Kawashima is not a professional aviation commander, but he also knows that bombers are much slower than fighters, and taking advantage of the opportunity of the bombers of the ** division to return home, intercepting and killing in the middle will receive unexpected results, as for how to do it, as long as the news is reported to the commander of the air force, Lieutenant General Nomura, I believe that he will have a way, after all, he is a professional.

Kawashima glanced at Ito, who was still unconscious, called the communications officer outside, and said: "In the name of the commander-in-chief, I give an order to the commander of the air force, Lieutenant General Nomura, that the bomber group of the ** division has just returned, and the direction of return is the Myitkyina airport in northern Burma, and there is no fighter escort. ”

Kawashima knew that there was no need to say anything, as long as he told Nomura the return time and direction of the bomber group of the ** division, he would naturally make corresponding arrangements, and he also roughly figured out Nomura's psychology, fight a big victory, increase his worth and bargaining chips, and reveal such a good opportunity to Nomura, he would not refuse such a temptation.

At the Myitkyina Field Airfield command tower, Le Yiqin called Colonel Liu Zhixiang, commander of the bomber group, "Liu Zhixiang, where are you now?" The bomber group must speed up its return, and the fighters of the two echelons are engaged in the battle against the fighter group from Hainan Island, the little devil, and you will have no fighter escort on the way back. ”

Liu Zhixiang looked at the flight map, "Commander, our group has reached the mouth of the Irrawaddy River, and in thirty minutes, it will enter the Bosheng airspace, and according to your order, the group will turn to fly due north." Return to Kunming Airport. ”

Le Yiqin said a little hurriedly: "Liu Zhixiang, after your bomber formation arrives in the Bosheng airspace, continue to the west and turn due north in the airspace of Shanduocheng. Returning along the line of Magway, Mozava, and Khomarin on the west bank of the Irrawaddy River, remember, you have to bypass the airspace of Sagaing and Mandalay, do you understand? ”

Liu Zhixiang was a little puzzled, inexplicable. In this way, there will be an additional range of more than 700 kilometers, is this necessary? After winning the battle like a thief, and taking a detour, he couldn't help but say: "Commander, we will fly more than seven hundred kilometers, so that we can." Some crews, I'm afraid that fuel will be a problem, and they can't fly to Kunming Airport, and besides, the little devil's plane has been killed by us. Is this necessary? ”

Le Yiqin shouted violently, "Liu Zhixiang, what are you talking about, carry out the order, the crew with insufficient fuel will land at Myitkyina Airport!" Liu Zhixiang shrank his head. The heart said, "Commander, what's going on?" After such a big victory, his temper became irritable, "I don't dare to talk back." Hurriedly replied loudly: "Yes, resolutely carry out the order, and turn due north in the airspace of Shanduo City to return home." ”

Le Yiqin and Kawashima thought of going together, any point along the way from the airspace of the Andaman Sea to the airspace of Mandalay was within the interception range of the Japanese fighters coming from Hainan Island, as long as there was a large group of little devil fighters. The volley that slipped out of the first echelon was for Liu Zhixiang's bomber formation. It's going to be a disaster.

The scheduled interception site of the first echelon was in the airspace of Dafu, which was too close to the route of the bomber formation's return, although it was unlikely that this situation would occur, and he did not dare to be careless, but he did not tell Liu Zhixiang about his worries, there was no need, Liu Zhixiang's plane group made more detours, and it was safer.

After Nomura received Kawashima's telegram, he immediately judged that this was an excellent opportunity, and what reassured him even more was that the bomber without fighter escort was a flying live target, and the commander of the ** division air force, Le Yiqin, had fought many times, and he did not take advantage of it once, but was beaten to the ground.

Nomura searched around on the route map, "Sadwa" his fist smashed this place name, Sadwa is between Rangoon and Mandalay, it is the only route for the bomber group of the ** division to return to Myitkyina, and it is also the shortest route for his fighter to intercept it, the reason why he did not choose Mandalay, Nomura is worried that there is the ground anti-aircraft fire of the ** division.

Nomura ordered the combat officer, "Order, Wing Commander of the 17th Fighter Wing, Shirakawa Osa, your wing immediately detached from the group, rushed to the airspace of Sadewa, intercepted the returning ** Division bomber group, and after completing the interception mission, immediately return to the airfield on Hainan Island, and there is no need to participate in other tasks," one wing of fighters is more than enough to deal with hundreds of bombers.

Nomura's order is very strange, he clearly knows that in the sky over the Andaman Sea, there is no longer a group of ** divisions, and the last batch of bombers has also returned, leaving only the third fleet that is smoking and on fire, and he also ordered the main fighter group to continue to rush to the waters of the Andaman Sea, which is really inexplicable and incredible?

A senior staff officer put his question bluntly, "Your Excellency, judging by the order of Commander-in-Chief Ito, it is obvious that in the airspace of the Andaman Sea, there is no longer a group of ** divisions, why don't our fighter groups go all out to intercept and return the bomber groups of ** divisions, but instead rush to the airspace where there is no enemy, and they don't understand the commander's intentions?" ”

Nomura glanced at this senior staff officer coldly, and said: "I am carrying out the orders of Commander-in-Chief Ito, I don't need you to understand, before I receive a new order, I must strictly implement the previous order, which is the basic element of a soldier," Nomura looked at this guy and didn't like it, it was Ito's cronies who were inserted by the old guy, thinking that I didn't know, and he was here to spy on me.

This senior staff officer ate a big, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and was speechless, what Nomura said was reasonable, which shows that the gap between Kawashima and Ito, after all, Kawashima has no experience in controlling the overall situation, and before issuing a new order, the previous order should be revoked, otherwise, it will cause serious consequences of chaos in the troops.

The true thoughts in his heart, Nomura did not reveal, the main purpose of his doing this, one is to carry out Ito's orders, not to let him grasp the handle, the Third Fleet was beaten to the deathbed, and his fighter group went around in a circle, which also showed that he had done his best and showed goodwill in disguise, seeing the Imperial Army Aviation fighters, Hasegawa Kiyoshi could only remember me Nomura, but not the old guy Ito.

Nomura didn't know that Hasegawa Kiyoshi had already hung up, and, hanging miserably, compared to the bones, if he knew, he wouldn't have this interest.

Second, this is a strategy of Nomura, if the fighter group of the ** division discovers a large number of fighters of the air force, with Le Yiqin's character, he will definitely come to meet the battle, and attract Le Yiqin's attention, that is, cover the 17th Fighter Wing in disguise and intercept the action of the bomber group of the ** division.

Nomura is not afraid to engage the fighter group of the ** division, the large aircraft group to the large aircraft group, at best a tie, considering various factors, the fighters of the Imperial Air Force do not suffer losses, the fighters of the ** division, two attacks on the Third Fleet, are tired soldiers, Myitkyina airfield is not much shorter than Hainan Island from the Andaman Sea airspace, in the rush to the battlefield, the sharp spirit is gone.

The new division has an advantage in morale against the tired soldiers, not to mention, how could Le Yiqin know that the fighters of the air force are pouring out, even if he finds out, it is too late, if Nomura knows that his fighter group, flying together, will fall into the surveillance of the ground radar station of the Southern Flight Group of the ** Division, and he will never be so confident.

At 2:26 p.m. on 18 November, the Chiang Mai radar station of the Southern Flying Group reported that "the Japanese fighter group has approached the airspace of Darfur, and among them, the Japanese fighters of about one wing have broken away from the group and are flying in the direction of Sadwa, with unknown intentions." ”

As soon as Le Yiqin read the telegram, he immediately understood, "The little devil is poisonous enough, he really went to my bomber, order, all the first echelon fighters, the second regiment, and one brigade of the third regiment, immediately intercept these little devil fighters in the airspace of Sadewa to ensure the safety of the bomber formation." He immediately ordered.

At 2:38 a.m., the airborne radar of Colonel Wu Zhixian's landline plane, the commander of the first echelon of the avant-garde fighter regiment, first discovered a group of Japanese fighters in the airspace 50 kilometers southwest of Dafu. ”

He immediately reported to the commander of the formation: "Commander of the formation, I am the vanguard regiment Wu Zhixian, I have discovered the Japanese fighter group, whether to launch an attack immediately, please instruct!" ”

Le Yiqin, who was in the command tower, clearly heard Wu Zhixian's voice, his fists clenched tightly, and he was finally about to fight, this was the last battle against the Japanese air force in the sky over the Indochina Peninsula, and it was a decisive battle! At this point, there is no trace of the little devil's plane in the sky of the Indochina Peninsula, and even Le Yiqin, who has experienced big battles and bad battles, can't help but be a little nervous.

Wu Zhixian's regiment took the lead in the battle, and then, more than 300 fighters in the first echelon pounced on the Japanese fighter group, which was the largest air battle in the history of air warfare on the Indochina Peninsula.

Under the brilliant afternoon sunshine of the Indochina Peninsula and in the blue sky, the fighters of the two sides chased and rolled each other, and the sky was covered with strings of gunpowder smoke, and from time to time the fighters exploded into a ball of fireball, or dragged a long black smoke, plunged to the ground, and raised a column of smoke with flames and black smoke, soaring straight into the sky.

Regarding this unprecedented air battle, the local residents in the Dafu area, a few years later, when they mentioned it, their faces still changed, "Oh, that day, it was scared to death, the sky was full of planes, almost covering the sun, and it hit that fiercely, the roof of my house was dropped from the sky, I don't know what it was, and a big hole was smashed." ”

(To be continued)