I am an industrial worker during the War of Resistance

Chapter 101 Bloody Battle South of Yinshan (Part 4)

"Approaching, my aircraft descends to altitude, observe," came the brief message written on the whiteboard by Sergeant Izumi Yamayama, the navigator of the Type 95 fighter jet.

The squadron leader of the Type 93 bomber, Flight Sergeant Noji Akina, gave Izumiya Yamashita a thumbs-up, indicating that he had seen it clearly.

At this moment, Izumiya Yamashita's Type 95 fighter began to accelerate and flap its wings, signaling the other planes in the squadron to follow it and conduct a dive-and-strike observation of the target valley.

The reconnaissance plane that had been steadfastly stationed in the sky circled over the target canyon once, demarcated the area, and then returned.

It was almost out of fuel, and the fact that it has lasted this long is thanks to the pilot's superb skills and extensive use of gliding.

At this moment, Izumiya Yamashita's fighter jets began to dive down from an altitude of 3,500 meters, flying longitudinally along the valley.

By then, it had also seen that the long valley was almost entirely filled with hiding sheds.

And the large horse-drawn wagons, full of goods, were exposed after the shelter was overturned.

Those carriages were all parked on the edge of the cliff after the horses were unharnessed, and some carriages had overturned in several places in the valley.

This must be the carriage that was overturned when the people below were fleeing in panic.

Look at the wooden crates scattered all over the ground; these people were so anxious that they didn't even have time to move the ammunition boxes.

This place is clearly a large logistics and parking base.

There were no people to be seen in the valley at this point, which was normal.

With so many planes already in the sky, only a fool would stand on the road and run back and forth.

Those people below either went into air-raid shelters or fled far away.

Izumiyayama was the first to fire a barrage of fire into the valley before rapidly ascending.

It wanted to test the waters to see if, as the reconnaissance plane had said, there was really no anti-aircraft firepower below.

After it finished strafing, the fighter jets following behind it also swooped down and strafed the valley.

When the fourth fighter jet was strafing, a bullet must have hit the ammunition box, causing a huge explosion in the valley, which immediately burst into flames.

There were also many bullets flying around in the fire; these were bullets that had been ignited and exploded due to the high temperature.

After circling around, Sen-u-yama became even more certain that this was the enemy's main logistics base, and that there was no anti-aircraft firepower here.

If there were anti-aircraft fire here, they would have launched a counterattack long ago.

At this moment, Sen-okuyama was swaying his aircraft from side to side, signaling the planes behind him to disperse and leave a bombing path for the bombers.

The 7.7mm machine guns on our fighter jets were still too weak when facing these supplies.

To destroy this place, we'll need aerial bombs from bombers.

The valley here is winding and meandering. To maximize the bombing and destruction effect, the bombers need to reduce their altitude and speed to carry out precise bombing of this narrow valley.

When they saw that the fighter jets behind them had dispersed to both sides of the valley.

Izumiyayama was piloting his Type 8 fighter jet, beginning to fly in a figure-eight pattern over the valley.

This is to confirm the final target location and inform the bombers at high altitude that this place is safe and there is no anti-aircraft fire.

At an altitude of 3,500 meters, bomber squadron leader Noji Akina first saw fighter jets strafing the valley below.

Not long after, a huge explosion occurred in the valley, and the thick smoke and fire could be clearly seen from 3,500 meters above the ground.

At this moment, Noji Shonan also shook his aircraft, signaling the squadron behind him to follow him.

It then swayed back and forth once more, signaling that it was preparing to descend to a lower altitude for a precision bombing.

To meet the tactical requirements of inflicting heavy casualties on light infantry in the mountains, Noji Shonan and his team piloted the Type 93 heavy bomber.

Each aircraft was fully loaded with twenty 50-kilogram aerial bombs.

This Type 93 heavy bomber, a copy of the German Junkers K37, has a full load capacity of one ton.

If the fuel load is reduced, it can carry one and a half tons.

Because this bombing was conducted against light infantry in mountainous terrain, heavy aerial bombs were not carried, as that would have been excessive.

Fifty kilograms of aerial bombs are just right for this situation; they have moderate power and enough quantity to attack scattered targets.

This time, in order to drop the bombs into the valley more accurately, Ye Lu Zhang Nan...

For the first time ever, it led the bomber group to an altitude of 1,500 meters.

The speed dropped to 170 kilometers per hour.

It was only after reconnaissance planes and fighter jets confirmed several times that there was no anti-aircraft fire on the ground that Yelu Zhangnan dared to descend to this altitude. If it were fighting against the Jin-Sui Army, it would never have descended to this altitude.

At this moment, Izumiya Yamashita, who was in charge of air cover, was already patrolling at a low altitude of 500 meters with his fighter squadron.

They wanted to search and see if they could make any new discoveries.

Meanwhile, Political Commissar Liu, who was in a concealed anti-aircraft artillery position on the hilltop, watched as the Japanese bombers slowed down and descended in altitude, almost forming a straight line.

His face was beaming with joy.

"These little devils are really helpful."

Knowing we have few anti-aircraft guns, they fly so low to deliver our kills; at that altitude, our anti-aircraft machine guns can easily spot them.

The anti-aircraft artillery company commander, Yang Hongshou, also smiled and said through his binoculars, "That's good, that's good, just fly like this, you little devils, now none of you will be going back."

At this moment, there was Political Commissar Liu, Company Commander Yang, and their anti-aircraft guns and machine guns.

They were all in their concealed air-raid shelter positions, ready to be deployed at any time.

An air raid shelter is a large pit dug in the ground, large enough to house an anti-aircraft gun or machine gun.

The depth of the pit should be such that it does not obstruct the elevation and azimuth of anti-aircraft weapons. Inside, there are ammunition storage holes and ejection areas, covered with camouflage netting.

The gun barrel and cannon barrel were also camouflaged.

Such concealed air-raid shelters are only safe if one is extremely unlucky and an aircraft drops a bomb into them.

Otherwise, the people inside are relatively safe.

The orders for this air combat operation were given before the battle even began.

Political Commissar Liu, the anti-aircraft guns here must remain silent; no other positions are allowed to fire.

In Political Commissar Liu's battle station pit, an observer stared intently at the bomber formation in the sky through a one-meter optical rangefinder, constantly reporting the coordinates.

"Attention, enemy aircraft have entered our ambush range. You are authorized to fire."

Upon hearing the information reported by the observer, Political Commissar Liu did not hesitate at all and immediately ordered, "Fire!"

The single-barreled 37mm anti-aircraft gun, whose camouflaged barrels were already pointed at the sky, had long ago...
After the enemy aircraft entered its firing range, it began to slowly rock the gun barrel and lock onto the first bomber.

This movement is barely perceptible at high altitudes.

After Political Commissar Liu gave the order to fire, the gunner immediately stepped on the firing pedal.

The sounds of cannons booming and the flames shooting from their muzzles were like war drums and fireworks bidding farewell to the warriors.

They launched 37mm anti-aircraft shells into the sky.

As soon as Political Commissar Liu spoke, the other three anti-aircraft guns at their positions, along with the forty-seven 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns concealed along the high ground in the valley, were also alerted.

At the same time, the aircraft that had entered its firing range nearby began to fire.

Almost simultaneously, seven or eight dazzling fireworks burst into bloom in the sky.

In air defense ambush operations, the greatest results are achieved within the very first few minutes.

Because the aircraft that can enter the ambush zone must be the least vigilant, with the most regular flight paths and speeds, making them the easiest to target and shoot down.

And now, the Japanese fighters and bombers have almost no armor protection.

Chen Changzai provided very few armor-piercing shells for the current 37mm anti-aircraft guns; 90% of the anti-aircraft guns used now were high-explosive shells.

When facing unarmored aircraft, high-explosive shells are much more effective than armor-piercing shells.

Basically, one shot could disintegrate the Japanese planes in mid-air.

On 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns, armor-piercing incendiary rounds account for nearly 70% of the rounds.

The rest are all ordinary steel-core bullets.

However, the armor-piercing capability of these armor-piercing incendiary bombs was still more than enough for the Japanese aircraft.

The main reason for not using ordinary steel-core incendiary rounds was to use this 12.7mm heavy machine gun, which could be used for both anti-aircraft and anti-tank purposes, to deal with the Japanese tanks.

The armor-piercing incendiary shells were very effective against both aircraft and the Japanese's lightly armored tanks.

In order to ensure that all the aerial bombs they carried could be accurately dropped into the rugged and winding valleys on the ground, the Japanese bombers...

They adopted a low-altitude, slow-speed approach to conduct horizontal throwing in a single-line formation.

Such a formation, altitude, and speed make the 37mm anti-aircraft guns like sitting motionless targets right in front of them.

As for the eight Type 95 fighter jets responsible for escorting the aircraft, they were tasked with finding more targets on the ground.

Their height is around 400 to 500 meters, and their speed is around 200 kilometers per hour.

When eight low-flying fighter jets entered the ambush circle formed by forty-seven anti-aircraft machine guns, whether they could return alive was entirely up to fate.

Just as Noji Shonan's Type 93 bomber entered the bombing route, before it could even have its bombardier/forward machine gunner drop the bombs...

Out of the corner of its eye, it suddenly noticed a flash of light on the ground.

In that instant, Noji Shonan knew he was finished.

Those were the flashes of an anti-aircraft gun.

Given its current altitude, speed, and completely fixed flight path, it will be the perfect prey for the anti-aircraft gun below.

It tried to flip over to dodge, but before it could even move its control stick, it felt a burning heat coming from below its body.

Then there is no more.

It didn't even have a chance to reminisce before it was reduced to ashes by the 37 high-explosive bomb and the ton of bombs carried by its own aircraft that were detonated.

The bombers following behind it also met the same fate of being shot down.

In this current formation of bombers flying in a straight line.

It is impossible to leave the battlefield immediately.

The planes behind it, like wild beasts walking into a trap, were repeatedly shot down in mid-air by the four anti-aircraft guns firing in unison.

The three bombers at the very back of the formation immediately dropped their bombs to reduce weight after seeing the planes in front of them being destroyed.

Then Mashan turned around and pulled upwards; they had to break free from the fire net woven on the ground in the shortest possible time.

But it was all too late.

These Japanese bombers were already maintaining a slow speed of 170 kilometers per hour.

Trying to suddenly turn around and accelerate upwards is almost an impossible task; it will only make them slower and clumsier.

Just after the four bombers in front were shot down one after another.

Political Commissar Liu's anti-aircraft gun barrels were already pointed at the bombers that were preparing to escape.

The 37mm dual-purpose anti-aircraft gun has an effective range of 3500 meters at an angle and a firing altitude of 3000 meters.

Meanwhile, these Japanese bombers had already penetrated deep into the range of the air defense network composed of four 37mm anti-aircraft guns.

The clumsy bomber's attempt to climb and escape was laughable to the ground-based anti-aircraft gunners.

After each 37mm shell was fed into the breech by the magazine and then fired.

The sky here is a death zone.

No one can escape from here.

Izumiya Yamashita's heart was pounding wildly; he was screaming and frantically moving the control stick back and forth.

It made the plane it was piloting constantly turn left and right, roll back and forth, and rapidly gain altitude.

Its left wing was hit, and flames burned continuously on the wing. Even the strong winds generated by the plane in the air could not extinguish it; instead, the flames burned even more fiercely.

That's the burning effect caused by an incendiary bomb.

At that moment, it felt the tail of the plane suddenly vibrate again, indicating that the tail had been hit by a bullet.

Izumiyayama dared not think of anything else; all it wanted was to escape this airspace filled with death and flames as soon as possible.

It witnessed its comrade being blown up in the fuel tank and turning into a giant torch in the air.

As it flipped in the air, it also saw the bombers behind it being blown to pieces in the sky.

But there's nothing it can do now; it can only escape, escape back to tell its superior that this is a trap, a man-eating trap.

Sen-ya Yamashiro was very lucky; he managed to escape from the barrage of fire.

Once it escaped the barrage of fire, it flew desperately eastward without looking back.

The plane was already filled with thick smoke, but it couldn't care less about that.

It must fly away from the mountains when the plane can no longer sustain itself, even if it has to fly to the Sakai Brigade's base outside the mountains before making an emergency landing or parachuting.

They absolutely cannot crash in these mountains, otherwise the Sakai tour group, which has already entered the mountains, will surely be in grave danger.

If there are traps targeting the Air Force, aren't there also traps targeting the Army?

This is impossible.

As Sen-okuyama was desperately flying outwards, he didn't notice that below him, Sakai Koji also saw the plane trailing thick smoke fleeing the mountains.

Upon seeing the damaged plane, Koji Sakai immediately became alert.

"Someone, immediately send a telegram to tell the other four groups of troops advancing into the mountains to stop advancing and organize a defense on the spot."

Order the base outside the mountain to find the damaged plane. I need to know what happened.

(End of this chapter)