Chapter 259: A Battle of the Sea and Air
Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport, the largest base of the Chinese Air Force, was busy at this time, just finished the bombing of the Third Fleet, and the fighters that had not yet dissipated the smoke of gunpowder immediately began to refuel and reload, not only those Hawk 3 used as dive bombers, but even some of the twin demons who were regarded as treasures by the bald guys were hung with heavy bombs.
The bomb carrying capacity of this large fighter is not much worse than that of the Martin bomber, but because of its amazing speed, few pilots dare to use it to bomb, but now the situation is grim, and the huge fleet composed of more than 100 Japanese warships and troop carriers is less than 100 kilometers away from Hangzhou Bay, and the Chinese Navy is not capable of attacking them, and now it can only look at the air force.
Sitting in his twin demons, Gao Zhihang smiled bitterly, the number of warships of the Japanese army is even more than the number of fighters dispatched by the air force, just think about it, you can know the difficulty of this battle, the Japanese fighters don't care, but the dense anti-aircraft artillery fire on those warships is the big trouble, and the total number of anti-aircraft guns in the entire fleet may not be less than five hundred, not counting those anti-aircraft machine guns.
More importantly, these pilots of the Air Force rarely train in dive bombing, using fighters and horizontal bombers to attack a large fleet, and he really wondered how many of these people would be able to come back.
Sighing to eliminate distracting thoughts, a pull of the joystick, the twin demons roared into the air, and then one after another planes behind him rose into the air and then quickly formed a formation, at this time there was a warning from the control tower on the radio, and the Japanese carrier-based aircraft had taken off.
Gao Zhihang glanced at the radar that had just been installed below, and then led the twenty twin demons and twenty thunderbolts responsible for escorting the escort to take the lead in flying in the direction of the Japanese fleet. Gao Zhihang's 40 fighters climbed into the air at the same time, and a formation of more than 60 Japanese planes appeared below a few minutes later.
Under his command, forty fighters pounced like predatory falcons, a large caliber machine gun sprayed flames, like a long whip on the enemy's body, the sudden blow instantly made the Japanese army below in chaos, more than a dozen Type 96 fighters almost at the same time emitted black smoke, and soon six of them shook and fell towards the sea.
Gao Zhihang's twin demon tore apart an enemy plane, then pulled it up and climbed to the air again, and then turned around and aimed at the next target and pounced again, this tactic was invented by the insidious pilots of the Beiping Jinyuan Company, and they did not fight the enemy at all. In their eyes, that's a fool's job.
The Twin Demon has an advantage in speed, an advantage in altitude, an advantage in firepower, and even an advantage in range, and there is only one way to deal with Japanese aircraft in this situation. High-altitude skimming, after a round of disengagement at high speed. Then turn around and climb to a higher altitude than the enemy and do it all over again. Anyway, it was impossible for the Japanese planes to catch up with them anyway, or fly to such an altitude that they could not fly above their heads.
This tactic, which can be said to bully people to their homes, has beaten the Japanese Army Aviation without any power to parry, and now the unfortunate ones have been replaced by the Japanese Naval Aviation, twenty twin demons that keep skimming overhead, plus twenty thunderbolts that are more agile than them at low altitudes, in just a few minutes. A third of the Japanese carrier-based aircraft were sent into the sea.
Such an air battle could not be fought at all, and the remnants of the Japanese planes immediately turned around and fled, and Gao Zhihang immediately led the fighters and the bombers who arrived immediately after him to chase after them, and soon the huge Japanese fleet on the sea in the distance appeared in view.
Takasu Shiro's fleet. It was supplemented with the battleship Kongo, Atago and two heavy cruisers in Torikai, as well as twelve light cruisers and destroyers. Three aircraft carriers, two battleships, seven heavy cruisers, thirty-eight light cruisers and destroyers, such a huge fleet in the Pacific theater in the future, all of which were intimidating to the Americans, are now like a huge cloud, which is gradually covering the sky of Shanghai.
Gao Zhihang took a deep breath and said into the radio: "All planes attack freely, try not to hit those warships, and focus on the enemy's troop carriers."
In a clear voice, 100 fighters of the Chinese Air Force rushed towards the enemy without hesitation.
At this time, in the Japanese fleet, the terrible air defense sirens had already sounded, countless anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were pointing at the sky, and those returning carrier-based planes did not land, but shuttled between the ships, and cooperated with the anti-aircraft artillery fire to form a steel fortress on the sea.
The first to attack was a twin demon, the pilot apparently did not follow Gao Zhihang's orders, this twin demon aimed directly at the towering battleship Kongo on the sea, and the pilot, who lacked dive bombing training, rushed almost straight towards the enemy ship.
All the anti-aircraft firepower on the side of the Kongo, including 127 mm naval guns and 25 mm anti-aircraft guns, was instantly opened, and tracer bullets indicating targets were woven into a net of fire in the sky, and countless shells enveloped the plane at once, and an anti-aircraft artillery shell that exploded at close range even cut off a small piece of its wing, but to the Japanese jaw-dropping, the plane did not crash as they imagined, but continued to pounce on the Kongo according to the original route.
The time of the dive is at most tens of seconds, and in the blink of an eye, the incomplete twin demon has reached the top of the King Kong, at this time, a series of anti-aircraft machine gun bullets shattered one of its tail supports, but it still did not affect its flight, it almost grazed the top of the King Kong's head, and at the same time, the four heavy aerial bombs mounted under the belly of the aircraft roared and fell.
Three bombs were missed, one hit, this kind of bomb made by Beiping, which was filled with more than 90 kilograms of mixed explosives of black sokin and thermite, the huge fire mass of the explosion immediately exploded in the King Kong ship, countless hull fragments were scattered and splashed in all directions, and even a nearby 127-mm turret was blown away, and the fire was ignited on the hull of this battleship with more than 20 years of age, and the billowing smoke rose like a demonic mockery.
The twin demon that caused this scene was not able to pull up after dropping the bomb, because it was immediately hit by the anti-aircraft guns of a nearby destroyer, and the already bruised plane staggered and slammed into the destroyer's chimney, and the huge impact and the remaining two tons of gasoline in the fuel tank turned the destroyer directly into a flare.
This is the first battle damage of the Twin Demon. In such a brilliant way, the Chinese pilots inspired by it immediately pounced on their targets one by one, and a sea and air battle unprecedented in the history of warfare began.
Gao Zhihang endured his grief and once again issued a strict order to his subordinates, try not to attack those large warships, this time the task is to delay their landing operation, so the primary target is those troop carriers.
However, these troop carriers are not easy to fight, they are all under the close protection of warships, and they seriously lack experience in attacking at sea. Moreover, the Chinese pilots, who had never encountered such dense anti-aircraft fire, behaved very hard during the attack, and the small aerial bombs carried by the Hawker III were not very useful in such a battle, and even if they hit the target, it was difficult to cause fatal damage.
And the Martin bomber, which could be loaded with heavy bombs. Because of its bulky size, it is extremely dangerous when diving and bombing. Bombs can only be dropped at relatively high altitudes. So the hit rate is low.
The real most useful ones were the twin demons used to bomb, and the dive speed of more than 600 kilometers made it extremely difficult to intercept them, so it didn't take long for a troop carrier to be hit by two heavy aerial bombs in succession. Then with a raging fire, it began to tilt on the surface of the sea.
But in this way, the twin demons have become the main target of the Japanese army, and most of the firepower is aimed at them, coupled with the harassment of the Japanese carrier-based aircraft. Soon another one was shot down by anti-aircraft guns.
But at the same time, another troop carrier was shot, and this ship was loaded with a lot of ammunition, which was detonated by the flames of the explosion, and soon accompanied by a loud bang that resounded through the sea, the troop carrier and a large group of Japanese troops on board quickly sank.
Takasu Shiro on the Kaga was also gloomy at this time, so far, the losses in this war are too great, especially the total annihilation of the Third Fleet, this is simply a whip in the face of the navy, although the old antiques like the Joban are not a pity, but the few warships that sank with it are very new, and more importantly, this makes the Japanese Navy, like the army, become an international laughing stock, if this landing operation fails again, it is estimated that it will really have to apologize.
"Your Excellency Commander, are we going to move in temporarily?" The chief of staff cautiously said that after all, there is no air cover, and even if it can successfully land, the losses of the army will be very large.
"There is no need, on the contrary, this is the best opportunity, the elite of the Zhina Air Force is here, as long as they can be eliminated in a battle, there will be no longer a threat to us, even if the loss of the army is worth it." Takasu Shiro said lightly.
This guy really calculated very clearly, the Chinese Air Force can fight these planes, especially the thirty twin demons, as long as they are solved, the sky of China will be the world of Japanese aircraft in the future, of course, he automatically ignored Yang Feng's three brigades.
In fact, this is also Gao Zhihang's concern, so after the third double demon was shot down, he finally couldn't hold on, and now the air raid has been considered a success, sinking two troop carriers, one destroyer was destroyed, and four other Japanese warships were damaged, and even the King Kong was damaged, and his own side has lost less than ten planes so far, which can be said to be a big victory.
Moreover, the bombs carried by each plane were almost exhausted, and there was no point in continuing to fight, so after seeing that two more troop transports had been hit by bombs, he immediately ordered the withdrawal of the battle and returned home, and when he left, he noticed that in the distant sky, a liberator was slowly flying by.
Yang Feng naturally would not miss such a good thing, in fact, there were a total of two liberators in this area, at an altitude of 30,000 feet, monitoring his every move of the warring parties.
At this time, the battle in downtown Shanghai was coming to an end, and two of the most elite German armor divisions equipped with heavy artillery were gradually squeezing the remnants of the Japanese Marine Corps with less than one brigade towards the headquarters in Hongkou.
With the example of Tianjin Boss Yang, the young gangs in Shanghai will naturally not miss such a good opportunity, and the accumulation of the Japanese in Hongkou for decades can be oil and water.
And on the outskirts of Shanghai, a train full of soldiers was whizzing past the railway, and now the bald guy was so anxious that his eyes were blood-red. The Japanese fleet was about to enter Hangzhou Bay, and if it weren't for the air force blocking them, maybe it would have arrived at this time, but he didn't think that these 100 planes would be able to block the more than 100 warships.
But now there are only three divisions in Shanghai, and only one 87th Division rushed to Jinshanwei overnight, and the four divisions led by Chen Cheng are still on the way, although Jinshanwei is the most suitable landing place for them, but there is not only one Jinshanwei that can let them land, and they can land wherever they want along the entire Hangzhou Bay coast, which is nothing more than a trouble point. Now not only Shanghai needs to be protected, but even Hangzhou and even Ningbo are under the threat of the Japanese army.
But now these places are also defense-empty, and according to the plan of the German advisory group, once the war starts, it will naturally be a big fight in Shanghai. Then they retreated to the line of defense, holding back with strong fortifications. Let the war become a protracted war of attrition. So as to force the Japanese to negotiate in their favor, but now the mouth of the Yangtze River let Yang Feng throw mines, so as to avoid smashing Shanghai, but in this way, it is impossible to judge the next target of the Japanese army's attack, so they can only try to transfer troops to the coast of Hangzhou Bay.
As soon as he thought of this, he was a little confused whether Yang Feng's move was to help him or trick him.
Just when Chen Chengbu rushed to Shanghai. The Eighth Group Army with Zhang Fakui as its commander was also formed, with 55, 57, and 61 units under its jurisdiction. The 624th Division was then urgently transferred to the west bank of Hangzhou Bay and north of the Qiantang River.
Just when the bald guy and his men were worried about the next direction of the Japanese army's attack, the big boss Yang in Beiping was also worried about this problem, and he now didn't know where the Japanese would go, although Jin Shanwei was the first target, but it was not the only candidate target, he blocked the mouth of the Yangtze River, and was leading this war to a completely unknown direction.
"Actually, if I were Japanese now, I would simply go south to Guangzhou, and it would be absolutely easy for them to occupy Guangzhou, and then use Guangzhou as a base to attack north along the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, although it can't be a quick battle, but it can get the benefits first." Huang Baitao looked at the map and said, he has now fully integrated into the big family of Jinyuan, otherwise he would not say such irresponsible things to the bald guy.
"Hit Guangzhou?" It's not that Yang Feng hasn't thought about this possibility, but this is not in line with Japan's strategy, after all, from there to Nanjing, then I don't know how to get the year of the monkey! The goal of the Japanese to launch the war, to put it bluntly, is to stifle the development of the skinheads, and at the same time to stimulate the Japanese economy with the plundering of China, especially to strangle China's increasingly aggressive enterprises, the vast majority of these enterprises are in Shanghai and Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
Since there is no way to take the most hated target, it is also very good to start with the second target, and there are huge benefits to doing so, as long as the bald guys are honest, kill all the capitalists in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and then cultivate Jiangsu and Zhejiang into a dumping ground for Japanese industrial products, so that Japan, which is now almost poor and pants, can also take a breath, and after a few years of development and save strength, you can do it to the British or Lucia.
Although Guangzhou is also quite rich, it is still a little worse than Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and taking Guangzhou is of no use to their strategic goals, and if they really go to fight Guangzhou, maybe the bald guys will still have fun! In that case, the first person who needs to be anxious is Li Bai, maybe he can also take this opportunity to solve this main opponent.
"The Japanese will not do this, a protracted war is their taboo, and the destruction of Shanghai is their most urgent goal." Sun Liren shook his head and said.
At this time, a staff officer came in and reported: "Boss, our reconnaissance plane reports that Takasu Shiro's fleet has ended the battle with the air force, and although the losses are not small, even the battleship Kongo was damaged, they still have not stopped advancing, and have now entered Hangzhou Bay and begun to shell the position of the 87th Army in Jinshanwei with naval guns."
"Well, now there is no need to guess, it seems that the goal of the Japanese has been determined, and they forcibly landed on Jinshanwei." Boss Yang said with a satisfied smile on his face, and the Japanese finally embarked on the path he designed.
What the most expected thing for this thing now is that the Japanese will continue to fight Shanghai, and then keep increasing the size with the bald guys around Taihu Lake, north of the Qiantang River, and all over the swampy water network, just like they did in the original history, wait until the Japanese army has gathered more than 300,000 troops in this area, and then get 10,000 mines, and give them the sea area from Hangzhou Bay to the mouth of the Yangtze River, and seal them all with mines, 10,000 is not enough for 20,000, in short, let this sea area become a forbidden area for all ships, Let these 300,000 Japanese troops completely become a lone army with no way out and no way out, and all logistics are interrupted, at that time, it is estimated that the bald guys are desperately trying to kill hundreds of thousands of horses, and they can almost solve them. (To be continued......)