In addition, the coordination of the Sino-British coalition forces was not effective, and the British always looked down on the Chinese soldiers and were unwilling to fight side by side with the Chinese army.

And the most important point is that there is a lack of cohesion within the expeditionary force, taking the new 38th Division as an example, of the six regiments inside, only three regiments are really controlled by the division commander, and the other three regiments are controlled by the military commander, and there is even a deputy division commander sent by the military commander who is always ready to replace the division commander to control the entire division. And there are many factions in various armies and divisions, and the idea of preserving strength and eliminating dissent exists at any time.

Although the expeditionary force plus the Anglo-Burmese coalition army has a total strength of 230,000 people, which is almost equal to the eight divisions of the Japanese army in terms of strength, the tactical level of the former is far from the same, and it is just a plate of scattered sand, while the latter can form a fist and the front is flourishing.

The biggest weakness is not in the strength of troops, but in the absolute air supremacy of the Japanese army. The Japanese Southern Army has an independent Fifth Flying Regiment, and carrier-based aircraft in the Pacific can fly to the skies over Burma at any time to provide air support, but the Chinese army has only a newly formed "Flying Tigers."

Although the combat capability of the "Flying Tigers" is not bad, and Captain Chennault learned of the movements of the Japanese planes in a timely manner with a complete early warning system, and used the original "wolf pack tactics" to strangle the Japanese army in the air, and achieved certain results, but the Flying Tigers were equipped with only 100 P-40 fighters, while the total number of planes of various types in the Fifth Flying Regiment of the Japanese Army exceeded 200, and most of the fighters were Zero with superior performance than the P-40. The Flying Tigers were able to surprise the Japanese army, and they must not fall in love with the battle, and retreat immediately after they succeeded, because the number of planes and the quality of the pilots did not have the conditions for an air duel with the Japanese army.

For all these reasons, the prospect of the expeditionary force is not good.

At the end of February, the defeat on the southern front was assured due to the undisciplined retreat of the British army.

Stilwell and Du Yuming are once again actively preparing for Mandalay.

However, in the midst of Alexander's repeated calls for help, they transferred the 200th Division, the new 22nd Division, and the new 38th Division, which had the strongest combat effectiveness, to the Western Front.

Because of the serious inconsistency between the combat intention and the deployment of troops, Luo Zhuoying quarreled with Stilwell again.

Luo Zhuoying judged that the British army shouted that Qiao Ke Bertang was dangerous, but in fact, there was no enemy situation there, even if there were thousands of Japanese troops there and the new 38th Division was there, which could already assist the British army in attacking the Japanese invaders. At this time, the most important defense of the expeditionary force should be the eastern front, and it is necessary to concentrate forces to protect the two major gateways of Lashio, Tangji and Meimiao.

On a long line between Moltke, Paulak, Nampai, Lo Yi Kao, Tang Ji, Ta Xi, and Heihe, the expeditionary force only had a garrison of the temporary 55th Division of the 75th Army with battalions and companies as units, and the defense force on the eastern front of the Burma battlefield was extremely weak.

This weak eastern front was very important to the Chinese army, and its northern end was Lashio, the starting point of the Yunnan-Burma Road. The small city, which has always been connected to Kunming in Yunnan Province, served as a logistics base for the expeditionary force and a retreat for the Chinese army to return home.

It's a pity that Stilwell and Du Yuming didn't listen to Law's opinion.

The Japanese army, on the other hand, was fully aware of the flaw in this deployment, seized this weakness, and mobilized troops in order to quickly seize Lashio and cut off the retreat of the expeditionary force.

On 2 March, the Japanese 56th Division and the 16th Division captured the important area of Luo Yikao on the Eastern Front, and then advanced to northern Burma in three directions, moving towards Tangji in the west and Lerem in the east.

The Eastern Front is in jeopardy.

At this time, Stilwell and Du Yuming were still concerned about the Battle of Mandalay, but the 200th Division of the 5th Army, which was far away on the Western Front, was transferred to the Eastern Front to reinforce Tangji.

The 200th Division, which was on its way to Mintila on the Western Front, was ordered to turn to Tangji. From the west to the east, the round-trip journey is more than 500 kilometers. On the afternoon of 5 March, when the 200th Division arrived near Tangji, the Japanese army had already taken advantage of the situation and occupied Tangji first.

Tang Ji is an important gateway to Lashio, if Tang Ji is lost, Lashio is difficult to protect.

The 200th Division, which was ordered to rush to the rescue, completed the battle overnight, and Division Commander Dai Anlan braved the rain of bullets and bullets to personally command the front-line, and on the morning of 6 March, the 200th Division captured the surrounding heights. The Japanese army urgently dispatched reinforcements to reinforce Tangji, and formed a counter-encirclement of the 200th Division with the stubborn enemy in the city. In this battle, the adjutant next to Dai Anlan was wounded, and his guards died, and the fierceness of the battle can be imagined.

Although the 200th Division captured Tangji, Relim, which was located northeast of Tangji, was lost on the same day. At dawn on 7 March, the Japanese 56th Division increased its troops and stormed Mon Bang, and the forward positions of the 66th Army were quickly captured by the Japanese army, and the Japanese soldiers pointed directly at Releem. There were only a few troops led by Zhang Zhen, the commander of the 66th Army, in Rerem, and although the commander was on the front line, he could not stop the advance of the Japanese army, and the defense of Rerem was broken through. Commander Gan led his troops to retreat in a hurry, and on the same day, the Japanese army occupied Releem.

Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe, commander of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army, was overjoyed to capture Releem, and he had to create an achievement: capture Lashio on Emperor Hirohito's birthday, Tencho Festival, and present a gift to the emperor.

On 8 March, Masao Watanabe gathered all his vehicles and made an all-out assault on Lashio.

On the road to Lashio, 20 tanks and armored vehicles drove majestically, and more than 400 large trucks loaded with Watanabe's troops followed. The convoy ran wildly all the way, rolling up the yellow dust in the sky, like a yellow whirlwind, and quickly seized Laika and Nansang. On 9 March, the Japanese army advanced to Mengsu on one side and approached Mancartel on the other, forming a pincer offensive against Lashio.

The Japanese army had crossed Tangji and advanced north from Releem, and it was pointless to hold Tangji, and the 200th Division had to abandon Tangji, which had just been taken from the Japanese with the blood and lives of all officers and soldiers. On 10 March, with deep regret, Dai Anlan led the 200th Division to chase the Japanese troops advancing north from Releem.

On the day when the Japanese soldiers approached Lashio, Du Yuming still ignored the vicious changes in the situation on the Eastern Front, and still issued the order for the Battle of Mandalay to the expeditionary force as originally planned. This was Du Yuming's most courageous battle order since he became the commander of the expeditionary force. But at this time, the main forces of the expeditionary force could not be in place at all. The new 22nd Division of the 5th Army was engaged with the Japanese in Vintin, south of Mandalay, and the 200th Division had been transferred to the Eastern Front and was pursuing the Japanese in the direction of Releem. The new 38th Division covered the British army on the Western Front and reached the west bank of the Irrawaddy River. The 75th Army of the Eastern Front, pursued by the Japanese, also began to retreat towards the Salween River. Only the main forces of the 96th Division reached the battle position. Du Yuming's ten fingers have not yet been clenched into fists, how can they form a decisive battle?