Anti-Japanese heroic righteousness

In addition, the coordination between the Chinese and British coalition forces was poor. The British always looked down on the Chinese soldiers and were unwilling to fight side by side with the Chinese army. From the beginning of the expeditionary force's entry into Myanmar, the British army had plans to abandon Myanmar. Therefore, the British army on the Burmese battlefield was just Using Chinese soldiers to cover their retreat does not mean sincere cooperation.

And the most important point is that there is a lack of cohesion within the Expeditionary Force. Take the new 38th Division as an example. Among the six regiments in the division, only three regiments are really controlled by the division commander. The deputy division commander dispatched is always ready to replace the division commander and control the entire division.And there are many factions in each army and division, and the idea of ​​preserving strength and eliminating dissidents exists at any time.

With such a problematic force, it is not easy to block the crazy Japanese attack. Moreover, they do not have an advantage in military strength. The troops are almost the same, but the former's tactical level is far different, and it is a mess, while the latter can form a fist, and the soldiers are in full swing.

The biggest weakness is not in military strength, but in the fact that the Japanese army has absolute air supremacy.The Southern Army of the Japanese Army had an independent Fifth Flying Regiment, and the carrier-based aircraft in the Pacific Ocean could fly to the skies over Burma to provide air support at any time, but the Chinese Army only had a newly formed "Flying Tigers".

Although the combat ability of the "Flying Tigers" is good, Captain Chennault learned of the movement of Japanese aircraft in time with a complete early warning system, and used the original "pack of wolves tactics" to strangle the Japanese army in the air and achieved certain results. The Tigers equipped only one hundred P-40 fighters, while the Japanese Fifth Flying Regiment had more than two hundred aircraft of various types, and most of the fighters were Zero Types with better performance than the P-40. When the number of aircraft dispatched was not large, the Flying Tigers could suddenly attack the Japanese army by surprise, and they must not love to fight. They retreated immediately after they succeeded, because the number of aircraft and the quality of the pilots did not meet the conditions for an air showdown with the Japanese army.

For all these reasons, it is doomed that the prospect of the expeditionary force's expedition is not good.

At the end of February, due to the unscrupulous retreat of the British army, the southern front was doomed.

Stilwell and Du Yuming are actively preparing for Mandalay again.

However, they transferred the 200th Division, the New 22nd Division, and the New 38th Division with the strongest combat effectiveness to the Western Front amid the successive calls for help from Alexander of the British Army.

Because of the serious inconsistency between the combat intention and the deployment of troops, Luo Zhuoying quarreled with Stilwell again.

Luo Zhuoying judged that the British army yelled that Qiao Kebo was in danger, but in fact there was no enemy situation there. Even if there were thousands of Japanese troops there and the new 38th Division was there, it could already assist the British army in attacking the Japanese invaders.At this time, the defense that the expeditionary army should pay most attention to should be the eastern front. It must concentrate its forces to preserve the two major gates of Lashio, Tangji and Meimiao.

After the fall of Tonggu, the road from Tonggu to Maoqi has been opened. On the long line of Maoqi, Paulak, Nampa, Luoyikao, Tangji, Tashi, and Heihe, the expeditionary force only has No. 70 of the Fifth Army. The 55th Division temporarily has a battalion and company garrison, and the eastern front defense force on the Burmese battlefield is extremely weak.

This weak eastern line is very important to the Chinese army, and its northern end is Lashio, the starting point of the Burma Road.This small city has been connected to Kunming, Yunnan. It is the logistics base of the expeditionary force and the retreat route for the Chinese army to return home.

Unfortunately, Stilwell and Du Yuming did not listen to Luo Zhuoying's opinion.

The Japanese army, on the other hand, was fully aware of the flaw in this deployment, seized this weakness, mobilized troops, and wanted to quickly capture Lashio and cut off the retreat of the expeditionary army.

On March 56, the 16th Division and the [-]th Division of the Japanese Army captured Rai Khao, an important area on the eastern front, and then marched towards northern Myanmar in three routes, heading west to Tanggyi and east to Le Liemu. The situation was suddenly very serious.

The Eastern Front is in danger.

At this time, Stilwell and Du Yuming were still paying attention to the Battle of Mandalay, but transferred the 5th Division of the 200th Army, which was far away on the western front, to the eastern front to reinforce Tangji.

The 200th Division was already on the way to Mintiera on the western front when Chokobang was transferred, and was ordered to turn to Tangyit again.From west to east, the round trip is more than 500 kilometers.However, the journey of more than 500 kilometers was wasted for 3 days. The 200th Division went back and forth in vain and was exhausted. On the afternoon of March 200th, when the [-]th Division arrived near Tangji, the Japanese army had already taken advantage of it and occupied it first. Tongji.

Tangji is an important portal of Lashio, if Tangji is lost, Lashio will be hard to protect.

The 200th Division, which was ordered to help, completed the battle overnight. Commander Dai Anlan braved the hail of bullets and went to the front line to command. On the morning of March 200, the 200th Division captured the surrounding highlands.The Japanese army urgently dispatched reinforcements to reinforce Tangji, and formed an anti-encirclement against the [-]th Division with the stubborn enemy in the city. Dai Anlan adjusted his deployment overnight, counterattacked again, and finally regained Tangji successfully the next evening.In this battle, Dai Anlan's adjutant was injured, and his guards were sacrificed. One can imagine how brutal the battle was.

Although the 200th Division captured Tangji, Lei Liem, located northeast of Tangji, was lost that day.At dawn on March 56, the 60th Division of the Japanese Army massively increased its troops and stormed Mengbang. The forward position of the No.60 Sixth Army was quickly captured by the Japanese army, and the Japanese army pointed directly at Lei Liem.There were only a few units in Leylem led by Zhang Zhen, commander of the No. [-] Sixth Army. Although the commander was on the front line in person, he still couldn't stop the advance of the Japanese army, and the defense of Leylem was broken.Commander Gan led his troops to retreat hastily. On the same day, the Japanese army occupied Leylem.

Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao, head of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army, was overjoyed when he captured Reylem. He also wanted to create another achievement: he captured Lashio on the Tianchang Festival, Emperor Hirohito's birthday, and presented a gift to the Emperor.

On March [-], Masao Watanabe gathered all the vehicles and rushed towards Lashio with all his strength.

On the road to Lashio, 400 tanks and armored vehicles opened the way majestically, and more than [-] large trucks loaded with Masao Watanabe's troops followed behind.The convoy ran all the way, rolling up the yellow dust like a yellow whirlwind, and quickly captured Laika and Nansang.On March [-]th, the Japanese army advanced to Mengju on one route, and approached Mankat on the other, forming a pincer offensive against Lashio.

The Japanese army had crossed Tangji and marched northward from Leylem. It was meaningless to defend Tangji to the death. The 200th Division had to abandon Tangji, which all officers and men had just captured from the Japanese with blood and lives.On March 200, with deep regret, Dai Anlan led the [-]th Division to chase after the Japanese army marching north from Leylem.

On the day when the Japanese army came to Lashio, Du Yuming still ignored the deteriorating situation on the Eastern Front, and still issued an order for the Mandalay battle to the expeditionary force as originally planned.This is Du Yuming's most courageous battle order since he became the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force.But at this time the main force of the expeditionary force could not be in place at all.The new 5nd Division of the 22th Army is fighting the Japanese in Winding, south of Mandalay. The 200th Division has been transferred to the Eastern Front and is chasing the Japanese in the direction of Ray Liem.The new 38th Division covering the British troops on the western front has reached the west bank of the Irrawaddy River.The No.70 Fifth Army on the Eastern Front also began to retreat to the Salween River under the pursuit of the Japanese army.Only the main force of the 96th Division reached the battle position.Du Yuming's ten fingers have not yet clenched into fists, how can they form a decisive battle?