When Du Zhongqi, the political commissar of the Third Division, personally led an infantry battalion of the Seventh Regiment into Prome, Huang Yuying was shocked, he didn't expect that it would be the political commissar who would personally lead the team, and he couldn't help but be a little moved while worrying in his heart. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"You are solely responsible for commanding this campaign." Du Zhongqi's low, serious voice echoed in the headquarters.

Du Zhongqi, who was born as a political cadre and had shortcomings in the military field, had communicated with division commander Li Hongxiang on the issue of command after the reinforcements arrived on the battlefield in Promen. After careful consideration, both of them leaned towards Huang Yuying.

After accepting the reality, Huang Yuying began to re-examine the strength in his hands, the Eighth Regiment and the Seventh Regiment and a battalion of the Seventh Regiment added up to more than 4,000 people, plus the troops directly under the regimental headquarters of the Eighth Regiment, the whole army has nearly 4,000 people. Although there was less artillery than expected, but there were more than 1,000 combat troops in his hands, Huang Yuying still breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

After the night attack, although Huang Yuying continued to frantically urge his subordinates to build fortifications, in just one day, only three lines of defense were built in the south and east of the city, which were the core positions. Leaving aside the Irrawaddy River to the west of the city, only two lines of defense were roughly constructed in the north of the city. And now, Huang Yuying, who has a slightly sufficient number of troops, immediately began to adjust and deploy defense. He decided to take over the position in the north of the city with three battalions, and built two more lines of defense in the south of the city, which were guarded by Tao Zhen's first battalion; The three lines of defense on the east side were given to the 2nd Battalion for defense, the crossing and the city were to send troops directly under the regimental headquarters to defend them, the 7th Regiment and the 1st Battalion were used as reserves, and the artillery positions established by the mortars of the various battalions were established in the city.

The headquarters was filled with the solemn atmosphere of the pre-war period, and there were busy staff officers walking back and forth. When Tang Huaiyuan and Zhu Wenbo were ordered to come, Du Zhongqi sat on the chair with a serious face, while Chen Zhenhui, the political commissar of the Eighth Regiment, was anxiously pacing the room with his hands behind his back. Facing the two senior officers, the two were full of doubts, although they had never seen Du Zhongqi, but by virtue of the military rank on the epaulettes, they could already judge one or two.

didn't wait for the two to salute and say hello, only to hear Chen Zhenhui preemptively say: "Comrade Tang Huaiyuan, Comrade Zhu Wenbo, now that the opening of the Lu Academy is imminent, I announce that the probationary time of your department in our regiment has officially ended." We have been informed by our superiors that your cadet team will immediately rush to Dongoo, join the other two cadet teams, and rush back to China to continue the rest of your studies. Later, the regimental reconnaissance company will send a platoon to escort you to Donghu, hoping that you will be ready as soon as possible. ”

Chen Zhenhui's words surprised the two, as the leading officer of the cadet team, since the cadet team was incorporated into the Eighth Regiment to go south, the two have been left in the regiment headquarters, although they are not very familiar with the battle situation at this time, but the relative situation is still understood. For the army that is short of troops and defends Prome, the more than 100 cadets can be described as a large force. The two were stunned for a while, but Zhu Wenbo spoke first: "Political commissar, the big war is coming, how can we leave at this time?" ”

"No, you must go, this is the order, you must obey the order!" Chen Zhenhui's face was full of anxiety, and he said irrefutably.

Tang Huaiyuan still shook his head: "No, we can't go, this is an escape."

"Obey orders!" Chen Zhenhui's stern voice began to sound.

"Political commissar, we are soldiers, and there are no officers in our army academy who are afraid of war and cowardice!"

"This is a military school, not a military school." Chen Zhenhui's face turned cold, and he said quickly: "As a soldier, subordinates obey superiors, this is the regulation, didn't the military academy teach you?" ”

Tang Huaiyuan and Zhu Wenbo burst into tears, since the cadet team was incorporated into the Eighth Regiment, they who have been fighting with the regiment headquarters know far more than ordinary soldiers the dangers of this battle. Du Zhongqi was looking for a reason to get them and their cadet team out of this dangerous place. However, he could not watch his robes fight here in blood.

"Commissar, you can't give this order!" Tang Huaiyuan shouted in pain. As a soldier, there is nothing more humiliating than running away.

"I'm not taking care of you, your internship has been completed, the Army Academy is about to start, and you must return to China now." Chen Zhenhui was a little anxious.

Tang Huaiyuan and Zhu Wenbo met in silence, raised their right hands and gave a solemn military salute to Du Zhongqi, only to hear Tang Huaiyuan say: "Political commissar, how difficult the country is, my generation of young people serve the country in the army, and they should be shrouded in horse leather to serve the country with death, how can they escape from the battle?" As soldiers, the honor of a soldier cannot be tarnished, and we do not want to ask the commissar to allow us to participate in this battle. ”

Chen Zhenhui stared at the two of them, his eyes were red, and he moved his lips to say something, but he didn't know what to say, nothing was more painful than knowing that he was dead and having to take his brother to die. He really couldn't bear to see these talented young officers being wasted here, and their future stage was still very broad. Du Zhongqi, who was bitter in his heart, was silent, he didn't know what to do, and he thought about it for a long time before he planned to say something. But at this time, the perimeter cordon reported that a large number of enemies began to appear in the south.

As the political commissar of the division, Du Zhongqi did not say a word from beginning to end, and only before leaving, he instructed Chen Zhenhui that the cadet team should be organized into a reserve team and used as a guard medical center.

The British troops who came from the south to rush to Prome were none other than the follow-up troops led by Major General White.

While the Chinese army was desperately fighting for time to build fortifications, the British army outside the city was slow to attack, because the ambivalence of the British commander, Major General White, was at work. Huang Yuying's night attack was like a blow to the head that knocked out White's arrogance, making his actions much more cautious, but this caution is also relative, and the pride of the British Empire soldiers is not something that can be defeated by a small defeat. Although on the surface, General White seemed unimpressed by such a defeat, but in his heart he did not think so, and his subordinates were always unhappy when they were defeated by a group of filthy yellow-skinned pigs with pigtails dragging their backs.

Major General White was in his forties and in the prime of life, but after a long march, he was still a little tired. It was already noon when he rushed to the outside of Promen, and after a hasty lunch, and when the fatigue had subsided, he hurriedly summoned someone to inquire about the condition of the British troops in the forward Ebt Division. Just as he was about to hear the report, suddenly the guards reported that Brigadier General Abt had asked for an audience. White frowned and got up to greet him, and without saying a word, walked up to a high-proportion military map and asked Abt, "Brigadier General, I want to know about Prome's condition!" ”

Abt didn't bother to greet his division commander, followed closely to the map, pointed to the map, and said: "To the west of Prome is the Irrawaddy River, and the other three sides are plains, so there is no danger to defend. The Chinese army entrenched here is about 3,000, the number is the 8th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Southwest Chinese Army, and now they have built positions and fortifications in the north, south, and east directions respectively to snipe our army to the north. It was also armed with a large number of light and heavy machine guns, as well as powerful grenades and portable small-caliber artillery, but no heavy weapons. ”

"Portable machine guns?" Hearing this, White suddenly turned around.

"Yes General, God testifies to me, this is a new firearm that we have never seen before, it has the rate of fire of a machine gun, but it is lighter than a machine gun, and it has a very fierce firepower."

White stared at Abt with two eyes, shot a wolf-like fierce light, and asked Abt: "Even so, only 3,000 Chinese troops have caused our army's forward infantry brigade and an artillery brigade to suffer heavy losses overnight?" ”

Thinking of this, General White was particularly angry, not to mention the success of the sneak attack by the yellow-skinned monkey, he actually lost a brigade of artillery, you must know that this is a third of his artillery, and then I don't know when it will be replenished. He was extremely dissatisfied with Brigadier General Abt.

Abt had just been defeated, and his heart was very tired, and when he heard the domineering words of Major General White, coupled with his usual style of treating his subordinate officers with more majesty and less grace, he felt a little chill in his heart at that time, and he couldn't answer for a while. Seeing this, Chief of Staff John hurriedly interjected: "According to the intelligence summary, the Chinese army has invested a total of more than 70,000 troops in six divisions in this battle, and the offensive in Mandalay and Pyinmana is like a tide, and the imperial army is losing one after another, the defense line is in danger, and it is in urgent need of assistance. And General Charles ordered us to attack immediately. ”

With John's interjection, Abt breathed a sigh of relief and continued: "Now the Chinese army of Prome is fighting alone, trapped in an isolated city. The nearest reinforcement of the Chinese army was in Taungoo, which was a day's journey away from Prome, and there was no Imperial Army to stop it. ”

Hearing this, General White calmed down and immediately summoned the other officers and began to adjust the deployment of the attack. He decided to encircle the east with the stronger Cakron Brigade, the remnants of the Abt Brigade to the north, and to the south with his division headquarters and direct troops, as well as Brigadier General Brenze's brigade, and three brigades to encircle Prome. Although he lost half a brigade of troops, it was only the result of a despicable sneak attack by the Chinese. Although General Charles ordered to take Prome within two days, at this time, General White still stubbornly believed that with the strength of the Imperial Army, it would only take one day to eliminate these Chinese.

Sometimes, however, experience is inaccurate and wrong. For example, in late August 1912, the battle in Prome, Burma, a miracle occurred, and this miracle was regarded by later generations as the most tragic battle of the Sino-British Burma campaign.