to the achievements of the Eighth Route Army Air Force, the ambitions of Zhou Zhirou and Mao Bangchu were once again aroused, and they were determined to mobilize fighters to meet the Yue Army and create more brilliance.

Feng Dafei proposed that the task of the Eighth Route Army Air Force is to cover the operations of the troops of the First and Fifth Theaters, and now the Zhengzhou Army is storming the front line of Mixian and Xingyang, and the defenders are fighting very hard, so the Eighth Route Army Air Force should go north to bomb the Japanese army and assist in the operation of the First War Zone. Moreover, the attitude of the central authorities is very clear: Under the current circumstances, the enemy is strong and we are weak, and we cannot fight hard with the enemy, and we should focus our attacks on consuming the enemy's vital forces, and in terms of tactics, we should mainly focus on sneak attacks, so as to avoid a big battle with the military planes.

Mao Bangchu was Chiang Kai-shek's original nephew and nephew of Mrs. Mao, and he had always been the actual head of the Central Air Force, and he had misgivings about Chiang Kai-shek's sending Zhou Zhirou to be the de facto leader of the Air Force. As soon as he heard Feng Dafei's suggestion, without waiting for Zhou Zhirou to express his position, Mao Bangchu rolled his eyes and put forward his own opinion.

Mao Bangchu's opinion was very direct: Luoyang Airport was bombed, and the Eighth Route Army Air Force had no base, so even after the bombing of the ground troops of the Japanese Army, it must fly back to Hankou Airport or Wuchang Airport in Wuhan, unless it directly flew back to Shaanxi to avoid the war. Hankou Airport and Wuchang Airport were the first choice for the Chinese army to retaliate, and if the Eighth Route Army Air Force could have the opportunity to continue bombing the ground troops of the Japanese army, it was necessary to protect the Wuhan airport. At this is the critical moment of the Battle of Wuhan, and the Eighth Route Army Air Force is a vital force of our army, so it should seize the good opportunity of the Eighth Route Army Air Force to make a decisive attack, rush to attack the Wuhu and Anqing airfields of the Yue Army, and completely destroy the advance air base of the Yue Army. As long as the Wuhu and Anqing airfields are defeated, it will be equivalent to directly supporting the operations of the five theaters.

Zhou Zhirou immediately agreed, and proposed that it would be best to bomb the Nanjing Airport together with the Chinese Army, because Nanjing is the location of the Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters, and the bombing of the Nanjing Airport is of great significance. Moreover, Wuhan has enough ammunition and aviation gasoline in stock, which can definitely meet the operational needs of the Eighth Route Army Air Force.

Zhou Zhirou and Mao Bangchu urinated in a pot, and the commander of the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Corps did not know the way in the middle, thinking that Zhou Zhirou and Mao Bangchu's plan was feasible, and the key was to act quickly, and it would be difficult to do it when the army reacted.

Feng Dafei is a hero who crawled out of the war, what kind of formation has he never seen, how can he be afraid of this devil? He mainly wanted to pull the air force back to Shaanxi as soon as possible, and stayed in Wuhan all the time, for fear that these generals would covet the fighters of the Eighth Route Army and give birth to some kind of fancy intestines. However, now Zhou Zhirou and Mao Bangchu's proposal to bomb the Anqing Airport and Nanjing Airport of the Yue Army has also aroused Feng Dafei's ambition, especially the Wuhan aviation ammunition stockpiled by Zhou Zhirou may be abandoned or destroyed in the future if it is not used by the Eighth Route Army Air Force. After all, the army is getting closer and closer to Wuhan, and even the air force fighters have been evacuated to the surrounding areas, where is it possible to transfer these Japanese-made ammunition that does not match the [***] fighters!

After Feng Dafei agreed to the surprise attack on Anqing Airport and Nanjing Airport, Zhou Zhirou and Mao Bang were secretly happy in their hearts. All of them knew the risks of bombing Anqing Airport and Nanjing Airport, because the [***] Air Force had gone to bomb several times, but the effect was not great, and the losses were not small. However, the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Corps once successfully attacked Nanjing Airport and achieved brilliant results. However, at that time, the Chinese army had just occupied Nanjing, and the anti-aircraft fire at the airport was not deployed in place. If you bomb it now, the risk factor will be greatly increased. Anyway, the Eighth Route Army Air Force is [***], and if it is lost, it will be lost, and it is a good strategy to have the opportunity to let the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade fight bayonets with the Army Air Force.

Feng Dafei didn't know Zhou Zhirou and Mao Bangchu's intentions, but he felt that he had the experience of sneaking up on the Yuejun airfield, and after previous battles and training, and after this period of summary and study in Shaanxi, the fighting quality of the soldiers had improved significantly, and his fighters were all captured Yujun planes, and the soldiers could speak the language, as long as the logo of the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade was painted off, they could camouflage the Yujun fighters, and if the tactics were used properly, they could indeed receive the effect of surprise attacks. So, he agreed.

In this way, the Air Force, the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade, and the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Corps reached an agreement, and finally formed a combat plan.

In view of the fact that the main force of the Air Force had been evacuated to the airfields around Wuhan for concealment, and that there was only one fighter squadron at the Hankou Airport, it was decided that the Fourth Brigade would be transferred to the Hankou Airport to take up the escort mission of the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade and the task of luring the enemy in Wuhan air combat. The Third and Fifth Air Force Brigades and the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Corps at the surrounding airports immediately took off after receiving the alarm and rushed to the outskirts of Wuhan to ambush the planes. The task of the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Corps was to fight devil fighters, and the Chinese Air Force formation provided cover for the Soviet army and mainly eliminated the bombers. The Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade disguised itself as a formation of aircraft and attacked the airports of Wuhu, Anqing, and Nanjing, and bombed the ships of the Yangtze River.

After the battle plan was decided, Feng Dafei was worried that the Yue army would launch first, so he asked the ground crew of Hankou Airport to refuel and reload the planes overnight, cover up the logo of the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade with paint, and change it to the aircraft logo, and asked for several navigators from the three major teams to ensure that each squadron had two navigators who were familiar with the situation at Nanjing, Wuhu, and Anqing airports.

To say that it is not entirely Zhou Zhirou and Mao Bangchu's ghosts, the main reason is that the bombers of the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade can be more advanced than the bombers of the [***] Air Force and the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Team. The bomber used by the Air Force and the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Corps is a biplane model, and the range of 1000 kilometers is the limit, and the Type 96 bomber used by the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade is the longest range bomber in the world in this era. Land targets and must have the requirements of the speed of a fighter are designed. It adopts a monofoil, all-metal monocoque structure, which can automatically retract the landing gear, and the range can reach 4400 kilometers or even 6000 kilometers, not to mention the bombing of Nanjing, that is, the bombing of Shanghai and Taiwan is no problem, and the speed is very fast, basically the same as the speed of fighters. The reason why the Type 96 bomber has such a long range and such a fast speed is mainly because it is equipped with a new high-power aero engine developed by Yuben, with a horsepower of 1,200 horsepower. It is said that after the Type 96 bomber was built, it once went abroad to show off, but foreigners did not believe that the Type 96 bomber was equipped with a high-grade engine imported from Europe, and later it was suspected that the European and American designers helped him design it, and he was half angry. In fact, at this time, the aviation design capability of Yuben has reached or exceeded the world's advanced level.

It was because of the superior surname of the Type 96 bomber, coupled with the camouflage that the aircraft was attacking, Feng Dafeisuo gave up the fighter escort.

At half past four in the morning, the Hankou airport was silent. Suddenly, the airport lights were turned on, and the pilots and crew of the Eighth Route Army boarded the plane in turn, and with the command that the tower could cause flight, one after another warhawks slid to the runway, smoothly pulled up, and rushed into the pre-dawn sky.

After completing the formation over the airport, Feng Dafei adopted the method of the Soviet Air Force volunteers to sneak attack Taipei's Songshan Airport, and ordered the formation to rise to an altitude of 5,000 meters and fly in the direction of Anqing Airport.

Thirty minutes after the flight, the sky was already slightly invented. At this time, an unexpected situation appeared: about 3,000 meters below the Eighth Route Army Aviation Brigade, it was discovered that the military plane was a mixed formation of fighters and bombers, including 18 bombers and 12 fighters. Feng Dafei's heart trembled, the army actually played the same calculation as himself, and he was going to sneak attack.

Feng Dafei hurriedly used the airborne radio to inform Hankou Airport that the military plane group was attacking, and reported the number of military planes one by one.

The next thing was even more terrifying, encountering several groups of aircraft formations in succession, and in the end, even discovering the carrier-based aircraft formation of the Japanese Navy and the Navy. Feng Dafei knew that Central China had dispatched military aviation units to pour out of the nest and mobilized naval carrier-based aircraft, and that Wuhan was about to undergo a test.

After reporting the enemy situation one by one, Feng Dafei had to revise the battle plan, because at this time, the airfield was already empty, and it was no longer interesting to bomb again, and he had to wait for the plane to return before he could bomb again. However, after the plane returned, the fighter plane was lost, because at this time, the military was bound to be on high alert, and there must be fighter planes in the air to patrol and be on alert.

Feng Dafei did not think about intercepting the formation of the Yue army, but the army was escorted by fighter planes, and his bombers were not the opponents of the Yue planes at all, so he could only die in vain. However, waiting for the plane to bomb and return, Feng Dafei did not want to see the army bombing Wuhan into a mess, and second, Hankou Airport must have been bombed again, and he could not go back, and if he flew back to Shaanxi, he was worried that the waiting time would be too long and the fuel would not be enough.

After thinking about it, Feng Dafei's mind suddenly flashed, since the carrier-based aircraft of the Yue Army Navy participated in the bombing, it means that the aircraft carrier of the Yue Army is in the open sea near Shanghai. Remembering the story of the "Longxiang" aircraft carrier that was seriously injured by three planes of the [***] Air Force in November last year, Feng Dafei did not hesitate to order the whole brigade to advance to the sea near Shanghai, aiming at the Chinese fleet.

At this time, Zhou Zhirou, who received Feng Dafei's report, made an urgent report to Chiang Kai-shek, and at the same time ordered the air defense alarm to be sounded, and the whole city of Wuhan was evacuated urgently, and ordered the only fighter squadron at Hankou Airport to take off immediately, and at the same time urgently ordered all the fighters at the surrounding airports to take off to meet the planes. Anti-aircraft fire on the ground is also ready, waiting for the arrival of the plane.

After giving the order, Zhou Zhirou felt that she was drenched in sweat, and muttered to herself: "Buddha, Jade Emperor, bless Wuhan!" ”

(To be continued)