Chapter 68: Approaching Yangon (1)
By forcing the Japanese troops blocking the Yangon line to Thailand, the umbrella company can achieve control of the entire territory of Burma, and the Japanese troops who have fled into Thailand can also become an excuse and cover for the independence army to march into Thailand on a large scale. According to Zhuo Fei's battle plan, by the time the independent army completely annihilated the Japanese army in Thailand, I am afraid that those Burmese servant troops who had already killed the red eye and grabbed the red eye had already reduced the actual population of Thailand to a level that was satisfactory to Zhuo Fei.
After some brief discussion, the Independence Army finally decided that while sending two more regiments to Thailand, the Third Division of the Independent Army, moving south along the west side of the Bago Mountains, would abandon the clearing and recovery of the coastal islands, and instead directly follow the coastline south to attack Hinduda and Bosheng until the mouth of the Irrawaddy River. Zhuo Fei made this decision in order to squeeze the living space of the Japanese army in Yangon and force them to move to Thailand, so as to find a good excuse for the independence army to march into Thailand on a large scale.
With such a big strategic adjustment, it is impossible for Zhuo Fei not to inform Chongqing that although the war in Myanmar has nothing to do with Chongqing on the surface, in fact, the Ruili Ordnance Base and training camp have been receiving supplies from the coalition government. When Zhuo Fei said frankly in Chongqing that he wanted to win the whole of South Asia, the high-level members of the coalition government had already privately discussed the feasibility of this plan, although many high-level officials believed that Zhuo Fei's ultimate plan might not be successful, but there were still many high-level supporters of Zhuo Fei's plan.
Although not all the top government officials supported Zhuo Fei, the coalition government finally made the decision to do its best to support the Ruili Ordnance Base and training camp, after all, the umbrella company also helped the government train the new army. Relying on the railway jointly built by the umbrella company and the Yunnan provincial government, there has been a steady flow of materials into Ruili, and it is precisely because of these material guarantees that a large number of Jewish technicians who are not engaged in production will not go hungry, but concentrate on producing the weapons and ammunition needed for the umbrella company.
The coalition government's support is resolute, so at some point, there is no need for Zhuo Fei to hide some of his decisions and battle plans. The battle plan after teaching Zhuo Fei was conveyed, and at the same time, it was transmitted to and from the airwaves, and the high-level government officials who got this battle plan met to discuss it as usual. Zhuo Fei was very satisfied with the final decision made by the top government officials, not only continued to maintain material support for Ruili, but also increased the speed of sending immigrants from Henan, Shandong and other places to the south.
Zhuo Fei's main face now is to do everything possible to squeeze the living space of the Japanese army in Yangon, but the resettlement of immigrants to the south is another headache for Zhuo Fei. Zhuo Fei is surrounded by only Angela and Vivian who have made achievements in people's livelihood affairs, but Angela has to stay in Ruili, and Vivian is sent to the border area to be responsible for liaison with the Japanese prisoner of war troops, and who to send to be responsible for the resettlement of immigrants has become a problem.
The first batch of tens of thousands of migrants entering Myanmar has been under the military control of the umbrella company, but the subsequent southbound migrants will be more than 100,000 or more, and it is obviously inappropriate to continue to impose military control on them. "What's so difficult about this, I'll report to my superiors immediately, and send hundreds of political cadres from Yan'an to you to take care of the immigrants who go south." Chen Geng, who learned about this, laughed, and the things that Zhuo Fei was worried about were all trivial things in his opinion.
Chen Geng's suggestion made Zhuo Fei's eyes shine, Zhuo Fei was not worried about the cooperation between the umbrella company and the CCP, he just didn't think of these before. The political cadres of the CCP are capable people who can successfully reform even prisoners, but they only manage some immigrants, so they are not handy. Since Chen Geng wanted to make a package ticket by himself, Zhuo Fei also gave the matter to Chen Geng, but he took out his time to concentrate on the battle plan of sending additional troops into Thailand.
Yan Xiguang's subordinates can't be considered bad in Thailand, but there is still a gap between Zhuo Fei's expectations, Zhuo Fei sent the Burmese servant army to follow Yan Xiguang's subordinate into Thailand together, not only to ask the Burmese servant army to stir up Thailand in a mess, but to use the hands of the Thai army to weaken the strength and number of the Burmese servant army. There have always been enmity between the countries of South Asia, and even between castes in the same country there will be such contradictions, and if the umbrella wants to control the whole of South Asia, it cannot but take advantage of these contradictions and resentments.
However, Yan Xiguang chose to shrink his forces to ambush the Thai army, although he defeated the Thai army's war elephant troops and armored troops in one fell swoop, but the Burmese servant army troops who accompanied him did not suffer many casualties. "Yan Xiguang is too conservative, he should continue to send those Burmese servant troops, is he afraid that I won't send him additional reinforcements?" Zhuo Fei's words in front of a group of high-ranking officers of the Independent Army made everyone's hearts tremble, and they didn't really think that Zhuo Fei was just a young man who had just passed the weak crown.
Zhuo Fei's words at the meeting were quickly transmitted to Yan Xiguang by radio, and Yan Xiguang was also shocked into a cold sweat when he learned of Zhuo Fei's dissatisfaction with him. The Independent Army is not only well-equipped, but also far more welfare than the National Army troops and even the original German armament troops, but there are also many regulations that must be followed in the Independent Army, one of which is that they must act unconditionally according to the orders of their superiors.
After shrinking his forces to ambush the Thai army, Yan Xiguang did have the idea of preserving his strength, but most of the officers who had been in the national army would have this kind of thought, they all thought that with military power in their hands, they would have their own security, and Yan Xiguang, who was born in the national army, was naturally not spared. However, this telegram from Donghu came in time, which made Yan Xiguang realize the mistake he was making, if he really violated the military regulations of the independent army, even the Chongqing government might not be able to protect himself, Yan Xiguang, who knew this, immediately adjusted his tactics and arrangements.
The changes in Yan Xiguang's department had already been known to Zhuo Fei, and he was glad that Yan Xiguang was only dizzy for a while, and he didn't want to turn his back on the independent army, otherwise, Zhuo Fei wouldn't mind changing the commander of the forward force. Yan Xiguang's subordinate changed its tactics and changed its attitude of shrinking its troops, not only continuing to send Burmese servants to plunder everywhere, but also sending scout troops to reconnoiter the hinterland of Thailand, and at the same time, Yan Xiguang's command post also began to move to the hinterland of Thailand.
The reinforcements of the three regiments have also set off from Pasang, relying on the construction machinery urgently transferred, and the Pasang side has also increased the speed of laying the jungle road, and the jungle road that Yan Xiguang expected to take several months to complete now only needs another half a month to completely penetrate. The Independence Army adjusted its tactics and faintly pointed the spearhead of the war at Thailand, but the Japanese troops who were blocked on the front line of Rangoon were sad, and the Japanese troops stationed in Thailand were even more uncomfortable.
The main area of operations of the Japanese Combined Fleet has been shifted to the Pacific Ocean, and the only old ships and small gunboats that should have been decommissioned are used by the Japanese to control the South China Sea, and the Japanese cabinet has even urgently converted some armed merchant ships to support the Japanese troops fighting in South Asia. However, these ships that barely control the South China Sea really cannot be compared with the regular naval fleet, not to mention the support firepower of the fleet, and even the fleet's transportation capacity cannot meet the material consumption rate of the combat troops.
Relying on long-range rocket artillery with a range of more than 10 kilometers and pervasive scout units, the heavy firepower weapons units of the Burmese Japanese army have always been the key targets of the independent army, and the Burmese Japanese army, which has lost its large-caliber artillery, has long had no ability to counterattack, so they can only retreat to the front line of Yangon to support themselves. At this time, the armored unit that the Japanese army had worked hard to help the Thai army to form was surrounded and annihilated by Yan Xiguang's troops, although it was only half of the armored force of the Thai army, but it also made the Japanese troops stationed in Thailand feel painful.
This is what the Japanese base camp is afraid of now, they are afraid that their opponents have been using this kind of encroachment tactic, eating the troops deployed in Burma and Thailand little by little. Yamashita Fengfumi's troops were in full swing in the Philippines, and they could not draw extra troops back to help Burma and Thailand, but it seemed a little difficult for the Japanese base camp to watch Burma and Thailand being occupied by the opponent, so the Japanese base camp made a decision - to shrink its forces and wait for a counterattack.
The Japanese base camp made an urgent decision to transfer all the remaining troops in Burma to Thailand to hold on, and if Thailand could not hold on, they would continue to withdraw to Malaysia. Zhuo Fei did not know that the Japanese base camp would make such a decision, he was just mobilizing troops according to the planned tactics, and implementing the strategy and tactics of slowly advancing and comprehensively suppressing the Japanese troops who were cowering on the front line of Yangon.
The first to discover that something was wrong with the Japanese army was a reconnaissance unit that had been ordered to infiltrate, and there were more than a dozen omissions in the defense line that was originally very tightly defended by the Japanese army, which aroused the interest and vigilance of the commander of the reconnaissance unit. After some reconnaissance and inquiry, this scout unit ordered to infiltrate behind enemy lines found that the Japanese army had begun to pack supplies and prepare to retreat to Thailand.
"Fight, immediately attack the Japanese troops on the front line of Yangon, but you can't let them take so many supplies to Thailand, even if they burn them, you can't let them take them away." Zhuo Fei, who learned the news, immediately issued a battle order, and the artillery units of the Independent Army deployed on the front line immediately responded, and before the Japanese army could fully react, they carried out repeated artillery fire coverage on the Japanese defense line.
The sky was about to fall, and in the face of overwhelming artillery fire, the Japanese front-line troops hiding in the trenches had no power to fight back, and at the same time, the armored units of the 1st Independent Division, which were the main assault force, were already rumbling forward. The Independence Army's attack on all fronts caught the Japanese by surprise, and by the time they reflected and built an inner defensive line, the rocket artillery units of the Independence Army had already bared their fangs and rained rockets on the heads of the Japanese soldiers who had just regained some confidence.