Shadow Spy

Chapter 323 The Arrival of Advanced Fighters

At the end of July, the seagoing ship "Sesti" from the United States received a telegraph order on the way and docked at Hong Kong Island for a day to unload the 7 fighter planes and related personnel there before sailing to Shanghai. ocean.

On Tuesday, August 8, 6 assembled new fighter jets flew to Shanghai under the control of pilots, while other personnel took an American Airlines passenger plane to Shanghai.

During this process, because there were only four instructors accompanying the US military team, they had to borrow eight pilots from the British Army stationed in Hong Kong. For this purpose, they trained for three days at Kai Tak Air Force Base. Otherwise, they would not be able to complete the training at once. These planes all fly to Shanghai.

Some time ago, Li Junhao ordered some land to the west of Jiaozhou Park to be acquired and incorporated into the park. Then the original wartime runway of 600 meters long and 30 meters wide was expanded to 750 meters long and 70 meters wide. Buildings such as a command tower, semi-enclosed hangar, underground oil depot, ammunition depot, personnel dormitories, and semi-underground air defense positions were newly built and expanded nearby. Channel lights were even set up on both sides of the runway for night flights.

As a result, except that the runway material is not permanent concrete, there is already a decent small airport in Jiaozhou Park, which can accommodate the operation of less than thirty fighter planes.

When the 12 fighter planes landed safely one after another, the pilots were warmly welcomed by the officers and soldiers of the military camp and the arriving ground staff.That night, Li Junhao also hosted a banquet for everyone in the military camp canteen, but only beer was served, and the amount was limited to prevent anyone from getting drunk.

That night, due to the establishment of the air force, Li Junhao acquired primary air force command skills.
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The next day, the eight British pilots who had rested for a night were sent to Longhua Airport with gifts and specialties prepared by Li Junhao. A small team of American Marines would escort them back to Hong Kong Island before taking a flight. Come back, this cooperation is very successful.

This method was thought up by Li Junhao. Since it is difficult to transport the goods after they are out of stock from the Shanghai-Haihai Terminal, they can just unload them on Hong Kong Island and then fly the plane back. Although it is a bit troublesome, it solves the biggest difficulty.

Now, the military strength of the concession is considered to be complete, including land, sea and air. Although it is impossible to match the Japanese army in terms of numbers, if there is a fight, the Japanese army will not lose more than a dozen warships, dozens of aircraft, and tens of thousands of soldiers. , don’t even think about taking over the concession—and it will be a completely destroyed concession!It will then depend on how determined the Japanese are.
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Li Junhao's prediction was correct. The Japanese side was very surprised after confirming the news. A small airport was built in the concession and equipped with 12 very advanced fighter planes!

The squadron that came to Shanghai not long ago also has nearly 1 troops, more than [-] policemen, an unknown number of militiamen, and an unknown number of tanks (the Japanese army considers those armored vehicles to be tanks). Now The military power of the concession is too powerful for Shanghai!Because Shanghai is the largest industrial and commercial city in the Far East, the Japanese army never thought of destroying it. In that case, the real loser would not be the United States, but the Japanese who considered themselves the rulers of Central China!
Moreover, urban warfare is different from field warfare. Just like in the previous two Songhu Battles, the Chinese army had an absolute advantage in numbers, even a gap of dozens of times. However, the Japanese army and the Marine Corps were despised by the Army for their combat effectiveness. , with only a few thousand people, they withstood the siege of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of troops, and persisted until reinforcements arrived.This is of course due to the fact that the Japanese army has better equipment and support from naval and air forces, as well as terrain restrictions and unique tactics in urban warfare.

In the original Japanese army plan, when needed, only 1500 military police stationed in Shanghai, 8000 marines, plus the 17th mixed brigade (5100 people) stationed in Songjiang were used, and three squadrons were stationed at Jiangwan Airport With the cooperation of 36 fighter planes and the First Fleet stationed in Wusongkou, it should be possible to easily occupy the concession.

Now the scale of the military strength in the concession has far exceeded the Japanese army's expectations, which makes them somewhat embarrassed, because they feel that even tripling the strength will not be able to successfully complete the mission.

The situation in the Shanghai Concession was urgently reported to the Chinese Expeditionary Forces Headquarters by the Central China Front of the Japanese Army. General Nishio Hiszo, then Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Forces, and Lieutenant General Seishiro Itagaki, Chief of General Staff, jointly reported the situation to the domestic base camp and gave the following information: My own suggestion is: The Shanghai Concession has a strong military force at the moment. Unless we are ready to be destroyed together, it is not appropriate to start a war!
The staff at the Japanese base camp had a heated debate over this unexpected situation, but most of the officers did not agree with the settlement of the concession by force, because the result was already foreseeable - even if the concession was taken, it would only result in a mess, not at all It is in line with the current base camp's established strategy of "fighting to support war", and this battle is bound to cause heavy casualties, huge losses, and the gains outweigh the gains!

The debate will not end in a while, and it is impossible to come up with a new plan in the short term!Fortunately, Japan has not yet made up its mind to go to war with the United States, and the staff still have time to discuss it, so take your time!
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Of course, Li Junhao didn't know about the internal debates in the Japanese army. He was busy arranging for the ten soldiers who had learned to fly seaplanes to learn to fly new fighters with instructors. However, for 12 aircraft, the number of student pilots was a bit small. We could only urgently select 327 students from the [-]th Regiment to join the study.

He said before that he could fly a plane. Except for a few people who knew what happened, most officers and soldiers did not believe it. However, on the first day of class for the students, he personally got on the plane and flew a circle. -38 and F4F shocked everyone’s attention!
After getting off the plane, facing four instructors with admiring expressions on their faces, Li Junhao was really embarrassed to say what was in his heart: These two types of aircraft are too backward!

However, the thirty student pilots were greatly inspired by Commander Panson's actions, and their enthusiasm for learning flying skills became even higher. They took the initiative without anyone's supervision.

Hearing that a new type of carrier-based aircraft had arrived, the squadron commander Major General Gary also came to Jiaozhou Park and took a dozen naval pilots to watch the F4F flight training. He was amazed and lamented that the development of technology is so great. Soon!Finally, Gary made a request to Li Junhao, hoping that the naval pilots of the squadron could follow him to learn how to drive the F4F!
Of course, Li Junhao agreed wholeheartedly. This is not a problem at all, right?He wished that more people would learn to fly these two types of aircraft and become reserve pilots in the future.

(End of this chapter)