si-mexico Chapter 1149 Two Anti-Aircraft Regiments
Chapter 1149 Two Anti-Aircraft Regiments
As the roar of the planes grew closer, the soldiers on the street were somewhat frightened. After all, this was the first time they had faced such a situation, and they had not received any training in the north; they were all temporarily recruited from the local area.
According to Minister He's approval, Li Shaoyi could recruit two air defense regiments, totaling 3000 men. These men are now all in place. Of course, it's mostly theoretical; fortunately, there are some veterans nearby who can demonstrate, so they won't go into battle completely clueless.
"Keep a close eye on them. Everyone will have their own duties. Those who fire will focus on firing, and those who reload will focus on reloading. Those who fire, pay special attention: when you spot an aircraft, you must lead it, which is about four fingers' width in front of the plane. Of course, you'll need to make adjustments as needed, using tracer rounds..."
Before the Japanese planes arrived, the tank commander loudly reprimanded his soldiers. Li Shaoyi had no choice; his superiors wouldn't allow him to transfer personnel from the north, so he could only find a group of anti-aircraft soldiers from the local army. After testing, although these men didn't quite satisfy Li Shaoyi, they were at least much better than these inexperienced soldiers, and their appointment as tank commanders was a significant improvement.
Just as the tank commanders were shouting their grievances, Japanese planes flew overhead. Seeing that the commander's flag hadn't yet fallen, meaning the rangefinder was still measuring distances and the tanks weren't within firing range, no one was allowed to fire.
Anti-aircraft machine guns and cannons on the distant high-rises were already in operation. From their vantage point, they could see a dozen or so aircraft quickly split into several formations. It seemed the Japanese air force understood that if they were all clustered together, they would easily be surrounded and encircled. Our matrix air defense system was no joke.
"Divide into three teams, each find their own target, drop the bombs, and retreat quickly. Hankou is not the same as before. If anyone wants to die here, they'd better be slow."
Upon seeing the black smoke billowing up around them, the Japanese captain immediately ordered his men to split into three squads. Many of his comrades had been killed in the skies over Hankou, which put them on high alert.
After the order was given, the wing of the plane on the left was damaged, having been hit by more than a dozen bullets from the anti-aircraft machine gun. It was clearly beyond repair. Although a dozen bullets wouldn't be a huge loss for a plane, it was cruising at high speed at the time, and the damaged wing was rapidly breaking apart bit by bit due to the speed. By the time the pilot noticed, it was too late to control the plane.
"Find a worthwhile target and ram it, Yamamoto-kun!"
The Japanese captain shouted loudly after seeing this, but there was no response.
"Report, Captain, I saw a bullet hit Yamamoto-kun."
A nearby pilot shouted, and the captain cursed helplessly, "They died so easily. If they had been able to control the situation better at the last moment, they could have caused significant losses to the people on the ground. Now look what happened, the plane crashed into farmland outside the city."
Before the Japanese even entered the city, two planes withdrew from the battle. This cast a shadow over many people's hearts. Before they came, there were rumors that Commander Li, who had defeated them so decisively at Pujiang, had now taken over as the commander of Hankou's city defense. However, their information was somewhat inaccurate; although he had clearly taken over as the air defense commander, the Japanese had reported it as the city defense commander.
Although it's only a difference of a few words, it makes a big difference in the actual situation. Currently, Li Shaoyi is only in charge of air defense. If ground operations were also handed over to Li Shaoyi, the Japanese would probably have to change their entire operational plan.
Now, in addition to opening up the Jinpu Railway, the Japanese have made it clear in high-level meetings that they should not engage in direct confrontation with the 72nd Army. If they encounter the 72nd Army, they can first detour. If they cannot detour, they can hold their ground.
Although this order was extremely humiliating, there was a reason why the Japanese General Headquarters issued such a regulation. They had compiled statistics on the battles with the 72nd Army in North China and the Huangpu River area, and had accurately tallied the battlefield losses. Although these figures were not disclosed to officers below the rank of general, those above the rank of general were very clear about them.
Many young officers still remember that meeting. Their general emerged from the conference room looking completely dejected, his face utterly expressionless. He didn't eat for two meals afterward, and at the third meal, these generals still ate without a trace of emotion, as if they were eating dirt.
Nobody knows exactly what was discussed at that meeting, but some people said afterward that it seemed to be about battlefield losses. If you want to know why the generals acted that way, all you need to know is how many men died at the hands of the 72nd Army.
Japan had become a massive military camp, forcing them to conscript large numbers of people into the army ahead of schedule. Otherwise, they feared they would be unable to sustain the war effort. Under these circumstances, a sense of defeat permeated the entire nation.
According to government and military propaganda, we are on a winning streak and about to conquer all of China. But why haven't any of our brothers who joined the army sent letters home? What's going on?
At the military press conference, many people raised this question. The high-ranking staff could only lie, saying the situation was urgent, or that some mail-carrying vehicles had been bombed. But the occupied territory wouldn't lie; we were indeed advancing triumphantly up the Yangtze River, and the accompanying journalists had captured our victorious triumph.
While this statement might fool most Japanese, some with common sense believe the victory is highly questionable. The earlier claim of conquering China in three months has been a painful slap in the face, and many Japanese have become unreachable.
Based on their guess, these people must have all died on the battlefield. Even with such a great victory, it seems somewhat unfair if so many people died.