Chapter 11: The First Victory (Minor Revision)
Wang Yuanbo called out to his comrades over the radio, turning towards Liangshan Airport, where Zheng Shao-yu had already phoned ahead to have ground crew prepare supplies for the I-16s. At the same time, He Juncai reported the results of the battle to Zhou Zhi-rou, asking him to immediately prepare to evacuate the crowds and coordinate with the nearby army garrison to send troops to rescue our pilots, capture enemy pilots, and collect wreckage. As He Juncai hung up the phone, a series of air raid sirens sounded across the city, and citizens, accustomed to such situations, quickly ran towards the nearest air raid shelter, while the fire department made preparations to put out fires.
Two I-152s in the dogfight with 96 fighters shot down two enemy planes, but one I-152 flew too fast and was caught in a crossfire of machine guns from several enemy planes, hitting the oil tank and exploding on the spot. The pilot had no chance to parachute. Another plane was swept away by machine gun fire and lost its tail, unable to control, and had to parachute to escape.
Zheng Shaoyu nervously observed the battle in the air from the radar screen. He Juncai operated the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, which was originally monitoring the enemy's naval aviation at an altitude of 20,000 meters, to descend and get closer to the battlefield to obtain video information. This operation was very dangerous and required timely monitoring of the surrounding situation to avoid being shot down by the unarmed reconnaissance aircraft. On the screen, 17 bi-winged I-152s tightly bit into the Japanese naval aviation attack aircraft group that was desperately flying forward, just like a swarm of bees launching a desperate counterattack against the massive invaders.
"It's time, Colonel Hui." Zheng meant that it was time to mobilize the Soviet Volunteer Air Force.
"Alright, get me the airfield at Guangyangba. In my name, request that Colonel Bragovishensky lead a fighter squadron to take off, target east!" Colonel He ordered his communications officer, Captain He Xin.
"Yes!" He Xing chattered excitedly on the phone in Russian. "Colonel Bragovishensky personally led the fighter squadron to take off and meet the enemy."
Due to the lack of IFF, more than 30 I-152 and I-16 taking off from Guangyangba appeared as red on the screen. Two groups of red aircraft flew towards each other, followed by over a dozen small blue dots behind them.
"Eight Ga, why are there so many of those fighter planes today?" The Soviet Volunteer Air Force's planes didn't climb high, but instead charged directly at the enemy bomber formation at an altitude of 3,000 meters. Now flying the Soviet Volunteer Air Force fighters were the third batch of volunteer aid personnel to China, who were actually just regular Soviet airmen in different uniforms. This group was much more skilled in combat than the previous two batches and fought extremely fiercely. With their participation, the Japanese 96th Attack Squadron could no longer maintain its original course and had to turn around or dive away. The 22nd and 23rd squadrons following behind fully utilized the agility of their planes and once again damaged many aircraft. At this time, most of the 96th Attack Squadron's planes had been attacked and were dropping their bombs, reducing their load to return home. Colonel Bragovishensky aimed at a lone Japanese plane, fired a long burst, accurately hitting the cockpit, and the Japanese plane lost control and fell down.
In the midst of the dogfight, there were constantly fatal flashes of light streaking across the sky. Some planes, hit by bullets, trailed black smoke as they made their way to forced landings elsewhere. Other out-of-control planes ejected their pilots, who opened their parachutes in mid-air like small white flowers. Citizens on the outskirts of Chongqing witnessed this dogfight involving over a hundred planes. Foreign journalists rushed to take photos using various vehicles. Meanwhile, troops were divided into several groups and hastily made their way to the crash sites.
Only a few 96-type attack aircraft broke through the interception in the air battle and flew to the urban area. However, due to the previous lowering of altitude, they were caught in the ground-based anti-aircraft fire network at this time. One plane was shot down with its wings knocked off, and several others had to drop bombs randomly before escaping. The bombs exploded in the river and on the riverbank, killing some fish and shrimp. This was also the first time that the ground-based anti-aircraft guns achieved results.
The smoke in the air is still lingering, and the enemy planes have all retreated. The fighter jets of the Chinese Air Force and the Soviet Volunteer Air Corps did not pursue them. Under Zheng Shaoyu's command, the Chinese Air Force returned to Baishi Airport to refuel and rearm, while the Soviet Volunteer Air Corps returned to Guangyangba Airport for replenishment. Only one unassuming light blue small plane remained in the air, continuously transmitting photos of the battle and locations where planes had made forced landings or crashed. The deputy officers on the floating airbase were busy notifying ground troops to rescue our pilots and capture Japanese pilots.
However, at this time, 36 Japanese Army Air Force Type 97 heavy bombers were approaching Chongqing. Since the straight-line distance from Hankou Airport and Yun Cheng Airport to Chongqing is about 900 kilometers, the current range of the Japanese 96th and 95th fighter planes cannot escort the entire journey. Therefore, when the Invasion of China dispatched military general command and the Japanese Navy's China Fleet Command reached an agreement on the "Land and Sea Central Agreement" to bomb China's rear, they launched the "101st Campaign" and adopted a large-scale bomber formation tactic with multiple waves of fatigue bombing. Usually, the first wave is used as a "decoy" to bomb the urban area and lure Chinese fighter planes into the air. Then, when these fighter planes are low on fuel and ammunition and land for replenishment, the second wave of aircraft arrives to bomb the airport and destroy the fighters on the ground. The Japanese tactic took advantage of China's weakness in having a small number of fighter planes, with only about 40 aircraft available to defend Chongqing at this time. In early June, the Japanese used this method to destroy several Chinese fighter planes on the ground, and if He Juncai had not applied for the Soviet Volunteer Air Force to transfer to assist with air defense, it would have been difficult to resist.
But this time the situation did not develop in the direction that the Japanese army had hoped for. The 36 land-based Type 97 heavy bombers of the Imperial Japanese Army, which took off later and prepared to bomb Baishiyi and Guangyangba Airport, did not find the 8 I-16 fighters that had already entered the best attacking position in the air. It turned out that after replenishment, the remaining 8 aircraft of Wang Yuanpo's 21st Squadron took off again under the command of the Air Command Department and approached the incoming bomber formation in high altitude concealment.
To give the fighter planes at both airports time, Zheng Shaoyu decided to have the 21st Squadron intercept once in front, forcing the enemy planes to evade. The 21st Squadron dived down after receiving the order.
"Maintain formation, prioritize firing at the bomber's cockpit!" Wang Yuanbo had shot down the enemy air commander Shoji Ogawa's plane in the previous attack. He found that during a head-on attack, the angle of dive was an angle that the enemy plane's machine guns could not fire at, and the defensive strength of the cockpit glass was far inferior to that of the fuel tank and engine. If lucky, he could kill both the pilot and co-pilot with one shot.
8 I-16s were divided into 3 teams, forming a line to dive down towards the Japanese bombers. Lt. Col. Ogawa Kojiro was leading the Army Aviation 60th Squadron, flying his favorite Type 97 heavy bomber at the front of the formation. Since the plane was not yet equipped with wireless telegraphy, he did not know that the naval bombers had encountered resistance and failed to complete their mission. Just as Lt. Col. Ogawa Kojiro was admiring the view outside the window and recalling his achievements in the "53, 54" bombing campaign, several bright spots above caught his attention, and he quickly thought they must be Chinese fighter planes.
While next to a bomber, Lieutenant Colonel Suzuki Kiyoshi's reaction was clearly slower. By the time he thought of taking action, flames had already burst out from both wings of the Chinese Air Force fighter planes, and he and his co-pilot were shot dead in their seats. The effect of the first wave of attacks was surprisingly good, with at least four bombers' cockpits being penetrated, three of which dived down and crashed into the mountains, exploding on impact, while the remaining one pulled up at the last moment. Lieutenant Colonel Ogawa Kojiro, who had evaded the first wave of attacks, waggled his wings to signal other bombers to re-form a tight formation for mutual defense.
"Three small teams split up, harassing enemy planes from both sides." Wang Yuanbo understood that his planes were outnumbered and outgunned, making it difficult to gain an advantage in this head-on battle. The squadron leader's orders were only to hold off the enemy, buy time, and not to fight to the death. In this way, the Chinese and Japanese planes fought and retreated, gradually approaching the skies above Chongqing.
Without waiting for He Zhuncai's notification, the Soviet Volunteer Air Force fighter jets led by Colonel Blagoveshchensky refueled and rearmed, taking off again to rejoin the fourth squadron from Baishi Airport in encircling and annihilating the enemy land-based bomber formation. At this time, the air power of both sides had quietly changed. The Chinese Air Force had more than 50 aircraft from two I-16 squadrons and four I-152 squadrons, while the Japanese only had 32 Type 97 heavy bombers left, with most of them damaged.
Lieutenant Colonel Ogawa Kojiro made a quick decision and sent a message to all bombers to drop their bombs and turn around. For a time, bursts of fire and smoke erupted from the mountains below. After lightening their loads, the Type 97 heavy bombers flew at full speed, already faster than the I-152s, which had fallen behind and stopped pursuing. The two I-16 squadrons continued to pursue them over Liangshan Airport, shooting down several more enemy planes in the process, including two that were forced to make emergency landings after their fuel tanks were hit.
After the air battle, He Junkai ordered his deputies to control a reconnaissance plane patrolling over Liangshan and another fighter jet to confirm the results. In this campaign, the Chinese Air Force (including the Soviet Volunteer Aviation Corps) shot down 5 Type 96 land-based attack aircraft of the Japanese Navy's aviation team, seriously injuring 4, and killing air commander Shoji Koganei; Shot down 5 Type 97 heavy bombers of the Japanese Army Aviation 60th Squadron, seriously injured 5, one of which crashed and exploded when returning. The Chinese Air Force lost 3 I-16s and 4 I-152s, with many aircraft needing repairs. The Chinese Air Force successfully prevented the Japanese military from bombing Chongqing and achieved its best results since 1940.
After the confirmed results of the battle were reported to the Military Commission through the Air Force Headquarters, Chiang Kai-shek proudly announced this achievement to Chinese and foreign reporters and showed them related photos. The next day, newspapers such as "Shen Bao" and "Da Gong Bao" reported this news on their front pages, and "Xin Hua Daily" also published a telegram of victory. Some foreign newspapers also carried the news, accompanied by pictures of captured Japanese pilots.
