At half past six in the morning, Quzhou Airport, together with nearby buildings, anti-aircraft gun positions, oil depots, and barracks, had become a sea of flames. If the power plant not far away was added, the fire would spread within three square kilometers around Quzhou Airport. There was a raging fire and thick smoke rising into the sky. It was a desolate scene.
Compared to thousands of other Japanese soldiers, Major Kawaguchi was undoubtedly lucky, because after more than half an hour of bombing, he was only licked by the fire downstairs in the pilot dormitory at the airport. Just a few hairs. Of course, from another perspective, he is also the most unfortunate, because this situation is more unacceptable to him than death. Sometimes, it seems that simple death is not a bad thing. thing,
When the United Fleet was hit hard by an air attack, Kawaguchi had just been transferred to Quzhou Airport. When he heard the news, he believed the base camp's propaganda and thought it was a malicious slander by the Chinese. It was definitely a rumor, and it was not just a rumor. Because the current Japanese people are generally arrogant and short-sighted. In fact, what the Combined Fleet symbolizes is the highest military force of the empire. According to Kawaguchi’s understanding: in front of the Combined Fleet, not to mention a mere hundred fighter planes, it is the army, navy and army. If the three air forces come out together, they will not take much advantage. The combined fleet is so powerful. There are six battleships alone, including two Yamato-class giant battleships with main guns with a diameter of 460 mm. Although because of For various reasons, there were only two Nagato-class battleships accompanying the voyage at that time, but they were not something the Chinese could deal with.
It is not surprising that Kawaguchi had such an idea. In fact, all Japanese at that time, whether they were in the military, the so-called anti-war alliance, or ordinary people, all held this view.
As a junior officer, it is not difficult to break through the blockade of the base camp to obtain real battle reports. After obtaining confirmation from senior officers, Kawaguchi’s first thought was not the strength of the military force of the cadet army, but attributed the reason to the strength of the military force at that time. Mitsumasa Yoneuchi, commander of the Combined Fleet, believed that it was the compromising mentality of the "Three Musketeers" of the Navy headed by Mitsumasa Yoneuchi toward China that caused the tragedy.
When the Japanese launched a war of aggression against China, there was not only one voice in the government from beginning to end. In order to gain the support of the people and even the government, the Japanese were accustomed to reporting good news but not bad news. In this way, their blockade of information about failures was ultimately just a fool. themselves,
Kawaguchi was undoubtedly one of those who were fooled. Therefore, he had always looked down on the Chinese army and had only a few impressions of the Xuebing Army. In this way, when the Xuebing Army Air Force showed its super strength in this air raid, he defeated the Japanese nation in one fell swoop. When his sense of superiority was shattered, he seemed to be struck by lightning and was stunned.
The two Hayabusa fighter jets were Kawaguchi's last hope. When the two Hayabusas each shot down an enemy plane, he once had this fantasy: The two Hayabusas were like Amaterasu, one shot on the left and the other on the right. , the Chinese fighter planes in the sky fell like dumplings one after another. The imagination is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. Although the two Falcons performed very bravely, it was a pity that they were like a primary school student fighting with an adult. He was the first to take action and swung his fist, but because he didn't have enough power, he couldn't cause effective damage even if he hit the opponent.
Kawaguchi looked up and saw that the somewhat huge China fighter plane was hit by Sasaki's ship. There were sparks on the fuselage. He was so excited that he wanted to shout loudly, but he opened his mouth but couldn't close it. The China fighter plane was exploding. After catching the Hayabusa in front, he pulled up as if nothing had happened, and then performed a beautiful flip, turning the nose to face the Sasaki ship. The blow he received just now did not cause any damage to it.
"How could this happen? The Type-1 fighter is our latest fighter." Kawaguchi murmured, and then watched helplessly and painfully as the fighter piloted by Sasaki was chased by three Chinese fighter jets like a pheasant. After holding on for five minutes, the left wing was finally blown off, causing him to spin and fall down. However, the damn Chinese refused to let go. One of the fighter planes chased after them and fired continuously. With a few shots, the Falcon was shot into the air and disintegrated.
Kawaguchi had no memory of what happened after that. When the Japanese troops in Quzhou City rushed over to find him, the Japanese sadly discovered that Major Kawaguchi had gone crazy. He was murmuring: "God." According to the possession of the great god, one shot on the left and one on the right..." I don't know what I want to express.
The air attack on Quzhou Airport was the most successful. The Xuebing Army only lost three fighter planes in this battle and blew all the 47 Japanese planes parked at Quzhou Airport into pieces, and also annihilated 78 Japanese pilots. The battles at Xiaoshan Airport and Ningbo Airport were much more intense. In the battle over Ningbo Airport, the Xuebing Army suffered a huge loss. Among the 44 fighters dispatched, in addition to the two Sky Fortresses, there were four Xuebing 1s. Type fighter jets, other old-fashioned fighter jets, and bombers were all shot down. In this battle, the number of pilots lost alone reached 37. When the news came back to the Baiyun Mountain Air Force Command, Tielin Fei's first reaction was to freeze on the spot. Didn't speak for a long time,
"Commander-in-Chief." Tie Linfei later reported the news to Ouyang Yun with tears in his eyes.
Ouyang Yun was at the Army Staff Headquarters with Ji Xingwen watching the staff display war games. He heard Tie Linfei's strange accent from the microphone, and a bad thought arose in his heart, and he asked: "Lin Fei, what happened?" Already."
Tielin Fei took a deep breath before he could finish his sentence: "The air strike on Ningbo Airport failed."
Ouyang Yun was silent, perhaps because he was used to winning. When he suddenly heard the news of the defeat, his reaction was very dull at first. After a while, he realized what had happened and couldn't help but feel excited. He asked anxiously: "How was the battle damage?"
"Of the forty-four fighter planes dispatched by the Third Division, only six new fighter planes returned safely, and the division commander Kong Xiangjun also died in the battle."
"Ah." Thirty-eight fighter planes were lost at one time. This kind of blow was so huge that Ouyang Yun felt his heart cramping and his body trembled. He took two steps back and almost fell.
Ji Xingwen was talking quietly with a staff officer. Ouyang Yun's unusual behavior attracted the attention of him and the staff. Chen Shichang came over and was surprised when he saw Ouyang Yun's pale face. He stepped forward to help him and asked Said: "Commander-in-Chief, what's wrong?"
Ouyang Yun waved his hand towards him, took two deep breaths, put the phone to his ear again stiffly, and said, "Have you verified it?"
"Yes, Commander-in-Chief, I'm sorry." Over there, Tie Linfei finally couldn't bear the huge psychological pressure and began to cry softly. He was still too young. He could no longer bear this blow.
Ouyang Yun was not hit as hard as him. Although as the commander-in-chief, he believed that he should be equal to the navy, land and air force, but because of the irreplaceable importance of the air force in this time and space, he still preferred it from the bottom of his heart. The Air Force, for now, is the smallest despite the fact that the Navy seems to be the most in need of strengthening. However, Ouyang Yun knows that what the Xuebing Army needs to strengthen most at this moment is actually the Air Force. Why is he not afraid of the possible consequences of the butterfly effect? The fundamental reason for the vigorous development of new fighter aircraft is to change the huge disadvantage in quantity through quality, so that they can compete with the Japanese for air supremacy, and at the worst, they must be able to protect the domestic airspace of Fujian, Vietnam and Qiong. , because only in this way can the army troops of the Xuebing Army be able to fight, and they will not become cannon fodder under the indiscriminate bombing of the Japanese aviation force.
There are many ways for the Xuebing Army to make money, but due to geographical restrictions and the policy of raising soldiers with high salaries, the money that can really be used to strengthen the Air Force is actually limited. According to Ouyang Yun's perspective, Chen Jitang purchased it when he was in power. Most of those fighters will be eliminated, but reality forces him to make concessions. These old-fashioned fighters may be dispensable to Western countries and even Japan, but they are a real boost to the Xuebing Army. , so he will find ways to improve those old fighter planes,
That's all for the loss of so many fighter planes. What Ouyang Yun couldn't accept was the sacrifice of so many pilots at once. The planes were gone and they could be rebuilt, but the people were gone but they couldn't be repaired. It was not easy for the Xuebing Army to train a pilot. Well, the current level of education in China is like this. It takes a lot of effort just to get qualified seeds, and a lot of effort is spent on training. The hardship is not something that the family members cannot understand at all.
"It has happened. Tell me what happened and why it happened." Ouyang Yun forced himself to calm down, and then asked in a deep voice,
Tie Linfei across from him wiped his tears and narrated in a low voice the encounter of the Third Division in Ningbo.
When Kong Xiangjun led the Third Division from Fuzhou Airport to Ningbo Airport, he was discovered shortly after entering Fujian. Ningbo is a bit far away from Fujian. In order to ensure the correct heading, multiple city groups from the Hutong Foreign Affairs Ministry were in their respective cities. Telecommunication signals were set up. Relying on the guidance of these telecommunication signals, the air raid fleet of the Third Division entered Zhejiang smoothly and then flew towards Ningbo. However, because all the territory was controlled by the Japanese, the air raid fleet sent out The loud noise inevitably alarmed the Japanese, so the Japanese who were willing to report it level by level quickly reached Matsui Iwane. Ouyang Yun didn't know that when Matsui Iwane first received the news, his face turned pale with fear. Bai, because of the lessons learned from Kaohsiung Airport, the old Japanese immediately guessed that the Xue Bing Army's air raid target must be the airport, and then he quickly notified all the airports to be more vigilant, and if Xiao Yi hadn't destroyed the phone lines at Quzhou Airport , Xue Changkong’s actions will definitely not be so smooth.
Xiaoshan Airport and Ningbo Airport were both prepared, so why did the Third Division suffer heavy losses? It turned out that the Fourth Fleet of the Japanese Navy happened to be docked in Hangzhou Bay at that time. The Fourth Fleet owned an aircraft carrier, and it was this aircraft carrier. ’s participation in the battle completely changed the comparison of the number of fighters between the two sides, which resulted in the disastrous defeat of the Third Division.