Even though it was late at night, Commander Whiteman was going to truthfully report to General MacArthur the danger facing the Third Army, and he couldn't even wait until tomorrow morning for God to know what the Japanese attack would look like tomorrow morning.

Whether he and the Third Army can withstand the crazy attack of the Japanese army tomorrow, he is not the slightest sure in his heart, after calling the general's office, he waits quietly, the anxiety and restlessness in his heart, but like a tide, it hits his heart, Commander Whiteman, there is a faint hope, I hope that Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, after hearing his report, can allow the Third Army to retreat to the vicinity of Manila!

For several months, General MacArthur, who had not slept well, had just gone to bed when he was woken up by the adjutant, and his heart was annoyed, and the taste of being interrupted by his hard-won sleep was absolutely uncomfortable, and he impatiently asked the adjutant a few words, and learned that it was Commander Whiteman, who called from the defense line in the mountains of Calais, and sighed in his heart, it was so late, Whiteman called, could it be that there was a big problem with the defense line of the Third Army?

Regardless of the usual gentlemanly image, MacArthur wore pajamas and hurried to the living room, the annoyance in his heart had long been replaced by worry, and when he picked up the phone, Major General Whiteman's panicked and tired voice came, making his heart even more uncomfortable.

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, today's battle in the mountains of Calais is particularly fierce, my troops have suffered more than 17,000 casualties today, and in three days, more than half of the Third Army has been killed or wounded. In the course of three consecutive days of fierce fighting, it was already very low, and just today, Japanese planes also joined the battle, causing great casualties to my troops! Whiteman said in a low voice.

General MacArthur, so surprised that he almost dropped his phone on the ground, with the condition and strength of the Third Army, against more than 100,000 Japanese troops, casualties were certain. Moreover, it will not be small, but he never expected that the casualties would be so huge, so big that Cheng Dù, who made his heart tremble. Anyone will calculate an account and consume it at this rate. The Third Army would certainly not be able to withstand a week-long attack by the Japanese army.

"Fuck!" General MacArthur cursed in his heart. To add insult to injury, just this morning he received a telegram from Admiral Fernandez, commander-in-chief of the British forces in Australia, in which the Englishman clearly told himself that there were 100,000 British and Australian reinforcements. Within a week, it is impossible to reach the Luzon battlefield in any case, and at the current pace of assembly, it will take about ten days at the earliest.

This is already its limit. Even if it is dealt with by military law, there is nothing that can be done, in the end, Admiral Fernandez, still vaguely accuses himself, regardless of the actual situation, gives unrealistic orders, if necessary, he will reflect the situation to the country, this damn British, put on a posture of a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water, and threatens himself, doesn't he know that the American army is using the lives of soldiers to block the Japanese at the cost of more than 10,000 casualties every day?

Angry to angry, scolded to scold, MacArthur really can't do anything to Fernandez, his only hope is that Whiteman's Third Army can hold up in the Calais Mountains for a few more days, although he knows that this is difficult, but Whiteman's phone call shattered his hopes, looking at this situation, the Third Army can't survive five days, God! Why is this happening?

General MacArthur licked his dry lips and said as calmly as possible: "Dear Whiteman, don't be so pessimistic, this is war, it is normal for troops to have casualties, as a senior commander, don't be intimidated by huge casualties, since the Japanese fighters appeared on the battlefield in the mountains of Calais, I will assign all the fighters of the Second Air Force of the headquarters to your command sequence, firmly grasp the air supremacy, and you will be very easy in the next battle!" ”

In order to allow the Third Army to support as much time as possible, MacArthur had to take out his last hole card, he didn't even dare to say to Whiteman, stick to the defense line in the Calais mountains, from the original seven days, extended to more than ten days, he was really afraid, after Whiteman heard this order, he would faint immediately, the Japanese had not yet hit, he himself collapsed first!

However, it is necessary to let Whiteman know that even if the Third Army is completely annihilated, it will die on the battlefield in the Calais mountains, therefore, on the phone, MacArthur especially emphasized, "Whiteman, you must hold the defense line in the Calais mountains, and without my personal order, the troops are not allowed to retreat a step, of course, when necessary, I will give the order to retreat, and before that, do not have any thoughts of retreating!" ”

Listening to the commander-in-chief becoming a little gloomy, mixed with a little threatening words, Commander Whiteman opened his mouth, but did not say anything, he himself knew that it was useless to say anything now, he could only wait for His Excellency the commander, show mercy, and give the order to retreat as much as possible, fortunately, in his own hands, there are more than 300 aircraft in command, and the next battle should be relatively easy.

Putting down the phone, Whiteman conveyed the words of Commander-in-Chief MacArthur to the division commanders as they were, and at the same time, he also told them that the Third Army had received air reinforcements from the Second Air Force at the headquarters in order to cheer up his subordinates, but Major General Whiteman did not notice such a detail, General MacArthur, in the telephone, did not emphasize the previous order, that the Third Army must hold out in the mountains of Calais for a week.

In the previous phone calls, General MacArthur emphasized this point in particular, and all the campaign deployments of the Third Army revolved around a week, and all the officers and soldiers of the Third Army, including Commander Whiteman himself, were gritting their teeth and struggling to support it for the one-week deadline, and for tomorrow's battle, Major General Whiteman, who was exhausted, did not realize what this meant for the Third Army.

On the other side of the Calais Mountains, General Ito Yanzaburo, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Southwest Pacific Dispatch Army, was also holding a military meeting, and unlike the previous meeting, in the original faces, three major generals wearing flight suits of the Japanese Army Air Corps were added, with an arrogant and invincible face, sitting in the middle of a group of army generals, and when looking at people, their nostrils were cocked to the sky, quite a bit of an unbeatable, Lao Tzu No. 1 in the world!

And General Ito's mood was obviously very good, and after waving his hand to let the generals sit down, he said: "Gentlemen, after three days of fierce fighting, we, the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army, inflicted great casualties on the Americans, especially in today's battle, if it were not at a critical time, I ordered Haruta-kun's troops not to continue to break through the positions of the American army, I absolutely believe that the warriors of the 14th Army, at this moment, should be under the city of Manila!" ”

After speaking, looking at Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta with a cold and resolute face, General Ito said approvingly: "Chuntian-kun, your troops are worthy of the elite of the Imperial Army, and they can still break through the positions of the US troops in the case of indiscriminate bombing by US aircraft. In Ito's words, there was no blame, but some jokes!

Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta got up abruptly and replied loudly: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, the headquarters understands your intentions, and the Fourteenth Army faithfully carries out your orders, which is not uncomfortable, but, to be honest, there are regrets, one of my subordinates personally told me that when his command knife slashed at the neck of an American major, that Yankee was so frightened that he forgot to draw out his gun, if it were not for the strategic considerations of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, the Fourteenth Army itself could have killed the Third Army of the United Army in the mountains of Calais!" ”

The Japanese generals who participated in the meeting laughed unbridled and arrogantly, which was mixed with applause, and General Ito was even more happy with his eyes shining and taking the lead in applauding, obviously very satisfied, Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta had this courageous momentum!

After the applause and laughter stopped, Senior General Ito continued: "Gentlemen, after three days of fighting, we have forced MacArthur to play all the cards in our hands, especially today, the Imperial Army Air Corps sent a small number of fighters to participate in the battle, with a record of one to two, to teach the US Air Force a lesson, but also to make the Americans panic, in order to keep the defense line in the Calais Mountains, the only thing MacArthur can use is air power, so tomorrow, it will be the memorial day of the US Air Force!" ”

Then, Senior General Ito's eyes turned to the three major generals wearing the flight uniforms of the Japanese army's own army air force, and said: "Let me introduce to you, this is Major General Kazuo Kashio, commander of the Kashima Air Force, this is Major General Yoshiyasu Araki, commander of the Araki Air Force, and this is Major General Yoshio Kuroda, commander of the Kuroda Air Force. ”

The three commanders of the Japanese Army Air Force stood up in unison and said: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, we will live up to your expectations, tomorrow will be the end of the US military aircraft, and we hereby assure you that after tomorrow, what you can see in the sky over Luzon Island is the fighter planes of our Imperial Japanese Army Air Force!" These words are full of confidence and murderous spirit, and more than 600 US military planes are just a plate of small dishes in their eyes!

"Good!" General Ito was the first to shout hello, and then, with warm applause, the three major generals of the Japanese Army Air Corps sat down proudly, and General Ito continued: "Regarding the specific arrangements for tomorrow's battle, make the following arrangements, Chief of Staff Kawashima, please announce it!" ”

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