[371] Powerful anti-aircraft firepower

After taking off from Fukuoka, Japan, the B-29 "Super Flying Fortress" bomber piloted by Daniels' crew went all the way to the skies over Pyongyang, where it separated from the other B-29s who were carrying out strategic bombing, and flew away from the bomber group formation with the "Mustang" fighter escort squadron led by Lieutenant Colonel Edwards, and flew towards Andong City on the Sino-North Korean border, which is today's Dandong City. It was previously reported that the Chinese were frantically building airfields and deploying troops in the vicinity.

In Dandong, Liu Yuelou, commander of the New Chinese Air Force, had his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, he pressed the wooden table with one hand, held the telephone with the other, and said in his voice, which had become hoarse because of the excessive use of his voice, to General Tan Shanhe, the commander-in-chief of the engineering corps who was frantically building a new airport in Dadonggou, which is now Donggang City:

"I know that an airfield costs 150,000 tons of stone and 40,000 tons of cement...... Don't tell me about these difficulties! In terms of materials, the headquarters is trying to find a way to transfer it to you from Shenyang, and the third batch of 20 concrete mixers will arrive next week...... Now you have all the local militia mobilized for me! …… What the? Local militia divisions are mastering 56 and a half shots and stabs? …… Stop, tell them to stop it all for me! I'll call Gao Gang when I turn around! You guys give me to focus on the construction of the new airport! Before the materials arrived, you would smooth and compact the ground for me, and dig all the drainage ditches first...... Well, well, since you have promised, you must do it, well, then that's ......."

After speaking, Commander Liu Yuelou asked for a phone again and ordered:

"Hey, hey, Xiao Li, I'm Liu Yuelou, where is the progress of the steel runway built by the First Engineer Battalion of your Air Force in Donggang City? …… Oh, keep holding on! Dry it overnight! Can't stop! It is necessary to thoroughly grasp the rush repair and rush construction of the battlefield steel runway in this construction...... You must know that jet planes cannot use the previous dirt runways in the Northeast, although there are currently more than 300 dirt runways in the entire Northeast, but that thing can only be used by propeller aircraft...... Yes, yes, yes, yes, you know, well, it's good to have faith......"

After putting down the phone, Commander Liu walked briskly to the long cabinet against the wall, picked up the tea jar and poured half a jar of herbal tea into his stomach.

Before he could slow down his momentum, the phone rang loudly.

Commander Liu picked up the phone: "Hey,...... What the! Radar spotting US military aircraft? Actually passed Dingzhou, North Korea?! Still 60km from Sinuiju? What the? Isn't the course heading towards Sinuiju?! Coming towards Anton?! …… You immediately notify the command of the border guards! Immediately order all anti-aircraft artillery battalions to urgently enter combat condition! As long as he dares to get close to the Yalu River, he will knock me down! ”

Quickly put down the phone, Commander Liu's face tightened, took off the hanging military uniform from the wall, rushed out of the office quickly, and ran in the direction of the headquarters in the courtyard.

After receiving a report from the radar station on Zhengjiabao (PU) Mountain near Dandong, all the troops in the entire Dandong and Donggang areas entered a state of air defense.

On the one hand, Commander Liu Yuelou ordered the antiaircraft artillery division to prepare for air defense operations, and on the other hand, he also ordered fighter planes to be ready to take off at any time to intercept them. However, he still hoped in his heart that the five invading US planes would be shot down by the antiaircraft artillery division, because after all, the newly formed antiaircraft artillery division urgently needed training in actual combat after a period of training.

Liu Shulin, commander of the 111th Antiaircraft Artillery Division under the First Air Force, received an urgent notice from the War Department and knew that this was not an exercise, his dark face suddenly turned purple, and after his eyes darkened slightly, he suddenly began to vomit anger.

Division Commander Liu Shulin shouted into the phone: "Li Bo! I order all the gun emplacements of your regiment of 100 heights to be ready for aiming and firing at once under the guidance of the radar! As long as the American plane is close to Anton, resolutely knock me down! ”

The 111th Regiment of the 111th Division is a 100mm antiaircraft artillery regiment, and the commander of the 111th Division, Li Bo, led the soldiers of the whole regiment, after several months of training, from the beginning almost to shoot down the transport plane that dragged the target plane, and now he has been able to skillfully use the specified amount of ammunition to shoot down the target plane within the qualified probability.

As soon as he heard that the 100mm anti-aircraft gun was going to be used with real knives and guns, Li Bo's hairs all over his body exploded.

"This time, it's up to our anti-aircraft artillery troops!" Li Bo thought.

"Regiment commander, I heard that the enemy plane is at an altitude of 10,000 meters?"

"Well, it's exactly our 100-tall dish! As long as the Air Force jets don't move, we'll take him as a target plane, take him down, and see what this American bomber looks like. ”

……………………

When Captain Daniels piloted the B-29 bomber to Dandong on the Yalu River, he didn't know that at this moment he had been firmly locked on the fire control radar by the Air Force anti-aircraft artillery division.

"Altitude 9300, and it's still approaching."

"Heading 326, going straight."

"One battalion and three companies, hit me immediately when you're ready!" The regiment commander Li Bo gave the order.

With the command of the three, the six 100mm anti-aircraft gun crews that were scattered in the honeycomb hexagonal shape immediately became tense.

"Report! The quadrant completes the level check of the turret level! ”

"Report! The electromechanical commander completes optical ranging! ”

"Report! The synchronous linkage inspection of each gun position is completed! ”

"Report! Artillery Aiming Radar Completes Target Search and Capture! ”

The third company commander Zhan Qiang's heart fluttered nervously, and he suppressed the excitement in his heart and ordered:

"According to the fire control radar data, the guns are starting to be loaded and fired at Zhu Yuan!"

With the order of the battle power, the commanders of each artillery began to bind and inject the design parameters.

In the previous training, Zhan Qiang was told that this 100mm anti-aircraft artillery command system, which is said to be the most advanced in the Republic, is divided into two separate parts! However, compared with the electromechanical optical aiming commander, Zhan Qiang is still more inclined to trust this integrated system of optical tracking and fire control radar synthesis! In previous trainings, the system has also proven its worth.

Fast! This system is fast! Not only is the search for the target fast, but the aim is also fast, and all the shooting elements are clearly displayed on the green display screen! This is much more convenient than the electromechanical optical aiming command instrument.

However, the higher-level leaders demanded that all antiaircraft artillery commanders must be proficient in both aiming methods at the same time, so as to be in case of emergency. Despite this, Zhan Qiang is still more fond of this fire control radar targeting system. After all, the superiors also ordered the priority use of this system in battle.

As the artillery sighting radar completed the target acquisition of the B-29, the company commander Zhanqiang also observed the position of the enemy aircraft in the tracking optical aiming window.

"Comrades! Forget the fighter jets, let's take down that hornet and we'll make a meritorious service! ”

As the data of each cannon was injected, the battle force roared:

"Listen to my command, the first salvo, release!"

With Zhan Qiang's order, six golden flames nearly ten meters long burst out from the six 100mm large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, which were a heavy hammer at the B-29 that had already flown over the Yalu River.

For the Daniels crew in the rumbling B-29 reconnaissance plane, the huge eruption and roar of flames almost ten kilometers away from them was loud enough to attract attention.

"Anti-aircraft artillery?" Detective Adjutant Mickey laughed:

"Chinese must be crazy, we are ...... at 9000 meters"

Before he could finish speaking, the B-29 was shot, and six 100mm anti-aircraft artillery shells opened six fireworks around the B-29, and countless steel balls burst out from the center of the explosion, hitting the B-29's skin like a sieve, and the "Super Flying Fortress" suddenly roared in the air like a wounded giant whale.

Daniels shouted in horror:

"Damn, the Chinese have large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery! We've been shot! Varik, immediately radio to HQ that we are going to return immediately! Request! Tell Lieutenant Colonel Edwards to cover us! ”

Co-pilot Parker, with a white sweat that had just been scared, shouted loudly:

"The tail rudder and horizontal rudder are damaged! Engines No. 3 and No. 4 were completely broken and could not be produced! Finished! Finished! Damn it! ~~~”

……………………

On the ground, the first salvo of 18 guns from all three companies of the first battalion arrived, and this attack directly turned the B-29 into an air torch, black smoke and fire erupted from the wing oil circuit, and the fuselage began to twist and twist, and the altitude was rapidly decreasing.

When Daniels saw that the plane was completely out of control and could not be saved, he did not miss the $639,000 flight check, and ordered all the crew to parachute to escape with a sad face.

The Edwards four-plane squadron, which was leisurely cruising at 5,000 meters, couldn't help but be angry and frightened after seeing what happened to the B-29 of Daniels' crew. Don't forget your words! Cut the pig's braid for me! ”

Edwards was provoked by this sentence, gritted his teeth and ordered:

"Joseph, report our location to Command immediately and request support from Command! The 2nd Squadron of the Brown Bear Brigade paid attention and immediately launched a low-altitude strafing attack on the enemy's ground targets! Return home immediately after firing a half-loaded ammo! ”

After the war, Major Daniels recalled: "I was in a state of fever and I just wanted to vent my anger, and I am sorry for Lieutenant Colonel Edward......"

The dive fire of the four Mustang was carried out in a hurry, and considering that the Chinese were equipped with anti-aircraft guns, the pilots only hoped to finish the ammunition in the machine guns and go home early. Before they could reach a low altitude, four planes sprinkled pepper on Anton. Later, it was found that their pepper-sprinkled strafing caused damage to two houses and the death of three pigs and a cow.

After seeing that the B-29 had become a smoking torch in the air, all the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 100 High Air Defense Regiment clenched their fists out of the edges and corners, trying their best to restrain the excitement in their hearts. Despite this, everyone's mouths were already grinning and laughing silently.

"Company commander! Knocked down! ”

"Hmmm! Good job! All pay attention to concealment! The following will be handed over to the 37 and 57 anti-aircraft artillery battalions. Zhan Qiang seemed to be not addicted, still standing in place, rigidly using the optical command sight to cover the four enraged mustangs, reporting the altitude with words in his mouth, and from time to time he let out a "Release!" Apparently trying to get addicted.

With the order of Liu Shulin, commander of the 111th Antiaircraft Artillery Division, a 57mm air defense battalion and three 37mm air defense battalions deployed in the corresponding areas around Anton began to fire with all their might. At this moment, the firing order was given, and more than 70 anti-aircraft fires were densely fired into the sky, and even in the daytime, the trajectory of the fire pulled out by the light bombs mixed in the cartridge belt was still clearly visible.

"Damn! The Chinese are too dense with fire! Withdraw from the fight! Immediately! When Edwards saw the flying "streamers" on the ground, he immediately knew that something was wrong!

Joseph, a Mustang fighter pilot who had previously reported the crash site to headquarters, scolded on the radio:

"Damn! I was hit! The left flank was blown off! Anti-aircraft fire here is too dense......"

Under the guidance of the fire control radar, the firing wires woven by bullet chains flew in the air, intertwined into a visible death frame, clearly cutting the sky out of the boundary between hell and earth.

Soon after, Lieutenant Colonel Edwards was killed in the cockpit by a 37mm gun, and the planes of the other three pilots, including Captain Joseph, were also destroyed, and all three of them parachuted to save their lives. Together with Major Daniels, who was captured after parachuting, he stayed in a prisoner of war camp until the end of the Korean War.

In this way, the US military's unscrupulous cross-border aerial reconnaissance operation was ruthlessly snuffed out by our army like a bug pinching a bug. On the same day, the Chinese government issued a solemn statement protesting against the US military's air raid on the Chinese border city of Anton! Ambassador Qiao Guanhua angrily proposed in the United Nations that the United States should immediately take action on the matter and compensate China for the relevant losses.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Warren Austin said that he was willing to assess the losses after the United Nations sent an observer mission to Anton and provide reasonable compensation after the Chinese side released the pilot.

Truman was a little annoyed by this, and he immediately reminded MacArthur in a new telegram that he was fighting the Korean War and should focus on the war on the peninsula that was in full swing! So far, although conservative estimates put the KPA casualties at more than 50,000, the U.S. military has already killed and wounded 7,806 people in the Busan meat grinder! Every day, ships transporting wounded soldiers left this brutal Far Eastern battlefield.

But this did not make MacArthur restrain himself, on the contrary, when he learned the news, he felt that the situation had become simpler, that is, in the future, he must teach the increasingly arrogant Chinese a lesson, otherwise how can they obediently lie at the door of the house and tremble with fear? Of course, this punishment will be after the Inchon landing, and the immediate priority is to completely eliminate the North Korean army.

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Heartfelt thanks to LZC880210, Rick Dem, and Lazy Snake Lao Kai for their tips!

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