The Ming army's well-organized and flexible defense left the British and Indian troops at a loss, and the brutal street fighting forced them to temporarily suspend the attack.
At 2:05 pm, the British and Indian Air Forces entered the battle in the rain. The Vincent bomber did not choose to carry two 250-pound bombs, but changed it to a single 500-pound bomb and replaced it with a delay fuse.
Two Vincent bombers lowered their altitude and launched attacks. The first bomb landed dozens of meters east of the building, and the second one hit the roof firmly.
A big hole was opened in the roof of the hospital two days ago by a 250-pound aerial bomb. Fortunately, this time the 500-pound aerial bomb happened to land elsewhere on the roof instead of directly hitting the fourth-floor floor. .
"Bah-boom!!!"
The aerial bomb with a delayed fuse penetrated the roof and the fourth floor of the building, and finally exploded suddenly on the third floor.
A 500-pound aerial bomb has a TNT charge weighing 100 kilograms.
From a distance, the entire hospital building looked like a volcanic eruption, with huge amounts of smoke and debris bursting out, and flames and thick smoke spewing out of every window!
After more than ten seconds, people could barely see the general situation - the third and fourth floors were missing? The four-story hospital building now has only two floors...or two and a half floors, because only the ruins of the third floor and various concrete fragments remain.
The officers and soldiers of the second team stationed there had the foresight to evacuate to the first floor and basement. However, the powerful 500-pound aerial bomb made everyone severely injured and dizzy. Some people even coughed up blood and had nosebleeds.
Zhou Changfeng felt that his ears were a little warm. He touched them and looked closely, only to realize that they were blood!
The three field phones on the table all rang, and his hand holding the phone trembled involuntarily, "Hey, this is the command post, please report anything quickly!"
Xie Wancheng on the other end of the phone was obviously relieved, "Batalion Commander? How is the situation?"
"No damage, but serious injuries."
"It's so scary, two floors were blown away!"
The other two phones were also called from two teams in other defense zones. It can be said that the situation just now scared them all.
"Return to the fighting position immediately!" Zhou Changfeng took a deep breath, but his sore ears were affected, and he gasped at the pain, "Then, divide several people to check the structure of the building. If a large degree of deformation or broken seams are found, immediately report."
Xiao Li nodded, immediately turned around and ran out of the basement to deliver the order.
It didn't take long for someone to report back, saying that they found obvious deformation of the main beam, as well as a large number of fractures and small cracks.
So Zhou Changfeng went to check it out in person. When he arrived on the second floor, just as he was staring at the main beam that was so cracked that the steel bars were visible, someone next to him suddenly exclaimed.
"Ten o'clock direction, enemy plane!"
Another Vincent bomber and two Fury fighters appeared from the distant sky, apparently heading straight for the building.
Obviously, the hospital building in its current condition cannot withstand another 500-pound aerial bomb. If you don't want to be buried alive, you have to run away quickly.
"Evacuate, all evacuate! Plan No. 2!" Zhou Changfeng ordered without hesitation.
The soldiers who had just reentered the fighting position stood up again, and the heavy machine gun team quickly raised the machine gun.
According to the order of reservation, the dozens of officers and soldiers of the second team and the battalion personnel, a total of about one hundred people, can be evacuated in a few minutes, but the problem is that there are hundreds of wounded on the east side of the first floor!
For a time, many eyes fell on Zhou Changfeng, and the military doctor Lieutenant who came after hearing the news also opened his mouth to speak.
"Immediately arrange red smoke canisters in the southwest." The expressionless Zhou Zhangfeng said coldly: "The people from the battalion headquarter will leave first, and the second team will stay to assist in evacuating the wounded."
If the battalion headquarters is gone, the remaining troops will not be able to effectively resist, so they must be preserved.
In fact, the coldest decision now is to abandon all the wounded, but the price is a plummeting morale.
The second team is left to help evacuate the wounded. Although it is likely that these dozens of combatants will also be compensated, morale can be guaranteed regardless of success or failure.
Zhou Changfeng thought he had made the most rational decision, and everyone around him agreed. They dispersed in an instant to do their respective duties.
"Buzz buzz buzz -" Someone shook a hand-held small air defense siren, and the shrill alarm sounded immediately.
Radios, field telephones, switches, generators, the officers and soldiers at the battalion headquarters hurriedly picked them up and rushed out; while the soldiers of the second team were trying their best to organize the evacuation of the wounded, and those who could carry them directly resisted. If it is not suitable to carry, put it on a stretcher.
At this time, a sergeant discovered that the only anti-aircraft machine gun team left in the anti-aircraft platoon did not evacuate, but took it upon himself to move the machine gun to the third floor of the ruins?
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Air defense!" The corporal leading the team replied in two words concisely.
The anti-aircraft platoon's four anti-aircraft machine guns were now the only one left, and there was not much ammunition left. All the 40 centimeter bullets they found scattered together only accounted for more than 200 rounds, and less than three bullet belts.
The anti-aircraft platoon has two machine gun squads and one baggage squad, with the former numbering in their twenties and only five of them left. So they don't want to leave now. It's too troublesome to take this bulky guy away, and so few bullets won't be of much use. They might as well just stay and put an end to it.
"It's in the name of 'air defense', but so far it hasn't fired a single plane. A base of 1,000 rounds has been used to fight tanks and people."
"It's only two hundred and five rounds. Can you beat it?"
"How do you usually shoot balloons and target machines? Let's do it today."
While these five people were having a calm conversation as if they were not involved, the smoke canister on the southwest side of the hospital building was arranged, and a thick column of red smoke shot straight into the sky.
The bomber pilot who slowly flew close to Demaji was a little confused, because according to the order, this bombing mission did not require instructions to launch smoke bombs from the ground. He could just aim at the building and drop the bomb.
So why is the red flag smoke rising again?
Just when the pilot was confused, a series of bullets came directly!
In order to buy time for the wounded below to be transferred, the anti-aircraft machine gun team chose to open fire in advance, forcing the three incoming aircraft to change their course, but this also exposed their own position.
"Just a machine gun?" Although Pereira, the pilot of the 45th Squadron, felt that it was abnormal, he still dived head-on after circling in a circle.
Compared with fighter jets, the Vincent bomber changed its course and circled around before reentering the attack route naturally much slower, which at least bought a few minutes.
The anti-aircraft machine gun on the ruined wall was also aimed at the swooping fighter jets. Even in this state, the two-winged Fury fighter jets seemed very slow, and there was almost no need to reserve much lead time.
A bright muzzle flash burst out from the muzzle, and a series of 12.8mm bullets roared out amidst the "dong dong dong" sound of the gun. Because the bullet chain is packed with bullets, it is not a standard anti-aircraft group, so the tracer bullets , incendiary bombs, instant burst bombs, armor-piercing bombs, etc. are all mixed in.
At the same time, the diving fighter also opened fire. Two .303 Vickers aviation machine guns spit out two strings of bullets. The two deputy shooters were hit in an instant and rolled down the building.
"Smoke!"
The Fury fighter jet passed over the building dragging a plume of white smoke. The remaining three people immediately turned their guns and aimed at the second fighter jet. However, as soon as they fired a shuttle, their figures were exploded by two 40-pound aerial bombs. swallowed up by the fire and smoke.
