The War of Resistance Against Japan: Special Operations Battalion Traverses Shanghai and Slaughters

Since the Dragon Flame Legion liberated the entire Shanxi province, Terauchi Hisaichi, the commander of the Japanese North China Expeditionary Army, has had a difficult time.

He immediately requested reinforcements from the Chinese headquarters, vowing to annihilate the Dragon Flame Legion and reclaim the lost Shanxi.

However, the General Headquarters ignored Terauchi Hisaichi's request and only asked him to hold onto the existing occupied territories as much as possible.

Moreover, instead of sending more troops, the headquarters also transferred troops back to the country.

This naturally frustrated Terauchi Hisaichi greatly.

However, when Japan marched into Southeast Asia, Terauchi Hisaichi immediately realized that the General Headquarters had decided to abandon its attempt to completely occupy China.

That day, Terauchi Hisaichi made a phone call to Hata Shunroku, the commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army.

Both men were deeply concerned about whether they could hold onto the existing occupied territories.

This concern stems from the Dragon Flame Legion. For them, without the Dragon Flame Legion, they would not only be able to hold onto their current territory, but they would also be confident in continuing to expand.

Of course, at present, the one under the greatest pressure is Terauchi Hisaichi, because the Dragon Flame Army is far from the Central China region. If they continue to attack, Hebei will definitely be the first to bear the brunt.

The two commanders talked on the phone for half an hour, and Hata Shunroku finally gave Terauchi Hisaichi a suggestion.

He advised Terauchi Hisaichi to shrink his troops as much as possible to the area around Yanjing and Tianjin, especially to deploy heavy forces along the Chengde line.

If the war goes badly, the city can be defended to the death. If all else fails, the city can be retreated to the outside of the pass, or retreated by sea from Tanggu in Tianjin.

After careful consideration, Terauchi Hisaichi decided to accept Hata Shunroku's suggestion and issued orders to his subordinate troops.

Terauchi Hisaichi ordered the garrisons in Zhangjiakou, Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, Handan, and Hengshui to leave only one company of troops behind to hold the line together with the puppet troops.

Other troops moved to places like Yanjing, Tianjin, Chengde, Baoding, and Cangzhou.

In fact, Terauchi Hisaichi's deployment was intended to have the troops protect Yanjing and Tianjin, while abandoning other areas.

Unfortunately, Terauchi Hisaichi's order came a little too late.

Before the Japanese troops could even set off, Long Fei's attack began.

Long Fei deployed three army groups, which advanced ahead of schedule to northern, central, and southern Hebei.

Furthermore, the three armies were divided into ten routes.

The Hebei Front Army split into two routes: the First and Second Armies headed straight for Zhangjiakou, while the Third Army and the First Special Operations Division made a long-distance raid to Chengde.

The Jizhong Front Army was divided into four routes: the Fifth Army directly attacked Baoding, the Sixth Army directly attacked Cangzhou, one division of the Fourth Army attacked Hengshui, and the other two divisions attacked Jin County, Ding County and Shen County respectively.

The Southern Hebei Front Army was also divided into four routes: the Seventh Army captured Lingqiu County and Shijiazhuang, the Eighth Army captured Xingtai, and the Ninth Army captured Handan.

The air force only began its operation after all three army groups had arrived at their designated locations.

This was the first combat operation for the Dragon Flame Legion's air force since its formation.

Gao Mingjiu and Zhou Guangyi both decided to fly their planes into battle, and also to learn about the various performance characteristics of the fighter jets in actual combat.

No matter how eloquently the two air force commanders spoke, Long Fei firmly disagreed.

The reason is simple: how could both the Air Force Commander and Deputy Commander-in-Chief go to the front lines to fight? At least one person should be left behind to oversee and command operations.

In the end, Gao Mingjiu had no choice but to send Zhou Guangyi to fight, while he chose to stay behind.

Twenty H-6K bombers, escorted by ten J-6G fighters and twenty J-5 fighters, took off one by one, soaring into the clouds and heading towards the Japanese troops' predetermined target in Hebei.

According to the operational plan of proceeding from far to near, the first wave of bombing targets were Nanyuan Airport, Xijiao Airport, Miyun Airport, and Tangshan Airport.

Jet fighters have reached speeds of 1,000 kilometers per hour, with the J-6 reaching 1,500 kilometers per hour.

Therefore, after taking off from Taiyuan Airport, it arrived over the target in half an hour.

There were four airfields, each bombed by five H-6 bombers and five J-5 fighters.

Although the J-5 can only carry two 250-kilogram aerial bombs, dropping ten aerial bombs would be enough to give the Japanese a hard time.

Moreover, the H-6 can carry 500 kilograms of aerial bombs. At the minimum load of 12 tons, one H-6 can carry 24 bombs, and five H-6s can carry 120 bombs.

The Japanese didn't have radar at that time; they relied entirely on observation and lookout.

The Japanese soldiers on the ground could not see the planes flying at such high altitudes; they could only vaguely hear the sound of the engines from high above.

So when the Japanese spotted the plane and sounded the air raid siren, the bombers had already taken over.

Before the Japanese planes parked at the airport could even take off, huge aerial bombs began to fall from the sky.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

In the blink of an eye, the four airports were engulfed in deafening explosions. Not only were all the planes destroyed, but the runways, fuel depots, and ammunition depots were also hit.

The fuel depot and ammunition depot also experienced secondary explosions, producing huge fireballs and blast shockwaves.

Most of the buildings in the airport center were destroyed, and the surrounding facilities and buildings were also severely affected.

Most of the Japanese airport staff and guards were killed on the spot, with only a very few surviving.

Terauchi Hisaichi quickly received the report, and in a fit of rage, he ordered fighter jets from several other airfields to take off immediately, demanding that they intercept and resolutely shoot down the enemy aircraft.

As a result, the Japanese immediately launched all their fighter jets from Baoding Airport, Zhengding Airport, and Daguo Village Airport.

The Japanese had only eighty-seven fighter planes in total at these three airfields.

The Japanese were fully convinced that with so many fighter jets taking off to intercept, the enemy planes would be doomed.

But how could the Japanese know that the Dragon Flame Legion's air force was equipped with jet fighters, especially the J-6, which was a supersonic fighter?

After seeing that the bombing was quite successful, Zhou Guangyi ordered an immediate return to base.

The aircraft needed to return to Taiyuan Airport to refuel and load aerial bombs.

Next, they would bomb the remaining three Japanese airfields, as well as other military targets.

As a result, when they returned and flew over the Xiaowutai Mountain area, Japanese fighter jets appeared in front of them to intercept them.

"Heh, you've come at the perfect time. I was just itching for a fight, and you bunch of bastards showed up."

"Attention, enemy aircraft are ahead. Prepare to engage."

At this moment, a pilot subconsciously asked, "Deputy Commander Zhou, do we need to cooperate with the lead aircraft and wingman in combat?"

"No need. The corps commander said that the Japanese planes can't catch up with us at all, so we don't need wingmen to cooperate in combat. We'll just launch a random attack on the Japanese."

After saying that, Zhou Guangyi ordered all the H-6 bombers to quickly climb and then continue their return journey.

The Japanese fighter jets at this time were mainly the Type 92 and Type 95 biplane fighters.

The Type 97 monoplane fighter was not widely deployed.

Of the 87 fighter planes that the Japanese took off to intercept, only 12 were Type 97 fighters.

The Japanese pilots, through visual inspection, discovered that the enemy's fighter planes were very strange, as they did not have propellers.

After the initial surprise, the Japanese fighter jets began to rush towards the Dragon Flame Legion's fighter jets in battle formation.

Zhou Guangyi immediately ordered: "Everyone, take off at full speed, then flip in the air and fly behind the Japanese planes to stab them in the butt."

After receiving the order, all the pilots quickly pulled the control stick, and ten J-6s and twenty J-5s shot straight up like springs rising from the ground.

The Japanese soldiers thought the Dragon Flame Legion's air force was about to escape, so they hurriedly followed and made an upward movement, preparing to keep up and then look for an opportunity to open fire.