Chapter 1128: Phoenix Nirvana

China, Japanese-occupied territory, Shanghai. Two Japanese soldiers, their faces grim, scrutinized the newspaper in front of them. It was a Chinese newspaper, reporting on a battle from three days ago. The content was a direct slap in the face to the Japanese Army Air Force.

Three Japanese Ki-43 fighters, which had just recently entered service, were shot down by the Chinese Air Force, which had suddenly sortied after a long period of silence. Coupled with the failure of the entire Wuhan operation, this loss was a provocation to the mighty Japanese Empire, something no Japanese soldier could tolerate. This failure also directly caused Hideki Tojo’s position in the Imperial General Headquarters to waver, adding countless troubles to Japan’s future operations.

“Ozawa-kun, this offensive operation has truly brought shame upon our Great Japanese Empire. Not only has the combat effectiveness of our troops declined, but even we, who have always suppressed the Chinese air force, have suffered such heavy casualties…” a Japanese officer holding the newspaper complained unhappily to another officer standing beside him.

The standing officer was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Japanese occupied-China air force. His unit had encountered a fierce attack from the Chinese Air Force a few days ago. They had scrambled 4 of their new Ki-43 Hayabusa fighters as escorts, but 3 were shot down in one go by the Chinese ME-109C fighters. This aircraft had just entered Army service in ’39 as a competitor to the Navy’s Zero fighter and was rarely used on the “backward” Chinese battlefield.

To support this operation, these planes had just been transferred back from the fierce Pacific theater. Although they were flown by rookie pilots, they were still some of the most advanced aircraft in the Japanese army’s hands. However, the battle to attack the Wuhan warzone ultimately ended with the Japanese army’s withdrawal, and all the associated losses were infinitely magnified.

“I heard that the Chinese ME-109C fighters are all older models, and most of them can’t even take off due to a lack of spare parts… But can you tell me? Why did our Great Japanese Empire’s newest fighters suffer such a disastrous defeat under these circumstances?” The Japanese general, sitting and holding the newspaper, did not see the embarrassment on the standing army aviator’s face and continued to press the issue.

The standing officer, Ozawa, lowered his head even further, but he gritted his teeth and refused to speak. His fighter unit had suffered unprecedented losses over China. However, if it were only the loss of 3 fighters, it wouldn’t have prompted such a massive investigation. Due to overconfidence and underestimating the enemy, the Japanese bomber group of 30 “Donryu” (Dragon-Swallower) bombers had only 4 Ki-43 escorts.

After his fighter unit suffered losses and retreated, 6 of the 30 slow-flying Donryu bombers were shot down by the Chinese Air Force. If not for the fact that the German-produced ME-109C fighters had a limited ammunition capacity, and the Chinese pilots who had run out of ammo couldn’t continue to press their advantage, it’s possible that not a single one of those 30 old bombers would have made it back.

“Damn it, didn’t the Germans only export a few dozen of these fighters to China? Including their losses, how could they possibly scrape together 10 planes to scramble at once?” The Japanese officer, furious and humiliated, continued to mutter to himself, as if venting his frustration.

In fact, the German export ME-109C had long since become a “world fighter.” It wasn’t just Germany that could manufacture this plane; even the United States had some factories producing its parts. After all, the US had once smuggled this aircraft and used it as a reference to design their new P-50 fighter. So, at the request of the Chinese military, the US had produced some spare parts and secretly sent them via submarine to a China that desperately needed them.

This was the reason why the Chinese fighters, after months of silence, had been revitalized. It was just that the parts allowing these German “eagles” to fly again were made by Americans. Of course, the Japanese did not know this at the time, as they were certain that China had no way of obtaining parts from Germany.

“Tojo-kun’s situation is very bad right now. His advocacy for a decisive ‘southern’ battle has had little effect. We failed to achieve an effective breakthrough in the heavily defended Wuhan area. In recent months, we have consumed a large amount of our stockpiled supplies, but we are unable to get supplies from the occupied territories as we did before…” Softening his tone, the sitting general finally stopped making things difficult for the army aviation commander. “The war has dragged on to this point. It’s just a meaningless persistence. Unfortunately, the power to end the war is not in our hands.”

He spoke as if to himself, with a tone of dejection and helplessness. “A fighter developed by the Germans two years ago is actually better than our newest service aircraft. This is truly a disgrace to the Empire. Can’t our esteemed design experts in the Great Japanese Empire produce a single plane that surpasses the opponent?”

“Your Excellency, in fact, the Ki-43’s performance is not inferior to the opponent’s! The main reason for our failure was that the pilots assigned to me were rookies who had no idea how to fly in combat…” The lieutenant colonel, who had been bowing his head, finally spoke. He had to say a fair word for his planes and his unit, even if it was a truth no one wanted to hear.

Japan had lost a large number of newly replenished pilots in the Pacific. The few rookie pilots who had been painstakingly trained were also mostly lost in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. The Army could only fill the ranks with even worse flight cadets. This was the fundamental reason for this aerial defeat.

“Silence! Admiral Mineichi Koga has already died for His Majesty the Emperor. Admiral Takeo Kurita has also been relieved of his post. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto has taken over the Combined Fleet… Do not speak of matters in the Pacific.” The general had clearly had enough of the Army and Navy blaming each other. He cut off his subordinate’s complaint.

However, halfway through his sentence, he seemed to think of something. He turned and asked his subordinate, “What if… I transfer a few ace pilots, lure the Chinese pilots out, and we win back our losses… How about that?”

Hearing this proposal, the Lieutenant Colonel’s eyes lit up. If he had some better pilots, he was confident he could heavily damage the Chinese Air Force, just as they had at the beginning of the Battle of Shanghai. And on the other hand, if the counter-attack succeeded, his own guilt would be lessened.

“If Your Excellency is willing to give me this chance to atone for my failure, your subordinate will do his utmost to annihilate this damn Chinese air force!” Thinking of this, the air force lieutenant colonel quickly bowed low, pledging loudly.

“Yoshi! I will write the transfer order for you immediately. We must do our best to turn the tide of this war! For His Majesty the Emperor! For the Great Japanese Empire!” The Japanese general stood up as he spoke, looking out the window at the bright, clear sky. “Ozawa-kun! I’m counting on you!”

“Hai!” Lieutenant Colonel Ozawa quickly bowed and said, “I will personally fly in the attack! And fight those damn Chinese pilots to the death!”

At this very moment, in a secret frontline field airfield in China, Wang Guangfu, who had just earned his “ace” status, was inspecting his fighter. The ME-109C had been in service in China for many years. As its pilot, Wang Guangfu knew his plane as well as any mechanic.

He could even repair all the parts except the engine, using some locally-made components to replace the expensive imported ones. He had already shot down 3 Japanese planes during the Battle of Shanghai. In this recent sortie, flying his newly repaired ME-109C, he had shot down one Japanese fighter and one Japanese bomber, becoming a true ace pilot.

At this moment, he was stroking his beloved German fighter, looking with a joyful expression at the victory markings—rows of Japanese flags—painted below his cockpit. In the distance, a ground crewman ran to the tail of his plane and shouted with a smile to the new ace, “Captain! With this batch of parts delivered from Burma, we just repaired another ME-109C that couldn’t fly! We have 7 flyable fighters now! Counting the American P-40s, we can scramble at least 20 planes to meet those Japanese invaders!”

20 planes… To Japan, it might be an insignificant number, but for China, it was an incredibly inspiring figure. Although it was far fewer than during the Battle of Shanghai, for the Chinese warzone, which was in dire straits, it was a remarkable achievement.

“Next time! The next time the Japanese invaders attack! We will take off! We won’t let these bastards continue to run rampant in our homeland’s skies!” Wang Guangfu touched the cold window frame of his cockpit, speaking with determination.

In this magical land of China, if there was no radar, they used countless observation posts and ancient beacon towers for early air warning. If there were no anti-aircraft guns, they used heavy-caliber machine guns instead. No matter how hard or poor, Chinese soldiers were still using every method they could think of to resist the advance of the Japanese army.

The good news was, they had succeeded. In the Defense of Wuhan, China’s 1.1 million-strong army fought bitterly for 40 days. They lost a full 300,000 men, but they finally achieved their first glorious victory in halting the Japanese advance, protecting the precarious Wuhan industrial zone. The 40-day battle had annihilated over 90,000 Japanese troops and inflicted 100,000 casualties, all without letting the Japanese take a single new piece of occupied territory.

“Let the little devils come! We’ll be right here waiting for them! Even if we lose, we still have our sons, and our grandsons! One day, we will drive them out of China!” Wang Guangfu jumped down from his plane and said, word by word.

Sorry, Dragon Spirit finished writing the chapter but forgot to set the auto-upload. Sorry to keep you all waiting… Here are two chapters at once!

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