readx; The pilots of the pigeon planes did not know why the Nationalist planes behind them did not come to shoot themselves, but they fled back if they could escape, so they went straight to the airport, they did not want to engage in aerial combat with the biplane fighters of the Nationalist Army, although the pigeon planes they were flying had been modified, and the pilots in the back seat could control a light machine gun to shoot, but the angle of fire was extremely limited, not to mention anything else, as long as the Nationalist planes only followed them and did not fly together. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info Then the pigeon plane could only stare dryly, watching the other party shoot bullets from the nose and smash their own plane to pieces.

They don't want to engage in air combat with the fighters of the National Army, they don't know that Wu Shizhong has gone to great lengths to find the airfield of the Beiyang Air Force, and it is not easy for the reconnaissance plane to find an airfield in a short period of time due to its limited range and endurance.

Since the reconnaissance plane could not be found, Li Tunyang thought of a way, saying that it was to follow the Beiyang plane, as long as they returned to the plane, they would be able to find the airfield of the Beiyang Air Force by the way, this idea Wu Shizhong felt feasible as soon as he heard it, so in the past few days, whether it was a reconnaissance plane or a fighter plane, the Nationalist Air Force wanted to meet a Beiyang Air Force plane, and then follow them to find the airfield of the Beiyang Air Force, and then the Beiyang Air Force was scared some time ago, and it rarely went out in peacetime. Even a small number of sorties are selected at dawn and dusk, and in these years, the plane does not have the ability to fly at night, and if the plane has not returned to the airport at night, it will definitely end badly, and there is no chance of forced landing, only a dead end. It is believed that the Nationalist Air Force also tried its best to avoid conducting combat patrols at dusk. Therefore, for several days, the plane of the Beiyang Army was not encountered.

Today, however, the large-scale offensive of the Nationalist Army in the Wuhu and security directions forced the Beiyang Air Force to risk immediate dispatch and conduct reconnaissance. This finally made the National Army plane, which had been guarding for many days, wait for the opportunity.

The pilots of the two pigeon planes did not know that the Nationalist Air Force was deliberately following them in order to find their airport, so they quickly returned to the airport, and the two Nationalist Air Force D5A fighters who followed them also quickly returned and left, which relieved a group of pilots of the Beiyang Army. However, they did not expect that after the two D5A fighters returned home, they immediately reported the location of the Beiyang Air Force base, and after Wu Shizhong learned that the location of the Beiyang Air Force base had finally been reconnoitred, he ordered the three bombing squadrons located at the Nanjing base to prepare for combat on the same day, and at the same time, the relevant reconnaissance planes and fighter squadrons should also make relevant preparations, and he Wu Shizhong wanted to carry out a large-scale bombing to solve the Beiyang Air Force planes from the ground.

When Wu Shizhong was preparing to launch a large-scale aerial bombardment at the Nanjing Air Base, the Sixth Division of the Nationalist Army in Anqing had already come out as a whole, and according to the orders of the Second Army, it was advancing to the northeast, and in front of them was the Second Division of the Anhui Provincial Army. However, Ma Cheng, the commander of the Second Army, gave the order to the Sixth Division to break through to the northeast as soon as possible, and to reach Hefei under the city of Hefei and attack the main force of the Second Army in the southern direction. Therefore, the Sixth Division did not preserve its strength, but directly attacked the whole division, which is also the reason why the Second Division of the Anhui Provincial Army could not resist even a day, and it was also when the Second Division of the Anhui Provincial Army reported to the top, portraying the Sixth Division of the National Army as a threefold enemy, exaggerating the strength of the National Army, and making Cao Kun and Feng Guozhang's judgment inaccurate.

Because up to now, Feng Guozhang analyzed the battle report uploaded by the Second Division of the Anhui Provincial Army, and the result was that the enemy army in the direction of Anqing should have two divisions. If there is one more division in the Anqing direction, then one less division will naturally be counted in other directions, such as the Wuhu direction.

The Wuhu direction is the main direction of the Nationalist Army's northward attack, and in the first stage, three divisions and one mixed brigade were mobilized, and there were also the first and fourth divisions of the First Army waiting in the rear to follow the Second Army northward at any time. In this direction, the Nationalist Army is already expected to invest as many as five divisions and one mixed brigade, which is far from the two divisions estimated by Feng Guozhang.

After the 92nd Regiment of the 9th Division of the Second Army crossed the river lightly, it immediately received the engineering units to cross the river and covered them for the erection of pontoon bridges. At the same time, the navy's 105 mm naval guns and 120 mm naval guns have extended the direction of the shelling inland, and carried out continuous artillery bombardment on Yongnan, although the artillery shelling effect of the naval guns is not great due to the long distance, but it also shocked Wang Chengbin, the brigade commander of the ** Brigade of the 3rd Division, and hindered the follow-up deployment of the ** Brigade to a certain extent.

The fleet's three-inch naval guns and a large number of 75-millimeter artillery guns in Wuhu were also aimed at a few strongholds of the Beiyang Army along the river. Later, even the cavalry battalion of the ** brigade that came to reconnoiter was intercepted and shelled, and after a fierce shelling, a cavalry battalion suffered heavy losses and had to give up the purpose of reaching the river for reconnaissance.

Using the materials that had been prepared for many months, the sappers quickly erected a small pontoon bridge and then prepared to erect a larger pontoon bridge, and after the small pontoon bridge was erected, the 91st Regiment of the 9th Division also quickly crossed the river, and also brought a small number of heavy weapons, such as mortars and heavy machine guns. You must know that the 92nd Regiment, which first crossed the river, crossed the river in small, unarmed wooden boats, and only brought rifles and other light weapons, and only light machine guns and a few 60-mm mortars for support weapons. Now the 91st Infantry Regiment is crossing the river with integrated weapons, and when they arrive, it is bound to greatly strengthen the beachhead defense on the north bank.

Because the pontoon bridge was too small to accommodate too many people crossing the river at the same time, the crossing of the 91st Infantry Regiment lasted for several hours. By the time the 91st Infantry Regiment had crossed the river, it was already about two o'clock in the afternoon, and the 91st Infantry Regiment was followed by the 93rd Infantry Regiment of the Ninth Division. That is to say, it takes more than half a day for the Ninth Division to cross the river lightly, and this is still not carrying a large number of logistical baggage, let alone carrying heavy weapons, the artillery regiment of the Ninth Division, the cavalry battalion, the baggage battalion and other troops need to be able to cross the river after the large pontoon bridge is erected, the reason is also simple, that is, the current small pontoon bridge can not bear the weight of artillery and a large number of horses pulling artillery at the same time, and it is not wide enough, and it is easy to let these expensive heavy weapons and equipment fall into the Yangtze River if you are not careful. It is more likely that the pontoon bridge will be damaged.

The three infantry regiments of the Ninth Division crossed the river one after another, and by the time Zhuang Xianhe also crossed the river with the personnel of the command of the Ninth Division, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening. At the temporarily deployed headquarters, Zhuang Xianhe looked at the map, and then asked: "Where is the 92nd regiment?" ”

A staff officer next to him immediately replied: "After the 92nd Regiment received the sappers and the 91st Regiment to cross the river, it had already extended to the north at 4 o'clock in the afternoon according to the order of the division seat, and according to the telegram from the 92nd Regiment half an hour ago, the 92nd Regiment has now arrived near Yongnan, but due to the darkness of the night and the unknown situation of the enemy, the 92nd Regiment did not rush forward, but stood by near Yongnan!" ”

Zhuang Xianhe nodded after hearing this, the practice of the 92nd regiment is still good, according to intelligence, there is a brigade of the Beiyang Army near Yongnan, and this brigade is not a provincial army like the Anhui Provincial Army, but a ** brigade belonging to the third division of the Beiyang Army, and the third division has been called the first strong army of the Beiyang Army after many battles, so even if this ** brigade is expanded, it is still not to be underestimated. Now although his ninth division has crossed the river, but the three infantry regiments are all lightly armed, at the moment not even a single artillery piece has been brought over, although there is the support of rear artillery and naval guns when on the riverside, but if you go deep into Yongnan, it will be difficult to get the support of rear artillery, and it is not feasible to risk attacking Yongnan before the main force arrives.

Zhuang Xianhe's caution is not without reason, in addition to the heavy weapons did not arrive these factors, but also because Ma Cheng personally explained to him that in this river-crossing operation, the Ninth Division was the first to cross the river, and the most important task was to cover the main force in the rear to cross the river, and it was not the main task of the Ninth Division to quickly infiltrate the enemy's territory or even annihilate the enemy.

The attacks in Anqing and Wuhu had already been launched one after another, and at the same time, Feng Guozhang learned that the Beiyang Air Force had only found information in the direction of Yangzhou, saying that it had not found any signs of large-scale river crossings by the Nationalist Army, let alone large-scale river crossings, and there were no small-scale river crossings. And Wuhu didn't make it.

This night, Feng Guozhang was difficult to sleep, and he discussed the military flag with his subordinates and colleagues until more than twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, and then they dispersed to sleep, and early the next morning, he got up.

However, before he finished freshening up, he actually faintly heard a buzzing sound in his ears, the sound seemed to come from a long distance, and it was also very dense, so that Feng Guozhang couldn't really hear it, and he didn't think much about it when he showed a trace of doubt, but continued to wipe his face with a handkerchief, but after half a moment, he suddenly remembered something, and then his face changed to throw down the handkerchief in his hand, and then quickly walked out of the door, raised his head and looked around in the air.

Feng Guozhang's actions were also surprising to the people around him, and soon several people followed Feng Guozhang's side, and then looked at Feng Guozhang with a puzzled face, and a few of them also learned to look up at the air like Feng Guozhang.

However, after these people looked up at the sky to the south, they seemed to have found something, and then took out their binoculars to look again, and a look of horror appeared on their faces, they saw a group of black spots flying on the southern horizon, and according to their knowledge, they naturally did not regard this group of black spots as geese and other birds, they recognized them at a glance, those were the planes of the national army!

Feng Guozhang looked at the large-scale aircraft group in the distant skyline, his face was deep, there were at least thirty or forty National Army planes in the distant sky, and the last time he saw such a large-scale aircraft group was during the war in southern Jiangsu last year. And almost every time the Nationalist Air Force dispatched a large fleet of aircraft, it was to bomb important targets. What is the important goal, Feng Guozhang did not hesitate to think of places such as artillery positions and logistics warehouses.

"It is reported that all artillery positions, especially heavy artillery positions, are ready for air defense!" Feng Guozhang sneered, Southern Jiangsu suffered such a big loss during the war, Feng Guozhang is not stupid, he has already arranged a large number of anti-aircraft fire to protect important artillery, as for those logistics warehouses, most of them are built in civilian houses, and it is expected that the national army will not find them.

But he did not expect that this time the target of the bomber group of the National Army was not the artillery position of the Beiyang Army, but the airfield of the Beiyang Air Force!