In early March, the climate in Myanmar gradually became humid and rainy again, especially in the southern coastal areas. The rain gradually became abundant, but fortunately it was not the rainy season yet. The weather now is more like two days of rain and three days of sunshine. Generally speaking... it is good for the troops The impact of marching and fighting is not too great.
However, the three southern provinces of Myanmar this year are destined to be uneventful. Because the Japanese army is reluctant to give up the land in their hands, they have assembled four additional divisions, two mixed brigades, and some second-line garrison brigades, totaling nearly 100,000 people. The troops, as well as several destroyers, frigates and the cruiser USS Tone, docked in Yangon Port to serve as sea-based artillery forts.
Juichi Terauchi originally did not intend to stick to it. He felt that the cost of doing so was too high, and the existing military forces should be withdrawn from the war quagmire in Myanmar to protect the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, which are more resource-rich in Southeast Asia.
After all, the Chinese Expeditionary Army lacks the ability to travel far by sea. If it wants to invade Malaysia from Myanmar, it can only pass through the Kra Isthmus, the narrow throat of the peninsula. And there are high mountains and large virgin jungles that are very inconvenient for the army to move. It only needs to contain the Kra Isthmus. There is nothing the Chinese can do in the short term.
The U.S. and British fleets are not very powerful in the Andaman Sea area of Myanmar. There are no large warships here at all. Even if transport boats are used to transport Chinese soldiers, it is an extremely difficult task. It might even fall into the hands of the Japanese Navy. On hand.
Terauchi Juichi's idea is to delay, one more day is a day, and to conserve his own strength as much as possible while consuming the enemy, in order to allow new fighters to appear and then counterattack.
Because he already understood that the empire was basically in its twilight years, and the domestic situation was becoming more and more serious day by day. Continuous bombings had displaced civilians, and they almost had no food to eat. People were starved to death and bombed to death. The waistband supports the construction of the national military industry, and now Du Jing Can Guang doesn’t know how long he can continue to do so.
Unfortunately, the Japanese base camp was not willing to accept this plan, let alone admit failure. They believed that if Burma was lost, it would intensify the decline of the Pacific battlefield and make the U.S. military and Chinese people surrounded on all sides. Then there would be no way to recover. .
Many high-level military officers who were not sober also radically stated that if they want to fight the enemy in Yangon for a decisive battle, they must not insult the original intention of the Bushido spirit, let alone directly abandon the land of Myanmar that has been operated for a long time.
They may feel that relying on the cooperation of the army and navy's artillery, not to mention defeating the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which is gaining momentum, it is more than enough to defend southern Myanmar. As long as they can hold on for three months, the opponent's logistics supplies will naturally be destroyed. There may be opportunities for counterattack.
Juichi Terauchi, an old devil, is not stupid. The purpose of sending Tone and other ships is not only to increase Yangon's long-range firepower, but also to evacuate the remaining soldiers through ships at the last moment if it is really irreversible. The entire army will not be wiped out.
But this plan will not be carried out unless it is absolutely necessary. He will not tell the outside world that the purpose of sending the navy to support is to leave a way for the army. The Japanese people's madness and conceitedness do not allow them to be timid before fighting or think about it before fighting. How to retreat? If this idea is known to the base camp, it will be court-martialed.
The current commander of the Myanmar Front is Kimura Hyotarō, known as the robot. He is also one of the officers who urges a decisive battle with the Chinese to the end.
This guy is also one of Tojo Hideki's Three Women and Four Fools. The title of robot is not a compliment, but a joke. He is like a machine that only knows how to execute orders mechanically, regardless of the consequences of doing so. No opinion whatsoever.
[In view of the general environment,
To put it bluntly, whatever the master tells me to do, I will eat shit if he is told to do so. But he is such a dog who even eats shit. In the early days when he served as the commander of the 32nd Division in Shandong, China, he also ate it. After committing numerous crimes, he later went to Myanmar and indulged his soldiers, causing the Yangon Massacre, and was known as the Butcher of Myanmar.
Toshiichi Terauchi had strong objections to his appointment as the commander of the Burmese Front Army, but in the end he could not resist the strong hand of the base camp and allowed this simple-minded dog to take command of the Burmese Front Army.
The ambitious Kimura Hyōtaro seemed to be launching a big wave when he took office, preparing to take the initiative and launch a large-scale expedition to China.
The army launched a counterattack, but this combat plan was bombarded by the newly formed Katyusha Rocket Artillery Division and hundreds of artillery pieces from the Heavy Artillery Brigade before it even started.
The situation on the battlefield changed much faster than expected. As the "artillery master" of the Japanese army, Kimura Hyoutarou still had certain insights into the use and deployment of artillery. With full confidence, he originally planned to use the coordination of artillery and infantry. The battle inflicted heavy damage on the enemy, but as a result... He immediately gave up after seeing the terrifying firepower of the Chinese people. The firepower of this artillery was not even at the same level. What a waste.
Immediately afterwards, the expeditionary force attacked him from three sides. Not only did the troops in northern Yangon attack in an all-out manner, but the artillery firepower suppressed them completely, which made people breathless. Suddenly, someone exploded in the back of the butt, and Donggua Railway Station and Keyan Railway Station were bombed one after another, and the massive supplies stored there were destroyed.
What's even more terrible is that the Chinese actually attacked from the sea, advancing from the coast of Dongua to the northwest. Several important areas fell one after another, and they were about to be hit in the face.
This was not over yet. On March 6, the headquarters suddenly received a report from the garrison of Yinrawaddy Province, saying that a large number of Chinese troops were found in the northern part of the province moving southward.
The opponent has a large number and a lot of heavy equipment, and they are escorted by fighter planes in the air at all times. Several reconnaissance scouts they sent were discovered and annihilated by the enemy. The specific situation is difficult to detect, but one thing is certain, the target of this force is Yin Luo. Wadi Province.
As a large granary in the rear of the Japanese army, Yin Rawady Province is the most densely populated province in Myanmar with the most concentrated arable land and the densest navigable rivers. It is also a major rice-producing area and fishery area. More than 50% of the food supply for the Southern Army is Relying on this province, and even relying on the food production here to provide blood transfusions at home and on major battlefields, its importance is self-evident.
This heavy blow of the Chinese Expeditionary Force can be said to have hit the vital point of the Japanese. To a certain extent, Yinrawaddy Province is more important than Yangon. If all here is lost, then defending Yangon will become It's meaningless.
This is the largest river in Myanmar, where the Yinrawaddy River finally flows into the sea. There are many waterways in its territory, especially in the southern region, where there are a large number of alluvial plains, which are more suitable for mechanized troop operations. To put it bluntly, from the topography Looking at the entire place, it is easy to attack but difficult to defend. If you want to defend, you have no choice.
At the critical moment, Kimura Hyōtaro became anxious. He regretted why he had taken over the defense of the Burmese Front Army in the first place. As a result, he was now riding a tiger with difficulty. If he failed, everything would be lost. He had no better way. He wanted to seek tactical guidance from the base camp, but now Prime Minister Tojo has resigned, and the situation in other battlefields is not much better than in Burma. It is estimated that the telegram sent back will get nothing but a scolding.
Kimura, who had no master, paid his attention to Singapore again, hoping that Touichi Terauchi would send some military support again, even if a few more brigades came. But the latter was so angry when they saw that ridiculous telegram. Now they are asking me for tactical guidance. They have exhausted all the troops they can send. You think I am Jingle Cat, what the hell do you have? Extra support for you?
