Chapter 222: First Battle
Two deep blue F4U Corsair fighter planes, like two agile gyrfalcons, rapidly climbed to the predetermined altitude after taking off from Jinsha Ridge Airport.
Cheng Rufeng piloted the lead aircraft numbered “Pirate One” in front, while Zhao Tiezhu piloted “Pirate Two” closely following behind, maintaining a standard two-plane patrol formation.
Their mission area was a mountainous region two to three hundred square kilometers east of Wuta County, where the terrain was complex and also one of the areas with frequent activities by the Eighth Route Army, Jin-Sui Army, and various local armed forces.
Today was the first official patrol flight since the establishment of the “Pirate Squadron.” For Cheng Rufeng and Zhao Tiezhu, it was both an opportunity to test their training results and a true “debut,” so they had to be careful.
“Tiezhu, how does it feel? This ‘Corsair’ is way more exciting than those old ‘geezer planes’ we flew before, right?”
Cheng Rufeng chatted idly with his wingman over the radio in a relaxed tone.
Although they were on a mission, appropriate communication could relieve tension and better maintain coordination.
“Captain! It’s awesome! It’s just… just like riding a thousand-li horse!
No, faster than a thousand-li horse! Just a little push on the throttle, and that thing shoots forward like crazy! Thrilling! So damn thrilling!”
Zhao Tiezhu’s excited voice came through the headphones, carrying the exaggeration unique to young people and a sense of gesticulating wildly. Even over the radio, Cheng Rufeng could imagine his animated expression in the cockpit right now.
Hearing this, Cheng Rufeng couldn’t help but smile faintly at the corner of his mouth. He understood Zhao Tiezhu’s feelings; the F4U’s powerful engine and excellent performance were an irresistible temptation for any pilot who yearned for the skies.
Wasn’t he the same? Every time he piloted this steel raptor, it made his blood boil.
“Heh, thrilling is thrilling, but don’t get carried away.”
Cheng Rufeng reminded him, “The better the horse, the fiercer its temper. We have to get a feel for its character before we can truly master it. Keep observing the surroundings, especially the ground. Don’t miss any suspicious movements.”
“Understood! Captain! Just watch me!” Zhao Tiezhu immediately dropped his playfulness, his tone becoming serious.
The two chatted idly while maintaining high vigilance, their eyes constantly scanning the rolling mountains and winding valleys below.
Sunlight outlined the mountain ridges in golden contours, while morning mist still lingered in the valleys, making the scene exceptionally beautiful.
Their flight altitude was around three thousand meters. At this height, they had good visibility and enough reaction time and maneuvering space in case of sudden situations.
The F4U’s cockpit offered excellent visibility; Cheng Rufeng and Zhao Tiezhu could take in almost everything within hundreds of square kilometers below.
Just like that, they flew eastward for over half an hour. Jinsha Ridge Airport was long out of sight, and the surrounding mountains grew increasingly rugged.
Suddenly, Cheng Rufeng’s gaze sharpened!
He keenly spotted, at about the ten o’clock direction ahead and to the right, several unusual wisps of smoke rising from the distant ground! The color and shape of the smoke didn’t look like villagers burning fields; it was more like… dust kicked up by explosions!
“Tiezhu! Check ten o’clock on the ground! See those plumes of smoke?” Cheng Rufeng immediately called Zhao Tiezhu over the radio.
“I see them! Captain! Looks like… shell explosions?” Zhao Tiezhu’s voice tensed up too.
“Possible! We’re descending to check it out! Stay vigilant, watch for enemy aircraft in the air!”
Cheng Rufeng decisively made the call. He gently pushed the control stick, nosing the aircraft down slightly as “Pirate One” began a gentle descent. Zhao Tiezhu immediately followed suit, sticking close to the lead plane.
The two Corsairs, like raptors spotting prey, quickly descended to about fifteen hundred meters.
As they closed in, the scene on the ground became clearer.
Just as expected!
In a valley below surrounded by mountains, a fierce battle was underway!
A place that looked like a Japanese stronghold built against the mountains was billowing thick smoke.
On the outskirts of the stronghold, soldiers in earth-gray uniforms were launching wave after wave of charges toward the stronghold, relying on crude cover.
“Da-da-da… Boom! Boom!”
The roar of machine guns, explosions of grenades, and the soldiers’ hoarse shouts could faintly be heard even from over a thousand meters up, showing how intense the battle was!
Cheng Rufeng frowned tightly.
He could see clearly that the Japanese stronghold was exceptionally sturdy, occupying advantageous terrain. Several towering pillbox turrets, like venomous snake fangs, spewed deadly fire, mowing down the attacking soldiers in batches!
The attackers clearly lacked effective heavy weapons for assault.
They could only use primitive methods, hurling bundle grenades and satchel charges at the solid fortifications.
Every charge exacted a heavy toll under the Japanese dense fire. The front lines were already littered with fallen soldiers, their blood staining the yellowish-brown earth.
“Damn it! These bastard Japs! Their firepower is too fierce!”
Zhao Tiezhu cursed angrily over the radio, his voice full of anxiety and reluctance. “Captain! Can… can we help them?”
Cheng Rufeng didn’t answer immediately. His gaze swept back and forth over the battlefield, rapidly assessing the situation.
He saw that the suspected Eighth Route Army’s assault, though fierce, was struggling against the Japanese solid defenses and interlocking fire. Several charges had been repelled, with casualties mounting.
Without effective support soon, this attack might fail, or even lead to total annihilation!
And the two F4Us they were flying were like “divine soldiers” hovering over the battlefield!
Under the F4U’s wings were not just 12.7mm heavy machine guns for air combat, but also bombs and rockets for ground attack!
Though this patrol hadn’t carried heavy bombs, each plane had several 100-pound small aerial bombs and a number of rockets—more than enough for such a ground stronghold!
More importantly, they had absolute air superiority! The Japanese never expected such advanced Chinese fighters to appear here and now!
Cheng Rufeng instantly made his decision!
“Tiezhu! Follow my orders!” Cheng Rufeng’s voice turned exceptionally calm and decisive.
“We’re diving from west to east on the Japanese stronghold! Priority targets: destroy their pillboxes and heavy machine gun positions!
Watch your attack angle and altitude to avoid friendly fire! After one pass, break off to the east, circle, assess results, and prepare for a second attack!”
“Yes! Captain!” Zhao Tiezhu’s voice brimmed with irrepressible excitement! He’d been waiting for this moment!
“Good! Follow me!”
Cheng Rufeng shoved the stick forward hard. “Pirate One” shot forward like an arrow from a bow, with a sharp whistle, diving ferociously toward the smoke-shrouded Japanese stronghold below!
Zhao Tiezhu’s “Pirate Two” followed tight. The two deep blue Corsair fighters bared their sharp fangs to the world for the first time!
The Eighth Route Army soldiers fighting bloody on the ground, and the Japanese inside the stronghold, almost simultaneously heard the approaching, ever-louder shrill whine like the Grim Reaper’s scythe slicing air!
They instinctively looked up at the sky.
Two never-before-seen, ferociously shaped deep blue fighters were diving from the clouds at astonishing speed!
Sunlight glinted off their wings and propellers, blindingly bright!
At that moment, the battlefield’s gunfire seemed to pause!
Everyone’s eyes were locked on these two “uninvited guests” from the sky!
The ones fighting bloody on the ground were from the Eighth Route Army’s 385th Brigade, 770th Regiment.
Their target this time was a Japanese strategic stronghold between Ying County, Shanyin County, and Xuejiazhuang.
This stronghold’s location was critically important. It not only controlled a railway branch from Wuning to Datong but also posed serious military threats to the Tongpu Railway mainline to the south, Shanyin County to the west, and the Xuejiazhuang coal area to the east.
The Eighth Route Army knew its strategic value well. Capturing it would be like plunging a dagger into the enemy’s heart, greatly constraining Japanese troop deployments and creating favorable conditions for future sabotage operations and base expansion.
Of course, if the Eighth Route Army knew, so did the Japanese.
Thus, they had built, leveraging the terrain, a crossfiring, easy-to-defend-hard-to-attack pillbox cluster with one large main pillbox and three small auxiliary ones.
These pillboxes were all built of blue bricks, stones, and concrete, with thick walls, numerous firing slits, and surrounded by deep trenches and barbed wire.
For the Eighth Route Army, severely short on heavy assault weapons, gnawing this tough nut was unimaginably difficult.
What lay before Cheng Rufeng and Zhao Tiezhu was this extremely tragic scene:
Eighth Route Army warriors in thin earth-gray uniforms and matching caps, gripping crude Hanyang-made rifles and a few captured Type 38s, charged again and again under dense machine gun fire and mortar shells.
Their figures flickered in the smoke; every step forward cost blood.
Warriors kept getting hit and falling, their blood instantly soaking the ground.
74️⃥ Subsequent warriors fearlessly stepped over their comrades’ bodies and pressed on!
“Comrades! For victory… charge!” A burly Eighth Route Army commander with a bloodied bandage on his arm waved his pistol, roaring hoarsely as he led the rush from cover.
“Kill…”
Earth-shaking battle cries rang out again as the surviving Eighth Route Army warriors surged like a tide toward the devilish Japanese stronghold.
But what met them was even fiercer fire!
“Da-da-da-da-da…”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Inside the stronghold, Japanese Type 92 heavy machine guns and crooked-handle light machine guns spewed fire from the pillbox slits, weaving impenetrable death curtains.
Japanese soldiers, from their solid works, grinned ferociously as they lobbed grenades at the charging Eighth Route Army.
“Boom! Boom!”
Grenades exploded in the crowd, sending up blood sprays and severed limbs. The lead commander had both legs blown off by a grenade; he roared and detonated his last grenade, perishing with several charging Japanese soldiers!
The horrific scene made high-altitude Cheng Rufeng and Zhao Tiezhu’s eyes blaze with rage, blood surging!
“Damn Japs! I’ll fight you to the death!” Zhao Tiezhu roared over the radio, eyes red with fury, fingers instinctively on the machine gun trigger.
“Tiezhu… steady… stick to the plan! Take out their pillboxes first!”
Cheng Rufeng’s voice was icy calm, but laced with chilling killing intent!
By now, the two F4U Corsairs had dived to under five hundred meters from the ground!
The towering Japanese pillboxes and their snarling machine gun slits grew clearer in their sights!
“Target! That biggest pillbox dead ahead! I’ll crack it open for you!”
Cheng Rufeng bellowed, thumb slamming the rocket launch button under the wing!
“Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…”
Four blinding fire trails like angry fire snakes erupted from “Pirate One”‘s wings! Trailing long flames, they streaked at the largest Japanese main pillbox below!
Almost simultaneously, Zhao Tiezhu locked a madly firing auxiliary pillbox nearby and hit his rocket button!
“Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…”
Four more fire dragons howled out!
Eight 5-inch high-velocity air-to-ground rockets, like the Grim Reaper’s invitations, precisely struck their targets under the horrified gazes of the bloody-fighting Eighth Route Army warriors below and the defiant Japanese in the stronghold!
“Boom… boom-rumble…”
“Boom… boom…”
Deafening explosions thundered through the valley like heavenly wrath! Their power far exceeded any weapon the Eighth Route Army had used before!
The main pillbox Cheng Rufeng targeted shattered under four armor-piercing rockets—its half-meter-thick reinforced concrete like an eggshell smashed by a sledgehammer, instantly disintegrating!
Countless rocks, rebar, and mangled Japanese corpses mixed with smoke and fire, hurled dozens of meters skyward by the blast wave! The upper half of the pillbox was leveled; the Type 92 heavy machine guns inside and their operators vanished in an instant!
Zhao Tiezhu’s target fared no better! Though not totally destroyed, it was half-collapsed, belching smoke and flames, its machine guns silenced!
This sudden thunderbolt strike plunged the entire battlefield into eerie silence!
Whether charging Eighth Route Army warriors or surviving Japanese soldiers, all were stunned by the terrifying sight!
They gaped at the obliterated pillboxes and the deep blue fighters howling past like demons, minds blank!
“My God… what… what kind of planes are those?”
A surviving Eighth Route Army warrior muttered at the ruined pillbox, voice full of disbelief.
“It’s… it’s our planes! Our planes have come to support us!” Another veteran pointed excitedly at the clear blue sky white sun emblem on the wings that had just roared overhead, tears welling. For gun-short Eighth Route Army warriors, air support was a dream come true.
The surviving Japanese in the stronghold fell into panic and despair! Their proud fortifications crumbled before this heavenly assault! The ghostly Chinese planes were their nightmare!
“Enemy attack! Air raid! Chinese planes!”
A Japanese sergeant screamed hoarsely, trying to rally resistance, but his voice drowned in overwhelming terror.
Cheng Rufeng and Zhao Tiezhu flew their Corsairs, after the first rocket pass, pulling up sharply in a crisp combat turn, circling once over the stronghold’s east side.
“Tiezhu! Nice shot! See? The Japs’ turtle shells ain’t so tough!” Cheng Rufeng laughed over the radio, tone brimming with satisfaction and pride!
“Hahaha! Awesome! So damn awesome! Captain Cheng! Hit ’em hard again!” Zhao Tiezhu whooped excitedly.
“Good! Second wave! Targets: the remaining two small pillboxes and their heavy machine gun positions! Use guns and bombs to name them! Conserve ammo!” Cheng Rufeng issued new orders.
“Understood!”
The two Corsair fighters adjusted, like eagles eyeing prey, diving again at the Japanese stronghold below!
This time, the Japanese would face even denser, deadlier bullet rain!
The Corsair’s belly intake caused a shrill roar during dives, shocking the enemy.
Amid the piercing roars, the two Corsairs dove on the remaining two auxiliary pillboxes. At three hundred meters, four 250-kg bombs released simultaneously from the wings, plummeting toward the pillboxes.
“Boom… boom-boom-boom…”
In the massive blasts, the last two pillboxes flew to the Western Paradise.
But the two Corsairs didn’t stop; they turned and dove again, raking the Japanese heavy machine gun positions with bursts of 12.7mm fire, flipping them upside down until the Japanese had no fight left, then they departed triumphantly…
