The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 481 Air Defense Exercise
Ten minutes later, a huge convoy appeared on the road outside the assault corps camp, led by sixty trucks carrying the assault corps's anti-aircraft artillery company and thirty-six general-purpose machine gun squads, followed by dozens of large and small vehicles of the reviewing group.

Following them was the main force of the assault corps, which advanced in various ways, including by car, on foot, and by mule and horse traction.

The huge convoy and the huge infantry marching column set out from the assault corps' camp and headed straight for the assault corps' combat training ground ten kilometers away. In the marching formation, the sixty trucks carrying anti-aircraft artillery companies and general-purpose machine gun squads that were marching in the front were moving the fastest.

The entire convoy stepped on the gas and sped all the way. The drivers of the 3rd Independent Motor Vehicle Battalion brought the excellent performance of the German-made Opel Lightning trucks to the extreme. The huge convoy was like a long dragon, advancing rapidly on the road, leaving the review group convoy and the main force of the assault corps far behind.

In just five minutes, the convoy carrying the assault corps's anti-aircraft artillery company and thirty-six general-purpose machine gun squads arrived at the assault corps' combat training ground.

On the road beside the Assault Corps' combat training ground, Captain Huang Tingjia of the Assault Corps's anti-aircraft artillery company stood in the back of the leading vehicle in the convoy. He looked at the huge convoy behind him that was loaded with the Assault Corps's anti-aircraft artillery company and the 36 general-purpose machine gun squads of the entire convoy. He felt relieved, then looked at his watch, let out a long sigh, and murmured, "Fortunately, there is still enough time."

At this moment, Huang Tingjia was not only the company commander of the anti-aircraft artillery company directly under the assault corps, but also the supreme commander of this "mobile anti-aircraft firepower network" composed of trucks, anti-aircraft artillery companies and thirty-six general-purpose machine gun squads under the twelve infantry companies of the assault corps. In other words, it was composed of forty-four "mobile anti-aircraft firepower vehicles" equipped with anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns and sixteen trucks equipped with ammunition and observation equipment.

The highlight of He Wei's joint combat exercise is naturally air defense. The only anti-aircraft weapons available to the assault corps are the anti-aircraft artillery company directly under the assault corps equipped with the Solomon 34mm dual-purpose machine gun, and the mg general-purpose machine gun with air-to-air shooting capability equipped by the infantry units within the corps. As the only two weapons with strong air defense capabilities in the assault corps, these two types of equipment must play a highlight in the assault corps' air defense exercises.

As the commander of the only air defense force of the assault corps, namely the anti-aircraft artillery company, Huang Tingjia naturally took on the important role in this important event of the assault corps and served as the commander of this air defense force. He was given the unified command of these air defense weapons by He Wei. The following air defense exercise would undoubtedly be the home ground of this special air defense force.

"Captain, it's only eleven o'clock now. According to the plan of the captain and the air force, they will arrive at the place at twelve o'clock. Do you think we should deploy the troops now?"

The deputy company commander in the same car asked.

Huang Tingjia nodded and said, "Order the convoy to drive off the highway and proceed according to the planned schedule."

"Yes!"

The deputy company commander nodded, and then several communications sergeants from the anti-aircraft artillery company in the same vehicle immediately waved small flags of different colors such as red, blue, and green, sending flag signals to the entire convoy.

Immediately afterwards, the entire convoy started again, and with the roar of huge car engines, sixty trucks drove off the road one after another and rushed into the field below the road. The field near the assault corps combat training ground had already been well leveled and cleaned during the high-intensity training, so the road condition was actually very good.

In addition, the 3rd Independent Vehicle Battalion assigned to the Assault Corps was equipped with German-made Opel Lightning trucks, which had excellent off-road performance. Therefore, the sixty trucks carrying the anti-aircraft artillery company and thirty-six anti-aircraft machine gun squads quickly deployed into a formation after rushing into the wilderness. The sixty trucks were divided into two parts, one part was the trucks carrying the anti-aircraft artillery company of the Assault Corps, and the other part was composed of trucks carrying thirty-six general-purpose machine gun squads.

Under the command of continuous flag signals, the trucks carrying the anti-aircraft artillery company and the trucks carrying the anti-aircraft machine gun squad formed a semicircular truck formation respectively. The trucks carrying the anti-aircraft artillery company directly under the assault corps were in the front, and the trucks carrying the anti-aircraft machine gun company were behind it. The two semicircular truck columns were unfolded separately, with the trucks in each column spaced ten meters apart. The anti-aircraft artillery company truck column in the front row was twenty meters away from the convoy carrying anti-aircraft machine guns in the rear.

Soon, after continuous and very orderly formation adjustments, a semicircular truck array more than 300 meters wide was deployed.

"Reporting to the company commander, the joint air defense firepower network formed by our company and the general machine gun squad has completed the construction of the mobile firing position."

Huang Tingjia heard the deputy company commander's report, nodded, and then said: "Pass my order, this company and each anti-aircraft machine gun squad will begin combat shooting preparations and adjust the shooting direction. The planned shooting direction is the front of the semicircular mobile firing position."

"Yes!"

Following Huang Tingjia's order, the vehicles in the semicircular truck array started to move one after another. The machine gunners of the eight Suratong 20mm anti-aircraft guns of the anti-aircraft artillery company directly under the assault corps and the thirty-six general-purpose machine gun squads of the twelve infantry companies of the assault corps began to adjust the firing direction of their firearms. The machine gunners constantly adjusted the elevation and depression handwheels of the machine guns, and turned the machine gun barrels in a large range to make the firing direction of the machine gun muzzle perpendicular to the axis of the truck body. The ammunition handlers took the filled machine gun magazines out of the ammunition boxes one by one and completed the first loading of each gun.

The shooters of the general-purpose machine gun moved the anti-aircraft tripod of the mg34 general-purpose machine gun, adjusted the firing direction of the muzzle of the general-purpose machine gun to the same position as the anti-aircraft gun, and the ammunition handlers pulled rows of golden ammunition belts from the drums and loaded them into the bullet feed port of the machine gun.

Two minutes later, the muzzles of the eight 20mm Surotong anti-aircraft guns in the front convoy and the thirty-six general-purpose machine guns in the rear convoy had been adjusted to the same direction. The firing directions of the machine guns and general-purpose machine guns were perpendicular to the axis of the trucks where they were located. The ammunition feed ports of the machine guns and general-purpose machine guns had been stuffed with magazines and ammunition belts filled with 20mm machine gun shells and 7.92mm steel core bullets.

Eight Suratong 34mm machine guns and thirty-six MG machine guns were mounted on the back of the truck, with their muzzles pointing directly at the sky.

In the truck where the anti-aircraft artillery company commander Huang Tingjia was, Huang Tingjia sat on a sandbag and looked carefully up at the sky with the eight-fold telescope in his hand. The observation sergeants around him were also operating the altimeter and rangefinder in their respective duties.

The anti-aircraft firepower network centered on the truck where Huang Tingjia was located, consisting of sixty trucks, eight 34mm Surotong machine guns and thirty-six MG general-purpose machine guns, was completely in combat status.

Time passed by minute by minute. The mobile air defense firepower network consisting of sixty "air defense firepower vehicles" equipped with air defense weapons was on standby in the field of the assault corps' combat training ground. More than ten minutes later, the review group's convoy following behind had already stopped on the road one kilometer away from the air defense firepower network, ready to observe the exercise.

When the time came to 11:55, there were suddenly bursts of violent roars in the sky.

"Report to the company commander, enemy planes appear!" Huang Tingjia, who was observing intensely, heard the warning command from the observation sergeant behind him, and hurriedly adjusted the telescope in the direction of the roar. His sight also moved with the telescope. It seemed that even God was cooperating with the assault corps' exercise today.

Today's sky was exceptionally blue and clear, with not even large patches of clouds visible. As soon as Huang Tingjia turned the telescope, he saw six small but conspicuous dark green dots appear in the sky.

"Six enemy planes, altitude: 7,500!"

In the truck where Huang Tingjia was, an observation sergeant was nervously operating a one-meter-high stereo altimeter. He stared at the triangle on the altimeter and immediately shouted out the movement data of the so-called "enemy aircraft" he had observed.

These "enemy planes" flew closer and closer, their altitudes lower and lower, and their outlines became more and more obvious. These "enemy planes" mentioned by Huang Tingjia were actually six single-wing fighter planes painted with the blue sky and white sun emblem and dark green paint. They were small and short in appearance, with an open cockpit and retractable rear three-point landing gear, and were equipped with a two-blade variable-pitch propeller. The paint, appearance and body structure of these six enemy planes obviously did not belong to any of the Japanese active fighter planes. These six so-called enemy planes were actually Soviet-made Il-16 fighter planes equipped by the National Army Air Force.

Of course, what is more conspicuous about these six fighters is the huge wooden target aircraft painted with the Japanese sun flag towed behind each plane. Behind the tails of the six fighters is a steel cable at least 150 meters long, and the target aircraft is fixed at the very end of the steel cable.

The six target planes, which looked very rough but were actually very large and looked like gliders, were staggering forward under the towing of six compact I-16 fighter planes, giving the impression of a mouse pulling a shovel from behind.

"Order all platoons, keep an eye on them! Get ready to fire!"

Huang Tingjia shouted as he watched the "enemy plane" gradually lowering its altitude and getting closer and closer to the assault corps' combat training ground.

"Yes!"

The messenger sergeant on the carriage immediately began to move, using hand flags to continuously convey the observed firing parameters to each gun tail. Then, the gunners of the eight machine guns also adjusted the guns according to the flag signals of the messenger sergeant on the command vehicle where the company commander was. The aimers in the aiming seats of each gun shook the direction wheel vigorously, held the elevation wheel tightly, stared at the white cross cursor in the sight, and aimed the sight at the six "enemy planes" flying over.

The gunner responsible for adjusting the precision shooting parameters twists the speed scale screw and the gun's advance cylinder, or constantly adjusts the gun's distance scale and box-shaped heading indicator according to the shooting parameters transmitted by the flag commands. The gunner responsible for firing nervously steps on the firing pedal of the machine gun.

Under their control, the muzzles of the eight Suloton 20mm machine guns slowly moved, aiming at the approaching "enemy planes"

The muzzles of the eight machine guns kept moving, the sharp sounds of motors in the air became louder and louder, and the six "enemy planes" were flying closer and closer. Soon, with a loud command from the observing sergeant beside Huang Tingjia, "Six enemy planes, altitude two thousand four hundred!" The altitude of the six "enemy planes" dropped rapidly again, and approached the two thousand meter mark, and would soon fly over the frontal airspace of the mobile anti-aircraft firepower network commanded by Huang Tingjia.

Huang Tingjia held up the telescope nervously, his hands trembling slightly. At this moment, the six "enemy planes" dropped in altitude again and suddenly increased their flying speed. At this moment, Huang Tingjia decisively ordered: "Two thousand, all companies, fire at once!"

Almost at the same moment when the order to shoot was conveyed by the soldiers with flag signals, the altitude of the six enemy planes dropped again and rushed straight to an altitude of two thousand meters. The firers of the eight machine guns who had been waiting for a long time also stepped on the firing pedals of the machine guns at this time. The eight Suratong 20mm machine guns roared almost at the same time. The continuous and intense artillery sound and the sharp motor sound of the fighter planes in the air mixed together, and white bullet clouds exploded in the air.

"Bang-Bang"

"Bang-Bang"

"Bang-Bang"

The 20mm machine gun shells formed a dense bullet cloud, instantly covering the enemy planes that just happened to be in front of the machine gun's firing range, and accurately hit the target. Of course, this target was definitely not the six dark green-painted Kuomintang fighter planes, but the six extra-large target planes towed behind them.

Dense 20mm armor-piercing explosive shells were fired continuously at the target aircraft's course. Some hit the wooden target aircraft directly, while others, although not directly hitting the target aircraft, exploded dense shrapnel in the air. Under such accurate and continuous attacks, the six crudely made wooden target aircraft were either riddled with holes by the continuous hits until they disintegrated in mid-air, or were blown into parts by the continuous shrapnel. The fragile wooden body had no defense at all in the face of the 20mm machine gun shells. Using the 20mm machine gun shells with armor-piercing capability to shoot at the wooden target aircraft, the shooting effect was no different from poking tofu with chopsticks.

"it is good!"

Suddenly, the officers and soldiers of the anti-aircraft artillery company burst into cheers.

Huang Tingjia let out a long sigh of relief as he watched the six Guo army fighter jets unhooke their tails, drop the steel cables and fly away after all the target planes were destroyed.

However, although the six target aircraft were destroyed and the six fighter jets that were towing the target aircraft had also flown away, the blue sky had not returned to its peaceful state.

Although the six target aircraft were hit and smashed, after they were blown up one by one, a large number of balloons with red markings flew out from their broken bodies. These balloons continued to float out from their bodies after the target aircraft were hit and scattered everywhere with the wind. When the parts and wreckage of the six target aircraft fell to the ground with a crackling sound, the air was already filled with balloons with red markings like flowers scattered by fairies.

Huang Tingjia immediately put down the telescope and ordered again: "Pass my order, the anti-aircraft artillery company stops firing, and the general-purpose machine guns start attacking the balloon targets!"

(End of this chapter)