[EpochTimesNovember192021]On November 18, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CCTV both stated that the CPPCC hosted a video conference to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the American Flying Tigers’ arrival in China on November 16. The just-concluded Xi Xi video meeting expressed willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the United States. This nondescript news brought out the historical truth about the “Flying Tigers” aided by the United States in China’s anti-Japanese war, and also brought out the fact that the CCP had long slandered the “Flying Tigers”.
The Soviet Union’s Anti-China Anti-China Journal May the Air Force Retreat
In 1940, the Soviet Union knew that it would fight with Germany sooner or later. In order to avoid future troubles, the Soviet Union began to negotiate with Japan to maintain neutrality in the war. At the same time as Japan invaded China in an all-round way, it also began to plan its southward advancement plan. In 1941, the Soviet Union and Japan signed a non-aggression pact; the Soviet Union recognized the puppet Manchukuo that Japan had fostered in the northeast, and tacitly recognized the Japanese invasion of China; Japan recognized the independence of Outer Mongolia from China supported by the Soviet Union. Stalin withdrew the “Soviet Volunteer Air Force” that had helped the Nationalist Government in the war against Japan.
At the same time, Germany, Japan, and Italy became the Axis powers, and the National Government was unable to continue to obtain military support from Germany, and the Chinese War of Resistance fell into a state of isolation and helplessness. The CCP “anti-Japanese with one point, two points for coping, and seven points for development”; Mao said more directly, “Let the Japanese army occupy more space is patriotic” and “be calm and don’t go to the front to be the anti-Japanese hero.”
At that time, the Nationalist government urgently needed strong foreign aid to resist Chongqing after the Japanese army moved its capital.
In early 1937, the retired Captain Claire Lee Chennault of the U.S. Army Air Force was hired by the National Government as a consultant to assist in the development of the Republic of China Air Force; however, the Air Force’s fighters were quickly exhausted, and the heroic and outstanding pilots were blood-stained in the sky. Japanese aircraft occupied air superiority and frequently carried out air raids on Chongqing. Jiang Zhongzheng asked Chennault to return to the United States to propagate the Chinese War of Resistance, and to form an aviation team with American pilots as soon as possible to solve the urgent need of China’s War of Resistance.
Chennault received the support of US President Roosevelt. On April 15, 1941, China and the United States reached a secret agreement to allow U.S. reserves and “retirees” to travel to China to participate in the War of Resistance, and to use the Lease Act to provide fighter jets to China.
Soon, Chennault recruited about 100 American pilots and about 200 ground crews. On August 1, 1941, the American Volunteer Air Force was established in Kunming, with Chennault as its commander. Another good news came that the United Kingdom had ordered 100 Hawker Hawk-81A2 fighter jets (P-40B), but they were rejected because they did not meet the requirements. Song Ziwen and other Chinese diplomatic officials successfully found these planes and sent them to China. Said it can be said to give charcoal in the snow.
Chennault learned that the Hawker P-40 fighter has certain speed and dive advantages over the Japanese Type Zero and Type One fighters, so he focused on training the team to attack the Japanese aircraft with a high degree of advantage, and avoid fighting on the same plane with the Japanese aircraft.
From the summer of 1941 to May 1942, the three fighter squadrons of the American Airlines Volunteer Team fought many times in air combat with Japanese aircraft that came to air raids. Their P-40 fighters were painted with sharp shark teeth. Chinese inland residents have never seen sharks and mistakenly thought they were “Flying Tigers”; in December 1941, the American Airlines Volunteer Team began to be called “Flying Tigers.”
The “Flying Tigers” will release the latest results at any time to increase their resistance to warriors. In the first six and a half months, the “Flying Tigers” shot down 115 Japanese planes, and the “Flying Tigers” lost only 4 planes.
In the eight months from September 1941 to April 1942, the “Flying Tigers” shot down more than 300 solar planes and lost only 11 of them. At the end of December 1942, the “Flying Tigers” third squadron also went to Yangon to cooperate with the British army. In two months, American and British fighters shot down 217 Japanese planes.
On July 3, 1942, the “Flying Tigers” joined the Air Task Force in China, and Chennault was promoted to Brigadier General of the Air Task Force in China. On March 10, 1943, the Air Task Force in China was reorganized into the 14th Air Force of the US Army. Chennault was promoted to Major General Commander of the 14th Air Force of the US Army. The already well-known “Flying Tigers” continued to expand.
The key “Hump Route”
The Yunnan-Burma Highway in Yunnan, China was the only transportation route that received foreign aid during the War of Resistance against Japan at that time. As a result, the thrilling air route from India and Myanmar to China was established, commonly known as the “Hump Route”.
In the history of world aviation and military history, the “Hump Route” is the most difficult and dangerous transportation line; it is about 800 kilometers long and passes through the peaks at an altitude of about 4,500 to 5,500 meters, and the highest altitude is above 7,000 meters; harsh terrain and The weather, coupled with the fact that the aircraft at that time did not have a pressurized device, required great endurance for the crew, so it was also called the “death route”.
Chennault’s “Flying Tigers” took on this difficult task again. Due to the difficult and dangerous routes, 594 planes crashed and 1,659 crew members died or were missing. A “Hump Route” pilot left the text, “When the weather is clear, we can fly along the reflection of the debris from the crash of our comrades. We have taken a metal-like cold to this valley full of the wreckage of the comrades’ plane. Name,’Al Valley’.”
The “Hump Route” airlift from April 1942 to August 1945 provided 650,000 tons of materials for the Chinese War of Resistance, ensuring the strategic confrontation between the national army and the Japanese army and the subsequent strategic counterattack.
The “Flying Tigers” record shines through
As of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the “Flying Tigers” had shot down 2,600 enemy aircraft, sunk or severely damaged 2.23 million tons of enemy merchant ships, 44 warships, 13,000 inland vessels under 100 tons, and killed 66,700 Japanese soldiers. Most of the members of the “Flying Tigers” were awarded by the National Government; more than a dozen pilots were awarded the Flying Cross by the US and British governments; Chennault was awarded the National Army’s most famous Blue Sky and White Medal.
In order to facilitate identification and avoid misunderstandings caused by language barriers, the Nationalist government produced a “blooded” cloth badge, embroidered with the flag of the Republic of China, and written words such as “come to China to help foreigners, soldiers and civilians as one rescue.” American pilots usually sew “blood bands” and team emblems on their flight jackets. When the plane makes a forced landing or is shot down, they can get help from the Chinese people. They have played a great role in actual combat and become a good story for the Sino-U.S. coordinated war of resistance.
In 1992, the U.S. government announced that the service of the China-aided volunteer air force was equivalent to serving in the U.S. Army. The veterans of the “Flying Tigers” could be treated as retired soldiers; in the end, the “Flying Tigers” were awarded the “U.S. Presidential Medal of Troops.”
Chennault, the anti-communist, has been obliterated by the CCP for a long time
After 1949, General Chennault went to Taiwan to assist the National Government in organizing the Civil Aviation Administration. After returning to the United States, he has always supported Taiwan. It was a historical symbol of maintaining diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States for a long time. Because of Chennault’s anti-communist attitude, the CCP once wiped out the merits of the “Flying Tigers” after taking power in the mainland. In the 1950s, the CCP also designated Chennault as a reactionary snitch.
The People’s Daily of the Communist Party of China once slandered Chennault, published articles such as “Evidence of Chennault’s Airlift Massacre of the Chinese People”, “The U.S. Army Has Arbitrarily Raised My Compatriot Kunming Citizens to Accuse and Expose the Crimes of Aerial Robber Chennault”, and published a small book. “The Snitch Chennault” attempts to distort historical facts and deceive the people of mainland China. Similar characterization continued until the 1980s.
In 1957, at the 50th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Air Force, General Chennault became one of the top ten leaders of the U.S. Air Force. He has always been known as the “Flying Tiger General” in the United States; he was promoted to lieutenant general in 1958. In the same year, Chennault passed away. age. The U.S. Department of Defense buried Chennault in the Arlington Military Cemetery in Washington with the most solemn military salute. His tombstone has an English epitaph on the front and the Chinese “Tomb of General Chennault” on the back, which is the only Chinese text in Arlington Cemetery.
It was not until 1984 that the CCP recognized that “General Chennault had made an indelible contribution to the Chinese War of Resistance.” In 2010, former US President Carter came to the Zhijiang Airport in Huaihua, Hunan where the Flying Tigers had been stationed, to unveil the Chennault statue. Since then, General Chennault, who has nothing to do with the CCP and has been slandered by the CCP for more than 30 years, has become the “old friend” of the CCP.
In the past two years, a series of evil actions by the CCP have led to a deadlock in Sino-US relations; now, the CCP has to rush to break the deadlock, so it moved out of the “Flying Tigers”, but once again exposed the historical facts of the CCP’s false resistance to Japan and the past. Brainwashing slander of General Chennault. Regardless of whether the United States, Taiwan or other countries in the world, it is time to be completely awake to the tricks of the Chinese Communist regime.
——The Epoch Times debut
Editor in charge: Gao Yi#
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