Bright Sword: Leading the Special Operations Squadron to Fight the Japs

Chapter 480: Good Steel is Used on the Blade

Although Okamura Neiji was very angry, he could do nothing. After all, he was shameless and pulled the 30th Army out of the sequence that was originally supposed to support the Southeast Asian battlefield.

Therefore, Okamura Neiji simply called back Iida Shojiro: The North China Front Army's air force will take off immediately!

Okamura Neiji looked at the three flying divisions he had organized and found that most of them had been lost, with only more than a hundred planes in total. He smiled bitterly with helplessness in his eyes.

Although he was reluctant to send out more than a hundred planes, this move must succeed and cannot fail, otherwise the 3rd Tank Division and the huge amount of supplies lost in the Battle of Datong would become the bragging capital of the Independent Column.

"Order, all Imperial Army planes in Zhangjiakou, Beiping, and Shijiazhuang take off!"

Airports in three regions sounded the emergency takeoff alarm at the same time, and the Japanese sent planes in large numbers from three places towards Datong.

Dense bright spots were seen on the airport radar screen, and Datong Airport also sounded the air defense alarm.

Immediately afterwards, the positions of each armored division and Datong sounded the alarm almost simultaneously.

Wang Meng ordered all the howitzers to move into concealed positions, and the officers and soldiers of the armored division also entered the camouflaged fortifications to ensure that nothing could go wrong.

The Japanese were defeated for the first time, but they went out again right after that. This can only mean one thing: they came to take revenge! And they were more prepared!

The two fighter squadrons of the Independent Column Aviation Division stationed at Datong Airport took off urgently under the leadership of Deputy Division Commander Huang Rongfa.

"Comrades, the time has come to test us! The Japs are coming in full force this time. I estimate that there are at least 150 planes. However, the spirit of the independent column cannot be lost. Everyone should show their best skills and beat them hard! If you are accidentally hit by a Japs bullet, don't feel sorry for the plane, fly south immediately and then parachute out!"

There was a uniform response from the intercom:

"understand!"

In less than twenty minutes, the two F6F Hellcat squadrons were entangled with the Japanese fighter planes, and they collided in the sky like two sparks!

Just when they were fighting fiercely, more than twenty bombers suddenly appeared above them.

The Japanese have become more cunning now. Their bombers are hiding in the sky, overlapping with the fighter planes on the radar, making them really hard to detect.

Fortunately, this scene was discovered by the sharp-eyed Huang Rongfa.

"Send some planes to intercept the Japanese bombers!"

However, the F6F Hellcat fighters were willing but unable to do anything. They had been held back by the Japanese and were unable to extricate themselves. Moreover, four Hellcats had already been shot down and were smoking, flying southward.

Wang Meng picked up a telescope and looked at the bombers in the sky, which were gradually approaching Datong. He immediately ordered all the anti-aircraft guns of the armored division to deploy.

"Humph! You really don't take our 37mm anti-aircraft guns seriously?"

The Japanese bomber seemed to have heard the call, and it increased its altitude again, took a detour from the north, and flew towards Baotou!

Li Yunlong glanced suspiciously at the turning Japanese plane, and an indescribable feeling of nausea rose in his heart.

It felt like when you were almost done eating and found a fly at the bottom of the bowl.

"Mengzi, I always feel like something is wrong!"

Wang Meng looked at the trajectory of the plane and secretly shouted, "Oh no!"

"The Japanese are heading for our Datong Airport!"

That’s right, this time Okamura Neiji specifically explained: the purpose of this air battle was not to completely destroy the Independent Column’s air force, but its main purpose was to blow up Datong Airport, making it impossible for the Independent Column to effectively support ground combat!

As I said, you can say the Japanese are bad, but you can't say they are stupid!

Okamura Neiji's plan can be described as cruel.

The Independent Column has now abandoned Huairen, which means it has given up the land transportation route, leaving only Datong Airport as the only way to obtain supplies.

Once the Japanese bombed Datong Airport, the channel for transporting supplies would be completely blocked!

Without the supply of fuel, ammunition, food and medicine, the combat effectiveness of the independent column will be greatly reduced.

Let alone anything else, if there is no ammunition supply, with the current rate at which the independent column consumes ammunition, either the inventory will be emptied or the firepower will be greatly reduced.

Now Wang Meng can only pray that Datong Airport in the western suburbs can escape the disaster.

Because there was only one armored division and one anti-aircraft artillery battalion in the west.

Wang Meng called Datong Airport and asked them to defend against air attacks on the spot and move all supplies away from the airport as much as possible to reduce losses.

Twenty minutes later, more than twenty bombers arrived over Datong Airport after losing six of them.

Without the harassment from the F6F Hellcats, the bombers began to open their bomb bay doors under the interception of anti-aircraft guns, and dropped heavy aerial bombs on Datong Airport.

Fortunately, the bombers were flying at a relatively high altitude and their accuracy was a bit poor. Although the bombs hit the airport, most of them fell on the grass and had almost no impact.

Looking at the bomber formation gradually flying away, the person in charge of Datong Airport breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the phone and started making a call.

"Report to the Chief of Staff, the airport has been bombed, but the situation is still under control!"

Wang Meng also breathed a sigh of relief, finally letting go of the stone in his heart.

"Yes, where did the Japanese planes go?"

"Reporting to the Chief of Staff, it has flown far away... No, it has flown back!"

Immediately afterwards, there was a busy tone on the other end of the phone. Wang Meng yelled into the microphone a few times, but no one responded.

Wang Meng never expected that these bombers that had already dropped their bombs would dive down directly from the sky without caring about their lives.

Although the surrounding anti-aircraft firepower was constantly firing and shot down two high-speed diving bombers, it was of no avail.

The remaining dozen or so planes, even after refueling, crashed to the ground with huge explosions and blazing fires, completely destroying the Datong Airport.

Datong Airport is paralyzed!

Wang Meng immediately sent scouts to drive to Datong Airport. The news they received made Wang Meng feel disappointed.

According to preliminary estimates, it will take at least one day for Datong Airport to recover! Moreover, the most important thing is that half of the professional and technical personnel have been lost!

"Mengzi, how much supplies did you manage to loot?"

"They roughly calculated that about 80% of them were taken!"

Li Yunlong patted Wang Meng on the shoulder.

"Oh, it's not bad! Don't worry, we have advanced weapons and can fight the Japanese. We can still fight the Japanese with the Type 38 rifle! Who hasn't been poor before?"

"Old Li, order all armored divisions to save ammunition, especially large-caliber shells. Use the best steel where it counts!"