Chapter 1 The Japanese Army's Plight

When Lieutenant Hayato Tsuchiya took off in his bomber from the warship, he saw intense anti-aircraft fire erupting in the distance.

He knew immediately that it meant enemy aircraft were attacking.

Lieutenant Tsuchiya didn't dare linger for even a moment. He pushed the throttle to the maximum and desperately maneuvered his bomber away from the battlefield. He wasn't the first to take off from the warship, nor was he the last.

The bomber weaved through the gaps in the barrage, quickly leaving the battlefield behind. Lieutenant Tsuchiya heard the cries for help from Sergeant Tomoya Shibatani over the radio after he was hit.

From his cries, he could tell that all the bombers that took off after him had been shot down.

"Today is my lucky day!" Thinking this, Tsuchiya didn't slow down, maintaining maximum speed as he flew towards the rear.

Their bombers were supposed to retreat to the Third Airfield, which was about sixty kilometers from the naval port, a mere ten-minute flight.

Lei Wenshan and Feng Wencheng each led a fighter squadron in pursuit of the fleeing enemy aircraft. The Japanese bombers maintained their speed, single-mindedly focused on escape.

The fighters followed closely behind, chasing them relentlessly. Ten minutes later, the lead bomber began to slow down and descend.

Diao Jingyi, who was in the lead, excitedly reported, "Enemy military airfield sighted! The airfield is packed with bombers!"

Lei Wenshan spotted the airfield at the same time, and grinned. "So that's where they were headed!"

He immediately reported the situation to Mao Wenxing: "Enemy military airfield sixty kilometers due east, housing over a hundred bombers."

After reporting, he immediately began his dive, opening fire on Tsuchiya's plane, which had just landed and was still taxiing on the runway.

Lieutenant Tsuchiya, who had safely landed, never expected to be attacked at this moment. His first reaction was to increase the throttle, trying to take off again.

Although his reaction was quick and his controls were precise, Lei Wenshan, right behind him, didn't give him a chance.

Continuous machine gun fire struck the bomber's fuel tanks. Lieutenant Tsuchiya, piloting a blazing plane, couldn't take off successfully. Instead, he crashed headfirst into the control tower at the end of the runway.

An unfamiliar air raid siren blared over the Third Airfield, but there was no anti-aircraft fire. The airfield was originally equipped with anti-aircraft emplacements and guns.

However, due to the intense fighting on the front lines over the past two years, especially during the Battle of Wuhan, there was a severe shortage of weapons. All the anti-aircraft guns from this base had been sent to the front.

Lei Wenshan received Mao Wenxing's order: "Don't let the Japanese bombers escape! Our bomber squadron is on its way."

Reassured that reinforcements were coming, Lei Wenshan issued an order to all fighters: "Use fewer cannons, more machine guns!"

Earlier, during his aerial patrol, he had seen his comrades attacking Japanese anti-aircraft positions, using cannons to bomb the guns.

At this rate, cannon shells would quickly run out. For now, they just needed to blockade the Japanese bombers, keeping them grounded.

Captain Hiroaki Yagishita watched the Special Forces fighters dance in the sky, a chill running down his spine. They had caught up, they had found them!

Staring at the fighter group circling overhead, Captain Yagishita was helpless. Nine bombers were scattered on the runway, engulfed in flames.

With the runway blocked, the remaining hundred-plus bombers couldn't take off. Some unwilling pilots were driving their bombers haphazardly around the airfield, trying to find a way to get airborne.

Unfortunately, as soon as they began accelerating on the runway, they would be met with fierce attacks, leaving only another charred wreck behind.

Feng Wencheng's fighter squadron wasn't just targeting the planes on the runway. He led his squadron to blockade the roads outside the airfield.

The Japanese soldiers who were driving motorcycles, trucks, and cars out of the airfield were all targets for Feng Wencheng's squadron.

Don't let a single one escape!

Mao Wenxing had already said that he was sending a bomber squadron.

Now, all they had to do was trap these Japanese at the airfield; they wouldn't stand a chance.

Lei Wenshan's squadron blockaded the runway, while Feng Wencheng's squadron blocked the roads. With clear divisions of labor, the two fighter squadrons still had enough strength to strafe the bombers on the tarmac.

Captain Hiroaki Yagishita, hiding in the airfield's command office, frantically made calls for help: he needed reinforcements.

His call reached the headquarters of the Kure Naval Base, where Commander Motoi Matsuda was shocked to hear that the Third Airfield was under attack.

The news exceeded his capacity to deal with it. He knew the situation at the Third Airfield: it was a military airfield in name only, with virtually no anti-aircraft capabilities.

He had only intended it as a temporary refuge for the bombers. He had been congratulating himself on his foresight in moving the bombers away from the port when he saw the bombs falling so densely there.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's good mood was shattered. The Kure Naval Base had been raided, and the bomber group that had retreated to the Third Airfield was being ravaged by the Special Forces' planes.

"Requesting reinforcements!" This was Commander Matsuda's last request.

Yamamoto looked at the map. Where could he possibly send reinforcements from?

He realized that the defenses of the Japanese homeland were shockingly weak. There was only one regular army division stationed to defend the entire home islands, though there were a number of naval fleets.

Faced with an air raid like this, the entire empire couldn't spare a suitable air wing for rescue.

What could he do? Yamamoto finally ordered, "The Fourth Fleet will immediately dispatch a Marine Corps unit to the Third Airfield."

This was a desperate measure. Sending a Marine Corps unit sixty kilometers was essentially sending them to their deaths.

But what else could he do? He couldn't send the air wing stationed in Tokyo, could he?

Even if he wanted to, no one would support him.

If this was a feint, and the Special Forces took advantage of Tokyo's weakened defenses to attack again, he would have no choice but to commit seppuku.

Captain Hiroaki Yagishita waited a long time at the Third Airfield, but no reinforcements arrived. Instead, he saw a squadron of Special Forces bombers.

He Haiqing led a squadron of bombers. Although there were only twelve bombers, they were more than enough to deal with the stationary planes at the airfield.

The twelve bombers flew over the Third Airfield in a wedge formation at extremely low altitude, their landing gear almost scraping the ground.

One bomb after another accurately struck the bombers on the tarmac. Many of the surviving pilots from Yagishita's unit had been sheltering in the airfield's buildings.

Hiding like rats, they watched the bombers explode, their faces ashen, able only to curse from within their shelters. Captain Yagishita, however, had a more far-sighted view.

From the Special Forces planes blocking even the airfield gates, preventing anyone from escaping, he guessed that hiding in the buildings wasn't safe either.

He wanted to escape! To find a safe place. He asked the airfield manager several times, but there was no air raid shelter or basement.

In the vast homeland, at such a large airfield, there was nowhere for them to hide! Helpless, Captain Yagishita could only resign himself to fate and remain in the command center.

He watched coldly as the bombers of the Fourth Fleet slowly caught fire and burned in the bombing raid.

Specialization had its advantages. Earlier, Lei Wenshan and his squadron had sprayed a lot of machine gun fire at the bombers on the tarmac, but the effect was poor.

Aside from adding more bullet holes to the bombers, they didn't manage to ignite many. To conserve cannon shells, they only fired at bombers that attempted to take off.

Now, with just one run from the bomber squadron, many of the bombers parked at the Third Airfield were engulfed in flames, and the fire was spreading rapidly.

There were too many bombers parked at the airfield, all squeezed together. When one plane caught fire, it would quickly ignite the surrounding planes.

Captain He Haiqing led his bomber squadron over just once, then couldn't bomb the tarmac again.

The fire was too intense, and the convection currents caused by the flames were too strong, affecting the safety of the planes flying overhead.

The planes on the tarmac were bombed, the oil depot was bombed, and what remained were the Japanese who had arrived at the Third Airfield in those planes and those who had been guarding the airfield.

These Japanese were all hiding in the airfield's dormitories and office areas. The twelve bombers carried out a carpet bombing of this area.

The bomber squadron was using the bombs from the warehouse at the Saga Airfield. Captain He Haiqing's orders were simple: "Drop all the bombs!"

After dropping all their bombs, the twelve bombers began their return journey, escorted by the twenty-four fighters.

After the Japanese anti-aircraft defenses at the Kure Naval Base were suppressed, Lin Fan ordered the bombers to move in for the final blow.

Strike while the iron is hot! This was the Special Forces' favorite tactic, and kicking a man when he's down was a combat principle they strongly advocated.

The bomber squadron first cleared the anti-aircraft positions on land, then concentrated their fire on the warships docked in the harbor.

Bombs fell one after another, turning the harbor into an inferno. Commander Matsuda watched as the oil depot nearby erupted in a massive fire.

The sky was filled with Special Forces fighters and bombers. The scene was even more terrifying than when his fleet had encountered a typhoon during exercises three years ago.

Although the typhoon had indiscriminately lashed the entire fleet with huge waves, it had no mind or consciousness, unlike these planes dropping bombs today.

These planes dropped countless bombs, and their machine guns relentlessly reaped Japanese lives. Yet, the Fourth Fleet's anti-aircraft defenses grew weaker and weaker, until they were virtually nonexistent.

Although the battle was completely one-sided, Commander Matsuda could take some solace in the fact that he saw some of the attacking aircraft being shot down. Pilots bailed out of the downed planes, falling into the sea.

Some bombers, after being hit, dragged their battered bodies away from the warships docked in the harbor, trying to avoid them and fly towards the open sea.

They preferred to crash into the ocean rather than destroy the Fourth Fleet's warships! Commander Matsuda felt a surge of pride, believing that the bomber pilots were trying to leave themselves a way out, hoping for favorable treatment if captured.

Commander Matsuda secretly resolved to treat these pilots well. They were all talented individuals, and he wanted to keep them!

With this thought in mind, Commander Matsuda immediately ordered speedboats to capture the pilots: they were to be taken alive!

Although the Fourth Fleet was suffering a devastating blow, sending out one or two speedboats was still possible.

Captain Guo Yingwu was quite busy today. He led his four seaplanes to rescue three pilots near Nagasaki. He had also rescued seven fighter pilots and two bomber crew members near Kobe.

Here, however, the Japanese anti-aircraft fire was much stronger, and the Special Forces were taking heavy casualties. His seaplanes couldn't enter the harbor to rescue people when the Japanese fire was at its most intense.

They could only wait until the Japanese anti-aircraft fire weakened before the four seaplanes flew in at low altitude.

Commander Matsuda of the Fourth Fleet saw the seaplanes landing on the sea, and realized that this force had been prepared so thoroughly.

They had bombed his naval port, destroyed his warships, and didn't even want to leave a single person behind.

It turned out that the pilots who had bailed out of their planes and drifted into the sea with parachutes were doing so to be rescued.

Those bombers that dragged black smoke but didn't crash into the warships, instead trying to avoid them, weren't trying to curry favor. They were simply trying to ditch in the sea, hoping to be rescued!

Enraged, Commander Matsuda ordered the speedboats to be sent out again: they must capture the pilots who had carried out this raid.

He wanted to know how these planes had managed it, flying from so far away to carry out this attack.

The enemy naval fleet finally stopped resisting as if resigned to its fate.

This made Guo Yingwu's rescue work much easier. The speedboats sent out by the Japanese were intercepted by fighters and bombers.

The main task of the speedboats dispatched by Guo Yingwu was search and rescue. Although the sea was vast, all the comrades who had parachuted or ditched their planes had fighter escorts.

Lin Fan had said during the pre-battle briefing, "We will not abandon anyone! We will bring every comrade home."

When Shi Hongyi was rescued, his first words were, "I'll have something to brag about when I get back this time. I took a bath in the Japs' backyard!"

Guo Yingwu had clean clothes brought over. "You can't even talk properly, and you're already bragging!"

It was still January, and the seawater was freezing. With this in mind, the seaplanes had prepared plenty of clothes and warm blankets.

They ensured that every rescued soldier wouldn't freeze. These rescued pilots could now only become observers of the war.

Standing inside the plane, they looked out the windows at the naval port in the distance, watching the Japanese on the warships struggling to put out the fires.

These Japanese, braving gunfire and bomb explosions, dragging hoses and wielding shovels, ran around the deck. They no longer had anti-aircraft fire, so they could only try to extinguish the fires on the ships.

What the Japanese wanted to preserve was what the Special Forces were determined to destroy.

Mao Wenxing issued a new order: "A bomber squadron will bomb the Kure Shipyards!"

The Japanese naval port was next to their naval shipyards, which were also the largest naval shipyards in Japan. Since the Special Forces had come all this way, they naturally had to pay the shipyards a visit.

As Lin Fan flew his bomber over the shipyard, he felt a sense of regret. He wasn't regretting the shipyard below. He was regretting not being able to move such a large and excellent shipyard in its entirety to Jurong or Huiyang.

If he had such a large shipyard in his hands, how wonderful would that be?

Unfortunately, this could only be a beautiful thought. In Lin Fan's view, making planes was easier than building ships, because the Special Forces could already produce their own planes, and the technology was quite good.