HCB Chapter 252: The Final Battle of Mandalay (7) When the Lotus Flowers Made of Bombs Bloom
Chapter 252: The Final Battle of Mandalay (7) When the Lotus Flowers Made of Bombs Bloom
"Fire at the sky, hayaku!" Ishizu Takuma watched the black spots in the sky getting bigger and bigger in his field of vision.
The P-47 Thunder's chubby, bottle-like fuselage looked adorable in the eyes of the Anmin Army, but intimidating in the eyes of the Japanese soldiers on the ground.
Takuma Ishizu commanded his car to drive off the road and rush into the rainforest beside the road, trying to use the dense vegetation in the rainforest to conceal his Type 1 medium tank.
The moment the Type 1 medium tank drove into the rainforest, Ishizu Takuma looked back and saw countless smaller black dots falling from the swooping fighter planes and crashing to the ground.
The first wave of 500-pound and 1000-pound aerial bombs fell accurately, targeting the Japanese convoy on the highway.
Ishizu Takuma's heart almost stopped beating at that moment.
He looked at the road. In the last few seconds before the bomb fell, the road was still in a mess.
Three-wheeled motorcycles and Suzuki trucks used to transport troops were parked all over the road. Most drivers of motorized vehicles had no time to drive into the rainforest beside the road in such a hurry that they could only abandon their vehicles and escape.
The Type 97 modified medium tanks, Type 95 light tanks, and Type 1 medium tanks reacted quickly and knew how to drive off the open road as quickly as possible.
However, in the chaos, there were countless accidents, including cars crashing, trees crashing, and tracks running over the Japanese infantry running around.
In Ishizu Takuma's eyes, the chaotic scene before him was tragic yet a bit absurd - how could the elite mechas of the Locust Country have fallen to this point?
"General Guderian's theory of emphasizing the need to ensure air superiority during blitzkrieg is indeed correct." Ishizu Takuma murmured to himself.
Arrogant and conceited, he unilaterally elevated the principles of integrity and courage emphasized by Bushido and dispatched armored troops in the absence of aircraft cover, but he did not expect the outcome to be like this.
At this moment, Ishizu Takuma regretted it very much, but it was too late.
People cannot teach people, but things can teach people once and for all.
A few seconds later, Ishizu Takuma saw those small black dots falling densely on the road like a rain of arrows, raising a cloud of dust.
Then, the fuse on the aerial bomb was triggered.
"Boom—boom—boom—"
Countless violent explosions tore everything apart in an instant, and flames shot up into the sky, as if the flames of hell were summoned to the world.
The armored vehicles closer to the bomb landing point were immediately blown to pieces, the ammunition inside the vehicle body was detonated, and the fuel in the fuel tank was ignited. The Japanese soldiers who remained on the road could only scream in pain in the sea of fire under the gaze of Takuma Ishizu.
"My troops, my chariots..." Ishizu Takuma was in great pain, as if his heart in his chest was being clutched by a pair of big hands.
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However, everything was not over yet. Zhang Chi dispatched three squadrons of the 13th Fighter Division of the Anmin Army Air Force, totaling 180 fighter jets.
The brigade's original P-40E fighters have all been eliminated, and after adaptive training, the pilots have all been replaced with P-47 Thunderbolts, a fighter with a longer range, stronger firepower and larger payload.
"The 88th has completed its bombing run."
The voice clarity on the radio was very good. Liu Mo, the squadron leader of the 266th Squadron of the 89th Brigade, was sitting in the cockpit at this moment, holding the joystick tightly in his hand to keep the plane flying steadily.
The joystick in his hand felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and Liu Mo had to use all his strength.
Liu Mo also knew why the more advanced P-47D was more difficult to operate than the P-40E.
At this moment, his P-47 Thunderbolt had a 1000-pound (454 kg) heavy bomb under each wing, and a 500-pound small bomb under the belly.
In addition to the bombs, there are five 127mm caliber HVAR air-launched rockets with armor-piercing warheads on each side under the wing.
Each shell weighs 61 kilograms and can penetrate 1.2 meters thick reinforced concrete buildings or 75mm homogeneous armor steel plates. (On D-Day in Normandy, Hans's Atlantic bunkers and the IV in the rear were severely damaged by this thing.)
Even without counting the 76kg pilot Liu Mo and the fuel in the tank, his P-47 was carrying an additional 2 tons of ammunition, which of course made it difficult to operate.
Not to mention participating in aerial combat, even just maintaining formation flying required Liu Mo to use all his strength.
Fortunately, at this moment, the sky under the setting sun was completely occupied by the Anmin Army Air Force. It was filled with bomb-laden P-47s with the "Zhong" identification pattern painted on their wings and the F4Us that escorted them.
"The 88th Squadron has finished dropping bombs. Now it's our turn, the 89th Squadron."
As Liu Mo was thinking this, an order from his superiors soon came over the radio: "The 89th Battalion begins dropping bombs. Each squadron will dive and drop bombs in small groups."
"266 Squadron, agreat! All teams are on attack course in order."
While speaking into the transmitter, Liu Mo twisted the joystick to make the huge and heavy plane turn again.
As the squadron leader, Liu Mo obviously had a lot of things to worry about. He also had to take the time to look at the rearview mirror installed on the top of the cockpit. Fortunately, the fighter planes of the three squadrons belonging to the 266th Squadron behind him were following his plane well, and no one was left behind.
"Everyone in 266 Squadron, hold the throttles down and follow me in a shallow dive to drop bombs!"
The roar of the piston engine filled his ears. Liu Mo pushed the joystick, and the P-47 immediately turned its nose towards the road and began to dive.
The feeling of weightlessness came over him instantly, but fortunately it was just a shallow dive and Liu Mo did not experience red vision. He successfully aimed at a location where Japanese trucks were gathered, pressed the button, and dropped three bombs in succession.
After freeing the bomb, Liu Mo could clearly feel that the fuselage was much lighter. He pushed the throttle valve back to full, so that the piston engine in the nose of the aircraft could produce the maximum output. Then he pulled the joystick, and the nose of the aircraft immediately pointed to the sky and began to climb.
The feeling of being pushed on the back came instantly. Liu Mo held his breath and felt a slight blackness in front of his eyes. He immediately felt uncomfortable in his body.
(Taisho G mobile black vision, Taiko G mobile red vision)
Beads of sweat the size of beans slid down Liu Mo's forehead. He tilted his head and looked at the ground through the transparent teardrop-shaped cockpit cover, only to see orange lotus flowers blooming on the road.
"How beautiful," he murmured.
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一个大队60架P-47‘雷电’的挂载就是120枚1000磅外加60枚500磅的航空炸弹，上百吨TNT被用最高效的方式投放在鬼子头顶，效果自然出奇的不错。
"The 90th is ready to drop bombs."
As the instructions were transmitted via radio waves, the next round of bombing was about to begin, and the Japanese soldiers on the ground who had tried to use machine guns equipped with anti-aircraft tripods to resist stubbornly had long since stopped moving. They were either blown into pieces or burned to charcoal.