I stood next to the runway, surrounded by several pilots who had just landed, waiting for the return of other fighter jets. Six more Hawks returned to the base one after another. I stared at the sky in the distance with disappointment. Even though the remaining Hawks There were no injuries, and there was no fuel for a long time. Guo Chenghai stood beside me and comforted me, "Maybe they landed at other bases. Captain, go back and wait." I shook my head, "Go back first and celebrate with everyone. , I’m waiting for their return.”
There were fewer and fewer people standing next to the runway. It was getting dark. I also understood that they would never come back. Thinking of this, my joy of shooting down the Japanese plane was diluted a lot. I dragged my steps with heavy steps. When I returned to the training room, I didn't expect that the lights were brightly lit and all the pilots were waiting for me. I stood on the podium and wrote on the blackboard the names of the four pilots who did not return.
Cai Ming, Zhang Kai, Du Feng, Li Meixing
"Everyone must remember the names of these four comrades. The Japanese devils once again owe four blood debts."
"We must avenge them."
I saluted them with a military salute and said excitedly: "The fifth brigade is no longer an unknown brigade now. I thank you."
The pilots returned the military salute together: "Captain, we also thank you. You have given us the confidence and opportunity to go into battle again to kill the enemy."
In the morning, I was satisfied to see that the ground crew and pilots were busy spraying small suns on the tails of their aircraft. I also painted myself five solid suns and one hollow sun. I believe that I will spray them on our Chinese Air Force aircraft in the future. There will be more and more suns at the end.
The next day, Zhenjiang sent a special car to deliver the injured Sergeant Du Feng. Also delivered in the car was a personal letter from my father, encouraging me to work hard to serve the country and kill more Japanese.
Reading this letter, I cried silently.
Nanjing, Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the High Command.
"Okay, the Fifth Group did a good job this time, losing 4 aircraft and 3 pilots, and destroying 11 Japanese aircraft. The results were quite fruitful. Adjutant Sun, I ordered that the pilots of the Fifth Group be paid double pay today, and that the number of pilots in the Fifth Group be replenished as soon as possible. The aircraft lost by the Fifth Group will be used so that the Fifth Group can return to full strength as soon as possible."
On December 1, 1937, the situation of the Anti-Japanese War in East China further deteriorated, and a large number of Chinese troops abandoned the Wu-Fu Line and other established national defense positions and retreated towards Nanjing. Vice Admiral Liu Xing, the commander of Jiangyin Fortress, did not dance with joy because the number of troops under his command increased from 1 division to 3 divisions. Instead, he became even more depressed because the Japanese troops were already following the retreating China. The army arrived in Jiangyin County and surrounded the Jiangyin Fortress from land. A total of 40,000 people including three army divisions and some naval soldiers of the 57th Army had been surrounded by the Japanese army in the Jiangyin Fortress. The commander-in-chief decided to use naval and air forces to cover the army's retreat by water on ships. This time, the task of protecting the air security of Jiangyin Fortress was handed over to the newly famous Fifth Battalion.
The leading troops of the 18th Brigade of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army came into contact with the 103rd Division of the 57th Army at 3 pm on the 1st. An outpost battle occurred. The Japanese Army used 6 Type 99 light tanks to cover 500 Japanese troops and attacked the position of a battalion of the Chinese Army. It was bombarded by the Chinese naval coastal artillery inside the fortress. The Chinese navy is equipped with a 150mm coastal artillery. Although the caliber is not large, it is already the largest caliber artillery in China. The Type 99 light tank is just a replica of the British tank from World War I. Under the heavy artillery bombardment, some caught fire, some were overturned, and the infantrymen also suffered heavy casualties. Finally, a Type 99 tank approached the trenches of the Chinese army and was attacked by cluster grenades from three directions. The tracked engines were all At the end, the four Japanese inside the thin iron sheet turned into ashes and were blown back to Japan by the wind.
After receiving the report that the attack had failed, the Japanese brigade commander was so angry that he drew his saber and cut a table into two pieces. "Call me the plane, call the navy."
Guo Chenghai and I made a detailed plan at the brigade headquarters to protect the retreating troops of the Jiangyin Fortress. We would first send fighter jets to cover the infantry to defend the positions outside the Jiangyin Fortress during the navy's retreat, and then use all our strength to protect the ground above the Jiangyin Fortress during the army's retreat. The air control is in the hands of the Chinese Air Force. Guo Chenghai suggested that in the first stage, our brigade send 4 fighter jets to the sky over Jiangyin each time to ensure that 4 Chinese fighter jets will patrol over the Jiangyin Fortress every hour during the day. I support his suggestion, and then , we reported the combat plan to Commander Zhou Zhirou Air Force, and Zhou Zhirou quickly approved the plan.
The first batch of four planes, led by Guo Chenghai, took off towards Jiangyin. I led the pilots and ground crew to watch the planes take off from the ground on both sides of the runway.
After receiving the army's request, three gunboats of the Japanese Navy immediately went up the Yangtze River. On the way, they encountered five Japanese bombers flying along the same route. The Japanese sailors waved to the planes on the water enthusiastically and shouted, "The military will last forever." Without any consciousness at all. Soon they will feed the fish and turtles of the Yangtze River.
Jiangyin Fortress is not only an important port for the navy in this area, but the Lightning School is also located inside the fortress. Vice Admiral Ouyang Ge has withdrawn most of the school to Yueyang, but he still left behind 5 ships commanded by Ma Buxiang Torpedo boats perform anti-aircraft and mine-laying missions.
At the forward position of the 103rd Division, a soldier named Mao Xiaoming recalled: "I could clearly see the first batch of Japanese troops entering the firing range of my machine guns. Their number was too small for my machine guns, but for my machine guns, they were too small. For platoon leader Du Dawei, who was deployed some distance to my right, he faced too many Japanese."
The Japanese army first used grenades and 51mm mortars to prepare firepower. They are still waiting for the larger-caliber 75mm field guns to be transported. After a while, before dark, there will be 7 or 8 Type 97 light vehicles. Tanks and more infantry arrived, and Japanese commander Major Shinoda decided to make another attack before dark.
For Du Dawei, the mortar is the thing he hates the most. Its direct firepower is the natural enemy of all machine gunners. Once the target is exposed, the machine gun must immediately move its position, otherwise it will be knocked out by the mortar immediately. He has not opened fire so far. The last batch of Japanese infantry were almost killed by the navy's coastal artillery, so the Japanese mortars were firing blindly, but there were a few bombs that had closer impact points. Du David kept spitting out the dirt in his mouth.
In fact, for the defense battle of Jiangyin Fortress, the most critical weapon is the Navy's six 150mm coastal guns. As long as they can be used normally, no matter how hard the Japanese army tries, it will not be able to break through the outer positions of the Chinese army. Once the Japanese army makes a breakthrough, If there is any sign of the Chinese army's position, the field commander will immediately ask for help from the liaison officer stationed by the Navy. After the liaison officer tells the artillerymen the coordinates, these sailors will immediately give the artillery shells to the Japanese army for free so that they can take the free Ghost Express back to Japan. .
The Japanese bombers arrived at Jiangyin before the gunboats. At the request of the infantry, they launched an attack on the coastal artillery positions. The navy's 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns and the army's 37mm anti-aircraft guns fired at the Japanese aircraft to prevent them from dive-dropping bombs, but these The pilots were all veterans. They flexibly flew the plane to avoid the gray smoke in the air, and screamed towards the coastal artillery. What stepped forward were the five torpedo boats left behind. They were all CMB ordered from the UK. The boat has a displacement of 12.4 tons and a wooden hull. The main engine is 2 gasoline engines with a power of 950 horsepower. It is propelled by two shafts and has a top speed of 40 knots. Its main weapons are 2 533mm torpedoes and 2 7.9mm high-level dual-purpose machine guns. In addition, It carried 4 mines. The British torpedo boat had a very weird launch method. There was no launch tube. The torpedoes were stored in the chute at the stern of the boat. When launching, the torpedo soldier loosened the fixing clip and allowed the torpedo to slide into the water at the stern of the boat and move forward on its own. The torpedo boats speed up and turn to avoid. It can be seen that the hit rate of this launching method is too low, so the torpedo boats of the United States, Japan and Italy do not use this launching method. But now the scorching fire net composed of 10 machine guns of the 5 torpedo boats caused heavy losses to the Japanese bombers. The two swooping aircraft were hit in multiple places, and the bombs they dropped also flew to the ground behind the fort. The bombs dropped by the remaining three aircraft Although the bomb accurately hit the fort, artillery generally would not be damaged unless it hit it directly, so the sailors cleaned up the dust and continued to shoot at the Japanese infantry. While a wounded Japanese bomber was being pulled up, it was hit again by a 40mm artillery shell from the Chinese Navy. With a "boom", it exploded into a fireball and slowly fell eastward to the water.
Major Shinoda watched two Type 97 tanks being directly smashed into parts by the Chinese army's artillery shells. He sighed and withdrew the troops with heavy casualties. The Japanese corpses lying on the Chinese fields showed who won today. By. Just as the Japanese infantry was retreating, four Chinese fighter jets appeared in the west. They quickly passed by the Chinese army's positions. Without having time to see the cheers of their comrades, they fired large amounts of machine gun bullets at the retreating Japanese infantry. , Guo Chenghai led his team to arrive. After strafing one side from behind and forward, the four Chinese planes turned over and strafed forward from behind the Japanese infantry again, giving the Japanese soldiers a hearty meal of steel. At least half of them The Japanese infantry and three Type 97 tanks remained on the land of China forever. Shinoda tremblingly pulled out his dagger and committed seppuku.
The three Japanese gunboats were destined not to reach the Jiangyin Fortress. They all sailed into the mine belts deployed by the lightning troops. With several huge explosions and water columns soaring into the sky, the Yangtze River returned to its former calm, and the fish The children were overjoyed, as dozens of Japanese invaders became their meal.
Commander Liu issued a call to all navy and army officers and soldiers: "I ask everyone to devote themselves to the battle to defend Jiangyin Fortress, and ask everyone not to retreat, and to stick to every trench, every bunker and every A bomb crater. Once the defense line is breached, you should stay in your position and use all means to eliminate the enemy in the forward position and defensive depth. The longer we delay the enemy here, the enemy will not be able to turn his troops in other directions. We are here Fighting is to protect our capital and our country. I ask everyone to understand their responsibilities. We are fighters to protect the people."
