Liang Jian: Lao Li, I'm really not a military expert

Chapter 592 We have to call Lao Li back quickly so that we can discuss how to fight the next battle.

However, the Air Force Battalion did not achieve much result this time. After losing nearly half of its combat effectiveness, it only destroyed three Zero fighters and five horizontal bombers of the Japanese. The loss ratio was directly as high as 2 to 1. Zhao Gang felt very aggrieved after hearing the news. At this moment, he finally understood why Lin Zhenhua wanted to launch the plan to increase production capacity.

However, it was already too late. The air force battalion now had only 19 fighter planes left, half of which were transport planes, six were fighters, and three were bombers. The air force of the entire base had entered its weakest period, and it would be difficult to pose a threat to the Japanese in a short period of time.

After discovering that the Japanese air force had completely evacuated, Lin Zhenhua did not directly descend his flight altitude. Instead, he circled around the base and found that the two Japanese Zero fighters that had ambushed him had left. Only then did he contact the ground.

"Lao Zhao, get someone to guide me on the ground right away. I need to land quickly before the Japanese air force leaves, in case the damn Japanese come back and attack me."

Zhao Gang did not dare to delay and immediately arranged for people to clear a usable road and installed several reflectors nearby to guide Lin Zhenhua to land.

Half an hour later, Lin Zhenhua successfully landed the Goshawk reconnaissance plane on the cement road. With the help of the ground crew, he climbed out of the cockpit of the plane, took a three-wheeled motorcycle, and rushed to Maoershan Airport.

Zhao Gang is arranging people to rescue the wounded and clean up the airport. The losses at Maoershan Airport were very heavy this time. The fuel depot and ammunition depot were all destroyed. If a large amount of inventory had not been cleared out a few days ago, the losses this time would have been even greater.

After Lin Zhenhua arrived at Maoershan Airport, he found that the entire airport was in ruins, with craters everywhere, and 12 hydraulic catapults were blown into pieces, showing how fierce the Japanese bombing was. All the buildings in the airport were destroyed, including the three transport planes waiting for repair in the hangar, which were completely blown into pieces.

Taking a deep breath, Lin Zhenhua came to Zhao Gang's side and asked in a serious tone: "Old Zhao, tell me about our casualties this time!"

Zhao Gang replied with a sad face: "College student, our casualties this time are very heavy. The casualties alone exceed 2000 people, and we also lost a large number of anti-aircraft weapons. The loss this time is huge."

"The exact number of casualties has not been counted yet, and I only know a rough estimate. As for the Japanese, we destroyed a total of 46 fighter planes this time, and the battle loss should have reached about half. In general, we did not let the Japanese have an easy time. In comparison, our losses were greater. If we had a complete anti-aircraft artillery, the losses should be less!"

"The Japanese bombing this time has reminded us that for a long time in the future, the Japanese air force with sufficient fuel will definitely increase the intensity of their bombing against us. Our first priority now is to solve the problem of air defense in our base. Otherwise, not only will our arsenal be lost, but even our food will be difficult to preserve. This is related to our survival. We must guard the airspace security of our base at all costs!"

"College students, we have to call Lao Li back and have a good discussion. The Shuiquan Oilfield has seriously threatened the safety of our base. We must find a way to blow it up! But our air force battalion has suffered heavy damage and cannot support the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army in a short period of time. We must find other ways to solve the current dilemma!"

Lin Zhenhua agreed with this. The development of the situation was completely beyond his expectations. He had to start making strategic adjustments now. Otherwise, the Zhaojiayu base might really be turned into ruins by the Japanese. By then, they would most likely become stray dogs and be reduced to guerrilla warfare in the mountains.

The military industry was not easy to establish. Once it was destroyed by the devils, it would be very difficult to rebuild it. If he had not taken advantage of the Third Reich in advance, he would not have been able to establish a basic military industry. Now he was at a crossroads and he had to be extremely cautious.

"Old Zhao, I agree with your suggestion. We must now make adjustments to our overall policy. First of all, we must ensure the safety of the arsenal. Once our arsenal is completely destroyed by the devils, the consequences will be disastrous."

"We have to wait to accept the disaster victims. Before the base is stabilized, we can only place them outside the base. As for the food supply problem, we will solve it. Otherwise, if so many people suddenly pour into the base, not only will there be a big problem with public security, but it is also very likely that the Japanese bombing will cause a large-scale panic, leading to chaos in the base. We must consider this matter in advance and do our best to avoid it from happening!"

Lin Zhenhua had originally planned to take advantage of this relatively free period to accept more disaster victims, but he never expected that the Japanese would focus their attention on them. Before a complete air defense system was established, he would never dare to accept disaster victims on a large scale, because that would cause greater casualties. The Japanese would not care whether you were a so-called civilian or not. These crazy guys would do anything.

Zhao Gang did not object to Lin Zhenhua's proposal. He also felt tremendous pressure. Before this, no one had thought that the Japanese would be able to find an oil field. This was completely beyond everyone's expectations.

After receiving the urgent telegram from Zhao Gang, Li Yunlong did not dare to delay for a moment. He quickly arranged the matters at hand and led the cavalry company to rush back to the Zhaojiayu base.

Kong Jie, who learned about the bombing of the airport, immediately accelerated the march. He promised Lin Zhenhua that he would arrive at the meeting point in two days to ensure the safety of the victims. Zhao Gang urgently mobilized a battalion of transport teams and asked them to rush to the meeting point with compressed biscuits to ensure that the victims had food. The Second Field Hospital dispatched more than 30 medical workers to the meeting point. When they left, they carried a large amount of medicines so that they could treat the victims as soon as possible.

Ding Wei also hurriedly withdrew from Fortress No. 19, and the remaining fighter planes of the Air Force Battalion were towed to a safe area by vehicles. The ground crew quickly rushed over and camouflaged the planes to avoid being discovered by the Japanese reconnaissance planes.

After leaving the Zhaojiayu base, Sato Ichiro and Fujiwara Ichiro both breathed a sigh of relief. They were very satisfied with the results of this battle. After all, facing such fierce enemy firepower, they successfully destroyed the Maoershan Airport and effectively supported the Guxian front.

"Mr. Fujiwara, tomorrow you will continue to lead the 18th Flying Division to support the Guxian front, and I will lead the 17th Flying Division to bomb the Zhaojiayu base. We will take turns. We want to let our enemies see the power of the Imperial Air Force!" Sato Ichiro said in a crazy tone.

Fujiwara Ichiro replied in agreement: "General Sato, we should indeed launch a large-scale retaliation operation. In the past month, our air force has not achieved much success. We must once again rebuild the glory of our air force!"

The two reached a consensus on the next combat goal and submitted the combat plan to the Taiyuan Command. It was approved that night, and they attacked again at dawn the next day...

In order to allow the fighter planes of the air force battalion to take off and land normally, Lin Zhenhua ordered the soldiers to immediately clean up the gravel on the airport runway, and the engineers immediately repaired the damaged runway with cement. This bombing operation of the Japanese made Lin Zhenhua realize that steel plates must be installed for the paving of the airport runway. Otherwise, the runway they had built before would have no resistance to the large-caliber bombs of the Japanese.

"College students, our 12 hydraulic catapults are all damaged and no longer worth repairing. This will have a huge impact on our Air Force Battalion. I request that the college students immediately ask the arsenal to produce new hydraulic catapults for us, and equip the Air Force Battalion in a very short time. Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to ensure that the Air Force Battalion has enough reaction time to deal with the Japanese air raids!" Zhou Haiyang reported with a worried look on his face.

Lin Zhenhua had just taken a look at the situation at the airport and knew that what Zhou Haiyang said was true, but this time the bombing by the Japanese fighter planes made him have other thoughts in his heart.

"Captain Zhou, it's not that I don't want to equip you with new hydraulic catapults, but it takes time from production to installation. Not to mention that the Japanese have already set their sights on Maoershan Airport. I think we can't put all the hydraulic catapults at Maoershan Airport in the future. We must increase the number of backup airports."

"In order to increase the speed of dispatch, all fighters were concentrated at Maoershan Airport, and the backup No. 1 and No. 2 airports were used for other purposes, which seriously threatened the safety of our air force battalion. Next, our fighters will be deployed in a dispersed manner. On the one hand, it can increase the speed of dispatch, and on the other hand, it will be safer. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. That would be too dangerous."

"The most urgent thing for us now is to repair the airport and transfer some fighter jets here to use as a backup site. I have made up my mind to increase the number of airports to improve the battlefield survivability of our air force battalion. In the future, airports like this one that deploy large-scale fighter jets will no longer appear. Maoershan Airport will also be used as a small airport, with no more than two squadrons of fighter jets stationed here, which will also become a routine in the future!"