Even so, there is still the issue of unity of command.
Among the coalition forces, Xu Dalong must have absolute command authority. Otherwise, each unit will do its own thing and it will be difficult to complete a unified combat plan.
The troops that Xu Dalong brought over before must accept his command unconditionally regardless of their rank. There is no problem.
But the rank of Guo Daming and others in front of them is higher than that of Xu Dalong. According to the rules of the army, whoever is in charge listens to whom, so it is difficult to say about the issue of command authority.
If Guo Daming and others were to direct the unified actions of the coalition forces, Xu Dalong would not believe the battle plan they formulated. The British troops, the Burmese servant army, and even the Yuanzheng Army troops that Xu Dalong had rescued earlier might not be willing to Follow Guo Daming's command.
Just when Xu Dalong was about to communicate with Guo Daming and others about the issue of command authority of the coalition forces, the upper management of the Guo Army sent a telegram. The telegram was sent to Guo Daming. The telegram required Guo Daming to unconditionally obey Xu Dalong's command.
Not only that, Guofu has already contacted the British army. Under the current circumstances, all the British troops in northern Myanmar have been unified under the command of Xu Dalong.
Xu Dalong is the god of war and the guarantee of victory. He can reverse the bad situation in Myanmar.
Guo Daming and his senior officers stated that they would resolutely obey Xu Dalong's command. Gross represented the British army and the Burmese servant army, and also expressed his obedience to Xu Dalong's command.
With unified command authority, Xu Dalong felt much more at ease.
Xu Dalong quickly announced the battle plan he had formulated. He believed that he could not directly rescue the British troops. Otherwise, it would not only be difficult to break through the Japanese positions that were blocked between the coalition forces and the British troops, but also encounter reinforcements from the Japanese army. s attack.
Since the terrain in this area is relatively flat, the coalition forces are likely to be defeated or even annihilated by the Japanese army in the field due to the lack of integration.
Therefore, Xu Dalong believed that the enemy forces in front of the coalition forces should be defeated first, and then rescue the British troops.
In northern Myanmar, the main force of the Japanese 22nd Division is currently attacking the British army. The enemy in front of the coalition forces is the Japanese 17th Division. If the coalition forces attack the Japanese troops of the 17th Division, an infantry brigade of the 15th Division stationed in the Tam Meng area will also rush to the battlefield to reinforce.
Xu Dalong's plan was to first attack the infantry brigade of the Japanese 15th Division stationed in Tammeng, and then attack the Japanese 17th Division.
Only by defeating these two Japanese troops can they attack the Japanese 22nd Division and rescue the surrounded British troops.
Except for Monk Wei, the coalition commanders who attended the meeting thought that what Xu Dalong said made sense, but they did not know how to implement such complex tactics.
So Xu Dalong explained to them in detail, and everyone expressed their obedience to Xu Dalong's combat deployment.
In order to facilitate communication, Xu Dalong arranged for Lieutenant Colonel Gross to be responsible for contacting the British commanders, informing them of the combat plan formulated here, and requiring the British troops to persist for at least ten more days, waiting for the coalition forces to come to rescue.
The British commanders were very dissatisfied that the coalition forces could not directly rescue them. However, after careful study, they also believed that Xu Dalong's combat deployment was correct. Otherwise, the coalition forces were likely to be annihilated by the Japanese army in the field. By that time, the British troops would no longer have reinforcements to rescue them.
They agreed to Xu Dalong's battle plan, but required that the coalition forces must defeat the Japanese 15th and 17th Divisions within a week and rescue them.
If Xu Dalong was leading the Mawushan guerrillas, he would be sure to defeat the Japanese 15th and 17th Divisions within five days. However, the combat effectiveness of the coalition forces was really unflattering, so it took ten days to complete this task. In preparation for the plan, he understood the difficulties of the British army. The British army had been under siege by the Japanese army for such a long time and was almost on the verge of collapse. Only after receiving the news that they might be rescued could they continue to persevere. week time.
Xu Dalong arranged for Gross to send another telegram to the British commanders, asking them to hold on for a week.
The military situation was raging and time was running out. Xu Dalong immediately led the coalition troops to implement the campaign plan.
That morning, Guo Daming led the main force of the Yuanzheng Army and suddenly surrounded an infantry regiment of the Japanese 17th Division stationed in Menghai Town, and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army.
Seeing that the Yuanzheng Army's troops were outnumbered, the Japanese commander ordered the troops to strengthen their defenses and sent a telegram to the division commander requesting tactical guidance.
After the Japanese division commander received the telegram, he sent a reinforced infantry regiment to reinforce.
Xu Dalong led the original team of the coalition forces he brought over, as well as the guard battalion of the 338th Division and a mountain artillery company to ambush along the way, waiting for the arrival of Japanese reinforcements.
The reinforcements coming from the Japanese army this time are about 5,000. The coalition forces led by Xu Dalong and others, plus the guard battalion and mountain artillery company of the 338th Division, have a total strength of only more than 6,000. The 338th Guo army participated in this battle. The division's guard battalion and the officers and soldiers of the mountain artillery company were all unsure.
No wonder they think so. In the past, if the Guo army wanted to annihilate the Japanese army, the ratio of military strength must be at least 4:1 or 5:1. Even so, it was difficult to annihilate the Japanese army. The most it could do was to defeat the Japanese army. Even in many cases , even with such a comparison of forces, they were still defeated by the Japanese army.
Nowadays, the coalition's soldiers are basically the same as the Japanese army. Of course, they are feeling frightened and have no confidence.
But what surprised them was that the coalition troops who came with Xu Dalong and others came from different armies. They could be said to be a group of ragtag groups. Ordinarily, their combat effectiveness should be far inferior to that of the same number of Guo army troops. However, these coalition troops However, the officers and soldiers were all high-spirited and seemed to be full of confidence in victory.
The officers of the guard camp curiously inquired about the situation, and then they understood why they were doing this, because they had been victorious in fighting with Xu Dalong all the way, and they were full of confidence in Xu Dalong's command.
Of course, the officers and soldiers of the guard camp had also heard of Xu Dalong's name. After getting to know other officers and soldiers of the coalition forces, they discovered that Xu Dalong was indeed well-deserved.
Infected by the confidence of the officers and soldiers of the coalition forces, the officers and soldiers of the guard battalion and artillery company are also full of expectations for the future battle.
In order to maximize the damage to the Japanese army, Wei Monk and others still planted explosives on the road. Due to the insufficient amount of explosives, they also asked for some artillery shells from the artillery company.
In order to give full play to the firepower advantage, the ambush position deployed by Xu Dalong still adopts an inverted triangle.
After several hours of preparation, the officers and soldiers of the coalition forces were in full formation, waiting for the Japanese reinforcements to arrive.
Since the Japanese army entered Southeast Asia, it can be said that no matter the British army, the American army, or the French army, they are almost vulnerable to the Japanese army. Therefore, the Japanese army officers and soldiers are very arrogant.
In order to catch the Japanese army off guard, Xu Dalong set up an ambush position far away from Menghai Town and very close to the Japanese army's station.
The Japanese army never dreamed that the coalition troops would dare to ambush them in front of their home. Therefore, the Japanese army was very careless when marching on the road. Except for the vanguard troops, there were not even guard posts on the two wings. The troops lined up in neat queues. Marching struttingly on the road, the cannon pulled by the truck did not even take off its gun jacket.
The Japanese army finally entered the ambush circle. In order to defeat the Japanese army as soon as possible, Monk Wei did not detonate the explosives immediately. Instead, he pressed the button of the detonator when he saw several cars following the Japanese motorcycle team.
With the fierce explosion, a cloud of smoke and dust rose up, and the long smoke and dust rose and rolled like a giant dragon. The Japanese army's command organization was just in the middle of the dragon. Including the brigade commander, the main officers of the Japanese army were He immediately went to see the King of Hell.
Amidst the fierce explosions on the highway, officers and soldiers of the coalition troops fired fiercely at the Japanese troops on the highway. The Japanese troops were caught off guard and were beaten to the point of being knocked upside down, resulting in heavy casualties.
The coalition's ambush position was chosen very favorably. There was an open area in the middle of the inverted triangle ambush position. The Japanese army had no danger of defending it. Bullets fired from three sides made it difficult for them to defend themselves, and casualties increased rapidly.
The Japanese army's combat effectiveness is very strong. Even in such a passive situation, they still organize their troops to launch a counterattack against the coalition forces.
The strength of the coalition forces was limited, and Xu Dalong did not want to cause heavy casualties in such a battle, so he did not order a charge, but continued to use firepower to attack the Japanese army.
Since the officers and soldiers of the coalition forces had built bunkers in advance, the bullets fired by the Japanese army posed little threat to them, but the Japanese army had nowhere to hide under the firepower.
As time went by, the strength of the Japanese army continued to decrease, and eventually it was unable to launch a counterattack and was compressed into a small area.
Xu Dalong commanded the officers and soldiers of the coalition forces to advance steadily and continuously compress the area occupied by the Japanese army.
When they were only a hundred meters away from the Japanese army, the coalition troops stopped advancing and set up all their artillery to fire fiercely at the Japanese army.
After half an hour of shelling, Xu Dalong saw that there were very few enemy troops left, and then he gave the order to charge. The officers and soldiers of the guard camp were always unsure before the battle started. Now that they have been beaten, their hearts are not
Just get down to earth and get really excited.
After hearing the charge, the officers and soldiers of the guard battalion shouted and rushed over.
Their equipment is the best among the Yuanzheng Army. Each man has a metric submachine gun, which has exerted great power in hand-to-hand combat.
The Japanese army in front of them was simply vulnerable. The officers and soldiers quickly defeated the enemy forces blocking them and were the first to rush into the enemy's position.
Since the enemy's strength was very low, the battle was completely over after ten minutes.
This battle annihilated more than 5,100 people from a strengthened Japanese army, while the casualties of the coalition forces were only more than 540, accounting for an astonishing 10:1.
In the past, when the Guo army fought against the Japanese army, in most cases, the troops suffered heavy casualties. It was very common to fight the Japanese army 10:1. Now the results are completely reversed. How can this not lead to the war? The officers and soldiers of the coalition forces were ecstatic. The officers and soldiers of the coalition troops cheered the victory heartily.
Guo Daming and the officers of the 338th Division have always been worried. They know that the coalition forces only have 6,000 people in total, and the Japanese army is a reinforced unit. Although they used ambush tactics, they still were not optimistic about the coalition forces. They believed that if they could defeat the Japanese army at most, it would be a great victory.
When they knew that the coalition forces had annihilated 5,000 Japanese troops with only 500 casualties, none of them could believe it.
The fact is here, there are also guard battalions of their troops participating in the battle, this news is absolutely true.
The officers were very excited and immediately reported the good news to all the officers and soldiers in the division. The morale of the officers and soldiers was greatly shaken, which further enhanced their confidence in defeating the Japanese army.
According to the battle plan formulated by Xu Dalong, Guo Daming and others continued to besiege the surrounded Japanese army, putting strong pressure on the Japanese army and forcing them to ask for help from the Japanese army again.
Similar to the Guo army, the Japanese army's tactics were relatively rigid. They have a habit that no matter which Japanese army is surrounded, the surrounding Japanese troops must do their best to rescue them.
The commander of the 22nd Division knew that the Japanese troops who went for reinforcements were ambushed and suffered heavy losses, but they still sent reinforcements.
All Xu Dalong and others had to do was to ambush the Japanese reinforcements again.
Xu Dalong knew clearly that the Japanese reinforcements had just encountered an ambush. When they came for reinforcements, they would be more careful on the road. It would be very difficult to launch a sudden attack on them.
Xu Dalong wanted to use virtual and real tactics to relax the Japanese army's vigilance and catch the Japanese army by surprise again.
The reinforcements of the Japanese 22nd Division were very careful when marching. Not only did they send forward troops to search and advance, they also released a small number of troops on both wings of the marching brigade to shoulder the task of guarding the flanks to prevent encountering enemy ambush.
The main force of the Japanese army marched along the highway, which was relatively easy for them. However, the Japanese officers and soldiers responsible for guarding the two wings had to march along complex terrain. It was really hard for them. They were going uphill and down ditches. There are bumpy patches everywhere.
They were marching hard, and a Japanese infantry squad climbed up a hillside panting and suddenly encountered an enemy attack.
What attacked them was a special operations detachment led by Wei Monk and an infantry company from the 338th Division Guard Battalion. Their sudden movement caught the Japanese army by surprise, and they killed the Japanese infantry squad in a short time.
Seeing this situation, the Japanese army immediately sent part of its troops to deal with Wei Monk and others.
Monk Wei led the officers and soldiers of the coalition forces to attack with firepower and eliminated some Japanese troops.
Soon after, they began to evacuate. By the time the Japanese troops rushed up the hillside, Monk Wei and others had already fled far away.
