Soon three B17 bombers took off from Mandalay Airport. Most of the pilots were retired soldiers hired from the Allied Forces and Southeast Asia. In addition to daily combat, they also served as instructors and trained a lot for Liao Mingyu. Crew.
Eight F4U fighter jets followed closely to escort them. With the roar of the propellers, this aerial team loaded with ammunition rushed to the battlefield in a mighty manner.
In order to improve combat efficiency, Liao Mingyu split the Nankan Flying Group into two aviation groups some time ago. One is located in the Heihe base and is responsible for supporting the Honorable 30th Division, the New 50th Division, and the 200th Division on the Yangon battlefield. Wait for the troops.
Another former Japanese airfield located in Mandalay was directly responsible for handling all support requests from the New Army on the battlefield in Inrwady Province.
The original Nankan Flight Base was reduced to a logistics airport, used for supplies and pilot training.
General tactical support instructions for fighter planes to dive bomb and cover ground troops' attacks do not need to go through the Heihe headquarters. The frontline regiment-level command units can contact the flying groups at the rear of their respective battlefields on their own. As long as it is a reasonable request, it must be implemented immediately and there must be no Excuses and excuses.
A mission like this to dispatch a bomber formation would require a direct order from the military headquarters.
This is the advantage of gaining air supremacy. You can fly over the enemy's head and bombard them at any time and anywhere, as if entering an uninhabited land, but the opponent has nothing to do.
With the firepower configuration on the B17 bomber, plus six escorting pirate fighters, as long as the Japanese army did not dispatch a flying group, they could basically come and go freely.
It's just that with the current situation of the Japanese army, even if they know the whereabouts of this bomber squad, they can't send decent fighters to intercept them. The only thing to pay attention to is their anti-aircraft weapons on the ground.
…
At this time, the Japanese army had no idea that the disaster was about to come. Due to the sudden incident, they had just packed up their gear and began to march northwest. They did not notice that there was a team of dozens of people following behind them.
The order given by the wing headquarters was very simple: rush to the appropriate position as soon as possible to launch artillery bombardment of the Chinese troops in front of the frontline positions. Now that the enemy has fully mobilized, this may be the signal for a general attack, so there must be no delay.
Tadayama Noboru was still worrying about where to set up the artillery positions. The Chinese detachment that landed on the east bank of the Pasen River was like a sharp thorn stuck in his throat, always making him restless. . Now I am worried that the other party will launch a sudden attack, or set up an ambush waiting for them to step in.
Forget it, I can't control that much anymore. After hearing the report from that Shao Zuo, I guess that the number of the Chinese team was not large, and they also suffered some losses in the battle.
After all, we still have two full squadrons here, plus the people from the artillery brigade. As long as we do a good job in defense, we are not afraid of a sneak attack by the other party. Tadayama Hobo thought...
Those Type 99 mountain cannons were dismantled, and the heavy parts were carried by mules and horses, while the lighter parts were carried on the shoulders of soldiers. Due to the relatively large amount of ammunition, the infantry under Tadayama Hobo also needed to help the artillerymen carry some ammunition.
The roads in the mountains and forests are not easy to walk, not to mention that with so much artillery equipment, the Japanese army did not dare to take the main roads in order to conceal their whereabouts. Instead, they chose to walk through the woods. The difficulty can be imagined.
However, for the Japanese who have been "hard-working" for a long time, this trivial matter is not worth mentioning. They have been living like this for the past month.
It is not wrong to describe the little devils as opportunists. This group of people is just running around on the battlefield with artillery barrels, going wherever they need artillery support, and immediately dodge after a round.
Although they were a bit tired, it was due to their thieves' style of play that they caused very heavy casualties to the attacking troops of the 201st Division of the New Army.
Every time the New Army massed artillery and air power to retaliate, the opponent hid in the woods and hid, and rough bombing had no effect at all.
Tadayama Hoso looked back again, his uneasiness still disturbing his thoughts...
Except for the Chinese team hiding in the dark, which is a variable, there seems to be no other threat to their existence, and it is hard to say whether that team has discovered them.
But this vague sense of crisis really made him uneasy.
The location selection of the Japanese artillery positions was also very particular. Not only did they have to pay attention to the range of the artillery, but they also had to consider whether it was suitable for artillery placement and whether it was convenient to retreat and transfer after the first round of firing. Therefore, they did not find a suitable place so quickly. .
More than half an hour passed quickly. At this time, the Japanese army had only moved northward for a little more than two kilometers.
However, judging from the position, it was only less than 6 kilometers away from the front-line troops defending Gankidang. It seemed that the faint sound of gunfire could be heard. It was still barely possible to fire from this gun.
Since the order from the wing headquarters was urgent, Tadayama Xio knew that the situation must be very critical now, and he did not bother to choose a better position, so he asked the artillery to choose a relatively flat dry riverbed as a position.
Then he asked the infantry teams to spread out and establish a defensive line, ready to guard against possible enemy raids at any time.
The soldiers of the reconnaissance company who were hanging far behind and following closely did not dare to get too close at this time to avoid being discovered.
Chen Xinmin secretly thought that it was a pity. The Japanese commander on the opposite side was too careful. In a short time, he deployed all the defense forces to the south, and there were firepower points at high places nearby. It was somewhat difficult to get close.
"It's time to come, right?" Chen Xinmin murmured to himself, looking through the branches at the blue sky above his head.
The roar of airplane engines seemed to be vaguely heard, but nothing could be seen in the cloudless sky except the dazzling sunlight.
In fact, the bomber formation arrived over this area a few minutes ago, but due to terrain problems, it is difficult to find the specific location of the enemy artillery from the sky.
Looking down, most of it was lush shrubs, and there was no sign of enemy fire, nor any signs such as smoke bombs or signal flares.
In order not to alert the enemy, they did not lower their altitude for low-altitude reconnaissance. The pilots of the bombing formation were not sure of the situation, and they could not just bomb and leave. They could only hover here at high altitude and continue to wait for signals from below.
…
Time passed by, and about half an hour later, the Japanese artillery had assembled more than a dozen Type 99 mountain cannons.
The river bed they were on had been dry for a long time due to the dry season, and instead of dripping water, the river was covered with various shrubs and vines.
The Nine-Nine Mountain Cannon is low in size and has a short barrel. Coupled with a large amount of hay for camouflage, as long as it does not fire, there is no need to worry too much about being discovered by aerial reconnaissance even after the combat body is deployed.
Although the engine of the B17 bomber is loud, there will be reconnaissance planes circling overhead almost every time during the two days. The Japanese soldiers were used to this kind of sound and just thought it was the enemy reconnaissance.
As long as you seize the time and shoot two rounds, you can quickly move into the mountains even if you are discovered by the opponent, so you don't take it too seriously.
The artillerymen were adjusting their elevation according to the shooting conditions, while Tadayama Hoso, who was standing on a nearby high ground, was still watching everything on the battlefield nervously.
"Inform the artillery to not fire for the time being and wait for my order." Zhongshan raised his hand to cover the sun and looked at the sky. The roars from the sky made him feel more and more uneasy.
"However, the Chinese have already begun to attack. The captain ordered us to fire immediately, if..." The liaison officer was puzzled as to why the always-observant captain suddenly issued such an order.
And now the enemy has launched an attack on the frontline positions. If the artillery support is slow, the combat disadvantage will be small. If the position is lost, everyone will have to go to military court.
"Baga! Don't I know? Execute the order and I will bear all the consequences!"
The liaison officer's concerns were quickly scolded by Tadayama Hobo. How could the latter not know the pros and cons, but if something went wrong on the artillery side, the entire front would become extremely dangerous...
