The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 172 - 186: Doing Favors

In the days that followed, each battalion would assign men to form a company to enter the rainforest and hunt down remaining enemies. Every time, they struck with overwhelming force, using heavy manpower and firepower to utterly suppress small groups of Japanese troops. Sometimes they deliberately avoided areas destroyed by Agent Orange, to gain experience in jungle warfare. Even if the fighting wasn’t intense, the soldiers still gained valuable combat experience.

This approach was based on Pierre’s adaptation of lessons from another world’s self-defense counterattack war—rotational combat. Each squad would send at least two men, ensuring that every squad would have some jungle warfare experience in the future, rather than going into battle blindly. In this sense, Zamboanga had become a training ground for the garrison troops.

It was through this jungle combat experience that Pierre and the entire garrison realized that large-scale, division-level operations were not only difficult to conduct in the rainforest, but could even hinder combat effectiveness. In contrast, battalion- and company-level actions were more feasible and flexible, though it required strengthening battalion units. Both in manpower and especially in firepower, further improvements were needed.

To officers from the homeland, the garrison’s reinforced infantry battalions now had firepower surpassing that of a division back home. No division at home was equipped with four 75mm mountain guns, four 81mm mortars, and thirteen 60mm mortars—not to mention the additional three 120mm mortars.

Such powerful firepower was among the best even on the Pacific front. The reason they didn’t have anti-tank guns was that the garrison had captured a large number of German Panzerfausts—tens of thousands of Panzerfaust 60s and even several thousand Panzerfaust 100s. Because of this, the 37mm anti-tank guns supplied by the Americans were not only unnecessary, but also took up space in the organization, so Pierre sent them back home. For the troops back home, especially those operating behind enemy lines, the 37mm anti-tank gun was still very useful—perfect for knocking out pillboxes.

There weren’t many, but it was a token of goodwill!

As the troops reorganized...

During the rotation, Pierre once again visited the U.S. Army Aviation base in Zamboanga. What was he doing there?

Delivering gifts!

As the saying goes, "No one blames those who are generous with gifts." In the future, the garrison troops would inevitably rely on aviation support in combat, so it was only natural to build good relationships in advance.

And what were the gifts?

Two whole truckloads of beer!

Blue Ribbon.

No problem if it wasn’t chilled—after all, pilots could just load the beer into the auxiliary fuel tanks, take the plane up to high altitude for a spin, and it would be ice-cold in no time.

The two truckloads of beer immediately brought the two sides closer, but what truly deepened their relationship wasn’t the beer—it was... Agent Orange.

"Thank you!"

A bottle of beer, taken up to ten thousand meters by a B-25 and brought back down, ice-cold, was tossed into Pierre’s hand. Colonel Jack, commander of the 75th Aviation Regiment, looked at him and said,

"Thank you for saving so many of our boys!"

As he spoke, he pointed at the dozen or so B-24s outside.

"See those? C110 sprayers, specially modified to spray Agent Orange. In the past, as long as the Japanese got into the jungle, they became ghosts in the rainforest. Most of our Marine and Army casualties happened in the jungle—the rainforest was a demon. But now, things are different..."

Colonel Jack smiled and continued,

"Now, whenever the Japanese appear, we spray Agent Orange. If once isn’t enough, we spray twice. If twice isn’t enough, three times. In just a few days, the dense jungle turns into wasteland—not a blade of grass left. All those Japanese are exposed. The rainforest is no longer their shield, but a death sentence!"

Then, the colonel added,

"My nephew is in the Marines. He says Agent Orange is a gift from God—many people owe their lives to it. He even decided that if he has a son in the future, he’ll name him ’Orange’."

Faced with such gratitude, Pierre suddenly felt a bit guilty... Hopefully your nephew won’t hate me in the future—whether he has kids or not is another matter.

What a naive kid!

Thinking this, Pierre reminded him again,

"Colonel, Agent Orange isn’t a perfect, harmless chemical. It’s a chemical agent, and it inevitably causes some harm to humans. When you use it, try to avoid your own troops. After all, chemicals always have some toxicity."

At this, Colonel Jack waved his hand dismissively.

"You worry too much. For the boys, the most important thing is to make it home alive, back to their families. Of course, we’ll try to avoid our own people, as much as possible. Besides, if it’s harmful, it’ll be even more toxic to the Japanese. I’ve heard..."

He took a sip of beer, leaned in, and said,

"In Luzon, because Yamashita scattered hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops into the jungle for guerrilla warfare, MacArthur ordered all forests where the Japanese operate to be turned into wasteland. He’s already requested 100,000 tons of Agent Orange. Soon, all the areas where Yamashita and his troops operate will be barren hills, with nowhere left to hide..."

100,000 tons!

MacArthur sure is generous!

Thinking of the harm Agent Orange does to the human body, Pierre couldn’t help but smile.

Douse it all on the Japanese—what a good thing!

Even if they don’t die in war, those who survive will suffer permanent damage. Where else can you find such a good thing?

As for the harm to the land... well, he could only feel sorry for the people of Luzon. But then again, this was the price they paid for welcoming the Japanese occupation.

"Oh, right, you’re about to advance into Borneo. Do you need us to spray the area?" Jack asked kindly.

"I have about 500 tons in stock right now. If you need it, I can spare you 200 tons. You know, this stuff is in high demand—every battlefield wants it. I even heard that the troops in Okinawa want to use it too, since there are forests there as well."

Jack’s enthusiasm startled Pierre, and he quickly replied,

"Oh, I appreciate it, but Borneo is too big—one or two hundred tons wouldn’t make much of a difference. If the troops become reliant on it, they’ll still have to fight in the jungle without it. So, let’s skip the Agent Orange. What I need are incendiary bombs!"

After declining the Agent Orange, Pierre emphasized,

"I need incendiary bombs to set the jungle on fire. Compared to shrapnel from regular bombs, incendiaries are definitely more effective in the rainforest."

Whether incendiary bombs were really more effective, Pierre wasn’t sure. But one thing was certain: during the Vietnam War, the U.S. military used incendiaries extensively. If they didn’t work, they wouldn’t have used them. Since they worked, why not use them?

"Incendiary bombs?"

At this, Jack shrugged and said,

"I don’t have a single incendiary bomb right now. LeMay—the guy who burned Tokyo—he’s taken all the incendiaries in the entire Pacific theater for himself. He didn’t leave us a single one. Not only that, he even took the chemical shell casings and filled them with napalm. In short, he wants to burn all of Japan to the ground. Right now, all the incendiaries are his."

Jack’s words left Pierre momentarily stunned, his expression a bit complicated. He’d almost forgotten about LeMay—he was busy burning Tokyo to the ground. There was almost no chance of getting incendiaries from him.

Compared to burning Japanese troops on the battlefield, LeMay preferred to burn Japanese cities. And if you’re going to burn, you might as well do it thoroughly.

Although the request for incendiary bombs wasn’t fulfilled, with two truckloads of beer, Pierre successfully secured a guarantee: no matter when, as long as needed, they would dispatch support at the first opportunity, ensuring the maximum number of bombs would be dropped on the Japanese.

Alright then, if we can’t have a barbecue, so be it. With this promise, it’s still acceptable!