HCB Chapter 823: A Pot of Porridge
Chapter 823: A Pot of Porridge
More than 30 Japanese fighter planes broke away from the group and headed towards the group in the right front.
In the flight squadron of the Merchant Corps armed forces, Captain Pang Yong, who was piloting a fighter plane, immediately noticed the unusual movements of the Japanese aircraft group. He immediately made a decisive decision and ordered: "The first squadron will lead the Japanese fighter group into the airspace of our air defense firepower network. The second squadron will harass and attack the Japanese bomber formation. We can't let them bomb the airport, port and surface ships with impunity!"
"The third squadron, go deal with their outer fighter groups!"
After he finished speaking, someone on the communication channel expressed doubt: "Captain, wouldn't this disperse our forces? We'll be destroyed one by one by the Japanese fighter planes!"
Pang Yong was furious. "You dare to question my orders? Do you think we can defeat the Japanese aircraft group by gathering together? A head-on confrontation will only fall into the Japanese trap. The Japanese have tens of thousands of fighter planes that can be deployed at any time. They can afford to lose them, but we only have 33. Every loss is one less. You can keep your thoughts and opinions, but now you must follow my orders. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Captain!"
The three squadrons immediately separated, and the air battle began a few minutes later.
Before the two sides came into contact, the machine guns on the fighter planes roared and spewed out hot tongues of flames.
Casualties occurred within less than a minute of the engagement. The Japanese aircraft group had more fighter planes and a higher level of strategic integration than the Merchant Corps' armed aircraft group. One of the Japanese fighter planes was unlucky and had its engine hit by several stray bullets. The plane instantly stalled and plunged to the ground.
"Who fought? Well done, but don't fight too long. First Squadron, remember your mission!" Pang Yong shouted in the communication channel.
"Understood, First Squadron, follow me and take the Japanese aircraft group to the airspace of our air defense firepower network and give them a taste of their own medicine!" The captain of the First Squadron ordered loudly.
Seeing the opposing fleet turn around and flee, the two Japanese fighter squadrons immediately chased after them, firing countless bursts of bullets.
Pang Yong shouted again on the communication channel: "Second Squadron, don't get entangled with the Japanese fighter planes, ignore them, you must prioritize attacking their bomber formations!"
"Yes, Captain!"
The main combat mission of a bomber is to bomb the ground. Most of the bombers produced by countries around the world have no self-defense capability, and only a small number of models are equipped with self-defense machine guns.
When a bomber encounters an enemy fighter plane, it usually has no choice but to flee, unless it is tired of living.
Under the command of Pang Yong, the Second Flight Squadron dodged the entanglement of the Japanese fighter planes while firing at the Japanese bombers.
The Japanese bombers that had originally intended to bomb airports, ports and surface warships were now in a panic when they saw the merchant corps' armed fighter planes rushing towards them. Some Japanese pilots turned around and ran, dropping aerial bombs indiscriminately as they ran, without caring where the bombs fell or what they hit.
The Japanese pilots in the bomber formation only knew that the flying speed of a fully loaded bomber was much slower than that of a fighter plane, and its flexibility was also far behind that of a fighter plane. Only by dropping all the aerial bombs could they reduce the load, increase the flying speed and flexibility.
Chaos, complete chaos.
The Japanese fighter planes that were escorting the bomber formation were broken out of their formation, and the bomber group protected in the middle immediately fell into chaos. Shun Jian lost its formation, and the second squadron continued to fire at the Japanese bombers, which were constantly hit, caught fire, fell, and exploded.
Seeing the armed fighter planes of the Merchant Corps breaking into the formation, the Japanese fighter pilots could only chase after them and fire cautiously for fear of accidentally hitting their own bombers.
The remaining Japanese fighter planes were entangled by the third squadron of the Merchant Corps Armed Forces. The two sides engaged in a melee in the air, with each side engaging in a tug-of-war.
Merchant Corps Armed Command.
"Sir, some Japanese fighter planes have been drawn into our anti-aircraft firepower network!" the combat staff shouted loudly.
Zhang Yunhe immediately walked to the window and picked up the telescope to observe. Sure enough, the group of Japanese fighter planes that were led into the anti-aircraft fire network were immediately attacked by intensive anti-aircraft fire.
The ground air defense forces, including the anti-aircraft machine gun regiment and the anti-aircraft artillery regiment, fired a fire network consisting of dense bullets and artillery shells, which immediately caused casualties to the Japanese aircraft group. In just over 10 seconds, 4 Japanese fighter planes were shot down, and 2 more were damaged. After smoke came out of the tail, they turned around and fled to the north.
While the battle was going on in the sky, the Japanese on the north bank of the boundary river also launched an attack. This time the attack was much larger in scale and more powerful than any previous attack.
In the first round of attack, the Japanese deployed an entire regiment of troops.
First, there was artillery bombardment. Before the fifteen-minute bombardment was over, the artillery fire began to extend. At the same time, the Japanese at the Jie Bridge bridgehead and the Japanese in various river sections began to attack.
"Kill the chickens!" The team leaders on the front line drew their swords and roared fanatically.
The Japanese soldiers at the south end of the bridge began to launch a step-by-step attack, working in small teams to cover each other. First, they fired machine guns to suppress the firepower of the defenders, and then the infantry advanced quickly. After running a distance on the bridge, they immediately squatted or crawled to shoot, providing fire cover for the Japanese soldiers following behind.
In various sections of the river, the Japanese got a large number of boats and rafts and used them to deploy their troops. However, the British army and the merchant corps were not to be trifled with. They waited in the fortifications on the south bank until the Japanese artillery fire extended to the rear, and rushed out of the anti-artillery holes at the loud shouts of the squad leader and platoon leader. When they saw the Japanese appear and prepare to cross the river, they immediately opened fire.
The boundary river is not wide, and its width is insignificant for the rifle range.
For a moment, the sky and the ground became a mess.
Seeing the Japs in front crossing the river and firing, and a steady stream of Japs entering the riverbank from the rear, Yang Xiong, the commander of the first regiment at the front command center, put down his binoculars and gave an order: "Order each battalion to fire mountain artillery and mortars at the Japs positions on the other side of the river, interrupt their offensive rhythm, and cut off the Japs' support for the Japs in the rear!"
"Yes, sir!"
After the order was given over the phone, the mountain cannons hidden in the gun holes on each position were dragged out by the artillerymen, and the mortars of each company and platoon were also set up on the pre-arranged positions. With the commander's order, the artillerymen fired shells one by one at the Japanese on the opposite bank.
"Boom boom boom..." The Japanese offensive positions on the other side of the river were bombarded by rounds of artillery fire. The Japanese soldiers in the trenches who were preparing to attack were blown everywhere. Some were directly buried in the mud, some were blown in two, and some were blown to pieces.
The Japanese's offensive rhythm was disrupted and support could not keep up. Only less than one-fifth of the vanguard troops successfully reached the shore, and the others died in the process of crossing the river. These Japanese who had already crossed the river were now attacked by the strongest firepower. There was not even a place to hide on the bare river beach, and they could only become sitting ducks.