Chapter 360: Turning the Tiger Away from the Mountain
"Get out of the fight!" Zhang Chi gave an order to the fighter units that were still fighting with the Japanese in the air: "Turn the target to Tinian Island and attack the Japanese bombers who have landed at the airfield and are preparing to reload!" ā
"Yes!" Zhang Junhua couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, but he still conveyed the order. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć ļ½ļ½ļ½ļ½
It is precisely because of the deterrent power of the "Hellcat" and "Wildcat" of the Sino-US coalition forces that the Japanese fighters and bombers have to defend against the air defense guns of the warships on one side and the other side of the warship, and they will not be able to take care of both ends of the fight...... This will undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the ship group.
However, the facts have proved that this order is correct.
Because if the fight continues like this, it won't be long before the fighter plane will be completely useless because of the bullets. If this is the case, then why not let these fighters, which still seem to have some combat effectiveness, open up another battlefield to confuse the Japanese and even increase the pressure on the Japanese army?!
As a result, more than 40 fighters, whether they had ammunition or did not have ammunition, flew to the Japanese airfield in one go...... At this time, the Japanese airfield was already very well identifiable, and the reason was that the Japanese troops on Tinian Island no longer emitted smoke in order to make it easier for their bombers to land, and the other was that Japanese bombers were constantly landing on the airfield, and the fighters of the Chinese and American coalition forces only needed to follow them.
Sure enough, the Japanese fleet was quickly fooled.
Actually, it's not good if you don't be fooled...... More than 40 warplanes of the Chinese and American coalition forces suddenly broke away from the sky above the ship group and flew towards Tinian Island, and the fool knew that their purpose was the Tinian Island airfield and the Japanese bombers landing at the airfield.
You must know that those bombers landed at the airport to refuel and hang bombs, not to mention that they were easily hit, and once they were hit, there might be a chain explosion that would cause great losses, and it might even paralyze the airfield.
Obviously, if this happens, then this "Operation A" plan carefully formulated by the Japanese army will no longer be able to be played, at least in the direction of Tinian Island.
This is something that Toyoda Vice Takeshi or Kusaka Ryunosuke didn't expect...... Although they also knew that the new American fighter was very strong, they never thought that the new type of fighter of the US military would be so strong that it would be able to achieve an overwhelming victory with such a large numerical advantage of the Japanese "Zero" fighter, and not only that, but it could also turn to attack Tinian airfield.
Deputy Takeshi Toyoda and Ryunosuke Kusaka always thought that such a huge number of Zero Battles could undoubtedly suppress the Chinese and American fighters, and then the bombers could return to Tinian Island in batches without scruples to reload bombs and bomb the target in turn until the target sank to the bottom of the sea.
But this is clearly not the case.
The airport was in danger, and Harada had to save it, so Harada immediately ordered most of the Zero fighters to pursue the Chinese and American fighters to protect the airport...... The second batch of Japanese fighters were mainly bombers and torpedo planes, and only about 80 of the 175 planes were Zero, and these fighters lost more than 30 in the previous air battles, so the "majority" mentioned here is actually only about 30 planes.
This can also be said to be a regret of the Sino-US coalition forces, if their fighters have enough ammunition, I am afraid that they will be able to completely annihilate the Japanese army at this time.
As soon as the large number of Japanese fighters was transferred, the pressure on the Chinese and US naval groups was greatly reduced...... There were only a dozen Zero fighters left over the ship group, and a large number of bombers needed to go to Tinian Island to reload their bombs after dropping bombs, so there were only about 40 Japanese fighters hovering in the nearby airspace.
On the other hand, at this time, the anti-aircraft gunners knew that their fighters had already shifted their targets, that is to say, all the fighters in the air were Japanese fighters, so there was no identification problem at all, and when they caught a fighter, they would shoot them to death, which increased the probability of the anti-aircraft guns shooting down the enemy plane.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Zhang Chi ordered: "The anti-aircraft fire is concentrated to cover the 'Pinghai', and the fighter is ready to take off urgently!" ā
Zhang Junhua let out an "oh", and only then did he really understand Zhang Chi's intentions.
After the order was issued, the destroyers and even the anti-aircraft guns of the escort aircraft carriers all bombarded and attacked the airspace around the "Pinghai" in bursts, and the Japanese fighters who tried to get close to the "Pinghai" were shot down in an instant, and the other Japanese fighters could only temporarily avoid the anti-aircraft fire in this area.
Unexpectedly, when they avoided for a while, they found that the fighters had swept out one after another from the "Pinghai".
Harada Nakasa couldn't believe his eyes, the enemy fighter plane actually took off at this time...... He vaguely felt that he had fallen for the enemy, but it was too late to regret it at this time, and hurriedly ordered the fighters to suppress the "Pinghai".
However, at this time, the Japanese army could not take care of that side if they could take care of this side, and when Harada's attention was focused on the "Pinghai", the US escort aircraft carrier took off a "Hellcat" in a cold manner, and even the Sino-US coalition forces had another victory at the Tinian Island airfield...... A "Wildcat" fighter plane successfully blew up a Japanese ammunition truck loaded with aerial bombs that were about to be loaded on Japanese fighters, and the explosion blew up a large crater on the airport runway and overturned two bombers that had landed nearby.
Harada Nakasa couldn't help but groan in his heart...... Before the expedition, he was still full of confidence, knowing that in order to organize this attack, the Japanese army used a total of 326 fighters, which accounted for three-fifths of the total number of Japanese fighters. Harada Samoto planned to use this strong lineup and absolute numerical superiority to fight a complete victory, that is, to complete the task of annihilating the seventh detachment of China and the United States at the cost of no more than twenty fighters. Only in this way will it be possible to fight other battles in the future.
But now......
Harada realized that even if he could complete the mission at this time, there would not be a few fighters left that could go back, which meant that the "Ah Plan" had failed.
The failure of the "Plan A" will inevitably be followed by a complete rout of the Japanese army. Because Japan no longer has the ability to organize such a large-scale air battle, the defeat in the air battle determines the naval battle, and the naval battle determines the fate of the island nation of Japan......
Thinking of this, Harada said to his deputy Yamaguchi Shaosa on the walkie-talkie: "Yamaguchi-kun, the troops will be under your command!" Please! ā
Then, Harada flew the fighter plane and rushed to the escort aircraft carrier that was taking off the "Hellcat" fighter......
(To be continued.) )