On March 15, 1943, Xia Jian, commander of the Indian Ocean Theater of the Anjia Army, flew to Port Blair and met with Li Haiqing, commander of the Indian Ocean Fleet, to jointly command the attack on the remaining islands of the Andaman Islands and the Nicobar Islands in the south.
At two o'clock in the morning the next day, the Indian Ocean Fleet aircraft carrier task force departed from Port Blair and moved to the eastern waters of Little Andaman Island. It was then divided into two parts, the battleships "East China Sea" and "China Sea" and the heavy cruiser "Tian Dan"
, "Li Ji", with twelve destroyers, as well as some troop transports and landing ships, detoured to the north of Little Andaman Island.
Zhao Lei led the fleet headquarters, including the battleships "Triumph" and "Xihai" and the heavy cruisers "Qin Qiong", "Kongming", "Li Mu", "Xuda", "Yue Fei", and "Guo Ziyi"
, advanced to the southern waters of Little Andaman Island, and began shelling the southern port city of Ignoitijela at 6 o'clock in the morning.
Amidst the "rumbling" gunfire, the three main aircraft carriers "Taishan", "Huashan" and "Hengshan" and the four "Dashan" class escort aircraft carriers were surrounded by the "Li Jing" and the "Han Shizhong" light cruiser
As well as the protection of twenty-one destroyers, providing air support.
The two Marine Corps battalions who were ordered to capture Little Andaman Island boarded landing craft after an hour of shelling and landed from the north and south directions of Little Andaman Island.
At this time, the main force of the Japanese army on Little Andaman Island had been ordered to retreat, leaving only two guard squadrons with a total strength of less than 300 people. They were assigned the task of guarding the radar stations at the north and south ends of the island. When the situation was unfavorable,
The radar station should be blown up as soon as possible.
The battle ended at 11 o'clock at noon. After paying the price of more than 20 casualties, the Anjia Army Marine Corps wiped out the Japanese troops on the island. However, the radar station in the north was destroyed by the Japanese army, and the radar station in the south was destroyed due to the attack.
The troops made rapid progress, and with the assistance of armed helicopters, the radar station was preserved.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, a large fleet consisting of sixteen transport ships, two destroyers, and four gunboats departed from Port Sunlight yesterday afternoon and arrived at Ignoitijela, the southeastern port of Little Andaman Island.
A fleet of ships delivered very important supplies and equipment.
Before sunset, the number of Anjia Army Marines who landed on Little Andaman Island reached two regiments. One of them was a Marine Engineer Regiment with 3,000 engineers directly under the Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet.
Starting from this evening, the Anjia army engineers will build three field airports and supporting radar base stations in the east, west and south of the Little Andaman Island, which has a land area of 735 square kilometers, to provide the air force and navy with land.
Base aviation fighters and bombers take off and land.
In this landing operation, the attack of the Indian Ocean Fleet aircraft carrier task force commanded by Lieutenant General Zhao Lei was very sharp, and its boldness exceeded An Yi's expectations.
The task force did not deliberately act as a barrier for the Marine Corps. Instead, it approached Little Andaman Island directly to provide full fire support for the Marine Corps. The result was that on the 16th, in the sky over Little Andaman Island
. Several large-scale air battles broke out between the Anjiajun Navy and the Japanese Army and Navy Air Force.
The first round of aerial combat broke out an hour after the artillery bombardment started from the north and south directions.
A group of twenty-seven Ki49 Nakajima Type 100 heavy blasters and fifteen A6m Zero fighters attacked the Anjia Army aircraft carrier task force.
In this wave of confrontations, most of the bombers in the Japanese fleet failed to drop bombs, because after the Anjiajun aircraft carrier convoy bombardment began, three A29 fighter squadrons departing from Port Blair Airport flew over the fleet to patrol and conduct radar reconnaissance.
After the Japanese aircraft fleet moved, thirty F2B "Golden Eye Eagle" heavy carrier-based fighter jets from two other naval aviation squadrons were rushing to join the battle.
The f2b "Golden Eye Eagle" carrier-based fighter is a second-generation twin-engine heavy fighter of the Navy. It is 10.25 meters long, with a wingspan of 13.05 meters. It is four meters high, has a maximum take-off weight of seven tons, a maximum payload effective range of 2,500 kilometers, and a power system of
Two four-blade radial engines with 2,200 horsepower can reach a maximum flight speed of 680 kilometers per hour.
The protective armor of the f2b cockpit weighs 95 kilograms and is equipped with bulletproof glass. The sealed fuel tank and cooler are equipped with armor, making it less likely to be attacked in battle and cause oil leakage, serious damage or even loss of power. At the same time, the engine's star
The unique design allows any cylinder to continue flying after being hit by other cylinders continuing to operate, thus greatly improving the recovery rate of the damaged aircraft.
The f2b's armament system is six 12.7mm caliber aviation machine guns, which can carry 1,000 kilograms of bombs under the body. Each side of the wing is equipped with a four-hole rocket nest, which can use eight rockets to attack the ground and the sea. The latest model f2b2
The bomb mounting device under the fuselage has been redesigned as a missile launcher, which can mount a "Falcon II" anti-ship missile to conduct long-range attacks on maritime targets.
The f2b "Golden Eye Eagle" carrier-based fighter uses hydraulic landing gear, which greatly enhances flexibility and strength, and allows the landing gear to be folded into the wings at a 90-degree right angle. The wings are arranged at the bottom. This makes this
Heavy fighter jets can land more stably on the flight deck.
At the same time, the aircraft also integrates radar and fire control systems, giving it all-weather combat capabilities.
This time, in order to ensure the safety of the aircraft carrier task force, the Anjia Army Air Force and Hainan Airlines' fighter force deployed on South Andaman Island and Rutland Island mobilized a total of twelve fighter squadrons to provide air cover for the aircraft carrier task force in turns.
.
Under the fierce attack of the Anjia Army Air Force and Navy fighter jets, the Japanese A6M Zero fighter fought in embarrassment and tried its best to entangle the A29 fighter jets. The bomber group performing the mission was severely damaged. Under the siege of other A29 fighter jets, among them
Thirteen Ki49 Nakajima Hyaku-type heavy bombers were shot down, five returned with damage, and in the end only nine Ki49 bombers dropped bombs over the fleet.
Amid intensive anti-aircraft firepower, these bombers hurriedly dropped bombs at an altitude of 5,000 meters. As a result, none of the hundreds of bombs hit!
In the end, only six of the Japanese Zero fighters successfully returned to the airport. Five of them were defeated in the confrontation with the A29 fighter jets, or exploded and disintegrated in the air, or fell into the sea dragging thick smoke. Four more were defeated.
While escaping, he was chased by the F2B "Golden Eyed Eagle" carrier-based fighter jets rushed to the battlefield and died.
At 8:30 in the morning, another batch of A7M Mitsubishi Gale fighter jets from the Japanese naval aviation came over again to cover the B7A1 Meteor bombers carrying torpedoes and bombs.
This time, the Japanese bomber group will attack not only the Anjia Army aircraft carrier task force, but also the landing ships parked on the sea, as well as the Anjia Army Marine Corps officers and soldiers who have come ashore.
Similarly, since the aircraft carrier formation had predicted the size of the Japanese aircraft fleet in advance through radar, in addition to the three cruising "Golden Eyed Eagle" carrier-based fighter squadrons, three ships equipped with the same aircraft type were also scrambled from the aircraft carrier on the sea.
Carried fighter squadrons, thus increasing the number of F2B "Golden Eyed Eagle" carrier-based fighter jets participating in air defense operations to six squadrons.
Fighters from both sides took the lead in exchanging fire.
The performance of the "Golden Eyed Eagle" is slightly better than that of the Gale Fighter. After all, the Gale Fighter is a single-engine fighter with a maximum speed of 650 kilometers per hour. It is equipped with four 20mm Type 2 Type 2 cannons. It seems to be better than the "Golden Eyed Eagle".
The firepower is slightly better, but the "Golden Eyed Eagle" is protected by thick armor, which weakens the performance of the Gale to a certain extent. Although the Gale fighter also has innovative designs such as self-sealing fuel tanks, armored cockpits and bulletproof windshields, but from its
As you can see from the maximum take-off weight of 5,700 kilograms, it is quite difficult to fight against the "Golden Eyed Eagle".
At this moment, a total of forty-five fighter jets from three "Golden Eyed Eagle" squadrons killed more than thirty Gale fighter jets, leaving them in a state of panic.
The other three "Golden Eyed Eagle" squadrons that intercepted the bombers quickly attacked them, and the air battle was very fierce. Although most of the bombers were shot down when dropping bombs, or they dropped bombs or torpedoes in a hurry and turned around to escape.
, but some B7A1 Meteor bombers took advantage of the chaos to break through the interception of the fighter jets and attacked the battleships on the sea.
The anti-aircraft artillery fire of the Indian Ocean Fleet aircraft carrier task force is very fierce. Not only the 127mm caliber high-level and flat dual-purpose guns use shells with proximity fuses, which is a great threat to fighter aircraft, but also the anti-aircraft artillery made by the French is strengthened by the new fire control system.
, its performance was improved, and as a result, most of the bombers heading towards the aircraft carrier task force were shot down.
Those bombers that were not shot down did not directly threaten the battleships. After paying the price of nearly fifty fighter planes, the Japanese fleet had to withdraw from the battlefield, and the result in exchange was that only three landing craft were sunk, and there were also
Several bombs landed on the island, killing three attacking Marines.
The air battle that started at 1:30 noon that day was the most intense.
When the Japanese high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft discovered that the Anjia Army was deploying more troops to Little Andaman Island and also transporting a large amount of supplies to Little Andaman Island, they guessed that the Anjia Army was preparing to build Little Andaman Island to attack Nicobar.
The archipelago's forward offensive base.
Little Andaman Island is about 92 nautical miles away from Car Nicobar Island in the southern part of the Tenth Strait. The distance is large, and Little Nicobar Island is about 260 nautical miles away. If the Anjia Army deploys fighter jets on Little Andaman Island, then these fighter jets can fly on the Big Island.
, performs nearly two hours of combat patrol missions over Little Nicobar Island, and can implement full tactical coverage over Car Nicobar Island, and can even directly threaten northern Sumatra Island.
In the view of the Japanese commander, the battle for Little Andaman Island was directly related to the entire Southeast Asian war situation. Therefore, an hour after receiving the news that the entire territory of Little Andaman Island had fallen, the Japanese commander accidentally concentrated 120
Bombers, ninety Zero and Gale fighter jets, and twenty self-produced Corsair fighter jets obtained technology from the United States, launched against the Anjiajun Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet aircraft carrier task force and the fleet that was transporting supplies to the island.
Another blow.
In a sense, the Japanese can be regarded as representatives of paranoia.
Although the Japanese commander recognized the importance of the location of Little Andaman Island, he never thought that if the Anjia Army really wanted to launch an attack on Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, which is only separated by a strait, would be closer and easier to attack, let alone
Originally, the Anjia Army was planning to gradually mobilize troops to attack the Lanyin Islands after the Indian Ocean war was completely resolved, which meant that they were originally very safe.
But now their crazy actions have made An Yi and members of the headquarters realize the importance of Sumatra Island. Under Xia Jian's suggestion, they made certain modifications to the previous attack sequence.
Back to the story. This crazy attack plan formulated by the Japanese army focuses on attacking the transport fleet, not the aircraft carrier task force.
Fortunately, Zhao Lei had already anticipated that the Japanese army might discover the movement of the transport fleet, so he deliberately moved the aircraft carrier task force south to the center of the Ten Degrees Strait, about 10 kilometers away from Car Nicobar Island where the Japanese army was entrenched.
More than 40 nautical miles on the sea, in order to discover the Japanese military aircraft group faster and buy enough time for the fighter planes to attack. At the same time, he also specially sent a fleet to attack the northern area of Little Andaman Island to protect the safety of transport ships.
In this way, when the Japanese bomber group appeared on the electronic display screen of the radar, the twelve fighter squadrons of Port Blair and the six fighter squadrons owned by the fleet began to take off one after another. When the Japanese army arrived at their destination, they would face
270 A29 and F2B "Golden Eye Eagle" fighter jets!
At 1:30 in the afternoon, the first group of Japanese aircraft trying to circle over the northern transport fleet encountered six A29 fighter squadrons over the eastern waters of the Little Andaman Islands, and a fierce battle immediately began.
The size of the fleets of both sides is not much different, but the superior performance of the A29 fighter jets and the high quality of the air force pilots dominate the entire sky.
In order to hold back the A29 and create opportunities for their own bombers, the Japanese army had more than forty Zero fighters and fought to the death. In the end, although they shot down fifteen Anjiajun fighter planes, their entire army was wiped out. At the same time, more than fifty aircraft were destroyed.
The bombers were shot down one after another while they were also on their way to drop bombs.
A quarter of an hour later, the second wave of Japanese bombers and four squadrons of fighter jets arrived from the sky due south. The battle began over the Ten Degree Strait and continued over the Little Andaman Island and the transport fleet further north.
In this battle, what should be admired most is not the number of Japanese aviation forces dispatched, but the courage of the little Japanese pilots. In the face of powerful opponents and a certain gap in the performance of the fighter planes, most of the Japanese pilots showed a disregard for death.
courage.
The air battle lasted from 1:30 to 2:15. Many Japanese pilots even gave up the opportunity to return home and tenaciously completed the strike mission. They dived, dropped bombs or mines, pulled up, dived again, and dropped bombs or mines again and again.
In this fierce exchange of fire, the Anjiajun Navy suffered huge losses. The heavy cruisers "Tian Dan" and "Li Ji" were hit by torpedoes in order to cover the transport ship. The hulls were seriously damaged and had to return to the Sunshine Shipyard for repairs.
It was overhauled and a destroyer was sunk.
In addition, the battleship "Zhonghai" was hit by a 250-kilogram class aerial bomb. Fortunately, the aerial bomb exploded on the bow deck and did not penetrate into the interior of the ship. Otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous. A transport ship was also blown to pieces.
More than 1,000 tons of ammunition carried on it exploded violently, and more than 30 sailors on the transport ship also died heroically.
Of course, relatively speaking, the losses of the Japanese Army and Navy aviation forces were even more severe. More than 120 of the more than 200 fighter planes that attacked were shot down, and more than 70 of them returned with injuries, with at least 200 pilots or crew members.
Killed in action, captured, and only more than 20 fighter planes returned safely.
At six o'clock in the evening, a strike group consisting of 24 heavy four-engine bombers developed based on the American B17, under the cover of more than 30 Gale fighter jets, once again arrived at the port of Ignat in the southeast of the Little Andaman Islands.
A batch of aerial bombs were dropped from the sky over Itijera.
However, due to the anti-aircraft fire on the sea and the attack by the Anjia military aircraft group, the Japanese bombers did not dare to lower their altitude, and most of the bombs fell into the sea. They did not pose much of a threat to the Anjia Army marines and fleet, but instead lost ten more aircraft in vain.
Eight fighter planes.
At about ten o'clock in the evening, the Japanese heavy bomber group launched the fifth bombing, but the result was still not much gain, and six heavy bombers were shot down by the anti-aircraft guns on the battleships.
It was precisely because of the endless air raids by the Japanese army that Xia Jian became worried about the entire Indian Ocean strategy. He personally called An Yi and requested that Sumatra be taken down first to prevent the Andaman and Nicobar Islands from becoming a target for fighting with the Japanese army.
On the main battlefield, the Indian Ocean Front can safely withdraw and launch a strategy in the central and southern Indian Ocean.!~!
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