Tiejia Ridge, more than 20 kilometers southwest of Jixian County, is the headquarters of the Fifth Army.
A steady stream of battle reports quickly gathered, and the atmosphere in the command room was depressing. Faced with the rapidly deteriorating battle situation, everyone was temporarily speechless.
No one could have predicted that the ambush battle, which was originally thought to be 60 to 70% certain, would turn into the current situation. Who would have thought beforehand that the Japanese base camp would be so determined that it would invest so many fighter planes in North China at once, and also land on the ground?
, sea and air linkage, the cooperation is just right.
According to the information coming from the command center of the Sixth Air Regiment, the Japanese army dispatched nearly 700 fighter planes in this air battle, nearly half of which were fighters of the Naval Air Force. There is only one way to assemble such a large number of aircraft.
, that is to allocate all of Japan's army and navy aviation forces and use them all for the North China War. In other words, the airspace of Japan's homeland, North Korea, Northeast China and Taiwan is now all undefended.
Standing on the mountain terrace in front of the mountain temple, looking at the thick smoke covering the sky more than ten kilometers away, Hu Jialin's heart was bleeding.
Although the ground anti-aircraft artillery units of the Fifth Army Group that entered the battle this time only used the air defense battalions of each division, the air defense battalions have always been the treasures of each division and will not be used easily.
The main battle weapons of the air defense battalion are twelve twin-linked anti-aircraft artillery vehicles, and are equipped with fourteen 14.5 mm twin-linked anti-aircraft machine guns. Together with logistics and transportation personnel, a battalion has a full strength of 500 people, and three divisions of
The total number of air defense battalions is 1,500. At the same time, in order to better utilize the 120 Type 88 75mm anti-aircraft guns captured in Baodi County, a large number of artillery and auxiliary personnel were transferred from the three divisions.
This 88-type 75mm anti-aircraft gun was one of the best anti-aircraft guns in the early 1930s. However, in the past 30 to 7 years, with the rapid development of aircraft, it has fallen behind slightly, and it seems a bit difficult to deal with fighters with speeds exceeding 400 kilometers.
Hard work. The barrel length of this anti-aircraft gun is 3312 mm, the maximum pitch angle is 85 degrees, the azimuth firing range is 360 degrees, the projectile weight is 6.54 kg, and the ground range is 14800
meters, with an anti-air range of 12,100 meters. Each anti-aircraft gun requires the cooperation of five people to operate normally. According to a rough calculation, 600 gunners were put into the anti-aircraft gun positions set up on the two mountains.
The general machine gun strike team specially set up to strengthen the anti-aircraft firepower at the anti-aircraft artillery position takes up even more resources.
Nowadays, when the Japanese army comes down with fire, not only the anti-aircraft artillery, anti-aircraft machine guns and general-purpose machine guns are lost, but the huge loss of personnel is even more heartbreaking. Just look at the generation speed of the thick smoke in the sky, and you will know that it is laid out in the winding mountains and green mountains.
How difficult it was for the soldiers to withdraw from the Pingshan Mountains. I don’t know how many soldiers were able to escape the fire and survive.
Every time he thought about this, Hu Jialin felt a heartbreaking pain.
What is particularly frightening is that the danger is not limited to this. Since the artillery positions of the *** Division and the 17th Division are set up at the southern foot of Cuiping Mountain and Panshan Mountain, they are not too far away from the anti-aircraft artillery positions. Now the fire is fierce, not only the artillery positions
Under serious threat, the 17th Army Headquarters
The headquarters of the *** Division, the headquarters of the 17th Division, ammunition depots, and car parking points are also located in the dense forest at the foot of the mountain. It is impossible to evacuate in a short time. The entire Fifth Army Division was affected by the fire.
Threat, whether this battle can be sustained is a huge question.
"Huzi, please calm down first. It's useless to be anxious...Lu Yixuan and the others will find a way to solve the problem. Our top priority is how to deal with the crisis at hand."
Zhang Chengzhu came to Hu Jialin's side and whispered comfort.
"I can't calm down. Now Sun Lianzhong's First Army Corps has also been attacked by a large number of Japanese troops. It cannot retreat for a while. Whether it can join our troops on time tomorrow morning and retreat to Sanhe County is still a question mark. According to the current situation
, Once we lose the support of the Air Force, the various departments of our Fifth Army will become the key targets of Japanese bombers. With the current density of Japanese fighter planes, we simply cannot sustain it for long." Hu Jialin said worriedly.
"Cuiping Mountain and Panshan Mountain are now surrounded by fires, and the mountainous area north of Jixian County may be affected by the spreading fire at any time. The Forty Division called to say that the Japanese troops have voluntarily evacuated, and the crisis on the northern front has been basically eliminated. At this time, can we
Move Yang Jiuxiao's troops southward and send out
One unit goes to the front line of the other mountains to help the First Army withstand the Japanese attack? With the speed of our army's forced march, even if the rear troops evacuate the defense line in an emergency, they can completely escape the Japanese pursuit. This will win for our two armies.
Enough time." Zhang Chengzhu thought for a while and said.
As soon as Hu Jialin heard that it was feasible, he immediately returned to the war room without saying a word, and quickly issued an order for Yang Jiuxiao to leave a small number of troops to monitor the movements of the Japanese troops, while the rest of the troops would withdraw south and reinforce the First Army to the east at any time.
At this time, Huang Zhi, who was observing the progress of the battle in front of the map, reminded: "Commander, the war has entered an uncontrollable stage. With the defeat of our ground air defense forces, the plan to annihilate most of the Japanese fighter planes in Jixian airspace has been shattered. Air Force brothers face
Against an opponent that is several times your own, you must quickly come up with an idea whether to fight or retreat, otherwise we will waste time and lead to the total annihilation of our air force officers and soldiers, which will be a great sin on our part."
Hu Jialin waved his hands and said with a wry smile: "Now I can no longer come up with random ideas. We are completely amateurs in air combat. This time we made a big mistake, which not only caused our army to suffer huge losses, but also reduced the number of our air force."
The limited fighter planes are left in dire straits, so let them solve the problem by themselves..."
After a moment of deliberation, Hu Jialin called over to Chief of Operations Wen Junhao and dictated a telegram: "Commander of the Central Air Force, General Zhou Zhirou, and Commander of the Sixth Air Force, General Liu Ziyun, the current situation is beyond the control of our Fifth Army. Please immediately formulate follow-up operations for the Air Force."
Plan, it is recommended that every effort be made to ensure the safety of pilots and fighter planes. Commander of the Fifth Army: Hu Jialin."
Wen Junhao quickly recorded it and then immediately rushed to the telecommunications room next door.
At this time, every minute must be grasped, otherwise the three attack aircraft groups of the Central Air Force and the Sixth Group of the Southwest Air Force may really be in danger of being annihilated.
...
Gong Heming, who was determined to die together with the Japanese fighter planes, quickly rushed towards a Type 96 carrier fighter after giving the order to fight separately.
The Japanese pilot flying the fighter plane was very alert and immediately performed a snake-like maneuver in an effort to get away. Gong Heming held on to the enemy fighter plane until it was close to a distance of fifty meters, then pressed the cannon button and performed a long attack.
A short burst of one second, more than twenty shells fired,
More than half of them were direct hits, and the 20mm cannon shells instantly tore the wings of the Ninety-Sixth Ship Battle. This fighter of the Japanese Naval Aviation Force was like an eagle shot by a bow and arrow, emitting thick smoke and flying straight
The ground fell from the sky, fell into the sea of fire, and then exploded.
Gong Heming's eyes were cold and unmoved. He got rid of the shooting of a diving Japanese fighter plane at high altitude. He swung his gun joystick and pounced towards a Japanese Ki-27 Nakajima fighter jet that was chasing our fighter plane.
past.
The Japanese pilot flying the Ki-27 Nakajima Type 97 fighter jet quickly noticed Miya Heming's intention, hurriedly turned around, and successively made beautiful defensive maneuvers such as pulling up and diving. However, he soon discovered that he was chasing after him.
The speed of the fighter jets was really too fast. No matter how much the plane swung, it could not escape its opponent. Moreover, the distance was getting closer and closer. In a hurry, he rushed towards his group of fighters, trying to find reinforcements.
Gong Heming gritted his teeth and avoided the flanking attacks from the two bombers from the left and right. He also avoided the shooting from two fighter jets in the sky and under the sky, and firmly locked the Nakajima Type 97 fighter in front of him at the center of the sight.
When they entered a distance of 200 meters, they calmly pressed the machine gun button. The Nakajima Type 97 fighter jet in front was quickly beaten into a hornet's nest, fell headlong to the ground, and exploded in a sea of fire all over the mountains and plains.
Gong Heming raised the nose of the plane again to get rid of the Japanese fighter jets attacking from three sides, and continued to look for the next target.
"It turns out that the Japanese army only has a handful of the latest fighter jets put into the battlefield, and most of them are attack aircraft whose performance is far inferior to the A26... Unfortunately, the Japanese army has too many fighter planes, otherwise they would be dealt with one by one.
The final victory must belong to us!"
Just as this thought flashed through Gong Heming's mind, the voice of Major General Liu Ziyun, commander of the Air Force 6 Regiment, who was sitting in the command center of Nanyuan Airport, came over the intercom:
"Attention all squadrons, now that the enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered, self-preservation should be the first priority. Don't be overzealous and think that fighting to the death without retreat is the way to serve the country. Remember the commander's words: Save the land and lose the people.
Land is lost, people lose land, people and land are gained, we can only keep ourselves
Only by using your own useful body can you destroy more enemies in future battles. Please cover each other and retreat in an orderly manner! There is no anti-aircraft fire protection at Peking Nanyuan Airport. Please land at Qingyuan Airport. Our ground air defense brigade
We are fully prepared and waiting for Japanese fighter planes to arrive."
Hearing Liu Ziyun's words, Gong Heming immediately calmed down. His previous thoughts of dying with the Japanese army suddenly faded away. He quickly checked the situation of his fighter plane. Since the auxiliary fuel tank was used on the way here, the fighter plane now has enough fuel and nearly half of the ammunition. He was killing all the way.
It’s more than enough to get out of the siege and return to Baoding Airport!
Seeing the group of fighters constantly fighting around his fighter plane, Gong Heming suddenly had an idea:
***The fighter jets of the Army and Navy pay too much attention to maneuverability, which leads to their one-sided pursuit of lightness and flexibility of the fighter aircraft, ignoring armor protection, and the strength of the body is far from enough. At the same time, in order to reduce air resistance, the fuel tank is greatly reduced, and the consequences are:
The aircraft's airborne time is greatly shortened.
Compared with the 2,000-kilometer range of the A26 after adding an auxiliary fuel tank, the Ki-27 Nakajima Type 97 fighter has a pitiful range of 800 kilometers, and the Type 96 ship-to-ship combat range is only 1,200 kilometers. Although I don’t know which of the latest fighters
There is no word on how far the cruising range is, but looking at its small size, it doesn’t seem like it can fly very far (actually Gong Heming was wrong, because the Ki43 Nakajima 1 fighter uses wings to store fuel, and its range is as high as 2,200 kilometers)
).
In response to these characteristics of the Japanese fighter planes, Gong Heming made targeted arrangements and quickly contacted Gao Zhihang: "General Gao, I have an idea. Although it has not been verified, I believe it can cause huge losses to the Japanese fighter planes.
, I hope your department can cooperate closely with my brigade. General, what do you think?"
Gao Zhihang immediately replied: "Understood, our unit obeys the command! But Captain Gong, when we replenish fighter planes in the future, please be sure to say a few good words for our Central Air Force in front of Commander An!"
Gong Heming smiled and said: "No problem, they are all killing Japanese. Our commander will not favor one!"
Having said this, Gong Heming changed the channel and issued an order to all participating fighters: "Attention, pilots, from now on, every move will obey my command. Everyone will fight independently first, rush out of the fighting area, and then head all the way to the north.
Fly away, pay attention to lure the Japanese fleet during the flight, and keep climbing, do you understand?"
"clear!"
"As you command!"
"no problem!"
Amid the flurry of replies, the fifty-four surviving fighter planes of the Central Air Force and the Southwest Air Force sped up and quickly rushed out of the battle group. After circling in the air, they quickly headed towards the northern airspace with a dense Japanese pursuit fleet.
After flying away, what was left for Anjiajun and the people of Jixian were the forest fires that were burning all over the mountains and fields.