Dawn on November 19.

As soon as a ray of sunlight shone on the stalls on Leyte Island, thousands of Chinese artillery began to fire, and the shells dragged a long trail through the sky and poured onto the island. Groups of planes whizzed over the ships anchored in Leyte Gulf, heading toward Leyte Island. In an instant, columns of black smoke rose from the ground.

At 8:30 a.m., on the sparkling 20-kilometer-wide blue sea, countless small black spots appeared rushing towards the coast, which were landing ships full of landing soldiers.

The landing went smoothly. The soldiers crossed kilometres of sea in landing craft and then waded onto the beach with little resistance.

The powerful and accurate naval artillery fire had leveled the few U.S. strongholds in the vicinity of the booth, and the U.S. forces had long since taken refuge in the mountains overlooking the coast and dug into the solid caverns dug there to avoid the bombardment of 406 mm diameter and 1,000 kg shells fired by Chinese naval battleships.

Resistance here was very weak, and the Chinese army managed to capture Leyte at almost no cost......

Now, it's MacArthur's turn to be nerve-wracked.

He did not know how sure he was of holding Luzon when the Chinese attacked on a large scale, and the armed forces at his disposal were only 140,000, including 19,000 American troops, 12,000 Philippine troops, 110,000 militiamen, and 108 light tanks. There were only 150 aircraft, including 35 17 bombers, 72 P-40 fighters, and the rest were old Philippine Air Force aircraft. There is only one airfield that can be used by the Nichi-17 heavy bomber

However, when he had previously told the Warwickton command that "there is no problem here," on the one hand, it shows that he is prepared, and on the other hand, it also shows that he has the idea of playing and underestimating the enemy based on a mistake in strategic judgment.

After putting down the phone, MacArthur hurriedly put on his clothes and drove to the headquarters of the Far Eastern U.S. Army at 1 Victoria Avenue in Manila. At this time, deep down, he still didn't believe that Chinese would attack the Philippines soon......

At about 3 o'clock, he came to the office, where his assistants were already waiting for him. They seemed a little overwhelmed, unclear about the situation, did not know what to do, and waited for instructions from the commander-in-chief.

The B-17 took off and began to reconnoiter the movements of the Chinese

At about 11 o'clock, the 17 bombers hovering in the air returned to the Clark airfield one after another, three reconnaissance planes preparing to carry out reconnaissance missions were equipped with photographic equipment, 15 bombers were loaded with explosive bombs, and P-40 fighters belonging to Iraq and Pakistan and other airfields were also parked on the tarmac for refueling or maintenance. After a period of busyness, most of the pilots went to lunch one after another, and the planes were parked on the ground of the airport in an orderly manner, and there was not a single fighter plane over the airport to carry out combat patrols, let alone air cover. This is the most fatal mistake of all mistakes

At 11:45 a.m., radar crews at the Ibas airport spotted a large number of planes approaching Luzon in a triangular formation in front of the fluorescent screen. He was taken aback and immediately called the Air Defense Alert Office of the Far Eastern Air Forces Command.

After receiving the report, the chief of the department immediately called the Clark airport, but the line was out of order, and he could not get through, so he switched to radio calls, and the operators went to lunch. The commissioner was furious and ordered all the radio stations to call Clark Airport all the time, but none of the telephones answered. In the end, thankfully, one of the captains on duty at the Clark airfield had finally finished eating, and when he returned to the duty room, he picked up the telephone receiver and quickly sounded the piercing air defense siren when he heard the briefing, but it was too late.

At 12:25 p.m., the rumbling of aircraft motors and the sound of air defense sirens sounded almost simultaneously over Clark Airport. The first wave of 54 bombers of the Chinese army, under the cover of dozens of "Saker" fighters, had already emerged from the clouds and began to bomb the neatly arranged planes on the Clark airfield, and strings of black-gray bombs were whizzing and swaying down. …,

The sound of air raid sirens and the rumbling of airplanes woke everyone at the airport to death. Several pilots who reacted very quickly also ran to their planes, and Song entered the cabin, quickly started the engine, and slid across the runway and flew into the sky.

But those who moved a little slower were all hit by bombs. Black-pressed Chinese warplanes whizzed over the airfield, dropping a string of bombs. Most of the planes did not have time to take off, and became the dead targets of the Chinese fighters bombing, the explosions came and fell, and the ground rose with fireballs and gunsmoke!

The plane exploded and caught fire in the blink of an eye, and his hands were blown to pieces. Some Chinese fighters chased the fleeing people and began to fire wildly with machine guns. Some of the ground crews who were busy with the ball assisted the pilots to board the plane in a panic, and some were stunned and squatted on the ground with their heads in their hands, allowing the Chinese fighters to strafe and bomb.

The attack lasted about an hour, and the Chinese fighters destroyed all the planes parked at Clark Airfield, including 18 B-17 bombers and 55 P-40 fighters, almost without resistance, and dealt a fatal blow to the US Far East Air Force. More than half of MacArthur's air power to defend the Philippines was wiped out on the first day of the war, and the Chinese army won air supremacy to attack the Philippines.

In the days that followed, the Chinese army continued to carry out air raids, and the losses of American aircraft further increased. Nearly exhausted, MacArthur had to order Britton to move the remaining planes to Australia. On November 23, Britton left the Philippines with his last four fighters.

Following the fatal blow to the U.S. air power, the U.S. Navy is also in danger.

On November 24, more than 80 Chinese bombers, covered by 52 fighter jets, attacked the Krabi Naval Base in Manila Bay.

The bombing lasted two hours, and the Chinese fighters carried out round after round of bombing attacks. The bombs flashed red and set off bursts of explosions and billowing smoke in the military port, shaking the entire base and blazing everywhere.

Finally, the worrying situation happened...... The fire spread to the base's ammunition depot and detonated 233 super-magnetic mine-tube torpedoes stored by the submarine force.

The explosion caused a series of explosions, causing all the torpedoes to explode, and the horrific scene was as terrifying as a volcanic eruption.

MacArthur's wife and their three-year-old son, Arthur Jr., were standing on the roof terrace of the Manila Hotel, and when they saw this terrible sight, they hurried into their bedrooms in despair.

Admiral Hart, commander of the U.S. Asian Fleet, stood on the roof of the Martian Building, the headquarters of the headquarters, just 600 meters from the base, and witnessed the catastrophe with his own eyes. The explosion made him unsteady, and he barely controlled himself from crying, muttering to himself, "Our submarine is. Our secret weapon is," he later reported to his superiors: "The flames burned from one side to the other, and the entire naval shipyard and 1/3 of the port of Cavite were engulfed in flames. ”

At the same time, Chinese army aircraft also bombed the Subic Bay naval base.

Admiral Hart was heartbroken: his naval base had been completely destroyed, and his submarine forces, the main means of confrontation with the enemy's navy, had suffered heavy losses - 2 submarines had been blown up, including the new submarine "Sea Lion", and the other 5 had been wounded, especially the self-guided torpedoes that he had used as an ace against the enemy's large ships and was preparing for a decisive battle in the near sea. As a result of this air raid, the US Navy's Asian Fleet suffered a great deal of damage and destroyed its base areas. Admiral Hart, in addition to leaving the submarine force to persist in the raid and harassment operation, had to flee south in a hurry with the ships that survived the catastrophe and retreated to the Dutch East Indies.

MacArthur divided his Army units into several groups to defend several different areas of the Philippine Islands in preparation for beachhead defense. They are:...,

Northern Luzon troops under the command of General Jonathan Wainwright. This is seen as the most elite and combat-ready unit. Responsible for defense: Apari, Wigan booths; the coast of Lingayen Bay, 110 miles northwest of Manila, where the main Chinese army is most likely to land; the region of the Central Creceous Plain, where large-scale fighting is most likely; As a defensive position for the U.S. military once it retreated, the Bataan Peninsula.

Lucena troops under the command of General George Parker. Responsible for the defense of the Bicol Peninsula.

Southern Luzon troops under the command of General Albert Jones. Responsible for controlling the coast from Bataan to Legazpi.

Misha's troops under the command of General Chenowingne. Responsible for the defense of the central islands.

Mindanao troops under the command of General William Sharp. Responsible for the entire defense of the island.

By this time, the Far Eastern Air Force had been destroyed, the Asian fleet had been withdrawn, and air and sea supremacy had fallen into the hands of the Chinese army. Having lost an important pillar of coastal defense, MacArthur still clung to his plan for a decisive battle on the beachhead. He believes that the war has just begun, and according to the orange plan that the United States has drawn up for many years, reinforcements from the United States will soon arrive, and he expects some miracle to come. In fact, both President Roosevelt and Army Chief of Staff Marshall personally sent telegrams saying:

"Reinforcements are being organized"!

But all that MacArthur had hoped for was soon in vain. In late November, Admiral Ernest Gold, Chief of Naval Operations, fearing an attack by the Chinese fleet, made all plans for the Navy's assistance to the Philippines.

There was no hope for Philippine support and replenishment at sea, and the besieged Philippine defenders had to hold on on to themselves.

On the evening of 25 November, the captain of the submarine USS "Fish" of the US Navy's Asia Fleet, who was patrolling near Lingayen Bay, discovered from his periscope that wisps of black smoke were again in the distance and stretched for dozens of miles, approaching Lingayen Bay with murderous vigour.

"This must be the Chinese landing fleet, the Chinese brigade is coming!"

The captain closed his eyes in fright, and hurriedly sent a report to the base: "The enemy has discovered the invasion of the fleet," and at the same time ordered the submarine to quickly dive, lurking motionless at the bottom of the sea, watching the enemy fleet swagger over his head.

Afterwards, the timid captain was quickly dismissed! ）