"You mean to ask me to send out a plane to rescue Doolittle and the others?"
"Yes!"
Huang Baitao looked at Gao Hongming and said sincerely: "This is not only my request, but also Chief Gu's request!"
Seeing Huang Baitao's sincere expression, Gao Hongming patted his head and felt dizzy.
Just now, Huang Baitao told everyone something.
Since the Japanese combined fleet attacked Pearl Harbor, the entire United States was in an uproar, and it also gave the American people who were immersed in isolationism a wake-up call.
U.S. President Roosevelt regarded it as a great disgrace and shouted on the radio: "This day of great disgrace must be remembered!"
In order to boost the morale of the American people, Roosevelt approved the plan to bomb Tokyo proposed by then Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations Ernest Joseph King.
The executor of this plan was U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle.
The plan to bomb Tokyo was very successful. After Doolittle and his 80 people completed their mission, they began to turn around and fly towards China's Zhejiang Province as planned. Later, most of them, except for a few who were captured by the Japanese, the rest were captured by the Chinese military and civilians.
Saved.
But now the question arises, how could the Japanese who had been stabbed in the anus let these Americans go so easily?
The frightened Hirohito personally ordered to dig deep into the ground to find those Americans. Under the orders of the Japanese base camp, the Japanese army hastily launched the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign.
At the beginning of the battle, the commander of the 13th Army, Shigeru Sawada, commanded 5 divisions, 3 mixed brigades, and the main force of a flying regiment. The commander of the 11th Army, Anami Weiki, commanded 2 divisions and 4 detachments, respectively.
Hangzhou and Nanchang moved east and west to attack Shangrao, Jiangxi, and the entire third theater was in panic for a while.
At this time, the Chongqing government received a telegram from the U.S. government, asking them to do their best to save the parachuting Doolittle and the American pilots.
After receiving the telegram sent by the US Ambassador to China, Gao Si, Chongqing paid special attention to it and immediately ordered Gu Zhutong, commander of the Third Theater Command, to immediately find Doolittle and others and send them to Chongqing.
Gu Zhutong encountered difficulties after receiving the telegram. He must know that the strength of the third theater was relatively weak.
Now the Japanese have launched the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign again. The nearly 200,000 troops are overwhelming them and there is no spare force to carry out large-scale search and rescue work.
The most terrible thing is that those American pilots are scattered in various places in Zhejiang. It is not unusually difficult to gather them together and send them to Chongqing.
In order to rescue those American pilots, Gu Zhutong racked his brains, but still had little effect.
The last staff officer came up with an idea, which was to send planes to rescue the scattered American pilots, gather them together, and then send them to Chongqing.
After hearing this, Gu Zhutong also felt that this plan was feasible, but a problem arose.
To execute this plan, aircraft are needed, and not just one or two.
They need escort fighter jets, transport planes to transport people, etc.
What's more, some American pilots are located in places with difficult terrain and no airports at all. It is simply impossible for ordinary aircraft to take off and land in such places.
A group of staff thought about it and finally decided on the Liantai Flying Militia in Shanxi Province.
There is no way, who allowed the Liantai Militia to have the largest, most complete, and most elite air force in China? Didn’t they see that the hundred relatively backward P-40s they sold to the Chongqing government were all regarded by Chiang Kai-shek as Honey, I personally hold these aircraft in my hands. No one can move them without his order.
In order to show his attention, Gu Zhutong sent his chief of staff Huang Baitao to personally take action, and also roped in Yan Xishan as a lobbyist, which led to today's trip.
After listening to Huang Baitao's explanation, the headquarters fell into silence.
Commander Liu, Political Commissar Ping and others, as guest troops, naturally did not interfere, but Gao Hongming was very embarrassed.
After a long time, he slowly asked: "Chief of Staff Huang, do you have any specific plans?"
"some!"
Seeing that there seemed to be something going on, Huang Baitao's eyes flashed with joy, and he hurriedly said: "This is our plan.
Since the third theater is close to the coast, the Japanese aircraft have frequent activities and their air power is quite powerful.
In order to suppress the Japanese air power, we believe that at least one hundred fighter planes, fifty bombers, twenty transport aircraft and several reconnaissance aircraft must be dispatched to ensure the safety of this operation and make it foolproof."
"hehe……"
Hearing this, not only Gao Hongming was angry, but even Yan Xishan, who was the lobbyist this time, couldn't stand it anymore and couldn't help but interject.
"Brother Huanran, I can understand your use of fighter planes, but what do you mean if you even use bombers? Is it possible that when rescuing people, I have to help you bomb Japanese positions?
And if a hundred fighter planes are dispatched at once, isn't it too much? You must know that Gao Xiannephew only has a few planes in total. If you take them all away at once, what will he do here?
Don't forget, there are still two divisions outside Liantai County that are eyeing us."
Yan Xishan was like this, let alone the generals of the Eighth Route Army who were present.
Oh... We are still fighting desperately against the Japanese. We don't even have enough planes. You have to divert more than half of the most precious air power with your lip service. You are a toad trying to kill a frog. ——What an ugly flower.
However, they felt unhappy, but due to self-restraint, everyone still endured it, but everyone looked at Gao Hongming, after all, he was the real owner of these aerial powers.
Gao Hongming shook his head helplessly: "Chief of Staff Huang, I don't know how you made this plan, but I have to regretfully tell you that your plan is too ambitious. I can't help you. You'd better come back." Bar."
After saying that, he turned around and left.
"Captain Gao!"
Huang Baitao became anxious when he saw it. He was not welcomed in the Third War Zone because he came from a mixed background. If he returned empty-handed this time, his future life would be even more miserable.
In a hurry, he quickly stepped forward and stopped him: "Captain Gao, I have something to say. If you think there is anything wrong with this plan, we can discuss it again."
Gao Hongming stopped, looked at Huang Baitao and said seriously: "Chief of Staff Huang, I respect you as a man, but please don't treat me as a fool.
You can easily transfer nearly 200 of my planes, are you asking me to help? You are draining money from the bottom of the cauldron and draining our time completely!"
Huang Baitao was afraid that Gao Hongming would leave in anger, so he held on to his arm and said, "Captain Gao, how many planes can you tell us?"
Gao Hongming snorted: "I can give you at most one squadron of fighters and twelve transport aircraft. And I can't help you in vain, you have to pay for it!"