Fighter planes from both sides were flying in the sky, and the light from machine gun bullets shone across the sky. Just when the fight was getting lively in the sky, another large wave of planes flew in from the diagonal, half of them were very thick in shape!
"Lightning strike planes! Fifty nautical miles away, at least a hundred of them!" Morishita, the commander of the 12 Zero Zeros in charge of vigilance in the sky, let out a desperate cry. These pilots know what it means when the task force encounters a torpedo plane! Twelve Zeros bravely faced the enemy, and the alarm sounded again on the sea. The task force immediately dispersed and all anti-aircraft fire was aimed at the sky.
"There is escort! The Chinese naval aviation has at least a hundred fighter jets." Morishita shouted in despair again, rushing towards those torpedo planes desperately, killing every one he could. The greatest threat to warships is not horizontal bombing or dive bombing, but torpedoes! The Japanese army had a taste of Chinese torpedoes as early as the Sino-Japanese Battle of Qingdao.
There is no doubt that this is a trap set by air commander Fang Ping. The two wings of Hainan Airlines deliberately went in a circle and touched the back of the Japanese Navy task force. Just wait for the Japanese task force to get in. Of course, the cost of this trap is not small. The fleet's anti-aircraft artillery poses a huge threat to torpedo aircraft that are not very fast. The cautious Nanyun placed a squadron of Zeros behind him. As a result, this move bought the task force time to prepare, but he was still fooled in the end.
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Anti-aircraft fire is hitting the sky like crazy, 12 Zeros fight against a wing of HNA Swift-5, the result can be imagined. The speed of the new Swift is not easily surpassed by the Zero, and its numbers have an absolute advantage. 12 Zeros launched a desperate charge with the purpose of hitting torpedo planes. However, they were surrounded by Swift-5s. The naval task force had to rely on itself. It was even more unrealistic to expect the Zeros, which were fighting fiercely with the Mustang Wing, to come back for rescue. .
Less than half an hour later, the Osprey torpedo plane, which had not been intercepted by the Zero at all, had begun to lower its altitude. One by one, they dived, braving fierce anti-aircraft fire. The main target of torpedo planes is aircraft carriers. Battleships are rough and rough, and even two or three torpedoes may not be able to sink them. Aircraft carriers are different, especially Japanese aircraft carriers.
The aircraft carrier Akagi is the primary attack target of the torpedo aircraft wing, with six groups of torpedo aircraft. Under the cover of some Swifts, they began to dive and drop bombs continuously. The Canglong aircraft carrier was attacked by four other groups. This kind of targeted attack is to cripple one of the Japanese navy's legs.
In Beijing, Chen Shaokuan rushed into the Presidential Palace like a storm. After walking into the office, he handed over a telegram saying: "There was a call from the Indian Aviation Command. Colonel Fang has laid a trap. He is trying to destroy the two Japanese aircraft carriers in one fell swoop."
Fang Jianxiong¡¯s expression was stunned, because the condition he had previously agreed to with Chen Shaokuan was to let the torpedo planes attack the transport ships and delay the war in India. This guy Fang Ping actually wanted to pursue a Japanese aircraft carrier. This is going to drive Japan crazy!
After grabbing the telegram, Fang Jianxiong frowned. When he looked up and saw Chen Shaokuan who was eager to try, he was not even angry. He said angrily: "Is this your real purpose? To use Fang Ping's identity to make a fuss?"
Chen Shaokuan, who was feeling complacent, suddenly felt cold all over, and quickly glanced at the cold look from President Fang Da. He quickly lowered his head and said: "I don't dare to be humble! This is really Colonel Fang's decision. He will be outside"
"Okay, you don't need to explain. Come, prepare a car and go to the Ministry of National Defense!" Fang Jianxiong immediately picked up the coat on the shelf and strode out. Chen Shaokuan quickly followed. I wiped the cold sweat several times from behind. This time he was being clever, but fortunately there was Fang Ping in front of him. Back then, he remembered that Fang Ping had promised to defeat the Japanese navy as his own mission.
Fang Jianxiong knew very well what concepts he had instilled in his two sons since childhood, such as national rejuvenation, the law of the jungle, and the fact that to revitalize China, Japan and Russia must be defeated, etc. These concepts were deeply ingrained in the minds of both sons. so. It's not surprising that Fang Ping would do this. Although this might disrupt Fang Jianxiong's plan, in general it was just a little ahead of schedule. Neither China nor Japan are ready for war, and Fang Jianxiong thinks Japan should be even less prepared.
There are so many generals in the Ministry of National Defense that the stars on the shoulders of a bunch of generals can make people blind.
"Something unexpected happened, and the war with Japan will be advanced." Fang Jianxiong's opening remarks not only did not make everyone dissatisfied, but instead showed excitement. I had long been looking forward to a fight with Japan, especially the navy crew, who were so excited that their faces turned red and their necks thickened.
"Fu Shuai! Our Air Force has deployed a total of five wings of bombers on the southeastern coast, including two wings of B-29 bombers. As long as Fu Shuai gives the order, I can use napalm to turn Tokyo, Japan into a sea of ??fire. !" The first one to stand up and ask for a fight was Feng Hua. This guy has never had the chance to go to the front line, and now he is fighting against Japan?It's much closer. You can follow the bomber to see it no matter what.
Fang Jianxiong knew full well that this guy was a war madman. So I ignored him! After Feng Hua sat down, Jiang Baili slowly said: "Urgent! But it's not too urgent! There are currently one hundred infantry divisions in the country, not counting the 15th Mechanized Army going to Myanmar, and there are four more The mechanized army is in the northeast. It is enough to cope with the Japanese attack. The question is whether we should take the initiative to attack or passively defend."
"Baili, you are the Minister of Defense, and your advice on this matter is very important!" Fang Jianxiong opened his mouth to make a decision. Everyone kept their mouths shut, waiting for Jiang Fangzhen to make a decision.
"In fact, this strategy has been decided for a long time. The Northeast will firmly defend the Yalu River defense line, and the Far East will concentrate mechanized troops to drive the Japanese army into the sea. In this way, the entire Sakhalin Island will be within the range of our air force. What I am worried about is Myanmar. Once The Japanese army crossed the Thai border, and Myanmar¡¯s military strength was not too strong. After the war between China and Japan, and before defeating the Japanese navy to seize sea control, the importance of Yangon as an outlet to the sea cannot be overstated."
"Okay, just follow this plan. And Zheng, when you go back, you can draw up a combat plan based on this strategy." Fang Jianxiong made a decision directly, and there was no time to talk nonsense at this time. After saying this, he turned around and asked Chen Shaokuan: "How is the navy prepared?"
"The navy is looking forward to the day when it can defeat the disgrace of Sino-Japanese War!" Chen Shaokuan stood up, stood at attention and answered loudly. A bunch of old guys stood up excitedly. Sa Zhenbing and Liu Guanxiong's bodies were trembling with excitement.
"Fuguo, if I can see the decisive battle between China and Japan on the sea in my lifetime, I can rest in peace even if I die." Sa Zhenbing spoke tremblingly, Fang Jianxiong stepped forward to hold his hand and said: "I have been looking forward to this day. , finally here."
After saying that, he returned to his seat and Fang Jianxiong said: "Today is March 3rd, and at 8 a.m. on March 4th, war will be officially declared on Japan. Regarding the specific matters, everyone should go back and get ready. The meeting is over!"
The sea and air battle reached "gao chao". At 10:25, the Akagi was being attacked by torpedo planes and tried its best to evade and dodge. The cruisers and destroyers that followed in succession, in order to block the torpedoes fired at the Akagi, two battleships. Torpedoed and sunk. The quality of the Japanese navy is very strong, and the officers and soldiers are hardworking enough, but there are too many torpedo planes.
After paying the loss of nearly a brigade of torpedo planes, HNA's torpedo planes finally sent a torpedo into the front end of the Akagi. After a loud bang, the Akagi shook violently. Nagumo stumbled to the ground in the command cabin, and got up without waiting for anyone to come to him. A large amount of seawater poured in from the big hole left by the torpedo, and the speed of the aircraft carrier dropped suddenly. This was the most fatal thing. Of course, Nagyun would not give up. He issued continuous orders to open the valve on the right side and release water to maintain balance.
More and more torpedo planes pounced desperately on the hit Akagi and Soryu. At 10:30, two torpedoes hit Soryu in succession. At 33 minutes, Akagi hit another torpedo. At 40 minutes, Akagi was hit by the fourth torpedo, and finally could not hold on, so Nagumo ordered to abandon ship. At 50 minutes, Soryu followed the fate of Akagi. Soryu was hit by four torpedoes in succession, and ultimately failed to escape the fate of sinking.
After losing the aircraft carrier, there is no chance that the released Zero will come back. The pilots can only fight until they run out of fuel, and finally give up the plane and parachute. Whether they can be rescued or fed to the sharks in the vast sea depends on whether Amaterasu is favored. .
In fact, when the battle ended at 11:20 a.m., there were less than one squadron of Zeros still fighting. The Zeros, which were lagging behind in quantity and performance, after two hours of hard fighting, most of the Zeros were shot down, and their achievements were only downing three Mustangs and twenty Hurricanes. In other words, by 11:20, there was not a single carrier-based aircraft left in the entire task force. At this time, HNA's Swift-5 had no intention of giving up. The Swift carried two 225kg bombs. A fleet of Swifts stared at the slower transport ship and dived and exploded randomly. None of the transport ships of the task force was spared. They were all shot and wounded one after another. 10 of them were sunk, and the rest were just hanging on. The Japanese naval task force's trip to India was actually bankrupt.
At 12 noon, the entire naval and air battle finally came to an end. Nan Yun, who was transferred to the Kongo, looked at the countless wreckage floating on the sea and lost all thought! The Chinese and British air forces joined forces and achieved a great victory in the Bay of Bengal! Total results: 132 Japanese aircraft shot down, two aircraft carriers, one cruiser, three destroyers, and ten transport ships sunk. It caused more than 3,400 Japanese casualties, the most fatal of which were more than 100 outstanding naval aviation pilots.
In Beijing, Hurley received an urgent notice from the President's Office and rushed to the Presidential Palace when he saw the car of British Ambassador Jonson. The two stopped the car almost at the same time and got out of the car at the same time.
"Ambassador Zhuang Sen, I think President Fang will tell us some good news." Looking at the beaming Zhuang??, Hurley's mood immediately became extremely good, and he finally made some progress. The first batch of nearly US$100 million in aid was not in vain.