Towards noon, a large contingent of people was slowly moving along a long and winding SARS road about 20 kilometres southeast of Mandalay. As far as the eye can see, the soldiers in this field green team are not neatly equipped - some wear Thai helmets similar to tropical large-brimmed helmets, some wear British flat-brimmed steel helmets, and some wear short-brimmed cloth military caps, and these people's weapons are also varied, one team carries a Thai imitation 38 rifle similar to the 38 rifle, the other team is a legal M1902 Indochina rifle, and some soldiers use a Li . Enfield rifles and Mauser rifles. If it weren't for the flag-bearers carrying the flag of the King of Thailand, one might think that this was a complex international column.

"Enemy planes! Enemy! All get off the highway and hide! ”

The heralds on horseback shouted the commander's orders, and it was astonishing that the team disappeared into the dirt road at such a fast speed - despite the slow march of these soldiers, they could accelerate to the fastest speed at the command to disperse and conceal, and finally flash into the woods beside the road with lightning speed.

Moments later, a group of silver-gray fighters glided at a very low altitude, but all they were left with prey was a handful of baggage vehicles scattered along the road. Frustrated, the German pilots had to vent their anger on the wagons, wagons, and trolleys, but aerial bombs and machine-gun bullets were too much to do against these targets.

"Alas, why do you think we are coming to war with the Germans! Don't they know how good the Germans are? A Thai non-commissioned officer with an anxious face muttered with some opinion that the so-called "they" were the pro-Japanese generals who currently control the Thai ** team. Although King Rama VI of Thailand advocated relative neutrality in the German-Japanese War, the generals who wielded military power used the Treaty of Alliance between Japan and Thailand to force the government to accept the Japanese request for troops.

By the time the German-Turkish Expeditionary Force launched the Burma campaign, six integrated Thai divisions had quietly crossed the border into Burma.

Hearing the non-commissioned officer complain, many of the soldiers around him agreed with him.

"Even the Japanese can't beat the Germans, how can we?"

"Don't talk about the Japanese, France, Britain, and the United States have all been defeated by the Germans, I don't think we'd better go to death!"

"I've heard that the Germans' cannons were thick enough to fit a person. Their chariot was as big as a hill! ”

"Didn't you see that the planes of the Germans were always flying over our heads? I guess I was hung up by them before I got to the battlefield! ”

"Or ...... Let's get out of the way! ”

Eventually, all eyes were focused on the soldier who had proposed to desert.

The non-commissioned officer who had taken the lead in complaining just now looked around cautiously, and since the air raid sirens had not yet been lifted, the other soldiers were also chatting in small groups, while the officer standing not far away just watched all this silently.

"Listen to me, if you run away now, you will definitely be caught! When we get to the battlefield, we'll see the opportunity......" The non-commissioned officer made an open gesture with two fingers, "so that even if we are caught, we can be said to be scattered by the enemy!" ”

Don't think about it. The surrounding Thai soldiers gladly accepted the suggestion, which sounded good.

A few minutes later, the herald on horseback reappeared on the road, "All the team, keep moving!" ”

With reluctance, the Thai soldiers came out of the woods one after another, and the officers shouted loudly and somewhat carelessly to their subordinates, and after nearly 10 minutes of formation, the long line of Tian Green reappeared on the road, and continued to advance north-west at a slower pace.

Pingli Town.

"Great! Go 20 meters to the right and shoot again! ”

With binoculars in his hands, Andres was enjoying the feeling of the battlefield, he had never observed a battle from such a close distance. Not to mention personally commanding an assault gun battalion!

Although the division headquarters did not hand over the command of the assault gun battalion to Andres. However, after General Kleist's special advice, the commander of the assault artillery battalion, Captain Hans, could be described as "obedient" to the lieutenant from the general headquarters, and Andres at first only suggested that the assault artillery battalion bombard a certain target on the opposite side based on his own observations. Playing and fighting, he unknowingly entered the state of the commander. In the haze, he saw the Corsican boy standing in Toulon.

There was another rumbling cannon sound, and the 35 assault guns that occupied suitable gun positions in the towns on the west bank of the river successively smashed angry shells at the Japanese troops on the opposite bank, and by this time the first five German river crossing operations had all ended in failure, and the number of casualties had broken through the previous ones, and the Japanese commander on the opposite side may be looking forward to the medal awarded by the emperor, but the arrival of this German assault gun battalion made the German firepower surge, and the German infantry was also actively preparing for the next attack.

"Well done!"

Seeing that his designated target was enveloped in dense artillery fire, Andrés did not hesitate to praise himself, albeit as an unofficial temporary commander. It is indeed exciting to be able to command such a high-quality force.

"10 meters to the right of the previous target, that bungalow, kill it!"

Intuition told Andrés that it would be a good idea to deploy a few mortars in that position, and the German infantry in charge of the attack also observed heavy mortar fire in that direction.

The rumbling of artillery came one after another, and the division's assault gun battalion not only had more than 30 assault guns, but also the corresponding half-tracked ammunition transport vehicles, and the German assault gunners did not need to worry too much about ammunition, just as the shelling was nearing the end. A whole squadron of German "Condors" appeared over the battlefield.

"This is Greybird 1, this is Greybird 1, please indicate the target of the ground attack!"

When the pilot's voice came over the walkie-talkie, the front-line commander here, a German army colonel in his forties, turned his head to look at Andres, and it was clear that he had also received special "attention" from Kleist.

Andres whispered a few words to the lieutenant beside him, and the lieutenant walked over to the colonel and whispered something. I saw that the colonel nodded, and then picked up the microphone, "Gray Bird No. 1, Gray Bird No. 1, this is Gray Wolf No. 1, we are crossing the river now, please pay attention to suppressing the Japanese firepower!" Please suppress the Japanese fire! ”

"Roger!"

More than 20 Vulture II dive bombers began to hover at an altitude of four to five hundred meters above the battlefield, which was not a standard dive altitude, but it was conducive to the pilots observing the fires on the Japanese positions.

After a shrill whistle. A large number of well-equipped German infantry quickly rushed down the river beach with kayaks, assault boats and other means of crossing the river, and the gravel beach, which was only a few meters deep, suddenly became crowded, and with the fire support of our own assault guns, mortars and machine guns, the first kayak carrying several soldiers quickly left the river beach, and in just half a minute, more than 20 boats were trying to row to the opposite bank.

At this time, the Japanese position was surprisingly quiet, but the officers who had experienced the previous attacks told Andres. The Japanese army adopted the strategy of "attacking half-crossing".

Andres' eyes widened, and sure enough, when the first dinghy was just a step away from the opposite beach, a wolf-like cry broke the peace on the other side. Immediately afterwards, the dense fire burst out in an instant, and the bullets and shells covered a large area of the river in an instant, and several small boats approaching the opposite bank were suddenly overturned by the rain of bullets, and the casualties of the German officers and men in those small boats in the middle of the river also increased sharply with almost no shelter.

A hint of anger flashed across Andrés' face, and he lowered his binoculars and gave Hans a look not far away. He turned his head to look at the Colonel Commander on the other side. The two immediately understood. 35 assault guns, 35 long-barreled 75mm guns, and 35 angry shells smashed into the opposite bank at the first time. The places where the Japanese firepower was concentrated began to be favored by them.

In the sky, part of the Vulture II began to climb rapidly, and the other part dived towards the Japanese position at a small angle, and the two 7.92mm machine guns in the wing position were slightly less powerful in terms of power, but the accurate and steady fire immediately made many of the Japanese machine guns dumb.

On this side of the river, the German river crossing troops who were shot by the Japanese army did not appear in confusion, one after another rubber boats were continuously put into the river, the Japanese bullets continued to splash beside them, and the German infantry still desperately swung their short oars, on the almost boiling river. The river crossing operation entered **.

At the frequency of the German artillery firing to the opposite bank, the explosions one after another made the Japanese troops on the opposite side suffer an unprecedented attack, but this is not all, with the terrible whistling sound from the air, the most powerful weapons of the entire 20 years began to be put into the battlefield, a pair of surprisingly calm eyes stared at the ground closer and closer, and the black bombs hanging under the belly of the aircraft had opened their wings of death.

Explosions, wave after wave of violent explosions, ravaged the area not wide on the other side of the river. The Japanese firepower was completely suppressed at this moment, and the German fighters that dropped the bombs had just taken off, and the following group began to dive again.

Taking advantage of the temporary cessation of Japanese firepower, the German river-crossing troops quickly narrowed the distance with the river beach on the opposite bank, and with the blessing and expectation of their own officers and soldiers, the first small boat finally approached the river beach, and when several infantry staggered onto the river beach, everyone's hearts almost rose to their throats. Fortunately, although two soldiers were shot and fell, the rest managed to break through to the root of the embankment, which was a dead end of Japanese fire.

Encouraged by the German planes that had lost all their bombs and continued to hover over the battlefield, more and more tenacious German infantry rushed to the other side of the river, and the fierce battle soon became white-hot, bloody hand-to-hand combat between the houses and the streets, and the morale of the German officers and soldiers was at this time extremely high, and only 25 minutes later, the Japanese defenders were driven out of their positions.

If the soldiers knew that their crown prince was watching the battle on the other side, the joy of victory would have come even stronger.

At the headquarters of the Combined German-Turkish Expeditionary Force, there was no obvious joy or anxiety on the faces of the busy officers.

"General, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived at the front, although we have basically controlled the west of the Mu River, but it is a ......battlefield after all" spoke a middle-aged officer with the rank of colonel, Oskar Oscar, commander of the German Expeditionary Force. Feng. One of the close staff officers of Lieutenant General Hutiel.

The crown prince's presence at the front line was originally a good thing to inspire the military, but the complex terrain of Southeast Asia and the Japanese army's heart to fight to the death obviously made the royal family and the Supreme Command have some scruples, not to mention that Andres is the only son of the Kaiser. As a result, the whereabouts of the crown prince have become a secret and the object of close attention at the top of the hierarchy "Kleist is cautious, we can rest assured of this!" His Majesty intends to let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince be nurtured on the battlefield, which is a good thing for the empire and the army! Huttière, the best infantry commander in the German Army, looked up at the humble windows of the camp tent, and from the shadows it was empty.

"Tell Kleist to send His Highness back to the General Headquarters before evening! Regardless of the outcome of the battle during the day, I think the Japanese army will definitely make a move tonight! Hutiel walked to the large battlefield sand table and said: "According to our intelligence, a Thai ** team entered Myanmar the day before yesterday, and our reconnaissance plane also discovered their traces!" Although the combat effectiveness of the Thai army is very limited, this is a signal - the Japanese army does not intend to abandon Burma! ”

"If I were the commander of the Japanese army, and I still had 200,000 troops in my hands, I would also choose to make a bold counterattack!" The colonel before said very approvingly.

"But where is the place to fight back?" Another colonel's staff officer stared at the sand table with a frown.

"The jungle prevents us from seeing the distribution of Japanese forces, and judging from the current firepower of the Japanese defense line, the closer you get to Mandalay, the stronger the Japanese forces seem to be, but this is only a superficial phenomenon!" Huttière was also a little worried, if he was fighting in the endless plains, then he would not hesitate to put the panzer division into the great depth interspersed combat - although famous for infantry tactics, Huttière is not the kind of person who refuses to accept new ideas, not to mention that several classic armored deep penetration operations have made every commander of the German Army see the great power of this tactic.

Unfortunately, this is Burma, and Khutiel has no choice but to deal with the situation, but in the next hour, he has to deploy a series of field reports and aerial reconnaissance reports.

"Kleist's division has successfully broken through the Japanese defense line in Pingli, where the engineering troops are erecting pontoon bridges!"

"A large-scale troop movement of Japanese troops was discovered east of Pingyi!"

"General Kleist's vanguard exchanged fire with the Japanese army east of Pingli, and the Japanese firepower was very fierce!"

"About 7,000 Japanese troops began to counterattack Pingli!"

"Our army repelled the first attack of the Japanese army on Pingnashi!"

"The Japanese offensive force increased rapidly, numbering more than 10,000 people!"

"The Japanese army threw several heavy artillery pieces with a caliber of more than 120 mm to bombard our Pingli position!"

"General Kleist has asked the Air Force for brigade-level fire support!"

The atmosphere in the general headquarters suddenly became heavy, and it was indeed somewhat surprising that the Japanese counterattack was so quick and violent, and several of Huttielle's senior staff members believed that the crown prince should be evacuated from the front first.

"Your Majesty said, don't tie our hands and feet because of the crown prince, war is not fought for a certain person, a small decision will affect the life and death of tens of thousands of soldiers!" Huttière uttered this as if reminding himself, and after a moment of contemplation, he decided: "Order Kleist to hold the Pyongli position!" Order the 2nd Armored Division to send 3 tank battalions and a battalion of annihilators to quickly go to Pingli! Order the 7th Infantry Division to move in the direction of Pyong-ri! Order the front-line units to intensify the offensive! ”

"Your Royal Highness," the colonel'......s staff officer hesitated.

"Let Your Highness have a good look at what a real battle is!" Hutiel said very firmly.