The brutal fierce battle continued until the sun set that day. Due to the attacks of the British and Indian troops one after another, the Third Battalion of the 38th Regiment was unable to organize a retreat at all.
Unless the strong men cut off their wrists, leaving a platoon to cover the main force's evacuation, but Guo Anbang did not agree. He was determined to hold on until night and then retreat under the cover of darkness.
"Report, the radio station has been repaired, but... the transmitter seems to be abnormal. Now it can only receive but not transmit."
"Where are the friendly troops who came for reinforcements? Where are they?"
The third battalion's radio station was damaged due to air strikes, and the backup radio station was also out of order due to shelling. After it was repaired, everyone learned that reinforcements were on the way, but...
This support soldier seems unreliable?
There are two routes from Lingzhi to here. The safest one is to take a detour to the east, which is impossible to reach in less than four or five days; the other is to go south and go directly over the rolling hills.
Looking at the setting sun, Guo Anbang, whose face was full of fireworks, complained: "A battalion of the Third Mixed Brigade of the Forbidden Army? How do they want to come? Go directly over the mountains? Grandma, those uncles can't even walk after getting off the car. Now, why don’t you take the mountain road? Don’t count on them.”
after an hour.
Currently, the "Wilson" task force is located 11 kilometers east of Gokhpur and 106 kilometers away from Dhemaji, and is camping.
After arriving in Funan County, the first battalion did not stop at all. Various types of vehicles were left at the same location and handed over to the local defenders for safekeeping, and then immediately switched to marching on foot.
The soldiers of the border defense unit watched in stunned silence as this team of nearly a thousand people plunged into the mountains and then disappeared into the vast night.
Zhou Changfeng was sure that no one could expect that they would dare to march in the high mountains at night. In order to speed up the march, he even ignored the two wings and only sent a platoon one mile forward as a leader.
In the hazy moonlight, the entire team was galloping along the rugged mountain road in a running state. People kept falling down and then staggering up.
Every once in a while, a few flares will be fired into the air. This is when the troops determine the marching route, and by the way, it makes it easier for everyone to see where their feet are.
Compared with ordinary infantry, the heavy machine gun team and the mortar team are more difficult. The tripod and gun body both weigh fifty kilograms, and the 80mm mortar's body, bottom plate, and gun mount each weigh four Weighing ten kilograms, carrying various parts and ammunition, they walked heavily and panted like cattle.
Except for a half-hour break at midnight and hour, the rush lasted until dawn the next day, and everyone was exhausted.
"Three hours of rest!" Zhou Changfeng, who looked tired, looked back and ordered: "There will be no guard posts!"
After the order was given, there was a series of clattering sounds. The soldiers didn't even bother to get blankets and fell asleep directly.
"Wake up! Eat and drink first before going to sleep! You must cover yourself with a blanket!"
The soldiers who woke up kicking and screaming wolfed down a few biscuits and chocolates, drank two more mouthfuls of water, then randomly took out blankets, wrapped themselves in them, and fell back to sleep.
The soldiers could rest, but the officers could not yet. Zhou Changfeng looked at the map carefully and began to determine the subsequent march plan, that is, rest time, rest location, etc.
In the past, three hours seemed not too short, but when they were woken up later, everyone felt as if they had just closed their eyes and slept for a quarter of an hour.
Nearly a thousand soldiers continued to march in the beautiful Himalayan mausoleums. There are many mountains and thousands of peaks. However, no one had time to appreciate the scenery. Only a military doctor, a second lieutenant, took out his camera and took a few photos in a hurry.
At this time, the "Wilson" task force was 25 kilometers east of Gokhpur and 91 kilometers away from Dhemaji, and was in a marching state.
A lieutenant walked up to Wilson and saluted: "Sir, aerial reconnaissance shows that the Chinese are building fortifications on a hill about five miles away, and they want to delay our actions."
The latter nodded and said: "The Sixth Division in the south reported that two divisions of the Chinese army are trying to retreat north, and we must get ahead of them. So, tell Lieutenant Colonel Sanderson to launch an attack immediately."
In order to delay the action of this British-Indian army, the Third Battalion of the 38th Regiment tried its best to lay mines, arrange booby traps, dig holes in roads and other tricks.
Now that they had lost more than half and were running out of ammunition, they no longer dared to directly block the attack head-on. They could only try to harass them and then move away immediately.
After repeating this several times, the British and Indian troops realized that these remaining Ming troops were not to be feared, so they ignored their harassment and continued to advance directly.
At dusk, battalion commander Guo Anbang saw that the situation was not good and had to organize another blockade. The British and Indian troops immediately launched an attack with tanks as the forerunner and supported by artillery fire and air strikes.
After this battle, the third battalion exhausted all the artillery shells and supporting weapons ammunition, and had to quickly break away and retreat eastward under the setting sun.
By noon the next day, this British-Indian army had arrived in a small town called Lakhimpur.
The "Wilson" task force is in Lakhimpur, 49 kilometers away from Dhemaji, and is camping.
Since the heavy weapons and ammunition were exhausted, another attempt to block the attack tomorrow would be tantamount to death. However, the military order was overwhelming, so Guo Anbang led the remaining 300 people to dig soil all night long, cutting off more than 30 sections of a two-mile-long road. The few remaining mines were deployed.
After doing all this, the third battalion retreated directly to Demaghi regardless of the situation.
Guo Anbang thinks that he has tried his best. If reinforcements still cannot arrive, then...
But now the first battalion is still continuing to march desperately, the long team passing through the mountains and hills, crossing woods and streams.
The extremely sleepy soldiers staggered even when walking. Some fell asleep while walking, and then fell to the ground to wake up.
Zhou Changfeng no longer dared to let the soldiers eat during their breaks. He could only eat while walking, because as soon as he stopped, everyone would fall asleep in less than ten seconds.
People kept falling behind, and the forced march for two days and nights destroyed the entire unit's structure. Some platoons only had a dozen people left. Zhou Changfeng left behind two squads and several military policemen, and set up two reception stations along the way to organize stragglers.
In fact, the conditions of the Ming army were quite good in Zhou Changfeng's opinion - the soldiers wore suede short boots instead of simple cloth shoes, and they could also eat chocolate to quickly replenish their physical strength.
Intercepting the enemy troops advancing eastward can allow friendly troops to evacuate safely! Otherwise it will be a disgrace to the country.
To prove to others that the Forbidden Army is not the watchdog of the capital! It is by no means a showpiece.
This is the only obsession of the officers and soldiers now.
After each break, there were people lying motionless on the ground. When they checked their breathing, they found that they were no longer breathing.
At eight o'clock in the evening on the 28th, the faint moonlight cast by the waning moon made the visibility shockingly low, but now the entire team was very close to the target location, so no flares could be fired.
The soldiers advancing in the dark did not even turn on their flashlights. As they walked, two soldiers in the front row suddenly missed their footing and rolled down the hillside.
Everyone took a closer look and found that the front was suddenly clear.
"Report! We're out of the mountains! There's a plain ahead!"
