Chapter 78 Madman
Although it only took 7 minutes for the 10 warhawks of the Northwest Air Force to take off, by the time Bai Jingfeng and his party arrived at the determined airspace, the Japanese planes had already begun bombing.
Thanks to the protection of the Zero fighters, more than 10 Type 96 land attack aircraft dispatched by the Japanese army descended to the airspace around 2000m and leisurely expressed their death outside the ground anti-aircraft fire.
"Lu Xing 1, Luxing 2, please pay attention. My team is responsible for attracting the attention of the enemy escort aircraft. Your team will take the opportunity to disperse the Japanese bombing formation."
Bai Jingfeng, sitting in the BF-109, gave such orders through the radio waves. Now he was no longer the chief of staff sitting in the office making plans, but the acting squadron leader who was fully armed and equipped with sharp weapons.
"If the enemy escort aircraft turns back, retreat immediately to avoid casualties."
The double-winged Shoryu Kai was barely able to fight against the Type 96 carrier-based fighter, let alone deal with the more powerful Zero fighter. However, what the Shoryu Kai could not do, the BF-109 might not be able to achieve either. So, Bai Jingfeng was actually using his own life and the lives of the other five members of the Fuxing team to protect his comrades.
The hoarse voices of the Luxing team members echoed over the radio, and Bai Jingfeng nodded to his wingman, whose face he couldn't see clearly, "Very good, Lucky Star Two, Lucky Star Three, upon hearing the order, immediately follow my team to execute the first combat plan."
In an instant, six BF-109s swooped down from an altitude of nearly 10,000 meters, with two in a formation, forming three arrows and heading straight for the Zero fighters that were still performing escort missions in the airspace at 5,000 meters.
In fact, the BF-109s owned by the Northwest Army were all old B/C models produced by Germany before 1939. Except for the top speed which had a certain advantage over the Zero fighter, the two had similar ceilings, but were far inferior to their opponents in many aspects such as onboard firepower and maximum range. Therefore, Bai Jingfeng, who was unable to change the technical conditions, could only adopt the tactics of dive, shoot, disengage, climb, and dive again that were accustomed to the Yinglong model to deal with the Type 96 carrier-based fighter, which had extremely excellent horizontal combat capabilities and was inferior to the Japanese Zero fighter.
However, the Japanese naval aviation at this time were all veterans with more than 500 hours of flight time. Although they lost altitude due to the escort, they reacted very quickly. Once they discovered the attack of the Northwest Air Force, they immediately rolled to get rid of it. At the same time, several planes that were not attacked began to climb to gain height for the attack.
However, even the Japanese army themselves did not know that the vertical maneuverability of the Zero fighter would be greatly reduced at high altitudes. Therefore, although some Japanese troops climbed first, they failed to occupy a favorable airspace altitude in the first place.
At this time, the BF-109 aircraft group dived at high speed and held on to several Type 96 carrier-based fighters.
According to the popular Northwest Army tactics of upper four ships against lower four ships, before fighting a desperate battle with the Zero fighter, Bai Jingfeng and his men first had to eliminate the Type 96 carrier-based fighter, which could pose the greatest threat to the Thang Long transformation.
A series of machine gun bullets flew over, and one of the Type 96 carrier-based fighters was unable to dodge. Fireworks appeared at the root of its wing, and it quickly fled into the distance, trailing black smoke.
The first battle was a victory, but Bai Jingfeng had no time to celebrate as several strings of 20mm machine gun bullets passed through his fuselage.
"Disengage!"
Bai Jingfeng shouted on the radio, and then the six-plane formation quickly dived and rolled out, then climbed.
Bai Jingfeng and his men's actions were based on the experience gained by the Northwest Air Force after fighting against Zero fighters when intercepting Japanese long-range bombings. However, the number of Zero fighters participating in the battle was more than twice that of the Nanyang Independent Air Force.
Therefore, one BF-109 was caught up by a Zero fighter at low altitude during its climb and was blown up in mid-air. Bai Jingfeng had no time to lament the sacrifice of his comrades. After regaining the altitude, he immediately led his surviving men to kill the enemy plane again...
Five BF-109s dodged left and right under the attack of 12 Zero fighters and 6 Type 96 carrier-based fighters, creating an opportunity for another four Thang Long modified planes to attack the Japanese bomber group. The Luxing team hidden in the clouds quietly approached the Type 96 land attack planes that had almost dropped their bombs from an airspace of 2000m, and then bared their bloody fangs.
Logically speaking, the Japanese naval aviation had fought with the Northwest Air Force many times and was familiar with the Northwest Air Force's tactics of luring the enemy. However, the Japanese were very arrogant and thought that their escort forces had an absolute advantage and could eat up the Northwest fighter planes that came to block them one by one. However, they never expected that although the Northwest Army continued to split into two groups this time, the time difference between the front and back attacks was only a few minutes.
Since the Japanese bomber group was flying in the airspace of about 1000m, and the air battle took place in the airspace between 8000 and 4000m, the Japanese escort formation had no time to rescue them, so they could only watch the four Type 96 land attack planes fall to the land as fast as turkeys with broken wings.
"Team Luxing should stop fighting and evacuate immediately."
What the Japanese army noticed, Bai Jingfeng also noticed. He found that several Type 96 carrier-based fighters had left the combat airspace and were heading towards the lower levels. He immediately called them on the radio.
"Enemy planes are heading towards you."
Of course, it is not impossible for the Shang Long Kai to fight against the Type 96 carrier-based fighter if it insists on doing so, but on the one hand, it will lose more than it wins, and on the other hand, the mission of attacking the Japanese bomber group has been completed. I believe that after suffering such a heavy blow, the Japanese planes will be quiet for a few days, so there is no need to suffer unnecessary losses.
"Immediately evacuate according to the plan."
"receive."
The response that made Bai Jingfeng feel at ease came over the radio.
"Immediately execute the planned evacuation."
"Lucky Star Team, keep going for five more minutes."
Bai Jingfeng turned and called to his own team.
"Ensure the safe retreat of Team Luxing."
But it was by no means easy to hold on for these five minutes. The Japanese, seeing that they could not catch up with Shenglong, naturally took out their anger on the Fuxing Team. And if the remaining five BF-109s wanted to finally escape death, they would have to fight a bloody battle with the Japanese planes. It was a difficult task to use supplementary troops to replace the front-line defenders under the Japanese attack.
Both the First Army of the Chinese Islamic Anti-Japanese National Salvation Allied Forces and the Yi-Tibetan Anti-Japanese Independent Brigade are rookie troops that have never experienced war. It is probably beyond their ability to complete this difficult task.
Therefore, after a brief communication with the two commanders and chiefs of staff, the Second Army Command issued the task of launching a tactical counterattack by the two divisions.
At 3:15 a.m. on March 20, 1941, the four regiments of the First Army of the Chinese Islamic Anti-Japanese and National Salvation Allied Forces, which had just finished morning prayers under the leadership of an imam, launched an all-out counterattack against the 110th Division of the Japanese Army facing the 232nd and 229th Divisions.
20 minutes later, after receiving the blessing of the living Buddha and shamans accompanying the army, two regiments of the Yi-Tibetan Anti-Japanese Independent Brigade also launched a counterattack against the 35th Division of the Japanese Army on the front line of the 249th Division.
In order to cooperate with the two units' counterattacks, the Second Army also mobilized two 105mm heavy field artillery regiments, one 155mm heavy howitzer regiment, and two combined artillery brigades, totaling more than 400 artillery pieces with a caliber of 75mm and above, to carry out a one-hour bombardment on important targets such as the Japanese attack starting point, artillery positions, and front-line military stations.
Relying on the sudden attack of artillery fire and the brave fighting of soldiers of all ethnic groups, the Northwest Army repelled the Japanese troops in front of them in one fell swoop, and successively recaptured the depth of 3 to 5 km. Taking advantage of the chaos of the Japanese army, it initially repaired the defense system of the above-mentioned areas, thus achieving the specific combat goal of changing defenses between the two national armies.
Shocked by the sudden burst of powerful firepower from the Northwest Army, the Japanese army did not initially realize that the Northwest Army's move was merely to redeploy defenses. Later, although they discovered that the Northwest Army had no intention of further expanding its victory, the initiative had already changed hands for a while. The Japanese troops, exhausted from continuous attacks and blocking of the Northwest Army's counterattacks, were forced to rest and regroup.
"It has now been found out that the Chinese troops participating in the counterattack were part of the Muslim army."
Colonel Takeshi Matsuda, Chief of Staff of the 110th Division, introduced this to Major General Sadaichi Yoshimoto, Chief of Staff of the 15th Army, over the phone.
"The Northwest China Army trained the army for more than two years, so although it is a new army, its equipment and morale are relatively good. Moreover, unlike the general organization of the Northwest China Army, each regiment of the army has four battalions, so a certain amount of bonus must be made when evaluating its combat effectiveness."
Major General Yoshimoto listened carefully on the other end of the phone, and heard Colonel Matsuda continue: "And according to the reports from the front line, the Muslim army is extremely tenacious. Even if they are in a desperate situation, they will shout slogans and fight to the death with our army."
Colonel Matsuda also put some of his own personal opinions into the speech: "Because they can't understand the Muslim army, the officers and soldiers can't understand what the Muslim army is saying, but in my opinion, it should be the same religious slogan as Shinto. If so, it will be troublesome. Your Excellency should know that lunatics with faith are more terrifying."
"Matsuda-kun, what you said is not what I want to know."
Yoshimoto Sadaichi suddenly interrupted Matsuda Takeshi.
"Commander Fujita and I just want to know when the offensive on the front line can be resumed, how long it will take to reach the city of Zhengxian, and what additional support is needed from the headquarters."
"If the army headquarters had not transferred the 1st Temporary Mixed Brigade, my division could have resumed the offensive this afternoon."
There was obviously complaint in Colonel Matsuda's words.
"But the Second Mixed Brigade has just arrived, and the organization is still a bit disorganized. It is impossible for them to take over the battle immediately, so the earliest we can resume the battle is tomorrow morning."
"As for reaching Zheng County, I'm afraid it will be difficult to achieve in a short period of time."
Matsuda explained strictly.
"After all, our army must first recapture those lost positions, which also takes time."
What Colonel Matsuda did not say explicitly was that as the battle dragged on to the next day, the Northwest Army would have to repair some of the damaged fortifications, which would create new difficulties for the Japanese army's continued offensive.
"If the army headquarters could transfer the 4th Mixed Brigade to the front line earlier, it might be possible to speed up the attack."
"The Army Headquarters cannot immediately hand over the 4th Mixed Brigade to the 110th Division."
Major General Yoshimoto said dryly.
"Last night, not only was the 110th Division attacked, but the 35th Division was also attacked by part of the Chinese Army. Therefore, the Army Command believes that it is better to retain an independent reserve force to deal with crises in various directions."
Matsuda Yan was so angry that he was fuming over the phone. He thought to himself that if he couldn't do it, why bother to talk about providing additional reinforcements? But the other party was his superior after all, so he couldn't get angry at him. Therefore, he suppressed his dissatisfaction and asked, "Last night, in the artillery attack of the Northwest Army of China, the independent field artillery unit suffered heavy losses, and more than ten heavy artillery pieces were damaged. Can the army headquarters and the front army immediately replenish them? It would be best if they could send another 1-2 regiments to join the battle."
"The entire expeditionary army only has these few artillery units. It is impossible to recruit new artillery regiments."
Yoshimoto said helplessly that it was not that the Japanese army did not have new artillery units that could be sent to the Chinese battlefield, but Japan was currently planning to advance southward, and the first thing to be strengthened was the South China Front Army, so Matsuda's proposal was impossible to achieve.
"But as for replenishing artillery, I can still propose it to the front and the expeditionary force, but it will take time ."
