My Head of the Huaxia Expeditionary Force

Chapter 357
"Clear the road and remove those boxes."

"Be careful, the tanks are coming, the people in front get out of the way!"

In a mountain clearing outside Nankan City, several "bulldozers" with buckets are driving on the road. They are all converted from Sherman tanks, and they are mounding the soil on the road along a straight line leveled.

The construction site was bustling, and basically people from the Chariot Battalion were here to help. Soldiers dug up truckloads of dirt and transported it away. Tank bulldozers pushed the road straight and compacted it. The open space soon showed the appearance of a runway.

"It's fucking hot..."

The midday sun penetrated the mist, and the temperature rose sharply. Yuan Li, who had been busy all morning, got out of the tank and sat on the turret to rest for a while.

Chen Tang also from the manhole cover of the front driver's seat
The cangkou got out, and handed over a water bottle cleverly: "Battle Commander, can you take a sip of water?"

Yuan Li took off his leather cap, and took a few big gulps from the kettle without hesitation. The cold water finally released his irritated throat.

"Battle Commander, what are we doing here?" Chen Tang looked at the busy crowd and asked inexplicably.

"What are you doing? Repairing the airport, what else can you do? Didn't you see this straight runway of several hundred meters? You thought building a house." Yuan Li smiled, leaning lazily on 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 this mean? Where is the plane?"

Liao Mingyu said word by word while holding the phone, with a little anger in his tone, and he was already trying his best to suppress the anger in his heart.

"I'm sorry, my friend...P40c can't guarantee to fly from Baoshan Airport to Lashio and return safely. This distance has exceeded the maximum range of the fighter."

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

"But you clearly agreed the day before yesterday! P40 fighter jets don't have enough range, I think B17 Sky Fortress Headquarters? And I've already started building a temporary airport in Nankan. This place is fully qualified to become the bridgehead of the air force."

"You know what...every B17 launch must be approved by General Chennault, and even I have no right to transfer, but because of Jamie's unauthorized actions last time, the senior management of the Air Task Force in China was extremely angry, and Chennault The general also has a good opinion of that."

"So this is the reason for your indifference?" Liao Mingyu was extremely disappointed.

"I'm sorry, Liao...and the most important thing is that the battle of Tengchong is coming to an end, and there is an urgent need for air power to carry out the final blow to the Japanese. There is really no spare squadron to support you."

The back of Liao Mingyu's hand holding the phone was already bruised, his face was frosty and he said coldly: "Hehe, sorry can't solve the problem, don't forget who we are regaining the lost ground for, my soldiers are still throwing their heads and blood on the front line , Could it be that their blood can only 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."

beep...

"You motherfucker!"

Hearing the busy tone coming from his ear, Liao Mingyu angrily threw away the microphone.

"These Yankees are really getting more and more unreliable at the critical moment." Chen Jize, who was on the side, clearly heard the content of the conversation, and felt ashamed of what those people did.

"Hmph, it's just a bunch of narrow-minded bastards." Liao Mingyu was full of resentment, and his eyes flicked to the map, wondering what he was thinking.

To put it bluntly, this group of Yankees is just comparing the truth with the last time. Jamie, Wesker and others acted without obeying orders and may have touched the bottom line of these people.

They hated Liao Mingyu's behavior of bypassing the air force and directly directing combat operations, so when the former really needed support, they used various excuses to prevaricate. They made it clear that they didn't want to help you, and what can you do to me?
"Sir, does this temporary airport still need to be repaired?" Chen Jize asked.

"Let's fix it, it's more than half done, maybe it will be used later."

It takes hard work to make iron, and Liao Mingyu couldn't help but think that it would be great if he could have his own aviation team, so that he would never be stuck by others again.

However, the current situation makes people very restless. A regiment has been guarding Lashio for two days, and it seems that it is about to run out of ammunition and food. Not daring to devote all their strength to the attack, but also gave the regiment a little chance to breathe.

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

However, Ah Yi, who took the engineer regiment one step ahead, lost the contact signal in the early hours of the morning. The division headquarters had called for a whole morning and had not received a response. They did not know what happened.

Coupled with the fact that the Yankees refused to provide air support to them 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, but after much deliberation, he couldn't find a good solution. The current situation has reached an extremely dangerous situation.

Just when he was at a loss, a communication soldier suddenly walked in outside the door, holding a telegram and hurriedly said: "Report to attend, this is an urgent telegram from the 4th Squadron of the US Air Force Department in China, please have a look."

4th Air Squadron?Liao Mingyu frowned, isn't that Hertling's army?A telegram was sent just after hanging up the phone, what is that guy going to do?

Liao Mingyu accepted the telegram in doubt, but he was surprised by the content.

"Haha, as expected, there is no unparalleled road! Jize, immediately send another battalion to the airport to help. No matter what the price is, we must complete the construction of the runway within today. Success or failure depends on it!"

"Yes!"

Chen Jize's face was full of question marks, but due to his military habits, he didn't ask too many questions, and immediately stood at attention and answered the order.

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

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

It’s just that the distance problem is true. From Baoshan Airport to Lashio, the round-trip flight of more than 1000 kilometers is very dangerous for the P40. If they can’t refuel halfway, then the fuel on the plane is only enough for them to complete the one-way flight.

Therefore, Nankan Airport is the key. Even if it cannot be refueled, it can also provide a landing place for the flight team when they return. 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 to support the tank battalion as quickly as possible.

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

Jamie was straightforward, and didn't care about the officer's face at all. Without a word, he flew to the sky over Wanding with a flying team.

But this also aroused strong dissatisfaction from the top allied forces, who almost dismissed him as the captain of the unit, and warned him that if he disobeyed orders again and acted without authorization, he would be expelled from the army and sent back to his country directly.

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

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

Because the United States was still a neutral country before the establishment of the Flying Tigers, and did not directly participate in the war against Japan. The members were all members. After obtaining the support of the Roosevelt government through lobbying activities, Chennault was allowed to recruit US military pilots and ground machinery in the name of a private organization. Division, join the war as a civilian.

At that time, the government signed a contract with every U.S. military pilot who came to China to participate in the war, and paid according to their rank.

Among them, the monthly salary of ordinary pilots is 600 US dollars, the monthly salary of squadron leaders is 650 US dollars, and the monthly salary of squadron leaders is 700 US dollars.In addition, you can get a $500 bonus for shooting down a Japanese fighter plane.By comparison, a U.S. Army Air Corps pilot's monthly salary tops out at $347 a year later.

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 air commander stationed in China. people here.

At this time, many former members of the Flying Tigers did not stay, but withdrew from the battle sequence and returned to their own countries. Only a few people like Jamie chose to stay in Huaxia to continue fighting.

They are mercenaries, and most of them are retired soldiers and civilian pilots, so they are not so afraid of the US military.

(End of this chapter)