kvmb Chapter 872 The Search Team's Merit
Chapter 872 The Search Team's Merit
Li Shaoyi had long wanted to launch a round of bombing on these warships near the Japanese coast, but the Japanese warships seemed to have taken this into consideration, so they were scattered in twos and threes and did not stay in one place at all.
We have no way of knowing their exact location in the vast ocean, so it is not easy to bomb them. We can only wait until they gather together. Now the opportunity has finally come.
The Japanese warships were scattered at the beginning, but now they are gathered together. This is because the Japanese Second Air Division told them that the air force in Tianjin has an absolute advantage. Their naval guns can support the army, and the safety of the air can also be handed over to the Second Air Division.
Judging from the number of assembled warships, the Japanese Navy was still skeptical about the news. After all, the Japanese Navy suffered a great loss in Qingdao, and was more cautious than others when facing Li Shaoyi's army.
The Japanese Navy only half believed the promise of the Japanese Second Air Division. Just how strong was Li Shaoyi's air force? They had account books after account books. They were able to resist the air forces of two countries in the north and even snatch a piece of meat from the mouths of old capitalist countries in Southeast Asia. If the air force was not strong enough, none of this would be possible.
So when the order from the Japanese headquarters came down, they only concentrated eight warships, four of which were destroyers, and the remaining four warships were also built during the last World War. Of course, for supporting the army, the naval guns were all the same, and it was impossible to tell whether they were new or old.
After the North China Front Command learned of this number, they were furious. They believed that the navy must send at least one Nagato battleship. Only with this thing could they scare the 72nd Army.
But in the eyes of the navy, Japan is a small country with a weak population. The production or purchase of each warship is a major event for the entire country, especially things like battleships. Unlike European and American countries, they can immediately arrange new production plans if they remain silent. Can we do the same?
That's simply impossible. So, in this attack on the army, in addition to the four destroyers, there are only two light cruisers and two 10,000-ton treaty-type cruisers left. In the eyes of the Japanese Navy, this is already quite a face-giving. They even let us dispatch the battleship Nagato. If something goes wrong, will your army be willing to save military funds next year to build warships for us?
Obviously, it is impossible. The contradiction between the Japanese Army and the Japanese Navy is known to almost the whole world. Even the models cannot be unified. The Navy will never use things that the Army has. Even if it spends a lot of money on re-research, it must be distinguished from the Army.
What the army likes to do most is to launch a mutiny and surround the navy at any time, killing a group of them to let the navy see who is the main body of the Japanese army.
Such a fight between the two sides is acceptable in the eyes of the Japanese emperor. After all, if the two armies under his command were to be merged into one, it would probably be the emperor who would not be able to sleep at night. So this kind of fight is good now.
After dozens of fighter jets took off, the sound in the sky was very loud. There was no need for deliberate reconnaissance. Japanese intelligence officers had already begun reporting that there was a major operation at the 72nd Army Airport, and the target was unknown.
The Japanese Second Air Division immediately began to take off planes to intercept the flying squadron. More than 80 fighter planes came over. Although they didn't know what the target was, they believed that numbers were an advantage in the sky.
The more than 50 aircraft that took off for combat were quickly divided into teams of four. If we fought as a whole, our aircraft advantage would not be apparent, but if we formed a team of four or two aircraft, then our advantage would be much higher than that of the Japanese.
Although Japan can be divided into squadrons of eight aircraft, due to the backwardness of Japanese aircraft, it is difficult to display its capabilities in squadrons with a larger number of aircraft, so the maximum number of squadrons is six aircraft.
After studying the current Japanese Air Force, Li Shaoyi said that before the Japanese Zero fighter was produced, the current Japanese aircraft could not be our opponents, so in this case, the BF109 fighter could completely control the entire sky.
The facts proved to be true. From Li Shaoyi's position, more than 80% of the fighter planes that fell from the sky were from the Japanese Air Force, and only 20% were from ours. The search and rescue teams on the ground were busier than the army in the sky. Even if a pilot fell in the Japanese-occupied area, they would conduct a simple reconnaissance nearby. If they could rush out to rescue him, they would do it at the risk of their lives.
The loss of pilots is an irreparable loss for the 72nd Army Air Force. No matter how fast we develop, pilot training has always been a shackle on our heads, so losing pilots on the battlefield is the most difficult thing.
The Japanese Air Force has completed a preliminary blockade in the coastal areas. If we don't take off fighter jets to attack their air force aircraft, our bombers will have no chance of flying out.
"Have the search parties started?"
Although our losses have dropped to 15%, Li Shaoyi still frowned.
As the battle became more and more intense, many of our pilots fell into the Japanese-occupied areas, so the role of the search team was crucial. Li Shaoyi equipped them with weapons and equipment like commandos and selected the best soldiers, but some pilots still could not be rescued.
"Reporting to the commander-in-chief, a total of eighty-five search teams are currently in operation, and twelve pilots have been rescued."
When Li Shaoyi heard the number Wang Zihan said, his heart skipped a beat. In the past few moments, more than twenty pilots had fallen, which meant that some of them would probably not be able to come back.
Planes at the airport were still taking off one after another, and Japanese reinforcements were also arriving frequently from various airports. This was a war of attrition. Whoever gave up first would win.
We launched over 120 aircraft, and almost all of the combat aircraft of the Japanese 2nd Air Division were in the air. This was basically a one to four combat ratio, which should be manageable for us...