After the expeditionary force decided on its strategy, the First Division of the Independence Army entered Mandalay City and first evacuated the entire city's residents to the west side of the Igwady River;
The New Second Army deployed along the Taunggyi, Lashio, Musai, and Tengchong lines to protect Mandalay's flanks and force the Japanese to attack Mandalay.
The new three armies were deployed in Magway City, establishing a defense line along the south of the Igwara River, and guarding the two wings of Mandalay with Taunggyi on the left and right;
As a reserve force, the New First Army was deployed along the line from Mandalay to Lashio, and the newly formed mechanized division of Qi Bing was hidden in the valley.
In the first Jade North Battle, the Japanese 55th Division was completely wiped out. The main force of the defeated Fifteenth Army was all shrunk to the Bright Light area, with Pyai, Pyinmana, and Leikou in the north and south defending in the north. In addition, a unit was stationed in Chiang Mai, Siam. division.
The Independence Army has more than 35,000 personnel. Since the new recruits are still training, after supplementing some of the soldiers from the Fifth Army, the total strength is only more than 22,000 people, and each division has 4 regiments;
The army has a total of 8 infantry regiments and two artillery regiments, as well as troops directly under the army. Each infantry regiment has only more than 1,800 people, which is quite different from the full strength of 3,000 people.
It was impossible for Chuxiong to deploy all two divisions in the city. The defenders must retain a certain amount of mobile troops and launch short counterattacks from time to time, so that the attackers would not dare to use all their strength.
Since we are preparing to fight an all-round street battle with the Japanese, it is very important to build a defense system based on the city. After the First Division settled in, it dug tunnels day and night and carried out urban tunnel warfare. This is the strength of the independent army system.
In order to buy time for the first division to deploy its defenses, the New Third Army sent a regiment to defend Yangmiding, a railway point, and formed a confrontation with the Japs in Binmana along the transportation line. The regiment leader was Wan Peng, the former commander of the Central Army Corps.
Yangmiding is a small town along the Guangguang-Mandalay railway. It is located in the middle of the north-south defense line from Magway to Taunggyi. The Japs must pass through to attack Mandalay along the railway.
After receiving the mission, the 1st Regiment of the 2nd Division of the New Third Army, led by the regiment leader Wan Peng, drove into Yangmiding City to deploy defenses, and then immediately held a pre-war deployment meeting.
"Comrades, according to the requirements of the division headquarters, our regiment must defend the city of Yangmiding for three days, and then retreat to the two wings and let the Japanese Sixth Division enter;
Many of you may not know that our Sixth Division is a group of beasts, known as the Beast Division, that harms the Chinese people for fun.
After occupying Jinling City, they not only massacred prisoners of war, but also massacred unarmed civilians, killing people for fun. This was a heinous crime. As long as I, a Chinese man, have a chance to fight against the Sixth Division, I will just say, go to death! "
After hearing this, the battalion commander gritted his teeth and said:
"Captain, there is nothing to say about attacking the Sixth Division. We have no say in how many days we will fight, but in these three days our regiment can fight freely and destroy as many as we can."
Wan Peng coughed lightly and then continued:
"Comrades, we can't fight too hard, even if we scare away the bastards. The central task of our regiment is to hold on for three days, and then let the main force of the Japanese go to Mandalay;
It is possible to eliminate the Japanese, but we cannot destroy all the troops. Let me give you a mental preparation first. We will not have the support of the division's artillery regiment. The only artillery that can be used is mortars, Wei Yixiao artillery and other light artillery. Wei Shen Cannons cannot be used too early, lest they scare away the Japanese!
The specific deployment is as follows..."
The expeditionary force was setting up defenses intensively. As the attackers, the Japs were finally ready and launched an attack on Mandalay in three directions.
In Mandalay City, the First Division was digging a tunnel. Suddenly, a harsh air defense siren sounded. The soldiers stopped what they were doing and quickly retreated into the tunnel.
At the same time, all 50 P-51 fighter jets of the flying detachment took off, 16 of them protected the airport, and 34 of them formed a combat echelon to intercept the Japanese aircraft. The two sides first began to compete for air supremacy.
The Japanese dispatched a total of 32 bombers and 36 Falcon and Zero fighters. The main force was 24 Zero fighters, led by Colonel Nakago Oshima;
Oshima Nakago is a double ace pilot. Twelve solid five-pointed stars and seven hollow five-pointed stars are spray-painted on the fuselage, which represents the proud record of shooting down 12 enemy planes and damaging 7. His actual combat experience is very high. Rich, he didn't take the expeditionary force's flying detachment into consideration at all.
When he saw Hei Yaya's expeditionary force flying towards them, not only was he not worried, but his blood boiled and he said excitedly:
"Yo Xi, a bunch of rookies, here to give the Imperial Army's air warriors a record!"
Colonel Oshima said to everyone through the radio headset:
"Warriors, the hunting has begun. Attack according to the battle formation and kill all these Chinese rookies!
Kill the chicken and give it to me! "
On the opposite side, Eagle Sauce Thorny Ferreira was equally excited. In his eyes, there was no fleet of Japanese aircraft at all, but only colorful eagle elements!
"Guys, GO! GO! GO!"
Ferreira piloted his beloved P-51 Mustang fighter jet and rushed towards the Japs' fleet first. His three years' salary has been lost to Meng Jiaqi. If he wants to make money, he can only find the Japs. The reward for shooting down one is 20 Eagle Dollars. He now brings I have two apprentices, each with 100 eagle dollars, and I make money from this.
Ferreira quickly put a Japanese Falcon fighter into the scope, pressed the shooting button, and the four Browning 12.7mm heavy machine guns on the nose sprayed rain of bullets towards the Japanese aircraft, directly Explode the Japanese's Falcon.
"20 Eagle Dollars!"
Ferreira whistled excitedly. The Mustang, as the pinnacle of piston fighter jets, served until the 1980s. It was technically superior to the Falcon fighter and had a great advantage over the Zero fighter.
Although Ferreira is a prick, he is a real veteran and an ace pilot. The reason why he retired cannot be explained clearly;
The Expeditionary Force Air Force needed pilots and spent a lot of money to recruit aviation volunteers. Hundreds of pilots in the Goshawk Air Force retired from active service overnight, and then joined the Expeditionary Force Air Force as volunteers.
The 34 Mustang fighter jets formed a group advantage and mixed with the Japanese fighter jets. Soon the Mustang's advantage was reflected. They shot down at least 8 Japanese fighter jets, 2 of which were Zeros;
Only one Mustang fighter was shot down and two were damaged. Because the Mustang had rough skin and thick flesh, even if it was shot down, the pilots had time to parachute, so the expeditionary force did not lose any more valuable pilots.
On the other hand, the Japanese Zero fighter is good at fighting, but its weakness is that it explodes when hit. It is jokingly called an aerial lighter.
Chu Xiong knew the technical characteristics of the Zero fighter, and went to the flying detachment to give them a lesson. The content was summarized by many ace pilots in later generations, and some practical tactics for the Mustang to restrain the Zero, such as avoiding close combat with the Zero. Open and close the ground straight up and down to create distance, the main wingman cooperates in combat, etc.
Ferreira was dismissive at first, thinking that an army general talking to him about air combat tactics was just trying to do what he wanted. He just listened with respect for the BOSS. He didn't expect that the effect was surprisingly good in actual combat, and he soon found it. The trick to dealing with the Zero Battle Fort was to shoot down two Zero fighters.
In order to make more money, after getting rid of the entanglement of the Zero, this kid plunged into the group of Japanese bombers, like a wolf entering a flock of sheep, and killed three Japanese bombers in a few minutes.
"140 eagle yuan! Haha, I got this month's salary!"
Just when he was getting carried away with his pride, he was spotted by the cunning Colonel Oshima...
