Especially this kind of British-made Stirling bomber. Although it has some shortcomings, in the British army, because bombers with better performance have emerged, the service time is quite short. With better performance and longer range,
After a large number of Lancaster bombers with a larger bomb load were put into service, they were quickly transferred to the second line.
However, during the Anti-Japanese War, because of its sturdiness, it was the best among all strategic bombers, and its resilience was also the best. It was always responsible for attacking the entire Japanese mainland, and the Japanese air defense force was the most concentrated.
The Tokyo area, as well as the bombing of the Osaka Artillery Factory, a major military production site.
This British-made heavy bomber, regardless of its shortcomings, has the lowest flight altitude among the several bombers of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. Its large-range bomb load is also one of the several bombers of the Anti-Japanese Alliance that participated in the bombing of Japan.
The least one among them is not as good as the B-24 or B-17 bombers.
However, not only participating in a few air strikes, but because of the bombing mission against Japan, the bomb load was less than one ton despite the long range, and the self-defense firepower was too poor. After the British bombers arrived, Iraq retreated to the second line.
Except for the Er-4 bomber, it was the one with the smallest losses among the several bombers of the Anti-Japanese Alliance that participated in the bombing of Japan. The number of battle losses during the entire bombing of Japan was actually not as many as those that crashed during training.
Of course, the bombers provided by the British were not the first batch of strategic bombers to arrive at the Anti-Japanese War. After the Pearl Harbor Incident, the Americans took advantage of the last opportunity before the Japanese army took action in Southeast Asia and hurriedly relocated the bombers originally stationed in
In the Philippines, the B17 bombers that retreated to the northeast through the Dutch East Indies were the first strategic bombers obtained by the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Throughout 1942, the Americans also gave intermittently more than 100 B-17 bombers, but in terms of number, the number of Whitley, Stirling, and Wellington bombers compared with the British reached 700 in 1943.
Compared with the number of multiple aircraft, it is still incomparable. US-aided bombers did not begin to arrive in large numbers until the second half of 1943. The generosity of the British allowed the Anti-Japanese War to relieve the pressure on equipment before the large-scale arrival of US aid.
However, although the British fulfilled their promise and immediately picked up all the personnel selected by the Anti-Japanese Federation after the Soviet Union agreed to release them, they did not leave as many people as they selected as Yang Zhen expected. Pilots and navigation technicians, however,
According to the number selected by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, only 500 of the remaining air crew and ground staff left.
However, although the British fulfilled their promise and immediately picked up all the personnel selected by the Anti-Japanese Federation after the Soviet Union agreed to release them, they did not leave as many people as they selected as Yang Zhen expected. Pilots and navigation technicians, however,
According to the number selected by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, only 500 of the remaining air crew and ground staff left.
The place of study was not in the British mainland as they had originally promised. Instead, it was first in Karachi, British India, which was far away from their homeland. Then, as the Japanese invaded India, the situation became very delicate, and then they moved to Karachi, which was already far away from their homeland.
Baghdad Airport in Iraq, controlled by the British and Soviets.
Because the number of trainer aircraft is limited, all selected pilots can only fly aircraft in different shifts to gain experience in driving British-made aircraft. However, the instructors selected by the British have participated in bombings against Germany at least five times, and their experience in strategic bombing is extremely high.
of veterans.
You must know that the current British long-range aviation force has suffered heavy casualties in the current bombing campaign against Germany, because the German Air Force is at its peak at this time, and the local air defense force is also quite powerful, especially the deployment of many extremely excellent performance aircraft. The casualty rate of anti-aircraft artillery and strategic aviation forces in air strikes is still quite astonishing.
Being able to mobilize so many experienced combat veterans at this time to train the long-range bombing aviation force of the Anti-Japanese Alliance shows that they also attach great importance to it. The British's original little calculation has long since followed a series of their Southeast Asian battlefields. It was a disastrous defeat. Within a few months, the army was at the gates of India and was thrown into the clouds.
But no matter what the British's calculation was when they first proposed this suggestion, was it because they wanted to show the Americans that they had the same interests as the Americans on the Asian battlefield, or for some other reason. He had selfish motives and wanted to use this method as an exchange of interests with the Anti-League, but after all, the Anti-League actually learned something useful to him.
Through this study of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, he completely acquired the British tactics for long-range strategic bombing. Moreover, under Yang Zhen's extremely determined request, the British also arranged for all pilots and air crews to participate in the study, at least Participated in an actual combat bombing.
After completing preliminary training, these pilots and air crews flew Stirling, Manchester and other long-range bombers and Wellington medium bombers provided by the British, taking off from Egypt and crossing the entire Mediterranean Sea at a distance similar to that of the Anti-Japanese Alliance to the Japanese mainland. Conducted multiple bombings on mainland Italy and Romanian oil fields.
Some of them, pilots and ground navigation personnel who were seed instructors, were also transferred back to the UK to participate in three bombings against Germany. Especially in May 1942, the British organized a thousand-plane bombing of Cologne. The British army invested Among the 1,047 bombers, there were thirty Wellington bombers, eighteen Stirling bombers, and four Whitley bombers, all of which were flown by anti-Union personnel.
Although in training and actual combat, the Resistance Alliance was not without its costs. Just when participating in the British army's thousand-plane bombing of Cologne, two Manchester bombers flown by the Anti-Alliance personnel crashed due to mechanical failures. A Stirling bomber was shot down by a German ground 88mm anti-aircraft gun.
Twenty-one aircrews on the three bombers, none of whom parachuted out to strictly maintain confidentiality, were all killed along with the planes. During the air raid on the Italian mainland, more than 40 anti-Union aircrews were killed due to aircraft malfunctions or accidents. The plane was shot down and he died.
The dispatched ground navigation personnel also participated in the British bombing and navigation of Germany. Even before returning to China, they were in charge of a ground navigation station alone. Although they made certain sacrifices, through participating in actual combat, these pilots and air crews became Gained a lot of real practical experience.
By September 1942, these pilots flew the first batch of 180 Stirling bombers and 60 Whitley bombers provided by the British. After returning to the Anti-Japanese Alliance, they not only greatly strengthened their original training in the base area , with the Il-4 bomber group with a small bomb load as the main force, and a small number of B-17 bomber groups, the bombing force against Japan was not originally large.
Due to the limitations of the number and performance of bombers and the restriction of the Japanese sextant maritime positioning and navigation method, the Anti-Japanese Alliance could only carry out harassment bombing on the Japanese mainland, and became a real strategic bombing. As a seed instructor, In order to resist the Allied strategic bombing of Japan, a large number of qualified pilots and navigators were trained.
Moreover, although the anti-alliance personnel hated Manchester bombers with a very high failure rate, most of the more than 70 bombers transferred by the British were converted for training use, but the Stirling, Hewlett and Wellington, these three Bombers are extremely popular.
Even a considerable number of anti-Japanese pilots did not like the American B-24 bomber and preferred these three British bombers, especially the Wellington bomber, which had an extremely strong body and the Japanese 25mm anti-aircraft gun, which could hardly pose a threat to it. Although The flight performance can only be said to be average, but its extremely strong survivability makes it quite popular.
It was just that when the British put forward this suggestion, they also asked the Anti-Japanese Alliance to resolve the negotiations with the Soviet Union in the shortest possible time so as to open a channel for the British to provide assistance to the Anti-Union. The British attitude was very firm. If the Anti-Japanese Alliance could not solve the problem in one day, They will not allow these pilots to set off for a day even if it is a matter of negotiation with Su.
Because they do not want this matter to be known and controlled by Chongqing, and some unnecessary disputes will occur with Chongqing. The British are currently discussing with Chongqing how the two countries should jointly deal with the crisis once the Japanese army invades Southeast Asia. In particular, in order to keep India, the British still have a certain demand for Chongqing, at least in the short term.
For this reason, the British not only reopened the Burma Highway that had been closed for three months, but also provided Chongqing with a cash loan of 30 million pounds. Although the interest rate is a bit high, for the stingy British people In fact, it has been extremely generous since the July 7th Incident.
Not only that, the British also provided Chongqing with an unprecedented 70,000 rifles, 2,400 Thomson submachine guns, 1,500 Browning heavy machine guns and legal Hotchkiss heavy machine guns, as well as a large amount of ammunition. and more than a hundred Italian orogenic field guns captured in North Africa.
Of course, these weapons are all second-hand goods they acquired from the Americans after the Dunkirk evacuation, as well as weapons that were replaced by some French troops after they retreated to Britain, as well as their trophies in North Africa, and these The total price of the weapons was seven million pounds, which was directly deducted from the British loan.
But after all, it also shows from another aspect that because of their own reasons, the British do not want to be too rigid with Chongqing, because if they want to protect India, they must have someone to replace some of their troops stationed in Myanmar and even Southeast Asia. If they want to fight with Chongqing, It's too stiff, so where can I find a scapegoat?
Therefore, the British repeatedly proposed that the pilots of the Anti-Japanese Alliance who want to go to the United Kingdom can only transfer to the Soviet Union and then go to Iran, and then go to the United Kingdom through the Middle East and Africa, or board the ship via Iran and arrive in the United Kingdom via the Cape of Good Hope. As for the British and the Anti-Japanese Alliance proposed Negotiations were made in Chongqing, passed through Yan'an and Kunming, and then arrived in Myanmar. When the traffic line was diverted to the United Kingdom, the British refused without hesitation.
Although the British gave sufficient reasons and their attitude was quite enthusiastic, in Yang Zhen's view, this situation really proved that the British had something evil in their hearts. I am afraid that this incident was used to suppress the Anti-Japanese Alliance's attack on the Soviet Union. People are willing to make concessions in order to reach some kind of deal with the Soviets. The British, who have always looked down on the Chinese, would not be so enthusiastic about something that is not beneficial to them.
Although the reasons in their mouths are high-sounding, Yang Zhen believes that the purpose behind it is definitely not that simple, because Yang Zhen believes that the British, who only want to take advantage of the future battlefield in Southeast Asia and find a scapegoat, in order to provide for Chongqing when negotiating with Chongqing. It would be strange to strive for more benefits to force Chongqing to make concessions, and not to use the Anti-Japanese Alliance as a bargaining chip to exert pressure.
I know that if I don’t want to become a weight that the British can use at the negotiation table, or reduce the British’s bargaining capital at the negotiation table, even though I know that this British pressure will be a bitter pill to swallow, but He could only bite the bullet and swallow this bait, because this bait was extremely important for the next step of the Anti-League strategy.