The regular meeting in the corner of the central command hall of Purple Mountain Fortress was temporarily suspended. A circle of generals looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang who was walking over, and Wang Hexiang behind him.
But Xiang Xiaoqiang did not rush into the meeting. Instead, he spoke a few words to Zhang Zhaoxian's adjutant a few meters away. Zhang Zhaoxian's adjutant nodded, walked to Zhang Zhaoxian, and whispered a few words to him. Zhang Zhaoxian pondered for a moment, and then
Said a few words to the adjutant.
The adjutant returned to Xiang Xiaoqiang and whispered to him:
"The Chief of General Staff asks you to wait in the lounge for a while. He will discuss this issue with you after the meeting."
He thanked Xiaoqiang and took Wang Hexiang to the lounge.
Zhang Zhao first looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang's back and signaled Commander Feng Lingcai to continue speaking.
Then, he turned his head and whispered a few words to Tang Yunsheng, telling him what Xiang Xiaoqiang meant. Tang Yunsheng also nodded, knowing what he was thinking.
Zhang Zhaoxian was quite satisfied with Xiang Xiaoqiang's performance just now. Although this was an ordinary regular reporting meeting, Xiang Xiaoqiang was not on the list of participants after all. When Xiang Xiaoqiang rushed over just now, he, like a group of generals, all thought that
Xiang Xiaoqiang wants to break into the venue on his own. Although Xiang Xiaoqiang is deeply favored by the Holy Spirit and has the trust of the Chief of General Staff, it seems that he is too pampered and arrogant.
Now it seems that this young man is still sensible.
…
Half an hour later, the meeting ended and the generals stood up and left. Zhang Zhao first motioned to Li Guoliang to stay. He and Tang Yunsheng took Li Guoliang into a small conference room, and then asked the adjutant to call Xiang Xiaoqiang and Wang Hexiang.
"So," Zhang Zhaoxian sat in a chair and said straight to the point, "Indeed, do you still advocate processing a batch of large-diameter 'hail' stones?"
As he said that, he glanced at Wang Hexiang who was next to Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang sensitively caught this look, and then glanced at Wang Hexiang. He found that Wang Hexiang was a little uneasy by Zhang Zhaoxian's glance.
Xiang Xiaoqiang understood that when Wang Hexiang participated in the design of the hail bomb, he advocated enlarging the caliber and using 80mm for processing, so that in addition to bombing enemy aircraft on the ground, it could also bomb large hard targets such as enemy artillery positions.
It was enough to achieve certain results. But later on, the 60mm faction gained the upper hand. Now Zhang Zhaoxian probably thinks that the old man Wang Hexiang did not give up after returning, and encouraged Xiang Xiaoqiang to continue his demands, hoping to use Xiang Xiaoqiang's influence to realize his plan.
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said immediately:
"Ming Gong, it was I who brought Commander Wang here today. I have always thought that the power of the hail bomb should be made more powerful, but I was also worried that since I was not a technical person, I would not be able to explain it clearly when I talked to Ming Gong and Tang Gong.
Bring Commander Wang as a living dictionary, haha..."
Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng looked at each other and smiled, but neither of them said anything. Xiang Xiaoqiang told Xiaoqiang that it was bad, and the description became darker and darker, and the two old men became more and more disbelieving.
"Why," Tang Yunsheng said with a smile, "Still you don't think the 60mm one is enough? Do you want something bigger?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang also smiled and said:
"If you want to say it's satisfying, then it's definitely the 60mm. We're making this kind of hail bomb, isn't it just for the hail-like effect? Naturally, the smaller the caliber, the more bombs can be loaded, and the wider they can be spread.
It's getting more even. However, this is not a question of whether it's enough or not... Mr. Tang, again, the 60mm bomb will blow up a plane.
Planes are just right, but not artillery and tanks. And the Qing army deployed several large artillery groups in Jiangbei, each of which is aimed at our cities along the river. If we can't blow them up as soon as the war starts, then we will
Our city still has to suffer the tragedy like Nanjing at the beginning of the year. And the best way to deal with this kind of artillery group is..."
Tang Yunsheng interrupted him and said directly:
"Indeed, you also know that it was proven in the war at the beginning of the year and in the Nanyang War that dive bombers are very effective in dealing with ground artillery targets, which cannot be compared with horizontal bombers. Especially when there are a large number of anti-aircraft guns on the ground.
"
Xiang Xiaoqiang wanted to open his mouth to retort, but hesitated. He licked his lips and lowered his eyes, trying to make his words less intense.
But Zhang Zhaoxian saw it immediately and said:
"Come on, if you have something to say, just say it. Young people should not keep beating around the bush."
Xiaoqiang couldn't ask for anything, so he said directly:
"Tang Gong, Ming Gong, the hour when our army attacks is before 5 o'clock in the morning."
"good."
"Then when h hour comes, the bombers must have already flown over the artillery group and are ready to attack."
"right."
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"But it's still pitch black at five o'clock in the morning in October, and you can't see anything on the ground."
Tang Yunsheng turned to Li Guoliang and said:
"Commander Li, you should have considered this issue."
Xiang Xiaoqiang also looked at Li Guoliang. As the commander of the Army Aviation, Li Guoliang was subordinate to the Chief of Army General Staff, but after all, he was also Xiang Xiaoqiang's person. Xiang Xiaoqiang thought to himself that this time Li Guoliang should speak for him.
Li Guoliang was obviously in a dilemma. He looked at Tang Yunsheng, then at Xiang Xiaoqiang, and said with a forced smile:
"Sir... this... shouldn't be a problem. We will drop flares before attacking."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was speechless. He didn't expect that Li Guoliang would not side with him this time. Of course, it didn't mean he was "betraying" himself, but at least it showed that Li Guoliang also believed that it was feasible to use dive bombers to destroy the artillery group.
Compared with himself, Li Guoliang was naturally an aviation expert. Seeing what Li Guoliang said, Xiang Xiaoqiang couldn't help but start to wonder if his views were wrong.
However, after thinking about it for a moment with the common sense and experience of later generations, I came to the conclusion again: Precision bombing in the dark is simply a dream, even with the help of flares. Numerous combat examples in World War II have repeatedly proved this point. Whether it is the Battle of Britain
The British and Germans in China bombed each other, which was also the later bombing of Germany. The British and the Americans took turns to bomb the Germans, with the U.S. Air Force doing it during the day and the British Air Force doing it at night.
Facts have proved that daytime bombing is effective and accurate, but the bomber losses are high. Nighttime bombing losses are small, but the bombing effect is too poor. It can only be limited to large-area non-precision bombing. For example, the bombing of German cities and civilians can only achieve
It is used to create an atmosphere of terror and undermine the will of the enemy's citizens. If you want to really effectively blow up something, such as factories, railway hubs, bridges, ports and other facilities, you have to do it during the day.
Moreover, this is still talking about a large area, and does not require very precise strategic bombing. If it is a tactical dive bombing that pursues precision, there is no way to rely solely on flares to provide light sources in total darkness.
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath and said slowly:
"Commander Li, how should I put it... Maybe dive bombers are also a new thing. I haven't participated in a few battles, so you may not know much about it... Dive bombing requires very high naked eye sighting, and it is absolutely impossible without sufficient visibility.
.The light from the flares is definitely not enough. I know that the largest aviation flares commonly used by our military,
The continuous illumination time in the air is only about 25-30 seconds, and the maximum illuminated diameter is only 800 meters. The brighter range is only 500 meters in diameter. And this only means that it can only be reached at a height of 400 meters from the ground.
The maximum illumination range. How many of these flares can be dropped by dive bombers alone?"
Li Guoliang said:
"Sir Xiang, it's like this. Take the Pukou artillery group as an example. The Qing army stationed a strategic artillery corps behind the Laoshan Mountains in Pukou. It consisted of three heavy howitzer divisions and an anti-aircraft artillery division, with a total of 180 105mm howitzers.
135 doors, 155mm howitzers, 210mm
60 howitzers. In addition, there are 54 anti-aircraft guns of various calibers. Of course, this is calculated based on the establishment of the Qing army, and there must be a big shortfall in reality. We will dispatch a reinforced dive bomber group, that is,
45 dive bombers dealt with this artillery group..."
"What," Xiang Xiaoqiang exclaimed exaggeratedly, "only 45 dive bombers? Isn't that too few? The number of bombs that can be dropped at one time is not as many as the number of Qing artillery! Even if each bomb
If the bombs hit accurately, less than half of the artillery pieces can be destroyed!"
Li Guoliang was a little embarrassed, looked at Tang Yunsheng, and said:
"Sir Xiang... there are quite a few. We have a total of 8 cities along the river. We will destroy 8 such artillery groups at the same time... Even if each dive bomber group is calculated as 40 on average, this alone will
The mission requires us to occupy our 380 dive bombers at h time... Although our Ming Dynasty already has 3,200 combat aircraft, only half are bombers. And of this half, only two-thirds are dive bombers...
"That is to say, there are only about 1,100 dive bombers in the entire Ming Dynasty. As a strategic reserve and to guard other strategic directions, about 300 more will be occupied... Calculated in this way, the number of dive bombers that can be put into battle on D-Day is
There are only about 800 aircraft in total. It is already very good to be able to allocate 380 aircraft for this purpose."
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"Then why dive bombers?"
He regretted it as soon as he said it. He understood that he had said something stupid.
Sure enough, both Li Guoliang and the two old men had strange expressions on their faces.
Li Guoliang coughed dryly and said:
"Sir... you should know that horizontal bombers are fewer in number and have more missions. We only have more than 530 horizontal bombers in the entire Ming Dynasty, with a total of 15 groups. There are less than 400 that can be used in the D-Day battle.
Horizontal bombers can only be organized into 11 groups. And these 11 bomber groups have to deal with the 11 most important airports in Beiqing.
Whether the Beiqing Air Force can be basically annihilated at the beginning of the war depends on these 11 brigades. If horizontal bombers are used to attack the artillery groups, then each artillery group will invest two squadrons, that is, 24 aircraft, which is not too much.
? Calculated in this way, 8 artillery groups will occupy 192 horizontal bombers, nearly half of the total investment on D-day... Sir, look at this..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned for a moment and was speechless for a while.
Li Guoliang said again:
"Sir, during the war at the beginning of the year and the Nanyang War, our smallest aerial bomb was still 100 kilograms. Now we have a 70 kilogram bomb. In this way, each dive bomber can carry 6 bombs, and a group can drop 216 bombs at a time.
——240 bombs.
Of course, although there are not as many artillery pieces in each artillery group, and there is no guarantee that every bomb will hit, I can guarantee that after these more than 200 bombs are dropped on the Qing artillery positions, they will be able to destroy at least 30 of the Qing artillery pieces.
%-40%, and completely defeated the fighting will of the Qing artillery.
"In this way, within a few hours, our assault boat infantry will rush to their artillery positions and completely eliminate the threat. Moreover, within these hours, our dive bomber formation can also conduct a second
The second bombing. When the second bombing occurs, it will be dawn, and the effect of the bombing will be more thorough. Sir, look at this..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was offended by his "Sir Xiang, look at this", and thought that he would have to punish Li Guoliang severely. But what he said sounded reasonable, and it was difficult for him to make military decisions for a while.
Refute him. But even if what he said is right, it is not right. The experience of World War II is there vividly. I know it, but I can't say it out.
He gritted his teeth and said:
"Then what if within these few hours, the Qing army's artillery group bombards our city and Nanjing? You said that one round of bombing can completely destroy the will of the Qing army's artillery. I believe this, but we can't
Pinning our hopes on this. If the Qing artillery's will is not as strong as we hope, then
What should we do if we are vulnerable? The Qing army has 8 strategic artillery groups with different training and quality. What if there are one or two stubborn artillery groups that insist on firing at our city? The 150mm howitzer may only be able to hit
It’s on the edge of the city, but the 210mm can definitely hit the city center.”
Tang Yunsheng and Zhang Zhao looked at each other first, and then Zhang Zhao smiled and said:
"Tingzhi, this is Mr. Shen Ge's business... But I can tell you, Tingzhi, that the initial decision is this: on the eve of D-Day, all police and military police in eight cities will not go off duty and stay at their posts.
3 hours before h hour, announce the attack news to them
, arrange the task. Two hours before h hour, eight cities along the river sounded the air defense alarm, and then all police and military police ensured that all citizens within the bombing range entered air defense bunkers within two hours. This can not only avoid possible tragedies, but also
We can try our best to prevent leaks."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was speechless again.
He looked at the three people blankly, licked his lips, and hesitated whether to tell his experience in World War II... But in that case, his "time travel" story would probably be involved. Maybe, they would have to
I invited an old professor from the hospital to review my "intermittent paranoia".
In the end, he made only one request—a test.
Since both sides are so confident, let's let the facts speak for themselves. On a dark dawn, choose an air force training ground and conduct a dive bombing test using only flares.
Fortunately, this request was not too much. Zhang Zhao nodded and agreed, leaving it to Li Guoliang to make arrangements.
After coming out of the fortress, Li Guoliang followed Xiang Xiaoqiang in fear, telling him his difficulties and asking Xiang Xiaoqiang to understand. But Xiang Xiaoqiang was still angry, so he gave him a few words in a non-yinful tone.
…
Li Guoliang took care of his heartache and asked Xiaoqiang for this experiment. He arranged it with a mentality of atonement and arranged it very quickly. At dawn one day later, at the training ground of Tangshan Sniper School, he chose a piece with Pukou Lao
Terrain similar to artillery positions on the north side of the mountain
, 20 scrapped howitzers were deployed. The convoy of the four generals Zhang Zhaoxian, Tang Yunsheng, Li Guoliang, and Xiang Xiaoqiang stopped in the distance. The four of them took the guards and adjutants into the observation bunker next to them, and watched with the faint starlight.
The cannon glowed coldly in the distance.
After a while, a "buzzing" sound appeared in the sky. It was two detachments of dive bombers taking off from Nanjing Xianlin Airport, a total of 6 dive bombers.
Li Guoliang wore a radio headset and reminded Xiang Xiaoqiang and the two chiefs of general staff that the test was about to begin. Then, he issued an attack order to the bomber leader in the sky.
Six illumination bombs sprayed magnesium light and slowly descended one after another. Several bright circular areas suddenly appeared in the nearby mountains.
...However, the six Osprey bombers were always circling and did not dare to dive down. They did not dive down until the six flares landed one after another and it returned to darkness.
Li Guoliang was sweating a little and shouted loudly on the radio to ask the bomber leader. But the answer he got was:
Target not found.
Li Guoliang immediately ordered them to come back and drop the flares again.
Each Osprey carries two flares on its wings, now only one remains.
Six more flares were dropped one after another, and the six aircraft took advantage of the short three or four minutes to search for it as much as possible.
Finally, one Osprey seemed to have found the target, lowered its nose and dived down. Immediately afterwards, the other two followed it and also dived down.
But a few seconds later, something happened that stunned the people in the observation fort——
A fireball exploded, followed by a muffled sound that entered the observation fort.
Then, Li Guoliang's face turned pale, and a horrified voice came from his radio headset:
"Pull up! Pull up quickly! That's the ground!!!"
Two seconds later, another fireball exploded.
The heartbreaking voice continued to come from the earphones:
"Pull up! Pull up!...Come on! Okay, okay, get up, we are saved..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang, Zhang Zhaoxian, and Tang Yunsheng were also stunned, but they were not completely sure yet.
"What...what's going on?"
Tang Yunsheng asked murmuringly.
Li Guoliang almost collapsed to the ground. After a long while, he groaned:
"Two Ospreys... hit the ground... The third one was pulled up in time..."
Suddenly, the three people fell into shock.
The temperature inside the observation fort seemed to have dropped to freezing point.