But what surprised Gao Jianwu was that this time the explosion of equipment actually reached the upper limit of the system. When a series of "ding-ding" sounds sounded, Gao Jianwu watched with some astonishment as the system's explosion of equipment finally locked to 10 times and there was no more extra increase. become.
It is equivalent to capturing the little devil alive. Two senior generals are redundant, but the tenfold bonus of this joint operation is also very good. Shozo Sakurai contributed 40 tanks, and Nobunaga Itan contributed 40 150mm/155mm howitzers. , which is a great supplement for Gao Jianwu.
This was also the second battle since the Second Theater Expeditionary Force entered the British territory of Burma. Gao Jianwudu commanded the troops to win consecutive victories. In domestic public opinion propaganda, he is already the No. 1 general today.
After all, so far, no soldier in the country has been able to eliminate the Japs from three divisions in a row. Even if someone knows that the 15th Division and the 22nd Division are just B security divisions, the 33rd Division will not be able to do so after it is strengthened. It is truly a top-notch elite division of Class A.
In other words, Gao Jianwu's record is undisputed. Even in the eyes of the Allied senior leaders, this is a huge victory.
"George, what do you think? I just said that the expeditionary force group will not stay there and do nothing. You see, once they complete their preparations, they will wipe out another elite division overnight. Frankly speaking, this way The record is simply appalling." General Qiao said to General Montbatten with some pride.
It was as if his men were the ones who won the battle, but then again, the expeditionary force group was really in his name and was one of the troops under his personal command. Even though it's just a name now, General Qiao's status in the country has still begun to rise significantly.
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Because just relying on his results in the British Burmese Territory has greatly focused the Southern Army's strength and attention on the British Burmese Territory. This time the 33rd Division's reinforcements to the British Burmese Territory are the best illustration. It's just that their attempt was thwarted again this time. After the destruction of the 33rd Division, the situation of the little devils in the British-Burmese territories became even more difficult.
It is conceivable that after the expeditionary force group has eliminated the 33rd Division, after a short period of reorganization and supply, a new attack will be launched. In this new round of attack, can the 56th Division, the last main force of the Little Devils in the southern part of Myanmar and Britain, be able to withstand it? , basically no longer a problem.
Even though they have established a strong defensive position, if no new reinforcements arrive in the coming days, their remaining time in the British territory of Burma will enter a countdown.
"Qiao, you are right. Now, we should plan the next round of attack. When do you think we can recapture Ren'anqiang?" General Lemonbottom did not sneer at General Qiao's words this time, but was a little eager. asked.
"George, I feel it should be soon. Smith told me that their third attack group has launched an attack along the Yinlowaddy River. According to the current progress, I guess they are almost near Ren'anqiang. If If we want to capture the British territory in Burma as soon as possible, now is the time to consider how to resupply the expeditionary force group for the second time. They should consume more weapons and ammunition this time, and the casualties will be much greater than the last time. After all, this time they are facing the main force of Xiaoli," General Qiao said.
"Of course this time we have prepared two divisions of supplies and ammunition for them, but we don't know what their battle losses will be in terms of heavy weapons. The heavy weapons we prepared are not too many, only 50 tanks and 40 guns I don’t know if the artillery can compensate for their losses." General Montbatten replied.
These weapons and ammunition have just been transferred from the British Indian Territory. Since the sea port has not yet been opened, it is now too difficult to transport them by sea to Dhaka and then to Imphal to Mandalay. From Imphal to Mandalay The roads in Lezhou are winding and winding over mountains and rugged areas, which is really not conducive to large-scale transportation.
Gao Jianwu was sitting in Mandalay to recuperate his troops, but he did not expect that the Allied Southeast Asia Headquarters would now start to consider how to replenish his weapons and ammunition.
However, Gao Jianwu was not polite about his losses in this battle. Now we have a preliminary battle damage list, and we are ready to ask the Allied Southeast Asia Command for reimbursement and supplementation.
Now that he has the huge result of annihilating the 33rd Division in hand, this makes him even more hungry to reach out and ask for more. Of course, he also has such qualifications. After all, there is no one who can fight better than him on various battlefields in Asia. Victorious.
"John, look at the number of tanks we have damaged on the battlefield this time. We have reached 40 tanks. Is it okay for us to report the damage according to the facts?" Gao Jianwu consulted Smith with the God of War list. After all, he must go through Smith now to make a good report. Allied Southeast Asia Command reached out to supplement.
In fact, although there are 40 injured tanks on the battlefield, at least 30 of them can continue to fight after simple repairs, while the other 10 may need to replace some major parts before they can be repaired.
"Gao, I think this is reasonable and there is no problem at all. Let's just report the tanks." Colonel Smith nodded. Although he was not at the scene of the battle, he knew the strength of the Japanese 33rd Division. After all, they also dispatched a tank regiment and more than 100 cannons. It is normal for Gao Jianwu and his tanks to suffer such losses in the fierce battle.
What's more, the stronger the combat effectiveness of Gao Jianwu's expeditionary force group, the greater the results achieved, and the more beneficial it will be for him, Smith, to get promoted and make a fortune.
"In terms of artillery, we have basically no losses in the 155mm howitzers, but we have lost 25 105mm howitzers in the battle with the Japs. If we report this at 30, it won't be a big problem, right?" Gao Jianwu continued to ask.
Because the 105mm howitzer needs to be close to the Little Japanese artillery position to have the greatest effect. In this way, in the counterattack of the Little Japanese 150mm howitzer, five or six artillery groups were lost.
Gao Jianwu suddenly exaggerated the losses several times. He was really interested in the huge role of cannon in the battle. There was always a fear and anxiety of insufficient firepower that needed to be constantly replenished.
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More importantly, the maneuverability and power of the 105mm howitzer are relatively moderate. In comparison, the maneuverability of the 155mm howitzer is too weak. In many places, it is impossible to tow it without good road transportation. The 105mm howitzer, which is just over 2 tons, can be towed directly by a light truck or even a jeep.
For the artillery directly under the expeditionary force group, this should be the most suitable cannon for their equipment.
"No problem at all. I personally think this can be reported as 40 doors." Colonel Smith took the initiative to increase the number.
He knew that no matter how many tanks there were, it would be difficult for Gao Jianwu to immediately form combat effectiveness because the expeditionary force group had too few crews that could drive tanks. Colonel Smith knew very well that even if Gao Jianwu was given 100 more tanks, it would be able to The sixty-odd tanks were still selected for combat, and the rest still needed constant training. After all, the tanks were fighting on the move. Without long-term training, the hit rate was so impressive that it was like being a target for others.
It is only effective when facing infantry without anti-tank firepower.
But cannons are different. Smith Shao Jian clearly knows Gao Jianwu's ability to command cannons. Under his precise command, one more cannon can be much more lethal than an infantry company.
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Seeing that Colonel Smith was mainly contributing to heavy weapons, Gao Jianwu felt that this friend was really not in vain.
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As for the remaining weapons and equipment such as 75mm howitzers, mortars, and heavy machine guns, Smith did not discount the battle losses reported by Gao Jianwu at all, and fully agreed that even these weapons can at least be equipped with one integrated weapon. Attack group.
But for Smith, this is no problem. What the beautiful country lacks is not weapons and equipment, but the people who use the weapons and equipment and the troops who can win the battle.
And now Gao Jianwu plays such a role perfectly.
"Okay, John, this is probably the case for the infantry. As for ammunition, if you want to attack the 56th Division, you must prepare at least five bases to be confident." Gao Jianwu continued, "Let's discuss the air force. In terms of expansion, John, you know that we already have 40 pilots, but we only have 15 Mustang fighter jets. I hope to expand our fighter fleet to more than 30 fighter jets in the future. Do you think this is possible?"
Gao Jianwu looked at Smith with questioning eyes. He knew that the United States had no shortage of infantry weapons, but when it came to fighter jets, he was not sure how much supply capacity the other party had.
"Gao, to be honest, we do have great difficulties in the area of fighter jets. After all, our air force is mainly supporting the European battlefield and the Pacific battlefield. According to the information I know, the Southeast Asia Command can give you the most Supplement 6 fighter planes." Smith said sincerely.
"If more fighters are needed, then there is only one way now, but this method seems to be more difficult and difficult to obtain."
"John, what is the method? Tell us and let everyone discuss how to operate it?" Gao Jianwu, although he is quite satisfied with obtaining 6 fighter jets, but in order to get more fighter jets, he must fight for it with all his strength.
After all, the enemies he wants to deal with next are getting stronger and stronger.
The Fifteenth Army in the British-Burmese Territory is just his current opponent. Soon his opponent will become a behemoth like the Southern Army of the Japs in Southeast Asia. The opponent has at least hundreds of fighter jets and hundreds of thousands of troops.
"Among the Allied Forces in Southeast Asia and the British-Indian Territories, only Daiying and the others have nearly a hundred fighter jets. If..." Smith hesitated for a moment.
It seemed as if what he wanted to say next was a bit difficult to say.
"What if?" Gao Jianwu asked.
"Frankly speaking, this involves a transaction." Colonel Smith showed a hint of bitterness, "If you can capture the Ren'anqiang Oilfield relatively completely and hand it over to Daiying, I believe that you can exchange 9 Mustangs with them on this condition. Fighters, they will agree. Frankly speaking, these fighter jets are actually not as practical and valuable in their hands as they are in your hands."
To be honest, whether the troops leading the British are in the British-Burmese territories or on other battlefields, they feel like they are occupying a manhole and not taking a shit. There are really not many troops that can fight. And the combat effectiveness of these troops recruited from the colonies is even more unbearable.
Therefore, even if they have hundreds of fighter jets, they can't do much. Now they can only cover the offensive on the northern front, and they have a certain advantage in the northern air of Burma and Britain.
And the same thing was accomplished by Gao Jianwu with only 15 fighter jets.
But from this perspective, Colonel Smith is willing to help Gao Jianwu pass conditions in exchange for more fighter jets, so that the Allies can increase their overall combat effectiveness.
The matter was decided happily. Gao Jianwu asked Colonel Smith to take his supply request report to the Allied Southeast Asia Command for bargaining. In this regard, Gao Jianwu was still willing to believe Colonel Smith. After all, they were still in the same trench and had interests. Related comrades.
Colonel Smith, who has made continuous military exploits, now has a lot of calls in the country to be promoted to major general. After all, whether it is the Southeast Asian battlefield, the Pacific battlefield, or even the European battlefield, it is very rare to be able to annihilate an entire division like him like him. Even Colonel Smith is not the supreme commander but an advisor.
Sure enough, Colonel Smith did not disappoint Gao Jianwu. The result of his negotiation was basically satisfying Gao Jianwu's request.
Even though there were some twists and turns in the negotiation of fighter jets, after passing the mediation of General Qiao, General Lemonbottom still gritted his teeth and agreed. After all, Gao Jianwu and the others do have amazing combat effectiveness, and these weapons can be used to a greater extent in his hands. The effect is to defeat the British territory in Burma faster.
In particular, the Ren'anqiang oil field is also very important to them. Among the oil fields in Southeast Asia, this one is the most promising to win first, which can solve the local oil supply problem.
After further additions, Gao Jianwu's expeditionary force group now has two 24-piece 155mm howitzer heavy artillery regiments, and three 105-mm howitzer heavy artillery regiments with 106 cannons as the main artillery, plus a complete complement of 6 18-gun 75 The mm howitzer battalion serves as the artillery directly under the subordinate attack group.
The long-range artillery support can be said to be very powerful. Compared with the Little Devils, this strength has exceeded that of two heavy artillery brigades, even if the army-level battle artillery suppresses the strength.
As for the artillery configuration under each attack group, the 75mm howitzer battalion far exceeds the artillery configuration of the Little Devil Regiment-level artillery of the same level, and is close to the B-division-level artillery configuration. As for the 81mm m1 mortar of the battalion and company levels The configuration of guns and 60mm m2 mortars also completely destroyed the 4 92 infantry guns and 2 attached 90mm small steel cannons of the Little Devil Battalion, plus a large amount of bazooka rocket launcher equipment, Gao Jianwu's expeditionary force group below the wing It can completely solve the anxiety of insufficient firepower!
In terms of tanks, after adding 40 new tanks, two tank battalions were reorganized on this basis. In addition to the three tank battalions formed when the second batch of expeditionary forces arrived, there are now 7 tank battalions, 130 Because the tank was damaged during the battle, the crew was not seriously damaged. After the battle, the first tank battalion and the second tank battalion had grown up and began to have the ability to fight tanks, instead of just facing the little Japanese infantry to crush.
In this way, the 100 new tank groups brought by Kong Jie basically have enough tanks to carry out extensive training. Among them, the newly formed third tank battalion and fourth tank battalion have preliminary combat capabilities and can conduct preliminary infantry operations for the little devils. Tank collaboration is starting to take shape.
The 3rd Tank Battalion and the 4th Tank Battalion were sent to the Third Attack Group to open up the Yinlowaddy River. With such a leading edge and the help of the Air Force, Xu Shida of the Third Attack Group was overwhelmingly powerful in Yan'an Qiang and defeated the little Japanese in one fell swoop. The 113th Regiment defending Ren'anqiang collapsed, and the little Japanese thought they had a very strong bunker system.
Those bunkers made of steel and concrete were very calm in the face of 75mm howitzers, but under the 500-pound aerial bomb, they were pried open one by one like fragile eggs.
After removing air superiority and air defense capabilities. The little devils had absolutely no defense against the air force of the expeditionary force cluster, and could only allow the expeditionary force's air force to use various methods to blow up the bunker defense system that had cost a lot of energy and money to build.
Although this caused Xu Shida's third attack group to waste nearly a week in Ren'anqiang, Gao Jianwu was not anxious at all.
He asked Xu Shida to destroy the bunker defense system step by step, and then use tanks in front to wipe out the Japs' machine gun fire points one by one. The infantry followed the tanks and followed the tanks to occupy the tunnels one by one and eliminate the remaining Japs.
Although this method of warfare is more time consuming, the casualties are minimal. Compared with the bloody battles of the US military on the Pacific islands, Gao Jianwu's method is obviously much more effective. Of course, relatively speaking, the depth and complexity of the trench defense system dug by the little devils here are not at the same level.
After all, Gao Jianwu didn't give them much time to defend. Before the arrival of Gao Jianwu's expeditionary force, the little devils believed that they still had a strategic advantage here, and even wanted to attack the Allied Imphal.
Iida Shoji never thought that the strategic advantage would turn into a strategic disadvantage in an instant. When they wanted to conduct defensive operations, they would not have much time at all. It is not easy to dig out some tunnels at such a time, let alone build a criss-crossing tunnel system underground.
When the supplies of weapons and equipment were obtained, Gao Jianwu did not wait any longer this time. Instead, he took a short break to replenish 3,000 battle-damaged personnel (nearly 2,000 of whom were injured soldiers), who were recuperated in Mandalay on the spot and transported again from Jin. A garrison regiment was sent to Mandalay to replenish) and directly launched a southward attack.
Now that the management of the Jigong in Sagaing and Mandalay has begun to take shape, Dechen Dengpei, who has fully mobilized his own strength, currently has more than 6,000 members of the organization that Gao Jianwu originally asked him to have, and has reached nearly 10,000. !
With money and food in hand, and Gao Jianwu’s support, Dechen Dechen Pei’s development was completely unfettered. If Ding Wei hadn’t instructed Dechen Dechen Pei from time to time not to recruit people randomly, causing the entire organization to be a mixed bag, Dechen Dechen Pei would have been a mixed bag. The number of members recruited will be even greater.
Among them, 5,000 members have been incorporated into the ranks of the Yongong Independent People's Army. The first regiment has begun to follow the expeditionary army to attack the city. It first saw the prototype of its combat power in the dense forest chase near Meiktila. Following the soldiers of the 3rd company, they fought in each scene. After the small-scale pursuit, he began to possess certain individual combat capabilities.
Now that the 2nd and 3rd regiments have completed training, this time Dechen Dengpu was confident and bold enough to let them split into two groups and follow Xu Shida's third attack group to attack along the Yinlowaddy River. They were responsible for the security of the towns they attacked along the way. work and some battlefield clean-up work, and followed the main force directly south to attack Shanmana and Dagon.
The capture of the Ren'anqiang Oilfield gave Gao Jianwu the capital to attack at his own pace. Facing the layers of fortifications of the Japs, he was able to experiment with the tactics of integrating air and ground, infantry-artillery coordination, and infantry-tank coordination.
With sufficient ammunition support provided by the Allies, Gao Jianwu simply used the defensive positions of the 56th Division for his own troop training purposes.
Facing the little Japanese's position, he was in no hurry to destroy it. Instead, he lets his troops carry out the battle according to the designated combat plan. During this process, Gao Jianwu often just observes from the side instead of directly commanding.
Chu Yunfei, Ding Wei and Zhang Dabiao all followed him, listening to Gao Jianwu's comments on the gains, losses and highlights of the battle from time to time, summarizing experiences and lessons in a timely manner, and re-planning and improving in the next battle.
With a vision that is nearly sixty or seventy years ahead of his time, as well as the learning experience of many modern wars in later generations, Gao Jianwu's vision is naturally beyond the imagination of everyone now. Compared with those who studied at Huangpu Military Academy or even some foreign military academies, Gao Jianwu's knowledge was more advanced and up-to-date.
This has benefited Chu Yunfei, Ding Wei and Zhang Dabiao a lot. Especially in terms of coordinated operations, they regained a systematic understanding.
If Shoji Iida until his troops are now becoming Gao Jianwu's training and grindstone, he will definitely be so angry that he vomits blood.
But now seeing the well-organized defense front of Sumana, Magui and others collapsing and falling step by step, Shoji Iida is extremely anxious but unable to do anything, because in the short term, the little devil's Southern Army will not be able to carry out another major attack on him. Large-scale reinforcements.
After all, in this airspace, both air superiority and sea superiority are under the control of the Allied Forces. If reinforcements can only be carried out by land, there will be no time to transport troops as large as at least the corps level.
As for reinforcements at the division level, they have proven to be a failure. The little devils will never send them out to kill people again.
A month later, when the National Army Expeditionary Force on the northern front was still engaged in a tug-of-war with the 18th Little Devils Division, Gao Jianwu had already reached Dagon steadily and was about to complete the final battle against the southern part of the British-Burmese territory and regain the British-Burmese territory. the entire southern part of the territory.
When the colonial bureaucrats with the British who stayed in Imphal and watched finally plucked up the courage to enter Mandalay and other stable rear bases, they suddenly discovered that there was already a complete governance system here.
The Jingong Liberation Front and the Independent People's Army have gone deep into cities and villages to establish complete organizations. In a short period of time, the army has expanded to more than 30,000 people, including more than 6,000 people in 3 divisions and 6 regiments.
Of course, this is the result of Gao Jianwu's deliberate control.
The other two major forces he supported have now expanded to the expected scale.
The Zen Free Army of Zen State and the Wabang National Self-Defense Force of Wabang are also beginning to take shape. One has one division and three regiments with more than 3,000 troops, and the other has two regiments with more than 2,000 troops. They have begun to unify their own ethnic groups. The process of tribes establishing grassroots rule.
In contrast, Yaogong, which has a larger organization and armed force, has now become the largest force in the central and southern parts of the British territory of Burma. The Burmese British, who intended to restore colonial rule, found it very difficult.
Because no one among the officials they sent will recognize them now, and even government orders cannot leave the local government offices.
With the support of Gao Jianwu, the British authorities in Myanmar are now unlikely to directly use force to dissolve the local grassroots organizations of Dechen Thein Pee. So they had to sit down and start negotiating with organizations such as Xi Gong on preliminary solutions to autonomy.
Although there is still a long way to go before the national independence demanded by the Burmese government, this is already the biggest concession currently made by the Burmese and British authorities.
Gao Jianwu didn't want to cause trouble at this juncture. What's more, this progress can now meet his needs for legal exploitation of resources in British-Burmese territories, so he quickly supported this plan.
At the same time, Shoji Iida of Dagon finally admitted his failure and hurriedly retreated from Dagon with his senior staff and flew to Siam by plane. Gao Jianwu felt as if he had lost several divisions. The harvest of the group
