Chapter 1272: 1273 Combined Fleet Counterattack
"Take off the fourth batch of Stukas immediately! Take off the fighter jets at the same time! Let the third batch of carrier-based aircraft wait!" John Cleeves, who seized the opportunity, paused the recovery of the carrier-based aircraft and prepared to send out his own The attack fleet regained its previous position.
This is the intuition of a veteran, and in fact his idea is correct. Such a huge fleet has been being beaten inexplicably. If we don't counterattack quickly to reverse the passive situation, it will be destroyed sooner or later.
As long as you seize the opportunity to bite back, you may be able to buy yourself a glimmer of hope: as long as the opponent becomes wary, the pursuit speed will slow down, and you can get rid of the opponent and save the day.
In addition, if you allow your opponent to keep attacking at all times, it is equivalent to letting your opponent attack you at will. The aircraft carrier fleet pays attention to the rhythm when attacking the opponent. To put it bluntly, it is the rhythm of taking off the carrier-based aircraft. If the opponent's rhythm remains stable, then the attack will naturally be overwhelming and continuous.
However, if a counterattack disrupts the opponent's rhythm, the opponent will have to adjust the rhythm of taking off and recovering carrier-based aircraft. This can delay the opponent's attack and ensure the safety of its own fleet.
The third batch of Stuka attack aircraft has taken off not long ago, and there is still enough fuel. It may not be enough to attack the enemy's fleet, but it is indeed no problem to hover over the fleet for a while and then recover it later.
Another reason is that John Cleeves is worried that he will recycle the third batch of Stuka carrier-based aircraft first and there will be insufficient space on the aircraft carrier. He only has seven aircraft carriers left. The Stukas taking off from the other two aircraft carriers are all crammed into these seven aircraft carriers. There may not be enough space to recover all the aircraft in the sky.
So he fantasized about playing a "catch game", first sending some planes out to perform the mission, leaving space to receive the returning planes, filling up the returning planes with fuel before letting them take off, and the planes that had previously performed the mission returned. Then land again...and repeat this cycle to solve the problem of insufficient space.
It's just that the implementation of this plan will not be as smooth as promised, because of communication problems and pilot ability issues...it is estimated that many planes will be involved in accidents.
"Commander...the fourth batch of Stukas taking off at this time...is it..." the chief of staff wanted to remind John Cleeves that they had not yet confirmed the enemy's position.
"After the fourth batch of Stukas take off, immediately form a formation and search southeast! The enemy fleet must be in that direction! Find them! Sink them!" John Cleeves clenched his fist and smashed it. On the chart table.
So, is the Tang Empire’s naval fleet located in the southeast? They are indeed there, and they are rushing towards the combined fleet at a very high speed.
The distance between the two sides has now been shortened to more than 500 kilometers...yes, more than 500 kilometers! In other words, John Cleves did correctly judge the location of the Tang Empire's naval fleet, but he did not guess that the location of the Datang Empire's naval fleet at this moment was still outside his strike range!
Stuka only has a range of about 500 kilometers when loaded with bombs, and this range is very extreme. Because the wings of the naval Stuka need to be folded, the structure is more complex and weighs a lot more, the fuel tank is smaller, and the range is only about 400 kilometers.
Coupled with the complexity of the situation, some fuel must be reserved for recovery by the aircraft carrier after returning. In fact, the strike radius of the combined fleet is approximately 350 kilometers.
Therefore, when 28 Stuka dive bombers loaded with torpedoes and under the cover of 7 Corsair fighter jets fiercely headed in the direction of the Tang Empire Navy, they were destined to gain nothing.
But John Cleeves didn't know all this. He instinctively believed that the enemy's carrier-based aircraft had a range of only about 300 kilometers.
He also judged that the opponent's carrier-based aircraft had changed the direction of the attack in order to confuse him, which further reduced the opponent's range. Therefore, he believed that the opponent's fleet should be about 200 kilometers southeast of his position. This distance was definitely a good opportunity for him to counterattack.
As long as the fourth batch of Stukas disrupts the opponent's deployment, his situation will get better. Maybe, the other party's interference with radio and radar signals will disappear, and then it will be his turn to launch a full counterattack!
…
When Rudel flew the Thunder attack aircraft over the battlefield, the ground beneath his feet was already scorched. He has been circling various places like a vulture these days. As long as he finds any target, his thunderbolts will swoop down, and then use their cannons to straf the ground wildly. The road was littered with the remains of various vehicles, stretching to near the horizon.
These vehicles are all vehicles belonging to the central cluster of the Qin Army, including imported No. 4 tanks, self-developed Qin 3 tanks, and Qin 4 tanks.
There were even a dozen Scud missile launchers that were sold to the Qin State by the Tang Empire, which were valuable and worth more than gold.
They are all destroyed now. There are tanks next to the missile vehicles, and Type 113 armored vehicles next to the tanks. Next to the armored vehicles are cars, trucks, even oxcarts and carriages, and various artillery pieces.
Since he knew that he might not be able to defend Dongqing, Ying'an tried to find a way to mobilize troops to retreat westward. At first it was the main force, and later it was some logistics supply troops and material transportation troops.
But none of these troops could escape the destruction of the Tang Empire's air force. They were destroyed on the road, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, with debris piled everywhere.
Now, the road has basically been paralyzed by the Tang Empire's air force. Except for a few infantry, no vehicles can pass here.
Because they destroyed it so thoroughly, the subsequent Tang army units complained. After all, it was impossible for them to attack quickly on such a road.
The troops of the Qin State are all in defeat. Wang Luo's army in the Xiajian encirclement has collapsed, and the battle situation near Dongqing is not optimistic either.
Once Ying'an is surrounded in Dongqing, the Blackwater Oilfield in the north of Dongqing City will be completely unprotected. The Tang Army will easily obtain supplies from the Blackwater Oil Field, and the attack will only be faster by then.
In order to hold off the Tang army, Ying'an had ordered the blowing up of the Blackwater Oilfield and the destruction of all airports near Dongqing. But everyone knows that this can only delay a little time. The engineers of the Tang Empire will soon repair these facilities, and the time left by the Qin State is running out.