"Commander, our attack failed. The 5th Flying Division suffered devastating losses." Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Obata, commander of the 5th Flying Division, reported to Lieutenant General Michiharu Sugawara with an ugly expression.
"How severe were the losses?" Lieutenant General Michiharu Sugawara asked darkly.
"We lost forty-two fighter planes and thirty-four bombers," Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Obata reported.
"What? That many?" Lieutenant General Michiharu Sugawara was momentarily at a loss for words. As the main flying division of the 3rd Air Force, the 5th Flying Division had barely more than a hundred aircraft in total. Its losses had now reached seventy percent. It could be said that the entire 5th Flying Division had been practically wiped out.
"Commander, German aircraft are far superior to ours. Our Type 1 fighter planes and Type 97 fighter planes are simply no match for the Germans. According to Major Isao Sato's report, the Germans' advanced fighters are at least over two hundred kilometers per hour faster than our Type 1 fighter planes. As a result, in aerial combat, our fighters cannot even latch onto the enemy, much less launch an attack." Lieutenant General Hideyoshi Obata felt deeply stifled as well. It was not that their pilots feared death, but that the enemy aircraft utterly outclassed them. The gap between the two sides' fighter planes was simply too great. That was why they were no match for the German Air Force and had suffered such enormous losses.
"The Type 1 fighter plane is already our most advanced fighter. We cannot possibly have more advanced fighters enter service in a short time. Therefore, we can only use the Type 1 fighter plane to contend against the Germans. As for how to contend with them, that is something you must find a way to solve!" Lieutenant General Michiharu Sugawara said.