Episode 94 Cutting the grass and eradicating the roots

Half an hour after the second attack wave of the Tianshu detachment, although the Guying had been alerted for nearly an hour, all the guns of the ship were aimed at the air and ready to shoot at the air, and all the artillery crews were also mentally prepared, but it still became a "training object" for the Ming aircraft carrier formation.

The facts just proved Xiang Xiaoqiang's assertion. The second Ming air raid learned a lesson, and in addition to leaving the alert fighters, most of the fighters also participated in strafing enemy ships. While the dive bomber group dived and dropped bombs from a high altitude, the fighter group covered the torpedo group behind it at a low altitude, quickly rushed to the enemy ship from the side, and used four machine guns to strafe unprotected targets such as machine gun groups, control tower glass windows, and rangefinders on the side of the warship. The fighter strafing effect was even better than expected, and such side targets were difficult to hit by high-altitude dives. Moreover, this kind of strafing formed a very good suppression of the Japanese anti-aircraft artillery fire, and when the bomb did not hit, it could kill and injure a large number of enemy ship artillery and weaken the artillery fire.

Then, when the fighters swept past the enemy ship and climbed up, the torpedo group behind them had already entered the throwing range, and a large number of torpedoes were thrown into the water, and then the torpedo planes were also able to pull up and disperse in all directions.

The air raid lasted only ten minutes before the Nachi was hit by four bombs and two torpedoes, and exploded and sank. The Ming fleet lost only two dive bombers, four torpedo bombers, and two fighters.

It should be said that it is much more advanced than the last air raid. The time is much shorter, and the losses are much smaller. Xiang Xiaoqiang's prophecy was confirmed. Moreover, the pilots of the second attack wave, like those of the first attack wave, participated in the battle for the first time and had no previous experience in ship-to-ship combat. It is conceivable that as they participate in the second and third battles against the ship, after they become veterans from novices, the results will be even better, and the losses will be smaller.

……

After the second attack wave group sank the cruiser Furutaka, it did not all return home, but only those torpedoes that had dropped their torpedoes returned, and some of the dive bombers without bombs were escorted by some fighters to return to the home to reload. The remaining squadron of dive bombers, all with at least one bomb, protected by a squadron of fighters, began to fly towards several Japanese destroyers nearby.

The approximate coordinates of those destroyers had been determined in the previous aerial reconnaissance, and now the commander of the Ming fleet felt that he could easily blow them up. As long as all of them are blown up and sunk, there will be no more Japanese ships in the 170-kilometer-wide sea area between Taiwan Island and the Diaoyu Islands. The Ming aircraft carrier formation could pass with swagger, break through the island chain and enter the vast Pacific Ocean.

Within ten minutes, a squadron of dive bombers found another Japanese destroyer. Fifteen bombers and 16 fighters, fighter strafing and bombers dropping bombs, within five minutes dropped a bomb on its deck, immediately penetrating the deck to the bottom. The bomb exploded along with the destroyer boiler. The order to abandon the ship immediately resounded throughout the ship, but only half of the Japanese sailors had time to jump into the sea to escape, and the other half followed the ship and quickly sank into the sea and died in the belly of the fish.

Because the destroyer's anti-aircraft fire was quite weak, and there was no armor, the battle ended quickly, and there were no casualties among the Ming troops.

But at this time, a large group of Japanese fighters flying from Okinawa had already flown to this sea area, looking for a group of Ming military aircraft. And the Ming army aircraft group did not know it, and was still very excited to search for the Japanese destroyers one after another. They have just discovered a secret: dozens of their own small planes are actually more powerful than tens of thousands of tons of battleships. They just knew that they were so powerful, and they were excited to keep looking for opponents and repeatedly verify their power.

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When they sank the second Japanese destroyer, the captain of the escorting fighter squadron raised the alarm: a group of enemy aircraft was found ahead.

The leader of the fighter squadron immediately called the aircraft carrier squadron and also called the reinforcement group that was rushing here from the Taiwan base, reported to them the location, reported the approximate number of enemy planes, and asked them to come over quickly.

Then, he pulled down his goggles and led a squadron of men ready for battle.

By this time, they had already flown to the east of the Diaoyu Islands, and had already left the predetermined sea area behind. It is about 400 kilometers from the island of Okinawa, which is almost the limit of the flight radius of a fighter jet. And the pilots of the Ming army also knew it. They seized on the weakness of the Japanese fighters in terms of fuel shortage, and while allowing the bombers to return home, they also met the Japanese fighters four times their size, pushed the throttle to the maximum, and forced the Japanese planes to engage them in high-speed air combat in the most fuel-guzzling way.

The Japanese fighter was simply in a dilemma at this time. If you also start a high-speed air battle with the Ming army, then the fuel for the return flight will not be enough. If you don't fly at high speed, then the air battle will obviously suffer again. But there was no choice, and the Japanese fighter group also pushed the throttle to the maximum and struggled with the Ming fighters at high speed.

The Ming fighters were outnumbered, and they were bent on entangling the entire Japanese fighter group to prevent them from attacking their bombers. Even the pilots of the Ming Army were all veterans of the HNA and began to be shot down at this time.

But at the same time, these veterans of the Ming army are not given in vain. Basically, during the battle, for every Ming plane that fell, the Japanese plane had to fall twice.

The battle lasted only a few minutes, 4 Ming fighters were shot down, and 8 Japanese fighters were shot down, and at this time the captain of the Japanese fighter group thought that he could not fight any longer, otherwise the entire brigade would fall into the sea on the way back because of lack of fuel. At his command, the remaining thirty or so fighters tried their best to break away from the battle and return to the northeast.

At this time, the Ming fighter group was also unable to ask for it, so it quickly broke away from the battle, went to the northwest to meet the bomber group, and then returned.

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A few minutes later, two squadrons of fighters flying from the base in Taiwan arrived. At this time, the original air battle battlefield was already empty, and the Japanese planes flew back to the northeast, and the Ming planes returned to the northwest. The Ming military plane group at the Taiwan base searched the same place and only found some plane wreckage floating on the surface of the sea, as well as a few parachutes, which were supposed to be the pilots' for the parachute jumper.

The group called Keelung Port to send a destroyer to the rescue, and then also returned.

However, just as the fighters at the Taiwan base were flying more than 10 kilometers to the west, the leader of the team received a call from the base, ordering them to turn around the nose of the plane, speed up to the northeast, catch up, and annihilate the Japanese group that was returning home.

The team leader wondered why he had just approved their return to the plane, and now he had suddenly changed his order and asked them to chase the Japanese plane.

There is enough fuel now, after all, it is only 260 kilometers from Taoyuan Airport. But this distance, coupled with air combat, will probably be a little tight on fuel.

After the team leader radioed his concerns, the base replied that this was reassuring. Because their fuel may only be tight, and the fuel of the Japanese machine is already on the verge of limit. Therefore, their task is not to engage in a tragic air battle, but only to fight with the Japanese aircraft group twice, and then consume their fuel, and then they can go, so that the Japanese planes will fall into the sea halfway.

The base also said that the Tianshu aircraft carrier group in the north will also send a group of fighter jets to cooperate with them.

In the end, the officer at the base said that this was a suggestion from the top command in Nanjing. Of course, just advice. If the team leader feels that fuel is really short and the fleet is in danger of not being able to return home, then he can also return directly, and the fleet of the Tianshu detachment can complete it alone. The decision rests with the fleet leader.

When the leader heard this, he immediately made a decision and led the squadron to turn east and pursue the Japanese group.

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In Nanjing, Xiang Xiaoqiang received a telegram from the Taiwan base and the Tianshu detachment, sat in a chair, looked at his staff officers a few times, and smiled with satisfaction.

Immediately, he snapped his fingers and said with a smile:

"Qiuyun, go to the kitchen and see what is delicious, and bring us some. Ask them to prepare a bottle of champagne. …… Hehe, everyone, let's eat first, and when they destroy all the Japanese fighters at the Okinawa base in the afternoon, then we can ...... Ha ha. ”