In the colonies, the British tended to follow the model of local governance by the locals, and the colonial army made up the majority of the British army, especially in India, where the number of British soldiers was less than 20 percent, and the rest were indigenous Indian soldiers. The docile character of the Indians and the contradictions between the states were exploited by the British, who achieved a solid rule over India.

But in this way, the combat effectiveness of the colonial army can be imagined, including the British soldiers, who are excellent soldiers in the country, once they reach the colony, their combat effectiveness will drop by dozens of points, and they are busy making money and enjoying themselves. This was also the main reason for the rapid collapse of the British army after being ambushed, and the British army suffered a shameful defeat in the early stage, both in Burma and South Africa.

The failure of successive blind offens put the British colonial authorities under tremendous pressure, and the death of the British commander, Lieutenant General Mega, forced officials in London to re-examine the Burmese Free Army (FMA) as an insurgent force, and at the suggestion of the Burmese colonial authorities, London agreed to suspend the offensive and wait for the rainy season to pass before the Burmese offensive had passed.

The effects of fighting in the rainy season are mutual, and Yongjimi doesn't want to fight in this kind of ghost weather, and the pouring rain is a disaster for a large-scale war, but the small-scale infiltration is just right. The British army suffered two defeats in a row, and they did not dare to come out in Mandalay, giving the Free Army a broad space for development.

Britain had a bad year, first in Boer and then in Burma, and armed uprisings in the colonies broke out one after another. Both places had behind-the-scenes state masterminds, but the British had no way to directly wage war with the host country, so they could only do their best to exterminate the rebel army in the colonies. Taking advantage of the rainy season, the British army continued to move troops, and India was mobilized with 50,000 colonial soldiers, who were simply armed and sent to Yangon, and then marched north in batches.

By early October 1904, the dry season had arrived. The strength of the British army in Burma also reached more than 70,000 people, including an infantry division from the British mainland, 3 infantry divisions of the Indian colonial army, 1 infantry division of the Burmese colonial army, and 253 artillery pieces. Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, Kitchener, who fought in the Boer War, was the commander-in-chief. In South Africa, the guerrillas were exterminated by all means of cruelty, and the Boer farms were burned, destroyed, and concentration camps were established (the term concentration camp was used for the first time). The British learned the lessons of previous defeats and appointed Douglas, who had combat experience and was familiar with tropical terrain. Major General Haig assisted Kitchener.

Douglas. Haig had participated in the Second Boer War and had extensive experience in dealing with guerrilla warfare. He then served as Inspector General under Kitchener as a colonel and was promoted to Major General for the Burma War, participating in the war against the Free Army of Burma. Kitchener and Haig were considered by London to be the best candidates to eliminate the partisans. The Indian Governor-General Curzon was responsible for the logistical supply of the 70,000-strong army, and the supplies were provided by India itself, except for some munitions.

On 12 October, Kitchener and Haig arrived in Mandalay and held their first operational meeting. There was no Ah San wrapped in a headscarf in the conference room. There were no Burmese generals either, all of them were arrogant, arrogant, and bearded British generals. It is not surprising that the superior generals in the colonial army were all British, how could they allow inferior colonists to hold important military posts?

"Your Excellency, Commander," Haig said, pointing to the map with his baton in hand, "the Free Army is currently entrenched in a vast area east and north of Mandalay, and is spreading from south to south. Intelligence officers in Lashio, Si Kao, Moning and other places have discovered the training camps of the Free Army, but as far as I know, the training camps of the Free Army are not limited to these. There are many more hidden in the rainforest. ”

"It's very clear that the Chinese are behind the Free Army of Burma. The Free Army was based in the northern rainforests, so the most important thing was to find the transportation routes between the Chinese and the Free Army and cut them off. Raphael, this is crucial, and I want to get information on this in the shortest possible time. Kitchener said to Raphael, the head of the intelligence service.

"It is difficult for our informants to penetrate the interior of the rainforest, where the Free Army has a broad popular base. And full of wariness of the outside world and strangers. ”

"No matter how difficult it is, I just want to see the results!" The irascible Kitchener has supreme authority, and Raphael can only say that he will find the way as soon as possible.

"In addition, I will gradually advance north and east from Mandalay, and gather all the people in the villages to watch over them. Completely eliminate the basis of the activities of the Free Army, and place heavy troops in every key communication artery, so that the Free Army cannot move around. Major General Haig, you can announce the military arrangement. "Kitchener showed the courage of the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from the outset, and the measures taken were arguably aimed at the weakness of guerrilla warfare.

These are the experiences accumulated by Britain in the Boer War, cutting off the foreign aid of the Free Army is equivalent to breaking the arm of the Free Army, and the establishment of concentration camps has made the Free Army a dehydrated fish, without supplies and intelligence support, Kitchener seems to see the Free Army on a dead end. These strategies were all devised by Kitchener and Haig, but the following generals implemented them with average results.

The first was Raphael's intelligence department, who bribed a large number of locals to infiltrate the rainforest and find passages, but very few returned, and they did not bring back any valuable information. The Indian and Burmese divisions responsible for the establishment of concentration camps were scattered around Mandalay in regimental units, and their slow and lazy actions made the British generals collapse, and by the beginning of November, they did not set up a few concentration camps, but were attacked by the guerrillas several times, although there were not many casualties, but the morale of the colonial army was even lower, and few people were really willing to die.

The movements of the British army were well known to Yong Jimi, and his previous operations in places from Mandalay to Yangon allowed him to establish an effective intelligence agency that provided a steady stream of intelligence to the Free Army. Wuhan would also provide them with information about the British army, and the British were desperate to find a transportation route, which made Yong Jimi feel the need to launch a large-scale battle to divert the attention of the British army and expand the impact of the war in Burma again. In addition, it was necessary to break Kitchener's concentration camp policy and disrupt the strategy of the British army through this operation.

The terrain of the line from Yunnan to Burma is very complex, the terrain of mountains and valleys makes transportation particularly difficult, and the Red River, Lancang River and other large rivers shuttle between the mountains, and the logistics of the Free Army have been in a state of tension. Mejia's attack allowed the Free Army to capture a large amount of supplies, but it was never a way to sit on the mountain and eat empty, and Yong Jimi decided that the purpose of this battle was to obtain supplies.

There is no fatter destination in Burma than the British Army's supply warehouse in Mandalay, which is located west of Mandalay and stores most of the supplies of the British army of more than 70,000 people, and the supplies transported through the Irrawaddy River are first stored in Langwa and then transported to the British barracks in Mandalay as needed.

On November 3, 1904, Yong Jimi led the main force of the 1,000 Free Army and 2,000 ordinary soldiers to the vicinity of Gragui, southwest of Lashio, where there was a concentration camp of up to 5,000 people, and the villagers of the nearby villages were concentrated and the number was growing. Soldiers of an Indian infantry regiment stood guard here.

Through reconnaissance, the Free Army launched an attack from the southeast of the camp, which was commanding and overlooked the entire camp, and the Indian regiment did not set up a cordon here, providing a good opportunity for the Free Army to attack.

The elite snipers from the mountain brigade of the Zhenguo Army fired first, a soldier on the watchtower fell, and the soldiers of the Free Army immediately charged, they were all ordinary soldiers with little training, armed with few firearms, most of them cold weapons, but they were full of hatred for the British under the bewitchment of Yong Jimi.

The Indian soldiers were slow to react and only began to organize a counterattack when the Free Army approached the concentration camp, and the soldiers on the wooden wall fired at the Free Army soldiers, who kept falling to the ground. And there are more and more Indian soldiers fighting back. Yong Jimi, who was watching the battle from behind, found that the Indian soldiers had launched several mountain guns and set up artillery positions on a high ground in the camp, and the fire was shining, and the losses of the free army were getting bigger and bigger, and they had to retreat temporarily.

In addition to Gragui, several other concentration camps set up by the British were attacked, and the Free Army abandoned the tactics of retreating immediately after the previous sneak attack, and he was pleasantly surprised that Kitchener in Mandalay received more and more requests for help.

"Major General Haig, it seems that the Free Army is running out of patience, and our strategy forces the Free Army to come out of the rainforest and engage us head-on." Kitchener's beard was slightly upturned, indicating that the commander was very happy.

"Yes, Your Excellency Commander's tactics have quickly paid off, and judging from the intelligence, those attacking Free Army are definitely their main force, and I propose to immediately reinforce them and wipe them out near the concentration camp!" (To be continued.) )