With Yang Qiu's nod, the curtain was opened for one of the most important battles of 1941. [This article is from]

In the afternoon of the same day, Chu Nan, the new chief of the General Staff, announced the start of the "Typhoon" operation and appointed Shen Honglie, deputy commander-in-chief of the navy, as the commander-in-chief of the operation.

March 23, 7 a.m. On the navigation tower of the Air Force base in Nanjing, a signal flag that can take off at any time is hung. On the runway, eight Jian-8 "Tianquan" fighters formed two columns and slowly headed for the take-off line of the alternate runway. Next to them, a high-altitude reconnaissance plane with a sleek shape similar to a double-headed Jiao, but it was two times larger, and a pair of slender gliders, with a streamlined shape and a black body, also entered the main runway at the same time. The "Night Owl", military number Reconnaissance-11, is a twin-engine, long-range high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, designed and manufactured by Meteor. In order to meet the large range and high speed proposed by the Air Force, two 2000-horsepower turboprop engines are used, with a crew of four people and a maximum speed of 670 kilometers per hour. It can fly continuously for ten hours and continue to detect targets within a radius of 3,300 kilometers at an altitude of 10,000 meters. A navigation radar, two high-powered reconnaissance periscopes and three automatic camera guns are installed, and the self-defense armament is three 12.7 mm machine guns.

This reconnaissance aircraft is expensive, scarce in number, and because of its strategic value, it is directly subordinate to the aviation reconnaissance squadron of the General Staff, and the squadron is codenamed "Owl".

An Qingru is the leader of the "owl" squadron, and the 42-year-old has 2,000 hours of flying experience and has dealt with many dangerous situations in the air, including jet planes. As before every takeoff, he carefully inspected one side of the plane, then took out a rag and wiped the "Owl" badge again to make sure it was spotless before entering the cabin through the belly door. "The tower said that the weather in the Seto Inland Sea should be good today." When the navigator saw him, he immediately handed over the weather and flight route chart. also took out a large cup of strong tea: "Freshly brewed, keep it to relieve fatigue." ”

"Every day says it's good, but it turns out to be a waste of seven days." An Qingru took the strong tea, and while checking the instrument, he was very dissatisfied with the meteorological data provided by the tower. In order to reconnoiter the Seto Inland Sea and locate the exact location of the Tokuyama underground oil depot, he has flown seven times in two weeks. However, every time I arrived at the Seto Inland Sea, I found that it was either foggy or the clouds were too thick, or I did not find the scheduled ground signal, resulting in a futile return.

The co-pilot smiled: "Don't complain. The bomber boys are out of luck. I heard that Commander Xu made a hard rule that as long as we didn't return to the flight, they had to sit in the plane and not even come down to eat. "Their task during this period of time is to determine the specific coordinates of the Deshan oil depot, so according to the plan, as soon as they are dispatched, the follow-up bombers must be ready to go. So during these reconnaissance times, the bomber squadron was on standby on the ground, which was very hard.

"Hopefully I will have good luck this time." An Qingru took a breath. Put on your helmet and turn on the radio: "Tower, this is Owl Three, this is Owl Three, please take off." ”

"Ready to take off."

Get the signal. An Qingru cleaned up the take-off with everyone, and then pushed the engine throttle forward with the co-pilot. After two Chongqing Heavy Industry five-blade turboprop engines emitted a piercing roar, they pushed the "Night Owl" into the blue sky. Because of the need to ensure a long range and a large altitude, a glider with a large lift coefficient was used. So the "Night Stalker" climbs slowly. Before it could enter the predetermined cruising altitude, the eight escort "Tianquan" flew past it at high speed like a flock of carrier pigeons. "These little bastards!" Swirling air currents. Makes the night owl shudder. An Qingru scolded with a smile, as if she saw what she looked like when she was young. Once he had reached an altitude of 8,000 meters, he turned on the radio and switched to the Tokyo Radio channel. After a few moments of rustling, a familiar and sweet radio sound came from the speakers.

"It's so good, it's the flower of Tokyo." When the observation and optical controller heard the voice, he immediately left his work and squeezed to the front, and said with a smile: "When the battle is over, I must go and see what she looks like." ”

"You kid, I'm afraid you want to marry home and be a daughter-in-law."

"Haha."

Amid the laughter, the "Night Stalker" began to turn around and, under the protection of the escort plane, flew towards Tokuyama in the Seto Inland Sea.

"Nakasa, is this your wedding gift? What a blessing! ”

On the hillside behind Tokuyama Port, two soldiers helped Akihito Ono pull up the hemp rope and prepare to "dry" the quilt. After months of cold and cold winter, there was a lot of things to wash and dry, so this move was not noticeable. "I'll take it, you can help me hold up the bamboo pole, be taller, don't drag it to the ground, it's hard to wash." Ono was worried that the contents of the futon would be seen, so he hurriedly asked the soldiers to set up the bamboo poles and spread the bedding himself. Others didn't know, but he knew very well that there were several packets of special dry fumes wrapped in rubber in both bedding. As soon as the quilt is lit, the fuming agent emits a large amount of yellow smoke.

"Thank you, it's a little bit of caution." After putting the quilt away, Ono took out a pack of camel cigarettes: "Come, taste it, this is captured from the warehouse of rice animals on Wake Island." "The Battle of Wake Island. It has been blown to the sky by Japan, and even the most ordinary people are familiar with it. So as soon as they heard that it was the U.S. military supplies from Wake Island, two soldiers from the oil depot who were helping immediately surrounded them.

"Yaga! Who made you smoke, and you're still drying quilts here! "As soon as I lit a cigarette, two gendarmes suddenly came from the side." It's Yamaguchi-kun, it's been a long time. Didn't they say that you were transferred to Okinawa? Seeing this, Ono hurriedly stepped forward, enthusiastically took out a cigarette and handed it to the two: "One winter, the quilt is very wet. Rest assured, I'll stay here and take it away as soon as it's dried. ”

"It turned out to be Ono Nakasa."

Ono is Nakasa, who manages the oil house, and he is usually enthusiastic, and he often brings out the gadgets brought to him by the fleet for everyone to share. So when the gendarmes saw that it was him, they were too embarrassed to be too embarrassed. What's more, the oil depot is deep underground, and even if there is a fire, it will not affect the bottom. However, the two still admonished: "Nakasa, please forgive." You know, there's no open fire here. ”

"Don't worry, I'll kill it." Ono made a hard gesture to pinch the cigarette butt, and the two gendarmes put away the cigarette and left. When they were far away, Ono sat down on the stone next to him with a sigh of relief, smoking and bragging with the soldiers while staring at the eastern sky.

From his position, you can clearly see the whole picture of Tokuyama.

At the far end is the naval anchorage, which is surrounded by a ring of small islands and is very secluded, although there are only a few small warships and oil tankers in the harbor at present. On the left is the Tokuyama Fuel Research Institute and the refinery, and on the right is a row of tall gray giant oil drums, which are the Navy's oil storage tanks. 150,000 tons of heavy oil were stored in 17 oil storage tanks. But don't think that it is all of Japan's oil reserves, the real oil depot is actually where he is standing at the moment. Twelve meters above the surface, it is divided into seven extra-large independent oil storage areas, all of which are encased in rock and reinforced with cement. After continuous combat consumption, there are still 3 million tons of heavy oil and gasoline in it, accounting for 70% of Japan's remaining oil reserves! Inside, there are not only complete fire protection facilities, but also oil pipelines that lead directly to the terminal and refinery.

After the raids on Sasebo and the Ryukyus, the air defense facilities here have been strengthened several times, and at least 200 anti-aircraft guns of various calibers have been deployed in the surrounding dense forests, docks, city buildings, and islands, and several air brigades are deployed in Shimonoseki and Matsuyama. What's more, because it is backed by mountains and the surface vegetation remains intact, it is difficult to locate from the sky, and ground means must be assisted.

"Nakasa, I heard that the fleet has suffered a lot of losses, is that so?" When Ono was thinking about how to light the cup and tell the reconnaissance plane its direction, the soldier next to him had already asked about the battle.

Although newspapers and broadcasts advertised the victory every day, they also said that they had recovered Korea and invaded the Chinese mainland. But these news can fool ordinary people, but it can't fool them, the oil house soldiers. Because you can perceive subtle changes in the amount of refueling and the number of ships docked at anchorage. At least in the past six months, you can't see the four Fuso-class battleships and Ise-class battleships that used to come here to refuel, and even the Akagi and Kaga have never returned, let alone the small aircraft carriers of the Dragon and Phoenix. Although it is said that they have been sent to the South Seas and Rabaul to be stationed on a permanent basis, all kinds of rumors have not stopped.

"I don't know, but everyone should be confident, didn't the combined fleet come to refuel a few days ago?" More than ten years of lurking have made Ono accustomed to all kinds of temptations. Even if there was no probing meaning in the soldier's questioning at this moment, he would never spit out the slightest uneasy word.

The two Japanese soldiers smoked silently, although Nakasa did not say it explicitly, but after Wake Island, when the Combined Fleet came to refuel, they could still understand the matter of the Mizuru aircraft carrier.

"Nakasa, let's go to work first, and I'll help you later." The two soldiers finished their cigarettes, bowed to Ono, and left. Shortly after they left, several black dots quickly appeared on the eastern side of the bay. "Enemy planes! Pull the alarm! Whining. The piercing and terrible sirens sounded from all over the city and the wharf, and the Japanese soldiers of the brigade rushed out of the barracks, and the anti-aircraft guns quickly tore off the camouflage, and the soldiers in the oil house immediately gathered all the oil pipelines that could be discovered, closed the thick underground oil depot gates, and opened the sluice gates to prepare for air raids and arson.

"It's finally here." When he saw clearly the four "Tianquan" fighters with obvious national flag logos under the wings, Xiao Ambition was excited. Immediately pull out the flare gun and stuff two thumb-thick incendiary bombs into the chamber.

But at this moment, a scream suddenly sounded from behind him: "Ono-kun! What are you doing? (To be continued)