On the night of 10 August, the former headquarters of the Japanese Army's Hengshan Brigade, now the location of the Singapore Military Control Commission of the Independent Division, was still brightly lit, and Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe hurriedly walked into the office of division commander Tang Qiuli and said: "Division commander, the basic information on the battlefield situation of the US and Japanese armies on Luzon Island that you asked the General Staff Office to collect is here!" After speaking, he put a text clip and put it on the desk.

Tang Qiuli didn't open it immediately, but said, "Yuhe, you tell me the general situation first!" ”

Zhao Yuhe pondered for a moment and said: "Division commander, the battle situation can be described as fierce, the 14th Army of the Japanese Army and other subordinate units, under the command of the commander-in-chief, General Ito Yanzaburo, launched a full-scale attack on the defense line of the US Third Army in the mountains of Calais, and the US army tried its best to resist, especially in Lucena and Caravag, the battle was even more tragic, because the Japanese army took these two places as the main attack points, and the US army did not lose an inch of land after a day of fierce fighting. ”

"However, the casualties of the US Third Army were staggering, and on the day of the fierce battle, there were more than 10,000 casualties, and according to the intelligence analysis center of the intelligence department, the number of Japanese casualties provided by the deciphered Japanese cables was about 8,000 people, mainly caused by the planes of the US First Air Force in the Southwest Pacific Theater."

"Lucena, Caravag?" Tang Qiuli repeated the names of these two places in his mouth, and soon found their location on the map, and after examining it for a few minutes, he suddenly sighed and said: "Ito Yanzaburo is worthy of being a famous general of the Japanese army, with a unique vision and a ruthless shot, and the main breakthrough point chosen is exactly the midpoint of the defense line of the Calais Mountains of the Third Army of the US Army, and in terms of posture, it is conducive to the attack of the Japanese army!" ”

"Yuhe, come and see, if the Japanese army takes Lucena and Caravag. It would divide the defense line of the US Third Army in the Calais Mountains into two separate parts, and it seems that Ito's appetite is not small, and he wants to eat the US Third Army in one bite in the Calais Mountains, but the resistance of the US troops is beyond my expectations. After a day of fierce fighting, not an inch of land was lost on the whole line, and I didn't expect that this Whiteman was still very capable of fighting! ”

Zhao Yuhe did not agree with the teacher's point of view, and said with a rebuttal: "Teacher. As far as my opinion of the situation on the battlefield on Luzon on 10 August is concerned, it is not how tenacious the fighting power of the US military is. The main defender. There were more than 10,000 casualties, and the attacking side suffered more than 8,000 casualties, and there was a big problem here, not to mention the lack of air support from the First Air Force of the US Southwest Pacific Theater. I am afraid that the casualties of the US Third Army in the mountains of Calais are more than doubling, and the defense line will be broken by the Japanese in many places. Therefore, it is not how strong the combat effectiveness of the American soldiers is, but the possession of air superiority! ”

Tang Qiuli smiled and did not continue to debate this issue, but raised another question, "Yuhe, you said that the US Third Army has air superiority, did you mention in the intelligence that the Japanese air force was in battle?" ”

Zhao Yuhe shook his head and replied: "Division commander, no, not a single plane of the Japanese army has gone to war, this is also where I am puzzled, according to our intelligence, Japan's Southwest Pacific Dispatch Army, on Luzon Island alone, there are two field airfields of Iragan and Bangdu, and there are about more than 300 fighters of various types, not counting the field airfields on several other islands, Japan's Southwest Pacific Dispatch Army, but there are more than 1,400 aircraft of the three air groups. ”

Tang Qiuli said: "So, there is a problem here, with the air power of the two air forces in the Southwest Pacific Theater of the US Army, there are only more than 600 fighters, but why did the Japanese commander Ito Yanzaburo, on the first day of the war, allow US planes to provide air fire support for the US Third Army instead of sending planes to meet the battle?" ”

After listening to Tang Qiuli's question, Zhao Yuhe frowned and fell into deep thought, and after a while, he raised his head and said, "Division commander, could it be that the commander of the Japanese army is brewing a bigger conspiracy?" ”

Tang Qiuli's wise eyes flashed, and said: "It's not a conspiracy, it's a trap, Ito, we have fought several times, among the senior generals of the Japanese army, belong to the guy who is good at using strategy, the battle of the Calais Mountains, on the first day of the attack, Ito only used the army to attack, and it was an attack on all fronts, just to put the greatest pressure on MacArthur, and at the same time, it was a tie with the US Third Army, don't forget, the US army has aircraft to help the war!" ”

"As a result, it has also caused a kind of psychological dependence on the commanders and soldiers of the US Third Army, and without the fire support of the aircraft, it is impossible to hold the defensive line, so in order to be able to defend Manila, MacArthur will inevitably invest more air power in the Calais mountain battlefield, and Ito's trap is set up for the two air forces of the US army!"

"In the longer term, Ito wants to kill MacArthur's air power before besieging Manila, or in other words, to urge MacArthur to transfer troops from Australia as much as possible, and let the intelligence department pay attention to it, and in the next three days, in the sky over Luzon, there will inevitably be a decisive battle between the air fleets of the United States and Japan!"

Zhao Yuhe suddenly became enlightened, and the words of the division commander analyzed the essence of the entire Southwest Pacific war situation, and a three-dimensional and vivid battlefield situation map was displayed in his mind, and he said: "Division commander, Ito did not hesitate to use thousands of soldiers as bait and invested such a large amount of money, just to seize air supremacy on the Luzon battlefield!" ”

Tang Qiuli said affirmatively: "Yes, it is to seize air supremacy, in modern warfare, whichever side seizes air supremacy, whoever will have the initiative on the battlefield, MacArthur's air power is exhausted, and the rhythm of the battlefield on Luzon Island is completely controlled in the hands of Ito Yanzaburo, and it will be fought in the way he envisions, or encircled or annihilated, and the ultimate goal of the Japanese is Australia, Yuhe, and the focus of the intelligence department should also be on the British and Australian forces, at least, To know if they began to reinforce Luzon! ”

"It is no exaggeration to say that as soon as the British and Australian troops leave Australia and join the Luzon battlefield, the hundreds of thousands of troops that have been dormant for a long time will immediately attack Australia, which means that the Pacific War will end with the complete victory of the Japanese, and when the time comes, it will be our turn to play!"

Zhao Yuhe listened quietly, and suddenly, he had a strange idea, which came to his mind, and said to Tang Qiuli: "Division commander, the four fighter regiments, two bomber regiments and other aircraft of the Southern Flying Group have been stationed at the Singapore Field Airfield yesterday. ”

Tang Qiuli laughed and said, "Yuhe, did Le Yiqin bribe you to fight for a fighter plane for him?" Before we played, what the Americans were most afraid of was that in the Southwest Pacific Theater, in the end, more than one million Japanese troops, that is, MacArthur's troops, were completely killed by the Japanese, and the Japanese turned around and pounced on the east coast of the United States, and they would inevitably ask us for help, and that was the best time for us to play, but not to disrupt the situation, but to sit in the bank! ”

On the same night, the Japanese command in the Calais Mountains, the commander-in-chief of Japan's Southwest Pacific Asian Dispatch Army, Senior General Ito Yanzaburo, was holding a review meeting on today's battle situation, and the commanders of the Japanese divisions and brigades participating in the attack were all very excited, because the opponents they were facing could only be described as "weak" in one word.

Only the commander of the 14th Army, Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta, the chief of staff, Major General Ichiro Hashimoto, and the commanders of the four divisions, looked preoccupied and looked very unsightly, and the 14th Army was the main force of the attack, dispatching four full-fledged divisions and regiments to storm Lusena and Caravag, paying the price of more than 6,000 casualties, but not even breaking through a single US position.

At the same time, he was still holding back his anger, and there was only one reason, when his own troops were heavily bombed by US planes, he once asked the commander-in-chief, General Ito, to provide the necessary air cover for the attacking 14th Army.

What's more, when the soldiers of the 14th Army fought for the Japanese Empire and His Majesty the Emperor, He had relied on airplanes, and if it were not for the American planes to make trouble, the current 14th Army would have already taken Lucena and Caravag, and there would not have been so many casualties, but such a small request was also rejected by Commander-in-Chief Ito without hesitation, and he didn't understand why he General Ito did this.

Therefore, Yoshihiko Haruta came to participate in the battle review meeting, with a sense of resentment, and was ready to make a good deal with the old guy Ito at the meeting, anyway, he had already offended General Ito, was demoted to deputy commander of the army, and was driven to the front line, since he couldn't get along with each other, then tear his face, anyway, he took care of himself, otherwise, in the next battle, the 14th Army may not know what to lose!

The venue of the meeting was in the western part of the Calais Mountains, at the foot of a mountain overgrown with towering trees and overlooking the green grass everywhere, the evening breeze blowing from the South China Sea, carrying the salty smell of the sea, was humid and sultry, so that Commander Yoshihiko Harata, who was in a depressed mood, was so irritated that he almost jumped up, and even the cool drink prepared for the meeting changed its taste when he drank it in his mouth.

The chief of staff, Major General Hashimoto Ichiro, saw that the commander was in a bad mood, and worried that this boss with a temper of the cannon barrel, once he had a quarrel with Commander-in-Chief Ito, and could not end the battle, it was Haruta Yoshihiko himself who suffered, after all, he was the top boss, so he whispered and persuaded: "Your Excellency Commander, for the sake of the future and fate of the 14th Army, please also accuse yourself of your own feelings!" ”

(To be continued) (To be continued.) )