Yangon, known as the army headquarters.

Shojiro Iida was pacing back and forth in the office with his hands behind his back.

Haruki Isayama, who was standing next to him, noticed a detail, the five fingers of Iida Shojiro's right hand behind his back were constantly clenching, loosening, clenching again, and then loosening, this insignificant detail clearly showed Iida Shojiro's nervousness at this time, because the outcome of the Mandalay air battle will be directly related to the war situation in Burma.

"Isayama-kun." Shojiro Iida finally stopped, turned back and asked Haruki Isayama, "Hasn't the fighter group of the 14th Air Force of the U.S. Air Force yet appeared?" ”

Haruki Isayama shook his head silently.

Ten minutes ago, 60 Zero fighters of the 3rd Flight Group were the first to rush to the skies over Mandalay and launched an attack on the transport aircraft group of the 10th Air Force of the United States Air Force, and in less than 10 minutes, the 3rd Flight Group achieved great results, shooting down all more than 20 Allied transport planes!

However, it is shocking that the group of fighters of the Americans did not actually appear!

Also, the subsequent Allied transport planes did not appear in the skies over Mandalay, which seems to be a trap.

The huge sense of crisis completely enveloped Shojiro Iida in an instant, where did the Americans' fighter planes go?

Suddenly, a terrible thought passed through Shojiro Iida's mind, could it be that the American fighter group rushed to intercept the bomber group of the Imperial Army? Thinking of the disastrous consequences of the bomber group encountering the American fighter group, Iida Shojiro suddenly shuddered excitedly, is this really a trap!?

Did the Americans want to use more than 20 transport planes as bait to destroy the bomber squadron of the Southern Army?

If the bomber squadron of the Southern Army is destroyed, then the Americans' fighter group will be completely liberated, and they will no longer have to guard Mandalay's airspace at all times, and they will no longer have to protect important facilities such as airports, bridges, and railways at all times, and they will be able to launch a tidal wave of attacks on important military facilities such as airfields and ports in Southeast Asia without restrictions!

In other words, the US Air Force will gain the absolute initiative, while the military air force will be reduced to a desperate situation of being passively beaten.

However, Iida Shojiro dispelled this absurd idea again, and even if the American fighter group really went to the bomber group of the Japanese army, it would be difficult for the two planes to meet in the air, because the sky was too vast, and it would never be much easier for the two planes to encounter in the air than to fish out a silver needle from the sea.

Time passed quietly in silence, and there was no new discovery in the sky over Mandalay.

Just two minutes later, Shojiro Iida's worst fears finally came to an inevitable death!

"Your Excellency, Commander!" Major General Hidera Oda, commander of the 3rd Flying Group, suddenly walked into the office with a blushing face, and before he could retract his feet, he angrily shouted at Shojiro Iida, "The bomber groups of the 3rd and 5th Flying Groups have been intercepted by American fighter groups in the sky over Shan State, and the two sides are fighting fiercely, and the Imperial Army has already suffered heavy losses!" ”

"What!?" Iida Shojiro was taken aback when he heard this, and said in a lost voice, "This is impossible!" ”

"Annihilation, there must be a Annihilation in the headquarters!" Oda Hidera roared angrily, "If it weren't for the internal annihilation that leaked the flight path of the imperial bomber group in advance, the American fighter group would never have found them, there must be an internal annihilation in the headquarters, I want to find out this internal annihilation, and then skin him and cramp!" ”

"Yaga, Yaga, Yalu!" Shojiro Iida opened his bow left and right, slapped Oda Hidera twice, and immediately roared, "Now is not the time to speculate, hurry up and order the fighter team in the Mandalay airspace to rush to the aid of Shan State airspace and meet the bomber team!" Hurry up and drop! ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, it's too late." Oda Hidera said miserably, "Bomber team...... It's over! ”

Iida Shojiro suddenly heard the words as if he was devoured by thunder, and immediately sat back in his chair weakly, and Haruki Isayama next to him couldn't help but sigh, although the bombers of the army have a certain air combat capability, compared with the fighters, there is too much difference between the maneuver surname and the acceleration surname, even if it is the oldest fighter, it can also torture and kill the most advanced bomber without suspense.

………… Over Shan State.

Another Yujun bomber was entangled by two P-51 Mustang fighters, and the two Mustang played a beautiful roll in the air, and then they bit the left and right engines of the Yujun bomber respectively, and then the six machine guns installed under the wings of the Mustang opened fire fiercely at the same time, and the left and right engines of the Yujun bomber suddenly rose with billowing black smoke.

“no.8！” The pilot of the Mustang on the left shouted excitedly on the walkie-talkie, and when he looked around and tried to find the next prey, he found that there was no trace of the Japanese army bombers in the nearby airspace, and the group of Japanese army bombers that had just been dense and almost obscured the entire sky was actually gone.

Yes, the bomber groups of the 3rd and 5th flight groups of the army have been completely wiped out!

Whether it is the Army's Type 97 horizontal bomber or the Type 99 Dive Bomber, its maneuverability and acceleration ability are completely unable to compare with the US Air Force's "Thunderbolt" or "Mustang" fighters.

"Well done guys, let me tell you, he's so proud of you!" Captain Hans's voice suddenly came from the communication channel, "However, our work is not done yet, we have to go to Mandalay next, and we have to let the little ladies there have a good taste of the American brand Mustang Hanging!" ”

The unbridled silver laughter of the American soldiers suddenly sounded in the communication channel.

The next moment, more than 200 fighters flipped to the right at the same time, corrected their course with extremely cool aerobatic maneuvers, and then roared away in the direction of Mandalay under the guidance of two radar pre-engines.

Half an hour later, the fighter group of the 14 th Air Force of the US Air Force and the returning fighter group of the Chinese military encountered each other in the sky over Misha, 50 kilometers south of Mandalay, and a fierce air battle broke out.

After 40 minutes of fierce fighting, the military aviation lost more than 60 fighters and fled in defeat!

The 14th Air Force also paid a heavy price, 28 P-47 Thunderbolt fighters were shot down, another 6 were wounded, two of them crashed on the way back, although the surname of the fighter is not very good, but the veteran pilots of the Navy are indeed not easy to mess with, if he is paired with two Mustang squadrons, the outcome of this air battle is likely to be rewritten.

………… Mandalay, 49th Division Headquarters.

Major General Luo Youlun walked into the war room excitedly and reported to Yue Weihan: "The pontoon bridge is about to be erected, and by tomorrow evening at the latest, the Fifth Army will be able to cross the river!" ”

"Good!" Yue Weihan nodded, and his mood finally relaxed.

The Fifth Army is a mechanized unit in the true sense, and its combat effectiveness is by no means comparable to the three downsized infantry divisions of the Sixth Army, because the Fifth Army not only has a tank regiment, an automobile regiment, but also an artillery regiment, and this artillery regiment is not equipped with a Chinese-made small-caliber mortar, but a 150mm caliber American-style heavy howitzer!

However, compared with the field heavy artillery brigade of the Guards Division, this bit of artillery is still not enough.

If the US Air Force fails to win today's great air battle, and if the Allies fail to fully seize air supremacy in Burma, then the Fifth Army's artillery regiment and tank regiment will soon be wiped out by the heavy artillery brigades of the Guards Division, and the two infantry divisions of the Fifth Army will soon be killed or wounded like the Sixth Army as soon as they enter Mandalay.

In the blink of an eye, Master Peng Bisheng had already walked in excitedly.

"Good news, Chief!" "The 14th Air Force of the US Air Force has completely annihilated the bomber groups of the two major flying groups of the Syrian Army over Shan State, and has just defeated the fighter groups of the Syrian Army in the sky over Misha. ”

"!" Yue Weihan shook his fist heavily, and burst into a foul mouth.

"The main seat." Major General Luo Youlun also said excitedly, "The time is about to be ripe for parachuting into Yangon!" ”

"Well, it's coming soon, just wait for Du Xuewen's regiment to preliminarily complete its training, and it will be able to carry out an airborne raid on Yangon Airport." Yue Weihan rubbed his hands excitedly, and then said with a cruel smile, "Hehe, play the art of war with us, the little devil is still a little bit of a good way, this time, we want to give the old devil Hirohito a big surprise!" ”

………… However, the next changes in the battle situation greatly exceeded Yue Weihan's expectations.

Just three days later, the Battle of Mandalay quickly entered its hardest phase.

At this time, the 14th Air Force of the US Air Force had not yet completely wiped out the fighter group of the Southern Army, and the Du Xuewen regiment at the Ramgarh base had not even learned the basic technical movements of parachuting.

However, the battle in Mandalay may not last many days.

Although the two main divisions of the Fifth Army had crossed the Irrawaddy River, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Regiments of the Baoshan Division had also been airlifted to Mandalay, the situation in Mandalay had become more and more serious, because the Guards Division and the 31st Division had also arrived in Mandalay and joined the battle group.

So far, the army gathered in Mandalay has exceeded 150,000 people, including nearly 100,000 soldiers!

The combat effectiveness of the Guards Division was really not boasted, the heavy artillery bombardment, the chariot rushing, and the hit rate of the grenadiers was also extremely high, the unconscionable artillery and rocket launchers of the Baoshan Division were completely suppressed, and after ten days of fierce fighting, the defense line and the airfield outside Mandalay were lost, and the expeditionary force was forced to retreat into the urban area and launched a brutal street battle with the Yue army.

The advantage of street fighting is that it avoids the threat of heavy artillery of the army, and the disadvantage is that there is no way back.

If the expeditionary force trapped in Mande is a lone army, it is only a matter of time before it is eaten by the Japanese army.

Although the 181st Division of the 39th Group Army was still far away from the Wujiaba Airport in Kunming, the new 6th Division, the new 9th Division, and the troops directly under it had already advanced along the Yunnan-Burma Highway to the vicinity of Lashio, which was less than 200 kilometers away from Mandalay, and it would be there in a few hours by car.

However, if these two main divisions and directly subordinate troops were really to be thrown into Mandalay, at most they would be in a stalemate with the army.

Although the 39th Group Army has now been fully equipped with US weapons, and the number and standard of trucks equipped with it even exceed that of the US Marine Corps, due to the limitation of air transportation, the heavy howitzers and tank units that are standard in US Army divisions cannot be allocated to the 39th Group Army, which greatly weakens the combat effectiveness of the 39th Group Army.

Of course, even if heavy howitzers and tanks could be airlifted to Kunming, the 39th Group Army would not be able to use them, because the recruitment and training of technical arms could not be completed overnight.

In fact, Yue Weihan did not intend to throw these two main divisions and the troops directly under him into Mandalay!

However, before more reinforcements arrived, the battle in Mandalay could not last many days, which also meant that the plan to airborne Rangoon had to be advanced!

………… Mandalay city center, Provisional Command of the Expeditionary Force.

Now, the airport on the outskirts of Mandalay has been lost, and all sides are surrounded by the Four Masters of the Army, Yue Weihan can't escape even if he wants to, so there is no need to avoid suspicion, so he set up his temporary headquarters of the expeditionary force in a British-style building in the center of the city.

"Boss, the situation is getting more and more serious." In the sound of hurried footsteps, Luo Youlun hurriedly walked into the war room and said to Yue Weihan, who was sitting in front of the map, "The 200th Division responsible for the defense of the Southern Region is almost unbearable, and the offensive of the Guards Division is too fierce, these little devils, the battle is really unambiguous!" ”

Luo Youlun was just promoted to lieutenant general yesterday and became chief of the general staff of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

As for the former chief of the General Staff, General Luo Zhuoying, he returned to Myitkyina with his guards as early as when the Fifth Army crossed the river, and then slipped back to Yunnan on a US Air Force transport plane.

"Did Dai Anlan open his mouth to ask for help?" Yue Weihan asked in a deep voice.

Luo Youlun hurriedly said: "It was a call from Dai Anlan for help just now!" ”

"It seems that the situation is really serious, if it weren't for the moment of 100,000 urgency, with Dai Anlan's surname, he would never ask the headquarters for help!" Yue Weihan nodded, and immediately said to Luo Youlun, "Chief of Staff, immediately transfer Peng Bisheng's 49th Division to the Southern District to strengthen the defense of the 200th Division!" ”

"Yes." Luo Youlun stood up with a bang and took the order.

Seeing Luo Youlun's figure go away, Yue Weihan touched his chin and said to Chu Zhongtian: "Zhongtian, immediately send a telegram to the Du Xuewen group who are training at the Ramgar base, the training plan is suspended, and let them be ready to parachute at any time!" Urgently contact General Stilwell, the 1st Regiment of the Baoshan Division will be forcibly airborne in Yangon tomorrow morning! ”

(To be continued)