Chapter 1 The Aircraft Engine

The drone of aircraft engines thrummed simultaneously at Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou Airports.

Aircraft from various squadrons of the Third Fleet's air combat wing were speeding down the runways, taking off in sequence.

These Japanese pilots of the Third Fleet's air combat wing had also been ready for action for over ten days, just waiting for the order to be given.

Commander Kiyokawa Hasegawa of the Third Fleet, upon receiving Yanjun Liu's order to attack, immediately ordered the air combat wing to sortie.

Squadron Leader Daichi Matsunaga led eighteen fighters and eighteen bombers on a carefully chosen attack route.

To avoid interference as much as possible and reach the core objective, all Japanese aircraft were to avoid cities this time, flying over wilderness areas.

Avoiding anti-aircraft fire was also intended to achieve surprise, heading straight for Guangde Airport to complete the primary goal.

This allowed Squadron Leader Daichi Matsunaga's planes to approach Guangde Airport without incident. Just as they appeared over Guangde, the airport's turrets received an air raid warning.

The piercing alarm echoed across the airport. The duty personnel on the turrets immediately prepared to fire, and all combat personnel at their positions watched the sky tensely, waiting for the Japanese planes to arrive.

The airport's maintenance personnel, ground crew, and pilots all rushed into the turrets. This was standard procedure; they had conducted such air defense drills many times before.

The twenty fighters parked on the runway scrambled into the air, and ten refueling tankers immediately retreated to the hangars. They had originally received orders to take off and rendezvous with the air group that had already arrived in Nagasaki and was preparing for its return journey.

Now, with the enemy's sudden attack, this plan was clearly impossible to execute.

Forcing the tankers to take off in this situation would clearly turn them into targets for Japanese fighters in the sky. After all, tankers were large and heavily laden, unable to maneuver in the air.

Once spotted by Japanese fighters, there would be no escape. Despite knowing that the expeditionary air group needed these tankers for support, Zhao Long could not allow the tankers to take off; it would be futile.

Commanding the airport's defense was Zhao Long, originally the battalion commander of the First Battalion, First Regiment of the Special Operations Brigade, later transferred to Guangde Airport to serve as the commander of the entire airport.

After receiving intelligence about the arrival of Japanese aircraft, Zhao Long reported to Lord Yang at the first moment. This led to Lin Fan and the others temporarily changing their operational plan in Nagasaki.

The First Squadron of the Third Fleet's air combat wing was the first to arrive at Guangde Airport. When they were six or seven kilometers away from the airport, they were already under attack from the airport's anti-aircraft guns.

The Japanese knew no less about Guangde Airport than they did about Jurong Airport: although Guangde Airport was a military airport, the surrounding terrain was complex, and the Special Operations Brigade had an open policy toward the outside world.

Many people could stand at a distance and observe the airport, giving Japanese intelligence personnel opportunities. They had long known that there was a massive building on the airport.

That was the turret built according to Lin Fan's design and requirements. This turret was the same size as the one at Jurong Airport.

The ten refueling tankers that had just been on the runway were now parked on the bottom level of the turret. The anti-aircraft guns on the turret opened fire on the Japanese planes.

Squadron Leader Daichi Matsunaga ordered, "Fighters approach the turret to suppress the fire, bombers concentrate their strength to blow up the turret first."

His squadron was the first to arrive on the battlefield. As long as the Special Operations Brigade's air defense was dismantled, the entire Guangde Airport would be at their mercy to bomb.

Upon receiving the order, the Japanese planes immediately scattered, preparing to break in from the flanks. Takehito Nakamura flew his fighter at the forefront, his eyes nervously fixed on the shells fired from the turret.

The fiery trails of the shells, like chains, tried to lock his fighter and drag it underground.

Takehito Nakamura danced his fighter through the dense barrage, darting up and down, swaying left and right, always narrowly avoiding the dangerous, deadly shells.

Watching the Japanese fighters nimbly evade the anti-aircraft fire like butterflies flitting through flowers, Zhao Long ordered, "Anti-aircraft guns fire at the large Japanese planes in the high altitude, all short-range anti-aircraft fire shoot at the Japanese fighters."

Shunto Kujota was not so lucky in his bomber. Although these bombers were flying at an altitude of five thousand meters,

once they were targeted by anti-aircraft guns, it was not so easy to escape. Shunto Kujota also saw the magnificent turret below and the shells constantly firing from it.

At first, the shells were fired at the closer fighters, and these bomber pilots had time to chat.

"They are always like this. In the era of cold weapons, they liked to build the Great Wall and city walls everywhere. Now they are building a turret here.

Do they think that such a turret can stop our attack?"

Hayato Arata said loudly. He was also a bomber pilot, commenting disdainfully on the magnificent building on the ground.

After commenting, he accelerated his bomber: "Watch me bomb it!"

Hayato Arata began to dive from an altitude of five thousand meters, wanting to make it clear to the Special Operations Brigade soldiers at Guangde Airport who were still resisting: turrets are useless against specialized heavy bombs.

As he thought this, he did not know that the Fifth Air Combat Wing attacking Jurong Airport had already lost many aircraft.

Hayato Arata began to dive his bomber. He was not alone in the fight; all eighteen aircraft in the bomber group began to dive. Some of the bombers targeted the turret, while others targeted the airport's runways and other buildings.

Hayato Arata, diving at the front, suddenly noticed that the fighter group that had been struggling in the barrage had begun to fall.

He could not distinguish the order, but he could see that at least six or seven fighters seemed to have been hit simultaneously. Some fighters disintegrated in the air, while others struggled in the air, trailing black smoke.

Takehito Nakamura's fighter was now in this state, with black smoke trailing from its tail and its engine stalled. With no more power output, he had tried to restart it in the air three times in a row.

However, it was useless. The engine only hummed a few times before stopping feebly. What could Takehito Nakamura do at this point?

He could only parachute! Takehito Nakamura really could not understand how much anti-aircraft fire was inside this turret. It was clear that the cannons had shifted their targets and were firing toward the high altitude.

As a result, when he flew his fighter closer, he suffered even more intense attacks. The firepower was so fierce that his fighter could no longer leisurely pass through the barrage and had to endure many bullet strikes.

Then he had no choice but to crash. The other fighters around him were the same. The anti-aircraft fire was very fierce, and Hayato Arata could not avoid it in his diving bomber.

Bombers were large and clumsy. Once they began to dive, their flight paths did not change much.

This gave the soldiers operating the cannons inside the turret many opportunities. The eighty-eight-millimeter anti-aircraft guns fired continuously.

Watching the Japanese bombers explode in mid-air, the soldiers all cheered. One, two, three, four, the speed at which the Japanese bombers exploded in the air was very fast.

Hearing the cries and wails of the Japanese in his headset, Shunto Kujota was so frightened that he dared not continue diving. He wanted to avoid the gunfire.

He began to pull up the nose of his plane. The bomber responded to his controls, and the nose began to move, the angle of the dive began to change, and it slowly began to fly level, passing far from the side of the turret.

It was not just one bomber pilot operating like this. They all operated their bombers like Shunto Kujota, avoiding the turret and the airport, and sure enough, they did not suffer subsequent continuous attacks.

However, only eight or nine Japanese bomber pilots were as clever as Shunto Kujota. In the end, seven planes escaped.

The rest of the bombers were hit while diving or after dropping their bombs. However, these were not things that Shunto Kujota and the others cared about.

These seven bombers now faced difficulties that were even greater than before. Shunto Kujota had just escaped from the dense barrage of fire.

Twenty fighters from the Special Operations Brigade were coming to meet them ahead. These fighters were definitely not welcoming them.

Friends who came had fine wine, but the Japanese only had machine guns and cannons. The twenty fighters of the Special Operations Brigade did not interfere in the previous battlefield.

Because they knew how fierce the turret's anti-aircraft fire was, they patrolled outside the turret, specializing in hunting down stragglers.

Facing fighters that were much faster and more agile, Shunto Kujota and the other bombers were completely reduced to targets. Meng Hongzhuang led the twenty fighters in the air, waiting for the Japanese to walk right into their trap.

Now, facing the Japanese bombers, they fought very easily: avoiding the front of the bombers, flying past the flanks, flying to within a hundred meters, and firing a shell.

The Japanese bomber exploded. In this situation, firing another shell was a waste. It was easy to hit Japanese bombers, so they could use this tactic.

However, this tactic could not be used against Japanese fighters. Squadron Leader Daichi Matsunaga had never imagined that in the first round of attack, all eighteen bombers in his First Air Squadron would be wiped out, and only nine fighters would remain.

This was not the end. After he led the nine fighters past Guangde Airport, he fell into another encirclement.

There were more than a dozen fighters rushing toward them head-on in the air. The momentum sent chills down the spines of the Japanese. What could the Japanese air squadron do in this situation?

The planes did not have reverse gears, and they could not retreat. Trying to avoid them from both sides would expose their flanks and invite attacks.

With no way to retreat and no way to avoid, the last nine fighters of Daichi Matsunaga's squadron had no choice but to face the Special Operations Brigade's superior air power head-on.

Squadron Leader Meng Hongzhuang gave the order, his voice filled with a smile: "Let them get closer before firing!"

Although the Japanese fighters opened fire from a thousand meters away, Captain Meng was still willing to let his men let the Japanese get closer before firing.

Because the fighters of the Special Operations Brigade had cannons that could kill with one shot. And the Japanese did not yet know this.

The distance between the two sides quickly closed to less than three hundred meters. The Japanese of Daichi Matsunaga's squadron all let out their final shouts, preparing to crash into the opposing side.

For these Japanese, they believed that in this disadvantaged situation, being able to crash into a Special Operations Brigade fighter was also a kind of victory.

This was exactly what Captain Meng hoped the Japanese would do. Both sides now had the same idea: both wanted the planes to be aligned. The Japanese wanted to be aligned to crash, and the Special Operations Brigade pilots wanted to be aligned to fire.

When the distance between the two sides was less than a hundred meters, the cannons opened fire.

The sounds of explosions rang out incessantly, and nine Japanese fighters were hit in succession, exploding one by one in the air.

Captain Meng led his men to pull their fighters up to a high altitude, watching the wreckage of the Japanese fighters pass beneath them. When Squadron Leader Daichi Matsunaga saw the flash of fire on the opposite side, he only had one thought: "They are too cunning."

From the size of the muzzle flash when the opposite side fired, he immediately understood: the planes on the opposite side had cannons, but he understood too late.

Thinking that his planes had actually voluntarily aligned themselves, offering themselves to the enemy's cannons to die, Squadron Leader Daichi Matsunaga coughed up blood. Not only did he cough up blood, but his entire body was torn apart in the explosions.

While Captain Meng and his men were fighting in the air, the Japanese second air squadron arrived. Zhao Long and his anti-aircraft team inside the turret did not have any time to rest.

The Japanese planes arrived again. Zhao Long already had experience. This was the first real battle for the turret. Summarizing the previous experience, Zhao Long ordered, "All anti-aircraft fire, pay attention, let the Japanese get closer before firing!"

Earlier, when the Japanese planes were still eight thousand meters away, the anti-aircraft guns began to fire, but in the end, not a single enemy plane was shot down.

Now he wanted to let the enemy planes get closer before firing. When the enemy planes got closer, they had much less space to evade, and the anti-aircraft fire on his side was much denser.

When Squadron Leader Yuta Okutani led the Second Air Squadron to Guangde Airport, he found that there were no planes to be seen in the air.

But there were dozens of places on the ground emitting black smoke. He was not a novice, and he naturally knew that the black smoke was caused by the wreckage of crashed planes.

What his entire squadron could not understand was that even though they had flown to a position less than five thousand meters from the airport, the turret standing on the airport had not yet opened fire.

"Was the turret damaged in the previous battle by Matsunaga's squadron? Or was it crippled, and they no longer have any fighting power?" This was not just Yuta Okutani's idea.

The Japanese always thought of good things. The entire squadron had this idea. The airport was right in front of them, and the Japanese bomber and fighter squadrons began to dive.

The fighters prepared to strafe the ground, and the bombers prepared to drop bombs to destroy it.

At this moment, Zhao Long ordered: "Fire!" Four of the seven levels of the turret were equipped with anti-aircraft fire, and now the entire turret's anti-aircraft fire opened fire at the same time.

All kinds of bullets and shells weaved a dense net in the sky, and the Japanese planes that crashed into this net immediately had planes hit and crashed.

Yuki Ikawa cried out loudly, "I've been hit! I've been hit!" He thought he was the most tragic pilot.

In fact, he was very lucky. There were even more Japanese who could only shout, "Ah!" and then be smashed to pieces with their planes.

This round, Zhao Long let the Japanese planes get within two thousand meters before firing. The shells had just been fired when they saw enemy planes exploding. The soldiers inside the turret were greatly encouraged. Their current task was to fire the most ammunition in the shortest amount of time.

Pilot Naomi Suzuki was flying a bomber and was diving with the whole group. They were close to reaching their target when they were suddenly hit by heavy fire.

At the situation, it immediately ordered to all the crew member: "Drop bombs! Drop bombs!"

It was not able to change the route at the moment, so it could only drop that 1,300-kilogram bomb first to make the plane lighter and easier to operate.

The crew member receiving the order immediately opened the holder, and the bomb began to fall freely to the ground. The bomber pilot quickly pulled up, but the bomber had machine guns, and it didn't want to make any more forward lunges. The bomber was a little higher up, so it could clearly see the fighters at a low altitude were crashing in like moths to a flame, their wings burned away and falling to the ground.

Naomi Suzuki wanted to leave and escape and wanted to live, so his movements were quick and decisive.

In front of it was a bomber that was clumsily pulling up, trying to escape the trap as soon as possible. From the way it was flying, it was clear that it was still carrying its bomb.

"This idiot!" Naomi Suzuki whispered. Just as it finished speaking, the bomber suddenly exploded, followed by a larger and more violent explosion in mid-air.

It was the 1,300-kilogram bomb that the bomber was carrying exploding. "Damn it!" Naomi Suzuki cursed loudly this time.

When the heavy bomb exploded in mid-air, the shrapnel was extremely powerful even at a thousand meters. Some of the shrapnel even hit Naomi Suzuki's bomber.

Pilot Naomi Suzuki could feel his bomber started shaking violently. Fortunately, the bomber itself was tough, so as long as it didn't have extremely bad luck.

A little damage like this wouldn't cause it to crash. But Pilot Takuto Ueno was a different story.

He was flying a light and nimble fighter that was also hit by shrapnel from the heavy bomb, and the fighter immediately lost control.

Takuto Ueno tried to save it a couple of times but to no avail, so it had to abandon the plane and parachute to safety.