At ten o'clock in the morning on March 1, the Ming Dynasty aircraft carrier fleet arrived at the scheduled attack position - 50 nautical miles north-northeast of Batavia Bay. The fleet was composed of:
The flagship is the aircraft carrier Tianshu. It has a displacement of 29,500 tons and has 65 carrier-based aircraft, including 28 Kingfisher fighter carrier-based aircraft and 37 Osprey dive bombers.
Zhurong battlecruiser. This ship is of the same class as Gonggong, which means "Vulcan God Zhurong, Water God Gonggong". However, Zhurong has just undergone modernization and modification, and the obviously too small 12-inch naval gun has been changed to 14
inches, 356 mm. At the same time, the armor has also been thickened by one level. The main armor belt on the waterline has been added to 11 inches thick. At the same time, the power system has been improved, so that the maximum speed is only one section slower, making it a truly deterrent ship.
War patrol.
The heavy cruiser Shizhong, named after the national hero "Han Shizhong", has a displacement of 18,500 tons, four twin-mounted 203mm main guns, a main armor belt of 3.5 inches thick on the waterline, and a maximum speed of 30 knots.
The Xuda light cruiser, named after the famous founding general of the Ming Dynasty "Xuda", has a displacement of 7860 tons, four twin-mounted 155mm main guns, and a maximum speed of 32 knots.
Escorting them are six destroyers: Jiaomujiao, Doumuyan, Jingmuyan, Kuimulang, Kangjinlong, and Weihuohu, each named after the twenty-eight stars. They will serve as
Reconnaissance, search, rescue, expulsion of possible torpedo boats and other tasks.
Four troop carriers carry a Southern Infantry Division with 18,000 troops, two supply ships carry various equipment, four Lightning-1 light tanks, and four armored personnel carriers.
…
The fleet commander was making his final speech to the pilots through the ship-wide broadcast:
“… For four days, we have heard too much and spoken too much… But we are floating on the sea, unable to do anything… Just two days ago, our compatriots in Batavia
We were massacred for the second time... But now, we have reached the attack range and can do something for our compatriots!... At this last moment, I will say no more!
"One last review: after the first wave of attack formations arrives over Batavia, destroy all anti-aircraft guns and shore defense artillery in the shortest possible time. The fighter formations are responsible for guarding and shooting down any Dutch aircraft that appear...while suppressing the port.
, to prevent the Dutch army from destroying port facilities... After the first wave of attack formations sent back the signal, the second wave of attack formations took off, and then the first wave returned. The second attack wave will go deep inland and attack the Dutch army on Batavia Island.
The five military camps in the west must be attacked repeatedly. All fighter jets, except those on alert, will participate in strafing the ground to eliminate as many Dutch troops as possible and destroy the remaining Dutch troops' will to resist...
"You are all excellent pilots with more than 200 flying hours, excellent training results, and you have all participated in the 'Man Jiang Hong' operation attacking the Qing army's airport and the 'New Year's greeting' operation attacking Pukou. You have rich practical experience... You must try your best to
Fly low, low enough to see everyone's face clearly on the street! You all know the aerial photos of Batavia by heart. Needless to say, you can accurately avoid the main Chinese neighborhoods and the consulate area. The rest of the places
, as long as there are any signs of hidden Dutch armed forces, you must attack without hesitation! Every time you drop a bomb in the air, you will reduce a lot of casualties to the ground troops! Don’t consider accidentally injuring local civilians! There are no civilians in the area! Only
murderer!
"Okay, warriors, let's go!"
More than a hundred pilots cheered, grabbed their flight hats, poured out of the preparation room, and followed the elevator to the deck.
In order for the aircraft to take off, the aircraft carrier formation has turned the rudder and sailed against the wind at maximum speed. The aircraft on the deck have already started. The propellers are roaring and the wind is roaring on the deck, deafening. The pilots wearing thick flight suits are already sweating in this tropical sea.
At this moment, I stepped on the deck, bathed in the strong wind that filled the deck, and felt cool.
More than a dozen aircraft lined up on both sides. An airborne Kingfisher was parked at the end of the runway, its propellers roaring. The technician on the wing completed the final inspection, jumped off, and made a gesture of affirmation. The pilot put on a scarf and took it with him for flight.
He put on his hat and climbed into the cockpit. After completing the inspection, he stretched out his arm and raised his thumb to indicate that he was ready to take off.
At this time, the loudspeaker on the aircraft carrier's control tower sounded again:
"Warriors of the Ming Empire, our beloved Majesty has just sent a telegram, encouraging you to fight bravely, work hard to kill the enemy, show your national prestige, and give the Ming expatriates the respect they deserve in the world!"
Amidst the deafening roar, the pilots of the second attack wave on both sides of the runway cheered crazily. At the same time, a "z" flag was quickly raised on the mast, followed by a string of colorful signal flags representing the takeoff order.
mast.
The pilot squatting in front of the aircraft quickly waved the flag left and right, and the two ground crew members immediately removed the blocking blocks of the landing gear. Then the pilot stepped aside, crouched low, and waved the flag forward fiercely, and the first fighter roared.
He rushed out.
The plane flew faster and faster, and when it reached the end of the runway, the deck disappeared and there was only the sea below. The plane sank and seemed about to fall into the sea, but it immediately rose again and began to climb upwards.
Amidst the strong wind and roar, the second plane roared to the center of the runway and rushed out. Then came the third, then the fourth... At the same time, the elevator continued to lift new planes from the hangar.
The pilots on the deck cheered wildly, waving their hats and scarves, with tears in their eyes, almost crazy.
All 14 fighter jets took off and were already circling in formation over the surrounding area. On the deck, Osprey dive bombers, with two 200kg bombs hung between the landing gears, staggered out of the deck and slowly climbed upwards.
At this moment, a large fleet is forming above the fleet.
Near noon, the weather was clear and the sky was cloudless. The sea was calm and sparkling, a vast expanse of blue. Under the tropical sun, the glass cockpits and silver-white wings of the fleet reflected dazzling light.
32 planes flew southwest. At 11 noon, they saw the emerald green coastline of Batavia Island.
…
The coastline gradually became clearer, and Batavia Bay appeared before our eyes. There was not a single large ship in the bay. Foreign merchant ships had already left the harbor to avoid the war, and Dutch ships had also evacuated elsewhere.
There are dozens of air-proof balloons rising high in the harbor, gray olive-shaped ones, like small airships, hanging quietly, sparsely and lifelessly in the sky.
The pilots in the cockpit laughed when they saw the situation in front of them. They smiled at the pilot of the adjacent aircraft and pointed forward. The pilot of the adjacent aircraft also laughed and shook his head.
The fleet leader smiled and picked up the radio:
"Brothers, the radio ban has been lifted. So far, the sky above Batavia is peaceful and peaceful, and there is not a single enemy plane. As the intelligence said, there are only a few dozen anti-aircraft balloons, which do not pose any threat to us. You can enjoy it as much as you like.
Just be careful when diving... I say, if anyone is knocked down by such a sparse balloon steel cable, when someone catches them, don't say they are our Ming Dynasty pilots! Haha!"
There was a burst of laughter in the headphones, and a voice laughed:
"The Dutch are too stingy. The East Indies is also their largest colony. Just preparing a few balloons is no different than nothing! It's better to save some nylon and let their women wear more pairs of nylon stockings.
Hey! Tsk, tsk, tsk!”
There was another round of laughter. At this time the leader laughed and said:
"Okay, stop joking, let's start working!"
At this time, black clouds appeared in front of the fleet, and a muffled sound was heard in the cockpit. Batavia's anti-aircraft guns opened fire.
However, judging from the quantity and density of the explosion smoke, there were not many anti-aircraft guns on the ground, and their level was not flattering. The fleet was only slightly evacuated, and no aircraft felt bumped by the shock wave, and even shrapnel hit the fuselage.
There was no sound either.
The Kingfisher formation began to take off, occupying high alert, and the Osprey formation began to spread out and dive down.
The dive bombers skillfully dived in at a wide angle, and at the same time the two machine guns on the wings fired fiercely. By this time, the Dutch artillerymen had panicked, abandoned their anti-aircraft guns and scattered in all directions.
The whistling sound came from high altitude, almost reaching the top of the head, and then a dark bomb swayed down and accurately penetrated into the circular sandbag of the gun emplacement.
With a loud bang, anti-aircraft gun parts, sandbags, clods of earth, and artillery pieces all flew into the sky and scattered in all directions along with the fireworks.
Within a few minutes, more than a dozen plumes of black smoke rose around the port, with flames rising straight into the sky. Cannonballs continued to explode in the piles of sandbags below, and fireballs shot up from time to time.
The anti-aircraft guns around the port were almost completely blown up.
There is no decent resistance in the port area. There are still two anti-aircraft machine gun positions. A few Dutch soldiers are still mounting anti-aircraft machine guns, tenaciously chasing the roaring planes and shooting. They are said to be anti-aircraft machine guns, but in fact they are just two Marks.
The Qin machine gun was just mounted on a stand. At this time, the water in the water barrel was almost gone, and white smoke was coming out of the gun body.
The leader of the Kingfisher formation discovered these two machine guns that persisted in firing, and ordered two groups of Kingfisher fighter jets of the 2nd and 2nd formations to swoop down and kill them with strafing fire. At the command, four Kingfisher fighter jets roared down and sprayed 16 airborne machine guns.
Flames ignited, and the two groups of Dutch machine gunners immediately leaned on the sandbags with blood spurting from their chests.
The fleet leader saw that the anti-aircraft firepower had almost destroyed the aircraft, and ordered to attack the shore artillery positions in Batavia Bay instead.
The 18 Ospreys originally had 36 bombs, but at this time, half of the planes still had bombs, and only 9 were left. These nine planes carried bombs and flew towards the designated targets according to the shore gun location map they had memorized before the war.
The six 150mm cannons were fixed in six concrete ring fortifications, all of which were open-air. In order to reduce their own targets when fighting battleship cannons, the cement ring fortifications were lower than the ground, with only the muzzles of the guns exposed.
But this is good for artillery battles, but it is useless for air defense.
When six groups of planes flew over the shore artillery positions, they found that there was no one in the ring fortifications below. All the artillerymen had fled, and not even a single machine gun fired. They had completely given up resistance.
This is more advantageous. The dive bomber can concentrate on diving and aiming, and only drops the bomb when it is low enough, which greatly improves the hit rate.
Nine bombs were dropped, and four shore guns were destroyed. Originally, only three of them were hit directly, but the crew of the fourth gun, whether due to negligence or lack of time, actually left a basic number of shells in the cannon.
Next to it, the bomb landed a few meters away, detonating the shell and causing the cannon to shatter.
After all the bombs were dropped, the leader of the fleet sent a signal to the mothership to notify the departure of the second attack wave, and at the same time ordered the fleet to return. While the first wave of fleets was still at sea, the second wave of fleets flew towards each other under the sun.
The fleet of planes passed each other, waving their wings to each other, the pilots in the cockpit also waved, and the radio was filled with cheers, laughter.
The second attack wave cleanly killed the remaining two shore guns, and then went deep into the city of Batavia. At the same time, the flagship Tianshu received a report, and all the Batavia Bay shore anti-aircraft guns were destroyed.
The fleet commander immediately ordered the battle cruiser Zhurong, the heavy cruiser Shizhong, the light cruiser Xuda, and three destroyers to start sailing southwest and enter Batavia Bay. Based on the observations of aircraft and land spies, they carried out operations on the designated targets.
shelling.
The second wave of 33 planes roared over downtown Batavia, separated over the Grand Mosque, and headed for several Dutch military camps on the outskirts of the city.
They were not hit by anti-aircraft fire in the urban area. The Dutch defenders concentrated the few anti-aircraft guns in the port area, hoping to form a somewhat decent anti-aircraft fire network here to protect the coastal anti-aircraft guns. Because the Ming army did not bring landing craft.
, the only way to go ashore is to seize the port, let the troop ships dock, and the soldiers land directly. The only hope for the Dutch defenders is to hold the port. If the port is lost, the Ming army, which is twice as many as their own in terms of number, equipment, and training, can go ashore.
Then the situation is over.
While flying low over the city, the pilots of each bomber pushed open the cockpit, took out a bundle of leaflets, untied them and threw them down. For a moment, pieces of paper flew in the wind over Batavia.
Each leaflet is printed in Chinese, Dutch and Malay, and mainly contains the following content:
1. All the shore defense artillery in Batavia Bay have been eliminated, and the Ming army has been able to land unimpeded;
2. The Dutch soldiers should take the initiative to lay down their weapons and surrender to the Ming Dynasty army. The Ming Dynasty army will protect all their due rights in accordance with international conventions. This war will be short, and they will all be released back to the country after the war;
3. Any locals who make any hostile move towards the Ming army or the local Chinese will be considered as belligerents. If they are not wearing Dutch uniforms, they will be considered as spies and executed;
4. All residents should avoid going out. It is recommended that Chinese compatriots write the word "Chinese" outside their homes in Chinese characters so that the Ming army can identify them and avoid accidental injuries. If local non-Chinese families also write Chinese characters to pretend to be, it will be considered an act of espionage.
The Lord will be executed;
5. All local residents of Batavia must stay in the city and are not allowed to flee to the mountains and forests outside the city. If they are found to have intentionally escaped from Batavia, they will be considered to have deliberately formed or participated in the guerrillas and will be punished.
severe penalties;
6. The wanted governor of the Netherlands in East India. Anyone who prevents the governor from escaping and hands him over to the Ming army, regardless of race, will receive a reward of 5,000 mingyang. If he assists his escape or deliberately hides, he will be deemed to be guilty of the same crime.
…
Planes roared past one after another, and Chinese people climbed up on their roofs, waving cloth strips and towels and cheering wildly. Some even took out homemade Ming Dynasty flags to wave, or put them on their bodies and cheered...
The locals were so frightened that they hid in their homes and huddled in a ball. They leaned boldly on the windows and looked up at the roaring monsters flying by. Every time one flew by, they shrank their necks in fear, as if a bomb was about to fall.