Tonggu is a small city on the South Burma Plain, also translated as Donghu or Donggua, with a population of 110,000. Tonggu is 260 kilometers away from Yangon, choking roads, railways and waterways, and there is a Yongkegang military airport in the north of the city, so its strategic position is very important. It was here that the famous Great War of Tonggu began.

In January 1942, the Japanese army captured Yangon, and on March 19, 1942, under the leadership of Dai Anlan, the commander of the 200th Division, the Battle of Tonggu was launched. The main force of the 5th Army was assembled late, resulting in great casualties for the 200th Division. Due to the lack of coordination between the Allied forces, the Japanese army surrounded the 200th Division, and the 200th Division took the initiative to withdraw from Tonggu without help.

Japanese 55th Division:

Soldiers: 20,259; 150-mm field guns: 36 pieces; 200 mortars; Tanks and armored vehicles: 40 units; Air support: 3 aviation squadrons.

200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force:

Soldiers: 11,000; 75-mm field guns: 20 guns; Mortars: 100 pieces; 3 tanks (the rest remained in Lashio); Air Support: None

The 200th Division (division commander Dai Anlan), the vanguard of the 5th Army entering Burma, was a mechanized and equipped unit that had repeatedly performed miraculous feats in the War of Resistance against Japan. The trucks were plastered with slogans written in Chinese and Burmese scripts: "The Chinese army is here to defend the people of Myanmar!" "Strengthen Sino-British military cooperation!" "Myanmar is China's best neighbor!" "Expel the Wakos and exalt the Alien Land!" "Win glory for the country, don't win!"

On March 7, 1942, the 200th Division marched day and night to Tonggu, the first line of battle. Tonggu is 250 kilometers south of Yangon and 320 kilometers north of Mandalay, which is an important city and strategic point of the Yangman Railway, and there is Keyonggang (Kaidao) Airport in the northwest, which is a place that the Japanese army "must quickly occupy". On the other hand, we believe that it echoes Prome on the Western Front and Moltke on the Eastern Front, and constitutes a barrier to prevent the Japanese army from attacking north. Especially after the fall of Yangon on March 8, the battle for Tonggu became even more important.

The Anglo-Burmese 1st Division, which was stationed in the Tonggu area, was extremely demoralized, did not understand the enemy's situation, and did not make preparations for battle, and was only prepared to retreat safely to preserve its strength. On 18 March, the Japanese advanced towards Tonggu, and the British withdrew to Prome at the same time. From the 19th, the 55th Wing of the 112th Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack on Tonggu, and the 143rd Wing entered the battle on the 20th. The Burmese Independence Volunteers, who were blinded by the Japanese army's ideology of liberating Burma and co-prosperity in Greater East Asia, also accompanied the Japanese army to attack Tonggu. On the 28th, more than 400 people from a search wing of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army who landed in Rangoon rushed to Tonggu for reinforcements. The two sides fought fiercely for 12 days, and the Japanese encountered fierce resistance not seen since the beginning of the Pacific War.

Due to the British army on the Western Front has not taken active action to cooperate, coupled with the delay of the British side, the follow-up troops of the Chinese Expeditionary Force have not been able to transport to the Tonggu front line in time as planned, the reinforced Liao Yaoxiang new 22nd Division was blocked outside the city, and the Japanese 56th Division is also rushing to reinforce, the 200th Division fought hard for 12 days, with more than 2,000 casualties, lack of food and ammunition inside, no reinforcements outside, and in the face of the enemy who was 4 times larger than himself after reinforcements, trapped in a lonely city, and the situation was critical.

Du Yuming said: "Under such circumstances, our army will not be able to concentrate its main forces on a decisive battle with the enemy in order to relieve the siege of Tonggu, and for a long time, the enemy who landed in Yangon will inevitably participate in the battle of Tonggu and annihilate the 200th Division by the enemy." In this way, our expeditionary force will be crushed by the enemy individually, and there is a risk that the whole army will be annihilated. Therefore, I am determined to order the 200th Division to break through on the night of the 29th, so as to preserve the combat strength of our army and prepare for a decisive battle with the enemy at another time and place. So the 200th Division broke through safely under the command of Dai Anlan, and not even a single wounded soldier was lost.

The Battle of Dong Ku was the largest, longest-lasting, and most annihilated enemy during the Burmese defensive war. Moreover, under the unfavorable situation of the fall of Yangon, the enemy army, which had the advantage of troops and equipment and had air supremacy, fought hard for 12 days. Taiwan's official war history "History of the War of Resistance Against Japan" records the casualties of the 200th Division: 64 dead and 10 wounded in the cavalry company, 81 dead and 10 wounded in the artillery company, 62 dead in the engineer company, 537 dead and 132 wounded in the 598th Regiment, 474 dead and 46 wounded in the 599th Regiment, 687 dead and 240 wounded in the 600th Regiment, with a total of about 2,500 casualties, and it is estimated that more than 5,000 enemies were destroyed (the Japanese Defense Agency's "Burma Operation" recorded that its 55th Division had a total of 702 killed in the entire Burma operation, and the wounded are unknown, The Burmese Independence Volunteers who accompanied the Japanese attack in this battle participated in the battle and the number of casualties is unknown). The battle with Gu covered the retreat of the British army and bought time for the follow-up troops of the expeditionary force. In the end, the 200th Division was safely transferred, and the Japanese army also admitted that in the battle with Gu, the 200th Division was very brave and had a very strong will to fight, especially the troops who were responsible for the retreat and containment mission still held their positions and resisted desperately until the end. The Battle of Tonggu was the hardest battle of the First Burma Campaign for the Japanese army.

At this time, Li Ming of the Sixth Army received the news of the retreat of the troops and did not agree to retreat, and the Sixth Army was now stationed near Mandalay。。。。。。。