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Text Chapter 981 Sea of ??Fire (4)

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    At 9:10 am, Komatsushima in the eastern part of Shikoku Island.  .

    Two American-made DC-3 transport planes landed at the field airport on time. After the hatch was opened, several senior naval officers including Yamamoto Isoroku and Nagumo came out.  They quickly got into the car and hurried to the dock.

    As we all know, during the Saudi Arabia crisis, China¡¯s long-range air force attracted widespread attention around the world. At that time, China had begun mass production of Y-5 tactical transport aircraft similar to DC3.  In order to balance China and Japan, the U.S. Congress made a far-reaching transaction during this period, which was to provide Japan with P-26 fighter jets and DC-3 transport aircraft.  Although the engine models were all replaced during the war, Yang Qiu's previous plan to influence Japan's engine design path through a White Shoulder Eagle fighter during the Sakhalin crisis went bankrupt.  Japan also tried to imitate the imported model, but failed because the technology was not up to standard.  Even so, the imported DC-3 has become the exclusive landline for senior officers such as Yamamoto because of its reliability.

    Soon after the car arrived at Komatsushima Port, it changed its route and turned into the southern mountainous area.  After crossing a hill, a huge battleship suddenly appeared in the bay. This was the Musashi, the second ship of the Yamato-class battleship.  Construction of the Musashi began in Nagasaki at the end of 1937, and it was launched and outfitted in early 1940.  With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, especially when cities on Sasebo and Kyushu Island were bombed, the Japanese Navy moved it here to continue outfitting in order to avoid losses.

    The Battle of Wake Island not only made the world aware of the power of the Chinese navy and a new type of naval warfare, the Yamato battleship's astonishing record and the chaos it caused in the U.S. fleet at the last moment also made the world's major naval powers once again regain the status of battleships.  discussion.  The Japanese Navy, which has been wandering between battleships and aircraft carriers, is even more hesitant. When China's Shandong-class No. 2 ship entered service at the end of May, and the No. 3 and No. 4 ships were launched and 80% completed, including Yamamoto Isoroku.  All the naval admirals believed that Yamato and Musashi could form a perfect two-ship partnership to regain control of the sea and reverse the war.  Therefore, despite the continuous acquisition of three modified escort aircraft carriers, the Dragon Phoenix, the Flying Eagle, and the Hayabusa, I still have great enthusiasm for the Musashi.

    At this time, the Musashi has installed the second turret and is in the process of installing the third turret and the ship island.  Taking into account the lethality of the aircraft, a lot of improvements were made in the outfitting and many anti-aircraft guns were installed.  "How long will it take?" Yamamoto Isoroku climbed up the gangway and boarded the deck step by step.

    "Report to the general, the Musashi will be completed in six months." The Mitsubishi designer in charge of outfitting introduced the progress to the officers.

    "Six months?" After learning that it would be six months, Yamamoto Isoroku's eyebrows slowly knitted together.  Truk is finished, Wake Island has not been defended, and Marshall and Gilbert will certainly not be able to hold on.  Under this circumstance, the Chinese navy¡¯s attacks on the Okinawa Islands and Malacca have become obvious.  Since the end of last year, the Chinese Navy has gathered troops and supplies in Fujian, Hangzhou Bay and other places.  So far, a total of more than a thousand ships of various types have been assembled, including more than 400 landing ships/boats alone.  Four Yanjing-class battleships and one Shandong-class battleship have also been transferred to Qingdao and Shanghai. The second Shandong-class will be commissioned at the end of May. The four main aircraft carriers that attacked the Marshall have also returned to Guam, plus the second batch  Four escort aircraft carriers were delivered one after another, and two repaired aircraft carriers were returned to service. In fact, there are already five battleships, six main aircraft carriers, three escort aircraft carriers, ten heavy cruisers, and fifteen light cruisers around Okinawa.

    Faced with a decisive battle that is likely to break out within a few weeks, the Musashi has to wait for six monthsvery anxious.

    "Everyone, the Japanese Navy's attack on Okinawa is about to begin. Do you have any strategies?" Yamamoto walked to the railing, holding his hands on the railing with a worried look on his face.  Toyoda's deputy secretly rolled his eyes, what other strategies are there at this time?  It's nothing more than a desperate fight.  But since Yamamoto asked, he who had been doing nothing since the war was the first to answer: "Okinawa is the southern barrier of the empire. The Army has dispatched Umezu Yoshijiro as the garrison commander. A total of 320,000 imperial soldiers are stationed. Among them, Okinawa  Heanmei Dashima has the largest number, 200,000 and 80,000"

    Although Vice Takeru Toyoda is a top-notch senior general in the Navy, Yamamoto dislikes him very much because he is too "talkative", that is, he talks too much.  Therefore, since the war started, Toyota's main job is to manage logistics at Kure Prefecture. He is almost the same as Ozawa Jizaburo before the Mariana Sea War, and he is a "pension worker".  Although the victory at Wake Island has now blocked the United States from the Southwest Pacific and Northeast Asia, Japan no longer needs to be attacked from both sides, but Yamamoto still has no intention of using him.  So when he saw him starting to chatter again, he interrupted dissatisfiedly: "Toyoda-kun, I'm asking about our navy."

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we should be pessimistic.¡± Unlike Toyota, Tsukahara, who spoke up, became famous in the battle on Wake Island and is already a well-deserved pillar of the Navy.So as soon as he opened his mouth, everyone's eyes were focused on him.  "We also have six aircraft carriers and six battleships (Yamato, Nagato, Mutsu, Kongo, Hiei, and Haruna. The Kirishima was docked for repairs due to serious damage at Wake Island and was not counted),  He still has the power to fight! The most important thing now is to get Haruna back as soon as possible.

    I believe that the empire has had a ruling foundation in Okinawa for decades. After the last war, we regarded this place and North Korea as the forefront of the fight against Japan, and built complete shore artillery and fortresses.  So although the Japanese have gathered a large number of troops, they also have many difficulties. The most difficult one is the distance!  Everyone, from the coast of Japan to Okinawa, it is nearly 700 kilometers. At the speed of a landing ship, we will be exposed to us for one day and one night!  Besides, there are many islands in the Okinawa Archipelago, and we can take advantage of the high speed of small ships  "

    Tsukahara was eloquent and analyzed in detail the advantages and disadvantages of the Okinawa defense war. Among them, distance was the key point that he repeatedly raised.  Yamamoto Isoroku rolled his eyes. The width of the ocean is 700 kilometers. If he can make good use of the speed of the destroyer and the concealment of the submarine, combined with the numerous fortress guns and aircraft on the island, plus the main force of the fleet, he will indeed be able to fight.  .  If it can be defeated here, no!  As long as three to four Chinese Navy aircraft carriers are sunk, the enemy's strength and the situation of the war can be reversed in an instant.  If the war can be dragged on for two years and the allies gain successive victories in Europe, they may be able to bring big surprises.

    Therefore, the top priority is to call back the Haruna battleship that is outside and tighten its fists.  So he asked: "Where is Haruna now?"

    ¡°I am supporting the Marshall Islands in Nauru, and will go to Rabaul next week to cheer up before heading back home,¡± Nagumo said.

    "Let them come back quickly, time is running out." After Yamamoto finished speaking, he looked at the blue sea. There was always an unspeakable worry in his heart, but he couldn't think of a loophole there.  Just as he was about to continue asking about the specific battle plan, a rumble of motor sound came into his ears.  Looking down, I saw an officer climbing up the gangway from the launch to the deck.  "General, Your Excellency General! Tokuyama Garrison reported that Japanese spies and reconnaissance planes were discovered" Yamamoto casually took the telegram. Are there not many spies and reconnaissance planes in Japan?  So he and everyone else didn't pay attention at first. It wasn't until he read the full text of the telegram that his expression changed drastically: "No! The Japanese are going to bomb the Tokuyama Refinery!" Tokuyama is the largest "oil house" of the Japanese Navy and has extremely strategic value.  big.  So Tsukahara and others were shocked when they heard that the Chinese Air Force was going to bomb Tokuyama.  But he was not too nervous, because the refinery and oil storage tanks exposed on the surface were only a small part of the "oil house". Even if the refinery was bombed, as long as the underground oil depot was okay, the crude oil could still be transported to Yokohama and other places for refining and processing.  Are underground oil depots dangerous?  They absolutely do not believe this, because the shallowest part of the underground oil depot is several meters above the surface, and it is reinforced with cement and steel bars to prevent armor-piercing bombs from the Yamato battleship.

    They are indeed confident that even General Li Mei in the parallel world has no way to deal with the Deshan Oil Depot.  But if Japan's intelligence can be extended to Central Asia, it may not be optimistic.  "Toyoda-kun, please help contact the Army. Let all their fighter jets in the Seto Inland Sea, Shikoku and Kyushu be dispatched, and be sure to protect Tokuyama!" After Yamamoto became nervous, he calmed down and asked Deputy Toyoda to contact the Army.  A trace of dissatisfaction flashed across Toyoda's round face. The entire Navy knew that he and the Army were the least compatible, but they asked him to contact the Army. Wasn't this deliberately embarrassing!  However, he nodded for the sake of the Deshan oil depot, and he was not afraid that the Army would not help. After all, the Army also had a share of the oil reserves at the Deshan Oil Depot.

    After Toyota informed the Army of the news that the Chinese Air Force was going to bomb the Tokuyama Oil Depot, almost all Japanese Army Air Forces near the Seto Inland Sea were mobilized.  In less than an hour, 400 Nine-Seven Land Fighters, Falcons and Zero Fighters gathered together. Even the Navy Wu Zhenfu also mobilized 38 Zero Fighters to fight.

    At 11:30 in the morning, when the naval zero battle of Wu Zhenfu arrived over Tokuyama, the 111th Squadron led by Gao Zhihang simultaneously penetrated into the Bungo Waterway.

    "Protect the bombers! Light Cavalry Brigade follow me!"

    Almost as soon as the Japanese aircraft was discovered, the 78 J-8 "Tianquan" protecting the 111th Squadron swooped down from high altitude in batches.  As a cutting-edge fighter of the Air Force, the "Tianquan" has participated in many battles, but due to the excellent performance of the "double electric" and the short equipment time, it did not perform very well.  However, as an air superiority fighter similar to the famous P51 Mustang fighter, the "Tianquan" has been aiming to seize air superiority since its development. Therefore, both speed and ability are no less than dual-power, and its high-altitude performance is even better.  better.  The only drawback is that the laminar flow wing limits the use of large-caliber cannons, so only six 12.7 mm machine guns are installed.

    The scene of the Truk air battle reappeared. The "Tianquan" using the new tactic of multi-layered four-four in one area quickly defeated the Japanese aircraft and isolated the bombing channel for the 111th Squadron.  "Hammer calls the light cavalry, Hammer calls the light cavalry, help me cover for three minutes!"

      "The Hussars understand, the Hussars understand."

    After Gao Zhihang called for fighter cover, he led his wingmen to accelerate toward Deshan.  There are a lot of Japanese anti-aircraft guns in Deshan, but most of them are small-caliber anti-aircraft guns. After climbing to 6,000 meters, this type of firepower can no longer threaten bombers. Only 75- and 105-mm caliber anti-aircraft guns pose a threat.  However, the number of these two types of anti-aircraft guns was very small, and they had almost no power against a mere 8 bombers in scattered formations.

    "Prepare to drop the bomb!"

    After the bomb bay door was opened, the airflow caused the bomber to shake violently. Gao Zhihang and his comrades worked hard to stabilize the plane and issued the order to drop the bomb.  "Leave the cabin on the 1st! Start tracking" The radio navigator lay in front of the bomb sight on the nose of the aircraft, loudly reporting the news of the bomb leaving the aircraft, while watching the red signal light on the tail of the bomb, and using the radio joystick  ** controls the radio-guided earth-penetrating bomb named Bomb No. 25.

    The No. 25 radio-guided ground-penetrating bomb is actually a combination of the No. 20 ground-penetrating bomb that made a big splash in Tashkent and the "Rolling Thunder" radio-guided bomb used in the raid on Sasebo.  It is also modified from a captured Soviet-made 203mm gun barrel. The head is a sharp special tungsten alloy warhead, and the tail is equipped with a "Rolling Thunder" radio guidance and control component.  The bomb has a total weight of 3,370 kilograms, a maximum release height of 6,500 meters, a distance of 4,000 meters, and a hit radius of 20 meters.  Theoretically, it can penetrate up to 30 meters of soil or 6 meters of solid concrete fortifications, and the H-7 bomber can carry one at a time.

    To ensure a hit, this time the tactic of two aircraft bombing one target at the same time was adopted.  The two bombers were 1,500 meters apart in the air. The tail signal lights and radio frequencies of the two bombs in each group were different to ensure that they would not interfere with each other to the greatest extent.

    ¡°About twenty seconds later, the two bombs drilled into the marked squares No. 126 and No. 127 almost simultaneously.

    In the eyes of Yamamoto Isoroku and the Japanese navy, they were disappointed by the soil and concrete layers that could not be penetrated even by the Yamato's main gun armor-piercing projectiles. The two No. 25 bombs penetrated the bunker layer almost effortlessly.  One exploded deep into an oil depot storing 100,000 tons of aviation gasoline, and the other exploded into a fire pump room.

    Viewed from the sky, after the bomb penetrated into the soil, it emitted two clouds of green smoke, which then became dull for about three to five seconds. The sight and the lens of the airborne camera gun were severely distorted.  At that moment, the entire earth trembled violently, the surface undulated like waves, and the trees and rocks seemed to flip over!  Like a volcano before an eruption, the low mountains first rose rapidly, and then the soil and rocks were overturned by the expanding and arching heat wave, and rushed into the sky fifteen kilometers high!  A gray-brown mud dragon forms.  Before the mud dragon could spread, clumps, strands, and clumps of burning oil columns spewed out from the ground. It looked like hundreds of oil wells were ignited and exploded at the same time.  These pillars of fire carried the explosion shock wave and quickly spread around, eventually forming a smoke ball with a diameter of three kilometers.  The roaring shock wave spread close to the surface and spread in all directions, pushing down all the buildings in the harbor and nearby residential areas. The heavy oil gushed out and flowed everywhere like magma.

    If what the sky sees is just the surface, then the "oil house" soldiers hiding in the underground oil depot, who were complacent and unworried before, have no chance of survival.  When the first wave of two bombs exploded, the cement outer wall of the gasoline oil depot was cracked and exploded. The ignited gasoline burst out countless flames, spurting out from the gaps and gaps, quickly spreading to the oil pipes, filling the roadways, and those  Elaborate fire pumps and containment tape didn't even have any effect.  Only then did the "Oil House" soldiers discover that the solid bunker they thought could stop the most powerful bombs and defend themselves had actually become a sealed cabin with no way to escape. No matter where they fled, they would be mercilessly devoured by flames.

    "It hit! It hit!"

    "No. 2, follow up!"

    Under the command of Yan Baohang, eight H-7s completed bomb delivery one after another.  Afterwards, it was found that six of the eight No. 25 ground-penetrating bombs hit the oil depot, and the remaining two exploded in other locations in the underground oil depot.  Of the seven oil depots in total, five were directly destroyed, and the remaining two were also leaked and burned in the explosion.

    A total of three million reserves of oil!  It burst out with an explosion power equivalent to nearly 200,000 tons!  The entire Tokuyama anchorage was uprooted!  Even places such as Songshan, dozens of kilometers away, felt the tremors like a strong earthquake. The smoke cloud lasted for two days and two nights, and even half a month later, there were still flames burning in nearby areas.

    Before the Japanese army and the Japanese who witnessed everything could react, 236 bombers rushed out of the black smoke and carried out a second bombing of residential areas and oil refineries!  Densely packed bombs and napalm bombs emerged from under the belly of the plane, and countless fireballs rumbled into Tokuyama.

    Deshan, a small town with a population of less than 300,000 before the war, only less than 20,000 people living in the mountainous area survived, and the rest were choked to death by poisonous smoke or burned to death!  Ninety-nine percent of the city¡¯s total fire damage and damage area!  Toxic thick black smoke will not only destroy GermanyThe mountain was completely enveloped and spread to nearby Shitamatsu and Hofu. Even the Kunisaki Peninsula across the sea could smell the burning smell.

    However, this is only the beginning, and larger-scale bombings are already being prepared

    (To be continued.)
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