It's just that at the moment, for Yang Zhen and the anti-United Nations air force that carried out any airdrops, the most difficult thing is not fuel and planes, but the shortage of parachutes used to airdrop materials. In order to raise parachutes, the Anti-Union even collected all the escape parachutes used by pilots.

In order to ensure the safety of pilots during training and flight missions, the training of new pilots was suspended, except for the units responsible for air defense operations. Flying an airplane is not driving, once you encounter any danger in the air, a parachute is the only life support.

Without a parachute, who can guarantee that those trainer planes will not have any conditions in the air? In order to ensure the safety of instructors and trainees, all instructor courses had to be temporarily suspended in the absence of all parachutes being transferred to the airlift troops. Instead, according to Yang Zhen's method of hard training on the ground and flying in the air, the ground training was the mainstay.

Even so, the number of parachutes is insufficient, and the quality is difficult to meet the needs. Although there is not much difference in structure between the parachute of the airdrop personnel and the parachute of the airdrop material, the load-bearing capacity is two different things. Can the weight of a person be compared to that of a cargo?

However, due to the lack of raw materials for the manufacture of rayon silk, the output cannot meet the demand. It can only be used to replace one with three, and he will parachute this group of personnel into the airdrop. What can pull out pus is a good plaster, regardless of whether it is a treatment or something.

Yang Zhen, who was so troubled by the headache, even violated his consistent principle to negotiate with Pearson, and he promised not to interrupt the air raid on Japan. However, the Americans were asked to provide 10,000 parachutes to the Anti-Japanese Federation before March 42. Of these, 3,000 parachutes were used for personnel and 7,000 were parachutes used for airdropping supplies.

Although Yang Zhen's actions afterwards were still only symbolic. However, this kind of practice of not being profitable and not paying for it early, doing things first and then collecting money. It was the first time that he had always done this when dealing with the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union had always been to pay money with one hand and deliver goods with the other.

In order to reduce the loss and pressure as much as possible, Yang Zhen repeatedly asked the central government to give all underground orders that all the parachutes for airdropped materials must be kept. Even in order to ensure that these parachutes are not damaged and can be recycled one day, Yang Zhen also airdropped parachutes to several base areas behind enemy lines. Parachutes dedicated to the preservation and recovery of those airdrops so that they can be transported back to the troops at any time.

However, during the frequent sweeps of the Japanese army, although some of these parachutes were recovered, most of them were eventually lost. The parachutes that were eventually transferred back to the base area by Tongguò Yan'an and Jinsui were ultimately only one-third of the airdrop. Aside from fuel, parachutes are the most expensive of all airdrop operations.

As for the hundreds of planes of various kinds that participated in the airdrop, because of the effective organization and escort, the losses were not great. Of all the planes that participated in the operation, only five were lost due to mechanical problems, mountain collisions, or due to a sneak attack by Japanese fighters and loss of ground firepower.

However, among all the flight crew members who lost the plane, except for a C47 transport plane that crashed into a mountain, all the people on board were killed. The rest of the pilots were all safely rescued. All the base areas behind enemy lines are in mountainous areas, and the heights of Wutai Mountain, Taihang Mountain, and Taiyue Mountain are not low.

In addition, in order to avoid the sweeping Japanese troops, the airdrops were mainly carried out at night. So many planes participating in the airdrop, in a situation where there are almost no night vision equipment, and in areas with highly complex terrain, navigation and target designation equipment, only a few fires. For such a large-scale operation, only one was lost because of a collision with a mountain, which is already very good.

This large-scale airdrop was carried out until the end of January 42 in several base areas behind enemy lines in North China, which found ways to find small mountain plains and built several airstrips. In the case of light load, the D47 transport plane of the Anti-United Nations can directly land and unload, and the airdrop has become a substitute method before it gradually weakens.

At the end of February, there was a change in the shape of the front-line confrontation area, and the North China Front focused more attention on the north, and the large-scale sweeps gradually stopped, and the shape of North China improved, and the Anti-Japanese Union was able to breathe a little. And all the airdrops and airlifts continued until March, when the whole campaign was about to start before it finally stopped completely.

This airdrop and airlift, although a lot of fuel was consumed, also suffered certain losses. But in Yang Zhen's view, the harvest is even greater. It not only favorably supported the North China troops to support them in the cruel environment, but also enabled the next stage of the Anti-Japanese Federation to fight on the front line of the Great Wall inside and outside, ensuring several reliable strategic and tactical support points.

In particular, the Beiyue District and the Pingxi District of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, which are close to the front line of the Great Wall inside and outside, although these two base areas were severely compressed by the Japanese puppet army's sweep, they were able to hold on and play a great role in tactical coordination in the next operation of the Confrontation League. Moreover, through the airdrop, the Anti-Union has established direct radio contact with several major base areas behind enemy lines.

The most important thing is that the long-term and large-scale airdrop and airlift have tempered the aviation unit's ability to organize and support large-scale battlefields and the ability to airdrop materials and supply materials to complex terrain, and laid the foundation for the development of the aviation force from a tactical air force to a strategic air force. At the same time, the escort of the airlift troops has also tempered and improved the escort capability of the fighter units. Relative to the price paid, Yang Zhen believes that he has gained more.

By mid-February, the shape of the North China base area had improved. As well as the changes in the enemy situation in the eastern direction, and the preparations for the second phase of the battle have entered the countdown, the deployment of ammunition and materials has been fully launched, and Yang Zhen has turned his main energy back to the upcoming battle.

According to the new changes in the enemy's situation, Yang Zhen, Guo Bingxun, and Chen Hanzhang are constantly adjusting their combat plans. Front-line reconnaissance through guò, as well as intelligence transmitted from the central government of Tongguò. The Anti-Japanese Union has learned that the Japanese army has built a large number of field fortifications at the predetermined breakthrough site, and has mobilized a large number of anti-tank weapons, field heavy artillery, and armored combat units.

Looking at the intelligence of the Japanese troops who were repairing fortifications in Chadong that the front-line reconnaissance units had turned back, especially the photos taken by the reconnaissance planes of the newly built fortifications of the Japanese army. Chen Hanzhang could see almost the same as that, this was what he encountered in Tongliaobei during the first phase of the battle, and it had brought a strengthened and extended version of the area where the Japanese army had lost the Japanese fortifications to the 2nd Armored Brigade in charge of the breakthrough.

It's just that the fortified area built by the Japanese army in the Chadong area is larger in area and wider in depth. At the same time, the area of the minefield is much larger than the fortified area of the Tongliao War. In the area of the front of the white flag from Duolun to Zhengzheng, four large minefields were discovered.

In the middle, there were not only anti-infantry mines, but also anti-tank mines of the Japanese standard were discovered for the first time. And the number and scale of anti-tank trenches also exceeded the fortified area in the Tongliao direction. The most important thing is the density of firepower, which is far from being comparable to the firepower density of the Japanese army encountered during the Battle of Tongliao.

Only what has been ascertained so far is that the density of anti-tank fire deployed by the Japanese army is almost double the number of encounters he encountered in the Tongliao battlefield. In particular, the number of Type 94 37-mm anti-tank guns far exceeded that of the Tongliao battlefield at that time. These are only approximate figures, and the actual number may be much higher.

In the face of the increased firepower of the Japanese army in the breakthrough area and the deployment of a large-depth defense system, Chen Hanzhang repeatedly revised the combat plan on the basis of the experience and lessons learned from the Tongliao battlefield. There is nothing to say about the flank roundabout tactics, which is basically just an adjustment according to the in-depth deployment of the Japanese army, with some fine-tuning.

The key is to attack the fortified area where the 26th Division is located, and this is the most important thing in Chen Hanzhang's plan adjustment. But the results of several revisions have always failed to satisfy me. The Tongliao operation was a relatively heavy lesson for Chen Hanzhang, which made Chen Hanzhang hesitate to finalize the plan.

In order to come up with the best and most secure combat plan, Chen Hanzhang took several ventures to the area where the two armies faced each other in Chadong several times since mid-February to personally inspect the deployment and adjustment of the Japanese army. With the approval of Yang Zhen, some heavy artillery and bombers were mobilized to carry out many fire reconnaissance and sabotage operations in the fortified areas built by the Japanese army in the Chadong area.

However, the results of many fire reconnaissance did not satisfy him. In addition to finding out that the number of anti-aircraft guns deployed by the Japanese army in the Chadong area far exceeded the results of previous battles, at most it proved that the Japanese army's ability to repair battlefield fortifications was quite strong. As for the rest, very little was gained.

When the Japanese army carried out fire reconnaissance against the United Nations, in order to achieve the greatest secrecy, it preferred to passively take the artillery than carry out any return fire. When the infantry field was under fire, the heavy artillery positions deployed in depth did not say a word. All of its firing points, even if the forward troops launched a tentative attack, basically only returned fire with rifle machine guns. All equipment above the infantry artillery level is to be kept silent.

Limited intelligence shows that the Japanese army has deployed a large number of artillery pieces in Chadong, especially a large number of heavy artillery units, and they are still being transferred one after another. But at present, the Japanese army put on such a posture of standing up to the beat and resolutely not fighting back, which not only did not make Chen Hanzhang relax his vigilance, but deepened his concerns.

In addition, since mid-February, the flat envelope line has been unusually busy. The density of Japanese troops from Beiping, Shimen, and Tianjin became more and more dense. Despite the continuous air raids by the Anti-Japanese Union, the strength of the Japanese army's railway transportation has not been significantly weakened. With Chen Hanzhang's understanding of the Japanese army, it is strange that there is no greasy here.

Looking at Chen Hanzhang, who was somewhat impatient, Yang Zhen didn't say anything, not a word of criticism. In the case of the overall battle plan, Patience and Guo Bingxun assisted him in researching the breakthrough plan. He was also specially assigned an American-made light twin-engine advanced training plane for him to practice tactics at the armored training base.

In fact, the Japanese army mobilized a large amount of anti-tank firepower in this direction, which did not surprise Yang Zhen. As a choice of the direction of breakthrough, the flat terrain of Chadong is far more conducive to tank cluster operations than the southern Chanan area. Especially in the first phase of the battle, when the Anti-Japanese Union had already carried out long-distance tank raids, the Japanese army would not fail to consider changing its tactics.

Considering the terrain of Chadong, as well as the possible breakthrough point chosen by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, as well as the tank cluster tactics adopted, if the Japanese army wants to contain the Anti-Japanese Alliance's attack on the Chaxi and Suidong areas, it is an inevitable choice for the Japanese army to do its best to increase anti-tank firepower in a short period of time.

Given the usual speed of the Japanese army's response, this change was not surprising. Although the Japanese army placed too much emphasis on its own characteristics in the adjustment of its equipment, its strategic vision was also too narrow and paranoid. But this does not mean that the Japanese army really does not see the problems exposed on the battlefield at all, and does not know how to adapt at all. Crushing to the experience of the past, one way to the dark. Although it is unlikely that major adjustments will be made, some fine-tuning will still be made on some local issues.