BSI Chapter 109 The Power of Twin 40mm Anti-Aircraft Guns: Japanese Pilots Were Terrified
Chapter 109 The Power of Twin 40mm Anti-Aircraft Guns: Japanese Pilots Were Terrified
Although Seya Kei had heard a little about Li Jianghe's troops, he had heard that the troops were fiercely armed and hardly seemed like a Chinese army.
Now that I see it, it's indeed true.
The one most shocked was Akashiba Yaezō, who had completely disregarded Li Jianghe and the army.
After all, the enemy's firepower on the city walls consisted not only of light weapons, but also heavy weapons, flamethrowers, and landmines buried in front of the city walls.
It should be said that the enemy's defense was quite well-organized and extremely difficult to deal with.
"As expected, this enemy force is not to be underestimated."
That's what Kei Seya said.
Akashiba Yaezō turned around and said:
"I request more artillery support, and at the same time call for air support to drop incendiary bombs and burn all the enemy troops in the city to death."
According to Akashiba Yaezo's understanding, many of the buildings in the castle have wooden structures.
If incendiary bombs were used, it would inevitably cause chaos in the city and could even burn many enemies alive.
"Okay, I'll get air support right now, but you don't need to worry, and you don't need to be annoyed or discouraged."
It's important to remember that in Nanjing, Li Jianghe and his troops withstood repeated attacks from two divisions.
Kei Seya spoke to Yaezō Akashiba with great concern, patting him on the shoulder.
"Thank you, Commander Xie. I will definitely take this county town."
Akashiba Yaezo emphasized the first path.
Inside the command post, Kitano Suzuki received orders and began calling for air force support.
During the phone call, Kitano Suzuki also specifically reminded the air force units.
"The enemy should have a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns with fierce firepower. When dropping bombs, maintain an appropriate flight altitude to avoid being destroyed by enemy bullets."
"Which unit is it? And with so many anti-aircraft machine guns?"
"This is what Lieutenant Colonel Hyakukawa Uchiri, who is in charge of the air force command for this battle, asked."
According to his understanding, the Chinese army on the other side had almost no air defense firepower.
Their troops had actually suffered losses against enemy ground forces, specifically during the Battle of Nanjing, when a man named Li Jianghe led his troops to shoot down a number of enemy aircraft.
"It's Li Jianghe's troops."
Kitano Suzuki said.
He believed that there must have been legends about this person within the air force for some time.
Sure enough, upon hearing the name, Hyakukawa immediately realized what it meant:
"I see, I understand. Don't worry, even when dropping bombs from high altitudes, we can guarantee a good hit rate."
Upon hearing this, Hyakukawa immediately assembled his troops, launched a squadron of fighter jets, and flew towards the city.
Typical anti-aircraft machine guns have a firing range of about 1,000 meters. If the fighter jet is kept at an altitude of 1,500 meters, it can effectively avoid the threat of enemy ground anti-aircraft machine guns.
Thinking of this, he specifically instructed his troops not to rashly carry out dive bombing, and explained that this enemy force was the same one that had previously caused considerable losses to the naval air force under Li Jianghe.
These Japanese pilots all became cautious upon hearing this name.
In any case, among the Chinese army, it was Li Jianghe's troops who inflicted significant losses on them on the ground.
Amidst the roar of fighter jet engines, a large number of fighter jets, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft took off.
At the very front was a reconnaissance aircraft, specifically responsible for marking ground targets and identifying the locations of enemy anti-aircraft machine gun positions.
In Tengxian, the artillery bombardment continued. Although the advance of the Japanese ground forces had been repelled, the shelling showed no signs of stopping.
The outer city, which was under concentrated bombardment, had already seen one-third of its buildings collapse under the intense shelling, while many others were set ablaze by the intense heat.
Some soldiers and civilians were killed by Japanese artillery shells while trying to extinguish the flames and prevent the fire from spreading.
Soon after, a series of buzzing sounds came from the air.
They were Japanese warplanes.
Li Jianghe picked up his binoculars and looked at the Japanese warplanes, wondering if the anti-aircraft gun crews he had summoned would be of any use.
Wang Chengzhu, holding a telescope, was observing Japanese warplanes from within the city.
"Altitude 1500 meters!!! Direction: 30 degrees northeast."
He shouted, "Move into firing positions! Anti-aircraft guns, prepare!!!"
Amidst the roar, a large number of soldiers removed the camouflage netting from the disguised anti-aircraft artillery positions.
These were mainly to mislead Japanese reconnaissance aircraft and prevent them from discovering the existence of the anti-aircraft artillery positions.
Wang Chengzhu thought to himself that these Japanese devils had probably adjusted their flight altitude because they had suffered losses before.
Even if it means sacrificing some accuracy in bombing, we must ensure our own survival.
But these Japanese devils never imagined that they had already upgraded their weapons.
Previously, the MG42 machine gun was used as a temporary anti-aircraft weapon, but it was helpless against Japanese warplanes that flew high.
This time, however, they used twin-mounted Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns, which were far superior to the MG42 in terms of both firing range and firepower.
This is the real air defense firepower, not the MG42 and other part-time air defense weapons.
As the Japanese warplanes drew closer, Wang Chengzhu gave the order.
"fire!!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the twin anti-aircraft guns disguised on the city wall opened fire simultaneously.
"Bang bang bang!!"
With a dull thud like a heavy hammer, shells were launched, whistling as they pounced on the Japanese warplanes.
In the air, Japanese warplanes were approaching Tengxian and were preparing to drop incendiary bombs.
However, one of the fighter jets was suddenly hit by a shell.
The power of a 40mm anti-aircraft gun is naturally incomparable to that of an ordinary machine gun.
A shell hit the wing and shattered it, completely rendering it unable to maneuver.
The entire aircraft crashed uncontrollably to one side, and no matter how the pilot pulled the control stick, he could not control it.
Looking again, even more shells were flying in from below.
"Boom!!!"
One of the bombers was instantly blown apart by anti-aircraft guns, triggering a secondary explosion and disintegrating in mid-air.
The pilots didn't even have a chance to parachute; they were reduced to fragments in mid-air along with the plane.
"Enemy anti-aircraft guns!!! Increase altitude, take cover!!!"
Bai Chuan roared angrily.
"What is the army doing? Didn't they say the enemy only had anti-aircraft machine guns? Why are they having anti-aircraft guns?"
He had seen it clearly just now: the bomber that exploded in the air was hit by artillery shells, not machine gun bullets.
Moreover, their flight altitude remained above 1,500 meters, at which point ordinary machine guns would find it difficult to maintain accuracy and lethality, let alone cause a bomber to explode and disintegrate.
"Enemy anti-aircraft artillery positions are on the city walls! Should we fire?"
A Japanese fighter pilot roared angrily over the communications channel.