At about 22 o'clock in the evening, the 3rd regiment of the 49th Division of the 6th Army launched an attack on the baggage wing of the 56th Division in the Dagon direction. At this time, in a Burmese stockade, in the headquarters of the 49th Division, the radio was ticking, and the atmosphere was extremely tense. The guns roared ahead. At this time, the division commander Peng Bisheng looked at the military map, and his face showed an excited expression. He led two regiments of the 49th Division to converge with one regiment, and before he could reach Laika and converge at the military headquarters, he received an order from the army commander Gan Lichu, ordering the 49th Division to launch an attack on the baggage wing of the Japanese 56th Division on the east side of Dagon.

Peng Bisheng, as a senior general above the division level, is nonsense if he doesn't know the battle situation. Originally, Peng Bisheng was ready to lead the soldiers of the whole division to fight to the death and force the 56th Division to retreat. When Peng Bisheng saw the army commander Gan Lichu report on the telegram that the special forces of the Eighth Route Army appeared on the front line of Mengya, such a change in the situation indicated that the defensive operations of the expeditionary force had changed from passive to active. Peng Bisheng knew the general situation of the special forces of the Eighth Route Army, and suddenly felt that he had come to heaven from the region.

"Division Commander, since you led your troops into Burma, this is the first time we have been fighting. The danger of the battle situation turned into favorable in an instant, and the initial apprehension of the officers and men turned into high morale, and there seemed to be no panic about the coming of a big war. The chief of staff broke the silence. Yes! I thought that we were in danger and fighting to the death, but I didn't think that the headquarters would have a plan. Today, during the day, the special forces of the Eighth Route Army fought fiercely in Mengya for a day, and the results were very satisfying. The results have been counted. Destroying 11 Japanese tanks and 6 armored combat vehicles, the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army is simply ・・・・・・,"

"Report, the special forces of the Eighth Route Army launched a counterattack at 10 o'clock in the evening!" An operational staff officer reports. "Ladies and gentlemen, the 29th Division has launched an attack at Nanlan at 9 o'clock, we can't delay our feet, and order all units to attack fiercely, don't look at the strong Japanese army, but it has already shown defeat. The Japanese underestimated the expeditionary force too much, and actually drove straight into the expeditionary force. It seems that the headquarters has long seen the Japanese army's intentions, so it has set up a suspicious formation, which is to lure the Japanese army to take the bait. ”

"Division commander, the headquarters reported that in two hours the 200th Division will launch an attack on Taunggyi, obviously cutting off the retreat of the Japanese army." The chief of staff was a little agitated and excited. This night was extremely terrifying for the Japanese army, but at this time the Japanese army still did not wake up. The various divisions of the Eastern Front suddenly launched a counteroffensive against the 56th Division of the Japanese Army, and launched it simultaneously in the north, south, and center, which the Japanese army absolutely did not expect.

At about 11 o'clock in the night, the main force of the 200th Division quickly arrived at Toshiba by truck and completed the offensive deployment in the three directions of northwest and east. The purpose of the siege was to leave a way for the Japanese troops defending Taunggyi to retreat and recapture the Toshiba point as soon as possible. The troops have already entered the attack position, but the order has not been given for a long time, what are they waiting for? It turned out that the headquarters transferred the heavy artillery regiment directly under it. The heavy artillery regiment directly under the headquarters arrived at Toshiba at about 11:20 and was making preparations in a hurry.

The direct heavy artillery regiment has 16 105-mm heavy guns, and the support fire is rapid. The 200 Division had 14 artillery pieces, including two heavy guns, and the artillery fire was no less terrifying. In the division headquarters, division commander Dai Anlan looked at his pocket watch from time to time. "Report that all the heavy artillery regiments have entered the position, and they are ready!" "Order the heavy artillery regiment to prepare for 10 minutes, and start shelling in 10 minutes." At the end of the day, dozens of cannons began to roar, and the shells swept through the air like meteors, forming a dazzling trajectory trajectory, accompanied by violent explosions, and the Japanese defensive positions were shrouded in smoke.

The 161st Wing of the 71st Division of the Japanese Army was holding on to Toshiba, and the wing was initially not worried about defending Toshiba. Hearing the news that the main force of the 200th Division appeared in front of them, the Japanese officers and soldiers were still not worried, and they were full of information about sticking to Toshiba. However, when the fierce artillery fire was deafening and shells were overwhelming, the Japanese army tasted what it was like to be hit by artillery fire. The object of the Japanese 71st Division's operations in the northeast was basically the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and it was usually the Japanese army that hit the enemy with heavy artillery fire, and then attacked the enemy who had no ability to parry at will.

And this fierce artillery bombardment fell on their heads, and the officers and men of the Japanese defense did not have any mental preparation. To put it bluntly, it was difficult for the Japanese army to adapt to such fierce artillery fire from the expeditionary force. Its defensive operations do not seem to be taken seriously in the dictionary of the Japanese army. When the Japanese commanders saw such a heavy shelling, and the enemy had more than a dozen heavy guns, it was too late to try to adjust the defensive deployment. The heavy shelling caused heavy casualties among the Japanese defenders, and by the time the artillery extended assault attacked, the Japanese outlying positions were already overwhelmed.

At about 3 o'clock in the morning, the 200th Division attacked the troops into the city, and street fighting broke out between the two sides. At this time, in the Japanese headquarters, Wing Commander Ogasawara listened to the report of his subordinates: "The division commander called, and the main force was entangled by the frontal enemy and could not be reinforced. At present, the enemy forces are strong and the artillery fire is sharp, and our troops have suffered heavy casualties and are unable to fight again. The defending forces were ordered to block the retreat one by one and move closer to the main forces. "At about 4 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese 161st Wing was forced to withdraw from Toshiba and retreat to the southeast, and the Toshiba point was successfully recaptured by the 200th Division.

In the morning, at the headquarters of the Japanese army in Yangon, Commander Shojiro Iida was shocked to hear that Toshiba had been recaptured by the expeditionary force, and immediately broke out in a cold sweat. "Your Excellency General, the troops of the Eighth Route Army have appeared on the front line of Mengya, and their combat effectiveness is very strong. According to the report of the commander of the Watanabe Division, its tank brigade was devastated. The artillery wing of the division was ambushed by a division of Chinese troops in Nanlan, all artillery was blown up, and the 56th Division was no longer able to launch an offensive. Toshiba was recaptured by the Chinese army, and the rear of the 56th Division was threatened, and the situation was very critical. ”

"Ordered all air force units to go out to cover the retreat of the 56th Division. The 18th Division was ordered to immediately send reinforcements to Leigu to meet the 56th Division. The 71st, 55th, 18th, and 33rd divisions were ordered to stop the attack and fully enter the defense on the spot. Iida Shojiro finished the battle order and sat weakly in his chair. All the generals' emotions were affected by him, and their decadent expressions were exposed. The spring breeze came overnight, and thousands of trees and pear blossoms bloomed, but the pear blossoms were not bloomed by the Japanese army.

The situation of the battle suddenly became like this, not to mention that Shojiro Iida couldn't accept it, and all the Japanese generals didn't believe it was true. "Report, call from the Intelligence Headquarters!" A subordinate reported. "What? Ouyang Jian is the deputy commander of the expeditionary force! Shojiro Iida was shocked, the name was too terrible for him. It was not that the Japanese intelligence department was incompetent, because Ouyang Jian temporarily joined the expeditionary force sequence, and according to Ouyang Jian's own request, the name of the deputy commander of the expeditionary force was a pseudonym, and the Japanese intelligence department was negligent.

"Your Excellency General, the Chinese army sent troops to Burma to deliberately conceal Ouyang Jian's name in order to paralyze us. The enemy may have deliberately taken advantage of the British rout to lure us into taking the bait, or perhaps the Chinese army would devote more troops to fighting in Burma with the aim of eating the 56th Division. "The Japanese chief of staff made a noise, making Shojiro Iida lose his reason and judgment." Perhaps the Chinese army was encircling and ordered Watanabe to retreat at full speed. Order all reconnaissance planes to be dispatched and be sure to find out the situation of the enemy forces in the north. "Shojiro Iida's misjudgment led to the complete rout of the 56th Division.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, after the main force of the Japanese 56th Division stabilized its position, the division commander Watanabe Pifu received a telegram from the headquarters: Toshiba was recaptured by the enemy, and the Chinese army was encircling it, ordering the 56th Division to quickly retreat to Leigu! Watanabe looked at the message and could barely believe his eyes. Together? Cold sweat broke out from the door of his head. "Order all troops to quickly retreat in the direction of Legaku!" "Your Excellency General, the 113th Wing and the 146th Wing are moving closer to the main force, what should I do?" Chief of Staff is in a hurry.

"Order Shizuo Pota to retreat quickly in the direction of the first line of ridges, and turn with the main force in Reim, and don't entangle with the enemy!" Watanabe's proud, habitual thinking that the combat strength of the two wings could be completely exhausted, and besides, the enemy's forces were so scattered that they were not enough to eat up the two strong infantry wings. However, due to Watanabe's arrogance and conceit, the 113th and 146th wings fell into a catastrophe. The Japanese received an order to retreat and fled south under alternate cover. At this time, a large number of Japanese fighters appeared in the sky, and the Japanese army dispatched a large number of fighters in order to put the pursuing soldiers on hold. If the Japanese army had calmed down and analyzed it carefully, they might have been able to retreat calmly.

At present, the 55th Division is intercepting Laika, and due to the heavy losses of the 55th Division, it is simply unable to stop the Japanese army. And the 49th Division's attack on the east side of Dagon could not pose a substantial threat to the main force of the 56th Division. But when the Japanese army miscalculated, the situation was different. The Japanese army dispatched reconnaissance planes to repeatedly reconnaiter in the northern airspace, but found nothing. However, the pilots of the Japanese reconnaissance planes provided terrible news that the units of the Eighth Route Army pursuing behind the 56th Division were difficult to distinguish the authenticity of their camouflage combat uniforms, and it was impossible to accurately judge the number of troops in the air.

The information provided by the pilots of the Japanese reconnaissance planes added to the misjudgment of Shojiro Iida. He believed that a large number of the Eighth Route Army, dressed in camouflage uniforms, had secretly entered Burma and was encircling the 56th Division in a roundabout way. Some things are impossible to become possible, and the situation is often not subject to human will, which in turn leads to the rout of the Japanese army.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, Mu Shixiong on the south side of the Snake Valley met with political commissar Xiao Hua. "Commander Mu, I didn't expect the effect of the night attack to be very good, and the Japanese army had to shrink its forces." Chief of Staff Deng Guangming said: "Political commissar, there must be a problem with the judgment of the Japanese army, first, I didn't expect us to appear here, and second, I don't know the real strength of our department. Last year, the 2nd and 3rd regiments had been serving as road guards on domestic transportation lines, causing negligence in Japanese military intelligence. ”

Mu Shixiong said: "The Japanese army has formed a core defensive formation 5 kilometers ahead, and all departments should pay attention to preventing the Japanese army from counterattacking. At this time, a fast horse galloped over: "Report, the main force of the Japanese army suddenly retreated to the south, the situation is unknown" "Commander Mu, the Japanese army has stabilized its position, and the troops are so strong that they retreat without a fight, is it a fraud?" Deng Guangming, the participating director, questioned. Immediately report to the command of the expeditionary force that the main forces of the Japanese army suddenly retreated to the south! ”