The War of Resistance: From Overseas Chinese Mechanics to King of Nanyang

The reason why Lieutenant General Hutton was so angry was because Japan used to be their dog. Without the support of the British Empire, they would not have achieved their current status and become one of the world's five major naval powers.

The results of it?

Now that the dog has started to turn on its master, it's naturally hard for the former owner to accept, and Lieutenant General Hutton is one of them. He can't accept that the British army can't defeat the Japanese army.

"We are well-rested and ready to defeat the Japanese army. Right here," said Lieutenant General Hutton, pointing to a spot on the map called Mawlamyine with his pointer.

"As long as we hold this high ground, we will surely win."

After speaking, Lieutenant General Hutton looked confident, believing that his plan was absolutely flawless.

In fact, on paper, there seems to be no problem, but many things cannot be determined by paper data alone.

"Commander, I think we were a bit hasty. Our troops' morale isn't high." Someone offered a tactful suggestion, but Lieutenant General Hutton, blinded by victory, naturally wouldn't accept it.

Ultimately, Lieutenant General Hutton forcefully approved the operational plan, assigning Major General Smith of the 17th Infantry Division of the British Indian Army to be in charge of the defense of Mawlamyine. It should be noted that this British force was not the British Army in the traditional sense.

Firstly, the division comprised the 16th and 46th Indian Infantry Brigades, totaling approximately 1.7 men, and was equipped with artillery, engineers, and armored units. On paper, the numbers were indeed fine, even surpassing those of the Japanese army. Moreover, these two infantry brigades also included a significant number of Gurkha soldiers, making them quite capable in combat. However, Lieutenant General Hutton had no idea just how inadequate the combat capabilities of the indigenous Indians were.

But the British officers on the front lines were well aware that bullying the local natives was no problem at all, but facing the Japanese army would be a disaster.

So when the mission was relayed to the British Indian 17th Infantry Division, many officers' first reaction was that they were doomed.

This unit, composed of natives, had basically never fought a battle, and many officers were just there to gain experience. Sending such a unit to fight against the battle-hardened Japanese army was just suicide.

Even Major General Smith was helpless, but an order is an order, and he could only obey.

Then they faced another situation: air superiority. Their fighter planes were no match for the Japanese, which further exacerbated their declining morale.

"Major General, if this continues, we may not be able to hold the bridge," a British colonel said with a worried expression.

This bridge, connecting the two banks of the Sittang River, is a dual-purpose railway and highway bridge, meaning it is geographically very important. If it is lost, Yangon will inevitably fall, which would mean the loss of the entire Myanmar.

However, they didn't care much about losing this place, but there were still tens of thousands of British troops in Burma. If those were all lost, the British would suffer a huge loss.

Although these troops were not very effective in combat, their loyalty was unquestionable due to their long history of organization. The British army's ability to successfully rule these colonies was largely due to them.

Otherwise, how could they possibly rule so many colonies with such a small population in their homeland?

"We must hold the bridge." Major General Smith knew the situation was dire, but there was no other way but to hold it to the death. However, a piece of news soon brought the British troops stationed in Mawlamyine to the brink of collapse.

That is Hill 135 on the east side of the bridge. It is the highest point controlling the bridge, and the British army left only a small number of troops to defend it.

Then the Japanese army dispatched a battalion equipped with mountain guns and engineers to conduct a flanking maneuver and a surprise attack on Hill 135 on the east side of the bridge.

"Damn it, immediately send reinforcements over!" Major General Smith cursed himself for being so stupid. Why didn't he increase the number of soldiers on this high ground?

Unfortunately, there's no going back. Now he can only try to retake the high ground, otherwise the bridge will truly fall.

Whether it was intentional or simply forgotten, the situation is that the high ground has been lost, and if it is not recaptured, the bridge will be lost forever.

"Immediately send reinforcements to support us. We must recapture the high ground. Use all divisional artillery." Major General Smith was truly anxious. As the supreme commander of Mawlamyine, he knew very well that if the bridge was lost, the Japanese army would advance unimpeded and head straight for Rangoon. If Rangoon was lost, then all would be lost. Therefore, he had to recapture the bridge as soon as possible.

The division's 25-pound artillery bombarded the hill for a day and a night, leveling it completely, but they still couldn't recapture it.

As dawn broke, Japanese warplanes reappeared, and the British forces, already lacking air superiority, could only leave behind a pile of corpses and flee back in disarray.

The shadow of failing to retake the high ground instantly loomed over the entire British army on the west bank; they all knew that the British army on the east bank was doomed.

"Damn it, where are the remaining 12,000 men? Two brigades, eight infantry battalions, and divisional artillery." Major General Smith was truly on the verge of vomiting blood. He hadn't expected that a single mistake would lead to such a situation, which was indeed hard for him to accept.

"Major General, we must arrange for engineers to blow up the bridge now, otherwise the bridge will fall into the hands of the Japanese army, and we will all be doomed. The Japanese army may even be able to reach Rangoon in a very short time," his subordinate immediately advised.

Upon hearing this, Major General Smith felt a chill run down his spine. If the bridge wasn't blown up, the remaining troops simply wouldn't be able to hold it, which would mean that Rangoon might fall, and that would be a real problem.

But if the bridge is blown up, the bridge on the east bank will still have 12,000 troops and countless supplies, just left to the Japanese army.

"Major General, we have to make a decision now." Seeing that Major General Smith was still hesitating, his subordinates advised him again, saying that some soldiers and supplies were not as important as Yangon.

Moreover, even if the bridge is destroyed, the remaining troops can hold the western front. If Yangon sends reinforcements, they can hold out for another wave.

However, Major General Smith was still hesitant and did not make a decision immediately. After all, if more than 10,000 people were abandoned like this, he would definitely have to go to a military court.

"Major General, we can't hesitate any longer," more and more officers urged.

Ultimately, Major General Smith made the decision to blow up the bridge. As for those who remained on the east bank of the bridge, they were all abandoned. These people could not swim and tried to swim back, but they either drowned or were shot to death by the Japanese army with machine guns.

Major General Smith had originally hoped that these men could replicate the Dunkirk evacuation, but he was overthinking it. Although the river was not very wide, the Japanese army was not the German army. How could they just watch fresh troops swim back? Wouldn't that just create more trouble for themselves?

So a large number of heavy machine guns began to sweep across the river, and in the end only five thousand people managed to escape by swimming back; the rest were either captured or killed.