Episode 8 Devil's Town Air Massacre

A squadron of fifteen "Vulture Eagle" dive bombers, roared and pounced on the "Devil's Town" 250 kilometers away.

The pilot looked down in the sky and saw a strange wind-eroded landform below, tall and short, pulling out large shadows under the morning sun. There was a strong wind blowing below, and between the earth platforms, the sand on the ground was surging, and the whole land seemed to be flowing, which was very strange.

However, fifteen planes flew several times around the area of the "Devil's City" of more than 10 square kilometers, and did not find any traces of cavalry.

The team leader radioed to the base and was instructed to expand the search.

"All right, brethren," said the leader, "now we will divide into five detachments, each going ......."

"Ahh

"My God!!"

"!!"

Before the team leader finished speaking, hoarse screams and angry scolding came from the earphones. The team leader hurriedly shouted:

"What's going on?"

As he spoke, he looked around in the cockpit and suddenly noticed that one of the planes was tumbling, as if desperately trying to dodge the attack.

Below, a string of tracer bullets flew up. However, it looks like it's still far from that plane.

At this time, the voice that was still screaming in the headphones just now calmed down a little, and said loudly:

"Encounter anti-aircraft fire! Encounter anti-aircraft fire! Be careful, everyone! ”

Fifteen bombers were immediately evacuated in all directions, no longer crowded together. At the same time, all the aircraft saw the location of anti-aircraft fire.

It was at the top of an "earthen fort", there was an anti-aircraft machine gun, and several people were shaking it around.

Weird! This anti-aircraft gun came out of the top of the earthen fort? I didn't see it when I searched just now!

It's really become the "Devil's Town".

At the command of the leader, the fifteen dive bombers divided into five groups and swooped down from the high altitude in turn to strafe and drop bombs.

The strafing was very effective, and immediately killed and wounded two gunners next to the anti-aircraft guns, and the other two immediately lay down to dodge. However, the bombing had no effect.

Bombs rained down around the wind-eroded fort, and the exploding fireballs sandwiched the yellow sand, enveloping the entire fort. However, when the smoke cleared, the anti-aircraft guns on the top of the earthen fort were still intact, except for a dozen more large craters around the earthen fort.

All the pilots understood that this was the advantage of the other side placing anti-aircraft guns on top of the earthen fort. The top of the bunker is high above the ground, allowing it to completely avoid the shock wave and shrapnel below. Keeping the bomb directly on top of a bunker a few meters square is as difficult as throwing a pea on the tip of a needle.

"Stop dropping bombs," the leader ordered, "machine gun fire!" ”

At that moment, another tracer bullet floated over his head. At the same time, a shout rang out in the headphones:

"Be careful! Three o'clock! Machine guns! ”

As soon as the pilot of the leader's plane pulled the joystick, the bulky "Vulture" dodged sideways, and at the same time pulled the nose of the plane and turned around. The leader sat in the back seat, searching around.

A few hundred meters away, on the top of another earthen fort, an anti-aircraft machine gun also appeared, firing at the low-altitude aircraft, as if by magic.

Someone in the headset shouted:

"Be careful, I don't know how many there are!"

There was no need for the leader to order, and immediately a three-plane formation pulled up the height, and then dived down in turn to strafe the anti-aircraft gun. The roof of this earthen fort is relatively large, and the last bomb fell on it, and immediately blew up all the limbs and parts.

"Well done!"

The leader shouted, and at the same time ordered:

"Attention detachments, free strafing on the top of every group of earthen bunkers in the vicinity!"

Fifteen planes each looked for a target and began to strafe aimlessly. Within a radius of 1,000 meters in this vicinity, all earthen forts that are relatively high, have a relatively small roof area, and at the same time have a gentle slope that can pull machine guns up, are strafing targets.

Sure enough, during the strafing, the tops of two more earthen forts suddenly lifted their earthy yellow camouflage, revealing army green machine guns. Immediately afterward, several gunners quickly shook their grips and tried to shoot at the bombers in the air.

But I have to admit that the technology of these gunners is too clumsy, so many heavy and sluggish bombers, flying so low, sometimes it is simply passing by them more than ten meters away, but the anti-aircraft gun line below cannot even get close to the aircraft. If it was a gunner of the Ming army, at least one plane would have been laid down at this time. The gunners below were shouting and shaking their handles, as if they were blindfolded.

Everyone understood: the people below were a bunch of rookies.

Two groups of three planes formed one in a group, and the two anti-aircraft guns were strafed and dumbed as if they were playing.

Fifteen dive bombers circled over the vicinity again, strafing suspected earthen bunkers in groups, and no anti-aircraft guns were ever seen.

The team leader thought in his heart: I understand very well today that they are deliberately setting up an air defense "big killing array", and then use a small force of cavalry to lure us in, wanting to give us a first battle to dismount. …… Helplessly, that Erdun Mutu is probably a leopard, he has never dealt with air power, and probably thinks that a few anti-aircraft guns will definitely be able to shoot down the plane.

Today is a lesson for the buns.

……

The shouting came to mind in the headphones:

"Twelve o'clock! Ground targets! Lots of dust! ”

The team leader frowned:

"Don't say what time it is! Say the direction! How do I know whose twelve o'clock it is! ”

Immediately shouted in the headset:

"000 directions! Ground targets! Lots of dust! ”

Azimuth 000, that's due north. All the planes turned their noses and looked due north, and sure enough, in the distance due north, behind the wind-eroded earth fort, a large amount of sand and dust was raised.

"Pull it up! Follow me! ”

The leader gave the order, then patted the driver in the front seat on the shoulder and pointed upward. The pilot nodded, pulled up the joystick, and the entire plane climbed upward. Immediately, all the planes in the entire fleet followed the leader's movements and climbed upward.

After a few seconds, the continuous tall earthen forts shrank to the ground, and the entire Gobi land was like a big map, and the field of vision was broadened.

Ahead, almost on the horizon, a cloud of smoke and dust filled the air, moving in the direction of Zhengbei.

The cavalry came out again, and now they probably saw that the situation was not good, and wanted to escape.

"Come, brethren! Follow me! ”

There was a "whoop" inside the earphones, and fifteen "vultures" howled and pounced on them, pulling the distance away by a few tens of meters in the blink of an eye. At the end of the sand, dozens of horsemen were galloping wildly, and they looked like they were fleeing for their lives.

A "vulture" screamed and swooped down, getting closer and closer to the ground, and dozens of cavalry below scattered and fled. The pilot used superb technology to pass at a low speed of more than ten meters on the ground, and it was clear that some of these people were wearing Qing army uniforms, and some were wearing local civilian uniforms. But regardless of military and civilian clothes, they all have face scarves covering their faces, only their eyes are exposed, and they all carry guns behind them.

Two of the riders didn't say a word, one took off a turntable light machine gun from his back, held it and opened fire on the plane.

"Hell yes!"

The plane screamed and pulled up like lightning. The team leader didn't talk nonsense, and said directly into the radio:

"Attack!"

After saying that, the driver pressed the button of the motor gun, and two clouds of smoke and dust exploded on the ground, and quickly swept past several cavalry. Suddenly, a blood mist burst open, a horse neighed and fell to the ground, and the cavalry above threw it out more than ten meters away, lying on the ground and not moving.

Fifteen planes screamed and pounced in turn, first spewing flames and then dropping bombs.

The group of cavalry was suddenly devoured by blood and fire. One by one, the horses fell to the ground screaming, and some of the riders on it were directly spurting blood and did not move, and some were able to get up and run away, but then the bombs that fell immediately lifted all the people and horses within a radius of ten meters into the sky.

Half of these dozens of horsemen were reimbursed in an instant, and the remaining twenty or so horsemen immediately dispersed and fled in several directions.

But it didn't work. No matter how mobile the cavalry is, it cannot be compared with the aircraft. Even if there is only one plane overhead today, it will be easy to pack up these two dozen horsemen.

Fifteen bombers also dispersed, strafing and dropping bombs, and in a few minutes, the last cavalryman also fell, and the bloody corpses hung behind the horses, dragged in the dust. And his horse, covered in blood, let out the most desolate scream, and at last could not hold it anymore, and was lying in a pool of blood.

……

"Keep searching!" The team leader still gritted his teeth and said, "We searched so many circles just now, and we didn't even see a single figure, and the devil knows where so many people came from!" Keep searching! ”

Someone in the headset said:

"Maybe it's hidden in the shadows, we don't see it."

"Those wind-eroded earth forts are so densely lined up, we don't dare to drill into them, maybe they are hidden inside."

"Possible camouflage nets to use! Make it a desert color, we can't see it! ”

The team leader pondered that these were all possible. In a word, these people are very adaptable to the local environment. And they chose the "Devil's City", a place with complex terrain, obviously because it was convenient for concealment.

The leader thought of one more thing and ordered:

"Whoever flies lower, go and look at the anti-aircraft guns on the top of those earthen forts, and see what kind of style they are!"

A vulture led the way, lowered the nose of the plane, flew as low as it could, and almost brushed past it at the level of the earthen bunker. The bombardier pushed open the hatch and craned his neck to look hard.

"Twin tubes, like 37 mm!"

The bombardier shouted, and then the plane brushed in the other direction.

"That's right, it should be a double-tube 37mm!"

"Double-barreled three-seven cannons," the team leader said to himself, "not the standard machine guns of the Qing army." It is possible that it was Soviet equipment. …… That's the Army's business. ”

Then, raising his voice, he commanded:

"Homecoming!"

……

At about half past eleven o'clock in the afternoon, fifteen vultures landed on the Dihua airport one after another in response to the cheers of the soldiers on the ground.

As soon as the pilots got off the plane and took off their flight suits, they were invited into Xiang Xiaoqiang's war room.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's headquarters is actually composed of several makeshift wooden houses and a few large tents. Outside the door is the blue sky and white clouds, alpine grasslands. He vetoed the dissuasion of the division commander and staff officers, and did not set up the headquarters in Dihua City. On the one hand, he wanted to try his best to establish an image of the Ming army's strict discipline and no crimes in the autumn. On the other hand, if more than 10,000 troops were stationed outside the city, and his headquarters was stationed alone in Dihua City, Xiang Xiaoqiang somehow always felt unsteady.

In a large tent, the combat conference room, Xiang Xiaoqiang and the key members of the division headquarters listened to the reports of the pilots.

He thought about it for a long time and basically agreed with the leader's judgment.

"Now we can say that," he looked up and smiled, "this first battle, we won it beautifully. But then we have to continue to take the initiative to find the enemy and keep destroying the enemy. Although we have planes, tanks, and are in an absolute position in terms of profits, we have a pitiful number of troops, only one division. With such a division, we can't focus on conquering cities and occupying territory like the Northern Expedition. Northern Xinjiang is so big, Altay is so big, and our more than 10,000 people can't occupy a piece of the sesame seed. Our guiding ideology is to desperately search for the enemy's vital forces and to annihilate them. In a word, we don't kill people for the sake of occupying land. Kill all the enemies, and the northern frontier will be completely in hand. ”