Chapter Thirteen: Preparing for Battle Again (Minor Revision)

  The next morning, Zheng Shaoyu brought Huang Jingbo from the Intelligence Department and Yan Wuyun from the Planning Department to the floating base. After several times of He Junci's verbal and physical teaching, Zheng Shaoyu was able to land the DC-2 on the flight deck of the floating base very well. The professional term is called "landing". He Junci can finally put down the role of transport plane pilot, and this DC-2 has officially become a dedicated shuttle for the floating base.

  The two directors of the staff headquarters were also shocked when they arrived at the floating base, just like Liu Lao Lao entering the Grand View Garden. It wasn't until He Juncai discussed setting up the fourth group of the staff headquarters with Yan Wu that Yan Wu's mind cleared up, quickly assessing the strategic advantages brought by the floating base and expressing his determination to select elite personnel for tactical planning on the floating base.

  When Huang Jingbo, the head of the Intelligence Bureau, saw the list of spies in the mountain city compiled by He Juncai overnight based on later data, cold sweat flowed from his forehead. It turned out that the German advisor next to the chairman and the commander of the high-altitude anti-aircraft artillery were all Japanese spies, no wonder the Japanese bombing was so accurate. He Juncai told him not to rush to startle the snakes, as the air defense situation is still not tense, they can secretly control and try to grasp their spy network.

  After letting the two subordinates of the staff department visit on their own, He Juncai called Zheng Shaoyu, the commander of the fourth squadron, to the air command room. In the air command room, several deputy officers had already been able to proficiently monitor the radar screen and control the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to patrol in the direction of Yun Cheng and Hankou after yesterday's live-fire training.

  "Has the 'empty bomb' you studied yesterday yielded any results?" He Juncai also had a headache, now the fighter's attack power was too weak, and it actually ended up in a tie with the bomber. To think that fighters were specifically designed to counter bombers!

  "Yan Lei has already told us his ideas and some experimental data from before, we calculated that it can be implemented with the SB-2 high-speed light bomber. I wonder if they can allocate some to us?"

  "I don't see a problem, I'll call Director Huang of the Equipment Department in a minute. As far as I know, after the Soviet Volunteer Air Force's bomber squadron personnel withdrew in March this year, several SB high-speed light bombers and four TB-3 heavy bombers were left behind with no one to fly them. But can you guys fly them?" He Juncai asked.

  "There shouldn't be a problem, some of us have also received bomber pilot training. We'll practice several times today when we're not on a mission. Also, please apply for the bombs together." said Zheng Shaoyu.

  He Juncai immediately called Huang Guangrui of the Equipment Department, who fully supported him and immediately transferred 5 SB-2s from the Liangshan base to the Fourth Squadron, along with some 50-kilogram small bombs. Zheng Shaoyu immediately ordered a portion of the pilots in the 23rd squadron to test-fly the SB-2 and conduct drills.

  "Zheng Zhongxiao, yesterday you commanded the battle from start to finish, what's your feeling?" He Juncai asked further.

  "It's very touching, the advantages of informatization are too obvious. By the way, can we consider equipping the Soviet Volunteer Air Force's fighter squadrons with wireless radios as well, so that we can coordinate our operations better?" Zheng Shaoyu suggested.

  "I was originally considering keeping it confidential, but the current situation requires some concessions. When you go back, bring four airborne wireless radios with you. Originally, this thing is in short supply, so they will be equipped to the squadron level first. You can also teach them how to use it when you go. It seems that our command center needs to add a Russian commander, haha." He Juncai had actually considered this issue yesterday and saw that the equipment of the Chinese Air Force was really too weak, and after August, they would face the "Zero-style" disaster. He hoped to reveal some technology to the Soviet Union in order to use it as bait to get more aid, making full use of the "Sino-Soviet honeymoon" period until next April.

  "There's something else I'd like to ask, has the Japanese military ever launched a night raid?" He Juncai knew that in history, tonight's Japanese night raid brought great disaster to Chongqing. 73 naval aircraft dropped 837 incendiary bombs, engulfing Chongqing in a sea of flames, with some fires burning for three days before being extinguished.

  "There was, at this time last year, when the Soviet Volunteer Air Force had just arrived and shot down a number of enemy planes. The Japanese army tried to destroy the base of the Soviet Volunteer Air Force by adopting night bombing in order to reduce losses. In that battle, we lacked night flight equipment and night flight experience, but still took off to meet the enemy. Commander Koki Nakajima shot down one enemy plane, but Soviet pilot Padayev also died in the air battle." Zheng Shaoyu personally participated in that air battle and remembered it vividly.

  "Chongqing's terrain is the confluence of two rivers, which has brought prosperity to Chongqing. However, from high altitude, it is a very obvious indicator, and Japanese bombers only need to follow the Yangtze River upstream to locate it. Our blackout measures are not very effective, unless there is dense fog at night. So nighttime raids are relatively simple, but our nighttime air defense is more difficult, we lack experience in nighttime combat, and landing is also more dangerous." Zheng Shaoyu added.

  "What about now? Do you still think so after experiencing it yesterday?" He Junci said with a smile, radar and communication are the key to controlling this night bombing. The radar on the floating base alone can search for targets of various sizes within a range of 300 kilometers, and reconnaissance planes can expand the search range by another 100 kilometers. Moreover, these radars are all advanced phased array radars that can perform three-dimensional positioning with much higher accuracy than current radars.

  "That's a different story, if we practice specifically, the enemy planes can be said to have gone and not returned. After all, in the dark night, they are afraid of colliding with each other, so it is difficult for them to maintain a tight formation. The dark night is also our best cover for attack. It's just that we may need to adjust more air commanders, commanding the enemy and leaving in small units." Zheng Shaoyu replied confidently.

  "Alright, we don't have time to waste. The Japanese suffered a huge loss yesterday and haven't come for revenge yet today. I think maybe they're waiting until tonight to launch a surprise attack on us. Please organize personnel immediately to start targeted training." He Juncai ordered.

  The air command center began to bustle, with the exception of two commanders who continued to monitor the Yun Cheng and Hankou directions on airborne radar. The rest of the commanders were mobilized to conduct nighttime anti-aircraft drills.

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  The Hankou Japanese military base at the same time.

  "Hah!" Commander Yamaguchi Tomonari of the 1st Combined Air Group, Naval Aviation, slammed his fist on the table in exasperation and bellowed at his aide-de-camp, "You say that Far East Squadron Leader Tatsuo refused to take off today? It seems that the Empire's Army is really unreliable! So many resources have been invested in them, and they can't even fight back after taking such a small hit?! Don't bother with those cowards from the 3rd Flying Regiment, we'll take off ourselves today!" Yamaguchi Tomonari didn't feel the desperation of seeing his bombers crash before his eyes, so he couldn't understand Tatsuo's feelings.

  "Hey!" The deputy officer stood with his legs together.

  "It seems that the Chinese Air Force has strengthened the air defense of Chongqing, no matter. Pass down the order to notify the 1st and 2nd Combined Aviation Corps, the Kakuta Aviation Unit, the Takao Aviation Unit, the 13th Aviation Unit, and the 15th Aviation Unit to rest during the day today and launch a night raid tonight. I will turn Chongqing into a sea of flames with incendiary bombs, haha!"

  The five attack aircraft lost yesterday are just a drop in the bucket compared to the 150 J-16s currently possessed by the naval aviation joint strike force.

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  In the late afternoon, the 4th Squadron stationed at Baishi Inn finished their daily training and were having dinner. This afternoon, they practiced the "air bombing" tactics proposed by Yan Lei with the newly arrived 5 SB-2s and 10 bomber pilots borrowed from the 1st Squadron. In the morning, under the command of Zheng Dajiang, they practiced small-scale night combat tactics guided by wireless radio. Although there were no enemy planes attacking today, the pilots of the 4th Squadron still took off and landed several times, which was quite tiring.

  At the same time, at Guangyangba Airport, the squadron leader and deputy squadron leader of the Soviet Volunteer Air Force fighter regiment also installed wireless telephones. Colonel Blagoveshchensky was very interested in this compact communication device. In the Soviet Union, only some large bombers or airborne command planes were equipped with wireless telegraphy, which seemed much clumsier compared to this wireless telephone device. It is said that this equipment came from the United States, and it seems that the Americans' electronic level is indeed higher than ours. This information should be reported back home, Colonel Blagoveshchensky thought to himself.

  At 6:00 pm, when everyone was enjoying a rare break, the intelligence personnel hiding in the Hankou base sent out a telegram "More than 70 enemy planes took off and headed west". Zheng Shaoyu immediately had two airports raise red flags, ground crew rushed to load ammunition and refuel the planes, while pilots nervously prepared for takeoff.

  At the same time, on various hills in the mountain city, an air defense team raised a red lantern. In this way, to inform citizens that enemy planes had taken off from Hankou Airport and it would take 2-3 hours to fly over from Hankou. Citizens were busy packing simple living equipment to temporarily evacuate to the suburbs or air raid shelters, while vendors hurriedly closed their stalls, and air defense team members directed each household to control lighting.

  An hour later, He Juncai and Zheng Shaoyu had already tracked the location of the incoming enemy aircraft formation through reconnaissance planes in the air command room of the floating base.

  "It seems that this time only the navy is mobilized, still the same two formations of 72 aircraft." He Juncai said.

  "The Japanese army was deceived by our commander, and they really came to launch a night raid. This time, let them go without return!" Zheng Shaoyu clenched his fists and rubbed his palms, clearly full of confidence in this battle.

  "Old rules, you're in command this time, go ahead and take charge." He Juncai gave the authority to Zheng Daqiang, hoping that Zheng Shaoyu would quickly grow up. After all, commanding battles was not his strong suit. Having come to this time and space, there were still many things to be done.

  "Thank you, sir!" Zheng Shaoyu said excitedly. The Chinese Air Force had a rare advantage and must seize this opportunity to heavily damage the enemy. "Order the 4th squadron to take off with all fighter jets, notify the Soviet fighter jet squadron to take off. Guide them in two batches to the skies above Fendou." Based on his experience, after taking off, the enemy would fly westward, arrive at Fendou and then reverse course along the river to reach Chongqing, which would be a great ambush location. "Also notify troops along the route to prepare for observing crash sites and capturing prisoners."

  As the airport hung out the "blue flag", the pilots of the 4th squadron climbed onto their own planes, waiting for the final takeoff signal. Meanwhile, several bombers and transport planes prepared to take off and temporarily evacuate in the direction of Xikang.

  "Bang, bang, bang!" Three signal flares burst in the air above the airport. The ground crew pressed the propeller hard, and the plane started up. One after another took off, forming two teams in the air. Eight I-16s flew at high speed under the command of Wang Yuanbo, the captain of the 21st Squadron, followed by 16 I-152s. The Soviet fighter squadron, which also took off from Guangyangba Airport a little later, was divided into two formations and merged in mid-air before heading eastward.

  Along the way, several commanders of the Air Command Center continuously coordinated the flight directions of the two formations and rushed towards the enemy bomber group at an altitude of 5,000 meters. Colonel Bragovishensky was very surprised by this command method and secretly recorded it in his heart.