afterglow

Chapter 469: Raid and Breakthrough! The enemy may do better than us

"The aircraft carrier attacking the TF-31 fleet came from the southwest. According to radio direction finding, it should be between 240 degrees and 250 degrees."

"Yesterday's results have proven that determined dive bomber attacks can always succeed. So, we still have a chance."

In a wooden room next to the Makin Atoll airport, Major Hall and a dozen pilots were discussing nervously.

"But...sir," one pilot said hesitantly, "the Vindicator cannot effectively destroy the Chinese ship."

The SB2U Vindicator dive bomber is less powerful than the SBD Dreadnought. Although it can carry 1000 pounds of bombs, it needs to glide a longer distance, and its flight performance will become very clumsy and sluggish.

There is no need to worry about the rolling distance when taking off from land, but clumsiness and slowness means that it is more difficult to break through the dense fire net of the Ming army fleet.

"We still have B-17s," Hall said calmly, holding the chalk. "They are the most powerful bombers."

Hearing this, the dive bomber pilots present were a little confused.

As a four-engine heavy bomber, the B-17 is indeed very powerful and can drop a lot of bombs, but the hit rate of horizontal bombing is shockingly low. What's the use of not hitting the target?

As the commander of the 49th Bomb Squadron, Major Hall should know this very well.

Facing the puzzled looks of everyone, Hall said calmly: "This time, we will use a low-altitude raid to attack them."

His voice was not loud, but it sounded firm.

The pilots of the Marine Corps Air Force were stunned for a moment, these words were too shocking.

It is normal for a twin-engine medium bomber to carry out low-altitude bombing, but wouldn't a large and heavy aircraft like the B-17 be seeking death for raid bombing?

The next day.

The sun rises from the sea in the east just like it has for billions of years in the past. The weather is calm and the sea is calm, just like a picture of the sea rising towards the sun.

The Ming army was still unable to determine whether the US troops had withdrawn, so they were still very cautious at sunrise. Many people had not yet recovered from yesterday's shocking fierce battle.

The Ziwei Zuoyuan was slightly damaged. Even the 1000-pound semi-armor-piercing bomb that exploded in the hangar only destroyed a few aircraft and some equipment, and caused more than casualties. For a sturdy ship The armored aircraft carrier itself can only be regarded as a flesh wound.

However, Zhou was unlucky when he fell down the stairs. It was not pleasant to roll down the stairs onto the hard steel floor, and his left hand was almost broken.

After taking painkillers, the pain gradually subsided, and then he was sent to the medical cabin. After taking an X-ray, the bearded old military doctor made a diagnosis of "fracture of the left forearm."

This colonel, who is over 60 years old, has higher military medical qualifications than Ouyang Zhanghua. He was seeing doctors, getting medicine, and performing surgeries in the military. The Ming Dynasty had not yet established its constitution. His military rank was only that of colonel simply because the Ming military regulations stipulated that it was a non-combatant branch. The highest military rank is colonel.

Even the dignified admiral of the fleet must be called a junior, and as for Mr. Zhou, that is even less impressive.

He first asked someone to help put a cast on someone Zhou, and then opened two boxes of Elder Pills and a strange Bali Powder.

Elderberry is a round pill made from the roots of a tree like Red Fire Rope ground into powder. It is an industrially produced medicine.

Bali powder is a prescription, used to set bones and remove blood stasis, and is mainly used to treat bruises. The reason why it is strange is that this old military doctor also added borneol and nux vomica to it based on his own experience. It is said that this is more effective?

"Om-"

The southwest Pacific in the morning was peaceful and picturesque. When Zhou Changfeng stepped onto the bridge from his cabin, a Type 37 naval reconnaissance aircraft roared and taxied to take off, carrying out a reconnaissance mission to Makin Atoll.

"Multiple radio direction finding confirmed that the enemy fleet was moving away and presumably was retreating toward Hawaii."

"Okay, okay, it's Chinese New Year, please send the good news back quickly."

"It makes sense. Two ships were sunk and the other ship was severely damaged. If we don't retreat, we will be here."

There was an atmosphere of celebration on the upper level of the bridge, and the naval admirals were all smiling, as if it was the New Year.

Those who were injured were also happy. Zhou Changfeng, who had a plaster on his left hand, felt a little weird for no reason. He felt that opening champagne at halftime like this was really a bit arrogant.

He walked to Ouyang Zhanghua and asked in a low voice: "Is the enemy sure to withdraw? Will they fight back?"

The latter pondered: "It is possible, but the risk is very high. If it were me, I would not take such a risk."

"Before the new ships are put into service, those two aircraft carriers are the most valuable bargaining chips. As long as they can be delayed for two years, there is still a chance, but... even if one more ship is lost, there will no longer be any suspense in this battle. "

Zhou Changfeng said "Yeah", "Indeed, the aircraft carrier will take 20 months to build at the earliest."

Ouyang Zhanghua's face was still covered with gauze. He smiled and said, "The shipbuilding cycle is too long. In fact, the capital ships are more based on the stock before the war. It will be too late to start rebuilding. This naval battle, I estimated that I had to pay the price of three to four aircraft carriers yesterday, but in the end it was the national destiny that came with it."

"Then we can put the plan to attack Hawaii on the agenda."

"That's how it should be. How confident is Zhou Daizhao?"

"If everyone is fully prepared, it would be 60%...70%."

Through the feedback from reconnaissance planes launched in the early morning and continuous radio detection, the Ming army could basically conclude that both US task forces were retreating and there was no sign of returning.

Despite this, Song Zhongkai, who was in charge of the Yongle, still ordered all ships to remain vigilant and beware of the enemy taking advantage of his own unpreparedness to counterattack.

Starting at dawn, artillery boomed off the coast of Tarawa Atoll, and the nine battleships, two battlecruisers, and six heavy cruisers of the first formation began to pour artillery shells on the US military positions on the island.

Tons of steel and explosives were thrown on the heads of the US officers and soldiers stationed in Tarawa, and the long, narrow and curved ">"-shaped atoll was shrouded in billowing smoke...

【Picture】

It is against this background that the unexpected looms.

Taiwei Zuoyuan and Taiwei Right, which separated from the second formation yesterday, received orders to return to the formation. They turned around and headed towards Tarawa at cruising speed.

Yesterday evening, only a dozen 25-type ship-driven aircraft from the fleet that sortied out returned home. Most of the aircraft ran out of fuel. In the end, a backup plan was adopted to collectively abandon the planes and parachute at Mayana Atoll, kilometers south of Tarawa.

There is no organized U.S. military garrison in the area. There is only one air defense observation post with a total of more than a dozen people. There are not many pilots who have parachuted.

At night, the U.S. military officers and soldiers who noticed dozens of umbrella flowers appearing in the sky thought they had encountered an airborne raid. They fired while reporting to Tarawa, but the latter couldn't protect themselves and how could they care about the situation here?

The two sides continued to shoot at each other after landing, and sporadic gunfire continued throughout the night. The American soldiers huddled at their sentry posts, and the Ming army pilots also lurked in hidden positions and did not dare to move.

It was not until dawn that everyone figured out the situation. Finally, they shouted to each other and asked each other to put down their weapons, but neither side was willing.

Although they did not surrender, at least they did not shoot again, so it became a strange situation - who is the prisoner?

The two Taiweiyuan-class aircraft carriers did not know the situation of the pilots of the carrier-based aircraft detachment, but everyone was optimistic that there would be no serious problems.

"It's done!"

"Ready - go!"

Two Type 37 warships accelerated from the flight deck of the Taiwei Youyuan and flew towards the Mayana Atoll. They were ordered to check the situation and see how their pilots were doing.

The two aircraft and the aircraft carrier sailed in the same direction and gradually disappeared from sight.

At the same time, nine SB2Us and three B-17s were flying at cloud level.

They first circled to the southeast, planning to attack the Ming fleet from the backside. Currently anchored off the coast of Tarawa Atoll is a battleship formation of the Ming Dynasty, but the specific location of the aircraft carrier formation is still unknown.

Major Hall ordered four of the eleven SB2Us of the Marine Corps Air Force to search in four directions, while the remaining five flew together with the B-17s.

他们的目标原本是第二编队，但8：33的时候其中一架SB2U却汇报称发现一支航母分遣舰队正在从西南方向驶向塔拉瓦，目测有2艘航母和5艘驱逐舰。

Hall immediately changed his initial plan and decided to attack the fleet nearby - the smaller number of screen frigates made it easier to penetrate the defenses.

In order to successfully attack the Ming aircraft carrier, a group of pilots discussed carefully for half a night, and finally made as many preparations as possible.

In order to ensure the range, the SB2U defenders only mounted 100-pound light aerial bombs under the left and right wings, and the auxiliary fuel tanks were placed in the belly. They were responsible for attracting the attention of the Ming army from the front. The 100-pound aerial bombs were like scratching an itch for the battleship.

The B-17 carries three 3-pound semi-armor-piercing aerial bombs. In fact, it can carry four. However, everyone thinks that this will weaken the controllability and is not conducive to low-altitude penetration. There are only a small number of No. 1000 left in the Makin base oil depot. High-octane gasoline was also added to these three B-4s.

At 2:18 on February 9, the air defense observation post of the Taiwei Youyuan found an enemy aircraft approaching from the 26 o'clock direction.

The battle sirens immediately sounded throughout the ship, and several direct cover aircraft parked at the rear section of the deck quickly took off and faced this small group of aircraft.

Three minutes later, the 128mm high-level and flat dual-purpose cannon began to roar.

"Where did these planes come from?!"

"It's weird, didn't the enemy fleet escape last night?"

"I'm afraid it's coming from the island in the north."

The dive bomber, trailing black smoke, disintegrated and fell, hitting the sea and falling apart.

The Ming army sailors were very surprised by this. It was just that the aircraft fleet was small in size. The key point was that there were not even fighter escorts. Isn't this looking for death?

No one noticed the deadly threat approaching quickly from the right side of the fleet.

The B-17 piloted by Major Hall led the other two and flew quickly at an altitude of about meters.

Behind them was the dazzling sun, covering the B-17s arranged in a Z-shaped pattern in the brilliance of the rising sun.

The first person to spot the B-17 attacking from the rear was not even a lookout post, but an anti-aircraft gun loader on the destroyer Qingjiang.

"airplane!!!"

He shouted loudly and pointed in the direction of the sun. Surprised bystanders looked sideways, raised their hands and squinted their eyes to look in the direction of the rising sun.

It was already too late at this time. The heavy bombers approaching at a top speed of 400km/h did not leave much reaction time for the fleet.

The destroyer Qingjiang's twin 38.4mm anti-aircraft guns opened fire first, followed closely by the nearby light cruiser Fenhe.

Facts have proved that the performance of the Bofors anti-aircraft gun is indeed superior. The B-17 on the left was hit by multiple rounds of 38.4mm tracer anti-personnel shells, and then another shell hit the wing fuel tank and caused a deflagration.

【Picture】

A large ball of flames burst out instantly, and the violent explosion shredded the entire wing. The $30.12 heavy bomber hit the sea like a meteorite.

Major Hall lowered the flight altitude to less than a hundred meters above the sea level. The tremor of the plane being hit was nothing. His eyes were fixed on the Taiwei Youyuan, which was getting bigger and bigger.

Ten seconds later, two battered B-17s flew past the right side of Taiwei Youyuan.

The water column raised by the heavy bomb exceeded the height of the bridge, almost soaking the aircraft carrier's flight deck from front to back.

"Boom! Boom!"

The impact point deviation of the six 1000-pound aerial bombs is not large, and the accuracy of low-altitude raiding bombing is indeed much higher.

The third one continuously smashed through the flight deck and hangar deck before exploding; the fifth one flew diagonally into the hangar and slid on the hangar deck for more than 20 meters before exploding; the sixth one hit the side mainframe diagonally. The armored belt did not penetrate, but it opened several holes.

The remaining three missed, and the impact point deviation ranged from a few meters to dozens of meters.

The Ming army pilots who wantonly hunted those decoys were greatly frightened, and several Type 37 warships immediately accelerated to catch up.

The two B-17s were riddled with holes by the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower, but the 7.36mm and 12.8mm aviation machine guns were still too weak to deal with them.

After chasing it for a full hour, the four Type 37 ship-driven aircraft ran out of ammunition and finally shot it down.

When the culprit fell, the Taiwei Youyuan that was attacked was already hovering on the edge of life and death.

An exploding aircraft bomb in the hangar started a fire, but it was successfully contained by a sprinkler and carbon dioxide fire-extinguishing system.

The fatal threat came from the 1000-pound semi-armor-piercing bomb that penetrated the hangar deck and exploded below. It blew up the aviation gasoline pipeline, causing a violent fire that spread across multiple cabins.

The officers and soldiers in the boiler room below could feel the approaching crisis - the already hot boiler room got even hotter.

"Be good! Look, look at the top of your head..."

The sailors discovered that the paint on the top of the boiler room was gradually turning black, and small pieces of paint were peeling off and falling off one after another.

The exhaust system seems to be functioning normally, but there is a faint smell of burnt wood and smoke.

Upon learning that the Taiwei Youyuan had been attacked, the naval generals immediately exploded.

Who could have expected that the Americans, whose defeat was already certain, would launch such a surprise attack?

Zhou Changfeng's comment on this is that extreme joy leads to sorrow, and the bullets fired by the dying enemy are just as deadly.

Ouyang Zhanghua glanced at them and said calmly: "Be quiet."

"It's probably not over yet, Taiyou. Let's see if the fire can be stopped." Someone muttered in a low voice.

Ouyang Zhanghua, with complicated eyes, hesitated to speak. After a few seconds, he finally spoke:

"Whether you admit it or not, the trend of arrogance has spread."

"When I was studying martial arts in Hangzhou, the gentleman who taught war history gave a speech at the beginning of the school year. I wonder if you have heard of it."

"Victory is not just a few words in history books, but one of the results of thousands of maneuvers and countless sacrifices. What is 'one'? Because even so, it may not be won."

"Why? Because I am like this, the enemy is like this, and the enemy may even do better, and has been doing this for hundreds of years."

(End of this chapter)