The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

At 3:00 a.m. on July 14, after a short rest, more than 100 Type 1 transport planes of the 2nd Advance Flying Squadron took off from the airport on the northwest border of Siam and flew into the vast night sky.

High in the sky, more than 100 transport planes with night navigation lights on, carrying more than 1000 people from two advance regiments of the 2nd Advance Regiment, flew rapidly towards the northwest.

"The weather is good, the clouds are not thick, and I hope the wind at the landing field is not too strong." Major Daishi Otoyo, commander of the 3rd Advance Wing, silently looked at the twinkling stars in the dark night sky outside the porthole and adjusted his parachute bag.

As a branch of the military that emerged during World War II, paratroopers have always been the representative of elite troops in various countries. Although they are mostly light infantry because they cannot carry heavy weapons during airborne operations, they have always been known for their super combat effectiveness.

However, Dafeng Dazhi knew his own business. In the army, the airborne troops were not elite, but a collection of jokes.

If the elite Green Goblin airborne troops of the Hans Kingdom earned the reputation of the Eagle of Crete through bloody battles, the 101st Airborne Division of the White Eagle United States proved its motto of "born to be surrounded" through the bloody battles of Normandy and Bastogne.

The Japanese paratrooper units, whether from the army or navy, were the weakest units in World War II. Not only did they not have any outstanding combat achievements, but they became the laughing stock of the military because they did too many abstract things.

Last year's Kume Brigade's airborne operation in Lashio was supposed to be a surprise attack in which the paratroopers dropped from the sky to cut off the expeditionary force's retreat.

However, due to a collision between four planes at the departure airport, the paratroopers' take-off was delayed by two hours.

Then the airborne drop zone was covered with mountain fog, causing the transport fleet that departed late to have a hard time finding the location. Eventually, two transport planes collided while circling, and went to kiss the mountain with a belly full of paratroopers.

Some paratroopers who jumped in the wrong place were thrown into the mountains and swamps to feed crocodiles and pythons.

The fleet finally returned to the airport. When the superiors were holding a banquet in the cafeteria for the dejected paratroopers in order to boost morale, another late-returning plane rushed out of the runway and plunged into the crowded cafeteria.

In this way, the Kume Paratrooper Brigade suffered heavy casualties without even seeing the enemy, and a large number of paratroopers directly "served" as soldiers of the Tianhuang Army.

Afterwards, Lieutenant General Obata Hideyoshi, the commander of the 5th Flying Division who had always supported the development of the paratroopers, took the blame and resigned, and the paratroopers became a frequent joke within the army.

Now the superiors have ordered the 2nd Advance Regiment to capture the Mogang Bridge, making the paratroopers, who have been silent for a long time, ready to fight again.

"In this operation, we must show the courage of Yamato men and prove the value of our Takachiho Airborne Team!" Daitoyo Taishi made a secret decision in his heart.

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At 5:49 in the morning, facing the rising sun, the transport planes of the 2nd Advance Flying Squadron finally arrived near Mogang Town.

Three green flares were fired from the leading plane. More than a thousand Japanese paratroopers, who had only pistols and daggers with them, first threw the weapon boxes with parachutes out of the cabin, and then left the plane one by one and jumped into the sky.

"Yoshi! Everything goes well." Major Daitoyo Daishi, who was floating in the air, looked at the sky full of white umbrellas and nodded with satisfaction.

There was no collision and no heavy fog. The Takachiho Airborne Team completed the departure procedure at the scheduled time and location. Could there be a better start than this?

However, Major Dashi soon stopped laughing.

According to the plan, the 3rd Advance Regiment should be airdropped 10km south of the Mogang Bridge, quickly take out weapons from the weapons box after landing, and then try to attack and seize the bridge after forming a team.

However, a strong southeast wind suddenly blew in the sky, and a large number of paratroopers were blown towards the bridge and river in the northwest.

The boat troops docked on the river were originally pouring anti-aircraft fire on the Japanese transport plane troops returning from the sky, when suddenly they saw a bunch of white parachutes being blown over.

The sailors excitedly fired at the Japanese paratroopers in the sky with 40mm, 20mm anti-aircraft guns and 12.7mm machine guns, as they wanted to seize the opportunity.

The slowly falling Japanese soldiers now all became living targets in the sky.

"Hahaha, so cool, this is much easier than target shooting!" A sailor happily operated the anti-aircraft machine gun on the torpedo boat, sweeping back and forth across the sky, using a barrage of bullets to turn the Japanese paratroopers into bloody gourds.

Many Japanese paratroopers had their parachutes pierced, and they screamed as they fell from the sky at high speed, hitting the ground directly.

Some Japanese paratroopers were blown out of the range of the anti-aircraft guns by the strong wind, but before they could breathe a sigh of relief, they found that the shimmering river water was getting closer and closer to their feet.

As soon as they entered the water, the parachute ropes were immediately tangled up on the Japanese soldiers. The parachute bag and the parachute immediately absorbed water and became heavy objects after getting wet. The unfortunate Japanese paratroopers were unable to take off the parachute bag and could only struggle to be dragged to the bottom of the river and drowned.

Of course, it is difficult to say which is more unfortunate: drowning or being hit to death in the sky or falling to death at high speed.

Major Daishi looked at nearly half of his 3rd Advance Regiment with anger. They did nothing but became takeout delivered to their door and were eaten up as soon as they landed.

He was lucky enough to land safely.

The problem was that many weapon boxes and ammunition boxes were also blown to the riverside. He only had a wakizashi and an 8mm Type 94 fist gun (the Japanese name for a pistol). Let alone exchanging fire with the Marines armed with M1 Garands and M3 Grease Guns, he couldn't even go to the riverside to rescue the Japanese who fell into the water.

Seeing a group of Marines accompanying an amphibious tank leaving the bridge, Major Dashi knew that the other party was here to search for his paratroopers who had landed. He could only gather several paratroopers who had landed together, and while trying to gather more paratroopers who had been blown away, he moved to the rainforest by the river.

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Zhang Guangjun, who had set up his field headquarters near the bridge, looked at the boxes of various sizes piled before him and muttered, "Are the Japanese afraid that we'll run a thousand miles and run out of supplies, so they're sending us support?"

"Weapon boxes, ammunition boxes, food boxes, it must be said, the Japanese paratroopers are equipped quite luxuriously." A staff officer smiled and pulled out a Type 100 submachine gun from the weapons box and pulled the bolt with a rattling sound. "Look, this is a submachine gun that ordinary Japanese infantrymen don't even have."

(In order to prevent weapons from being scratched and increasing the danger, the Hans paratroopers and the Japanese paratroopers were airdropped separately from their supplies in the early days. The White Eagles later developed special equipment so that the 101st Paratrooper Division could airdrop with their weapons)

"Why is this rifle broken into two pieces? Did it fall from the sky?" Another staff officer took out half of the rifle body from the weapons box and asked in confusion.

After joining Zhang Chi's unit, Zhang Guangjun, who worked hard and crammed a lot of military knowledge, answered directly: "That is the Japanese's Type 2 paratrooper rifle (the picture is at the end of the chapter, the author said), specially designed to be detachable to save space."

"Brave Yamato Cooking? What kind of can is this?" The staff officer took out a tin can from the box of dry food and pretended to pry it open with his bayonet.

"Don't open it!" Zhang Guangjun just stretched out his hand and saw in despair that the staff officer opened the can.

Suddenly a foul odor filled the command center.

"Ugh, that's the devil's canned whale meat. It's full of whale blood. If it's not stored properly, even the can will go bad."

"So disgusting, throw it out!"