Battle of the Third Reich

It may be unbelievable to say that it has been nearly three years since the National Government moved its capital to Chongqing, but it has never established an effective air defense early warning mechanism for defending the capital. `At that time, the early warning of the Chinese side basically relied on the establishment of an air defense observatory on the conventional route of the Japanese army, and relying on human visual search to commit enemy aircraft. Once the Japanese army adopted a new route and tactics, then only rely on the early warning on the mountains around Chongqing The whistle serves as the last warning. However, when these posts are traced by the Japanese military aircraft, the warning time left for the Chinese people is basically running out.

Chongqing had just experienced such a catastrophe three months ago. On the evening of June 5, the Japanese army launched a large-scale bombing operation lasting five hours. It was because of the unfavorable early warning, so when the alarm sounded, the Japanese machine had already Close to the urban area of ​​Chongqing. The urban residents had no time to evacuate to the surroundings, so the airfield tunnel with a maximum capacity of 6,000 people squeezed into more than 10,000 people that night. Because of the serious number of staff and the negligence of the organization and management department, a large number of citizens were eventually in air defense The tunnel was killed by suffocation due to lack of oxygen. This is the famous big tunnel massacre in history.

But even with such a tragic incident, the government of the Republic of China still did not make any adjustments to the original air defense early warning mechanism. Later, instead of investigating and reviewing the matter, it rushed to bury and destroy the corpses and tamper with the number of casualties to cover up the government. Management's misconduct, this tunnel had already installed electric ventilation fans for ventilation in April, only because it did not bribe the relevant person in charge, so that it was too late to accept and receive electricity.

This time, because of the need to attract the main force of the Chinese Air Force, the Japanese army did not make any sudden attacks. On the contrary, the bomber group also deliberately flew over the area around the Chinese defense air post that has been identified, so that the Chinese side can make early warning. `So when this group of 96-type 6 attack aircraft flew over Chongqing, the city's alarm had sounded for a long time. In the past, the busy streets and riverside wharves had been evacuated by the citizens, and all the streets were empty, and no one could see a figure.

The Type 96 bomber lowered its height. The bomber of the pilot pilot chewed the toffee in his mouth, lying on the sight on the rear cabin floor and carefully looking for the target. This group of bombers was used as a bait to lure Chinese fighter jets by senior aviation personnel. However, these Japanese bombing crew members were unaware of this. They only knew that this was a regular bombing mission, and the superior's order must be followed strictly after the flight. The habit of the Japanese army is to do a full set of plays, since it is a bombing mission. Then it was really carried out as a conventional bombing. They specifically selected the area near the Yangtze River in the city center, where the population of shops is dense and the heavy losses are more likely to arouse the determination of the Chinese Air Force to dispatch.

The bomber has participated in dozens of similar operations, and the map of the entire city of Chongqing has long been remembered. He directed the pilot to adjust the course through the intercom, watching the crosshairs in the sight slowly approaching the bombing target.

"The bomb dropped!" The bomber shouted and pressed the bomb drop switch.

The Mitsubishi Type IX-6 attack aircraft is the most advanced dual bomber currently equipped by the Imperial Japanese Navy. At the beginning of the design, she was required to be able to mount torpedoes and heavy bombs due to its solidity and internal space. In terms of utilization, the designer did not choose the conventional belly magazine, but hung all the mounts on the hanger on the lower part of the fuselage. `

When the bomb drop switch was turned on, twelve sixty kilograms of aerial bombs were hung from the hanger at the same time, and the gray-green body swayed and rolled down towards the city below, more than ten seconds later. The whole fireball filled the sight of the scope with shock waves and various debris.

"Xi Xi, the target hit." The bomber gave his thumbs up to the front and front passengers in the front cabin.

Dense bombs ignited the wooden buildings on the banks of the river, and the black smoke from them covered the sky. At the time of the bombing, the two remaining inland gunboats of the Chinese navy on the Yangtze River were slowly fleeing upstream in that section of the river. When the current plane approached, the captain personally steered the ship to avoid navigation. Looking down from the air, I saw these two old inland river gunboats, which were all within 100 tons, and began to frantically draw white circles on the narrow river.

At this time, Chongqing's air defense forces finally began to fight back. Several small-caliber anti-aircraft guns deployed near the dock fired a row of tracers, but due to the limited firing height. A string of beautiful white and black smoke can only be blown up in the air hundreds of meters away from the belly of the Japanese machine.

The ground air defense firepower of Chongqing is not consistent with the status of the city in terms of quality and quantity. According to the statistics of the military in 1979, only 17 Bofors 75mm anti-aircraft guns and eight 37mm anti-aircraft guns were left in the air defense firepower of the Chongqing defense zone. With five 25-mm and three 2o-mm machine guns, the Chinese government relied on these pitiful anti-aircraft weapons as the last line of defense in the city’s air defenses, defending it from the rush of Japanese bombers.

What is even more surprising is that these weapons have not been used together, but are distributed around Chongqing, defending several key points of the government. The Japanese army had conducted bombing operations specifically against these air defense firepower. So much so that by September, Chongqing had few large-caliber anti-aircraft guns that had the courage to fire. Unless Japanese planes approached the official residence of the national leader, they would remain silent to prevent the use of party power.

The anti-aircraft firepower on the ground was weak. The 96-6 attack on Chongqing was like no one in the air. Soon, the ammunition carried was quickly dropped, leaving a mess on the ground. At this time, the bomber group turned its course and prepared to return to the base, but the Chinese fighters waiting for the Japanese army still did not show up. This made the zero-type fighters ambushing at high altitudes begin to be anxious. What to do if the Chinese Air Force does not appear, for this problem No one seemed to mention it when making the plan.

"Be patient, they will definitely appear." Jin Teng whispered comforting himself.

"They like to raid from the rear when our army returns, just like they used to do in the past." Jinteng swayed his wing and motioned the squadron to follow him.

The tactics adopted by the Chinese Air Force at that time may now seem to be somewhat negative, mainly because the Air Force has received too much pressure from the top of the government, whether it is combat or training, it has been strictly restricted. Any pilot who violates these combat regulations will be subject to Military law.

When the total war between China and Japan just broke out, the Chinese Air Force was not bad, and it could be regarded as a good force in the world. Many pilots have been trained abroad, and the government has hired many foreign instructors. Although there may be a lack of operational will, the technical level is not far from the world average.

Because of the influence of the social atmosphere at that time, and still regarded as a superior technical force, there were many arrogant soldiers in the Air Force who ignored the military discipline. Corruption, smuggling, and the sale of military supplies became the norm, and even had bomber pilots to escape Training, deliberately causing the bad incident of accidentally crashing the landline, made the foreign consultants who witnessed the incident shake their heads and sighed. This kind of military morale can not fight. However, when the war really came, the Chinese Air Force’s arrogance of these days did an exceptionally good performance on the battlefield, which not only inspired the anti-Japanese courage of countless Chinese people, but also offset many of the Air Force’s previous stays. Negative image.

At the beginning of the war, the aircraft equipped by the Chinese Air Force was still in the same era as the Japanese aircraft. There was not much difference between the two sides in terms of technical performance, and some advanced models had passed the performance of some Japanese counterparts. At that time, the Japanese Air Force, whether it belonged to the Navy or the 6th Army, was actually the same as the Chinese Air Force in terms of actual combat experience.

The Japanese army had not really experienced any formal air combat before, and the formulation of air combat tactics mostly copied the experience of the European battlefield. Judging from the standards at the time, the Japanese army used stale tactics. Commanders lacked experience in air operations. Pilots only knew the execution orders of machines. The staff who made plans ignored the actual situation at all. The optimistic attitude grassed the pilot's life. For example, when a stable forward base is not obtained, bomber troops are often ordered to make long-distance attacks across the strait, and because the **** fighters have insufficient range, these fragile bombers are allowed to act alone. One can imagine that when they reach the target area, the exhausted Japan The naval pilots and the old bombers with poor self-defense firepower will be miserable when they encounter the interception of the Chinese Air Force fighters.

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