For this reason, Hu Weidong carried forward the fine traditions of the Red Army, solicited suggestions from within the army, and adopted many good ideas, such as setting up observation posts far away outside the city to put them on strict guard, so as to prevent the Red Army's planes from being destroyed on the ground before they could take off; After taking off, the Red Army planes should not fight with the devil fighters, but should stare at the bombers, which are more threatening, and at the same time it is easier to achieve results in this way; It is necessary to actively cooperate with ground anti-aircraft firepower and not to chase too far

Under the guidance of these tactics, the four fighter squadrons of the Red Army Flying Regiment worked side by side with the air defense units to achieve a good result that far exceeded Hu Weidong's expectations; in just 10 days in early May, they engaged Japanese planes more than 20 times, shooting down 22 Japanese planes (9 of which were air force victories) and damaging 17 (13 of which were air force victories), and the Red Army Flying Regiment was shot down 4 fighters and 2 were seriously injured (because there was no maintenance equipment in Tianjin, there was not much difference from being shot down, and the advantage was that the pilots were saved, and can recover engines and other important parts), sacrificing 1 pilot, while the losses of the air defense forces were even greater, 17 anti-aircraft guns (Note 1), 12 Type 93 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns and more than 70 light and heavy machine guns were blown up, and more than 500 casualties were killed and wounded (other troops also suffered this number, adding up to more than 1,000). The combat effectiveness has shrunk by almost half.

The reason why the battle was so fierce was that the Japanese planes regarded the Dongjuzi airfield as their primary target and tried to wipe out the Red Army's planes on the ground, and even if they couldn't, they would blow up the airfield to the ground, making it difficult for it to take off and land normally, so as to completely seize air supremacy. As a result, the Chinese and Japanese sides saw red bayonets in such a large space, which was completely different from the historical air battle of Songhu, which was hundreds of times larger, and its intensity was certainly unprecedented, if not unprecedented, and if we only talked about the density, regardless of the total amount, it could even be compared with the historical air battle of Britain

In the fierce air battles again and again, not only did Gao Zhihang and Li Guidan, two experienced veteran pilots, each have made their own gains, but young pilots such as Liu Quegang and Liu Zhesheng have also grown up rapidly. But just when everyone's morale was high, Hu Weidong suddenly ordered Gao Zhihang to lead his troops back to Jinchaji Airport for repairs and standby, and the pilots immediately exploded.

But Hu Weidong also had no choice to do this, "Japan's aircraft factories can manufacture hundreds or thousands of planes a year, and it only takes ten days to replenish these dozens of devils you have killed, while we have lost one less plane, and the situation is similar in terms of pilots." If this continues, the more the strength ratio will be more disparity in the future, and it is impossible to continue to maintain the current exchange ratio, and although everyone has fought bravely these days, the airport runway has still been greatly damaged, as long as the Japanese army comes to attack a few more times, this airport will not be usable, and the fighter planes that cannot take off will become a live target for the Japanese bombing. Moreover, you can also use this time to summarize the experience of air combat, so that those students who have not been able to participate in air combat can also learn it."

Although he was very unwilling, everyone also understood that Hu Weidong was indeed thoughtful, especially the current situation of the airport was really dangerous, even Gao Zhihang's temper was not easy to turn a blind eye, so everyone had to obey the order to fly west.

The pressure on air defense was already very great, and now that Gao Zhihang's flight regiment had left, it was even worse, so Hu Weidong decided to lead the victorious division back to the base area, and with the distance from Jinzhou to Tianjin, the main force of the 15 th Red Army only had to walk for a day or two at night, and the Japanese planes were basically not enough. Although the Red 15 th Army has been fighting frequently since its eastward advance, due to proper command and the bravery of the soldiers, coupled with good luck, its own casualties are less than 20,000, and the equipment has been greatly improved. …,

However, what made Hu Weidong a little depressed was that at this time, the scouts who had infiltrated Chengde sent back the news that the Japanese airfield had been completed, and with the work efficiency of the Japanese, it should soon be possible to enter the field in groups, and at that time the combat range of Japanese planes would inevitably increase significantly, and the Red 15th Army would have to walk for at least ten days if it wanted to get rid of the threat of air raids (it was impossible for a large army to march in a hurry, and it was impossible for a large army to walk in a straight line like an airplane on land). Moreover, they were all on the great plains without any shelter and protection, and the threat of aircraft increased at least several times, and after being chased and bombed by Japanese planes for so many days, the casualties were really too great, and it was even more of a heavy blow to morale, and it was not impossible for the vast number of commanders and fighters of the Red 15 th Army to suffer from "air raid phobia" from now on. So in any case, this airfield in Chengde must be removed, but this airfield was built as a military airfield from the beginning, and it is not easy to destroy it, and the Japanese army is also very concerned about it, and an elite brigade and wing headquarters are located near the airport, in addition to Chifeng, which is adjacent to Chengde and is connected by railway, there is also another infantry brigade, once something happens in Chengde, they may come to reinforcements at any time, which is by no means something that the scouts can do

Therefore, Hu Weidong resolutely decided to personally lead 30,000 elite soldiers to attack and occupy Chengde to solve the worries of withdrawing troops. Although there is also a distance of more than 200 kilometers between Tianjin and Chengde, but a long section of it is a mountain road, and the reconnaissance of the Japanese planes will be greatly restricted, even after entering the flat and open grassland, it is possible to take the way of marching at night and hiding during the day to avoid the detection and bombing of devils, after all, after entering the middle of May, the grassland is already lush and green. And with the arrogance of the devils, I am afraid that the Red Army would dare to take the initiative to attack it again, right?

At first, political commissar Zhang Hao did not agree with Hu Weidong's seemingly sudden operation, but Hu Weidong listed rows of detailed and accurate data, and analyzed them on this basis

Note 1: The original 25 guns, due to the Japanese army's contempt for air defense, although the Red Eighth Army captured a large number of Japanese equipment, but none of them had an anti-aircraft gun, the Red Eighth Army anti-aircraft guns were all captured from the national army before, basically small-caliber machine guns, the models are complex and most of them are old, the rate of fire and the height of fire have fallen behind the times.