Zhou Zhihan felt that what he had done was far from enough. Facing the national hero Xie Jinyuan, he had deep respect, but he could not say much. He could only hold Xie Jinyuan's hand tightly.
Looking at Xie Jinyuan, Zhou Zhihan thought that in a few months, the colonel leader would lead 400 Chinese warriors to defend the Sixing Warehouse with a feat that would move the world.
Both parties exchanged a few sincere greetings and then turned to the main topic.
Mao Bangchu asked Xie Jinyuan how the battle in Shanghai was going today.
Xie Jinyuan shook his head, his heroic brows furrowed: "Every defense of the Japanese army is a hard nut to crack. The attack direction of our soldiers is not concentrated and too scattered. Moreover, the soldiers lack experience in street fighting, and the Japanese In street fighting, we suffered great losses. The 88th Division suffered more than 400 casualties today, but achieved very little results."
Mao Bangchu remained silent. During the Fengtian Incident in 1932, he had fought against the Japanese and knew that the Japanese were far superior to the Chinese army in terms of weapons and equipment, the quality of their soldiers and their tactical training. He had already expected that the 88th Division, 87th Division and 20th Independent Brigade besieging the enemy in Shanghai would have a very difficult time.
What Mao Bangchu couldn't figure out was that according to the intelligence report, the Japanese Marines in Shanghai only had more than 3,000 people, while the Chinese army had 40,000 people. They had an absolute advantage in numbers. Even if the fight was difficult, they should still be able to fight. It’s important to make some achievements.
Xie Jinyuan seemed to have noticed Mao Bangchu's doubts. He stood up and paced in the simple room: "Actually, we were all fooled by the Japanese.
Especially the intelligence agencies of the party-state are all idiots, and the information they receive is completely different from the information given by the Communist guerrillas.
The answer given by the party-state intelligence department is that there are only 3,000 Japanese Marines stationed in Shanghai.
The data given by the Communist guerrillas is that there are about 5,000 Japanese Marines stationed in Shanghai. This was also confirmed in the first battle yesterday. The number of Japanese Marines secretly stationed in Shanghai is definitely not less than 5,000. people.
Moreover, we learned from yesterday’s battle that although the Japanese army’s strong defenses are a major obstacle to our army’s advancement, their defensive weapons far exceed the data given by the party-state intelligence department. The Japanese army not only has mountain artillery and heavy artillery, Moreover, they also had armored vehicles to assist them, and their defensive strength completely exceeded our army's predictions. "
"The party-state's intelligence department has always been a loser. Eighty-nine times out of ten, their intelligence is unreliable. They can't do their job. They are quicker than anyone else when it comes to asking for power and military pay." Mao Bangchu said after taking a sip of water. , "Brother Jin Yuan, you and I are also old friends. To be honest with you, for the sake of comprehensive and sincere cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the fight against Japan, sometimes I am more willing to believe the intelligence given by the Communist Party, but I dare not believe the intelligence obtained by the gangsters in the party-state intelligence department! "
Xie Jinyuan smiled bitterly and continued: "The Communist guerrillas have reminded us before. After the July 7th Incident, Lieutenant General Kiyoshi Hasegawa, commander of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet, believed that the Battle of Shanghai would begin sooner or later.
Therefore, the Japanese Navy Command secretly dispatched special marines to quickly enter Shanghai based on Hasegawa Ao's suggestion.
However, the party-state intelligence department ignored the information provided by the Communist Party.
In fact, at dawn on August 13, the Japanese Eighth Army and the First Mine Team had secretly entered Shanghai, and the senior men in our intelligence department should have been sound asleep at that time.
As soon as the war started yesterday, within half an hour, the Japanese Army's First Surface Security Force, Second Surface Security Force, First Mine Team, and Third Surface Security Force's Third Mine Team were all in place. Their response was really too great. Soon.
Originally, our army had an absolute advantage in ground artillery fire, but because the offensive weapons of the Japanese navy fleet had a long range and fully supported the Japanese Marines on the shore, our army, which originally had an advantage in artillery fire, was at a disadvantage.
Today, the two warships "Su" and "Atami" of the 11th Division of the Japanese Third Fleet simultaneously launched a fierce bombardment against our attacking troops. The warship "Yaeyama" and three other gunboats also attacked the Wusong Fort and the Huangpu River. Our military positions downstream carried out fire suppression.
Before dark, the cruiser "Sichuanchi" carried out multiple artillery strikes on Jiangwan. Facing the 140mm naval gun with a range of 18 kilometers and the 127mm naval gun with a range of 19 kilometers, our artillery was simply unable to compete...
But now, our air force is here to help. "
"I just don't know when this heavy fog will dissipate." Mao Bangchu looked at the heavy fog outside the window and frowned. "Now the Japanese aircraft carrier is sailing towards Shanghai at full speed. If the heavy fog dissipates soon, our fighter jets can advance ahead of schedule." Take off and carry out rapid attacks on various Japanese strongholds in Shanghai."
Xie Jinyuan said: "Three hours ago, I specially sent someone to ask a few local old farmers in Shanghai. Based on their experience, I judged that the heavy fog will dissipate before eight o'clock tomorrow morning.
Several old farmers said with certainty that there are a lot of foggy weather in Shanghai, but no matter how heavy the fog is, it will basically dissipate before nine o'clock. "
Hearing what Xie Jinyuan said, Mao Bangchu's eyes lit up: "Then we will choose to take off at 6:30 tomorrow morning and launch an air attack on all enemy positions in Shanghai."
The fighting outside is still going on, and the Chinese army besieging the Japanese in Shanghai has been attacking, but the gunfire is not as fierce as during the day.
At this moment, a ground crew came to report that Captain Zhou Zhihan's Boeing 281 fighter jet had been refueled!
Zhou Zhihan stood up.
"Does Captain Zhou still have tasks to perform?" Xie Jinyuan also stood up and asked.
Zhou Zhihan looked at his watch. It was 2:30 in the morning on the 14th, and then said: "I have to fly to Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport. There is also heavy fog in Hangzhou. I will try to lead the troops stationed in Shanghai before the heavy fog in Shanghai dissipates tomorrow morning. The destroyers of the Fourth Group from Jianqiao Airport flew to Shanghai and took off together with the fighter jets from Hongqiao Airport to attack the Japanese Marine Corps in Shanghai with all their strength."
Zhou Zhihan has a flight helmet, so there is no need to light a bonfire for him around the airport runway. He can directly fly the Boeing 281 fighter plane to take off in the dark and heavy fog.
Seeing Zhou Zhihan flying into the sky in a Boeing fighter jet and disappearing into the vast fog, Xie Jinyuan was stunned and looked at Mao Bangchu next to him: "This top student who came back from Randolph Air Force Academy is indeed different. He is indeed a He is a flying genius, no wonder the principal of Randolph Air Force Academy is willing to accept him as his favorite student. I was lucky enough to meet him today, and he is indeed well-deserved!"
Mao Bangchu couldn't help but admire: "Thankfully we have such a flying genius, otherwise, the fleet of planes taking off from Nanjing Airport would not have been able to land safely at Hongqiao Airport in such heavy fog."
Now, the pilots flying from Nanjing are taking the time to rest. As the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Air Force in Shanghai, Mao Bangchu and his combat staff still have many tactics to deduce.
At 5:30 in the morning, Mao Bangchu had not slept all night. He walked out of his room at the airport. The fog seemed to have lightened a little. Mao Bangchu ordered the messenger to get all the air force pilots to get up and assemble.
Ten minutes later, all air forces were ready, and Mao Bangchu began pre-war mobilization.
At 6:20, the red sun appeared from the east, but the sunshine was not hot, and it would take at least half an hour for the fog to completely dissipate.
Mao Bangchu decided that the first wave of attacking fighters at Hongqiao Airport would take off immediately.
According to the original plan, Zhou Zhihan should be flying in with the fourth group taking off from Jianqiao Airport at this time. They would arrive over Shanghai before seven o'clock at most and intercept the Type 96 taking off from the Japanese aircraft carrier with all their strength. and Type 95 carrier-based aircraft.
As expected, the more you win, the less you lose.
Yesterday when I was still in Nanjing, in the sand table simulation of the War Department, it was deduced that the Japanese aircraft carrier would arrive in Shanghai on the morning of the 14th.
Just an hour ago, the intelligence agency sent a telegram stating that the Japanese aircraft carriers "Ryujo" and "Kaga" had entered the waters near Shanghai. As long as the fog dissipated, their carrier-based aircraft could take off at any time.
Mao Bangchu prayed secretly, hoping that Zhou Zhihan could lead the Fourth Brigade to arrive in time and intercept the fighter jets taking off from the Japanese aircraft carrier.
After a brief but passionate pre-war pledge of allegiance, Mao Bangchu finally said: "Brothers, today will be a day of bloody shame for the Chinese Air Force!
Today, your feat will be recorded in the history of world air force forever!
The first wave of attack formations, let’s go! "
