At 2:00 pm on April 23, the three main regiments of the 200th Division came out together. Nearly 200 cannons opened fire first, followed by nearly 100 American M4 and M3 tanks, more than 200 British Daleham Dingo armored vehicles, and more than 7,000 Soldiers launched a general attack on the remnants of the Japanese 55th Division!
When the battle reached four o'clock, the 55th Division could no longer hold on. The division commander, Lieutenant General Takeuchi Hiroshi, ordered each regiment to burn the military flag, and each unit broke out on its own... He was ready to commit suicide by caesarean section!
At this moment, the 56th Division, which had been marching urgently for reinforcements, finally arrived!
Sensing the arrival of Japanese reinforcements, the attacking troops of the 200th Division immediately withdrew in an orderly manner and returned to the Tonggu peripheral defense position. Thanks to the walkie-talkie provided by the theater commander General Pan Sen, the division's orders could be quickly conveyed to At the company level, the chain of command is therefore fast and efficient.
The Japanese 56th Division was the first to arrive, with the 146th Regiment advancing lightly. After "successfully" rescuing the remnants of the 55th Division that was on the verge of collapse, they should have retreated immediately to join the main force of the division, but because Most of the surviving Japanese troops of the 55th Division were injured, so the 146th Regiment could only rearrange their defenses on the original positions of the 55th Division and call the main force of the division to join them as soon as possible.
——
In the frontline headquarters in the same ancient city, Lieutenant General Du Yuming, who was appointed by Li Junhao as the commander-in-chief of the campaign, clapped his hands happily and said to Major General Dai Anlan, the commander of the 200th Division next to him: "Yan Gong (Dai Anlan's word), what happened?" It’s done! Control your troops, don’t fight too hard, and wait until all the 56th Division is in place before taking action.”
"Understood, I'll emphasize it to the troops again." Dai Anlan agreed and walked aside to make a phone call.
Du Yuming asked the radio operator to report to the theater headquarters in Mu La: "The leading 146th Regiment of the enemy's 56th Division has arrived in Tonggu and has reunited with the remnants of the 55th Division. The plan is going well. Du, Dai."
——
At 5:40 pm, in the theater headquarters of Mu La, after receiving the telegram, Lieutenant General Luo Zhuoying, the chief of staff on duty, also clapped his hands excitedly and asked the staff officer beside him: "Where is Commander Panson?"
The staff officer replied: "General Luo, the commander-in-chief has been in the barracks these days, guiding the training of the British troops."
Luo Zhuoying nodded and said: "Go and send this telegram to General Pan Sen... Oh, forget it, I'll go by myself!" At this time, he thought of something and decided to ask General Pan Sen in person. Opinion.
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There used to be a British-Burmese military station in the north of Mula City, which was enough for a division of troops. At this time, it was requisitioned by Li Junhao and housed two British military brigades and the newly formed 109 Gurkha Brigade for training.
According to his plan, these three forces were planned to be combined into a light armored division capable of rapid response, with the main combat objectives of local attack and personnel killing. To this end, he specially mobilized the other four Gurkha mercenary battalions in the British-Burmese army, and combined them with the previous two battalions to form the 109th Light Infantry Brigade.
For Gurkha mercenaries, although they can obey the commander's orders and know how to conduct team operations, they can do it by car. It is too difficult for them to operate tanks and armored vehicles, at least not enough time.
The 7th Armored Brigade among the two British brigades is basically fully formed. The officers and soldiers are very familiar with armored force operations, but I don’t know if there was a problem with the previous army building ideas. This unit lacks the infantry force to cover it.
The 63rd Brigade of the British-Australian Army is a unit organized by Australian soldiers. They are also all white soldiers. They are similar to the pure British Army. If there is any difference, they should be more capable and tougher!
However, the 63rd Brigade is basically a pure infantry brigade. In addition to transport vehicles and artillery vehicles, it only has two armored command vehicles in the headquarters. It has neither other armored forces nor the combat experience of armored forces.
Li Junhao wanted to break up and reorganize the two British brigades. To this end, he had already communicated with the British General Staff through the Allied Far East Headquarters and obtained the reorganization and absolute command rights of these two brigades.
The two newly formed tank brigades abandoned their previous British equipment and replaced them with American-made armored vehicles.
Each brigade has six battalions, including a brigade headquarters battalion, a 105mm self-propelled artillery battalion modified using a GMC-353 universal truck chassis, a medium tank battalion equipped with 36 M4 "Sherman", and two equipped with 40 vehicles each M3 "Stuart" light tank battalion, a reconnaissance battalion equipped with 48 M3 wheeled armored vehicles; the infantry equipped by each battalion ride on M3 half-track personnel carriers during the march, and GMC-355 armored trucks are used for material transportation.
The two tank brigades each have 5,000 people. The regiment-level organization has been cancelled. All armored vehicles are equipped with voice radios...
Li Junhao consciously taught them some of the armored force tactics he learned about later generations. He believed that with such equipment configuration and technical tactics, it would not be a problem to defeat the Japanese army with weak armored force.
After this adjustment, the two tank brigades, which were renamed Allied Forces 105 and 106, began to re-integrate. The two brigade commanders, Brigadier General Lores and Brigadier Montero, have been developed by him into his own people. Under their command, the two brigades are training very smoothly and are rapidly forming combat effectiveness.
For the Gurkha Brigade, which currently has six battalions, the value of the weapons and equipment invested is not high. They are mainly various light weapons. The heavy equipment is only various modified versions of Dodge T214 medium-sized jeeps and Dodge WC54 armored carriages. Military truck.
It is simple to equip the 109th Brigade with all this equipment, but Li Junhao spent no less thought on other aspects than the two tank brigades.
The Gurkhas are brave and good at fighting and loyal to their employers, but their shortcomings are also very obvious. They have a low level of education. Apart from weapons, they are unwilling to accept anything too new. Just training them to drive vehicles is a difficult task.
There is a simple example that proves that Li Junhao equipped the Gurkhas with M1 Garand rifles, M1 carbines, and Browning M1918 automatic rifles, but the weapon they valued most personally was their own machetes!
After discovering this, Li Junhao used the system mall to purchase 5,500 ultra-high-strength Gurkha scimitars and gave them to them. The loyalty gained from this definitely exceeded the salary of 30 US dollars!
Different from the management method of the British army, from the earliest time when they received the first Gurkha battalion, Li Junhao let them choose their own leaders at all levels. Now even the brigade commander has been replaced by a Gurkha named Kuka. Man, the actual effect is very good. Of course, some of the most powerful and influential among them were brought under his command.
Through various measures, the loyalty of the two tank brigades and the Gurkha brigade to him has been fully guaranteed, and the training effect has become increasingly apparent. He believes that after the training is over, this will be a strong army!
(End of chapter)
