Just when the world's attention was drawn to the Hawaiian Islands in the North Pacific, a big melee broke out in Pyai, Myanmar. This battle, known as the Battle of Pyai in history, lasted for three weeks. On the attacking side: Japanese troops entered one after another. The "National Independence Army", which has 60,000 marines and 120,000 troops, dispatched more than 130 fighter planes. On the defensive side: the British army and its retinues invested 110,000 troops and dispatched more than 80 fighter planes; The army invested a total of 13,000 trainees and 36,000 "National Liberation and Independence Army". The battle finally came to an end because the British army and its subordinates first withdrew from the southwest defense line of Pyaimai. After the Malaysian Great War, After the defeat, the British army in the Far East suffered another heavy blow. After the situation in Southeast Asia was reversed with the help of the Xuebing Army, it once again tilted towards the Japanese army. It seemed that the Japanese army once again took the initiative in the northwest battlefield of Southeast Asia.
In the three-week war, all three parties suffered heavy casualties. Among them, the Japanese Marine Corps lost more than 30 fighter planes and more than 6,000 casualties, and the "National Independence Army" suffered more than 50,000 casualties; the British Army lost more than 30 fighter planes. There were more than 60 casualties, including the Australian and Indian servitors, with a total of more than 20,000 casualties and more than 30,000 prisoners. As for the Cadet Army, the 3rd Expeditionary Division suffered more than 2,000 casualties. The "National Liberation and Independence Army" More than five thousand casualties,
Just as the Battle of Pyay was getting underway, the Sulu Sea was close to the offshore waters of Negros Island. The U.S. mixed fleet and aviation forces, under the command of Hart and Brereton, finally launched a counterattack against the invading Japanese-Western Expedition Fleet. ,
MacArthur's original plan was that this naval battle would break out the next day, the 15th. However, the Japanese army suddenly divided into two groups and landed on Mindanao and Negros Island at the same time. In addition, the Japanese army launched the so-called "Liberator" "Flag, MacArthur was too suspicious to act rashly, so it was not until four days later, on the 19th, that he ordered Hatton and Brereton to join forces to launch a counterattack.
The battle started at six in the morning. Under the command of Brereton, the US aviation force in the Philippines took off from the Cebu frontline airport with nineteen B-17 bombers, escorted by twenty-four P-40 fighter jets. Launched a surprise attack on the Fengxiang aircraft carrier fleet, the fleet kept flying at an ultra-low altitude and rushed towards Siaton. They thought they were undetected, but they didn't know that they were caught by the Fengxiang aircraft carrier fleet's early warning radar just after they took off. As a result, the sky above Tanhay, about 90 kilometers away from Cebu, was intercepted by a cluster of Japanese aircraft taking off from the aircraft carrier "Ryujo". The raid suddenly turned into an encounter.
The performance of the P-40 was not as good as the Zero fighter. In addition, it was blocked by the Zero fighter while flying at ultra-low altitude, so it was completely suppressed. The two sides faced each other, and five P-40s and Nine B-17s were shot down, and there was no suspense in the ensuing battle. Twenty-four zero battles were fought with more and fewer, and the Americans had to scatter after losing another seven P-40s and three B-17s. He escaped, only to be pursued by Japanese planes all the way to the Cebu frontline airport, which was also destroyed.
A quarter of an hour after the air battle at Tanhayi, the reconnaissance plane taking off from the "Hosho" aircraft carrier discovered the U.S. mixed fleet approaching from the north before the enemy. With air superiority in hand, Soma Masafumi released all fighter planes and targeted them. The U.S. mixed fleet carried out indiscriminate bombings. As a result, the U.S. mixed fleet was still thirty nautical miles away from the Fengxiang aircraft carrier fleet. Three battleships and eleven other warships of various types were bombed and sunk. The battle was immediately over. There is no way to fight...
The Battle of Negros Island was rarely mentioned in later history books, but when it was mentioned, it was mostly related to Japan's Zero fighter. It was in this battle that the Zero stole the show, causing the United States and its With sufficient attention from the allies, he became famous all over the world and began his glorious "Pacific Journey".
The air force was greatly weakened, the mixed fleet was defeated, and the ground forces were even more useless. Faced with the cruel reality, MacArthur finally lowered his posture and sent a message to Washington with a more pragmatic attitude, hoping that his ally, the Xuebing Army, could assume greater responsibilities. ,,On the 21st, when Ouyang Yun marched from Guangzhou to Liuzhou, Guangxi with a large force composed of the Langya and Niangziyun Guards, the Third Xuexi Division, the Xuebing R&D Institute Aircraft Carrier Research Group, etc., he After receiving a secret message from Ji Xingwen, the secret message stated that the Americans agreed to "defend the territory" and hoped that the Xuebing Army could stop the Japanese offensive in Mindanao. At the same time, he invited Ouyang Yun to visit the United States to discuss matters related to strengthening cooperation.
"How can I have time to go to the United States now? The Japanese are attacking fiercely. It seems that the Americans can't hold on any longer. Tell Mr. Ji and ask him to send electricity to the representative office in the United States to discuss strengthening cooperation. This can help Gu Lianyun and Guo Muyi and Talking about Americans, isn’t Gu Lianyun going to accompany Madam Chiang to visit the United States? If possible, we can talk about it together. The Americans are far more economically powerful than we are. This kind of advantage cannot be taken advantage of..." Jiang Huangyong When asking Ouyang Yun how to call Ji Xingwen back, Ouyang Yun said:
The Japanese successfully attacked Pearl Harbor and annihilated the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which suddenly changed the war situation in the entire Pacific region. Thinking of the German offensive in the Soviet Union, it was very smooth. The Soviet army was retreating steadily, and its territory in Europe had been lost. After all, Ouyang Yun couldn't help but feel a serious sense of crisis. As a result, the hypothetical issue of the Pacific Fleet suddenly became important. From the moment he left Guangzhou, all his attention flew to Karachi, and what he had done in the past two days The most important thing is to discuss issues related to the development direction and manufacturing process of aircraft carriers with the members of the aircraft carrier research team of the Xuebang R&D Institute headed by Hou Debang and with French Navy veterans such as Degou. It can be said that this is all he has been dreaming about these days. Things related to the aircraft carrier, how to go to the United States,
In the United States, after the Pacific Fleet suffered a devastating blow and the Philippine Islands were severely attacked by the Japanese Expeditionary Fleet, the voice of its domestic war faction finally became the main theme. However, Washington did not feel happy because of the harsher reality. In front of them, they suddenly discovered that the military technology they were originally proud of no longer had a decisive advantage. Taking fighter jets as an example, the huge battle loss ratio of four to twenty-four in the Tanhai air battle was enough to illustrate that P- 40 was much inferior to Japan's Zero War. Therefore, the Xuexue-1 fighter jet, which had been on the U.S. Army's fighter purchase list, began to receive unprecedented attention. This was the original intention of Washington to invite Ouyang Yun to visit the United States.
When the Xuebing-1 fighter jet, the Baiji, was put into production, the Xuebing Army once ordered these parts in the United States because it did not have the processing capabilities to process some high-precision parts. Therefore, the U.S. intelligence agency had relevant information and knew that the Xuebing Army was developing it. and the production of a new type of fighter aircraft. This information once aroused strong interest in the U.S. military. However, because the cost of a single Baiji Dolphin is too high, one is worth three P-40s. From the perspective of protecting the national military industry From this point of view, the Americans still decided to equip P-40 in large quantities. Objectively speaking, the P-40 is already a classic fighter in terms of performance. However, Japan’s zero combat aircraft at this time has lower performance than the white-fin dolphin. That time and space was another level higher, so as soon as the two sides competed, the P-40 was not enough.