"Damn it! Bastards! Where are our planes? Why haven't they arrived yet? Are they really waiting until we've been bombed to death by the German bombers before coming to collect our bodies?" Lieutenant General Shojiro Iida flew into a rage.
Watching their own artillerymen and guns being continually destroyed by German Air Force bombers, he felt as though his heart were bleeding. The Island Nation's Army artillery had never been particularly strong to begin with. After suffering such enormous losses, those artillery units would probably be of no use in the coming battle. In the end, they would have to pile up soldiers' lives, and only then might they be able to break through the German defensive line. That was also the tactic Lieutenant General Shojiro Iida least wanted to use.
"Commander, the Army Air Force fighters have to take off from the Philippine Islands. They are slower than the German aircraft," Major General Haruki Isayama said.
"Hmph! There's no need to make excuses for those idiots. If we ultimately lose to the Germans, those idiots must bear the greatest responsibility!" Lieutenant General Shojiro Iida said bitterly.
By the time the Island Nation's Army Air Force fighter units arrived late, the German Air Force Dive Bombers and ground-attack aircraft had already completed their mission and withdrawn from the airspace. Only the BF-109 fighters remained, engaging the Island Nation's Army Air Force aircraft in aerial combat. However, the battle was almost, as always, completely one-sided. The Island Nation's Army Air Force Type 1 fighter planes and Type 97 fighter planes were simply no match for the German Air Force's BF-109 fighters. The exchange ratio was at least one to five.
Under the combined blows of the German Air Force and artillery, the artillery of the Island Nation's Army 15th Army was