Age of Rebirth

There is no way to estimate the loss of the Japanese army in this battle. More than 60 soldiers from both sides fought for half a day and a night on the front line of Ubin, which is less than 7 kilometers wide. [-] to [-] people, and Tang Qiusheng's tank-led attack strategy was formulated precisely for the narrow battlefield space.

That devastating bombardment not only caused heavy casualties to the Japanese army, but also disrupted the Japanese army's position. Tang Qiusheng used seven infantry brigades to launch a counterattack and take advantage of the chaos. Under such circumstances, the assault role of tanks was fully revealed. By July 100, the battle line was stabilized at the Libao line, more than [-] kilometers north of Mandalay.

If it were not for strategic considerations, and with a certain amount of casualties and losses, the independent division would be able to break through the defense line of the Libao Grand Canyon hastily built by the Japanese army on the night of the [-]th, and then capture Mandalay, driving the Japanese army to the ground. If the hub linking Yangon and northern Myanmar is taken down, Ito Yanzaburo can only retreat all the way, and finally return to attacking the Indochina Peninsula.

In this battle, the independent division participated in the battle, with more than 140 casualties, more than 300 tanks and armored vehicles, and more than [-] artillery pieces of various types. The loss will be several times more. [

On the road from Wubin to Libao, the corpses of Japanese soldiers, burning vehicles and tank wreckage can be seen everywhere. Ito’s chariot troops were completely lost in this battle. The troops who cleaned the battlefield were the numbers reported. , there are more than 370 vehicles. According to the establishment of the tank brigade of the Japanese Southern Expeditionary Army, this should be all of the Japanese tank troops, at least most of them.

Tang Qiuli and Tang Qiusheng, in the Wubin headquarters, kept receiving all kinds of news from the frontline troops. When the Japanese army retreated to the Baldwin mining area, Tang Qiusheng looked at Tang Qiuli and said: "Mr. , Do you want to strike while the iron is hot and push the battle line further south?" Tang Qiuli shook his head with a smile, and said, "Brother Qiusheng, you are the commander in chief of the campaign, don't ask me, as long as Ito is not killed."

Tang Qiusheng laughed. He could hear Tang Qiuli's meaning, and it would be useful to keep Ito. Therefore, when the troops entered the northern foot of the Libao Grand Canyon, Tang Qiusheng immediately ordered the troops to stop there and face the direction of the Japanese army to build a defense. position.

The offensive of the independent division troops came to an abrupt end at Libao, and the generals of the independent division, who were fighting heartily, fighting spirit and fighting spirit like a rainbow, were surprised and puzzled, and called the headquarters one after another. Among them, Major General Chu Ziye, the commander of the sixth brigade directly under the Corps, reacted most violently.

In the armored command vehicle, the communication staff officer turned his head and said: "Report to the brigade commander, the headquarters has called to order the troops to stop pursuing the retreating Japanese troops and build fortifications on the spot."

Chu Ziye stood up abruptly. Chu Ziye, nicknamed "Big Chu", was over 1.8 meters five in height. With a "bang", his head hit the roof of the steel car firmly, causing him to grin his teeth in pain. He became even more angry, "Nonsense! With this situation, can you stop the little devil if you don't drive him to the seaside? If you pass the order falsely, I will shoot you!" The veins on Chu Ziye's neck jumped violently, like a thunderbolt roar.

The communications staff officer trembled in fright, and Chu Ziye also knew that even if the captain and staff officer had the courage to pass orders from the headquarters, he just couldn't believe that when the troops were fighting smoothly , there will be such an unreasonable order?

The sixth brigade, among the seven brigades of the entire counterattack force, was originally ranked in the second echelon, closely following the first brigade. Ye got impatient and spread out the four regiments. Where there were many Japanese troops, he fought there, and rushed to the front of the first brigade in a few strokes.

Ren Zhaoquan was outside the armored command vehicle, using binoculars to observe the situation of the troops advancing. A group of men and horses suddenly killed him. Ren Zhaoquan was taken aback. The officer asked, "Which brigade are you from?" The lieutenant colonel saluted very seriously, "Reporting to the colonel, I am Fan Zhiming, deputy head of the [-]st Regiment of the [-]th Brigade directly under the Corps."

Ren Zhaoquan understood at that time, this is the army of big man Chu, how did he get ahead of his own army?According to the order of battle, the sixth brigade should be behind its own troops, the second attack echelon. Ren Zhaoquan made a phone call to Chu Ziye.

"Is it Brigadier Chu? I'm Ren Zhaoquan, Brigadier Chu. Just ask, your troops have rushed in front of me. Doing so will disrupt the battle deployment of the headquarters!" Although Ren Zhaoquan was not very satisfied, he could The words are still quite polite, there is no way, this Chu Ziye is also an unreasonable character in the directly subordinate corps, only brigade commander Liu Hongzhang can calm him down.

Chu Ziye, who was holding the phone here, bared his teeth, "Brother Ren, you need to be aggressive when fighting. It's quite satisfactory. You can't get meat to eat. See if you see it. The fifth brigade of the Sulu Mobile Corps on your left has already stepped forward. For more than ten kilometers, if my brother doesn’t make a move, the face of our direct corps will be snatched away by those guys from the Sulu mobile corps, just like that, after this battle, my brother will treat you to a drink!"

After finishing speaking, before Ren Zhaoquan could react, the phone was dropped with a "badah", and Ren Zhaoquan was left in a daze, "Who is this? What's the reason?" He tried to call again, but couldn't figure it out. Come on, open your mouth, Chu Ziye has a hundred sentences waiting, if the brigade commander is here, just say "Big man Chu, I'm giving you face for stealing my mission, right?"

Custodian Chu Ziye obediently followed behind the first brigade, not daring to take a step forward. Thinking of this, Ren Zhaoquan missed the time when he was in the team with the brigade commander Liu Hongzhang. The trump card in the battle, the main attack and the arduous task, can hardly fall on the heads of other brigades, and those brigade commanders can only stare blankly, stunned for nothing!

Chu Ziye settled Ren Zhaoquan, and immediately ordered the brigade headquarters to follow the troops to rush forward. Chu Ziye's head was very flexible. He knew that if he only relied on the strength of his own brigade to fight among hundreds of thousands of little devils, that would be Looking for a dead end, he contacted the third tank brigade, and with some sweet words, he transferred hundreds of tanks from a tank brigade to his attack front.

In this way, the tanks sprayed flames, aimed directly at the tank guns, and fell like raindrops on the retreating Japanese soldiers. The infantry followed behind. , Killed the tanks of the independent division that threatened them the most, and was smashed into a sieve by the infantry with a submachine gun.

Covered in grenades, the culprit who killed his companions when they arrived in the city, Butan cooperated and chased them all the way. At around [-]:[-] am on July [-], the Chuziye Brigade and the Third Tank Brigade became the last counterattack troops. The two troops in front are more than ten kilometers away from the large army behind.

Major General Xu Zhigao, commander of the [-]rd Tank Brigade, looked back and forth in the twilight of dawn. Except for the infantry of the [-]th Brigade who followed him, he could no longer see other troops. , I'm afraid I chased too fast, ran to the front of the little devil, right?Block the little devils in the front and rush in the back, so don't get caught?

"I said, Old Chu, it seems that the situation is not quite right. Did we run in front of the retreating little devils? There are only two of our troops on the left and right, and the ones on the two wings have not come up. The front is the Libao Grand Canyon. That place, we The tank can be restricted, maybe it will become a living target for little devils," Xu Zhigao called Chu Ziye. [

"It's okay, Old Xu. It's only a distance of more than ten kilometers, and there are more than [-] troops behind. If we really run in front of the little devil, we will block the exit of the Libao Grand Canyon, and take that old devil Ito and him The Japanese soldiers under him are all round. Besides, they are in such a posture. The little devil still has the mind to fight our ambush in the canyon. He simply rushed across the Libao Grand Canyon and went straight to Mandalay. That was not the first achievement. pieces!"

Chu Ziye said confidently, Xu Zhigao was also moved by the taste of taking advantage of it. The two daring guys summed up and simply rushed forward along the road. Chu Ziye had the bottom line in his heart. Looking at his troops and the third tank brigade, it seems that they are too deep, but there are hundreds of thousands of troops behind them, and four tank brigades with more than 1000 tanks. The distance is only a dozen kilometers, and it can be reached in the blink of an eye.

Chu Ziye rolled up his sleeves, and just about to do a big job, he received an order that made him furious. Looking through the observation hole, the tank troops also stopped advancing, and they should have received the order. Chu Ziye faced the communication staff He shouted: "Get me connected to the command post, I want to see, who carelessly gave such an order? Isn't this delaying the military plane?"

When Chang Feng picked up the phone, Chu Ziye said in a loud and angry voice, "I'm Chu Ziye, looking for Deputy Teacher Tang." Both Li and Tang Qiusheng looked up at Chang Feng's strange movements. Chang Feng covered the microphone and said, "It's Chu Ziye, commander of the Sixth Brigade directly under the Corps. He is looking for the deputy division commander. Hearing his voice, he is very angry!"

Tang Qiuli and Tang Qiusheng looked at each other and smiled. They had known for a long time that Chu Ziye had rushed to the front of the counterattack force and was fighting vigorously. He called a stop at this time, and he was not mad at him. Tang Qiuli got up, He took the phone in Chang Feng's hand.

"Is it the deputy division commander? Did you personally give the order to stop the attack?" Tang Qiuli frowned slightly. Chu Ziye's movement was too loud, and his ears were ringing, "I am Tang Qiu Li, Chu Ziye, I gave the order, do you have any questions?" Tang Qiuli said calmly.

……