"Clear the road and move those boxes away."

"Be careful, the tank is coming, people in front get out of the way!"

In a mountainous clearing outside Nankan City, several "bulldozers" with buckets were driving on the road. They were all modified Sherman tanks and were mounding soil on the road in a straight line.

bulldoze.

The construction site was very lively. Basically, people from the tank battalion were here to help. Truckloads of soil were dug out and transported away by the soldiers. Tank bulldozers pushed the road straight and compacted it. The open space soon looked like a runway.

"Damn it's so hot..."

The midday sun slowly penetrated the fog and the temperature rose suddenly. Yuan Li, who had been busy all morning, got out of the tank and sat on the turret to take a rest.

Chen Tang also removed the manhole cover from the driver's seat of the car

Cangkou came out and cleverly handed over a kettle: "Batalion Commander, would you like a sip of water?"

Yuan Li took off his leather cap and took a few gulps of the kettle without any courtesy. The cold water finally relieved his burning throat.

"Batalion Commander, what are we doing here?" Chen Tang looked at the busy people and asked without knowing why.

"What are you doing? What else can you do to build an airport? Didn't you see this straight runway of several hundred meters? You thought you were building a house." Yuan Li smiled and lazily leaned against the car body to bask in the sun.

At the same time, the headquarters in the city...

"I requested air support for you two days ago. Colonel, what does that mean? Where is the plane?"

Liao Mingyu took the phone and spoke word by word, with a bit of anger in his tone. He was already trying his best to suppress the anger in his heart.

"I'm sorry, my friend... the P40C cannot guarantee the safe flight from Baoshan Airport to Lashio and back again. This distance has exceeded the maximum range of the fighter aircraft."

Colonel Hertelling's slightly apologetic voice came from the other end of the phone.

"But you clearly agreed the day before yesterday! The P40 fighter plane does not have enough range, I think the B17 Flying Fortress Headquarters? And I have already started to build a temporary airport in Nankan, which is fully qualified to become the bridgehead of the aviation force."

"You know what...Every B17 takes off must be approved by General Chennault. Even I don't have the right to transfer it. But because of Jamie's unauthorized actions last time, the senior management of the aviation task force in China was extremely angry, and Chennault

The general also has a strong opinion on this."

"So is this the reason why you are indifferent?" Liao Mingyu was disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Liao... and the most important thing is that the Tengchong Campaign is coming to an end. There is an urgent need for air power to carry out the final blow against the Japanese. There are really no extra squadrons to support you."

The back of Liao Mingyu's hand holding the phone had blue veins popping out. He said coldly with a frosty face: "Haha, sorry doesn't solve the problem. Don't forget who we are retaking the lost territory for. My soldiers are still throwing their lives and blood on the front line."

, will their blood be shed in vain?”

"..." The other end of the phone was silent for a long time before slowly saying: "I really can't do anything. May God bless you."

Toot toot…

"Fuck you!"

Hearing the busy signal in his ear, Liao Mingyu threw away the phone angrily.

"These Americans are really becoming more unreliable at critical moments." Chen Jize, who was on the side, listened clearly to the conversation and felt ashamed of the actions of those people.

"Huh, they're just a bunch of petty bastards." Liao Mingyu was filled with resentment and glanced at the map, wondering what he was thinking.

To put it bluntly, this group of Yankees are just doing what they did last time. Jamie, Wesker and others may have touched their bottom line by disobeying instructions and acting without authorization.

They hated Liao Mingyu's behavior of bypassing the air force and directly commanding combat operations, so when the latter really needed support, they used various excuses to prevaricate. It was clear that they didn't want to help you, and what can you do to me?

"Take a seat, does this temporary airport still need to be repaired?" Chen Jize asked.

"Fix it. It's more than half done. Maybe it will be used later."

Forging iron requires one's own strength. Liao Mingyu couldn't help but think that it would be great if he could have his own aviation fleet, so that he would never be choked by others again.

However, the current situation makes people very anxious. The regiment has been guarding Lashio for two days and is about to run out of ammunition and food. Fortunately, Long Wenwen launched a night attack to knock out the enemy's search group and force the opponent to

They did not dare to devote all their strength to the attack, but also gave the regiment some breathing space.

But this situation will not last long, because the other two infantry regiments of the Japanese 53rd Division are also moving closer to Lashio. The longer the delay is, the more dangerous the regiment will be.

However, Ah Yi, who was leading the engineering regiment ahead, lost contact signal in the early morning. The division headquarters had been calling all morning but had not received a response. It was unclear what happened.

Coupled with the fact that the Americans refused to provide air support on the pretext of range and lack of combat vacancies, the countless bad news was almost exhausting.

Liao Mingyu paced back and forth in the headquarters, thinking about it but couldn't find a good solution. The current situation has reached an extremely dangerous point.

Just when he was at a loss what to do, a communications soldier suddenly walked in outside the door, holding a telegram and hurriedly said: "Reporting to the audience, here is an urgent telegram from the 4th Squadron of the U.S. Army Aviation Department in China. Please take a look."

The 4th Aviation Squadron? Liao Mingyu frowned. Isn't that Hertelling's unit? Just after hanging up the phone, he sent a telegram. What is that guy trying to do?

Liao Mingyu received the telegram with confusion, but the content surprised him.

"Haha, as expected, the sky is the limit! Jize, immediately send another battalion to the airport to help. No matter what the cost, we must complete the construction of the runway today. Success or failure depends on this!"

"yes!"

Chen Jize's face was full of questions, but due to military habits, he didn't ask any more questions. He immediately stood at attention and answered and accepted the order.

Liao Mingyu continued to read the contents of the telegram, but he was very emotional. It turned out that the telegram came from Jamie of the 14th Aviation Squadron. After learning the news, he secretly contacted the Third Division through the radio.

Jamie said that his fighter unit will perform patrol missions tomorrow and can take this opportunity to fly directly south into Myanmar and launch an attack on the Japanese troops in Lashio.

It's just that the distance problem is real. Taking off from Baoshan Airport to Lashio, the round-trip flight of more than 1,000 kilometers is very dangerous for the P40. If they can't refuel halfway, the fuel on the plane will only be enough for them to complete the one-way flight.

Therefore, Nankan Airport is the key. Even if it cannot be refueled, it can still provide a landing place for the flight unit when it returns. This aspect is particularly important.

When attacking Wanding some time ago, due to tactical needs, Liao Mingyu requested the U.S. military to dispatch fighter planes as quickly as possible to support the tank battalion operations. However, the reply given by the senior aviation team at that time was that they needed to discuss and formulate a combat plan before launching the operation.

But this was obviously very different from his blitz tactics, so Liao Mingyu directly contacted Jamie and wanted to ask him to provide him with some help.

Jamie was quite upright and didn't care about his commander's face at all. Without saying a word, he led a flying squadron and flew over Wanding.

But this also aroused strong dissatisfaction among the Allied top brass, who almost dismissed him as squad leader. He was also warned that if he disobeyed orders and acted without permission again, he would be expelled from the army and would be sent home directly.

However, this obviously does not pose much of a threat to Jamie and others who have been through hell several times. Unlike ordinary U.S. Air Force pilots, they are in the form of employment and do not have much superior-subordinate relationship with the U.S. military.

.

To put it bluntly, starting from the former Flying Tigers, most of the pilots who came to China were mercenaries.

Because before the establishment of the Flying Tigers, the United States was still a neutral country and did not directly participate in the war against Japan. Its members were also Chennault. After obtaining the support of the Roosevelt administration through lobbying activities, Chennault was allowed to recruit US military pilots and ground support machinery in the name of a private organization with large sums of money.

Division, participating in the war as a civilian.

At that time, the national government signed a contract with every US military pilot who came to China to participate in the war, and paid them according to their grade.

Among them, the monthly salary of an ordinary pilot is US$600, the monthly salary of a squad leader is US$650, and the monthly salary of a squadron leader is US$700. In addition, if you shoot down a Japanese fighter plane, you can get a bonus of US$500. In comparison, a year later, the US Army Air Force

The maximum monthly salary for pilots is only US$347.

After the Flying Tigers were disbanded and the United States officially declared war on Japan, the U.S. military established the 14th Air Force with Chennault as the aviation commander in China. This was the serious U.S. Army Air Force, and its members were basically all U.S. troops.

people inside.

At this time, many former Flying Tigers members did not stay, but quit the fighting order and returned to their own countries. Only a few people like Jamie chose to stay in China and continue fighting.
Chapter completed!