In fact, the reason why Ushijima was able to regain contact with the 43rd Regiment was not because God opened his eyes, but because the world's first electronic jammer, which has been hovering over Baoqing, had a problem with the high-power jammer on it. In fact, this jammer is both immature and unstable. In fact, it is just an experimental jammer. It is not easy for it to last until now.
Because this high-power radio jammer uses the oldest electronic tubes, it is not only bulky and consumes a lot of power, but the most important thing is that it does not have a refrigeration system, so it cannot be turned on for too long each time, and it must be cooled down.
Although an old-fashioned aircraft like the DC-2 does not have a pressurized cockpit, the temperature in the cabin cannot be said to be high after takeoff even in the midsummer season. However, it is still a passenger aircraft after all, and the equipment is still more comprehensive than that of a military transport aircraft. The cabin Although the temperature inside is not high, it cannot be said to be too low, which does not help to cool down these instruments.
Although Xiong Dazhen made many efforts and tried every means to install several old-fashioned electric fans and the excellent performance of German-made electronic tubes in the small cabin, he finally allowed this guy to work longer without having to After working continuously for at most one hour, it must be shut down to cool down.
Although there has been considerable progress, it actually only increases the workload by less than an hour, and because of the addition of multiple high-power fans that consume a lot of power, if used for a long time, the aircraft will The power supply doesn't last too long either.
This jammer has been improved many times, and although it can now suppress radio communications below one hundred watts, as the power increases, key problems also arise, and its power consumption also doubles, which means that this When the machine is working, the fans that also consume a lot of power cannot be turned on for too long. Otherwise, when the aircraft's own power supply cannot be used, it will simply not be able to sustain the operation by just relying on the gasoline generator carried into the sky. A good appetite for these power-hungry instruments.
Originally, when performing electronic suppression tasks before, in order to ensure the safety of the instrument, it would only be turned on for an hour at most. However, this time due to the large workload and long working time, it was a failure. One of the key points on the jammer was Yes, the original parts, which can only be repaired on the ground, were burned due to overheating due to the long boot time.
The key original parts were damaged and the aircraft could not be repaired, so this electronic jammer, which played a great role in the battle, had to withdraw from the battlefield. It was precisely because of the failure at this critical juncture that Ushijima was so frustrated. Radio communication with the 43rd Regiment was restored at the critical moment.
Although this aircraft was directly under the headquarters, its use was carried out by the aviation force. This time, the key equipment was damaged, resulting in the aircraft being unable to participate in the war for a long time. Xia Boxun felt that he had a certain responsibility, and did not ask Yang Zhen, but took the initiative after receiving the telegram. Come to Yang Zhen for review.
Listening to Xia Boxun's review, Yang Zhen waved his hands and said: "This has nothing to do with you. It is surprising that this thing can be built. It is already a good achievement to be able to work for such a long time without problems. New things always take a long time from birth to maturity."
"This time such a major problem occurred when one aircraft was damaged. In addition to showing that we are immature in use, the number of aircraft is too small. If there is one that can be replaced, we will not be like this. Fortunately, now that all departments have been rounded off and put in place, electronic suppression is no longer a critical issue."
"The aviation force performed very well this time. I am very satisfied, but don't be complacent. This time the Japanese army was not prepared for our aviation force, so we achieved considerable results. Now that our aviation force has been exposed, we can do it next time." There is no such good thing anymore, so you must not be proud, you must learn from experience and make improvements."
Xia Boxun heard this and quickly promised: "No. 1, don't worry, we will definitely remember your words, sum up our experience as soon as possible, and strive to perform even better in the next battle, so as to never let down the high expectations of you and the head of the headquarters."
Regarding Xia Boxun's assurance, Yang Zhen smiled and did not reply to him. He just waved his hand to indicate that he understood. Seeing Yang Zhen wave his hand, Xia Boxun knew that No. 1 wanted to study the progress of the war, so he left without disturbing him.
After Xia Boxun left, Yang Zhen looked at the two staff officers in front of the map who were busy marking the latest progress of each department on the map. In his heart, he was thinking about the progress of the armored brigade that was crossing from Raohe to Hulin at the moment, because in front of him On this huge map of Baoqing, the armored brigade's movement route is still blank at this moment.
After staring at the map for a long time, Yang Zhen turned his head and said to a staff officer beside him: "The armored brigade has not called back yet. They carry the best radios there. There is no possibility of radio failure."
The staff officer shook his head and said: "No. 1, we haven't contacted you yet. There is no news from Brigadier Sun. Do you want to send someone to take a detour to have a look, or send the aviation force to make contact? There are all big movies over there. We are in the swamp, and those guys are very bulky. If something goes wrong, it will be troublesome. Now, more than four hours have passed since the scheduled time."
After pondering for a while, Yang Zhen shook his head and said: "No need for now, you send a telegram to the headquarters and ask them to closely monitor the movements of the Eighth Division, especially the high-power radio stations in their division headquarters. They must be given to me. Keep an eye on it and report it immediately if any of these radio stations moves."
Having said this, Yang Zhen stood up and looked at the map carefully, then told his staff: "Immediately telegraph Du Kaishan and ask them to speed up the advance of the troops interspersed in the direction of the Eighth Division. They must arrive at Yang Zhen early tomorrow morning. On the front line of the post, we still need to continue calling the armored brigades, and we must call them out."
The staff officer did not dare to delay and hurried down to issue the order. Yang Zhen kept wondering what happened to Sun San. No matter how complicated the terrain was, at least the communication could not be interrupted. Besides, no matter how complicated the terrain was, there were still Japanese military buildings. The so-called national defense highway can be used directly. Logically speaking, the speed of advancement should not be slow. How could this happen? What kind of trouble is there?
Just when Yang Zhen was worried about the actions of the armored brigade, Sun San was actually at war with the flank of the Eighth Division. Sun San had not responded to the call from the headquarters. There was indeed something wrong. Loading and headquarters The high-power radio station used for communication overturned while crossing the pontoon bridge in the swamp, and the radio station was flooded and unusable. The other vehicle-mounted radio stations were all tactical radio stations and had low power and could not directly contact the headquarters.
With the headquarters repeatedly emphasizing that he must arrive at the designated area on time, Sun San could only make emergency repairs while marching, but it was so easy to repair the mountains and wading along the way, especially before setting off, in order to carry more fuel to lighten up. And ammunition, I packed lightly several times on the road, and the spare parts are so easy to get.
It is not easy to carry hundreds of tanks and chariots, and hundreds of large and small trucks through the swamps and Wanda Mountain in Hulin. It is not easy to build pontoons across the river for transportation and to facilitate the movement of chariots in the mountains. Sun San emptied more than 30 trucks to use wood to repair the road.
There is plenty of wood in the Wanda Mountains, but there is not a single piece of wood in the large swamp area that stretches for hundreds of kilometers from Fujin through Hulin to the west of Baoqing. A large number of tanks and chariots want to pass through, and they can only choose a location. To build a pontoon bridge, there are too many places to build a pontoon bridge in such a large swamp.
In addition to large swamps, the road also crosses the Wanda Mountains at the junction of Baoqing and Hulin. This generation was the location of several major forest farms in the northern range of Wanda Mountain in later generations. In addition, the Japanese army began to build the Hulin Fortress. Later, in order to provide cover, the forest in this area was strictly prohibited from logging, so starting from the first line of entering the mountain from Daguokuidingzi to Yanggang, the scheduled attack position, although the mountains were not high, most areas were covered with cover. The primeval forest blocks out the sun, and the forest is quite dense.
The terrain in this area is the most complex on the entire crossing route. There are not only mountains with dense forests, but also large swamps interspersed between the mountains. There are dozens of large and small seasonal rivers and long-running rivers. The entire crossing operation , there are too many things to overcome.
Yang Zhen originally ordered the armored brigades to be interspersed based on the combat readiness roads built by the Japanese army. However, in order to avoid alerting the Eighth Division, Sun San decided to avoid roads and walk through mountains, forests and swamps in order to form a surprise force. land.
Although most of the troops have been transferred away, there are still half of the Japanese Eighth Border Guard Corps in Hulin, as well as the Puppet Manchukuo border police and a large number of Puppet Manchukuo troops. It is indeed fast and convenient to take the road , but it was easy to expose the combat intention, so the entire route was chosen to be in the uninhabited land of mountains and swamps.
Fortunately, the armored brigade had conducted advance drills on marching operations in complex areas. Along the way, Sun Sansui had to cut roads through mountains and build bridges when encountering water. But he finally managed to break out of a road and the losses were not great. However, the terrain was too complicated. , many vehicles overturned along the way, and the communication vehicle that was converted from a Soviet-made GAZ5 truck to transport the radio station was one of them.
All three high-power radios were flooded, which completely cut off the communication between the armored brigade and the headquarters. For most of the time along the way, let alone repairing the radios, there was no dry place to be found. Even if there was some time and effort, In even dry places, priority can only be given to repairing tanks and various combat vehicles that were damaged due to long-distance marches.
Due to the lack of spare parts, the radio station can only be left aside for now. When the Yanggang front line captures the headquarters of the 31st Japanese Regiment, they will then find a way to buy a high-power radio or get some accessories. The Japanese Regiment Level 1 However, although the radio station equipped with fifteen watts is not as good as our own German-made fifty-watt radio station, at least there should be no problem in restoring communication with the headquarters.