October 17, 1939.

To the west of Luzon, in the Verde waterway, a huge fleet flying the flag of the rising sun suddenly appeared from the sea level of the Pacific Ocean to the east and sailed quickly into the sea area west of Luzon Island and surrounded by Japanese islands.

One Longfeng-class aircraft carrier, one Longxiang-class aircraft carrier, two Xiangfeng-class aircraft carriers, three Eagle-class aircraft carriers, four Myo-class heavy cruisers, six Nagara-class light cruisers and ten destroyers, as well as one fast tanker, one fast supply ship. There are 29 ships of various types, cleaving the waves, moving forward mightily, such a spectacular scene, the Japanese sailors on the deck are excited, plus another six large aircraft carriers belonging to the Japanese 10th Air Fleet that has quietly entered the Xiyanbu Sea, the main force of the entire Japanese Combined Fleet, except for five battleships, has been dispatched! In addition, the Japanese naval aviation also deployed two air squadrons equipped with a large number of kamikaze special attack aircraft to Luzon Island to help in the war! With such a huge air combat force, it stands to reason that the commander who commanded the 11th Air Fleet should be full of ambition and waiting to make a contribution to the Japanese Empire.

However, Commander Inoue Narumi now suddenly felt that the gate of Kudanzaka was opening to him, and a burst of cool air climbed onto his back from somewhere.

Standing in the cramped command center of the Longxiang aircraft carrier, which served as the flagship, Inoue kept looking up at the wall clock hanging on the wall, and asked the staff officer from time to time: "Haven't you discovered the location of the Chinese aircraft carrier yet?" ”

"There's nothing left undiscovered." Arima Masamune shook his head, he knew that the Chinese aircraft carriers in Inoue's mouth were referring to the eleven large aircraft carriers that were missing! Instead of the five aircraft carriers in the Zhanjiang military port (in fact, one training aircraft carrier converted from merchant ships, two large aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships, two seaplane carriers). Arima thought for a moment, and then said, "The two air fleets on Luzon Island and the 10th Air Fleet have already sent seaplanes to search the depths of the South China Sea. However, for the time being, I have not found the shadow of the Chinese fleet, and I believe that as long as you have patience, you will definitely find them out...... Maybe they're on their way back to Zhanjiang Military Port, and it would be nice if we could meet them when we launch a surprise attack. ”

"I hope so." Inoue Narumi seemed to be full of confidence yesterday, but when he was about to attack, an inexplicable fear rose in his heart, and he seemed to feel that the situation in front of him was a trap set by the Chinese to lure the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet!

"Sir, don't worry." Now it was Arima Masawen's turn to comfort Inoue, and he smiled faintly: "It's already one o'clock in the afternoon, and there are still 15 minutes before the carrier-based plane will start taking off." All 180 aircraft took off in just 15 minutes. Then our 11th Air Fleet can be evacuated. At such a short time, there will definitely be no problems, and the telegram sent to us by the Combined Fleet said that the time of declaration of war was 5:40 p.m., and the time when the surprise attack troops arrived at Zhanjiang Military Port was 5:30 p.m., and we would have run away by then.

Moreover, our 11th Air Fleet is now located more than 1,300 kilometers from the Zhanjiang military port and nearly 1,000 kilometers from the island of Taiwan. At this distance, China's shore-based A-4 series dive bombers are helpless against us. Unless aircraft carriers are used, the reconnaissance planes of the 21st and 22nd Air Groups have already searched the sea area 200 nautical miles west of the Philippines, and there is no shadow of a Chinese aircraft carrier at all. ”

The meaning of arima seems to say. Even if the 11th Air Fleet can't beat the Chinese, it can always run. After all, China and Japan have not yet declared war, and the Verde waterway is within Japan's sphere of influence, and it is next to Luzon, the main island of the Japanese Philippines, to the north and east. To the west and south are the islands of Lubang and Mindoro in the Japanese Philippines. There is no way for Chinese reconnaissance planes to enter without violating Japan's airspace, and now that it is still peacetime, China should not do that...... Only when Zhanjiang was bombed would they send reconnaissance planes to search for Japanese aircraft carriers, and at that time, the 11th Air Fleet had already run away. And. Since Japan uses suicide planes that have no return. Therefore, it also has a great advantage in range, and even if the Chinese reconnaissance aircraft discover the 11th Air Fleet, their dive bombers will definitely not be able to reach it!

Inoue Narumi was silent, then walked to the chart table again, her eyes fixed on the island of Taiwan on the chart. This island, which was once occupied by Japan for more than 30 years, has now become the biggest threat to this "Special No. 1 Operation Plan"! Since China got Taiwan, it has continued to build airfields and military bases there, completely treating it as an unsinkable aircraft carrier.

According to the report of the Japanese intelligence network lurking on the island of Taiwan. Since September, groups of bombers of the Chinese Air Force have been transferred to airfields on the island of Taiwan. I'm afraid the cumulative number is no less than 1,000! Although these twin or quadruple medium and heavy bombers did not pose much of a threat to the fleet, thousands of them were dispatched together. Or can you hit your own 11th Air Fleet.

Therefore, in the naval part of the Special No. 1 operation plan, it was arranged for the aircraft carrier to withdraw from the battlefield immediately after releasing the kamikaze aircraft, and the time for the attack to be launched was set at 1:15 p.m. This would give the 11th Air Fleet at least four hours to escape, and by the time Chinese reacted, it would be almost dark...... However, as one of the formulators of this surprise attack plan, Inoue knew that his air fleet was not absolutely safe, because the Chinese deployed FW-200F long-range reconnaissance aircraft with a super range of 7,000 kilometers on the island of Taiwan, and this reconnaissance aircraft was also equipped with high-performance aviation radar, and there was no need to go deep into Verde Island, or even fly west of Mindoro Island, you can find the Japanese fleet hiding here.

Perhaps, the Japanese fleet has already been discovered by them, and he, the commander, still knows nothing! Thinking of this, Inoue Narumi took another breath and looked up at the wall clock on the wall, how could time pass so slowly!

……

Just when Inoue Narumi was anxiously waiting for the surprise attack to begin. A slender FW-200F long-range reconnaissance plane with four 1,600 hp star engines is slowly flying south in the air west of Luzon, near the island of Mindoro! In the cabin, four radar crews were divided into two groups. Take turns watching a green radar screen.

In fact, in the "Philippine Operation Plan" drawn up by the squadron, this kind of long-range reconnaissance plane would not have been used to search the ocean east of the Philippines before the start of the war. Because doing so was likely to be discovered by Japanese reconnaissance planes, thus sounding the alarm bell for them.

However, in the early hours of this morning, after the Philippine Joint Operational Command received an early warning issued by the General Staff of the National Defense Forces that "the Japanese army may surprise the Zhanjiang Military Port," the joint commander-in-chief, General Zhao Zheng, immediately dispatched all 24 FW-200F planes at hand to conduct repeated searches in the Pacific Ocean east of the Philippines and the South China Sea west of the Philippines.

The reconnaissance plane, numbered Blackbird-21, was responsible for the search mission on the west coast of the Philippines.

"Look, the radar screen has responded!"

Suddenly, a small dark green dot appeared at the top of the radar screen. A young radar soldier suddenly exclaimed. Before the three partners around him could react, a few more dots appeared right after! Is that......

"The fleet of the Japanese!" The radar soldier suddenly shouted excitedly: "Brothers, we have discovered the fleet of little Japan!" ”

"That's Ramon Bay near Polloli." At the head of the four radar crews, a naval major sergeant looked at the chart and hesitated: "Could it be a transport fleet?" ”

"Let's report to the captain first, and let him decide if he wants to get closer."

"Okay, notify the captain immediately."

The captain in the cockpit quickly made a decision, and while ordering the telegraph operator to send the news of the discovery of the Japanese fleet back to the base, he piloted the plane in the direction of Ramon Bay......

"Sir, report Blackbird 21. They found about 30 unidentified ships in the Verde waterway west of Luzon. It is more than 1,300 kilometers away from the Zhanjiang military port, should we let the bomber group on the island of Taiwan be dispatched? ”

"1300 km?"

In the headquarters of the South Ocean Fleet in Zhanjiang Military Port, Zhao Zheng stood in front of the chart platform with his arms crossed and was silent for a moment, which was still a bit far for most single-engine aircraft. Even the shore-based A-4A2 dive bombers deployed at the Kaohsiung base in the south of the island of Taiwan can barely reach them, but that is without carrying heavy bombs, and there is no actual combat significance at all.

In contrast, the Japanese have taken advantage of the range of flights! According to the report of the Military Intelligence Bureau, the latest Type 99 kamikaze attack aircraft (developed on the basis of the Type 98 ship explosion) put into service by the Japanese army also has a range of up to 250 kilometers while carrying 1450 kg of high explosives! Although the A-1700A2 and A-4B2, equipped with 4 hp engines, when carrying bombs of the same weight. The range is also 1700 km. But the Chinese plane is going to return! Therefore, the combat radius is only 850 km, which is simply not enough to reach the opponent...... Now the only ones that can be dispatched are the more than 1,000 medium- and long-range bombers of the Air Force deployed on the island of Taiwan and originally intended to be used to bomb Luzon.

"Brother Han Yu, give an order to Taiwan's Liu Zezhi (Liu Yongyao, Air Force General, Commander of the Second Air Army), and let the Second Air Force dispatch all medium and long-range bombers to the Verde Island waterway." Zhang Yiming, chief of staff of the Joint Command, who had just returned from Wuhan, received the telegram from the communications staff officer. After a few glances, a suggestion was made immediately.

"Shall we strike first? The order from the base camp is for us to fight back. Zhao Zheng was slightly stunned. Asked rhetorically.

"It's too late for them to call," Zhang Yiming raised his wrist and looked at the time. "It's 1:15 p.m., and the Japanese carrier-based aircraft are taking off now, and it will probably not arrive at Zhanjiang Military Port until 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. If our plane takes off again by then, it will probably be night when it reaches the Verde waterway. Saying that, he smiled and said: "I estimate that the Japanese carrier-based aircraft should almost take off, if we give Liu Ze an order now, their air force bombers will not be able to complete takeoff at least after 2 o'clock, and it will be almost 5 o'clock and 6 o'clock when they reach the Verde Island waterway...... This should also be considered a counterattack, without violating the orders of the base camp. ”

As for the more than 1,000 bombers and hundreds of fighters escorting over the airspace of the Japanese Philippines or something, our Chief of Staff Zhang has automatically ignored them.

"Well, that's right." Zhao Zheng turned his head and smiled at Zhang Yiming, since the chief of naval operations said so, he was also happy to pretend to be confused. "Immediately give an order to Taiwan's Second Air Force. Let them send all their bombers to attack the Japanese aircraft carrier fleet along the Verde waterway. Also, where is the 1st Combined Air Fleet under the command of Chen Hualong (Chen Si) now? ”

"Near 150 nautical miles east of Cam Ranh Bay, our reconnaissance aircraft has just flown over them." Zhang Yiming replied. The First Combined Air Fleet is composed of 11 large aircraft carriers of the South and Western Fleets, with Chen Si, commander of the Western Fleet, as the commander, and this fleet is now lurking in the South China Sea near the Khmer Rouge (a Chinese colony) and is under radio silence.

"There's no need to hide anymore," Zhao Zheng looked down at the chart and thought for a while, "It's about 500 nautical miles away from the Japanese Philippines." It seems that it will not be able to catch up with today's battle. Let them strike the Japanese naval airfields in Manila and Subic early tomorrow morning. ”

"Also, let the Second Fleet in Zhanjiang Military Port be dispatched immediately, and be sure to leave Guangzhou Bay before the Japanese planes arrive."

……

Wuhan East Lake, General Staff of the National Defense Forces.

War Room 1 was in chaos at this moment, all the telephones were clanging, and the serious-looking staff officers were walking back and forth with various reports or orders, and a few high-pitched yells could be heard from time to time.

"Is there a report of a sneak attack on Zhanjiang?"

"Assistant, not yet."

"Hurry up and send a telegram to urge, let Zhao Zheng report that he has discovered a sneak attack on the Japanese plane, and the president is still waiting!"

"But the Joint Command has not yet found a Japanese ......"

"Go! Block Go! Do as I say, send a telegram to that kid Zhao Zheng. Let him report the discovery of a Japanese sneak attack on the aircraft group! Our Generalissimo Luo glared at the staff officer who had just been transferred to the General Staff, and muttered in a low voice: "These guys are too ignorant...... We are a democracy, how can the army start a war casually? ”

After sending the staff officer to send a telegram to Zhao Zheng, Luo Yaoguo called the deputy chief of staff, General Yan Wu, to the edge of the electric sand table. Pointing to the Sino-Japanese (Korean) border on the map, he asked, "Has the telegram to Bai Jiansheng been sent?" Did you receive a call back? ”

"Teacher. Commander Bai of Shenyang has just received a call back, and he asked you if you can let the artillery groups and planes on the front line launch a round of surprise attacks first? Commander Bai estimated that the Japanese attacking forces had already entered the starting position. Yan Wu took out a telegram and handed it to Luo Yaoguo with both hands.

"Yes, you can." Luo Yaoguo nodded, and said again: "But this time we are fighting back in self-defense." The first shot cannot be fired first. You tell Bai Jiansheng that if he hears the sound of Japanese artillery fire, he can launch a counterattack, and there is no need to ask for additional instructions. ”

"Okay, student got it." As soon as Yan Wu wanted to turn around and leave, the staff officer who was in charge of maintaining contact with the Zhanjiang Joint Command hurriedly came over and stuffed a telegram to Yan Wu. smiled: "Commander Zhao's telegram, they found out that Japan had attacked the aircraft group." And Taiwan's Second Air Force has already been ordered to launch a counterattack. ”

"Good, good." Luo Yaoguo took the telegram and looked at it. He said to Yan Wu with a solemn face: "Now our country has been attacked by Japanese militarists for no reason!" I order the Joint Command, the Beiyang Theater and the Australian Theater to immediately and realistically counterattack the aggressor! After giving the order to counter the Japanese invasion, he strode to a red telephone, picked up the microphone and dialed the phone in the president's office, informing President Luo Yiqun of the bad news that the Republic of China had been treacherously attacked by the Japanese Empire......

At this moment, the Japanese 11th Air Fleet in the waterway of Verde Island in the Japanese Philippines, thousands of miles away, had completed the task of launching carrier-based aircraft. The 160 Type 99 kamikaze planes, which were destined to have no return, headed north under the escort of 20 of the latest Zero shipboard fighters. At the same time, 180 kamikaze special attack planes and 40 Zero fighters of the Japanese Navy's 22nd Air Force were also divided into several groups and roared towards the Chinese Navy's Zhanjiang Military Port in the northwest direction at the Manila, Subic, Baguio, and Dagupan airfields on Luzon Island.

Seeing the last Type 99 kamikaze special attack aircraft disappear from his sight, Vice Admiral Narumi Inoue of the Japanese 11th Air Fleet put down the binoculars and breathed a sigh of relief. To the chief of staff of the fleet behind him, Arima Masamune: "Okay, our mission is finally completed, let's go, get out of here and go back to Japan." ”

At the sound of an order, twenty-nine ships of various types began to turn their bows at the same time, and then quickly crossed the Verde waterway into the Tabulas Strait and entered the Sulu Sea...... At the same time as they left, on the island of Taiwan, the Kaohsiung Air Base and Tainan Air Base of the Chinese National Defense Force Air Force had already raised a piercing battle alarm, and thousands of Chinese Air Force officers and men who had already been ready to go rushed out of their respective barracks and ran towards the more than 1,000 fighters and bombers neatly arranged on the side of the airport runway!

Only, will they be able to catch up with the Japanese fleet that is fleeing? (To be continued)