Chapter Five: Another Air Raid
The sky cleared up, and after the first snow of early winter, the air was exceptionally cold. The bare trees such as poplar, pagoda tree, elm, willow, and persimmon were all covered with residual snow. The melting snow made the earth mound around the arsenal extremely muddy.
Li Daichun was busy all night. Under the order of the superior, the remaining parts of the arsenal must be loaded and transported within three days, and a guard station will be set up at the arsenal with one shift of guards on duty. Li Daichun personally directed the dismantling and packing last night, while Song Jianyan had already gone to Wuhan. Li Daichun specially instructed that people should be arranged to make the chimneys of the withdrawn workshops smoke, and strictly prohibited fire for the parts that have not been transported away. He also sent someone to deliver cotton-padded jackets and other warm clothing to the air defense team, and emphasized that they must do their best to meet the air defense team's needs for warmth and other necessary supplies to maintain combat effectiveness.
The sky was slightly bright, Li Daichen returned to the office, looked out of the window at the eastern sky that had turned white, and grabbed the phone: "Connect with the air defense squadron! Captain Chen, I'm Li Daichen. The weather is fine today, so enemy planes may come again. We must strengthen our vigilance. Also, pay attention to preventing cold, don't let the soldiers freeze. Hello, are there any problems with the anti-freeze and anti-cold equipment for the weapons? Good! We can't relax!"
"Alright, alright, I've finished instructing Chen Hao. Now, let me contact the river defense troops... 'Is that Commander Liu? This is Li Daichun.' 'Ah, Doctor Li, what's the urgent military matter that you're calling about so early in the morning?' 'Haha, are you still thinking it's those devils from across the river sneaking up to snatch your blanket? Are you scared stiff?' 'Doctor Li, you're also learning how to talk nonsense! Do those devils dare to come onto our turf? My brothers are on 24-hour patrol duty, just waiting for them to show up. These steel-reinforced concrete fortifications and light and heavy machine guns, big and small cannons, are all waiting for them! What orders do you have for me?' 'Brother, look at the sky, it's going to be a clear day today. Those devils' planes might come over to cause trouble. Tell your brothers to keep an eye out today, if there's any movement, quickly let my anti-aircraft team know. Don't think that these few minutes of preparation time are useless, they're very useful for me here! Last time, I'm still grateful for your help, brother. It's so cold, let your brothers work a bit harder. Later, I'll have someone send over ten Czech-style machine guns and 200,000 rounds of ammunition.' 'Hehe, no need to be polite, brother. This is just a small matter! Last time, the enemy plane that your high cannon shot down crashed into the river right in front of my defense zone! The brothers on the front lines were all thrilled to see it. Whatever you order, I'll definitely carry it out!'"
The sun rose, a clear day. The snow on the mountain top began to melt, and a gust of north wind blew, cold, piercingly cold. On the high-angle machine gun position, Xiaowang took off his gloves, and as soon as his hand touched the steel barrel, he felt a chill that pierced through his heart.
Chen Hao ordered: Strengthen vigilance and continue training. Lunch was delivered to the front line to eat. As the time approached when enemy planes had come to attack before, the atmosphere became tense. He Wuting had been directing the battle from Chen Hao's command post since morning, and now he frequently looked up at the sky. The sun gradually moved westward, and everyone fell silent, staring at the sky. Chen Hao occasionally glanced at the telephone on the table. In the tense atmosphere, time passed minute by minute, but the expected enemy planes did not appear. After 4:00 pm, everyone gradually relaxed, even Xu Liang felt a bit relieved. At 4:30 pm, He Wuting was about to return to his own department when the phone rang urgently, and the river defense troops informed them that five enemy planes had crossed the Yellow River on the west side of Liu Shizhong's defense zone! A red signal flare immediately flew into the sky from near the air defense command post, and the shrill air raid warning sounded in the factory area. When the ordnance factory was bombed for the first time, due to poor coordination between departments and incomplete air defense plans, the air raid alarm did not sound. At that time, China's military and civilians lacked knowledge and experience of modern warfare air defense, so although the ordnance factory had air defense facilities, it had no air defense awareness. Li Daichun specially asked Xu Liang to give a lecture on air defense to all employees, formulated an air defense plan, and ordered each department to implement it.
Two minutes after Chen Hao and others received the call from the river defense troops, there was still no sign of enemy planes coming to attack on the surrounding mountains. The people in the command post were all puzzled, and Xu Liang also felt that something was not right, turning his gaze from north to west where the sun was slowly setting. Five minutes after receiving the alarm, when the roar of the plane came from the west, five enemy planes had entered the field of vision of the anti-aircraft gunners in two batches, almost at the same time, the signal flare on the western observation post also rose into the air. The observation posts sent out to the east, west and south were fewer, and it was agreed to use signal flares, while several message trees were set up on the northern mountain ridge, and the most observation posts were stationed there. The cunning enemy came from the direction of the sun, making it unfavorable for the observation post to observe with binoculars or the naked eye. Xu Liang had just adjusted the gun barrel towards the western sky when the enemy plane dived down from 3000 meters high under the cover of the dazzling sunlight, and the machine guns on the plane kept spitting out flames at the ground. The eight anti-aircraft guns began to roar under Xu Liang's command, and the mountain-top anti-aircraft machine guns also started cheering up. One enemy plane was shot down and exploded in mid-air, like a celebratory firework for the brothers of the air defense team. Almost at the same time, bombs began to explode in front of and behind the position, mud flew everywhere, smoke filled the air, and the air trembled with the loud roar of the bombs.
Due to the terrain, enemy planes did not dare to dive too low, as they would easily crash into the nearby mountain ridges. At that time, the maximum speed of the enemy bombers was less than 400 kilometers per hour, and the accuracy of their dive bombing was not high, especially under the interference of anti-aircraft fire, the accuracy of their bombing was even more affected. If it were modern air forces, let alone five planes, even one or two planes appearing above the target area would be completely finished off by the anti-aircraft artillery. However, at that time, both the attacking and defending sides' accuracy in striking each other was far from what it is today. During the Pacific War, when the US and Japan bombed each other's warships, those massive objects were often attacked by dozens or even hundreds of planes, with a very low hit rate. In comparison, torpedo attacks could be carried out at a relatively longer distance and more accurately, and since torpedoes and warships were on the same plane, the threat to warships was much greater. That's why during the Battle of Midway, Japan's Admiral Nagumo hesitated between loading bombs or torpedoes onto his planes, which led to a disastrous defeat.
The explosions of the bombs dropped by enemy planes rose and fell, deafening. White snow, yellow earth, human bodies wearing gray uniforms, and high-explosive shell fragments mixed in the air waves flew into the sky. After the enemy plane dived and dropped the bomb, 4 enemy planes pulled up, but did not turn back, instead circled around and then dived down to the anti-aircraft machine gun position again, the enemy plane madly swept the anti-aircraft machine gun position with its machine guns. Four anti-aircraft machine guns under the command of Company Commander Liang You Tian fiercely counterattacked without fear.
The sound of the anti-aircraft gun's firing scattered. Through the gradually dispersing smoke, it can be seen that one of the anti-aircraft guns was hit by a bomb and was blown to pieces, with all the crew members heroically sacrificing themselves. Many crew members of the two nearby guns were injured to varying degrees. Xu Liang also fell into a pool of blood. He Wu Ting and Chen Hao rushed to call for medical soldiers to rescue them. Chen Hao rushed to position one, commanding the bandaging and hemostasis of Xu Liang while taking over Xu's combat position, shouting: "Brothers, don't panic, listen to my command, follow me and fight fiercely, avenge Vice Captain Xu and our fallen brothers!" Another six anti-aircraft guns concentrated their fire, and the firepower suddenly became fierce again.
Anti-aircraft machine gun position, Xiao Wang's eyes turned red, he threw away his cotton-padded jacket and tightly grasped the trigger against an enemy plane that was charging towards him... In the air and on the ground, the tongues of fire from the machine guns on both sides clashed and collided crazily.
One side is for the sake of His Imperial Majesty's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, to conquer Asia and dominate the world, to expand the living space of the great Yamato people who consider themselves born excellent, to be the master of the world with the spirit of Bushido; The other side is to defend the country's land from being occupied, their parents, wives, children, grandchildren and descendants from being enslaved and slaughtered, filled with a sense of patriotism and heroic men. For their respective beliefs and goals, they fought to the death!
The air defense command center phone rang again, He Wuting grabbed the phone: "What? 6 enemy planes have crossed the Yellow River? Okay, understood." Putting down the phone, he shouted to the orderly: "Enemy planes are coming again, send a signal quickly!"
Signal flares shot up into the air, and soon the news spread that the trees in the northeast direction had been knocked down. 6 enemy planes came rushing from the northeast mountain pass, heading straight for the factory area.
At this time, another enemy plane that was approaching for the first time was hit and smoke rose, but this enemy plane did not retreat from the battle, but instead dived down again with the other three enemy planes towards the anti-aircraft position.
The anti-aircraft troops on the mountain and under the mountain were shouting loudly, desperately firing at the air. Another enemy plane shook off black smoke, and the previously wounded enemy plane crashed down this time without being able to pull up its head, hitting a high-altitude artillery position near a high-altitude gun, triggering an explosion, burning fiercely, and several gunners were injured by flying debris.
Due to the entanglement of the first batch of enemy planes attacking the air defense troops, the second batch of enemy planes flying over the factory area was very smooth. At this time, most of the chimneys in the ordnance factory were emitting smoke, and even some lower buildings had smoke billowing from their chimneys, presenting a busy production scene. 6 enemy planes, like 6 ferocious wolves smelling blood, charged towards these "in-production" workshops, and after a fierce explosion, thick smoke and large fires rose in the factory area.
