Chapter 1511: Bombers vs. Battleships
Zhang Tuohai recruited nine million soldiers and assigned them to various battlefields.
Then order each battlefield to take the initiative and achieve results.
Otherwise, you will be a sinner of the empire.
Japanese troops abroad received the order and began to take action.
The fastest movement is in the direction of Australia.
Although Australia has a vast land area, it has a relatively small population. Moreover, most cities are concentrated in coastal areas, while the vast inland areas are deserts and grasslands with almost no people.
This gave Japan an opportunity.
The warships carried the army all the way south, bombarded every city they encountered, and then landed the infantry to clean up the mess.
Soon, they took control of large areas in Australia.
The army here has no combat effectiveness at all because of the long period of peace.
Marshal Mai who fled here is just a figurehead commander and has little power under his command.
Forced by the enemy, he had no choice but to run inland with his men and hide.
The Southern Army received frequent news of victory and hoped to send immigrants from the country to occupy this place as soon as possible.
Compared with the Southern Army's successive victories, the westward-moving army was much slower.
Because if you want to advance into India you have to cross the rainforest.
But there were no roads in the rain forest during that period, so supplies could not be transported through. It was impossible to carry much stuff on foot alone, and the commander of the westward army was a stupid and reckless man.
He clamored that he would capture Imphal even if it meant eating grass.
Then, half of the army starved to death, and they finally retreated to Southeast Asia in disgrace.
The Minister of War would have brought this man back and sent him to a military court for trial.
But he was stopped by Zhang Tuohai.
He had finally found such an anti-Japanese hero, so how could he let him go?
Not only was he acquitted of the charges, he was promoted to a higher rank and allowed to continue leading the westward march.
Make the other person cry tears of gratitude.
Among the three armies, the worst suffered was the Eastward Corps.
The most manpower and equipment are replenished here.
Even the rare submachine guns and mortars were replenished here.
However, facing the powerful howitzers and tanks of the US army, it was no different from tickling. They could only build positions on the beach under the cover of naval guns.
The Americans also discovered the Japanese weaknesses and have been studying how to break the impasse.
Then they came up with a solution and spent three months producing more than 10,000 bombers.
These 10,000 bombers are all heavy-duty air fortresses, with a total of six machine gun positions in the front, back, top and bottom, and are heavily guarded, making them veritable air fortresses.
Because they did not need to fly long distances, these 10,000 planes were fully equipped with machine guns and bombs, and formed a dense formation to fly towards the Japanese army.
The Japanese lookout was so frightened when he saw so many planes that he almost fell off the observation tower.
He immediately sounded the alarm.
When Nan Yun saw the dense swarm of fighter planes, he was frightened and quickly ordered his fighter planes to take off to protect the fleet.
Hundreds of Zero fighters took off immediately to meet the enemy.
In their view, it is easy for fighter jets to deal with bombers.
Moreover, there is no fighter escort, isn't this just delivering food?
The fighter squadron rushed towards the bomber formation with great momentum.
When they rushed to the bomber formation, they were dumbfounded.
This was because the bomber formation formed a dense formation and the Zero fighters did not dare to rush in, otherwise they would be killed by the densely packed fighters.
They wanted to engage in a free-range fight, but the machine guns on the sky fortress were more than those on the fighter planes.
Completely taken care of in all directions.
No matter which direction they attacked from, they would face fire from thousands of machine guns.
This is a real steel storm.
The Zero fighter was famous for its thin skin and large fillings. In order to reduce the weight of the fuselage, aluminum alloy steel frames were used under the skin, and the fuselage even used a hollow frame, which resulted in zero defense of the aircraft.
If you are hit by two bullets, you will lose your ability to fight.
The Zero fighters circled the bomber group twice but did not find any opportunity to attack. Instead, they lost more than a hundred planes, suffering heavy losses.
At this time, the fighter squadron had already flown above the Combined Fleet.
The anti-aircraft firepower of many ships of the Combined Fleet opened fire.
The bomber formation also opened its ammunition bays, and iron bombs poured out one after another.
Normally, dive bombers or torpedo planes are used to deal with ships.
There are almost no heavy bombers.
The main reason for this is that the ships' evasive maneuvers are so fast that they must be attacked at close range by dive bombers or torpedo planes.
Heavy bombers are designed to drop bombs over an area, and while they're fine for attacking fixed targets, they're much less effective against moving targets .
But that's normal.
Things are a little different now. In order to launch an air strike on the Combined Fleet, the Americans have deployed 10,000 heavy bombers.
So many fighter planes formed a dense formation in the air, almost covering the entire battlefield sky.
Then, all the planes dropped bombs together, directly covering the entire battlefield.
Faced with the rain of shells, no matter how fast the ship's evasive speed is, it cannot avoid all the bombs and can only pray that it will not be hit by too many bombs.
Boom, boom, boom.
A large number of bombs exploded in the battle area.
Most of the bombs fell into the sea, causing waves.
However, some of the bombs still fell on the ship.
In order to achieve the attack effect, the United States used 500-kilogram heavy bombs, which could directly blow through the deck when they fell on it.
Landing on a turret can directly blow it away.
Many small destroyers were hit by bombs, which directly blew through their hulls. A large amount of seawater poured in, and the ships sank directly without even the ability to hold up.
The cruiser can probably withstand two four-bomb bursts, and any more will sink.
In the case of an aircraft carrier, if a shell hits the deck, it will lose its combat effectiveness and need to return to port for repairs immediately, making it impossible to fight.
Only the tough battleships can hold out for a while longer.
The American strategy was simple: to drown the Combined Fleet with massive bombs.
It is the crushing of industrial strength.
Faced with this crushing level of battle, the Combined Fleet had no choice but to do nothing.
Yamamoto could not bear the fate of the Combined Fleet being annihilated, so he immediately ordered the Combined Fleet to evacuate and return to Pearl Harbor for rest and recuperation.
At least the aircraft carrier needs to be repaired .
The Combined Fleet retreated in disgrace, and the three million soldiers of the Eastward Corps who remained on the shore were dumbfounded.
What should we do if you leave?
Without the support of the fleet's artillery, what would they rely on?
There were sighs and groans everywhere in the camp.
Soon, they won't have to sigh anymore.
Because the Sky Fortress is back with bombs loaded again.
They came back with a vengeance.
In order to achieve the effect, the US military deliberately chose people from the West Coast as pilots.
They have a deep hatred for the Japanese army.
Naturally, there will be no mercy.
This time, without the threat of fighter jets, the air fortress even lowered its altitude and carried out intensive bombing at an altitude of one thousand meters above the ground.
After the formation of planes flew over, the Japanese defense line looked like the surface of the moon.
