The Navy believes that in the current Pacific theater, the mode of naval warfare has long been changed from the original battleship duel to an aircraft carrier duel. Most of the aircraft carriers that the Navy can now use are on a few bases in the Central Pacific. In addition to the two aircraft carriers that have returned to the mainland and have just completed overhauls, there is only one new aircraft carrier that is being trained.

And these aircraft carriers are urgently needed in the Pacific theater, and it is simply impossible to stay on the mainland for too long. And other ships are also urgently needed, not only for operations, but also for escorts. Therefore, the Navy is really unable to draw the ships they need according to the requirements of the Army.

After two full days of arguing over how many ships to send to the operation, the Navy finally relented. It was agreed to add one more aircraft carrier, plus several battleships and heavy cruisers that had just completed overhaul on the mainland, to be put into the cover of landing fire.

During the entire campaign, as long as the Americans do not launch a major offensive in the Pacific Ocean, the Navy will always maintain more than one aircraft carrier stationed in the Bohai Bay to provide air cover and support for the Army. However, after the landing of the army, all the large ships of the navy will be withdrawn.

However, the Navy also promised to deploy a land-based aviation team in the theater. The air force will all be equipped with the Navy's latest land-based fighter Thunderbolt fighter, as well as the Thunderbolt fighter, which was originally developed to replace the old carrier-based attack aircraft, but because of the poor landing performance of the ship, which caused accidents in succession, and the size of the aircraft that was too large to take off from the aircraft carrier, it can only be converted to use the Comet and Tianshan naval attack aircraft as a land-based attack aircraft, and assist the army in providing air cover for this operation throughout the process.

For the Japanese Navy, the pressure on the air defense of the homeland at the moment is much smaller than that of the Army. After all, the current air raids on the mainland are mainly focused on army targets. There is basically no major threat to the army target except for the occasional bomb that misses the target.

Compared with the heavy pressure brought by the US Navy in the Pacific, the pressure on the Navy in the air defense operations on the homeland can be basically said to be dispensable so far. Therefore, the navy's life on the mainland is still quite good, and it can still draw troops to support this operation. It is not surprising that the Army is counting on the Navy to also undertake air support for this operation.

In addition, the new carrier-based aircraft developed by the Navy, because the original performance does not meet the standard, on the contrary, not many can be put on board. Compared with the tense war situation in the Pacific, there is a backlog of air forces and aircraft on the mainland because they cannot get on the ship. At this time, it is normal for the Navy to take on the lion's share of air operations.

Although the Navy does not want to, these planes cannot be on the ship, but they can still be used as shore-based aircraft. However, under the divine judgment of His Majesty the Emperor, the navy could only reluctantly cooperate and form a mixed air force to be transferred to the Chinese battlefield, which had been evacuated for three years, to cooperate with the army and undertake the main air cover mission.

With the Navy compromised, the rough plan for this operation was finally come out. And with the determination of the combat plan, the war machine of the entire Chinese dispatch army is once again running at full speed. The ports of Yantai, Lianyungang, and Shanghai were full of Japanese troops and large quantities of supplies that had landed and landed.

The Japanese Navy ships that cooperated with the army's operations also arrived in Arthur one after another. Among them, the ships that were originally deployed off the coast of Tianjin, but began to withdraw to Lushun during the ice period, began to reappear off the coast of Tianjin. The Caiyun reconnaissance plane, the latest carrier-based reconnaissance plane of the Japanese Navy, which has just begun to enter service, has also appeared on many occasions along the Jilu border and along the entire Bohai Bay to conduct reconnaissance on the entire battlefield.

This long-range reconnaissance plane, developed for aircraft carriers, has a long range and extremely fast speed. It can easily take off from Shanghai and conduct aerial reconnaissance of the entire battlefield in North China, and its reconnaissance range is even as far as Suixi, which has brought great trouble to the Anti-Japanese Federation. Although the anti-United Nations air force organized interceptions on many occasions, it was difficult to intercept such a reconnaissance plane with long legs and high speed because of the difference in fighter performance.

After receiving information from all sides, especially after a large number of Japanese troops landed from Yantai, Lianyungang and Shanghai, Yang Zhen, who was sure that the wolf had come, ordered all units to immediately prepare for battle. He also ordered the air force to bomb Yantai and Lianyungang, and to intensify the bombing of the Longhai Railway and the eastern section of the Jinpu Road, so as to completely paralyze the Longhai Railway and the Jinpu Railway.

However, the four Japanese railway wings, which first entered the Shandong Theater and northern Jiangsu to ensure the smooth operation of the Longhai and Jinpu railways, showed a strong ability to rush repairs in the field. Although the railway damaged in the air raid was interfered with by the Northern Jiangsu Military Region and the Luzhong Military Region when it was rushing to repair the railway, it has always maintained a high-intensity rush repair. The Japanese army also increased the allocation of anti-aircraft fire along the two railways.

Although the air force of the Anti-Japanese Union continued to increase the intensity of air raids, the four field railway wings invested by the Japanese army were fully repaired and covered by ground artillery fire. Before the whole battle began, the two lifeline railways of the Japanese army, although intermittent, remained open.

During the air raids, all the equipment in Yantai Port and Longkou Port was completely blown up by the attack aircraft group dispatched by the Anti-United Nations, and they lost their operational capability in a short period of time. The port of Qingdao, which was not originally used for the landing of the Japanese army, also suffered heavy losses under the all-out air raid of the anti-coalition bomber group.

However, Lianyungang, the eastern starting point of the main transportation route of this troop increase, was never succeeded in many air raids by the Anti-Japanese Union under the cover of the overwhelming dispatch of the Japanese army aviation in China and the cover of the greatly increased ground anti-aircraft firepower. During the entire operation period, Lianyungang, which was not large, and in the entire system of the Japanese army, it was not even a port that played an auxiliary role, but it actually became the main port used by the Japanese army.

However, although it failed to completely cut off the two railways of Longhai and Jinpu, and completely destroyed Lianyungang. However, under the all-out attack of the anti-coalition air force stationed in Hebei, the various divisions and regiments of the Japanese army suffered considerable casualties when they moved to the designated combat area. Many of the trains transporting soldiers and supplies were also blown up on the railway lines.

Although the Japanese army and navy air forces participating in the war did their best to cover the troops, they also made careful plans when transporting troops, and adopted the method of marching and transporting troops at night as much as possible. However, under the bombing of anti-United Nations planes that were dispatched almost 24 hours a day, the Japanese army still suffered heavy losses when it was transported to the front line.

In order to weaken the strength of the divisions and regiments of the Japanese army participating in the war as much as possible, the anti-coalition air force stationed in North China was dispatched. Large-scale bombing and attacks were carried out on all roads and railways in Shandong and eastern Henan. Even the P-40 fighters were hung with high-explosive aerial bombs to carry out fire strikes on the Japanese troops.

Nearly 60 percent of the cars of the Japanese troops heading toward the Jilu border were blown up on the road. An independent field heavy artillery brigade of the Japanese army, which was thrown in this direction, was captured by the night bombers of the Anti-Japanese Union while marching at night. Under the direction of the flares dropped by the guide aircraft, a group of Blenheim light bombers came to cover the Japanese army with complete firepower.

This independent field heavy artillery brigade, which belonged to eight ** type 150 mm cannons, along with all the tractors and ammunition it carried, were all blown up on the road from Linyi to Changhe. The detonated ammunition and the flames of the ignited tractor could be seen clearly from dozens of kilometers away.

The 114th Division, which was transferred in this direction, could not even reach the combat area, and the two infantry brigades and regiments under it were brutally blown up and destroyed by one and a half. When the 83rd Infantry Brigade to which it belonged got off the train in Yanzhou, it was blocked at the Yanzhou station by the anti-coalition bomber group taking advantage of the opportunity for the Japanese naval team to return to the sea.

A burst of high-explosive aerial bombs and napalm bombs reduced the brigade's main three infantry battalions to rubble, along with the Yanzhou station. One of the infantry brigades, before they could get off the train, was sent to the west by a group of bombers in a carpet bombing process.

When the Japanese Navy's fighter group, which had arrived in a hurry after receiving the news, arrived in Yanzhou, the headquarters of the 83rd Brigade of the division, along with an entire infantry battalion in the same column, had been completely wiped out under the air raid. The Japanese army, which cleaned up the mess, could only dig a big pit and bury the charcoal-like corpses of the Japanese soldiers burned by napalm.

Before the main force of the 114th Division arrived on the battlefield, it lost its combat effectiveness and withdrew from the battlefield under air raids. Of the division's two formed brigades and subordinate units, only the remaining complete infantry brigade arrived on the Shandong battlefield, plus other infantry brigades and four squadrons of combat effectiveness. Under the command of Major General Matsunoo Katsuaki, commander of the 84th Brigade, it was reinforced to the Linyi-Juxian highway as a garrison.

Faced with an almost pervasive group of anti-United bombers, the Japanese army had no choice but to change its tactics and move from the original concentrated attack with the wing as the formation to the method of dispersing the advance with the brigade as a unit and arriving at the designated area and concentrating on another group. At the same time, all the divisions and regiments that were scheduled to be used in Shandong were to get off the train south of Yanzhou, and all of them were marching on foot.

It has also changed the original method of sub-regional and air supremacy of the army and navy aviation units. Instead, the army and navy aviation units participating in the war adopted the stupid method of taking off in batches to cover the air in seamless links and taking turns to return to the base to refuel and rest, so as to ensure that the divisions and regiments advanced to the front line, and only then did the losses suffered by the divisions and regiments on the way down to the front be reduced.

At the same time as the various divisions and regiments of the Japanese army were advancing to the designated combat area. On 9 March, just after the ice period in Bohai Bay was completely over, the Japanese Navy dispatched two battleships, Kongo and Haruna, two old armored cruisers Yakumo and Tsumidate, and the heavy cruiser Kumano and Yubari light cruisers, which had just completed battle-damaged repairs on the mainland.

In addition, with the cooperation of six destroyers, three minesweepers, and nine submarine destroyers, as well as the aircraft carrier Xianghe, which had just completed emergency repairs, and the Chitose aircraft carrier, which had been converted from a seaplane carrier, and 45 aircraft carriers provided air cover, they carried out large-scale artillery bombardment on the Beitang and Dagu lines around Tianjin.

The two battleships fired more than 700 rounds of 356-mm shells, and together with the heavy cruiser Kumano, they fired more than 2,000 rounds of 203-mm and 150-mm shells. As for 120-mm shells and small and medium-caliber shells, there are even more of them. Under the large-scale shelling of the Japanese army, the entire line from Beitang to Dagukou was bombed.

Because the air force of the Anti-Japanese Union is now concentrated on the southern front, it will carry out air interception of various divisions and regiments of the Japanese army that are advancing towards the theater. Therefore, no air strikes were carried out against the Japanese Navy's artillery bombardment. As for Tao Jingfei's ground artillery deployed on the line from Beitang to Dagu, the range was too far from that of the Japanese naval guns, so they did not make any return fire.

The Japanese fleet shelled for a whole afternoon, after almost all the shells it carried. The light cruiser Yubari was left in command of the destroyers to monitor the coast of Tianjin and protect the two aircraft carriers stationed off Tianjin, while the main fleet returned to Arthur to replenish its shells.