Although the enemy in front of them had received early warning before the Ming army launched the attack and had taken precautions, this did not change anything.
Twenty-four hours later, at 11 o'clock on the 19th, the Ming army on the eastern front had cleared the British-Indian army positions on Gangrigabu Mountain and the foothills. Three companies of the Second Assam Regiment (battalion) They were all severely wounded, and some of the fleeing Indu soldiers even threw away their guns in order to run faster.
It can be said that the British and Indian troops did not expect that their side would collapse so quickly. Before the defeated generals who retreated to the vicinity of Baima Gang could gain a foothold, the pursuit troops of the 105th Regiment of the 34th Division followed closely. Come to kill.
The soldiers of the 1st Assam Battalion stationed here thought they were dreaming. The front-line position that was expected to last for at least 72 hours only lasted one-third of the time?
When they were at a loss, a team of the 106th Regiment attacking from the flank was even conducting fire reconnaissance.
On the western front, about a hundred miles away, in the Milin area, the 12th Infantry Division also successfully removed more than 200 bunkers and more than 30 strongholds all over the mountains and plains, and was praised by the British as a brave and fearless Sikh regiment. (The battalion) also suffered a annihilating blow because of their foolishness and bravery.
They could have retreated in time, but the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Finnegan, had the illusion that "they could hold on for a while longer", so they missed the opportunity to retreat and were surrounded by a battalion of the 37th and 38th regiments. They were beaten and beaten and fled in all directions.
As for Lieutenant Colonel Finnegan, he was shot into a hornet's nest by machine guns while shouting.
The initial battle was successful, and the situation was very good. The officers in the Lingzhi headquarters breathed a sigh of relief. They had worked intensively for more than ten hours, and now everyone was exhausted physically and mentally.
Thousands of miles away on the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, more than 800 people under Zhou Changfeng were struggling along the winding mountain road.
To the left are towering mountains, and to the right are steep cliffs with steep slopes. Guardrails and bollards? What a joke, a place like this would have these things?
Just forty minutes ago, a Type 29 six-wheel truck loaded with ammunition ran off the road for unknown reasons and immediately rolled down the cliff.
Brake failure? The driver is distracted? No one knows why.
The leaked gasoline was ignited by electric sparks, and the flaming truck wreckage became the grave of two auto soldiers; the bullets caused by the flames made a crackling sound like firecrackers.
[Most trucks in this era used gasoline engines; this was true for many tanks, not to mention trucks. 】
The convoy paused only briefly, and after witnessing the burst of flames, everyone knew there was no hope of survival.
There was no time to grieve and regret, and the convoy started again. Everyone knew that a war had begun on the front line, and every second counted. After all, who knew what might happen? No matter it's good or bad, you have to be there, right?
Just when Zhou Changfeng closed his eyes to rest, something happened suddenly!
The off-road vehicle carrying Xie Wancheng in front suddenly had a tire blowout. The driver who realized that the vehicle was out of control suddenly became excited and immediately turned the steering wheel desperately to steer the vehicle to the left, and finally hit a hill.
For a while, the sound of "squeaking" brakes was heard endlessly.
"Medic!!!"
Soldiers came from the front and rear and pulled out Xie Wancheng. The driver and orderly in the front seat were both bleeding and unconscious.
"Damn...I'm fine." Xie Wancheng stared at the blown left rear tire with lingering fear, and then looked at the abyss on the right, "I almost died."
Zhou Changfeng glanced at his watch and realized that he had been marching continuously for nearly five hours and it was time to stop and take a rest. So he turned around and ordered to rest where he was and eat, drink and relieve himself.
Xiao Li nodded, took out his flare gun, loaded a green flare, and then fired a shot into the air.
Suddenly, the entire convoy fell silent, and the cars stalled one after another.
Because there is a lot of rest time, there is no time to cook now, so the cooking teams of each team directly set up stoves on the roadside, and then set up large iron pots, with more than a dozen pots in a row, for cooking or steaming rice. The fragrance lingers for miles.
Feeling that he was very hungry, Zhou Changfeng planned to eat something to fill his stomach first. When he took the can of braised pork handed to him, he was stunned for a moment because the can was already bloated.
So Xiao Li took out a few more cans from the storage cabinet in the trunk, only to find that they were all bulging.
Zhou Changfeng realized that during this day and night of marching, the altitude was rising rapidly, and they were already less than fifty miles away from the pass of Gaoer Temple Mountain.
In other words, the current altitude is more than 4,000 meters.
He hesitated and ordered: "Let the medical team check all the officers and soldiers, from back to front, and report back after the completion."
After saying that, he jumped out of the car again, squatted next to the wheel, then stretched out his hands and pressed it with his thumbs, and found that the tire was also very bulging.
This...no wonder Xie Wancheng's car had a flat tire.
Zhou Changfeng found that he had overlooked a very important thing, that is, he had not thought that the progress of science and technology was reflected in every detail. The military vehicle tires of the era before he traveled through time also contained high-tech and were very durable. , there is no need to deflate the tires when entering high altitude areas.
But it’s different now. It’s only the 1930s.
[Actually, at the beginning of this century (and still today), some veteran drivers who often ran into Tibet still had the habit of deflating their tires and lowering the tire pressure from the normal 2.2 bar to 2.0 bar. 】
At this moment, he was very upset. Fortunately, no more serious tire blowout accident had happened so far. Otherwise, if a truck full of soldiers had a tire blowout and fell off a cliff, he would probably die of heartache.
He suddenly thought of something, "Xiao Li, bring over the "Uzang Combat Guide"."
"yes."
This is a pamphlet temporarily printed by the Ministry of War, with a total of only thirty or forty pages.
Zhou Changfeng read through it carefully from beginning to end, and then he saw in an inconspicuous place on the right side of page 32, "If you find that your tires are bulging, it is due to the low air pressure at high altitudes. It is usually not a problem. You can use a small amount as appropriate." Deflate" statement.
Depend on!
The layout is just in the corner. The whole sentence is still light and airy, as if it is not an important thing.
The words "usually no problem" stood out in particular, and Zhou Changfeng, who was speechless, couldn't help but complain a few words, "Did the people from the Ministry of War not even distinguish the priorities when compiling this kind of manual?"
At this time, the cooking soldiers discovered that the rice was not cooked yet? How come it tastes raw when you eat it in one bite? The water is obviously boiling?
However, they immediately realized that this was due to the low air pressure at high altitude, so they went to get a specially prepared pressure cooker. But the pressure cooker is relatively small, and there are only a few of them, which is simply not enough.
They pondered for a while and tried to pick up some big rocks from the roadside and press them on the lid of the big iron pot to strengthen the seal.
The medical team also completed the examination. The leader of the military doctor, the second lieutenant, reported: "Sir, after examination, a total of 397 people have developed altitude sickness, and all except four people have mild symptoms."
Zhou Changfeng took a deep breath and said seriously: "Take good care of them, thank you for your hard work."
