The war department held a meeting overnight.
Mao Bangchu has been sitting in the war room for several days and has not left. He smokes constantly, there is a large teacup on the table, and his eyes are red.
Zhou Zhihan took the cup and made another cup of strong tea for Mao Bangchu.
Everyone’s brows couldn’t relax.
After the great victory of the Chinese Air Force in the first two days, as more Japanese fighter planes arrived in Shanghai, especially the Type 96 bombers of Kanoya Air Force and Kizu Air Force entering the Chinese battlefield, the Chinese Air Force gradually fell into passivity.
Mao Bangchu knows best how rich the Air Force is. Now, the Air Force has entered a vicious cycle of losing one aircraft and one less aircraft.
What is even more difficult is that many outstanding pilots died in battle and sacrificed their lives for the country. Not only were the subsequent pilots immature, but they also faced the situation of not being able to fly fighter planes, because most of the pilots died in battle and their fighter planes crashed with them.
All the adverse war situations predicted by the Chinese Air Force before the war turned out to be true.
The air power of China and Japan has waxed and waned.
2. At this time, the Japanese, who had an aircraft manufacturing production line, lost one fighter plane and gained two or even three.
This is to destroy all the assets of the Chinese Air Force... Mao Bangchu felt a sense of pain, frowned, and looked at all the combat personnel, pilots and airmen in the war room with a serious expression.
I heard that the Japanese army had laid an aerial trap over Wusongkou. All the combatants looked solemn, and the sound of needles dropping could be heard indoors.
From the launch of the attack on the Japanese army on August 14th to today, August 23rd, although the Chinese Air Force shot down nearly a hundred Japanese fighter planes and sank more than a dozen ships of the Japanese Third Fleet, the price paid by the Chinese Air Force was not small. , nearly 60 fighters were lost, and a dozen more fighters were damaged due to improper operation in a series of transitions.
At the beginning of the Songhu Battle, the total number of Chinese Air Force fighters that could participate in the battle was 230+. After excluding those lost in the battle and those damaged by improper operations during the transition, some were removed to defend the skies over Nanjing, and some were specially dismantled. To use spare parts, Mao Bangchu currently has no more than 100 usable fighter aircraft, including some old models. There are less than 60 main fighter fighters, Fighter MKI fighters and Hawker 3 fighters left.
Pilots are killed every day, military planes are shot down in combat every day, and morale is gradually declining.
For the first time, Mao Bangchu deeply understood the dilemma of a clever woman unable to make a meal without rice.
War is the touchstone that tests an army. The courage and courage of the Chinese Air Force are certainly excellent, but they have limited experience, inconsistent operations, chaotic logistics, and unstable war supplies. They have nowhere to hide under the test of war. , all emerged, these will inevitably reduce the combat effectiveness of the army.
A combat staff officer marked the places where the Japanese might land on a huge combat map and explained: "
Wusongkou,
Chuanshakou,
Zhang Huabang,
Lion Grove.
According to the judgment of the Supreme Operations Department, the Japanese landings were mainly concentrated at the four entrances of Wusongkou, Chuanshakou, Shizilin, and Zhanghuabang.
The headquarters judged that the largest number of Japanese troops would land at Wusongkou, and the other three locations were just feint attacks to contain our troops.
Since the troops of our 88th and 87th Divisions were attacking various Japanese strongholds in Shanghai at this time, their strength was relatively loose. In addition, in order to cooperate with their landing troops, the Japanese troops at each stronghold gave up defense and took the initiative to contain our attacking troops. It makes it difficult for our army to gather troops to strengthen the defense of these four places. However, if our army only sends troops to intercept the Japanese troops landing at Wusongkou, then the Japanese troops landing at the other three places will turn from feint attacks into main attacks, and they will heavily defend against our troops at Wusongkou. The troops formed a siege. "
Everyone is silent, this battle is not easy to fight! The Air Force only has such a small amount of resources. It would be even more difficult to stop the Japanese troops from landing everywhere.
Mao Bangchu walked to the map, looked at it and paused for a few seconds. He pointed the baton in his hand at the location marked Wusongkou on the map, and then rowed diagonally towards the location of Luodian: "Luodian is an important location for the troops used in the Songhu Battle." The most important thing is that after the Japanese gathered a large number of troops to land here, they could directly launch an attack on our Luodian. However, our troops were still on the way to emergency rescue and did not reach the designated sniper position.
Now, we can only rely on the 88th Division, 87th Division, and the temporarily deployed troops from the 20th Independent Brigade in Shanghai to work together to block the Japanese landing troops. And now, the troops that can be mobilized by these three troops are less than 2,000. .
General Wang Jingjiu, commander of the 87th Division, who commanded the battle, even brought up his guard battalion.
So this time, the success of the mission to snipe the Japanese landing depends largely on our air force. If we can suppress the artillery fire of the Japanese surface ships, our blocking force can rely on the terrain to delay the Japanese landing and wait. The arrival of reinforcements. "
Mao Bangchu was silent for a while, and then said: "If our air force cannot suppress the Japanese fleet artillery fire, the 2,000 people who blocked the Japanese army will all be within the range of the Japanese artillery fire."
At this point, Mao Bangchu remained silent again. He held the cigarette between his two soot-yellow fingers, brought his brows together, took a few puffs, and paced back and forth in front of the combat map: "The air force sending bombers can temporarily suppress the Japanese army. Ship fire, but how to deal with the trap set by the Japanese aviation force in the air for our air force?"
No one spoke.
Everyone knows that this battle is difficult to fight.
Ten thousand Japanese Marines landed, with aircraft cover in the air and artillery support from surface ships. It was obviously an impossible task to hold the Japanese at the landing port with only 2,000 Chinese soldiers plus the air force.
The 88th Division, the 87th Division, and the 20th Independent Brigade combined a total of 40,000 people, heavy artillery, and fighter support, but they could not defeat the 5,000-person Japanese Marine Corps. Now they want to use 2,000 people to resist the 10,000-person Japanese landing force. Marines, how is this possible.
Moreover, the other side also had aircraft to support the attack and ship-based fire support. The 2,000 Chinese soldiers, let alone flesh and blood, even their steel bodies could not withstand the attacks of Japanese aircraft and warships.
Now, the lives of the 2,000 Chinese soldiers preparing to block the Japanese landing also fall on the shoulders of the Chinese Air Force.
The Air Force had to suppress the artillery on the Japanese warships, but also had to take care not to enter the trap of the Japanese aviation subordinates. This problem made the pre-war commander-in-chief Mao Bangchu a little breathless. He had hardly slept in the past few days, and he had not shaved his beard. The hair on the temples suddenly turned a lot whiter, making him look very old.
Mao Bangchu took a swig of strong tea and lit another cigarette. A bold and dangerous plan was born in his mind.
"According to reliable information, the Japanese army sent 10 Type 96 warships and 6 Type 95 warships during the landing this time, laying traps for our air force to exploit.
If our air force avoids its sharp edge, none of the 2,000 brothers who went to stop it will survive.
Once the enemy is allowed to successfully land in advance, they will be unstoppable and aim directly at Luodian, our military center.
Luodian is the lifeline of our army and the winner of this Songhu Battle. There must be no room for failure. Once Luodian is lost, the Japanese army will be able to launch arbitrary attacks on our army from Luodian.
I decided to play it safe.
First, several fighter planes were sent to break into Wusongkou, the main landing site of the Japanese army, and feigned an attack to attract the Japanese air firepower. Then all our fighter planes appeared and surrounded the Japanese fighter planes. "
Everyone was silent. The deputy commander-in-chief's intention was very clear. He first sent out a few fighter planes as bait to draw out the Japanese aerial firepower.
This is a typical case of using children to trap wolves.
The few fighter planes that entered the Japanese landing beach first had to face the anti-aircraft fire of Japanese warships and the siege of more than a dozen Type 95 and Type 96 warships. It can be said that their hope of survival was slim.
Seeing that all the pilots were silent, Mao Bangchu sighed. He knew that his decision was cruel, but now there was no second way to go before him. If the Japanese army was allowed to land smoothly, he could not afford the huge loss. When the time comes, he may not even have the chance to go to a military court. What awaits him may be justice on the spot and he will bear the responsibility for the failure!
If a mistake is made in a major military operation, the general will be blamed. The Battle of Ersonghu is related to the life and death of the nation, and Mao Bangchu cannot shoulder this responsibility.
It's not that he, Mao Bangchu, used the pilot to trap the wolf, but that he really couldn't find a second way. Even if the principal came to take command now, he might not be able to find a better strategy than this.
That's what war is like, someone has to sacrifice, someone has to die.
Mao Bangchu sat slumped in the chair, pinched his eyebrows with his index finger and thumb, and said with determination.
"The first few military planes to enter the Japanese landing beach will be in danger and narrowly escape death. For the sake of fairness, all of you will decide by drawing lots later which ones will be the first to enter the Japanese landing beach.
This time, in order to attract the Japanese aerial firepower, I decided to use a Martin 139WC heavy bomber as a decoy and send two Fighter MKI fighter jets as escorts. In addition, two Hawker 1s assisted the ground troops and blocked the leading troops of the landing Japanese troops. "
After Mao Bangchu finished speaking, the room fell into deathly silence.
Mao Bangchu told the adjutant a few words.
The adjutant took the paper and pen, made one note per person according to the number of pilots, wrote the word "go to war" on several of the notes, then rolled the notes into paper balls, put them in a box, and took The pilots who receive these notes will serve as aerial death squads and enter the Japanese beachfront first.
In the first few days of the war, whenever a very dangerous battle was carried out, all unmarried pilots flew first. But now, due to the sudden death of pilots, the number of pilots has dropped sharply, and everyone has to fight, regardless of whether they are rich or not. Wife and children, regardless of whether they have parents or not.
While the adjutant was writing the note, all the pilots silently took out their suicide notes, changed the date from yesterday to today, and then silently put them back into place. Once killed in battle, the suicide notes and relics would be handed over to their families by the military. .
Under the light, the faces of these young people were full of tragedy.
no choice!
The war left them no choice.
As a pilot, they had no choice.
When war comes, you can either fly bravely into the blue sky and be famous forever, or you can be a deserter and live in shame for thousands of years!
If it's all about death, why not die vigorously and deservedly!
Everyone watched the adjutant fold the paper.
Now, everyone leaves their destiny to that piece of paper.
The adjutant folded the note and put it into the box, then shook it vigorously a few times and placed the box on the table. Then he stepped back silently, his eyes a little red.
None of the pilots spoke, and no one went up to get the note first.
If an ant lives in vain, let alone a human being!
In war, there are people who sacrifice their lives, but they are very few.
At this moment, the notes in the box were like time bombs, making the pilots feel scared.
Ten seconds passed and no one came forward.
Half a minute passed and still no one came forward.
Mao Bangchu closed his eyes. He couldn't bear to give orders and order these young people in their early 20s to accept the cruel choice of fate.
"Deputy Commander-in-Chief, I request to go to war. I request to fly the Martin 139WC heavy bomber to go to war."
Zhou Zhihan stood up and took a step forward and said.
Suddenly everyone in the room looked at him.
Everyone knows that Zhou Zhihan is now the chief instructor of the Air Force. His mission is to teach more outstanding students, not to fly airplanes onto the battlefield to fight with the enemy.
However, when they heard that the chief instructor was going to fly the Martin 139 WC heavy bomber in person, a glimmer of hope suddenly appeared on the faces of all the pilots.
If the chief instructor pilots the Martin Heavy Bomber to seize the beach, the survival chances of the pilots who go with him will increase.
At this moment, everyone looked away from Zhou Zhihan and stared at Mao Bangchu.
"You can't go." Mao Bangchu opened his eyes and shook his head after a few seconds. "Your duty now is to teach more excellent air force pilots, not to fly to the battlefield. The Chinese Air Force needs many excellent pilots."
Zhou Zhihan put his feet together and gave a military salute: "Deputy Commander-in-Chief! Although the brothers here can all drive Martin, they are not proficient, let alone familiar with Martin's performance.
It’s not my subordinates’ arrogance, but I am the only one in this room who can unleash all of Martin’s power.
For such an important battle, I beg the commander to allow me to fight! "
All pilots were touched!
The chief instructor can completely stay out of this battle.
Mao Bangchu lowered his head and said nothing. He knew that if Zhou Zhihan was allowed to fly the Martin Heavy Bomb into the battle, the winning rate of this beach battle could be greatly improved. However, the principal once said that Zhou Zhihan was not allowed to fly onto the battlefield again. The chief instructor's responsibility was Train more excellent pilots.
"Sir!"
Zhou Zhihan said again, "This battle is related to the outcome of our army's entire Songhu Battle, and is related to the safety of the entire Shanghai. The entire Chinese people are waiting for us to bring them confidence."
Now, all the foreigners in the concessions in Shanghai are looking at us, wondering whether we can stop the Japanese attack, because the Japanese previously threatened to destroy China in three months!
This battle is of vital importance to the Chinese nation. We must let the people of the whole country see our determination to fight to the end. We must let the people of the world see that we Chinese will never surrender or be slaves to the subjugation of our country even if we fight to the last soldier. ! "
Zhou Zhihan's words made everyone's blood boil with excitement!
Mao Bangchu stood up suddenly and looked at Zhou Zhihan: "You are allowed to fight!"
Zhang Mufei took a step forward: "Sir, I request to fight with the chief instructor!"
The last time, the two-plane formation formed by Zhang Mufei and Zhou Zhihan allowed him to learn different tactics and shot down an enemy plane, which greatly increased his confidence. Seeing Zhou Zhihan requesting to fight, he suddenly became full of pride and requested Played with Zhou Zhihan.
Zhou Zhihan took the lead in requesting to fight, which immediately aroused the fighting spirit of the pilots!
