pdf-ebookys Chapter 288: Both Want to Destroy the Other's Air Force
Chapter 288: Both Want to Destroy the Other's Air Force
In December 941, at the same time as Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in the United States, it established a general army of the same level as the Kwantung Army, namely the Southern Army, with General Terauchi Hisaichi as its commander.
At the beginning, the troops under its command were all elite Japanese troops, with a strength of hundreds of thousands, and even the overall combat effectiveness of the Kwantung Army was inferior to them!
As the 88th Army of Shanxi Province occupied Taiyuan, Japan began to recruit soldiers on a large scale. The quality and combat effectiveness of the new recruits were certainly not as good as those of the existing troops.
In order to prevent the 88th Army from cutting off the entire front line in North China, Japan changed its defensive strategy and transferred the elite divisions of the Kwantung Army to North China, such as the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 9th Divisions, etc., and established a new general army, the North China Army, which was directly under the jurisdiction of the Japanese headquarters.
The original North China Front Army still exists, mainly used to resist the remaining Tang army and guerrillas in the jurisdiction!
In order to attack Burma and India, Japan established the Burma Front within the Southern Army, with Lieutenant General Masamitsu Kawabe as its commander.
At present, no one knows how many troops are under the command of the Burma Front Army, but one thing is certain: most of the elite troops of the Southern Army are here.
比如已知的缅甸境内的日军第2、第4和第6师团，以及被称为新常设师团的精锐师团第55师团和第56师团。
Other units whose numbers are unclear include the Independent Field Heavy Artillery Regiment and the Aviation Division.
If such an elite force were used to attack the British Indian Army that had lost the protection of the Indian Ocean, even if they could not sweep across the entire country, at least they would not be under much pressure to occupy East India bordering Myanmar.
However, up to now, although the Japanese army attacking Imphal in East India has received support, it only has one mixed brigade with a total strength of about 12.
From this we can see that although the Japanese army's attack direction was India, it still focused its main force on defending Xu's army in northern Myanmar.
早上8点，炮旅已经对贵概地区进行了2个小时的轰炸，发射152毫米炮弹大约4000枚，机步3师的自行炮营也发射了152毫米炮弹大约3000枚，总计弹药大约280吨。
Although they could fire without restraint, they could not ignore the bearing capacity of the gun barrel just for the sake of momentary pleasure. Therefore, all guns fired at a normal rate of fire, and even reduced the rate of fire a little, so that each gun could attack uninterruptedly.
"Well, it's time! The attack aircraft squadron and the two bomber squadrons can set off. The three fighter squadrons are also on standby at all times. As soon as you receive a report of the appearance of the Japanese fighter planes, you will immediately take off and snipe!"
Far away at the Mangshi Airport, Aviation Brigade 1, Wang Yuqi looked at the time and said.
This time, we were fully prepared for the attack on Burma. All divisions and brigades were well coordinated and the time of the attack was calculated, especially the aviation brigade.
In the Guigai Campaign, their main target was not the ground, but to lure out the Japanese flying division in Burma and then annihilate it in one fell swoop!
12 Q-5s, 12 H-5s, and 12 H-6s, fully loaded with aerial bombs, took off, targeting the Japanese positions in Guigai.
These 36 planes are the 'bait'!
At this moment, the Burma Front Command was far southeast of Myanmar in Mawlamyine.
Kawabe Masamitsu received a call for help from Kanda Masatane, but he did not immediately order his flying division to set off.
Chief of Staff Major General Nakagawa Taro said, "Commander, there was no sign of Xu's army's attack, and the speed was beyond our expectations, so that our troops were subjected to heavy bombardment before they were fully deployed. According to Kanda-kun's report, they were simply being beaten unilaterally. Why don't we change the plan and send out air force support first!"
Kawabe Masamitsu rejected it immediately, saying, "No, I haven't seen what the Xu family's fighter planes look like. But according to Momotake Harukichi's post-war report, their fighter planes and bombers have two common characteristics. One is that their climbing rate is very high, several times that of our aircraft. The other is that their speed is fast, twice that of our aircraft.
With such a huge gap, if our air force were to take action first, Xu's army would be able to adjust their operations according to our tactics, and we would be in a passive position!
The way we want to defeat Xu's air force is to strike back and wait for them to appear first, and then we will use our numerical advantage to attack fiercely!"
Taro Nakagawa nodded slightly. He knew that Haruyoshi Momotake was not someone who would shirk responsibility or make exaggerated statements, so he believed that the real Xu family army air force would be stronger than what Haruyoshi Momotake said.
Just as Kawabe Masamitsu said, let alone its own fighter jets, there is probably no fighter jet in the world that can match it.
In this situation, the only way to fight is to use qualitative changes caused by quantity.
The military headquarters once discussed that no country could mass-produce such advanced fighter jets and bombers, so the military concluded that the number of aircraft in Xu's air force was at most 200.
In order to destroy Xu's air force, they did not hesitate to suspend the attack on Australia and transferred most of the aircraft in Southeast Asia to Myanmar, namely the 5th Flying Division and the 9th Flying Division, nearly 700 fighters and bombers.
The way to defeat Xu's air force is to use these 700 planes and destroy them together with Xu's planes.
"Wait a little longer. According to the military's research on Xu's army's tactics over the past two years, their best skill is firepower coverage. The ground artillery fire has almost reached its limit. In order to strike the rear of the 6th Division, their bombers will certainly take action!"
Taro Nakagawa didn't say anything else, but he felt a little aggrieved in his heart. Now not only were the two flying divisions sent to die, but the 6th Division and the 15th Independent Mixed Brigade would probably become victims of this battle.
But when he thought about being able to annihilate the main force of Xu's army that had troubled the military for nearly a year, he suddenly felt it was worth it.
At this moment, the Japanese signalman reported loudly: "Report, the 6th Division called and found enemy bombers, about 30 in number, requesting support!"
Hebian Zhengsan immediately stood up and shouted, "Only bombers? No fighters?"
"General Kanda didn't mention it, so it probably doesn't exist!"
"Good!" He Bian Zhengda was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "Pass my order, let all the fighters of the 5th Flying Division take off and fight against the bombers of Xu's army! The fighters and bombers of the 6th Flying Division are also ready. As long as the bombers of Xu's army are dealt with, they will all be dispatched to bomb the rear of Xu's army!"
.....
A moment later, in Mandalay, Myanmar, hundreds of fighter jets took off and flew towards Guigai like locusts.
If the pilots of the 2nd Heavy Bomber Squadron of the 2nd Aviation Brigade saw this scene, they would definitely be surprised, because among these fighters, in addition to the Hayabusa and Zhong Kui fighters, nearly half were the fighters they encountered when bombing Chiba.
Although this unknown fighter is also propeller-powered, its performance is slightly stronger than that of the Zero fighter. Its maximum flight speed exceeds 600 kilometers per hour. Its weapons are two 20mm cannons and two 7.7mm machine guns. It can carry two 60kg bombs, and its climb rate is 3 meters per second higher than that of the Zero.
A vast air battle that is beyond Wang Yuji’s imagination but is within his consideration is about to begin!