The street fighting in Chiang Mai lasted for a week. Under the tireless continuous suppression of the New 7th Division, most of the Japanese in Chiang Mai City were wiped out, but the Japanese reinforcements have not yet arrived.
In the opinion of Lieutenant General Yamashita Fengwen, the city of Chiang Mai is too close to the Emerald Kingdom, which is very convenient for the Chinese Expeditionary Force to receive air power support. The entire city has been bombed into ruins, and there is no need to hold on. The gain outweighs the losses by investing more troops.
Therefore, he did not send any more soldiers to Chiang Mai. After a week of street fighting, most of the city of Chiang Mai had been lost, which showed that the city of Chiang Mai could no longer hold on. In order to prevent the second division from being completely annihilated, He finally gave the order to the Second Division to retreat;
At the same time, he ordered the Second Tank Division to prepare for counter-attack. Once the expeditionary force was pursued by a heavy group of troops, he would not mind teaching the expeditionary force a lesson.
At the headquarters of the Second Division, Lieutenant General Masao Maruyama looked haggard, unshaven, and looked like he had defeated a cock;
If he was still full of confidence before the Battle of Chiang Mai was launched, now he has been completely knocked out of his pride by the Expeditionary Force. The second division that he was proud of was tortured to pieces by a division of the Expeditionary Force in a street battle. .
"Mr. Murakami, please send a farewell message to Commander Yamashita and order each regiment to destroy the military flag. The entire division will launch Operation Jade Break to fight to the death with the Chinese Expeditionary Force!"
After Masao Maruyama issued this order, he suddenly felt relaxed all over. Finally, he no longer had to worry about the Second Division. Another permanent division of the empire was about to be completely annihilated by the expeditionary force, and it happened to be paired with the Sixth Division.
Chief of Staff Colonel Murakami also looked silent. The invincible Second Division had come to an end, and no one was in a good mood.
Just when Colonel Murakami was about to turn around and leave, a communications staff officer came in a hurry and reported to Murakami:
"Urgent call from headquarters!"
Murakami took it and took a look, his face flashed with surprise. Finally he no longer had to live and die with Chiang Mai. Of course, the retreat was not too glorious, so he quickly suppressed the joy in his heart, turned around and reported to Maruyama Masao:
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, Commander Yamashita ordered our troops to abandon Chiang Mai and move towards Thailand. Your Excellency, Commander, will replenish the division's losses for another battle."
Maruyama Masao took the telegram and pretended to read it, suppressing the joy in his heart, and said in a calm tone:
"Order each regiment to immediately abandon their positions, alternately cover the withdrawal from Chiang Mai City, and move towards the ambush position of the Second Tank Division, luring the enemy deep into the area and striving to ambush the expeditionary force!"
Colonel Murakami instantly expressed his admiration for the division commander. He is indeed a leader, and the retreat can be said to be so noble;
It's so creative to lure the enemy deeper!
Murakami accepted the order happily and left. Who wouldn't be happy if he didn't have to die?
Half an hour later, except for a crippled brigade left behind, the remnants of the Second Division began to withdraw from Chiang Mai City, and the Japanese Division headquarters also quickly moved in.
As the Japs withdrew from the city one after another, the advance of the New Seventh Division in the city accelerated, and the outcome of the street fighting in Chiang Mai was finally decided.
Two hours later, Maruyama Masao was still staring in the direction of Chiang Mai City unwillingly. Unfortunately, no troops were withdrawn, and no large troops of the expeditionary force came out to pursue them, which made him disappointed.
There is no news about the half of the brigade that stayed behind the city. Gunshots in the city are still heard intermittently. This should be the expeditionary force clearing out the remaining enemies;
There was no violent exchange of fire, indicating that there were no organized troops resisting in the city. The Second Division, including the wounded, only evacuated more than 5,000 people. This was a first-class division with 26,000 people before the war. The Second Division was completely crippled in the Maiyi Battle. Even if it is fully replenished, it will no longer be the Second Division before!
"well!"
Masao Maruyama sighed, turned around and left this place of failure that he never dared to face again in his life.
After another half day, the sporadic gunshots in the city stopped completely. Cheers instantly broke out and resounded through the sky. Chiang Mai city was finally captured!
At the headquarters of the New Second Army, the commander of the New Seventh Division walked in with a look of smoke on his face. He had been commanding from the front this week. When the battle was the most tense, he even went deep into the center of the city to command. The New Seventh Division was almost exhausted in this battle. With all my strength.
Yan Haoyu didn't say anything, he just handed a cold enamel cup to his old brother. Tan Tao took the enamel cup and drank it in a few sips. He wiped his mouth and said:
"Old Yan, the city of Chiang Mai has finally been taken. These old devils are stubborn!"
Yan Haoyu said with deep sympathy:
"Old Tan, this is the Second Division, one of the first six first-class divisions formed by the Japanese. Together with the Sixth Division, they are known as the two most capable divisions;
Are the comrades suffering heavy casualties? "
At the mention of casualties, Tan Tao's face fell, and he said with a look of pain:
"Many, 2,251 people were sacrificed, 567 more were missing, and more than 3,000 people were lightly or seriously injured. The city of Chiang Mai was built with fresh meat by the comrades."
Yan Haoyu said sadly:
"There are no missing persons. All missing persons are counted as martyrs and are reported as martyrs!
Those whose bodies cannot be found are also martyrs. After this week of fighting, every comrade of the New Seventh Division has done a good job.
There is no rush to continue the attack. We will build a martyrs cemetery in the center of Chiang Mai city. All martyrs who died will be buried in the cemetery. The remains of those who have been found will be buried, and the relics that are not found will be buried. "
Tan Tao nodded cautiously. This was the most important thing for the New Seventh Division, bar none.
Next, Tan Tao reported the results of the battle to Yan Haoyu. More than 11,000 relatively complete Japanese corpses were searched from the city. Many of them had been burned to ashes by incendiary bombs, and many were blown to pieces. In addition, 2 people who were annihilated on the periphery were There were more than a thousand people, and it is conservatively estimated that no less than 20,000 Japanese were eliminated;
It is really difficult to estimate the results of this battle. There are still a large number of Japanese soldiers who died in the tunnels. We can only roughly estimate them based on the number of Japanese soldiers who evacuated.
"More than 80 artillery pieces and more than 18,000 long and short guns were seized. There was almost no ammunition and supplies, and they were all used up."
Yan Haoyu nodded and said:
"As long as the old Japanese in the Second Division can be eliminated, we are not short of supplies now. These guns are all transported back to the Jade Kingdom. Lao Chu plans to transport them back to Hedong by plane;
The Eighth Route Army was expanding rapidly, and it was when guns were needed that they were all treasures shipped back to the country. "
The offensive and defensive battle in Chiang Mai came to an end, and the Chinese Expeditionary Force released the latest battle report:
After half a month of fierce fighting, the Chinese Expeditionary Force occupied the city of Chiang Mai, annihilated 20,000 people from the Second Division, and captured mountains of weapons.
The New Seventh Division rested on the spot. The armored division directly under the Expeditionary Force and the Armored Division of the New First Army marched into the city of Chiang Mai. In the following plain battle, the armored assault group will be the protagonist of the battle.
