According to the Pingmana battle plan, Stilwell ordered the 22nd Division of Liao Yaoxiang to hold the north bank of the Siwa River, and the British army must hold on to Arammu and continue to implement the purpose of the Battle of Pingmanna, that is, the purpose of the army is to fight a decisive battle, that is, to use the blocking corps to block and consume the attacking enemy forces one by one, and then to attract the enemy near Pingmanna with the holding corps, and when the battle situation is focused, then use the mobile corps to turn to the offensive and encircle the enemy in the Pingmanna area and annihilate it. While the Battle of Pyongmanna was in full swing according to the deployment of the Expeditionary Force Command, great changes were taking place on the Western Front.

"General Alexander reports that the Japanese army is approaching Ringanqiang when it captures Alan Mu!" Stilwell's face was extremely ugly when he heard this, which meant that the Western Front was defeated, and the Pingmanna flank was completely exposed, and the battle was quickly aborted. Bai Chongxi said: "The Japanese 33rd Division only has 30,000 troops, while the British army has concentrated 40,000 troops on the front line of Ren'anqiang, and it is unbelievable that it will collapse at the touch of a button. "Report! General Alexander urgently asked for help, and 7,000 people in his department were intercepted by a roundabout Japanese army in the north of Ringanqiang, and the situation was extremely critical! "The British army sent a distress telegram again.

What happened was this, after the Japanese army successively captured Alan Mu, Dongguozhi, and Mingong, and pursued all the way to Ringanqiang, the British army did not see the shadow of the Japanese soldiers, so they quickly blew up the oil field and retreated. The vanguard of the Japanese army noticed the smoke billowing from the Ren'anqiang oil field and knew that the British had fled. The 33rd Division immediately dispatched the 214th Wing with a mountain artillery brigade to pursue it. A vanguard brigade of the wing is interspersed in a roundabout way. The occupation of the riverside crossing cut off the retreat of the British army to the north.

At that time, the British army had 7,000 men and 100 tanks. The strength of the Japanese vanguard brigade was only more than 1,000 people, and it was obvious that the British army had an absolute advantage. But the garbage British army was already frightened. Finding that the Japanese army appeared on the retreat route, they barely broke through and fled in embarrassment. The British soldiers, who had no fighting spirit, took refuge in the nearby woods and some buildings, and begged for help. At this time, the main forces of the 213th Wing of the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army, the 33rd Wing of the Mountain Artillery, and the 33rd Engineer Wing approached Ren'anqiang and tried to encircle the British army.

At first, Alexander learned that the Japanese army did not have many intercepting forces, and immediately ordered the Anglo-Burmese 1st Army and the Anglo-Indian 17th Division, which had fled to Choipadang, to rush back to Ringanqiang. But it is unbelievable that after several hours of fierce fighting, these two units with zero combat effectiveness were completely broken by the Japanese army, and they were almost annihilated themselves. After the British army was successfully intercepted, the Japanese 33rd Division continued to increase its troops, and its 215th Wing all rushed along the Irrawaddy River to Ringanqiang by boat. It is expected that it will arrive in two days at most, and by then none of the British troops will be able to escape.

In such a critical situation, Alexander had to whisper and ask the expeditionary force to relieve the siege. "The British army has been intercepted and facing total annihilation, and we must send troops to relieve the siege." Stilwell has no doubts. Bai Chongxi was silent, and Ouyang Jian said: "The British army must be relieved of the siege when facing a crisis, this is our obligation. The collapse of the British army on the Western Front, the Battle of Pinmanna is no longer possible, we must face reality. Bai Chongxi nodded when he saw Ouyang Jian and said, "Order the 38th Division Sun Liren to rush to the aid of Ren'anqiang to rescue the British army." ”

In the evening of the same day, the 22nd Division of Pingmanna reported that the vanguard of the Japanese 18th Division had arrived at Pingmanna. There is no doubt that the situation is getting worse and worse when the Japanese army arrives on the battlefield. Bai Chongxi and Stilwell immediately redeployed their combat plan and carried out a continuous blockade on the line from Pingmanna to Mandalay to slow down the Japanese advance. After analysis, it was believed that the Japanese 18th Division would launch an attack along the west side of Pingmanna, and then ordered the 96th Division to carry out a continuous blockade west of Mitiera.

Sure enough, on the second day, the 55th Division attacked again, and the 22nd Division once again carried out a continuous attack in accordance with the intention of the headquarters. Unsurprisingly, the vanguard of the Japanese 18th Division appeared in the area west of Mytiera and immediately launched a fierce offensive. On the east side of Pingmanna, facing the 200th Division of the Japanese Army, the 71st Division did not attack, but sent a wing straight to Toshiba. At this time, Toshiba was only guarded by one regiment of the 55th Division, and the situation became dangerous again. After the Japanese army broke through the British defense line on the western road, they formulated a plan for the battle of Mandalay.

The Japanese army decided to annihilate the Chinese Expeditionary Force at Mandela, and if they wanted to achieve their strategic goals, they must capture Toshiba, because Toshiba was the gateway to the strategic point of Lashio. The situation continued to deteriorate, and General Alexander rushed back to Mandalay from Shikai. As soon as they met, Stilwell said unceremoniously: "General Alexander, I am preparing for the Battle of Pingmanna, but the situation has changed abruptly, and your defense line has collapsed. The Chinese army fought bloodily and made the Japanese lose their armor. I was counting on your tank artillery, but I didn't expect your troops to run away without saying a word. ”

Alexander shrugged his shoulders and said, "General Stilwell, my troops are now facing total annihilation, is there any point in discussing the Battle of Pingmanna?" "General Alexander, this is not child's play, how do you want me to explain it to the officers and men of the expeditionary force?" All the generals were silent, and there was obvious indignation in their expressions. Ouyang Jian said: "It is still a fact that the British army is vulnerable, and it is urgent to rescue the besieged British army at present." General Alexander, our 38th division has already attacked. The Japanese army did not have a stable foothold, and there was little problem in breaking the siege. Once the siege is lifted, you have to order your headquarters to be withdrawn as soon as possible. ”

Unexpectedly, Ouyang Jian stood up in the round and seemed to understand the plight of the British army, and Alexander breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. Na Cheng thought that Ouyang Jian took advantage of the danger and put forward conditions: "General Alexander, the British army has collapsed and cannot fight at all, and our troops are short of weapons and ammunition, I ask to take over the arsenal in Mandalay!" Everyone thought that Alexander would not agree, but Nacheng thought that he did not hesitate at all and agreed, and now the only lifesaver was the expeditionary force. Slowly, the arsenal is Mandalay City, and he will not hesitate.

Stilwell said urgently: "General Alexander, the Battle of Pimphana was abruptly lost, and now we should consider the Battle of Mandalay, and we must intercept the Japanese army on the front line of Mandalay to ensure that northern Burma is not lost." In the present situation, Stilwell realized that the British army could not escape, and that it was his responsibility to hold the British army back. Alexander cursed Stilwell, but on the surface he had to agree. Subsequently, under the auspices of Stilwell, he began to study how to slow down the Japanese army's advance and create conditions for the Battle of Mandalay.

On the morning of April 18, the 113th Regiment of the 38th Division rushed to the north of Binhe after a high-intensity and rapid march, and at Sun Liren's strong request, the British agreed to send 12 tanks and two howitzers as cover. Subsequently, the officers and men of the 113th Regiment did not care about resting and launched an attack under the cover of tanks and artillery. The soldiers of the expeditionary force were by no means as useless as the British army, and the soldiers of the 113th Regiment fought bravely to attack first. The 214th Brigade of the Japanese Army exchanged fire with the British army very easily, and almost casually fired a few shots to scare the British troops away, but I didn't expect the British to dare to counterattack!

After 8 hours of fierce fighting, the soldiers of the 113th Regiment rushed into the enemy position and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army. This Japanese brigade was overwhelmed by only a few hundred men on the north bank of the river, and was forced to jump into the river and swim to the south bank. At this time, the British army on the south bank found that the Chinese army came to the rescue on the north bank, and immediately came to the spirit to launch a breakthrough battle. Garbage is garbage, and the British army made no progress after a day of fierce fighting.

By this time it was getting late, and the British asked the 113th Regiment to continue the attack on the south bank. It happened that Sun Liren, the commander of the 38th Division, rushed to the ferry, and he did not immediately order the 113th Regiment to attack, but calmly observed the defense of the Japanese troops on the other side of the river. After sober observation, Sun Liren found that the Japanese troops on the south bank were condescending, and all kinds of weapons were well equipped, and a complete firepower network had been formed. In the face of the frequent calls for help from the British army, Sun Liren withstood the pressure and decided to attack at night to paralyze the Japanese army, and launched a general attack in the morning.

The Chinese army to the rescue was slow to move, and the British troops surrounded by Ringanqiang felt that there was no hope and were ready to lay down their arms and surrender. Sun Liren estimated that the Japanese army must have despised the expeditionary force, so he used a small force to launch continuous attacks, and harassed until 4 o'clock in the morning. Taking advantage of the paralysis of the Japanese army, Sun Liren ordered a full-front attack. The Japanese brigade was caught off guard, and the 113th Regiment quickly crossed the river to break through the Japanese interception. After crossing the river, the soldiers became more and more courageous, and quickly tore a hole, and more than 7,000 British soldiers, including a large number of British expatriates, were rescued.

When the news of Ringanqiang's victory reached the headquarters of the expeditionary force, everyone cheered. Ouyang Jian carefully studied the telegram sent by Sun Liren, and compared the combat effectiveness of the 38th Division, he felt more confident in his heart. Seeing Stilwell and Alexander toasting frequently, he knew that the British were fooling Stilwell. At this time, Alexander's whole mind was to escape, but his mouth was talking about the battle of Mandalay. After the British army was liberated, they quickly handed over all the defense of the area north of Ringanqiang and west of Mandalay to the 38th Division, which meant that the 38th Division was dragged to the west to cover the retreat of the British army.

The so-called great victory of Ringanqiang is just a classic of a local battle, which has no meaning for the entire battle situation from a military point of view, but from a political point of view, it can get full marks. The prestige of the expeditionary force in this war is all over the world, and the media in Europe and the United States have trumpeted the achievements of the expeditionary force, causing many people to be fluttering, and Stilwell is probably one of them. Sun Liren was forced to stay in the west to continue to intercept the 33rd Division, which did not affect Mandalay in a decisive battle with the Japanese army.

On the surface, the situation is not as bad as it could be. Therefore, Stilwell quickly drew up a plan for the Battle of Mandalay, and he relied on the following conditions: use the 38th Division to block the northward advance of the Japanese 33rd Division, and use the 200th Division to resist the Japanese 71st Division. The 96th and 22nd Divisions were used to deal with the 55th and 18th Divisions of the Japanese Army respectively. The 29th Division of the 66th Army and the 36th Division directly under the headquarters were requisitioned as the general reserve, which could completely fight in Mandalay to ensure that Mandalay was not lost, and then ensure the security of northern Burma.

Stilwell's idea was very good, taking advantage of the withdrawal of the main British army to the front line of Mandalay, and united the British army to launch the Battle of Mandalay. Even if the British army is a garbage army, it has 40,000 troops, at least there is no problem in defending the western side of Mandalay. At that time, the 38th Division could be liberated to enter the middle road operation, and the heavy troops of the Japanese army in the middle road could be severely damaged in one fell swoop. Is that really the case? On the day after the victory of Ren'anqiang, a wing of the 71st Division of the Japanese Army raided Toshiba, while the 55th Division of the 6th Army had only one regiment in Toshiba, and it could not withstand the attack of a wing of the Japanese army at all.