Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 366 Urgent!

Datong Airport.

The 54th Flight Squadron, inside the operations conference room.

"Major, the North China Front Command has ordered us to bomb the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi, focusing on the defensive positions they are building. We must stop the Eighth Route Army from building tunnels and concrete fortifications."

A young Japanese staff officer came in and conveyed Commander Sugiyama Moto's order to Takeda Isamu.

The First Army suffered this loss in Jinzhong. It waited until the Eighth Route Army in Jinzhong had built tunnels and concrete fortifications before gathering its forces to attack.

The result is predictable. The attacking First Army suffered heavy losses and an entire mixed brigade was wiped out by the Eighth Route Army.

This time, the North China Front Army Headquarters learned that the Eighth Route Army had repeated the same trick in northwestern Shanxi. Not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the First Army, Sugiyama Gen handed the bombing mission to the 54th Squadron stationed in Datong, which had just made a contribution.

During the last Ping'an County battle, the accompanying reconnaissance plane took photos of the 54th Regiment blowing up the tanks and heavy artillery of the Eighth Route Army.

Takeda Isamu and the 54th Squadron were rewarded for their contribution and received commendation from General Sugiyama Hajime. Takeda Isamu was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun.

Upon hearing this order, Takeda Isamu and a dozen pilots all looked slightly gloomy.

The last time the Eighth Route Army was bombed in Ping'an County, the 3th Flying Squadron had three bombers shot down on the spot and one bomber damaged, making the situation of the 1th Flying Squadron, which was already not well-off, even worse.

The staff officer continued:

"The command will replenish the 6th Aircraft Squadron with 12 Nakajima fighters, 2 Type 30 heavy bombers, 30 Type reconnaissance aircraft, pilots, and tons of aerial bombs."

Takeda Isamu waved his hand, signaling the staff officer to leave.

Although he obtained aircraft, pilots and ammunition supplies, Takeda Isamu's face remained gloomy.

The aircraft currently available to the 2th Flying Squadron include 3 old reconnaissance aircraft, 3 Nakajima fighters, and Type bombers.

The headquarters added 20 aircraft to their arsenal. In addition to 6 Nakajima fighters, the Type heavy attack aircraft and the Type reconnaissance aircraft were all new aircraft.

Compared with the old Type 96 bomber, the Type 97 heavy bomber has a longer range, a larger payload and a faster speed.

But what's the use?

The high-altitude bombing had a very low hit rate, which was equivalent to setting off fireworks for the Eighth Route Army, and it also wasted aerial bombs. The empire did not have enough aerial bombs, and they were strategic-level ammunition.

Low-altitude dive bombing and strafing were tantamount to sending heads to the Eighth Route Army. Only when bombing high-value targets such as the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery and tanks would Takeda Isamu be willing to let the bombers dive bomb at low altitude, and even at all costs use planes to crash into the Eighth Route Army's heavy artillery and tanks.

When the Eighth Route Army was building tunnels and concrete fortifications, they deployed a large number of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns around them.

It is really difficult to bomb. It would be a huge loss to use planes to crash into the Eighth Route Army infantry and civilians!
Fortunately, the new reconnaissance aircraft is good, the pilots have good visibility, good maneuverability, and fast speed!

"Hey…"

Takeda Yong sighed deeply.

Takeda Isamu, who participated in the bombing of Mengxian and Ping'an counties, was well aware of the powerful anti-aircraft firepower of the Eighth Route Army.

A regiment is equipped with hundreds of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns.

but!

The superiors are only responsible for deploying the tasks. Any problems and difficulties encountered during the tasks need to be solved by Takeda Yong himself.

"Major."

A Japanese pilot wearing a flight helmet and a jacket hurried in:

"At Jiangjunling, we discovered that the Eighth Route Army and Chinese civilians were building fortifications."

Takeda Isamu raised his head, looked at the reconnaissance plane pilot, and asked, "Kitamura-kun, how is the anti-aircraft firepower of the Eighth Route Army?"

"There are at least a hundred fire points consisting of anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns. For safety reasons, we did not lower our altitude for reconnaissance, and the photos taken from the high altitude are very blurry..." Lieutenant Kitamura answered with his head down. The Japanese pilots were all officers, and the lowest rank was sergeant.

However, the Japanese army's military rank and salary for pilots were extremely low. In other countries, fighter pilots often received the rank of second lieutenant after graduating from training school.

Takeda Isamu and the pilots were stunned. They were just building a defensive position, but they had such strong anti-aircraft firepower!

This is outrageous, outrageous, outrageous... "Kitamura-kun, you are doing the right thing."

Taking a deep breath, Takeda Yong looked at the map and the weather, and gave the order:
"Take off fighter No. 2 and bomber No. 1 to harass the Eighth Route Army's defense sites at Jiangjunling. Focus on bombing the highway from Ping'an County to Jiangjunling, especially the bridges."

"Attention, when attacking the Eighth Route Army's defense sites, aircraft must accelerate and fly at an altitude of at least 1,500 meters. As long as the speed is fast enough and the altitude is high enough, the time the aircraft is in the Eighth Route Army's anti-aircraft fire area can be reduced, ensuring the aircraft's safety."

"Hi."

Three of the Japanese pilots stood up, bowed their heads together, and turned to walk out.

……

"Commander, Political Commissar Zhao, the Third Battalion and the civilians building fortifications at Jiangjunling were bombed by the Japanese."

At noon, Zhang Dabiao walked quickly into the regiment headquarters and reported to Li Yunlong and Zhao Gang.

"What are the casualties?"

Li Yunlong narrowed his eyes and asked.

Zhang Dabiao replied immediately.

"No soldiers or civilians were killed in Jiangjunling. Three people were injured, but..."

"The Japanese planes bombed the road to Jiangjunling. Two of our trucks were destroyed, two drivers were killed, and a bridge was blown up."

"I have already sent engineers to the bridge for emergency repairs."

On the other side of Jiangjunling, stone-drilling vehicles dug some tunnels, and there were more than 100 anti-aircraft firepower points for air defense. The Japanese also harassed from high altitude, so the casualties were not great.

However, on the road to Jiangjunling, there was no anti-aircraft fire deployed and the convoy transporting concrete was attacked.

Fortunately, the Japanese did not have much ammunition left after the attack on Jiangjunling, otherwise the convoy would have suffered even greater losses.

Li Yunlong narrowed his eyes and said, "The situation I've been worried about has finally happened. The Japanese planes have begun to abandon their cluster bombing and have started guerrilla warfare. This will be very tricky."

"Yes," Zhao Gang nodded solemnly. "The effective range of our 20mm cannon against air targets is over 900 meters. The Japanese planes are flying at an altitude of 1500 meters, so our cannons can hardly threaten them. It seems that only Boss Lin's new 40mm anti-aircraft gun can deal with the Japanese planes."

Zhang Dabiao's expression changed, and he asked hurriedly, "Did Boss Lin agree to give us 40mm anti-aircraft guns?"

Zhao Gang then gave Boss Lin some local specialties from Yan'an. Boss Lin then gave him the equipment of a heavy artillery regiment and an air defense regiment of the Eighth Route Army and told Zhang Dabiao about it.

"Oh my god! Boss Lin is so generous and rich, isn't he?" Zhang Dabiao said with surprise and joy.

"Xiao Zhang, send this telegram to Boss Lin immediately." Li Yunlong drafted a telegram and called Xiao Zhang to hand it to the other party. He planned to receive 50 40mm anti-aircraft guns tomorrow.

"Yes!"

Xiao Zhang took the telegram, turned around and walked quickly towards the telegraph room.

Zhang Dabiao said with concern, "But Commander, these 40mm anti-aircraft guns are probably not easy to control. The anti-aircraft battalion won't be able to form combat effectiveness for a while. Distant water cannot quench a nearby fire."

Li Yunlong looked at Zhang Dabiao and said, "Won't Boss Lin provide us with 40mm anti-aircraft artillery training instructors?"

Zhang Dabiao said, "But Boss Lin's air defense instructor doesn't participate in actual combat."

Li Yunlong said angrily: "Da Biao, are you stupid? We deployed the air defense battalion in a key position in the field and said it was training. But when the Japanese planes came, it became a real combat training."

"Will Boss Lin's instructors not provide the enemy plane's position and firing parameters when the time comes?"

"Actual combat training is still training." Zhang Dabiao's eyes lit up with admiration. "This way, our anti-aircraft artillery units can not only accumulate actual combat experience with the new anti-aircraft artillery, but also effectively strike the enemy aircraft."

Zhao Gang laughed: "You are really cunning."

Li Yunlong said to Zhang Dabiao, "We must build tunnels and concrete fortifications as quickly as possible. I estimate that the Japanese will attack us soon. Let the soldiers and villagers sleep during the day and build tunnels and concrete fortifications at night. The motorized vehicle battalion will switch to nighttime transportation. This will reduce casualties and enemy harassment and speed up the construction of fortifications."

Zhang Dabiao accepted the order: "Yes!"

(End of this chapter)