The Chinese air fleet and the 4th Austro-Hungarian air fleet arrived outside the port of Sukhumi and tirelessly wandered back and forth on the sea for two days. The Austro-Hungarian Army sent liaison officers to both the fleet and the aircraft carriers. Fearing bombing by Soviet aircraft, Admiral Yankel ordered the fleet to sail to a point about 7 or 80 nautical miles from the coast. This huge aircraft carrier formation circled back and forth on the sea, waiting for the order to fight.

Wang Hongsheng seemed to be idle in the pilot's standby room of the "Fuzhou"; because he was fighting on the ground, the pilots of the Fiat BR.22 torpedo plane basically did not arrange any tasks, and it was expected that the ships would mainly dispatch fighter planes to fight with the Russians for air supremacy in this area.

The pilots had already received an order to absolutely prohibit the use of radio for communication, and for fear of being bombed by enemy aircraft, after the start of the battle, the aircraft carrier would not give any radio return indication signals, and the pilots would have to return to the place of departure on their own experience.

In the standby room of the 2nd Torpedo Squadron, the pilots sat boredly and chatted, some were playing poker, and others continued to sleep in large recliners. A few people stared at the map of the Caucasus hanging on the wall, smoking cigarettes and discussing the war-like shape of the region.

Together with the Caucasian National Army, the Austro-Hungarian Army fought fiercely with the Russian army along the Kola River, and in the three months since the outbreak of the war, nearly 300,000 Austro-Hungarian troops have entered the Don River and the Caucasus. The Soviet offensive was temporarily halted, but more and more Soviet troops entered the area, and now their total strength on this line exceeded a million men.

In Ukraine, with the support of the German army, the Ukrainian Republican Army held Zhytomyr, the Ukrainian government has moved south to Odessa, and the Ukrainian Republican Army has basically abandoned the entire Dnieper defense line and retreated to the southwestern region.

Chang Youting, the leader of the 2nd Torpedo Squadron, is a short, stout veteran pilot with six years of flying experience. He stood in front of the map, pointing to the line of the Kola River, where fierce battles were being fought on the map, explaining the situation on the battlefield, and several young pilots listened with relish to his analysis of the shape of the battlefield.

"Due to the insufficient number of airfields, the Austrians were able to have less than two aviation divisions on the front, about 400 aircraft. And the Russians have already captured most of the territory. And captured important cities such as Baku and Tbilisi, where they had about 1,300 aircraft. Due to the delay in gaining air supremacy, the fighting along the Kola River was very fierce, so Austria wanted to send naval aircraft to support the front. ”

Chang Youting was like a combat staff officer, as if he knew the shape of the entire battlefield. But in fact, the navy did not know much about the situation on land, except that the Austro-Hungarian and Caucasian forces had finally withstood the Soviet offensive after a hard battle, and the two sides were currently engaged in a fierce battle around the Kola River.

"The torpedo squadron is not dispatched again, why do you care so much?" Wang Hongsheng thought to himself. He stood up and went to the outside deck to get some air, the smell of smoke in the room was too strong. With a veil of white clouds hanging in the sky and a cool northwest wind blowing on the sea, the conditions on board the ship were much better than they had been in the hot summer of the previous period. The battleship was advancing at a high speed of 20 knots, and the sound of "booming" waves was heard below. At the back of the flight deck, rows of planes glittered in the sun, and some pilots crouched or sat on the deck, gossiping with the ship's ground crew as the mechanics checked the planes.

Wang Hongsheng noticed that a large number of aerial bombs had been raised next to the elevator, and every four stacks were placed on the ammunition racks, with 250 kilograms of aerial bombs and some small 60-kilogram aerial bombs mounted by fighters.

"Looks like we'll be in battle soon!" In fact, he thought, they would prefer to fight the Japanese, a country that is invading China. In fact, the Russians are also invading China, but most Chinese are not so hostile to Russia, because the Russians are only encroaching on Chinese land, and they have not thought of swallowing China and enslaving the Chinese as a whole, but the Japanese want to do this and are doing it.

When there is no room for survival, the resistance of the Chinese becomes very strong.

"Woo whoa, woo woo ......"

"Combat alert. Immediately enter combat duty. ”

The sudden battle alarm on the warship echoed on the windy flight deck, and the voice of Captain Sa Shijun sounded through the loudspeaker. Sailors donned steel helmets and life jackets, and they flocked to the crowded deck, some ran to the gun emplacements, some rushed to the planes, and the fire brigade on the deck spread out the fire hoses on the deck.

Wang Hongsheng returned to the waiting room unhurriedly, their plane was still below deck, and it was not now that they wanted to make a sortie.

"3rd Fighter Squadron and 3rd Dive Bomber Squadron, board now!" The order of the aviation commander was heard from the loudspeaker. The fighter pilots jumped up from their chairs, their heavy leather boots rattling across the wooden deck, nervous and enthusiastic expressions on their faces.

This time, it was the first time that most of them had participated in a real battle.

Wang Hongsheng ran back to the standby room of the 2nd Torpedo Bomber Squadron, but the captain Chang Youting was nowhere to be found.

"Where's the squadron leader?" He asked Lin Chaohua.

"If we go to the top for a meeting, do we also have to take action?" Lin Chaohua said.

The atmosphere in the standby room of the torpedo bomber squadron was somewhat unusual, with most people smoking, some muttering and speculating about a possible bombing mission. The Fiat BR.22 can also carry two 450 kg heavy aerial bombs for horizontal bombing missions. The pilots were nervously waiting.

The door opened, and Captain Chang Youting followed an Austrian aviation major and a ship's major staff officer into the war room behind him.

"There is a new mission, now I invite Major Ollie and Staff Officer Shen to give you a mission explanation." Chang Youting said.

The pilots in the room looked at each other, and they really guessed it.

Major Ollie walked up to the large map hanging on the blackboard and said that the Chinese air force had Austro-Hungarian or German advisers or flight instructors, and most of the pilots could understand some German. However, Major Ollie spoke with a thick accent and spoke so quickly that most people did not understand what he was saying. However, seeing the two straight lines he drew on the map with a red pen, everyone still understood that he might be going to bomb the Soviet army's positions on the line of the Kola River.

Major Shen translated Ollie's words, and the mission was clear: four squadrons of torpedo bombers on the aircraft carrier were to carry aerial bombs to bomb the Soviet artillery positions behind the line of the Kola River.

Chang Youting was not worried about not being able to find the target, the Austro-Hungarian air force opened the way in front, and they followed the action behind.

Under the leadership of Chang Youting, the 36 regular crew members of the entire squadron ran to the flight deck where the northeast wind was blowing in the sun, and the entire task force was turning into the wind, and the fleet headed by the four aircraft carriers "Macedonia," "Moravia," "Jiangsu," and "Fujian," as well as a large circle of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers escorting the outer periphery, were all advancing parallel at a high speed of 30 knots. The fighter squadron that had departed in advance was forming in the sky above the fleet, and the dive bomber squadron was still taking off, and the sky was densely packed with planes.

Behind the flight deck side, torpedo bombers are being brought to the flight deck from the hangar below, and mechanics and ground crews are busy opening folded wings and planting aerial bombs on the belly of the aircraft.

The battle is about to begin. R1152