bookcurios Chapter 306: The Navy's First Air Combat
Chapter 306: The Navy's First Air Combat
The 36 bombers and attack planes were very fast. After dropping their bombs over Mandalay, they ran away at full speed, so fast that the 7th Flying Division in Mawlamyine had not yet taken off.
However, Kawabe Masamitsu had guessed a little bit about the style of Xu's army. He believed that such a bombing would not happen only once, so he ordered the 7th Flying Division to go out normally and garrison directly in Mandalay.
Mandalay has no shortage of ammunition or fuel, as that is the legacy left by the 5th Flying Division.
Sure enough, about an hour and a half later, three battalions came again, but the Japs had just arrived and were on standby on the ground, so the second bombing was also very successful and they escaped before the Japs fighter planes took off.
Masazo Kawabe was immediately furious because an ammunition depot in Mandalay was bombed, and enough supplementary ammunition for two divisions was destroyed.
So he gave orders again, asking the flying division to always keep a flying regiment on alert in the air.
However, this time they did not wait for the bombers, but the flying regiment on alert discovered the Navy Central Fleet in the air!
The First Destroyer Squadron of the Central Fleet set out from Bhamo at 3 a.m., sailing at an average speed of 30 knots, and it would take a maximum of 7 hours to reach the waters of Mandalay.
And it was exactly nine thirty in the morning!
"Oh no! I forgot one thing despite all my calculations. I'm in big trouble now!"
At the temporary headquarters of the Xingwei First Army, Fang Yue slammed his fist on the table, attracting a group of officers including Wang Yuji to gather around.
"What's wrong? Is there any accident?"
"What trouble? Is there something the devil is plotting?"
"Quick, quick, notify Director Wei!"
...
Wang Yuji raised his hand to signal everyone to be silent, and asked Fang Yue who looked anxious: "General Fang, what happened? Why are you so panicked?"
Fang Yue raised his head slightly and looked outside the door: "Hey, Brother Wang, we have been arguing with each other, but we have overlooked the naval fleet! The Japanese 7th Aircraft Division is in Mandalay, and according to the telegram just sent by Commander Bai, they will arrive at the designated attack location in 10 minutes!"
Wang Yuji suddenly came to his senses and immediately yelled, "Fuck, this shameless Bai Shiyi dared to rob my plane, I will never let him go!"
Fang Yue snorted coldly and said, "Haha, now that things have come to this, what can we do? We must always put the overall situation first. I believe you have heard of Bai Shiyi's temper. This old guy has been holding it in for almost a year. Now there is such a good opportunity, how could he let it go?"
As he spoke, Fang Yue walked to Wang Yuji's side with an 'incredibly heavy' heart, gently placed his hand on his shoulder and consoled him: "Hey, Commander Wang, I'm so sad! I sympathize with you spiritually!"
There are only a few fools among the officers who can serve in the military. Finally, they all understood what was going on!
It was indeed an oversight. The two commanders were just discussing how to allocate the Japanese planes, but now all the navy ships have run under the Japanese planes.
Although they had never seen what the navy's warships looked like, they could analyze based on the equipment of the army and air force that the firepower of the navy's warships must be strong.
It was a typical case of the fisherman benefiting from the conflict between the two parties, and the navy got a big bargain.
Looking at Wang Yuji who looked dazed, Fang Yue looked at the guard and said, "I have been up all night and haven't had breakfast yet. Make me a bowl of porridge. Don't forget to bring one bowl for Brigade Commander Wang as well."
Mandalay.
The Japanese knew that their fighter planes were not good enough, so they did not dare to disperse too far or leave the sky above the main city of Mandalay too far.
So, when the four destroyers of the First Destroyer Squadron were only 4 kilometers away from the main city of Mandalay, the Japanese discovered them.
They had no radio communications and no way to report to the ground in real time. If they chose to land, the delay would be enough for the fleet to arrive at the city.
So the commander of the alert flight regiment made a prompt decision and led more than 30 fighter jets towards the fleet. They each carried two aerial bombs, hoping to slow down the speed of the warships and alert the ground troops!
It’s just that aerial bombs are used for ground attacks, and their main mission is to intercept bombers. In order to maximize their maneuverability, they only carry 50 kg of bombs, which cannot cause any damage to the destroyers made of steel armor!
The prerequisite is that you have to have the opportunity to fly over the warship and drop the missile, and hit it.
Sun Wufan, the detachment commander on the Taiyuan, looked at the more than 30 Japanese fighter planes flying towards him, and the corners of his mouth curled up involuntarily.
"Here we are, finally here. We have waited for several years, and it is finally time to take action! Pass on my order, all guns open fire!"
He had already known through the ship-borne air defense radar that there were Japanese planes over Mandalay, so he ordered all anti-aircraft guns to be prepared.
瞬间，4艘驱逐舰总共16座双联装37毫米高射炮、8座双联装25毫米高射炮、8座130毫米舰炮齐开火，对着冲来的鬼子战斗机就是猛轰。
The 130 naval gun is equipped with a Type 343 fire control radar that can perform automatic aiming and tracking firing.
Although the 37mm and 25mm anti-aircraft guns can only be fired manually, they also have matching 341 radars, which can automatically aim, automatically feed ammunition, have high firing rate, large ammunition storage capacity, and powerful firepower.
These naval guns may have trouble dealing with jet fighters flying at too fast a speed.
However, it is absolutely a crushing weapon when used to deal with the Japanese piston propeller fighters that have slow flying speed and poor maneuverability.
A moment later, when the Japanese flying regiment completed the first wave of attack, more than half of its fighter planes had been lost.
All their aerial bombs had been dropped, but none hit the target because the destroyer was traveling too fast. Even if there were bombs close to the warship, they would be scanned and destroyed by the ship's guns. After all, the bombs were in free fall, had no power of their own, and were moving too slowly.
The gap was too big, and the Japanese had already achieved their intention of alerting the ground, so the commander of the flying regiment led the remaining fighters to withdraw from the battlefield.
"Bah, you coward! Where is your Bushido spirit? It scared you away!"
Sun Wufan looked at the Japanese fighter plane flying away and couldn't help but spit!
A lieutenant next to him cautiously reminded: "Captain, the commander said that we must take good care of the warship. It's not right for you to spit everywhere!"
"You are the only one who talks too much. You have nothing to do, right? Pass my order. The whereabouts of the fleet have been exposed. It is three nautical miles away from the scheduled location. All ships should fire on their own and attack his northern city!"
The Marine Corps' scheduled landing site is a beach 5 miles north of Mandalay. The beach is about 3000 meters long, which is enough for a Marine Corps to land in a dispersed manner!
Lashio.
Hebian Zhengsan grabbed a captain by the collar and shouted, "What did you say? Repeat it again!"
The captain shouted loudly: "Report to the Commander, the 7th Aviation Division reported that four unknown enemy warships were found in the waters north of Mandalay and are bombarding our positions. The 4rd Aviation Regiment has already engaged the enemy and retreated after losing half of its fighters!"
Kawabe Masamitsu shouted again: "What do you mean by unknown enemy? Even our fleet is docked in Yangon. How could there be warships in Myanmar? Where did they come from?"
The captain said with a helpless expression: "For now, we don't know any information about the fleet. We only know that they are our enemies."