A squadron of fifteen "Condor" dive bombers roared and flew over the "Devil City" 250 kilometers away.
The pilot looked down from the sky and saw a strange wind-eroded landform below, tall and short, which cast large shadows under the rising sun. There was probably a strong wind below, and between the soil platforms, sand flowed on the ground, making the whole land seem like
It's all moving and it's very strange.
However, fifteen planes flew several low circles around the "Devil City" area of more than ten square kilometers, and no trace of the cavalry was found.
The team leader reported to the base via radio and received instructions to expand the search.
"Okay, brothers," the leader said, "Now we are divided into five teams, each going..."
"ah!!"
"Oh My God!!!"
"Oh shit!!!"
Before the team leader finished speaking, hoarse screams and curses came from the headphones. The team leader quickly shouted:
"What's going on?"
As he spoke, he looked around in the cockpit and suddenly noticed that one of the planes was rolling, as if trying desperately to avoid an attack.
Below, a string of tracer bullets flew up. However, it seemed that they were still far away from the plane.
At this time, the voice in the earphones that had been screaming just now calmed down a little and said loudly:
"Encountered anti-aircraft fire! Encountered anti-aircraft fire! Everyone, be careful!"
The fifteen bombers immediately dispersed in all directions and were no longer crowded together. At the same time, all the planes saw the location of the anti-aircraft fire.
It was at the top of an "earth fort" with an anti-aircraft machine gun, and several people nearby were shaking it wildly.
Weird! Is this anti-aircraft gun coming out from the top of the bunker? I didn’t see it when I searched just now!
This has truly become a "Devil City".
At the command of the leader, the fifteen dive bombers were divided into five groups, pounced from high altitude one after another, strafed and dropped bombs.
The strafing was very effective. Two gunners next to the anti-aircraft guns were killed and wounded immediately. The other two immediately lay down to avoid it. However, the bombing had no effect.
Bombs exploded like raindrops around the wind-eroded earth fort, and the explosive fireball was filled with yellow sand and filled the entire earth fort. However, when the smoke and dust dissipated, the anti-aircraft gun on the top of the earth fort was still intact.
It's just that there are more than a dozen big pits around the castle.
All the pilots understood that this was the advantage of the opponent placing the anti-aircraft gun on the top of the bunker. The top of the bunker was very high from the ground and could completely avoid the shock waves and shrapnel below. If you want to put the bomb directly on a few meters of soil,
On the top of the castle, the difficulty is almost like throwing a pea on the head of a needle.
"Stop dropping bombs," the leader ordered, "shoot with machine guns!"
At this moment, another tracer bullet passed over his head. At the same time, a shout came from the earphones:
"Look out! Three o'clock! Machine gun!"
The pilot of the leader's plane pulled the control column, and the heavy "Vulture" ducked sideways. At the same time, he pulled the nose of the plane and turned it around. The leader sat in the back seat and searched around.
A few hundred meters away, an anti-aircraft machine gun also appeared on the top of another earthen fort, firing at low-altitude aircraft, as if by magic.
Someone shouted in the earphone:
"Everyone, be careful, I don't know how many more there are!"
Without the leader's orders, a three-machine formation immediately raised its altitude, and then swooped down one by one, strafing the anti-aircraft cannon. The top area of this earthen bunker was relatively large, and the last bomb fell on it, immediately blowing up all the bodies and parts.
"here you go!"
The team leader shouted loudly and ordered at the same time:
"Attention, all units, freely fire at the tops of each group of nearby bunkers!"
The fifteen aircraft each searched for the target and began to shoot aimlessly. Within a radius of one kilometer, any relatively tall bunker with a relatively small top area and a gentle slope that could pull up the machine gun was
It's a strafing target.
Sure enough, during strafing, the tops of two more earthen forts suddenly lifted off their khaki camouflage, revealing military green machine guns. Immediately afterwards, several gunners quickly shook their cranks and tried to shoot the bombers in the air.
But I have to admit that the skills of these gunners are too clumsy. There are so many heavy and slow bombers flying so low that sometimes they simply pass by them more than ten meters away, but the anti-aircraft gun fire line below cannot even get close.
Plane one point. If it was a Ming army gunner, at least one plane would have been shot down by this time. But the gunners below were shouting and shaking the handles in a hurry, but they seemed to be shooting blindfolded.
Everyone understands: the people below are a bunch of rookies.
Two groups of three aircraft formed one group, and the two anti-aircraft guns were fired at them like a joke.
Fifteen dive bombers circled the sky nearby again, shooting in groups at the suspected bunker. No anti-aircraft guns appeared again.
The team leader thought to himself: It became clear today that they deliberately set up an anti-aircraft "mass killing formation" and then used a small group of cavalry to lure us in, hoping to give us a show of strength in the first battle... But there was no choice, that Erdunmu
Tu is probably a local leopard who has never dealt with air power. He probably thinks that with a few anti-aircraft guns, he can definitely bring down the plane.
Today I taught the country bumpkins a lesson.
…
The shouting came to mind again in the earphones:
"Twelve o'clock! Ground target! Lots of dust!"
The team leader frowned:
"Don't tell me what time it is! Tell me the direction! I don't know whose twelve o'clock it is!"
The headset immediately shouted again:
"Binding 000! Ground target! Lots of dust!"
The bearing is 000, which is due north. All the planes turned their noses and looked towards due north. Sure enough, in the distance due north, behind the stretching wind-eroded earth castle, a large amount of sand and dust was rising.
"Pull up! Follow me!"
The leader gave the order, then patted the driver in the front seat on the shoulder and pointed upward. The pilot nodded, pulled up the control stick, and the entire plane climbed upwards. Immediately, all the planes in the entire fleet followed the leader's actions and climbed upwards.
Climb.
After a few seconds, the continuous tall earth forts shrunk to the ground, and the entire Gobi land came into view like a large map, and the field of vision broadened.
In front, almost on the horizon, there is a billowing smoke and dust, moving towards Zhengbei.
Those cavalrymen showed up again. They probably saw that the situation was not good and wanted to escape.
"Come on, brothers! Chase after me!"
There was a roar in the earphones, and fifteen "Condors" howled and rushed towards them, closing the distance to less than a few dozen meters in the blink of an eye. At the end of the dust, dozens of horsemen were galloping.
Escape.
A "Vulture" screamed and jumped down, getting closer and closer to the ground. Dozens of cavalry below scattered and fled. The pilot used superb skills to fly over the ground at a low speed more than ten meters. It was clear that these people had
Some were wearing Qing army uniforms, and some were wearing local civilian clothes. But regardless of military uniforms or civilian clothes, all had their faces covered with scarves, only their eyes were exposed, and they all had guns on their backs.
Without saying a word, two of the riders took off a rotary light machine gun from their back, held it and started shooting at the aircraft.
"Bloody hell!"
The plane screamed and pulled up as fast as lightning. The team leader didn't waste any time and said directly to the radio:
"Attack!"
After saying that, the driver pressed the machine gun button, and two plumes of smoke and dust exploded on the ground, quickly passing by several cavalrymen. Suddenly a blood mist exploded, and a horse fell to the ground with a scream, and the cavalrymen above shook it off.
After walking out for more than ten meters, he lay motionless on the ground.
Immediately afterwards, fifteen planes screamed and rushed down one after another, first spraying flames and strafing, and then dropping bombs.
This group of cavalry was suddenly swallowed up by blood and fire. A horse screamed and fell to the ground. Some of the riders on it were spraying blood and stopped moving. Some were able to get up and run away, but bombs fell immediately.
, all the people and horses within a radius of ten meters were lifted into the sky in one fell swoop.
Half of the dozens of horsemen and horses were wiped out in an instant, and the remaining twenty or so horses immediately dispersed and fled in several directions.
But it's useless. No matter how maneuverable the cavalry is, it can't compare with airplanes. Even if there is only one airplane overhead today, it will be easy to take down these two dozen cavalrymen.
Fifteen bombers also dispersed, and even strafed and dropped bombs. Within a few minutes, the last cavalryman also fell. His bloody body was hung behind the horse, being dragged in the dust. And his horse was covered in blood.
, let out the most miserable scream, and finally couldn't hold on anymore, and fell into a pool of blood.
…
"Continue to search!" the team leader still gritted his teeth and said, "We have searched so many circles just now, and we haven't even seen a single person. Who knows where so many people came from! Continue to search!"
Someone in the headset said:
"Maybe it was hidden in the shadows and we didn't see it."
"Those wind-eroded earth forts are arranged so densely that we don't dare to drill in. Maybe they are hidden inside."
"Possibly a camouflage net! Made it a desert color so we can't tell!"
The team leader thought, these are all possible. In a word, these people are very adaptable to the local environment. And they chose "Devil City", a place with complex terrain, obviously because they considered it convenient to hide.
The team leader thought of another thing and ordered:
"Whoever flies lower, go take a look at the anti-aircraft guns on the top of those bunkers and see what they look like!"
A Vulture followed the order, lowered its nose, and flew as low as possible at the slowest speed, almost passing by at the same height as the bunker. The bombardier pushed open the hatch cover and stretched his neck to look hard.
"Double tube, seems to be 37mm!"
The bombardier shouted, and then the plane passed by in the other direction.
"Yes, it should be a double-tube 37mm!"
"The double-barreled 37-gun," the team leader said to himself, "is not the standard machine gun of the Qing army. It may be Soviet equipment... This is the matter of the army."
Then, he raised his voice and ordered:
"Return!"
…
At around 11:30 p.m., fifteen Condors landed at Dihua Airport one after another, greeted by cheers from soldiers on the ground.
As soon as the pilots got off the plane and took off their flight suits, they were invited into Xiang Xiaoqiang's war room.
Xiang Xiaoqiang's headquarters is actually composed of a few temporary wooden houses and a few large tents. When you go out, you can see the blue sky, white clouds, and mountains and grasslands. He overcame the dissuasion of the division commander and staff and did not place the headquarters in
Dihua City. On the one hand,
He wanted to try his best to establish an image here that the Ming army had strict military discipline and no crimes were committed. On the other hand, if more than 10,000 troops were stationed outside the city, and his headquarters was stationed alone in Dihua City, Xiang Xiaoqiang would not know why.
, I always feel uneasy.
In a large tent, the combat conference room, Xiang Xiaoqiang and division officials listened to the pilots' reports.
He thought for a long time and basically agreed with the team leader's judgment.
"It can be said now," he raised his head and smiled, "we have won this first battle, and the victory is very beautiful. But then we will continue to take the initiative to find the enemy and constantly eliminate the enemy. Although we have airplanes
, with tanks, we have an absolute advantage in terms of profit, but the number of troops is pitifully small, with only one division. With just one division, we cannot be like the Northern Expedition.
In that way, the main task is to capture cities and occupy territory. Northern Xinjiang is so big, Altay is so big, and more than ten thousand of us can't occupy a piece as big as a sesame seed. Our guiding ideology is to desperately search for the enemy's effective strength and fight with all our strength.
Annihilate the enemy's effective forces. In a word, we don't do it for land, we do it for killing people. If we kill all the enemies, we will have complete control of Northern Xinjiang."