This is also the most important reason why Yang Zhen replaced Ma Chunsheng, who is currently north of Xinjing, with Wang Xiaoming, who is old and serious, at this time. For this kind of battle that requires a deep understanding of the intentions of the superiors, the grasp of the sense of rhythm is more that Ma Chunsheng, who is good at winning by surprise, is not as good as Wang Xiaoming.

In fact, for commanding this kind of battle, the most suitable person is Tao Jingfei. It's just that he is now fighting far away on the border between East Manchuria, China and North Korea, and it is unrealistic to want to be transferred back. Moreover, Tao Jingfei, who has been fighting in East Manchuria, has been fighting since the start of this battle, and he is still extremely unfamiliar with the Xinjing battlefield.

Even if you can transfer back, it will take a lot of time to get familiar with the battlefield. It is far less efficient than Wang Xiaoming, who has been transferred to join the Xinjing battlefield because the Japanese army opened the Fengman Reservoir, which can no longer continue to advance eastward. At the same time, the frequent change of commanders in the direction of Xinjing will affect the continuity of command to a certain extent.

Coupled with Wang Xiaoming's own personality, Yang Zhen hesitated and chose Wang Xiaoming. At least in this kind of battle, he is much more reassuring than the adventurous Ma Chunsheng. At least you won't be carried away by the situation in front of you, and you will do something against the intentions of your superiors regardless of it.

After thinking about it, Yang Zhen said to Guo Bingxun: "Old Guo, my attitude is still the same sentence, Xinjing can't be taken down." We cannot afford to be carried away by mere political victories. Xinjing is a bottomless pit for us. You have to fight, but you can't really take it down. ”

Thinking that Guo Bingxun had just mentioned the current weakness of Wang Xiaoming's department in terms of firepower, Yang Zhen knocked on the table and pondered for a while and said, "But you are right, the current heavy firepower of Wang Xiaoming's department is indeed a problem. In this kind of battle, whether it is a feint attack or a real battle, it is very difficult to do a good job without the cover and coordination of large-caliber artillery. ”

"In this way, in the artillery reserve of the general's district, there are four Japanese 89 150-mm cannons and two 120-mm cannons. There are also the train guns armed with 240-millimeter cannons captured in Harbin last year, and the two 240-millimeter heavy howitzers currently installed in Shuangcheng. Along with all the shells, they were all transferred to the periphery of Xinjing. ”

"These super-large caliber heavy guns were allocated to Wang Xiaoming for use. The fortification group on the periphery of Xinjing let him gnaw little by little with heavy artillery. In this way, we don't have to pay too many casualties, and we can make a bigger momentum through the heavy artillery made by these little devils. ”

"No matter how strong the little devils' fortifications are, I don't believe they can withstand the fire of a 150-millimeter cannon. And what is more, we also have a two-hundred-forty-mm cannon and a three-hundred-mm fortress gun? If you go down with one shot, all the fortifications will be in vain. ”

"These large-caliber artillery pieces are in addition to the hundreds of 75-mm mountain artillery pieces, 100-mm howitzers, and some artillery directly under his command from the three divisional artillery regiments of his three divisions. I think the covering firepower he has at hand can be said to be sufficient. In addition, the reinforcement of so many super-large caliber heavy artillery also showed the Kwantung Army our determination to recover Xinjing on the other hand. ”

"As for Wang Xiaoming, I think as long as he speaks clearly, he can still grasp this rhythm and intensity. Wang Xiaoming is not Du Kaishan, nor is he Ma Chunsheng. He is stable and flexible, and although his strategic vision is not as good as Wang Guangyu's, he still has a considerable level of tactical ability. If necessary, it is not impossible for you or me to make a trip yourself. ”

After listening to all Yang Zhen's thoughts, Guo Bingxun hesitated for a moment, but finally didn't say anything. According to Yang Zhen's train of thought, he drafted the order quickly and continuously, turned around and handed it over to the communications staff officer and immediately issued it to all departments. On the telegram, Guo Bingxun asked all departments to start their operations within two hours after receiving this order from the headquarters.

However, Guo Bingxun specially added two sentences to the telegram to Wang Guangyu, asking Yang Jicai to report the progress every two hours after the interspersed operation began. And on the telegram to Ma Chunsheng, Guo Bingxun also made the same request. Regarding Guo Bingxun's request, Yang Zhen smiled and did not deny it.

Whether it is Yang Jicai or Ma Chunsheng, their next interspersed actions are related to the progress of the West Manchurian war. The mastery of their detailed situation has a direct bearing on the judgment and grasp of the entire battlefield situation by the General Headquarters. Guo Bingxun's approach is undoubtedly a fairly prudent decision. Lao Cheng seeks the country, which is what it means.

Guo Bingxun drafted telegrams to the various columns here, but Yang Zhen over there put his mind on the phone call with Fang Ziyi, the commander of the aviation force, that had ended before. Since the weather gradually cleared up last evening, the activities of the Japanese air force began to become frequent. As soon as night fell, the Japanese army dispatched a large number of Type 96 bombers to bomb the Songhua River embankment at night.

Since 8:35 p.m. last night, the first Japanese bombers appeared over the battlefield. Throughout last night, bombers belonging to the Japanese naval air force bombed the embankments of the Nenjiang and Songhua rivers from Shuangcheng in the west to Qiqihar in the east, along several hundred kilometers of the river.

The frequency of its bombings and the number of bombers dispatched are far from comparable to those of a few days ago. Despite the fact that the Japanese bombers participating in the battle, breaking through the air blockade line constructed by the air forces, and the fire network deployed by the ground anti-aircraft artillery units, there were not many opportunities to break into the target area.

But even a few Japanese bombers that broke through the blockade brought considerable danger. The Buyeo section on the south bank of the Songhua River, which was the key bombing target, dropped more than 30 bombs in one night last night alone, and all of them were 100-kilogram high-explosive bombs.

The extremely high tactical quality displayed by the bomber unit of the Japanese Navy's air force last night also surprised the anti-coalition air force unit that was fighting with it for the first time. Its ability to raid at low altitudes at night, the accuracy of bombing, and especially the ability of bombers to fly at night, are generally higher than those of the Kwantung Army Aviation Corps of the Army Aviation System.

In particular, under the cover of flares, the accuracy of horizontal bombing and low-altitude entry bombing is also higher than that of the Japanese army aviation. Even in the absence of night navigation, bombers flying on instruments alone and barely having any ground reference were disoriented or left behind.

And in the face of the interceptor fighters of the Anti-United Nations, these elites of the Japanese naval aviation actually dared to set up bulky bombers and play combat with the fighters of the Anti-United Nations. He even used the on-board 7.7mm self-defense machine gun to shoot down an anti-United Nations P40 fighter.

The extremely high tactical quality displayed by the Japanese naval aviation has taught a profound lesson to the anti-United Nations air force, which has been a little bullish because of its repeated victories against the Kwantung Army Aviation Corps. Let these Fighting Falcons, who don't know the height of the sky, know what it means to have a sky outside the sky.

If it weren't for the fact that the Anti-Japanese Union had deployed a large number of anti-aircraft artillery along the Songhua River in advance, especially the small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns with an extremely fast rate of fire. In last night's night air battle, the Japanese naval aviation, which has a high level of tactical literacy, will really be attacked from a low altitude. It was the intensive firepower of twin 23-mm anti-aircraft guns and 14.5-mm anti-aircraft machine guns that broke the idea of a sneak attack from a low altitude.

In last night's night air battle, although with the assistance of radar and searchlights, the ground anti-aircraft artillery cooperated with the only three combat squadrons of the air force capable of night combat. The Japanese bombers were put up full resistance. After a night of fierce fighting, the anti-coalition air force shot down 24 Japanese Type 96 bombers at the cost of 13 of their own battle damage and accident losses.

However, the air force and ground anti-aircraft artillery were unable to completely intercept the night air attack of the Japanese air force. The anti-aircraft artillery was better, and the table Xiàn at least showed the usual level of training. However, it is difficult for Yang Zhen to be satisfied with the appearance of the air force.

Of the dozens of combat squadrons and hundreds of fighters in the entire air force fighter unit, only three or a few dozen of them can conduct night air combat. Moreover, the tables of these three aviation squadrons can only be described as unsatisfactory. Even with the guidance of ground-based radar, it still lost its target many times when it was still attacking.

Even the squadron of aviation that made a sortie appeared on the way back, lost its target and made a forced landing in the field because of the exhaustion of fuel. The battle damage of these thirteen planes was still under the condition that the Japanese naval air bomber group that participated in the air raid was not escorted by fighter planes.

Yang Zhen didn't even dare to imagine that if the Japanese bomber group that attacked was escorted by enemy planes, with the excellent performance of the zero battle, and the technical and tactical level of the Japanese naval aviation was stronger than that of the army aviation. According to today's table, how many planes can the three combat squadrons of the aviation attack come back?

A night air defense operation full of loopholes allowed Yang Zhen to mobilize a large number of ground anti-aircraft artillery by himself to form a ground-air combined fire interception network, without placing all his hopes on the aviation troops. Although it suffered some losses, it was not captured by the Japanese army in the end.

He also saw a lot of problems that had been covered up because of the excellent performance of the air force. These problems need to be addressed urgently, although many cannot be solved in a short period of time. But in Yang Zhen's view, it is not entirely a technical problem, but also a problem of attitude and vision.

Although Yang Zhen also knew that there was no air interception radar at this time. It is still relatively backward, and it is neither three-coordinate nor two-coordinate ground radar guidance, and it can only provide an approximate bearing. Moreover, the accuracy of ground-based radar is far from being so wishful.

The Anti-United Nations uses the first generation of radars provided by the United States that have entered the actual combat state, and the performance of these radars is still far from perfect. Not only the coordinates and directions provided are quite low in accuracy, but also the interference from ground clutter is also quite large. There have even been many cases of false positives, false negatives, and misguided guidance.

The most exaggerated one, according to the coordinates displayed by the radar. A squadron of 12 P40 fighters that took off to intercept actually deviated more than 100 kilometers from the Japanese bomber group that was originally going to be intercepted. Not only did they fail to intercept the intended target, but two planes were also lost in vain because of the collision.

And the problem of radar is only one aspect, and at the same time, quite a lot of problems have arisen in the coordination of anti-aircraft artillery units with aviation. During last night's night battle, three of the 13 fighters lost by the air force were actually shot down by their own antiaircraft artillery when they returned home from their combat missions.

Not only did three planes be lost, but the most critical thing was that one of the three pilots was killed, and two are still missing. If we add in the two planes that were lost in the collision and the two pilots who were killed on the spot, we lost five planes and five top pilots in just one interception operation last night.

The loss of the plane, Yang Zhen can not care too much. However, the loss of pilots, especially fighter pilots who are currently in short supply and have the ability to fly at night, made Yang Zhen very distressed. To train a pilot, there is a high price to pay. If you train an all-weather pilot with the ability to fly at night, the cost will be even higher.