Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 333 Good Luck
The smoke and fire still billowed over Xinkou, the battlefield sky seemed to have been torn open with countless gaps, the silver shadows of Mustang fighter planes shuttled back and forth between the clouds and the artillery fire, the tongues of fire spewed by machine guns cutting through the air and the fuselage of the Japanese planes time and time again.

On the ground, the battle lines between the Jin-Sui Army and the Eighth Route Army were stabilized again in just over ten minutes.

The Japanese air force, which had just held an air superiority, was now being driven back in disarray, with Zero fighters and Type 97 bombers crashing into valleys and riverbanks one after another, trailing black smoke and flames.

However, the outcome of the air battle was not merely about eliminating the threat from the air; it also directly shattered the entire operational plan of the Japanese 4th Division.

Originally, the operational plan formulated by Lieutenant General Kenzo Kitano, commander of the 4th Division, was as follows.

The first step was to rely on the impregnable fortifications of Xinkou and, by virtue of the advantages of firepower, terrain and fortifications, to deplete the strength and ammunition of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the 61st Army of the Jin-Sui Army.
The second step is to wait until the enemy forces on the front are exhausted and their offensive weakens, then have the 27th Division, which is lying in ambush in the southeast, bypass the valley, cut into the enemy's rear, and carry out an encirclement... Once the encirclement is complete, the 129th Division and the 61st Army can be swallowed up in one fell swoop.

This plan may seem old-fashioned, but it works very well.

Frontal containment and flanking maneuvers, especially in mountain defense warfare, are almost textbook tactics.

The staff officers of the 4th Division were very confident that even in the face of the tenacious Chinese army, they believed that the mobility and firepower of the Japanese mechanized forces would be sufficient to achieve their objective.

However, they never expected that just as the plan entered its first phase, the air situation would be completely shattered by the sudden appearance of dozens of P-51 Mustangs.

In the original deployment, the mission of the Japanese air force was not only to suppress the front line, but also to cover the movement of the 27th Division and the security of the rear transportation lines at critical moments.

After all, to get behind the enemy lines, one had to pass through several narrow valley roads that were vulnerable to air raids.

But now, air superiority has been instantly seized by the enemy. If the Mustang fighters turn their attention to roads and transport convoys, the 27th Division's maneuver will turn into a suicidal journey.

On the back of a low hill south of Xinkou Town, a small underground observation post, hollowed out by thick soil and rocks, can only accommodate a few people.

The camouflage net hanging at the cave entrance blended almost seamlessly with the surrounding yellowish-brown rocks. The cave was dark and damp, with only a narrow slit the size of a fist at the front for observation.

Lieutenant General Kenzo Kitano, commander of the 4th Division, was half-squatting, his eyes sunken, his hands gripping the Type 94 military binoculars as he observed the battle situation in the sky. However, the scene above Xinkou made him unable to utter a single word.

One, two... and another plane, trailing plummeting black smoke, fell from the sky, either being severed by hillsides or crashing into the murky waters of the border river, creating huge splashes as they spun out of control.

You should know that those planes were the most advanced aircraft that the Japanese Army Air Force was very proud of.

At the same time, these fighter jets were the most crucial part of the original plan, but now they are being shot down one after another by those silver-white fighter jets, like falcons treating fat ducks.

The complete battlefield simulation map from the war conference instantly flashed through Kitano Kenzo's mind:

Hold Xinkou → Deplete the Chinese army's frontal forces → The 27th Division will bypass the enemy from the southeast → Encircle and annihilate them.

The more than 300 aircraft specially dispatched to the Shanxi battlefield for this campaign were the guarantee of this plan.

But now, this barrier has been cleaved in two from the middle by some unseen blade, and the two halves fall helplessly to the ground.

What surprised Kitano even more was that the silver-white fighter jets that appeared before him were not any of the aircraft models they knew.

"Have the Chinese acquired new fighter jets again?"

He forced his heart to pound and tried to focus his gaze on the planes.

Its sleek fuselage curves, slender nose, and astonishing speed during high-altitude dives all tell him that this is an extremely advanced fighter jet.

Moreover, this aircraft was completely different from the Shanxi militia fighters it had seen before. It was neither as bulky as the P-47 Thunder fighter, nor as fierce as the Corsair fighter... Its almost elegant lines, yet with deadly performance, made it like a silver scalpel in the air, shrewdly and precisely reaping the lives of the pilots of the Great Japanese Empire.

and……

How could these warplanes have been transported to China and joined the Shanxi battlefield so quietly?
Those navy idiots are really a bunch of useless fools, actually letting such advanced fighter jets flow into the Chinese battlefield.

His mind was like a turbulent current, constantly replaying the information in his head: Su Yaoyang's squadron had just bombed Yangquan. Logically speaking, it would take at least half a day for the planes to land, load ammunition, refuel, and perform mechanical maintenance. But now, in less than half a day, they were able to launch a full-scale attack, crossing dozens of kilometers to directly enter the airspace of Xinkou.
This implies two possibilities... Either the Shanxi militia's bombing of Yangquan was just a feint, with only a small number of aircraft involved and the main force not being deployed.

Or perhaps their logistical efficiency and mobilization speed far exceeded the Japanese army's technical knowledge and logistical limits.

Neither of these answers is what Kenzo Kitano wants to see.

…………

The air still carried the pungent smell of gunpowder and burning engine oil, and plumes of smoke rose windingly above the valley and the position, while waves of heat assaulted the eardrums and chests of the soldiers on the ground like ocean tides.

The Mustang fighter jets maintained excellent formation high in the sky, their silver-white fuselages dazzling in the sunlight.

Instead of returning to base immediately after a victory, as is the case in conventional air combat, they uniformly pulled up their noses, climbed along a large arc outside the defense line, and plunged into the thin blue sky at an altitude of six thousand meters.

Kenzo Kitano stared intently at these elegant yet murderous figures through his binoculars.

"Why...why didn't they just retreat? Were they escorting the enemy? Or...?" The nascent conjectures coiled around my mind like venomous snakes.

The world around us was suddenly enveloped by a deep, rolling, metallic rumble, which at first sounded like distant thunder, but the rhythm was more even and heavier than lightning, and even made the ground of the observation post tremble slightly.

Kitano's pupils suddenly contracted, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to the back of his neck.

"Oh no... I know why!"

Almost instinctively, he leaped up from his crouching position, knocking over the water bottle handed to him by his adjutant. He suddenly gripped the binoculars tightly, his face instantly turning from ashen to deathly pale.

Through the telescope aperture, he could clearly see a long snake made up of dozens of black machine shadows slowly approaching on the distant antenna.

These aircraft had bulky fuselages, enormous twin-engine cockpits, and their wings seemed to be covered with long, slender objects resembling death fruits. Even at an altitude of several kilometers, they cast heavy shadows in the sunlight.

"Take cover... The Chinese bombers are coming!"

A heavy bomber formation—something no ground commander would want to see.

Kitano Kenzo practically roared, "Order the troops! Take cover immediately! The Chinese bombers are coming!"

The adjutant was startled by his loud voice and expression, and almost stumbled as he rushed out to relay the order. Inside, the radio operator frantically cranked the field telephone, shouting the order back and forth to the various positions.

On the hillside outside the cave, Japanese soldiers scrambled like ants trampled over, frantically scrambling towards trenches, bunkers, and reverse slope positions, pushing, cursing, falling, and getting up again… their movements chaotic and hurried. Some even kicked over machine guns in the mud in their panic, carrying them towards the fortifications without checking. The roaring sound above Xinkou seemed like the final judgment horn—

Twenty-six B-25 bombers, escorted by silver Mustangs, resembled a group of death gods wielding scythes, slowly pressing down on the earth from the blue sky.

As their massive fuselages descended to an altitude of 3,000 meters, the bomb bay doors opened simultaneously, instantly casting a dark shadow over a large area of ​​the Japanese positions.

"Tum..."

The first napalm bomb in the lead plane's cabin detached from its attachment point, tumbling and falling in the wind pressure, and the next second it crashed into the densely packed Japanese defensive positions at the foot of the hill.

The muffled explosion wasn't jarring, but the flames that erupted from the blast point... were like a long, orange-red fire dragon, tens of meters long, that suddenly shot up from the ground, and the high temperature of thousands of degrees, along with the tongues of fire tens of meters high, instantly engulfed the entire position.

The mixture of gasoline, aluminum powder, and white phosphorus turns into a boiling infernal liquid at high temperatures, churning and bubbling.

The viscous, lard-like burning substance splattered onto the Japanese soldiers' uniforms and skin, like a parasite with a malicious intent, firmly gripping the grass-colored fabric and flesh.

Even a few seconds of intense burning is enough to drain the body of all its moisture.

The screams of the Japanese soldiers amidst the flames were more chilling than the explosions. Like insects thrown into a frying pan, they frantically thrashed their bodies, trying to extinguish the fire. However, thrashing only fueled the flames, and sticky burning material was flung from their sleeves and trousers, splashing onto their comrades further away and triggering a series of secondary fires.

Those soldiers who instinctively rolled on the ground, their bodies like burning balls of sesame, convulsed and roared amidst the scorching blackness and the stench of blood.

Those who are alive nearby are destined not to approach, because the fire cannot be extinguished at all; instead, they will be ignited by the oil blocks thrown out by the fire spirit.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

While the inferno of napalm was still burning, the second and third waves of attack aircraft, like precise falcons, swooped down on the heavy artillery and supply points behind the position.

This time they were carrying 50-100 kilograms of high-explosive shells.

The B-25's dive carried a heavy killing intent; its altitude had dropped to 1,500 meters, and a long, serpentine rain of bombs poured down.

Those heavy artillery positions of the Japanese army, which were the pride of the Japanese army, were now shattered like porcelain. Bombs falling from the sky even hit the ammunition storage points behind them.

"boom!"

This was a roar unlike any single bomb... it was the death knell of the artillery position.

Thousands of shells were detonated by a chain, sending plumes of black smoke soaring hundreds of meters into the sky, as if blurring the line between the battlefield and the clouds.

The intense heat and high-pressure shockwave caused Japanese soldiers hundreds of meters away to be uprooted like plants and trees, and then slammed heavily onto the scorched earth.

Flames swept across the battlefield, and the air was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder and burnt flesh.

"We're doomed." As the sound of exploding shells continued to echo from behind, Kenzo Kitano's face turned ashen.

Without artillery support, the Xinkou defense line was like a bloodless beast, unable to maintain its original ferocious posture no matter how hard it struggled.

five minutes.

The bombing, which lasted only five minutes, felt like a five-year-long inferno, stretched out by fire and steel.

For the Jin-Sui Army and Eighth Route Army soldiers watching from the sidelines, in those brief five minutes, the world seemed to consist only of the roaring engines, the earth-shaking explosions, and the sea of ​​fire that devoured everything.

The main Japanese positions, which had just been roaring and spewing flames and hurling high-explosive shells, were now completely enveloped in a continuous stream of orange-red flames.

Black smoke condensed like leaden clouds, billowing into the sky and darkening the sky above the valley.

After the explosion and flames subsided, there was no more gunfire or machine gun fire in that area... only the occasional crackling of wood and metal breaking from the burning scorched earth, and the acrid smell carried by the wind.

Inside the frontline command post, several Eighth Route Army soldiers were still staring blankly at the embers of the raging fire opposite them, as if they couldn't quite come to their senses.

Some people subconsciously swallowed, their fingers still trembling involuntarily.

It was an unprecedented shock, not just a simple barrage of artillery fire, but a complete and absolute devastation.

At that moment, a communications staff officer carrying a radio rushed over, his steps filled with both anxiety and barely concealed excitement. After standing at attention and saluting, he handed the heavy headset microphone to the deputy chief of staff, his voice trembling slightly: "Sir... the aircraft in the sky are requesting to speak with you!"

Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo took the microphone, took a deep breath to compose himself, and then put it to his ear: "Hello... I am the Deputy Chief of Staff of the 18th Group Army."

A familiar static crackling sound came from the other end of the headphones, followed by a steady voice.

"Greetings, Commander Zuo. I am Cheng Rufeng, the squadron leader of the First Flight Squadron of the Shanxi Militia. I am here to provide you with air support on the orders of General Su."

Perhaps due to the bombing, Cheng Rufeng's voice always had a hissing sound from the electricity.

"The first round of bombing is over, and we are about to return to base. Is there anything else you need?"

The deputy chief of staff stared at the enemy positions engulfed in flames, his chest churning with intense emotion.

He roused himself and replied in a steady but slightly hoarse voice, "Captain Cheng, on behalf of all the commanders and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who participated in the battle, thank you."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the earpiece, followed by a refreshing, gentle laugh: "You're welcome."

After that laugh, came another crisp and decisive sentence.

"The second round of air support will arrive in two hours. Good luck."

"There's a second round of air support?" the Deputy Chief of Staff exclaimed in surprise.

“Of course,” Cheng Rufeng replied. “General Su has ordered that after the first round of air support, we will dispatch a squadron of SB dive bombers and a squadron of Mustang fighters to provide your unit with uninterrupted air cover, ensuring that your unit is not threatened by Japanese aircraft. This cover will continue until the end of the battle.”

Hearing Cheng Rufeng's voice, Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo suddenly felt his eyes well up with tears.

(End of this chapter)