Rise From Eight Hundred

In the afternoon, the Japanese army sent another 12 Zero fighters to the sky over Yiling!

This was the entire Zero fighter formation of the Second Air Wing of the Japanese Navy that arrived at Jianghan Airport. It can be imagined how much of a blow the defeat in the sky over Yiling in the morning had on the Japanese. They went all out.

However, it was useless. As early as 11:30 in the morning, the convoy carrying the general's coffin arrived at Yiling Airport. Under the escort of five Wildcat fighters, the C-47 special plane carrying the general's coffin took off at 11:50 and arrived at the Jiulongpo Airport in the mountain city at 1:30 in the afternoon.

The Japanese army's all-out deployment this time was just a punch into cotton, and there was no opponent at all.

After circling Yiling City for several weeks without finding an opponent, the 12 Japanese planes were so desperate that they descended to less than 600 meters, intending to retaliate by shooting at the Yiling city area that had been devastated by cannon fodder with machine guns.

Because the main purpose was to seek air combat with the opponent, the Zero fighter did not carry any bombs, but the machine gun bullets were very abundant.

The Japanese planes relied on their extremely high speed and the lack of defense weapons on the Chinese side, so they recklessly strafed the empty streets and low-rise residential areas.

Looking from the sky, you can clearly see yellow earth dragons jumping wildly in the dilapidated Yiling city area. Those were the dust splashed by the terrible machine gun bullets hitting the ground.

However, no one knows how much blood was mixed in it.

In fact, the Yiling military and civilians had already received the alarm, and either stayed at home or hid in the mountains, but it was still inevitable that some people were killed and injured in the indiscriminate shooting of Japanese planes.

According to the casualties caused by the Chinese side's later document condemning the Japanese attack on civilians, a total of more than 600 civilians were killed and injured in the crazy shooting of 12 Japanese planes, including 48 children under the age of 10.

The whole crazy catharsis lasted for nearly 20 minutes. I only saw Japanese planes roaring and diving from the edge of Yiling City, and then firing indiscriminately at the city. After more than a minute, they raised their noses and rushed into the blue sky.

It was like a group of seabirds foraging on the sea, flying up and down and enjoying the feast given to them by God.

The lieutenant and his colleagues hid in an air-raid shelter not far from the airport, watching Japanese planes flying up and down several kilometers away, constantly destroying the small mountain city.

Thinking of the mother and son in his mind, the anxiety in the lieutenant's heart was like a burning fire. He promised to give the little child a bag of bullet shells, but because the convoy had to speed up at that time, he only had time to ask the mother and son about their home address and led the way.

And now, does he still have a chance to send them out?

"Captain Tang, why don't you fight back? You are so fast!" The lieutenant turned his eyes to the distance.

In a small fortification on the edge of Yiling City, an army major was anxiously asking Tang Dao: "Captain Tang, open fire! If you don't open fire, the Japanese planes will run away. We can't let our people die in vain!"

Tang Dao, who was looking at the sky with a telescope, was like a sculpture, expressionless, and his voice was as cold as ice: "The first Zero fighter to serve had a total of 6 machine guns, each with 500 to 700 rounds of ammunition, which is about 3,600 rounds on average. They just launched about 5 rounds of ground attacks. Calculated at 400 to 500 rounds per round, they still have about one-third of ammunition.

We only have 6 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 6 20mm machine guns in total. This is the last air defense force around the entire Yiling City. In order to ensure that the airport can still take off and land aircraft, all people and equipment here must not be lost!

Wait a little longer!"

Tang Dao's extremely cold judgment made the major commander of the air defense battalion shudder!

But he knew that what Tang Dao said was right. The strategic purpose of the air defense company that was specially transported by the C-47 plane this time was to ensure the safety of Yiling Airport.

Today, Yiling has been completely surrounded by the Japanese army from the outside, especially with the 33rd Army Group responsible for the right wing of the Fifth War Zone being broken, the only two channels for the defenders of the outer defense line of Yiling to obtain equipment and supplies are the Yangtze River waterway and the airport air corridor.

The Yangtze River waterway was also blocked by Japanese fighter planes. Large ships were too slow to escape the strafing and bombing of Japanese planes. Relying on small gunboats for transportation was simply a drop in the bucket. The air channel became the most important.

The reason why the Japanese army had not bombed such an important airport before was probably that the Japanese army was dreaming that they could perfectly occupy the airport after conquering Yiling. But now that Chinese fighter planes have beaten the Japanese over Yiling, I am afraid that the Japanese will change their minds.

Their air defense company, which had obtained the new anti-aircraft gun, was deployed to Yiling Airport only after the commander of the Fifth War Zone applied for special approval. The order they received was to defend the airport at all costs, not the urban area.

Speaking of this, the Army Major actually admired Tang Tuanzuo who was standing next to the air defense fortifications. As a funeral officer sent by the Military and Political Department, he could have returned with the special plane with those big shots, and there was no need to take the passenger ship back to the mountain city with the remnants of General Zhang, but he still chose to stay.

The most amazing thing is that after watching the special plane fly away, Tang Tuanzuo immediately ordered the 1st Company of the 2nd Air Defense Battalion of the 3rd Air Defense Regiment, which had not yet handed over the command to the Fifth War Zone Command, to continue to obey his command.

You should know that when the Air Defense Company 1 first arrived in Yiling, the order of the Military and Political Department was that Tang Dao would be responsible for the safety of the general's coffin, and the task of the Air Defense Company 1 was also to be responsible for the air defense safety of the entire coffin protection team, which was directly under the command of Colonel Tang Dao.

According to common sense, once the special plane flew out of Yiling's airspace, even if the task of the Air Defense Company 1 was completed, Tang Dao's command would automatically be lost, but Colonel Tang, who took the initiative to stay and planned to board the ship in the evening, asked to continue to obey his command.

"The Japanese Navy was beaten badly this morning. Given their nature, they will not be willing to fail and will send a stronger fleet to Yiling. Since there are no fighter planes to fight, they will definitely vent all their anger on Yiling City and our Chinese people.

Brothers of the 1st Air Defense Company, you should have heard about the righteous act of 100,000 Yiling people kneeling along the street to send off the general this morning. The Japanese planes came but the people did not panic. They treated us like this, how can we let them down?

I need you to follow me. Before guarding the airport, we will beat them first and make them dare not show off their power over this small city. Tell them with blood that whoever comes below 2,000 meters will die!" Tang Dao stood in front of the 150 people of the 1st Air Defense Company, and his voice was deafening!

"But Commander Tang, the order from the top is to defend the airport. If there is combat damage before entering the position, we will all be guilty of death!" The army major who personally followed his 1st company to Yiling looked embarrassed.

"I can guarantee my position as the head of the Four-Line Regiment and all my future prospects. If one anti-aircraft gun is lost in this battle, I will compensate you with 10 guns! Moreover, before the command is transferred to the Fifth War Zone Command, you are all still under my command. If the superiors ask for guilt one day, they will only blame me as the commander." Tang Dao replied indifferently.

"Then" the Army Major was thinking about what to do if the telegram from the Fifth War Zone Command came with a bitter face.

But he was stunned to see two of Tang Tuanzuo's trusted subordinates standing in front of the field radio, signaling the communications squad leader to turn off the radio.

"I know what you are worried about, but now you see, at least in 2 hours, the telegram from the Fifth War Zone Command receiving the command will not be in your hands." Tang Dao looked at the stunned Army Major with a sharp gaze.

I am afraid that in the entire military career of the Army Major, there is only one person who can seize the command so easily.

Since Commander Tang has brought the matter to this point, and the Army Major is also a passionate soldier, what else is there to say? Just grit your teeth and follow suit.

As for the trucks and 6 20mm machine gun squads of the 67th Army, they saw Tang Dao as if they saw their own superiors. When they heard that Tang Dao was going to lead them to shoot down the Japanese planes, they didn't hesitate for half a second, and lined up in a neat line and roared: "Please give the order, sir, and we will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

That really stunned the 150 people in the 1st Air Defense Company. It turned out that Commander Tang in front of them also had a friendship with the 67th Army, a famous troublemaker, and it seemed that the friendship was not shallow, otherwise the lieutenant colonel leading the team would not have agreed without saying a word.

They naturally didn't know that Commander Tang fought side by side with the 67th Army in Songjiang for four days and nights, and used his elite troops to guard the only retreat of the 67th Army. It was really a life-and-death friendship. Not to mention obeying his command to fight the Japanese, I'm afraid that if Commander Tang said he wanted to fight against him, at least half of the 67th Army would stand behind him.

This is of course one of the reasons why that person has not touched Tang's hair until now. It's really that Tang Dao's social circle is too wide now. When he got married, more than 7 generals came to congratulate him in person, and 7 or 8 important generals sent telegrams to congratulate him.

The Sichuan Army, the Northeast Army, the Northwest Army, the Yunnan Army, the Hunan Army, including the 80th Army, are simply called a good guy. Several major factions that can fight and fight are "involved" with Tang. Anyone who changes has to think twice before acting.

The general surnamed Tang who fought a mess in the Battle of Nanjing was fine, but the big guy who lost Shandong Province was directly slaughtered as a sacrifice. Do you think that was the one who fell in love with the surname Tang? No, the interests behind it are too complicated, even that person has to think twice.

Tang Dao, who successfully obtained the command, immediately deployed 6 40mm anti-aircraft guns on the hills around Yiling City, and 6 20mm anti-aircraft guns were hidden in the houses in the city.

However, Tang Tuanzuo issued a strict order. Before his order, no matter how arrogant and rampant the Japanese planes were, no artillery squad was allowed to fire without authorization. Those who violated the military order would be executed immediately!

The reason for issuing such a cruel military order was that Tang Dao knew very well that the Zero fighter was too strong. Its speed and maneuverability were far beyond the 96 and 97 types that the Japanese army had equipped. At low altitude, although its speed could not reach more than 500 kilometers per hour, it could still maintain a speed of 400 kilometers per hour, which was far beyond the maximum speed of the 96 fighter.

If he had an anti-aircraft regiment with 48 40mm anti-aircraft guns, he could naturally use the advantage of numbers to form a series of fire barriers in the air and rely on probability to attack the Zero fighters entering the low-altitude area.

But he only had 6 40mm anti-aircraft guns and 6 20mm machine guns with less power. He only had one chance. If he failed, the Japanese planes would not only escape smoothly, but also use their excellent mobility to attack the gun positions found in the field of vision.

Because it was a temporary deployment, the 40mm anti-aircraft guns did not have any reinforced concrete permanent fortifications for defense. The only simple defense was to pile up 3 layers of sandbags more than one meter high around the anti-aircraft guns.

As long as the Japanese planes have bombs, even a 30-pound bomb, they can also carry out destructive strikes on the gun positions.

And as the major battalion commander said, if the precious anti-aircraft guns are lost before reaching the air defense positions around the airport, I am afraid that the ending waiting for the entire anti-aircraft company 1 will not be very good.

In other words, the 150 people in the entire company are really following him to fight this battle with their heads on their shoulders.

So, whether it is for the fighter planes or to live up to the officers and soldiers who were persuaded by him, Tang Dao can only wait!

Not only waiting for the Japanese planes to consume their bullets, but also waiting for the Japanese planes to completely lose their vigilance!

If you want to fight, you have to fight the Japanese heartbrokenly. Whenever you think of this battle, you are terrified. This has always been Tang Tuanzuo's combat principle!

Of course, because the Japanese planes have been plundering for nearly 20 minutes, Tang Dao knows that the losses will not be small. If it were when he first arrived at this time and space, Tang Dao would definitely be like the anxious army major in front of him, and it would be difficult to endure.

But now Tang Dao, who has experienced nearly three years of battlefield training with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, has long been tempered as hard as diamond. He knows that the battlefield is cruel like purgatory, and the so-called perfection only exists in fairy tales. If you want to defeat the enemy, you must bear losses, and even on the surface, the losses will be greater than the enemy.

Just like the Mao Bear people in the past time and space, in order to win that war, they sacrificed almost a whole generation. The number of nearly 27 million sacrifices would really scare any normal person, but the result is that a nation has been strong on this planet for nearly 60 years.

To win the final victory, you must first have the courage to bear the sacrifice. This is extremely cruel, but it is the only truth that war teaches the winner.

Kindness does not necessarily mean weakness, but kindness on the battlefield is a crime!

While learning to grow into an excellent commander, Tang Dao also chose to wrap his inner weakness with coldness and hardness.

Finally, when the Japanese planes began to dive and shoot at the Yiling city area one by one, and some Japanese planes were even so arrogant that they descended to a low altitude of 300 meters, almost flying close to the top of the mountain, Tang Dao's bloodshot eyes burst into a brilliant light, and he waved his arms fiercely: "Fire, all gun positions according to the previously formulated tactics, shoot hard for me, and use up all the planned shells!"

"Boom boom boom!" The 40mm anti-aircraft guns on the side of Tang Dao took the lead in firing at the air.

Because the Japanese planes were flying at ultra-low altitudes, the 40mm anti-aircraft guns were all prepared with armor-piercing shells, not high-altitude delayed fuse fragmentation shells, and there was no need for any barrage of bullets. They just chased and fired at the Japanese planes that passed by at high speed no more than a thousand meters away.

It didn't matter if a series of shells were lost, another gun position hundreds of meters away would pre-fire in the airspace in front of the Japanese planes. According to the pre-war deployment tactics, basically three guns would attack one Japanese plane, not asking how many to kill at once, as long as they could kill one!

However, the first one to suffer was not the Japanese plane that flew outside the city and was chased and shot by the 40mm anti-aircraft gun, but a Japanese plane that was flying at high speed through the Yiling city and was pressing the machine gun button to shoot at a block.

The reason was that this Japanese plane was really flying too low, so low that the Chinese artillery hidden in a residential building could almost see the face of the Japanese pilot who was looking at the ground. The Japanese plane that flew at a speed of 330 kilometers per hour almost showed its belly to the muzzle of the camouflaged twin machine gun in the small courtyard.

The sergeant sitting in the shooting position was also an extremely experienced machine gun shooter in the 67th Army. Through the previous dives of the Japanese plane, he had already estimated that the speed of the Japanese plane was about 320 kilometers. He made a prediction in advance, and the two magazines with a total of 20 shells were actually fired at the area about 300 meters in front of the Japanese plane.

This unlucky child "bumped" into the ammunition belt almost 3 seconds after the machine gun fired.

Two cigar-thick bullets tore open the bottom of the Japanese pilot's cockpit effortlessly, not only splattering blood from the Japanese pilot, but also smashing the flight rudder into pieces!

The completely uncontrolled Japanese plane just plunged into the street where he had just been shooting wantonly, and exploded into a ball of fire!

At least in the first five seconds, the Japanese plane fleet was confused, until a ball of fire rose on the ground, and these Japanese pilots really believed that the Chinese actually had anti-aircraft guns, and had been forbearing until now before opening fire.

The glory of the Japanese Navy did not allow them to retreat in the face of attacks, so after another fighter plane was shot down, the Japanese plane that flew back to the sky not only did not leave, but swooped down again and fired at the discovered gun position!

However, embarrassment soon came!

In just one round of attacks, most Japanese pilots reported to the commander in frustration that their ammunition had run out.

The plane had no bullets and no bombs, so what was there to shoot? No, it couldn't even shoot a bird!

What was even more embarrassing was that the Chinese on the ground were very vigorous, and the anti-aircraft shells flew over in a series, hitting them vigorously.

"Damn Chinese, so cunning!" Captain Maeda Yoshio of the Japanese Navy, who was in charge of the aircraft formation at the time, could only leave such a painful comment and issued an order on the radio channel: "Return!"

At this time, four piles of "bonfires" had been lit inside and outside Yiling City, and the flames were soaring into the sky!

"Oh! God! How did such stupid Japanese cause your country to suffer such heavy losses?" Lieutenant Scott, who was watching the battle with a telescope outside the air-raid shelter, held his head and exclaimed in disbelief.

This is simply an incredible victory of the weak over the strong. In his opinion, using 12 anti-aircraft guns to fight against such a large number of new fighters is a life-threatening fight. He admires the fearlessness of China's Tang, but does not agree.

But the final outcome is that four Japanese planes were shot down in a row, and finally fled in panic. The key is that during the escape, the 40mm anti-aircraft guns that were replaced with delayed fuses shot down another one.

These Japanese pilots grew up eating dog shit! Because he dared to guarantee that the Chinese soldiers who operated the 40mm anti-aircraft guns actually only got those guns for a few days!

These rookies

"Lieutenant Scott, have you forgotten what Commander Tang once said? In order to win the war, in addition to the courage to sacrifice, you also need enough wisdom, but don't rely on the stupidity of the enemy!" Shen Chonghai smiled and replied to the incredulous US Air Force Lieutenant.

"You Chinese, this is it!" Lieutenant Scott gave a thumbs up sincerely. "I hope we will always be friends!"

"Commander Tang and I hope so too!" Shen Chonghai replied.

But Lieutenant Scott will never hear the sigh from his friend's heart.

Tang Dao said to him very carefully: There is no eternal friendship between countries, only eternal interests!

All the beauty will only exist in the wishes of these little people!

At dusk, the army lieutenant finally fulfilled his promise and handed a bag of shells to the five-year-old child, including a 40mm anti-aircraft artillery shell signed by Tang Tuanzuo himself!

Then, dozens of infantrymen followed Tang Tuanzuo and boarded the small passenger ship back to the mountain city!