The Qianbu Ryotaro captain was decisive. Without hesitation, he immediately issued a retreat order.

Since they couldn't blast open, shoot down, or capture the turrets, they had no choice but to retreat. Moreover, he had seen several huge craters on the runway of Guangde Airport.

After this sneak attack, the naval Third Fleet's air squadron was almost wiped out here. This could be considered as completing the mission of destroying the airport!

Qianbu Ryotaro issued the retreat order, and the Japanese planes began to retreat. Even if they wanted to leave, they still had to endure another wave of attacks from the Guangde turrets.

Rokuda Kamenonosuke was piloting a fighter plane. He had attacked this turret at Guangde Airport three times already.

He had managed to escape unscathed all three times. This time, when he received the captain's retreat order, he was launching his fourth attack on the turret.

The attack effect of fighters like his on the turret was actually very limited: they could only fly close to the turret and strafe the firing ports with machine guns.

The hope was that such shooting could suppress the anti-aircraft fire inside the turret, inflicting some casualties on the defending soldiers inside.

Although the effect was not ideal, Rokuda Kamenonosuke still had to do it, especially now that he had flown to a position less than five hundred meters away from the turret.

Even if he wanted to retreat immediately at this time, he could only finish this wave of attacks.

But what embarrassed him was that after receiving the retreat order, the planes that were originally following behind to attack all pulled up and changed course, no longer following.

This made Rokuda Kamenonosuke's fighter plane the most exposed one, and it became the target of public criticism.

At least half of the entire turret's firepower was directed at this plane. This time, Rokuda Kamenonosuke was no longer as lucky as the previous three times.

His plane was hit by many bullets, and he was also pierced by several heavy machine gun bullets. The entire fighter plane crashed directly into the turret.

Rokuda Kamenonosuke's final performance had no audience. All the Japanese planes were running away at this time. Those planes that were shot down at the last moment could only blame their bad luck.

Of the naval Third Fleet's air squadron that attacked Guangde Airport, only forty-three planes finally returned to the airport, with a loss of two hundred and ten planes.

Of the Fifth Air Brigade and four infantry divisions that attacked Jurong Airport, only twenty-three planes finally returned to the airport. This time, the Japanese army's air squadron suffered a major blow.

Although the Special Forces Brigade won a great victory in the air defense battles at the two airports, both airports were temporarily unusable.

The turrets guarding the airports did not suffer much damage, but the airport runways were riddled with potholes by Japanese bombs and needed to be repaired before they could be used.

The runways were also covered with aircraft wreckage and bomb fragments, all of which needed to be thoroughly cleaned up before they could continue to be used.

The Japanese planes retreated, and the airport immediately began to be repaired.

This time, Lin Fan led most of the Special Forces Brigade's fighters and bombers to carry out the bombing mission in Nagasaki, and all the planes he took were capable of long-range flight.

Many ground attack aircraft were left in the hangars at Jurong Airport and Guangde Airport. This was also Lin Fan's confidence in being able to launch a long-distance expedition across the sea when the Japanese army pressed in.

With these ground attack aircraft, even if the Japanese army's offensive was more violent, these mobile fortresses could repel the Japanese infantry.

Lin Fan just didn't expect that the Japanese would go all out and send so many planes to attack the airports, and also destroy the runways, making it impossible for the prepared ground attacks to take off at all.

Although the potholes on the runways were huge, Jurong was also well prepared in this regard. Li Xian had prepared reserve militia regiments and labor corps long ago, and now was the time to use them.

After the Japanese planes took off, the militia regiment immediately mobilized to capture the Japanese pilots who had parachuted to escape.

The reserve labor corps were villagers organized by various villages in winter to build roads and dig ditches. This year, when they encountered the Japanese army pressing in, their work also changed accordingly.

Some of the laborers continued to clear ditches to prepare for the spring plowing next year, some of the laborers repaired roads, and some of the laborers specialized in providing services for transporting supplies to the troops.

Now, these laborers transporting supplies and repairing roads, in cooperation with the engineering team of the Special Forces Brigade, were quickly repairing the runways.

Two labor corps entered Guangde Airport, and they were repairing the runways. The soldiers on the high levels of the turrets were nervously maintaining the artillery and weapons at this time.

Everyone was doing their job and was busy. Although the division of labor was different, everyone's face was full of excitement.

Today's battle was too good. When the enemy planes first came, everyone was still a little worried. The ordinary people here had not experienced war for two years.

Although they could see the war being fought outside every day on newspapers and broadcasts, they were peaceful and wealthy here.

It was a lie to say that they were not afraid when they saw a dark cloud of enemy planes flying in the sky this time. Seeing so many planes falling one after another under the attack of the Special Forces Brigade's artillery.

The people of Guangde were so happy, especially when they saw the Japanese planes desperately crashing into the turrets, the turrets were not damaged at all, and they continued to fire at the Japanese planes.

This greatly boosted morale. As soon as the Japanese planes retreated, the people ran out of their hiding places.

Basically, every family among these people had a gun, a real Type 38 rifle, issued by the Special Forces Brigade.

Now, they were holding these rifles and gathering according to the organization during the slack season to hunt down the Japanese pilots who had fallen from the sky.

Zhao Long personally went to the top of the turret. The Japanese heavy bombs were not ineffective, but they had not been able to completely break through the turret's top defense.

This top cover needed to be repaired.

He still needed to ask for instructions on how to repair this top cover. However, he didn't need to ask for instructions for the runway repair below.

Many people were already working on the runway, clearing the various debris on the runway, and then filling the potholes and compacting them.

The twenty fighter planes that took off from Guangde Airport had already stopped at Yixing at this time. Although they were fully fueled, the remaining fuel after more than an hour of combat was not much.

They needed to make an emergency stop and refuel at the temporary airport outside Yixing City.

Regimental Commander Hui Jianming was also on the top of the turret at Jurong Airport at this time. He looked at the one-meter-deep pit on the top of the tower, where many steel bars were broken and densely exposed.

He sighed, "If the bunkers on those two defense lines could also have this quality, we might not have fought so embarrassingly."

Today, the air defense battle he commanded at Jurong Airport was definitely not embarrassing. If anything, it was the Japanese air force that was embarrassed.

What Regimental Commander Hui Jianming was thinking about was what happened on the two defense lines of the National Army when the Anti-Japanese War began in 1937. The concrete of the defense works did not use steel bars, but bamboo strips.

The fortifications of the defense works could not even withstand the bombing of a single mortar shell, and the firing holes were as large as windows.

Thinking of those defense works, and then looking at this turret, just this one turret alone shot down at least a hundred Japanese planes.

It withstood the explosion of aerial bombs and the collision of Japanese planes. Compare this quality with the quality of the fortresses built by the National Army back then.

No comparison, no harm!

Hui Jianming's artillery regiment had been stationed here ever since the Special Forces Brigade established a base in Jurong, and had never been on the battlefield.

Today's battle can be regarded as having established prestige and momentum for the entire regiment.

The soldiers were maintaining the artillery and weapons, and everyone was very excited. Looking down from the turret, many people were already working on the runway.

Bulldozers were busy filling the bomb craters with soil, and road rollers were constantly rolling over them. This scene made Hui Jianming feel a little unreal.

When he joined the Special Forces Brigade, he never thought that Lin Fan would turn a company into what it is now. These mechanized products were all produced by the Special Forces Brigade itself.

This was what made Hui Jianming always feel a little unreal.

Jurong today is a very prosperous place. Although it cannot be compared with the profound foundation of a metropolis like Shanghai, its cultural industry is quite prosperous.

Major newspapers have reporter stations here. When the Japanese planes just passed over Jurong, reporters sent out telegrams: Jurong was attacked by air!

Subsequent reports became more and more detailed. Yan Junliu received the news in the combat headquarters even slower than the news from the newspaper.

When he heard from the newspaper that less than one-tenth of the warplanes sent to attack the airport in Jurong survived, and they were largely annihilated.

Yan Junliu was unwilling to believe that this was true.

They had been preparing for the attack on Jurong for a full two years. No less than a thousand Japanese spies had been sent to gather intelligence.

Some of these Japanese disguised themselves as ordinary workers and went to work in factories, some ran over to invest and become bosses.

There were also some who were introduced as technical talents. Of course, these Japanese knew about the turrets built by the Special Forces Brigade.

Some spies had even personally entered the bottom level of the turret to see it. The 1,300-kilogram bombs carried by the bombers this time were specially developed for this type of turret.

However, the news from the newspaper was that these bombs were useless, and what made it even more unacceptable to him was that the role of the turret was even greater than expected.

The Special Forces Brigade actually repelled the air force's attack by relying solely on the air defense power of the turrets. This was something Yan Junliu could not accept.

Yan Junliu couldn't accept it. Division Commander Inaba Shiro of the Sixth Division was already roaring: he had just received news that the Sixth Division's aviation squadron was completely wiped out, with no survivors.

Such a loss was too great, making Inaba Shiro furious. He loudly asked Yan Junliu: Was this a trap? Why was the Special Forces Brigade able to deal with so many plane attacks so calmly this time?

Was there any internal news that had been leaked, allowing the Special Forces Brigade to have special defenses?

Division Commander Inaba Shiro had already lost his composure, mainly because he only had one aviation squadron in his hands, and now it was completely wiped out. God knows when the mainland would be able to send a replacement aviation squadron.

Although the various Japanese divisions received the battle report at different times, when Inaba Shiro was angry, Division Commander Fujita Susumu of the Third Division also received a report from the aviation squadron. His division returned with three fighter planes and one bomber.

If there was no comparison, he would definitely be furious, but after the comparison, he found that it was very lucky for his division to have four warplanes return.

His current mood was a little indescribable, happy? Or sad? It was really hard to say.

At least one thing was that he had finally suppressed the Sixth Division this time. The other side was completely wiped out, and his side at least had four planes return.

At the same time, the same thoughts arose in the minds of the two division commanders of the Ninth Division and the Thirteenth Division. The Sixth Division was now the most powerful division in the entire army.

When all the army saw this division, they had the idea of all of them being finished. Now that there was finally an opportunity, these division commanders watched coldly.

Division Commander Inaba Shiro was also a sensible person. After roaring a few times, he suddenly realized that roaring here would not help.

Immediately, he turned and left: Instead of getting angry here, it was better to return to his command headquarters and command the troops well, and regain the lost honor in the infantry offensive.

As soon as he left, the three division commanders, Fujita Susumu, Yoshisuke Ryosuke, and Ogisu Tateki, also dispersed. They understood: The aviation's bad start meant that they still had to work hard themselves.

The first battle of the aviation also reminded these division commanders: The turrets of the Special Forces Brigade are powerful! Need to be careful.

Lin Fan, in the sky over Saga Prefecture, received a report from Jurong: The enemy planes have retreated, and the runways of Guangde Airport and Jurong Airport are being repaired.

The tankers cannot take off for the time being! The Japanese are dividing their forces into seven routes to attack the base, and the two sides are engaged in fierce fighting.

Lin Fan ordered: "The tankers will stop responding! The expeditionary force has already occupied Saga Airport, and the oil depot has sufficient oil reserves to allow the entire air group to fly back.

After the Japanese air group retreats, send out ground attack aircraft as soon as possible, escorted by fighters, to resolutely attack the Japanese infantry."

Holding Lin Fan's telegram, Yang Daren smiled wryly: "Execute immediately!"

Looking at the operational posture of the enemy and us on the map, Yang Daren, who was in charge of commanding the Jurong defense battle, was still very confident.

Over the past two years, the border defense teams of the Jurong base have been familiarizing themselves with the surrounding terrain, and even intentionally changing some of the surrounding terrain and landforms, in order to make the defense easier.

Now it seems that although there is no air support, the various teams are fighting very well. The Japanese infantry's tentative attacks have all been resolutely repulsed.

Yang Daren was already considering whether or not to set a trap for the Japanese, let them be bolder and more aggressive in entering, and then annihilate them all.

He told Li Xian his thoughts, and Li Xian pointed to the map and said one by one: "Here is our heavy industry base. How much loss will fighting here cause to these factories and mines?

Here is our cotton textile enterprise, here is..."

Seeing Li Daren talking about the entire base as if he knew it like the back of his hand, Li Xian quickly said: "I understand! Keep the enemy out of the territory!"

Luring the enemy deep would be too costly and not worthwhile, so they could only attack proactively.

If they wanted to attack proactively, they needed the cooperation of ground attack aircraft. Yang Daren began to think about which Japanese force to attack first.

...

When Lin Fan and the others occupied Saga Airport, Captain Pan Yongshan and Captain Zhu Qingmao were still fighting with the Japanese fighter group over Nagasaki.

Without a bomber group to protect, the two fighter squadrons had a much more flexible mode of operation.

The Jian Jiao Long Squadron, which took off from Saga Airport, was caught off guard by the Special Forces Brigade's air squadron's machine cannons at the very beginning, and lost six or seven fighter planes in one encounter.

By the time they reacted, the two sides began to engage in a dogfight. In air combat, an inch longer is an inch stronger.

The Special Forces Brigade's fighters were equipped with twenty-five-millimeter cannons with a firing range of five thousand meters, which made the Japanese fighters very embarrassed.

Although their number of planes had the advantage, their weapons had the disadvantage. The machine guns equipped on their fighters had a theoretical effective range of one thousand meters, but in actual use, the Japanese pilots controlled the firing within five hundred meters, and only within three hundred meters would they have accuracy.

This gap was too big. The pilots of the Jian Jiao Long Squadron could only hide their figures everywhere and look for opportunities to sneak attack.

The fighters of the Pan Yongshan Squadron had now all been grouped together, and all the planes were covering each other and hunting down the Japanese fighters in the air.

This battle was being fought fiercely in the air. The Japanese living in Nagasaki Prefecture on the ground, those Japanese who had not been bombed, all crowded outside to watch the battle in the sky.

Miki Noriko was also in this crowd watching the excitement. When she heard that the shipyard was the focus of this bombing, she was so frightened that she collapsed on the ground.

After struggling to get up, she quickly ran towards the shipyard. It was too late when she arrived at the entrance of the shipyard. Many women had already crowded outside the shipyard.

These were all family members of the shipyard workers, and they were blocked outside the factory gate.

Police officers with guns were guarding the factory gate, strictly prohibiting any irrelevant personnel from entering. Only firefighters and medical personnel kept running inside.

Miki Noriko heard the people around her saying that they had just seen more than a dozen trucks of corpses being pulled out, and many wounded being pulled out.

She quickly inquired about Tomita Yuya's news, but no one knew. Miki Noriko could only squeeze into the crowd and wait for the news.

Tomita Yuya was very lucky not to be injured in the bombing today. It was not until a long time after the bombers had flown away that he quietly looked up at the sky.

Looking at the dogfight in the sky, the planes were too high, and those of them below could only see the planes fighting. They could not tell who was who.

However, this did not affect Tomita Yuya's enjoyment of watching it.

In his heart, it didn't matter who won or lost, as long as he wasn't the one to suffer!