Times have changed...the people who were on the defensive now have become the attackers, while the originally arrogant Japanese can only hide inside and tremble.
Western Yunnan experienced several major battles some time ago. The Japanese army in northern Myanmar dispatched several troops to support them, but they all failed to return. This also led to huge loopholes in the originally perfect defense circle.
Not counting the Takeuchi Regiment, the 56th Division, and part of the 18th Division stationed in western Yunnan, China, the Japanese army has three full divisions in northern Burma alone: the 31st, 33rd, and 53rd. Shojiro Iida’s Northern Burma Front Army General The number of troops reached one hundred thousand.
There were only 300,000 Japanese troops in Burma, and he alone accounted for one-third. It can be said that he dominated one side with a heavy army.
But now the situation took a turn for the worse. The Takeuchi Regiment and the 18th Division were wiped out one after another. The crippled 56th Division fled China like a lost dog. The 31st and 33rd Divisions and the Indian Army were entangled in the Hukang Valley and couldn't get away. , but the 53rd Division, the last hope, was blocked south of Lashio by the Chinese and unable to go north.
The hatred in Shojiro Iida's heart was that all of this was due to the rising Chinese army, which disrupted his own game of chess. Why couldn't he figure out how they were able to win the battle?
Compared with Iida, who kept scolding his mother, the 49th Regiment stationed in Bhamo was even more stressed. Their dissatisfied regiment only had more than 2,000 people. Although an infantry brigade came from Myitkyina to support them, they were faced with Enemies several times larger than ourselves still seemed powerless.
Captain Nagadao was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He had no choice but to keep asking for help from the military headquarters, but the response he got was that he would hold on for a week and reinforcements would arrive in seven days at the earliest.
It turned out that Shojiro Iida had asked for help from the Central Burma Front. The 2nd Division was taking a train from Mandalay to Myitkyina. However, due to its large number and frequent bombing raids by Allied fighter planes, the progress was much slower than expected. It is expected that the vanguard will not be able to reach Myitkyina until a week at the earliest.
After all, Mandalay is nearly a thousand kilometers away from Myitkyina, and it cannot be reached in a day or two. Without the railway, it is estimated that it would take a month to reach the destination.
But Nagashima's heart was almost broken when he heard the news. Damn, the posture on the opposite side was too strong to defend for three days, and to defend for a week...it was just killing people.
With no choice but to let his troops huddle in various fortresses around the city, he did not dare to fight with the opponent in the wild. He tried his best to rely on a large number of bunkers and fortifications to delay the arrival of reinforcements.
But even so, Nagadao was unsure. According to the report of the small team of scouts, in addition to the numerical advantage, the enemy also had a huge artillery force. Although he did not know the specific number, his intuition told him that it was definitely an extremely terrifying existence.
The reason why the opponent has not started attacking yet is because they are waiting for all artillery units to arrive at the designated positions.
The Japanese Army Air Force in Tamor has not been idle these days. After all, they have nine Falcon fighter jets parked at the airport, with sufficient ammunition and fuel. The pilots basically take to the air to fight every day, trying to cross over before the enemy launches an offensive. attack, bombard their supply lines and artillery units.
Chen Jize had long expected that the Japs would come. The anti-aircraft artillery battalion was always with the artillery unit. As soon as he saw an enemy plane taking off, he immediately contacted the division headquarters, and Jamie and the others would rush over to support them.
It only took ten minutes for the fighter planes to fly from Nankan to Bhamo. After several air battles, both sides suffered losses. The Japanese army was shot down five fighter planes, and Jamie's flight team also lost two P40s.
After all, the P40 fighter jets cannot form an absolute advantage against the Falcon, and are even less flexible than their opponents in low-altitude dogfights. Jamie and the others can only win with fewer numbers than their opponents by relying solely on their superior skills and tactical coordination.
Fortunately, the downed pilot parachuted early and suffered only minor injuries. In the end, he was found by the search team sent by the Second Regiment and returned to Nankan safely.
After paying the price, the little Japanese did not dare to fight unless they had to, so they had no choice but to stay in the position and be their cowards.
Just after noon, in an open area five kilometers away from the Japanese army's position in Bhamo.
Dozens of artillery pieces are arranged in several horizontal lines here. Small-caliber guns are arranged on gentle slopes, and large-caliber guns are lined up in the open space. The artillerymen are busy carrying the measurement data of the artillery shells, and the crowds are very lively.
In a hidden command and observation post built with wooden piles and branches, Li Liansheng held a radio headset and recorded the received shooting elements with a pencil.
"Repeat: coordinates 391-408, vertical 145-156, height 85, direction range 30, please confirm again."
"Confirmed..." A confirmation reply came quickly from the other end of the radio.
"Received, confirmed coordinates, high-explosive bomb proximity fuze plus white phosphorus chemical incendiary bomb, please immediately evacuate the observation point and find cover."
After saying that, Li Liansheng immediately put down the wireless phone and shouted out the door: "Fat man! Stop fucking eating, get ready for war!!"
Krupp was sitting on the cannon stand, holding a piece of cooking cake and feasting on it. When he heard Li Liansheng's shouting, he immediately became energetic.
"Quick! Let's fuck!"
As the food is getting better and better now, Krupp, who was already overweight, has become even fatter. He is as round as a mountain of meat when running, and he is probably running around three hundred pounds now.
But don't look at this fat guy. He is flexible and experienced in his profession. After getting the shooting coordinates from Li Liansheng, he immediately ran to the position and eagerly called on the gunners to start taking action.
"This bastard gets excited when he hears sex."
Li Liansheng muttered, and then called the communications soldier to give him the coordinates written on the table: "Notify the other two artillery groups immediately and wait for orders from the regiment headquarters. Later, all artillery positions will be directed towards this coordinate with full fire coverage. Shoot, kill these damn things for me!"
"yes!"
In this battle in Bhamo, in addition to the artillery regiment, two regiment-affiliated artillery battalions of the Second and Third Regiments also joined the battlefield.
The Japanese air threat was eliminated, and Li Liansheng and the others no longer cared about it. As long as the artillery with a range of more than five kilometers was concentrated, they were ready to give the enemy a good time at once.
24 155mm howitzers, 34 105mm howitzers, 24 Bofors 75 mountain guns from two artillery battalions, plus the medium mortar company of each infantry battalion, a total of 72 US-made 81-caliber mortars in the two regiments.
Do you think this is the end? There are also ten tracked armored vehicles from the tank battalion equipped with German-made PAK40-75mm anti-tank guns, as well as 37 combat anti-tank guns and 60 mortars from each company platoon, but they are all placed on the front line due to range reasons. s position.
Two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment have a total of more than 300 artillery pieces of each caliber.
The huge number is daunting. This number of artillery even exceeds that of a domestic field heavy artillery brigade. Even the artillery directly under the military level does not have such a luxurious lineup.
…
"Reporting to the regiment, Commander Li sent a telegram. The entire artillery regiment has completed firing preparations and can fire at any time!"
"Report! Commander Xing called. The Second Regiment has entered the scheduled attack position and is waiting for combat instructions."
"Report! Deputy Commander Hong has completed the detour mission and is requesting further instructions."
"Report! Commander Yuan reported that the entire battlefield battalion has arrived at the designated location and is ready to launch an attack at any time..."
Chen Jize stood silently on the top of the mountain with his hands behind his back. The soldiers' reports kept ringing in his ears. Before the battle even started, a chilling atmosphere filled the air.
It can be said that this is the highest mountain within a radius of dozens of kilometers. You can almost have a bird's-eye view of the entire battlefield, and just eight or nine kilometers away is his inevitable goal this time!
"Where is the flying team?" Chen Jize raised his head, looked at the empty blue sky and white clouds in the distance, and asked calmly.
The correspondent beside him immediately replied: "Return to the regimental commander, the division headquarters just sent a call. The flight team took off two minutes ago and is expected to arrive over Bhamo within ten minutes."
"Instructions are given that the artillery regiment will open fire immediately after the air strike begins and maintain continuous fire strikes for ten minutes. During these ten minutes, the tank battalion and the second regiment must advance to within 200 meters from the enemy. Ten minutes later, together with the third regiment on the flank, Let’s launch a general attack together!”
"clear!"
Chen Jize exhaled slowly and looked down at the small town in the distance, feeling an unprecedented sense of excitement.
His plan was very clear. He used the powerful firepower advantage and the tactical coordination between the troops. Before the enemy could respond effectively to the first wave of firepower, the armored troops and infantry cooperated to break into the city as quickly as possible and get close to the enemy. , the three regiments on the roundabout flanks launched an attack at the same time and quickly completed the encirclement, and then concentrated their firepower to destroy those strong fortresses one by one.
Since the little devils dare to engage in positional warfare and urban street fighting, let them have a taste of artillery doctrine and infant-tank coordination. He is also very experienced in this aspect.
As a student who graduated from the Virginia Military Academy in the United States, the American style of strong fire suppression emphasized in the academy has always been engraved in his heart. Combined with the four-party offensive tactics of infantry, tanks, artillery, and air proposed by the counselor, how can such conditions be met? How many troops can stop it?
How could it not be exciting to finally have the opportunity to command such a unit with first-class firepower, equipment, and quality?
…
In the valley between the two mountains, Dakui and his party were besieged.
The Japanese were still attacking endlessly. The mountain col was bare, with only a few rocks and depressions that could serve as bunkers. However, the bullets coming from above made it impossible for them to hide, and the number of casualties increased sharply.
"Hold on, brother, you'll be fine, just hold on!"
Dakui was bandaging the wound of a captain. Two bullets penetrated his stomach and lower abdomen. Blood had flowed all over the floor. The snow-white gauze had been wrapped in countless layers, but it would still be slowly penetrated by the blood.
The captain's face was pale, and the color on his lips had long since disappeared. Now he could not say a word and could only look up at the sky quietly. As time passed, his consciousness gradually became blurred and his pupils gradually dilated.
"The deputy commander...the company commander...he is dead." The soldier next to him reminded helplessly.
Dakui was startled and quickly checked the captain's breath with his hand. The result was self-evident. Hemorrhagic shock became the most deadly death.
"You son of a bitch, little Japan, I will make you an immortal!" The angry Dakui cursed fiercely, and the gauze on his hand rolled to the ground, and a trace of tears gradually slipped from his eyes.
This company commander was one of the soldiers who were killed back from Burma by the Laochuan Army, and he was also a fellow countryman that Dakui was very familiar with. Now he could only watch as he died little by little and there was nothing he could do.
"Deputy commander, can we...can we still rush out?"
"Where should we rush? I'm afraid I'm going to die here."
"This has to be done..."
The soldiers around were talking to each other, their eyes full of despair.
The radio has been unable to contact Ayi and the others, and four or five hours have passed since they were besieged. The bodies of their comrades are scattered all over the ground, and everyone is already exhausted.
Moreover, there is not much ammunition in the hands of the soldiers now. Everyone's mood has hit rock bottom. Isolated and helpless, they feel that their last hope is almost gone.
"Shut up, everyone! Have you forgotten the oath you swore to your fellow villagers before leaving Sichuan!?"
As soon as these words came out, all the soldiers present fell silent, and some of the thin-skinned ones even lowered their heads with red faces.
Dakui had a frosty look on his face, and glanced at everyone with his cold and decisive eyes: "We can't escape today, but with all the brothers accompanying us, the road to Huangquan is also lively. I, Zhang Xianyong, keep talking here with the word "death" on my head. Qi, with the heroic soul accompanying me, Sichuan Wazi must not be afraid of death!"
Before the Sichuan Army left Sichuan to fight against Japan, soldier Wang Jiantang was presented by his father Wang Zhecheng with a flag with a big and powerful word "death" written on it, encouraging his son to sacrifice his life for the country, bravely kill the enemy, and wrap his body in horse leather.
The left side of the flag reads: I don’t want you to be filial in my presence; I only want you to be loyal to the nation.
On the right is: The national crisis is at hand, and the Japanese invaders are ferocious. Every man has a share in the rise and fall of a country. I wanted to serve, but I was too old. Fortunately, I have a son, so I take the initiative to take care of him. Give a flag and carry it with you at all times. Wipe the blood when injured and wrap the body after death. Move forward bravely and don’t forget your duty!
Death flag! That is the belief of the Sichuan Army. It represents the great sentiments of many elders in Sichuan who send their sons to fight. It has also become the great spirit of Sichuan people who fight to the death and never admit defeat.
"Damn it, just die, don't be afraid of a hammer!" A soldier suddenly became worried, picked up his rifle and shouted resolutely.
"That's right! He lost a scar as big as a bowl on his head, but he is a good man again after eighteen years."
"Kill one to earn another, and give your dead brother a little more luck!"
These words seemed to stir up a thousand waves, and all the soldiers present let out bursts of shouts, with no trace of fear in their eyes.
The engineering corps is basically all from Sichuan. It can even be said that most of the soldiers of the entire third division are fighting with their own brothers on their own territory. They can make fun of foreign workers and are scolded as the worst army in China.
The engineering corps is basically all from Sichuan. It can even be said that most of the soldiers of the entire third division are fighting with their own brothers on their own territory. They can make fun of foreign workers and are scolded as the worst army in China.
