Commander Whiteman, seeing his subordinates whose faces had changed, said surprisingly gently: "Everyone, we have no way to retreat, we can only pick up our guns and fight with the soldiers, I hope we die bravely!" ”

The American officers were silent, and suddenly, a young lieutenant staff officer began to cry and shouted indistinctly: "Commander, I don't want to die!" ”

Major General Whiteman was silent for a moment, then asked, "Who else doesn't want to die?" ”

More than a dozen officers stood up one after another, cowering, and Commander Whiteman said: "Well, I have no right to force you to fight, let alone deprive you of your lives, leave here immediately, return to Manila, and if the gendarmes interrogate them, say that I approved it, and I hope you have good luck!" ”

Ten minutes later, a small unit composed of about 500 US officers and soldiers, with the mentality of moths throwing fire, ran towards the battlefield full of artillery fire; Major General Whiteman wore a steel helmet and held a submachine gun, and ran to the front.

Putting down the phone, Commander-in-Chief MacArthur, almost fainted again, on the morning of August 13, a series of heavy blows made this conceited American general, almost collapse, all the planes were gone, the damned Whiteman's troops were divided and surrounded by the Japanese again, and the troops of the damned Englishman Fernandez were still crawling on the road like old cows, and all the qiē told themselves a ruthless fact, and the Japanese soldiers would soon appear under the city of Manila!

MacArthur did not expect that the Third Army, which was surrounded by the Japanese army, could hold the Japanese army for how long at the cost of total annihilation, and with the fire support of aircraft, the Third Army relied on strong fortifications to fight positional warfare. They have repeatedly suffered losses and suffered heavy losses.

What's more, now that it is divided and surrounded, it is even more impossible to send reinforcements to it, and in the face of the siege of the main Japanese army on Luzon Island, to rescue the Third Army, it is necessary to dispatch all the troops on the Manila defense line, and it is not necessarily necessary to achieve the desired effect.

He is not an uncool, emotional person, if the hundreds of thousands of troops on the Manila defense line. Entangled by the Japanese army in the mountains of Calais, he carefully planned a plan for several months, but he declared bankruptcy, and with it, the empty Manila was lost. The fall of the entire island of Luzon collapsed the foundation of many years. For the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. It is not worth it, let alone necessary, to gamble on the fruits of your years of painstaking business in the Southwest Pacific, because this is war!

General MacArthur's heart was only slightly entangled for a moment, and then. Keeping his mind on the impending crisis, he said to the acting chief of staff, Colonel Kleist: "Convey my order to the whole army, from now on, into combat mode." Kleist, next, Manila will be in the middle of a bloody battle! After speaking, he sighed, full of helplessness and bitterness!

In the early morning of 13 August, there was another person who was even more anxious and restless than General MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the US forces, and this person was Major General Le Yiqin, commander of the Southern Flying Group of the Independent Division's Air Force and division commander Tang Qiuli, who was known as a "militant."

Under the surveillance of the airtight radar network, the specific situation of the confrontation between the US and Japanese air forces was presented in front of Le Yiqin at a glance, and he basically did not sleep all night, staying at the Yangon Naval Air Base, in the front air command room, and a large group of staff officers, closely following the situation of the air battle on Luzon.

On the huge sand table, several combat staff officers, under the command of Le Yiqin, sat on the sand table to deduce, accurately showing the positions of the US and Japanese aircraft groups on the sand table, while Le Yiqin himself was full of red light and constantly changed his role, acting as the commander of the US military aircraft group for a while, and then the commander of the Japanese aircraft group.

Several young staff officers, who were commanded by Le Yiqin, were so busy that they were sweating profusely, plus the correspondents who came and went, and people who did not know the inside situation, thought that it was the Southern Flying Group, which was engaged in a decisive air battle, and when the First Air Force of the US Army Rijkaard broke away from the battlefield in the Calais Mountains, closely pursued the small Japanese aircraft group, and headed for the airspace of the Babuyan Strait, Le Yiqin slapped the table and shouted: "Not good! The little devil's move is obviously deceitful, and the Yankees will suffer! ”

The staff officers of the War Department have long been accustomed to the commander's shouting posture, and they also know that as long as it involves the field of air combat, anyone can speak to their heart's content, and they don't have to worry about being punished for saying the wrong thing, and a captain and staff officer said unconvinced: "Commander, are you a little alarmist, I think the Yankees' tactics are not a big problem, concentrate superior forces, surround and annihilate the harassing Japanese small aircraft group, and then, you can support the ground infantry attack without interference!" ”

Le Yiqin and Selenium, said: "I only know one but I don't know the other, theoretically it is correct, but we also have to make a specific analysis according to the actual situation of the battlefield and the comparison of forces between the two sides, the Japanese army has more than 1,400 fighters of three air groups in the southwest Pacific theater, this time, dozens of them were dispatched to do harassing attacks, which is clearly looking at it as weak, I judge that the commander of the little devil's air force must have dug a big hole for the Yankees' planes somewhere!" ”

The young staff officers all showed an expression of disbelief, what the commander said was too mysterious, Le Yiqin didn't bother to debate with them, his eyes were fixed on the sand table, the position of the Japanese and American aircraft group changed, and said: "As for right and wrong, you raw melons and eggs will know later, heh!" Why don't I feel right? ”

At this time, the US Second Air Force also broke away from the airspace of the Calais Mountains and chased a small group of Japanese planes towards the airspace of Lingjiayan Bay. ”

The staff officers looked at the commander, still didn't understand the meaning of his words, Le Yiqin continued: "What is this tactic called, please enter the urn, by the way, ambush, it must be an ambush, all the planes of the little devils are assembled in the airspace of Luzon, just to fight a big ambush on the Yankee aircraft group!" It's over, the Americans will definitely suffer a big loss, and if they don't get it right, it will be the end of the total annihilation! ”

The staff officers were still digesting the commander's words, and suddenly, Le Yiqin slammed his fist on the table and roared angrily: "I'm fucking angry, the little devil is really not a thing, this air ambush tactic is obviously Lao Tzu's originality, how could it be learned by the little devil?" Hearing the commander's roar, the staff officers and communicators almost burst into laughter.

At about 6 o'clock in the morning, the results of the air battle on Luzon Island, just as Le Yiqin judged, the 1st and 2nd Air Forces of the US Southwest Pacific Theater were ambushed by the superior Japanese fighter group in the airspace of the Babuyan Strait and the airspace of Lingayan Bay, and almost all the troops were annihilated.

The air forces of the United States and Japan, an unprecedented and tragic air battle in the Pacific Ocean, came to an end, but Le Yiqin quieted down, smoked a cigarette, and sat quietly in a chair, no one knows, what he is thinking? The eyes of the staff officers who looked at the commander all changed, it was a kind of admiration and admiration from the heart!

Le Yiqin got up lazily and said a little listlessly: "I've been busy all night, let's rest, I should also make up for a good night's sleep!" Hey, it's a lively fight, but it's nothing wrong with us, and we're greedy! ”

Le Yiqin was just about to get up and leave, when he said, "Jingle bell!" A red telephone on the table rang urgently, and a staff officer picked up the phone, just listened to a few words, suddenly his face changed, and shouted at Le Yiqin: "Commander, in the airspace of the Nansha Islands, the three major groups of the Ninth Fighter Regiment on patrol duty have an emergency report!" ”

The staff officers felt a flower in front of them, and just now they were like commanders who had just woken up, and at a staggering speed, they instantly arrived in front of the telephone, grabbed the phone, and said hurriedly: "I'm Le Yiqin, what's the emergency?" Say! ”

Just a minute ago, Lieutenant Colonel Xu Zheguang, the leader of the group, discovered from the radar that two groups of fighters in the front and rear had intruded into our airspace, and judging from the flight trajectory, the two sides were in a state of engagement, moreover, it was several fighters in front of them who were fleeing and fighters behind were in hot pursuit.

Xu Zheguang did not dare to slack off, and on the one hand ordered his squadrons to go in battle formation to intercept them, and on the other hand, he reported the situation to the Yangon Air Command, and Xu Zheguang also knew that since the early hours of this morning, the Japanese and US air forces have been engaged in a fierce air battle in the airspace of Luzon Island.

Le Yiqin's eyes lit up, and he laughed and asked, "Xu Zheguang, are you sure that it is in the airspace controlled by us?" ”

Xu Zheguang replied affirmatively: "It can be determined that a total of five US fighters and twelve Japanese fighters have penetrated more than 80 kilometers into our airspace, and they are still fighting. ”

Le Yiqin slapped the table excitedly and shouted, "Okay! Intercept it immediately, and give me the communication channel, I want to hear it, why did this little devil pilot and Yankee pilot run to our ground? Wait for my orders, get ready to take out these bastards! ”

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