"It's better to transfer part of the 54th Army to help defend Wuhan. The 54th Army took on the responsibility of guarding Wuhan, so it naturally needed to be attentive. If Wuhan is at fault, it can be investigated for negligence. Chen Cheng took the opportunity to speak. At this time, the pressure on the defense of Wuhan was very great, and once it was lost, the prestige of the Central Army would inevitably be hit again. On the contrary, the territory of the vanguard army has indeed resisted the attacks of the devils, and its prestige is even greater.

This rise and fall will make the central political axe more passive. It's better to drag the vanguard army in. If Wuhan is defended, it will be the Central Army that will benefit the most; If it can't be defended, the vanguard army will also have to bear the responsibility and damage its reputation. Besides, the army of the vanguard army is defending in Wuhan, and you can buy one or two nearby. for later use.

Old Jiang heard the laughter and said nothing.

"I am willing to defend Wuhan!" This is Meng Xiang's reply to Lao Jiang.

Wuhan is the thoroughfare of nine provinces and the largest central city in Central China. Meng Xiang's eyes were also hot in his heart, but Lao Jiang had never let him interfere, and he had no ability to interfere before. However, after a short period of recuperation, the occupation of the Beijing-Tianjin area has been gradually consolidated in the past few months with the basic implementation of the subsistence allowance before the Spring Festival. The newly occupied Datong and Guisui and other places were also under the control of the 38th and 18th Divisions, and the situation was slowly stabilized.

As soon as the interior was stable, Meng Xiang had more strength to expand outward. Since Lao Jiang opened the door of Wuhan to the vanguard army, where did he not take it?

There is only one thing, if the vanguard army goes to Wuhan to fight. I'm afraid that there is no base to follow nearby. Now all the sub-bases are being used, and even if there is free, it is easy not to transport them to Wuhan, and there seems to be no coal mines near Wuhan. Without the support of the base, I am afraid that the logistical pressure will be greater.

"With so many planes in my hands, I can replenish them by air." After Meng Xiang took stock of the resources in his hand, he breathed a sigh of relief. The air vanguard army still has the advantage, and with air superiority, the devil gunboats in the Yangtze River cannot bargain. Only ground battles are fought, and the vanguard army is not afraid.

Hearing that the devil was approaching, the people of Wuhan who saw the brutality of the devil in the movie of the vanguard army fled one after another, and there were also enthusiastic young people who stayed behind to help guard the fortifications.

News has already come from the front, saying that he has broken through the defense line of the Xishui River and is attacking the second line of defense built by relying on the Ba River. From time to time, new news comes from the front, and the people are still accustomed to being busy with their surnames.

The "buzzing" Wuhan sky suddenly darkened.

"Airplanes? How are there so many planes. Why didn't the air defense sirens sound? Someone was surprised.

"It's the Vanguard plane!" Someone shouted happily. A large logo on the fuselage of a lowered airplane is very conspicuous.

"The destination ahead has arrived!" The lightning reconnaissance plane sent information that it had arrived at Wuhan's Wangjiadun Airport.

All kinds of reconnaissance planes were hung with the title of "electricity." The lightning reconnaissance aircraft is a relatively early type of aircraft produced by Meng Xiang.

The lightning reconnaissance plane was renamed by Meng Xiang based on the Caiyun carrier-based reconnaissance plane of the well-known Xiao Yueben in later generations. Since Meng Xiang's military level was an amateur, he only remembered the Caiyun reconnaissance plane, and the telegram that "invincible fighters pursued behind him" was unforgettable.

When the Caiyun reconnaissance plane, which increased the cost of the base due to the late production date, was produced, Meng Xiang thought viciously: "When the time comes, if I develop Caiyun, will I sue them for infringement?" ”

Although the speed of the Thunderbolt N of 724 kilometers per hour is faster than the speed of the Caiyun reconnaissance plane's speed of 610 kilometers, in order to disgust the little devil and the professional surname of the Caiyun carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft, the name of the lightning reconnaissance aircraft still fell on its head.

Originally, there was a lightning name, but the P-38 took it ahead of time. The name of the flash is inconspicuous, but it is said that my optical level is still high, and the level of the camera is not low. The high speed of the Caiyun reconnaissance plane was enough for the crew to escape quickly.

At this time, Li Zhan was flying at the front of the team with a lightning bolt.

Because of flying in formation with a large army, he had some regrets that he couldn't fly out of the super cool speed of more than 600 kilometers like the squadron leader. But he still dutifully reported some of the situation at the Wangjiadun airport ahead. There are three members on the Caiyun reconnaissance plane, and there is no need to take pictures at this time, just to simply analyze the surrounding situation, which is very easy for Li Zhan, who has flown this distance twice.

The Pioneer Army and Wuhan have daily flights and are already familiar with these routes. It's just that this time there were a lot of planes sorted.

Nearly 100 Junkers Lady carried more than 1,000 heavily armed Pioneer Army soldiers and flew from the Seventh War Zone to Wuhan in a short period of time. It was still 36 Thunderbolt N models that were transferred back to do the escort mission of this aircraft. The naval battle between Weihai and Yantai made the navy have no intention of coming to attack for the time being, and the Canglong aircraft carrier has increased its cruising efforts to control the sky over the entire Bohai Sea region.

Those thunderbolts were drawn out and served as the escort mission.

On the way, the devil's fighter came to intercept it, but it was not a zero. More than 60 Thunderbolt Bs flying from Xinxiang and other places have already attracted more than 40 Zero-type attacks one step ahead. With more fights and fewer fights, plus the pilots of the Army Airlines were a little worse than the average of the HNA Airlines, the battle ended 7 to 4 an hour later. The meaning of temptation and entanglement is greater than the real practice.

On the other hand, the escorting Raiden N inherited the thick skin and rough flesh of the Raiden family, and with 8 machine guns, he directly drove away the old planes of the devils who came to disturb and intercept, and sent them all the way to the vicinity of Wuhan. This first delivery was relatively sudden, and the interception of the devil was also relatively hasty. Only two of the escorted Thunderbolt N were injured, but I am afraid that it will not go so smoothly in the future.

As soon as they arrived at Wangjiadun Airport, the soldiers of the 2nd Division, 1st Brigade and 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the training teams in each plane began to assemble one after another. This time, only two battalions were brought over by planes.

Looking at the neatly arranged vanguard soldiers, the crowd at the airport was discussing.

"They're the Vanguard? Look at that equipment, compared with our Central Army, you can see at a glance that it is not raised by a father! Someone said enviously.

"It was purchased by the people themselves, and it didn't cost the central government a penny." Someone was impressed.

"Didn't spend money? Didn't pay taxes either, did they? Someone said disdainfully. Indeed, the national tax part of the Seventh War Zone has been dragged by Meng Xiang, who often cries poor, and has not been paid for a long time.

"People's tax dollars are used for compulsory education and subsistence allowances. It's not bad to take it from the people and use it for the people! Someone admired. Someone once carefully calculated and published in the newspapers that the military expenditure of the vanguard army and the expenses for subsistence allowance and compulsory education had exceeded the total amount of taxes collected. It's just that taxes represent the majesty of the state, and they no longer work at this point. The separation of taxation also shows that Meng Xiang has already become a complete warlord.

The two battalions, which had rested a little, immediately organized themselves and went to the defense line in the Ba River area, which was already in danger.

The reinforcements of the devils on the ground kept coming, and the Junker lady of the Air Pioneer Army was also escorted by the Thunderbolt plane, transporting personnel and weapons again and again.

Zhengzhou's Army Zero planes were no longer able to intercept them, and they were busy cleaning up the wreckage of Zhengzhou's Mazhai airport.

Mazhai Airport, southwest of Zhengzhou, was originally abandoned. But after the renovation of the company, it became one of their military airfields. In order to facilitate the attack on the vanguard army, more than two dozen Zero aircraft were temporarily concentrated there. Although they knew that the cannon had a long range, the Zero planes that had just finished fighting the lightning were only temporarily grounded. They didn't know that it was also under the direct jurisdiction of the sub-base, and their location was directly displayed on the base's big screen. And the aiming accuracy of the giant cannon there has been greatly improved. So Meng Xiang began to bombard Mazhai Airport again.

A huge cannon shell can cover an area the size of a basketball court, and the devil's Zero plane just came back, and it didn't have time to fly again, and it was bombarded by the bombardment of giant cannon shells and smashed into pieces. In the half-hour bombardment, except for 6 Zero planes in Mazhai, the other 15 have been destroyed.

Even the plane that escaped was bombarded again by the lightning that flew towards Mazhai Airport. Stuka who accompanied him was the icing on the cake and threw some bombs to completely dismantle the facilities in Mazhai Airport.

This place is too close to Xinxiang, and the information from the radar station is somewhat delayed. If you don't wait for such an opportunity to bang once, how can you let them stay nearby?

After this battle, there were only a dozen zeros concentrated in the Xuchang area. It was no longer possible to pose much of a threat to the detachment of transport aircraft of the Vanguard. The second division and the first brigade were gathered one after another.

With the expansion of personnel, the establishment of the teaching team was changed to the structure of a division and brigade with a three-three organization. The current teaching corps is equivalent to a corps with three divisions. The first division was the mechanized division of Tiger II, and it could not be transported, so the second division had to be dispatched.

The front line was critical, and the two battalions that rushed over in advance were also asking for support, and Niu Yi personally led the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Division to the front line of the Ba River.

"Ge Laozi, the little devil is quite fierce!" Zhu Yanchao sat in front of the machine gun fortifications built by the Central Army and poured saliva, moistening his throat, which was hoarse from smoke and fire.

The main forces of the Central Army had already withdrawn to the rear. After the right flank's line of defense near the Yangtze River was handed over to the 1st Brigade of the Teaching Corps, their main forces had already begun to prepare for a strategic shift.

Remembering the platoon commander of the Central Army who shouted to his fellow countrymen with a red face when he handed over the position, he directly gave them the back of the head. Although they also suffered a lot of injuries, the main force was still there, so they shouted to retreat, which was really not courageous.

He had forgotten about his former team, and was proud to be part of the brave vanguard now.

Before coming to Wuhan, in Beiping, the photo of himself taken by a reporter was also published in the newspaper. When I even showed it to myself as an instructor, I didn't believe it. In addition to taking a photo when applying for a military ID, the second photo was taken in the newspaper?

He asked the instructor for the newspaper, which he still carries in his arms. When I go back to my hometown one day, I can show my snobbish eldest brother, who is also a celebrity. It's a pity that the dead parents can't be seen. Maybe we should find another one and burn it to their parents' graves so that they can be happy too.

This can be done by a well-read and knowledgeable instructor. They are very enthusiastic about ordinary soldiers, and they are not as rigid as the company commander Niu Chitose.

However, although the company commander was rigid, he was not ambiguous at all when he started fighting.

Today, Lianli suffered heavy casualties. Before Commander Niu came with the main force of the 1st Brigade, in just half a day, the company suffered more than 30 casualties. This was something that had never happened before, but the company commander did not retreat from the machine-gun position of the heavy fire support platoon. The Tempest machine gun he made was better than his own.

Zhu Yanchao touched the machine gun in front of him, and couldn't help but feel a little regretful in his heart.

The carrying capacity of the aircraft was limited, and the equipment brought in was mainly light weapons, and there was a lack of artillery support. On the other side, he himself has a lot of heavy artillery and even armored vehicles. The largest 80 mortars of the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Division were somewhat inadequate. The firepower of the devils on the opposite side was too fierce, although it was not as exaggerated as the vanguard army, but the 6th and 9th divisions were elite divisions, and their large and small artillery fire was against the 80 mortars of the teaching team at this time, so it made a situation in which the little devils were overwhelmed from the beginning.

"If only the artillery brigade of our teaching team was here, the firepower will definitely make the little devil on the opposite side cry! ......" he couldn't help but breathe again.

There was a scream of falling shells in the air, Zhu Yanchao was about to lie down, but then he felt wrong, and when he looked at the sound, he saw the smoke and dust from the shell explosion rising up one by one on the devil's position. More bombs fell, and in the distance, the devil's position became a sea of fire.

"Our plane!" Someone cheered not far away.

It was difficult for transport planes to transport artillery, and in addition to using giant birds, Meng Xiang also took into account bombers. The B-17 was too wasteful, and Stuka's attack power was too small, so he chose the Ju-88, an all-purpose bomber. But he also didn't expect that the front of the Central Army was already in jeopardy. The first two battalions to arrive were transferred to the front after a hasty rest. He also nodded in agreement at the time, but he didn't expect that in just three hours, the damage of those two battalions exceeded more than 300 people. The Vanguard had never suffered such a loss before.

This is mainly due to the poor defensive and artillery capabilities of the Central Army's fortifications, the positions taken over by the two battalions are easy to attack and difficult to defend, and the artillery fire of the devils is very strong. But no matter what, as soon as Meng Xiang heard the news, he immediately ordered the Ju-88 Brigade to speed up, after all, the Vanguard Army did not have heavy fire support there, and the losses were too great.

The sluggishness of the Ju-88 was not due to the vanguard army, but mainly because there were so many planes concentrated at Wangjiadun Airport at once, which made it impossible to turn around there. At this time, there were only two airports in Wuhan, and Nanhu Airport was built last year, and there were still some imperfect places. And Wangjiadun Airport also needs to take off a large number of fighter jets to deal with the devil's fighters.

This made the thunder and lightning of the Junkers transport aircraft a little sluggish, and although the Ju-88 bomber was versatile and could be modified as a heavy fighter, most of those bombing models were B-type, which also needed proper escort, so there was some delay. It's just that the land attack did not receive effective air support, and the losses were large.

"The thin army light weapons are still suffering! It's no wonder that the elite German armorers of the Central Army are also good in light weapons, and they always suffer in the hands of little devils. The name of the king of war of artillery is not fake. As soon as the teaching team of the vanguard army arrived in Wuhan, it was bombed, which made Meng Xiang feel a little annoyed, and immediately instructed, "Our artillery will be transported over and those little devils will be beaten hard." ”

"Oh my God! There is such a big plane! "When the ME323D giant plane landed in Wangjiadun, the entire airport was shocked. They had vaguely heard that the Vanguard Army had a large aircraft, but what they had heard was much worse than what they had seen with their own eyes. When they saw it descending from the sky like a giant bird from the wilderness, people were shocked from the bottom of their hearts.

The giant bird's slow landing, and before the rolling dust had fallen, its shell-shaped nose cargo hatch was opened, and two 105K18 howitzers and their large quantities of ammunition were dragged out. The onlookers exclaimed in amazement.

Regarding the leak of this giant bird, Meng Xiang has nothing to worry about. The most important thing for this kind of aircraft is the powerful engine, and the engine with several years of advanced technology is not affordable by the engine at this time. Otherwise, the Germans would not have produced it in the middle and late stages of World War II after repeated defeats. And without the protection of escort aircraft, it is too easy to hit such a target.

Three giant birds in a row descended, and there were giant birds flying behind them. Feeling that this thing is really easy to use, Meng Xiang vigorously produced it, and there were already 18 planes in the hands of the vanguard army at this time. It's just that they need more escort aircraft, and most of the aircraft of the vanguard army at this time are short-legged. Neither the Thunderbolt B nor the BF-109 have a very long range. Short-distance escorts are okay, but long-distance escorts are still much worse.

At this time, the small number of long-range escort fighters became the most urgent need for him.

Since he did not expect that the vanguard army would directly go to Wuhan to participate in the war, the army of Yueben, which had air superiority in the face of the Central Army, did not have many air defense weapons at all, and the few air defense weapons were also collected from those troops who surrounded the vanguard army. Therefore, the artillery positions of the 6th Division on the opposite side suffered heavy losses under the sudden bombardment of the universal bombers and immediately lost their prestige.

"Yaga!" Major General Mitsuru Ushijima, commander of the 6th Brigade of the 36th Division, said angrily.

The sudden appearance of the vanguard army made Yue himself a little surprised. At first, he didn't know that the vanguard army was on the other side, and the soldiers who still used the collective charge shouted that they were swept down by the barrage on the opposite side, and in a short period of time, there were more than 400 casualties, which surprised him a lot. If it weren't for the artillery suppression of the 6th Field Artillery Wing later, I am afraid that more people would have been sacrificed.

Even after the bombardment, several successive attacks were still fought back, and Ushijima realized that there was something unusual about the army on the opposite side. This is not the elite of the Central Army.

The artillery who still didn't know who was on the opposite side was still bombarding, and if they knew that the two battalions on the opposite side were the vanguard, they might have been more cautious. But they were arrogant and only cared about bombarding the opposite side, and there were not many artillery fires that made them even more unscrupulous. When the Ju-88 bombed over, they were tragic. Amid the sound of billowing flames, three artillery positions were destroyed, and half of the artillery of the 6th Artillery Regiment was lost.

Also in the bombing, the unsuspecting 36 Brigade suffered more than 800 casualties. The total number of soldiers killed in battle exceeded seven hundred.

"They're the vanguard?" The information was not long in coming. If I had been more cautious, they would have gotten this information in advance. But the 6th Division, which had not experienced the strong firepower of the vanguard army before, was somewhat underestimated to the enemy.

"Sure enough, it is worthy of its name, and the firepower is powerful!" Ushijima Mitsuru inhales. He said that there are many sayings about the vanguard army among myself, which are different, but they are consistent about the excellent weapons and powerful firepower of the vanguard army.

"Keep attacking!" Ushijima said fiercely, "No matter who is on the other side, they will not stop the footsteps of the heroic Imperial soldiers!" ”

He knew that after the plane bombed, it would take a long time before there would be a second attack, and the vanguard army on the opposite side seemed to lack heavy firepower, although his own losses were also large, but there was still the strength to fight. This seemed to be an opportunity to defeat the vanguard army.

Seven or eight 75 field guns from the two artillery positions of the devils in the rear kept bombarding them, but they were much weaker than at the beginning. From time to time, the 80 mortars of the vanguard army also returned fire, although they could not hit the field artillery at a distance, but it was still very effective against places where the infantry was dense. He said that he attacked it, but he did not build too many fortifications, and his anti-artillery ability was equally poor.

"Rabbit give!" The commander of the 23rd Infantry Wing, Sano Tora Taisa, personally stood at the front of the team and commanded.

He didn't know that Chen Ergou's mustache could already be seen in his scope.

"Phew!" With a crisp sound, a large hole was opened in Tomata Sano's head and he fell down like a log.

"The ninety-ninth!" Chen Ergou saw the adjutant fall, and after being excited with surprise in his heart, he immediately rolled to the side, climbed out more than ten meters with his hands and feet, and there was a roar of cannonballs behind him.