After the formation of the 14th AF, on the beginning of 1943, the Japanese HQ in China was demanding an end to the destruction that it was doing among the river and sea transports on the region.
Through December 1943, the 14th AF was destroying circa of 50,000 tons of Japanese ships per month ( 1/3 of all ships sunk by the allies on PTO and CBI fronts ).
So, in April 1944, the Japanese launched the "Operation Ichigo" to destroy the frontline airfields of 14th AF ( Hengyang, Kweilin, Changsha, Sui-Chuan, Ling-Ling and Liuchow ) after the transfer of 200.000 of the best Chinese troops to fight for Gen. Stilwell on the Burma front.
With a pincer attack coming from North, Hankow area, and a double one from the South, Canton and French Indochina, the Japanese took all the airfields on 6 months of a hard fight and terrible casualties for both sides.
Even during the "Ichigo" campaign, the 14th AF took a heavy toll of the Japanese assets on the region. Just in the Jully to September period the 14th AF sunk 317 ships ( 17 IJN warships ), damaged 206 ( 19 IJN ) and caused more than 20.000 casualties on the IJA ground forces, plus some hundreds of destroyed/shootdown or damaged airplanes.
This Theater of Operations needs a bunch of Campaign builders to look after it, indeed.
Cheers,
Carlos.