Chapter 44 Chapter 44 Weird Air Combat

On the southern outskirts of Hengyang City, in the tiger-shaped nest position, the intruding Japanese army has launched a fierce battle for position with the troops of the 29th Regiment of the 10th Division of the National Army's 10th Army Reserve. Commander Zhu Guangji of the 29th Regiment ordered the 3rd Battalion Commander Major Yan Jingshan to lead the 7th Company and the temporary company of the troops directly under the Regiment to quickly reinforce the Tiger Nest position.The reinforcements led by Battalion Commander Yan started a tug-of-war with the Japanese invading troops. You charged forward one by one, and he charged forward again. The battle lasted for more than two hours.

In the end, under the command of Battalion Commander Li Zhenwu, the defenders of the position rushed out of the fortress and all attacked, and cooperated with the counterattack troops brought by Battalion Commander Yan to attack from both sides. Finally, the Japanese army was cleared out and the position was regained. Battalion Commander Yan's right eye was punctured and he was seriously injured, but he still fought hard. When it was dawn, the battlefield was counted, and our army had more than 120 casualties; while the Japanese army left more than 200 corpses. The whole position was in a state of disarray, and the corpses of soldiers killed by the enemy and us were strewn with blood everywhere; all the trees on the mountain were broken by artillery fire, the soil was also blown loose, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and the rags and clothes were horrific.

At the same time that the soldiers of the 10th Army successfully repelled the first full-scale attack and key attack of the Japanese army.The weirdness of the air battle in Hengyang is really incredible. The combined air force of China and the United States and the air force of the Japanese invasion of China rarely fought.Often you beat your gong, I beat my drum;The sky above Hengyang is really like a stage. After you sing, I will appear on the stage.This has simply become another war spectacle since the war began. The main targets of the aircraft bombing of the Sino-US joint air force were the military facilities and logistics facilities of the Japanese army. Generally, they did not directly participate in ground combat, and did not send fighter jets to intercept and attack the aircraft of the Japanese air force invading China.

The planes of the Japanese Air Force who invaded China focused on destroying buildings in Hengyang. All the buildings and facilities in the city became the bombing targets of Japanese planes;After a period of fighting, the Japanese army realized that the battle of Hengyang was difficult to resolve quickly, and it would take time to attack Hengyang City, so they hoped that the defenders would run out of food and ammunition.This has also been the most concerned issue for both the siege and the defenders during the siege since ancient times. Commander Fang Xianjue, the commander of the 10th Army, had expected it a long time ago. When building fortifications, he especially emphasized the need to build more underground warehouses to store grain and ammunition.Only use for one or two days on the ground, and most of them are buried deep in the ground, and can be opened as needed.

However, Japanese planes flew to Hengyang every day to bombard Hengyang wantonly, especially with a large number of incendiary bombs.In a few days, the beautiful and beautiful Hengyang became a purgatory on earth. A good city was blown into ruins, scorched earth, ruined walls, huge bomb craters, rubble and dust everywhere.Fortunately, the vast majority of citizens were evacuated to flee.Otherwise, I don't know how many lives will be lost, and how many families will not only be destroyed, but some people will definitely die.If so, every family will sing elegy, and every household will bring filial piety.What a miserable sight that was!

The reserve units of the 10th Army and the units directly under the Army have become fire brigades.No wonder the 28th Regiment of the 10th Preparatory Division was busy fighting the fire before going into battle, so they were always full of anger and had nowhere to vent. In order to ease the atmosphere, Commander Fang Xianjue joked with Commander Zeng Jing, saying: "My 28th regiment has become a fire brigade, and Commander Zeng Da has become a fire chief!" The head of the regiment Zeng suppressed his flushed face and insisted on going to the front line to kill the enemy, "Commander, what are you talking about! When did our 28th regiment ever be so useless and hold our breath. Military seat, let's go! I have begged Mr. Ge! Just give me a chance!"

Commander Fang Xianjue saw that his confidant and general were aroused with enthusiasm for killing the enemy, and patted Zeng Jing on the shoulder affectionately and said: "No problem! The 30th regiment is fighting very hard now, so I will tell Commander Ge, Let you go up to take over the 30th regiment to guard the main position of Zhangjiashan. This should be satisfactory!" "Yes! Thank you, military seat! Thank you, military seat! I promise to guard my position and never embarrass you!" Zeng Jing hastily saluted and expressed his opinion. Since then, the heavy responsibility of firefighting in the city has fallen to the troops directly under the army and more than 3,000 former migrant workers.Later, the houses were almost burnt down, and there was nothing to do to fight the fire!

For such a strange air battle, Commander Fang Xianjue once discussed with Captain Chen Xiangrong.But after all, Chen Xiangrong is only a junior officer of the Air Force, and he still has no idea about high-level decision-making. When it comes to the air battle between China and Japan, we have to talk about General Chennault.He is the only American general commissioned by the Chinese government.Chennault was born a good pilot, but he was never a good subordinate.His casual criticism of his superiors regardless of time and place ended up serving almost 20 years in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a captain.

1937 was a turning point in Chennault's fortunes.Soong Ching Ling, who was the director of the China Aviation Commission at the time, appointed him as an advisor to the Chinese Air Force, and then participated in the Songhu Battle, Nanjing Defense Battle and Wuhan Battle, and jointly commanded operations with the commanders of the Chinese and Soviet Air Forces; he also established the Chinese Aviation School in Zhijiang, Hunan. Later, he served as the director of the flight instructor's office of Kunming Aviation School. On August 1, 1941, the American Air Volunteer Team of the Chinese Air Force was established. Because the United States and Japan were not at war at that time, it was called the "Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company" to the outside world, and Chennault was the captain.They painted the nose of the plane into the head of a tiger shark, and designed the team emblem as a winged tiger; coupled with their bravery in combat, they were known as the "Flying Tigers". The "Flying Tigers" have always been outnumbered and inferior equipment against the superior equipment of the Japanese army.But under the leadership of Chennault, they fought hard. From 1941 to 1942 alone, they destroyed 286 Japanese aircraft, shattering the myth that the Japanese army was invincible.

After the Pearl Harbor incident, the U.S. and Japan started the war. On July 4, 1942, the U.S. Air Volunteer Corps was changed to the U.S. Air Force Task Force in China, and Chennault served as the brigadier general commander; In July, Chennault served as the chief of staff of the Chinese Air Force; in October, the Sino-US Joint Air Force was formed, and Chen served as the commander-in-chief until he left China on August 8, 1945.The Flying Tigers achieved brilliant results: they shot down more than 2,600 Japanese planes, which was equivalent to Japan's total aircraft production in three years at that time; they sank or seriously damaged 2.23 million tons of Japanese merchant ships, 44 warships, and 13,000 inland river vessels under 100 tons , killing 66,700 Japanese officers and soldiers.

But why did such a weird air combat phenomenon appear in the Hengyang Defense Battle? From the perspective of our military: First, it was because General Chennault focused on China's wartime lifeline—the so-called "hump route" for the transportation of strategic materials; China's land lifeline: the Burma Highway and the Sino-Indian Highway; third, the weapons and equipment of the Sino-US joint air force were not as good as the Japanese army at that time. and American-style Hawke; the fourth is the loss of Hengyang Airport, which more or less annoyed General Chennault; coupled with the influence of Stilwell's delicate relationship with Chiang and Chen. From the point of view of the Japanese army, the main reason is that the fierce battle between Japan and the United States in the Pacific battlefield is in full swing, and the losses of Japanese fighter jets and pilots are huge, and it is difficult to make up for it; but at that time, the Japanese air force may not have an absolute advantage in the Chinese mainland battlefield, and there is no certainty of victory. Which risk to take? Therefore, this is the spectacle of air combat over the Hengyang battlefield.It would be nice to have the Air Force to participate in the war, but it is not good to have too high expectations.In the end, Fang Xianjue could only think so.As the saying goes: Don't rely on your father or mother, don't rely on foreigners and rely on yourself!It seems that in the future, I can only rely on my brothers from the 10th Army! By the way, where is the 8th Regiment of the 3rd Division now?Maybe it was based on intuition, maybe it was God's will. At this time, Fang Xianjue made a decision that will look extremely important in the future: order the 8th Regiment of the 3rd Division, which is still blocking the Japanese army in Hengshan and Nanyue, to quickly break through the enemy's position and rush into the city. Come, return to construction immediately!