"Blood boils in Poyang, sparks fly in the Yangtze River, and the whole country roars violently, defend Wuhan! Wuhan is the center of the national war of resistance, and Wuhan is the largest city today. We must defend her resolutely, just like the Spanish people defend Madrid! "
The majestic song "Defend Wuhan" was sung at Jianghan Pass.
The streets and alleys were covered with slogans "Defend Wuhan, live and die together", and the mood of bravely resisting the enemy and fighting to the death infected every Wuhan person.
The decisive battle in Wuhan!
Wuhan has become a city that attracts attention all over China and even the world!
Defend Wuhan!
Let Wuhan become the Madrid of the East!
Countless students abandoned their writing and joined the army.
Countless citizens consciously joined the defense battle.
In 1938, the historical mission of turning the tide fell on Wuhan’s shoulders.
At that time, important towns in East China fell one after another, and the Japanese invaders moved westward from the Yangtze River. With a total of 300,000 troops from the 2nd Army and the 11th Army, they aimed directly at the hinterland of Central China in an attempt to defeat China quickly.
Wuhan gathered China's elite and became the wartime capital. The Nationalist Government deployed nearly 1.1 million troops in the 5th and 9th theaters here to stop the Japanese invaders along the periphery of Wuhan.
In April, the Japanese army began air raids on Wuhan, which marked that the battle to defend Wuhan had slowly begun!
Entering June, the war was about to break out, and the vanguard of the Chinese and Japanese armies had already exchanged fire.
At this time, Meng Shaoyuan had just completed his mission in northern Jiangsu and returned to Shanghai.
The war in Wuhan was raging, and the situation in Shanghai suddenly became tense.
The Japanese will never allow themselves to lose this decisive battle.
Defenses in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and other places have been significantly strengthened.
Meng Shaoyuan felt this atmosphere along the way.
When approaching Shanghai, we encountered several dangers in a row. If Meng Shaoyuan hadn't been quick to spot the opportunity and avoid it in time, it's hard to say what the consequences would have been.
Even after entering Shanghai, there is a suffocating atmosphere in the air.
Meng Shaoyuan went directly to his office without stopping at all.
Director Meng has been "missing" for more than a month, but under the management of Wu Jingyi, everything in the special office is in order, and there is no chaos at all.
Meng Shaoyuan was busy with work. In fact, he was already very tired at this time, but after being away for more than a month, he felt worried and called Wu Jingyi in as soon as he sat down: "Report on the situation in Shanghai."
"Calm and calm."
"Calm?"
"The Japanese have not taken the initiative to provoke large-scale incidents during this period." Wu Jingyi immediately reported: "From the time you left last month to now, we have sacrificed seven agents and four are missing."
"It's okay." Meng Shaoyuan frowned.
It stands to reason that the Battle of Xuzhou will be followed immediately by the Battle of Wuhan, and the Shanghai secret service will make a big fuss. Why is it that everything is calm instead?
"There is another piece of information. I wonder if you are interested."
"explain."
"Before you came back, a gun battle broke out near the Japanese Army's Shanghai spy agency." Wu Jingyi said calmly: "According to the confession from the patrol room, it is said that thugs attacked the place and were killed by the guards. But our investigation, But that’s not the case at all, the person who died was Fei Yaoqian.”
"Who? Fei Yaoqian?" Meng Shaoyuan was startled: "Why did Fei Yaoqian go to attack the Japanese spy agency?"
"I also felt very strange at the time, so I mobilized all my connections to get some information." Wu Jingyi quickly replied: "Liao Yuting was captured by the Japanese."
Meng Shaoyuan was really completely stunned this time.
Did the Japanese arrest Liao Yuting?
Why?
What did Liao Yuting do?
"The Japanese have a very tight seal on this. I don't know any more specific information."
The Japanese arrested Liao Yuting. There must be articles in it. They must contact Tian Qi as soon as possible.
"I understand." Meng Shaoyuan said calmly, "What about the others?"
"Yesterday, Director Dai personally sent you a secret telegram, asking you to execute it immediately after returning to Shanghai." Wu Jingyi placed a telegram in front of Meng Shaoyuan:
"On June 26, a group of special guests will arrive in Shanghai. Our task is to smoothly deliver them to Wuhan to participate in the Wuhan defense battle."
"Special guest? Who?"
Wu Jingyi looked solemn: "Plan Z!"
Plan Z!
Meng Shaoyuan's expression also became heavy.
Plan Z, a top-secret Sino-Soviet cooperation plan!
To be more specific, it refers to the Soviet Union’s volunteer air force aiding China!
The Soviet Union signed the "Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty" with China and provided China with a large amount of secret assistance. Fundamentally speaking, it was out of its own interests.
Even so, it is very valuable to China. The Soviet Union was the first country to provide assistance to China at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War.
The day after the Battle of Songhu broke out, Chiang Kai-shek submitted a draft arms supply agreement to the Soviet ambassador to China: requiring the Soviet Union to provide 350 aircraft, 200 tanks and 236 artillery pieces to China within a month, and at the same time send Soviet troops to China. Pilots, aviation technicians, artillerymen and tankers to train Chinese military personnel. Loans and arms sales agreements were quickly reached between China and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union loaned China US$250 million in three installments.
Immediately afterwards, a large amount of Soviet military equipment was exported to China.
The Soviet Union sent the flagship model of its air force to China.
Not only were they advanced aircraft with outstanding performance, the Soviet Union also sent excellent pilots. Soviet Defense Minister Voroshilov received an order in September 1937 to summon the best volunteer pilots to send fighter jets and bombers to China. In name, they are "volunteer pilots", but in fact they are completely recruited in the form of military orders. These pilots come from all over the Soviet Union, and are mostly experienced pilots, including some Air Force test pilots.
In order to avoid irritating Japan, the Soviet Union's assistance to China was extremely secretive, and strict confidentiality measures were even adopted within the Soviet Union. The entire aid plan is referred to as "Operation Z".
When the first batch of pilots who came to China received their transfer orders, they didn't even know their destination. Many people speculated that he was heading to Spain where the civil war was ongoing.
The fighter jets aiding China were first concentrated in Almaty in the Soviet Union, then flew to Xinjiang, and finally were delivered to China in Lanzhou.
In the Soviet Union, all the Soviet Air Force logos on these aircraft were removed, the wings were painted with the Blue Sky and White Sun aircraft emblem, and even the control sticks were changed to the blue and white KMT Air Force iconic paint.
Large-scale transnational weapons transportation, no matter how excellent the confidentiality work is, cannot completely avoid Japanese intelligence reconnaissance. Even the Japanese media were aware of this. In October 1937, Japan's "Mainichi Shimbun" reported:
"Nine Soviet-made high-speed fighter jets were assembled somewhere and transported to Shanghai via Lanzhou and Xi'an."
The Japanese military was well aware of this. They quickly figured out the route of the Soviet aircraft aiding China, and prepared to destroy these weapons aiding China midway.
However, the "red channel" was not interrupted after all.
On the morning of December 1, 1937, a group of 23 I-16 fighter jets landed at Nanjing Airport. In the afternoon, 20 bombers also landed at Nanjing Airport. The pilots of these aircraft were all Soviet pilots, and they were engaged in combat with Japanese aircraft that day.
The air battle over Nanjing was the first battle of the Soviet aviation fleet in China.
At the beginning of 1938, as a large number of Soviet aid weapons and equipment arrived in China, the Chinese army, which had suffered huge losses in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, was replenished, especially the air force, which was even stronger than before the war.
According to statistics in February 1938, China's air force in various battlefields had 390 combat aircraft, mainly Soviet-made aircraft.
However, pilots are in urgent need.
The number of Chinese pilots was not large to begin with, and a large number of them were quickly devoured by unequal air combat. Moreover, the more valuable an excellent pilot is, the more air combat missions he has to perform, and the losses are the most severe.
The four ace pilots who were known as the "Four Kings" of the Chinese Air Force at the time, Liu Cuigang died while supporting the Xinkou Battle in October 1937, Gao Zhihang died on his way to Nanjing to participate in the war in November of the same year, and Le Yiqin died a month later. He died in the air over Nanjing, and Li Guidan died in an air battle over Wuhan in February 1938.
Training a qualified pilot is a time- and financial-consuming process. After the Soviet Union continued to send aircraft to China, Chinese pilots had to learn to fly new models.
Not everyone can master it as soon as they get started like Gao Zhihang, but they are left with at most two to three months of learning time before flying on missions with Soviet volunteer pilots.
The main air defense force of the Chinese Air Force has actually been borne by the Soviet Volunteer Air Force. The team has never officially revealed its identity publicly.
Meng Shaoyuan also knew that the largest air battle was about to break out over Wuhan.
"Director Dai ordered us to go all out to cooperate with Plan Z." Wu Jingyi said in a low voice: "A large number of Soviet aircraft and pilots suddenly appeared over China. The Japanese are well aware of this. There were also downed Soviet volunteer pilots who were shot down by the Japanese. captive.
However, on the one hand, due to higher-level diplomatic strategic considerations, and on the other hand, due to fear of the Soviet Union's huge military strength, Japan did not openly attack the Soviet Union.
However, Japan has tightened the blockade of the red channel. The weapon has been blown up and can be transported again, but if something goes wrong with the pilot, the losses will be huge.
Therefore, the third batch of pilots aiding China were divided into two groups, and one group followed the previous route to Chongqing or Wuhan. The other team, mainly composed of instructors, avoided Japanese eyes and ears, took a detour to Hong Kong, and then secretly entered Shanghai.
The mission given to us by Director Dai is to escort these flight instructors to Wuhan safely at all costs. It is your personal responsibility. Director Dai also gave a strict order, as long as there is a problem with one of the instructors, Meng Shaoyuan, you can implement the family law yourself. "
Meng Shaoyuan thought there for a long time: "How many people are there in total?"
"Led by Colonel Shenyukov, there are thirty-five people in total."
Thirty-five instructors and thirty-five foreigners. It is very likely that the Japanese have obtained some information. It is self-evidently difficult to escort these people safely out of Shanghai.
However, Meng Shaoyuan knew that Wuhan was eagerly waiting for the arrival of these pilots!
