It may be unbelievable that it has been nearly three years since the Nationalist Government moved its capital to Chongqing, but it has never established an effective air defense early warning mechanism for defending the capital. At that time, the initial warning of the Chinese side basically relied on setting up air defense observation posts on the Japanese army's usual routes, relying on manpower to visually search for enemy planes, and once the Japanese army adopted new routes and tactics, it had to rely on the early warning posts on the peaks around Chongqing as the last line of warning, but by the time these posts discovered the traces of Japanese aircraft, the early warning time left for the Chinese military and civilians was basically gone.

In the original history, Chongqing would experience an unprecedented catastrophe nine months later, on the night of June 5, 41, the Japanese army launched a large-scale bombing campaign that lasted for five hours, and it was because of the unfavorable warning that the Japanese planes had approached the urban area of Chongqing when the alarm sounded. The residents of the urban area did not have time to evacuate to the surrounding area, so the air defense tunnel with a maximum capacity of 6,000 people was squeezed into more than 10,000 people that night, because of the serious overcrowding, coupled with the dereliction of duty of the organization and management department, which eventually led to the death of a large number of citizens in the air defense tunnel because of lack of oxygen and suffocation, which is the famous tunnel tragedy in history.

But even if such a tragic incident occurred, the government of the Republic of China has never made any adjustments to the original air defense early warning mechanism, and then instead of investigating and reviewing the matter, it rushed to bury and destroy the corpses, tampering with the number of casualties, in order to cover up the corruption and malfeasance of the government management.

This time, because it wanted to attract the main force of the Chinese Air Force, the Japanese army did not bother to carry out any surprise attacks, on the contrary, the bomber group deliberately flew over the area around the Chinese air defense posts that had been identified, so that the Chinese side could give early warning. Therefore, when this group of Type 96 land attack planes flew over Chongqing, the city's alarm had been sounded for a long time. The busy streets and riverside wharves have been evacuated by this time, and the streets and alleys have been empty. There is not a single figure in sight.

The Type 96 bomber lowered its altitude, and the bomber of the pilot pilot, chewing the allotment of milk candy in his mouth, lay on the floor of the rear cabin, carefully searching for the target through the lens of the sight. The bombers were used as bait by the air force hierarchy to lure the Chinese fighters into dispatch, but the crews of the Japanese bombers were unaware of this, they only knew that this was a routine bombing mission, and the orders of the superiors were to fly strictly according to the plan. The Japanese army's habit is to do a full set of dramas, since it is said to be a bombing mission, it is really a regular bombing to carry out, they deliberately selected the area in the center of the city near the Yangtze River. It is densely populated with shops, and the heavy losses are more likely to provoke the determination of the Chinese air force to dispatch.

The bomber had already participated in dozens of similar operations, and the map of the entire Chongqing city had already been memorized, and he instructed the pilot to adjust the course through the intercom in the plane, watching the crosshairs in the scope slowly approach the bombing target.

"Bomb drop!" The bomber shouted as he pressed the bomb dropping switch.

The Mitsubishi Type 96 land attack aircraft is the most advanced twin-engine bomber currently equipped by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and at the beginning of the design, she was required to be able to carry torpedoes and heavy bombs. Instead, all the mounts are hung on the pylons in the lower part of the fuselage.

When the bomb dropping switch was turned on, twelve 60-kilogram aerial bombs hanging under the belly of the aircraft broke away from the pylons at the same time, and the gray-green bombs swayed and tumbled and fell rapidly towards the city below, more than ten seconds later. The entire fireball filled the scope with a shock wave and various debris and debris.

"Roar, the target hits." The bomber gave a thumbs up to the co-pilot in the front cabin.

Dense bombs set fire to the wooden buildings along the river, and black smoke obscured the sky. At the time of the bombing, the two remaining Chinese navy gunboats on the Yangtze River were slowly fleeing upstream along that stretch of the river. When the Japanese plane was discovered, the captain personally took the helm to carry out evasive navigation. Looking down from the sky, I saw these two old river gunboats that were less than 100 tons. Began to frantically paddle around the narrow river with white trails.

At this time, Chongqing's air defense units finally began to fire back, and several small-caliber antiaircraft guns laid out near the pier fired rows of tracer shells, but due to the limited firing height, they could only explode strings of beautiful white and black smoke in the air hundreds of meters away from the belly of the Japanese plane.

Chongqing's ground anti-aircraft firepower is not in keeping with the city's status, both qualitatively and quantitatively. According to the statistics of the military in 39, the anti-aircraft firepower of the Chongqing defense area was only 17 Bofors 75-mm anti-aircraft guns, eight 37-mm, five 25-mm and three 20-mm machine guns, and the Chinese government relied on these pitiful anti-aircraft weapons as the last line of defense for the city's air defense, against the Japanese bomber groups that came in like locusts.

What is even more surprising is that these weapons are not used in a centralized manner, but are distributed around Chongqing, defending several key points of the government. The Japanese army had carried out bombing operations specifically against these anti-aircraft fires, so much so that by September, Chongqing no longer had a few large-caliber antiaircraft guns that had the courage to open fire, and unless the Japanese planes approached the official residence of the national leader, they were all silent, so as to prevent the heavy weapons of the party and the state from being consumed in vain.

The anti-aircraft fire on the ground was weak, and the 96 land offensive was like no one in the sky over Chongqing, and soon ran out of ammunition it carried, leaving a mess on the ground. At this time, the bomber group turned its course and prepared to return to the base, but the Chinese fighters that the Japanese were waiting for still did not show up, which made the Zero fighter group ambushed at high altitude a little anxious, what to do if the Chinese Air Force did not appear, no one seemed to mention this issue when making plans.

"Be patient, they'll show up." Shinto comforted himself quietly.

"They like to raid from the rear when our troops are coming back, as they used to do." Shinto shook his wings and motioned for the squadron to follow him.

The tactics used by the Chinese Air Force may now seem somewhat negative, mainly because the Air Force has come under too much pressure from the top of the government, and has been severely restricted in both combat and training, and any pilots who violate these combat regulations will be subject to military law.

When the Sino-Japanese all-out war first broke out, the strength of the Chinese air force was not bad, and it could be regarded as a good force in the world. Many pilots have been trained abroad, and the government has hired many foreign instructors, although they may be lacking in combat will, but in terms of technology, they are not far from the world average.

Because it was influenced by the social atmosphere at that time, and because it was a technical unit that regarded itself as superior, there were many arrogant and fierce generals in the air force who ignored military discipline, and embezzlement, smuggling, and theft of military supplies became the norm, and there were even bad incidents in which bomber pilots deliberately caused accidents and crashed landlines in order to evade training. However, when the war was really approaching, the pride of the Chinese Air Force made an exceptionally good performance on the battlefield, which not only inspired the courage of countless Chinese soldiers and civilians to resist Japan, but also offset the negative image left by many air forces before.

At the beginning of the war, the Chinese Air Force was equipped with aircraft that were still in the same era as Japanese aircraft, and there was not much gap between the two sides in terms of technical performance, and the performance of some advanced models even exceeded that of some Japanese counterparts. At that time, the Japanese air force, whether it belonged to the navy or the army, was actually the same as the Chinese air force in terms of actual combat experience.

The Japanese army had not really experienced any regular air warfare before, and most of the formulation of air combat tactics was copied from the experience of the European battlefield. At that time, the tactics used by the Japanese army were outdated and rigid, the commanders lacked experience in air combat, the pilots only knew how to mechanically carry out orders, and the staff officers who formulated the plans completely ignored the actual situation and only relied on a blind optimistic attitude to ignore the lives of the pilots. For example, when they did not have a stable forward base, they often ordered bomber units to cross the strait for long-distance attacks, and because the range of the escort fighters was insufficient, these vulnerable bombers were allowed to act alone. (To be continued.) )