At 14 o'clock in the afternoon, Qi Ruixuan received a report from a reconnaissance plane during the rapid march that the British army on Monal Hill had been routed by the Japanese vanguard and that Monar Hill had been occupied by the Japanese army.

You must know that Monale Hill is more than 50 kilometers away from the landing site of the Japanese army, and it is also defended by the British army, and it is occupied by the Japanese army at such a rapid speed. That's a bit too fast.

The strength of the British army here is well known to the Naval Resistance Army. You must know that a battalion of British troops plus fairly complete mountain fortifications is not so easy to take. In particular, some of the blocking positions in the mountains are deep, and the depth is more than 10 kilometers, and it is not so easy for the Japanese army to take it no matter how big the price is. Mountain warfare has always been a battle of gnawing bones little by little, even if the equipment and troops are all superior, it is almost impossible to quickly occupy it like the autumn wind sweeping away the leaves.

However, the reconnaissance aircraft had already made several rounds of reconnaissance in the mountains, and it was impossible to make mistakes.

Fifty kilometers plus more than ten kilometers of mountain roads, a total of 70 kilometers. It has only been more than 10 hours since the Japanese army landed, not to mention the battle, but the speed of the march is fast enough.

Qi Ruixuan didn't know what the reason was, but he had a basic judgment that the Japanese army was definitely not attacked hard. The Naval Resistance Army has used this Monal Mountain as the object of exercise many times, and even if it is ten times the strength of the force, it will not be able to take this mountain in ten days and a half months.

Qi Ruixuan guessed correctly. The Japanese army relied on a reinforced brigade to take the Monal Mountain, and the price paid by the troops of more than 1,000 people was not too large, and the Monal Mountain was completely occupied.

This unit of the Japanese army was mainly an infantry brigade, supplemented by a tank squad and a mountain artillery squadron, with a total number of less than 1,400 men. Brigade Commander Saburo Takeshita Nakasa, according to the practice of the Japanese army, this unit is also known as the Takeshita Detachment.

Saburo Takeshita Nakasa is a celebrity in the 21st Independent Mixed Brigade. Saburo Takeshita, now forty-five, was only a second lieutenant in thirty-seven years. In the Japanese army, even if there is a serious ranking of seniority, a 40-year-old second lieutenant is extremely rare. said that the reason is very simple, Saburo Takeshita was born poor and had no money to deal with his superiors. In Japan, there was still a feudal primogeniture system before World War II, and the eldest child like Saburo Takeshita had little economic status in his own right. In addition, his family is just an ordinary small landowner and has no assets.

Since 37 years Saburo Takeshita entered China to fight. In less than five years, he has been a captain of the Nakasa Brigade. Saburo Takeshita was able to rise to the top at such a speed in the Japanese army, mainly because of his exploits. This 40-year-old captain and the commander of the 21st Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade have one thing in common, both of them are from quite low backgrounds, they are not from prestigious families, and their family status is that of ordinary citizens or farmers. And Saburo Takeshita's exploits. In fact, it is the blood of the Chinese. Of course, it is also inseparable from the sympathy of Major General Chestnut Peanut in Shanxian County. Therefore, in the Battle of Ceylon, Saburo Takeshita was assigned one of the most important tasks by the Yama County Chestnut Peanut - the occupation of Mount Monal.

In the overall battle plan of the Japanese army. The Yama County Chestnut Peanut was independently mixed into the 21st Brigade. The two infantry wings were responsible for flank cover, and their main task was to ensure the smooth landing of the main forces of the 21st Division. The Takeshita detachment was actually part of the covering force of the left flank of the Japanese army, and it was also the vanguard of the left flank troops.

The Takeshita detachment was the first landing force of the Japanese army, and Saburo Takeshita, an ambitious Japanese officer, had just set foot on Ceylon soil, and without waiting for the follow-up troops, he led a squadron of infantry alone to start a long-distance raid.

More than 200 devils rode bicycles from one o'clock in the morning. They marched all the way, paid the price of killing one person and injuring more than 10 people, and marched more than 50 kilometers at 5 o'clock in the morning. Arrived at the foot of the Monales.

The little devil's march on the silver wheel in the Malayan Peninsula had already made a name for himself, and Takeshita Saburo Nakasa had already planned a plan of action, and his troops were accompanied by thousands of bicycles.

The roads of Ceylon at night were not so easy to pass, but these devils had spent nearly a year in Indochina, and were quite accustomed to the climate and roads of the South Seas, marching fifty kilometers in the dark, without attracting the attention of any Ceylonese natives or British.

When Saburo Takeshita arrived at the foot of Mount Monal, the British army had just received the news that the Japanese army had landed.

The British defenders at Monale would not stay on the hill at all in peacetime. In the mountains of Ceylon, where mosquitoes are rampant, and the torrential rains have been pouring in the past month or so, the British soldiers will not stay in the mountains and suffer that kind of hardship. Moreover, in the British army, if an officer dared to give such an order to ignore the suffering of the soldiers, the soldiers might protest together.

After receiving the news, the British army's first action was neither to go to the sea to block the Japanese landing, nor to withdraw to the defensive position of Monale Hill. Not even the scouts were sent. Perhaps in their minds, it was perfectly too late to eat breakfast and then go up the mountain.

In the smoke of the cooking, Saburo Takeshita raided the British barracks with the strength of a squadron. The British army was caught off guard and was routed in less than half an hour.

Saburo Takeshita defeated the British army of nearly a thousand with more than two hundred men, and the battle lasted less than half an hour from start to finish. The victory was a great victory without suspense, but in the end, because the troops were too small, more than 200 people were fled into the Monale Hill by the British army.

The cruel Saburo Takeshita was anxious to pursue the British army, and seeing that hundreds of British prisoners could not be disposed of, with a wave of his hand, more than 300 British prisoners became unjust ghosts under machine guns.

The British army had already been killed by the Japanese army, the battalion commander was killed, and there was a lack of command, and the frightened British soldiers could not organize resistance at all for a while. Originally, if more than 200 remnants of the army could rely on a complete position and not retreat, it would not be so easy for the Japanese army to take Monal Mountain.

It's a pity that there was only one junior officer in the British army, Captain Frank, who gathered less than 50 people and had the courage to fight the Japanese, and the remaining 100 people scattered in a hurry and fled for their lives.

The British army of more than 50 people caused a lot of casualties to Saburo Takeshita, who killed nearly 800 British troops, and his own casualties were less than 50. However, it was difficult enough to rely on the infantry to storm the mountain positions, and after running out of the few shells they carried, it was no longer possible to maintain the offensive. Counting the casualties, the Japanese army by this time was less than a hundred. No matter how unwilling Saburo Takeshita was, he couldn't keep the offensive going. It can only be a postponement of the offensive.

However, the British army was too small. At more than nine o'clock, when the Japanese follow-up troops arrived, with the support of tanks and mountain artillery, they easily took the first line of British positions. In fact, there were only five wounded British soldiers on the first line of positions at this time.

On the whole, the British Army is inferior to the British Navy in terms of combat will, equipment level and training, but there are many quite capable and experienced officers in the British Army who have been fighting for several years. British Second Lieutenant Frank was one of them, and he was impressive in the ensuing battle.

Saburo Takeshita suspended the attack for more than two hours and gave him a good chance. With dozens of men, he relied on his position to block and retreat. Group tactics of alternating cover. Second Lieutenant Frank commanded quite well, with very few losses, but many victories.

The most commendable thing about Second Lieutenant Frank is that he not only held back the Japanese army. The British set up a number of blocking positions on more than ten kilometers of mountain roads, and Ensign Frank abandoned each position. Just blow one up. Mountains of weapons and ammunition turned to ashes, and many rocks were blown up. It made the march of the Japanese army very difficult. Second Lieutenant Frank eventually gathered a few British soldiers. Smoothly entered the mountains to the west and withdrew to Colombo.

Saburo Takeshita finally rushed out of Monale Mountain, both happy and angry. Fortunately, most of the British forces were wiped out at the foot of the mountain, and they were able to finally occupy this dangerous mountain. Each of Captain Frank's interceptions was a dense attack of light and heavy machine guns and mortar warfare. Condescending, plus weapons superiority. Take advantage of it. If the British army was given time and hands, it would have been impossible to take the dangerous Monale Hill with just such a detachment of the Japanese army.

Infuriated, less than fifty British troops had caused more than 100 Japanese casualties. And. This was less than fifty British troops and lost less than ten.

Saburo Takeshita is happy or angry, and the capture of Mount Monale is a great credit. The strategic location of the Monar Hill was so important that it not only ensured that the Japanese landing would not be affected, but also opened up a route for the attack on Colombo.

Saburo Takeshita had three options in front of him, if he had been successfully assigned according to the pre-war assignment, and at this time he only had to defend Monale Mountain. The battle exploits were already a certainty, he only had to defend Monal Hill, and the southern flank of the main Japanese army had already ensured safety.

Saburo Takeshita is an enterprising officer who wants to get more exploits. He could go into the mountains and attack in the direction of Colombo. Or go south and attack the port of Tang.

Looking at the map, Saburo Takeshita decided to advance to the south. More than ten kilometers south of Mount Monale is also a mountain - Mount Butel. The mountain is not large, nor is it far less dangerous than Monal, and there are not as many blocking positions to choose from.

As long as you pass the Butler Mountain, the full seventy or eighty kilometers are all plains. That is to say, if the Bulrett Mountain is taken, the Japanese brigade will attack Tanggang, and it will be unimpeded within these tens of kilometers. The reason why he thinks this way is that Saburo Takeshita does not think that the Naval Resistance Army or the British Army have the courage to fight the Japanese army on the plain.

Taking Butara Hill also has the advantage of covering the mountain road to Colombo. Regardless of whether the British army or the naval resistance army wanted to attack this offensive line of the Japanese army, they had to pass through Butar Mountain.

Saburo Takeshita quickly made up his mind and occupied Butler Mountain.

In his heart, Saburo Takeshita was a little chilled by the British army's several hours of mountain resistance. He was now a little scared to march on the mountain road. He wanted to have the merits of the battle, but after marching hundreds of kilometers of mountain roads, once the British army blocked layer by layer, he could not bear the losses.

The benefits of occupying Butara Hill are obvious, both in terms of military merit and impact on the war situation. Most importantly, Saburo Takeshita did not think that there would be resistance to taking Butler Hill.

Saburo Takeshita stood on a high hill, and the Butler Mountain in the telescope was almost a small dirt bag compared to the majestic Monale Mountain. The Japanese army has quite rich information about Ceylon, and the highest peak of Mount Butele on the map is more than 400 meters above sea level, stretching for 120 kilometers from north to south. In the middle of this mountain, it is as if it has been cut by a blunt axe, forming a valley more than a kilometer wide, through which the main road to the south passes.

According to Japanese intelligence, there were no British troops stationed on this mountain at all, and the British troops who had just escaped fled to the mountains in the west.

Saburo Takeshita decided to take Butler Hill as soon as possible, in case the British army or naval reinforcements occupied the mountain.

After a short rest, Saburo Takeshita ordered a squadron of Japanese troops to go and occupy Butele Hill.

Saburo Takeshita made a mistake, because during the few hours of capturing Monal, the water reconnaissance planes of the Naval Resistance Army flew over the sky several times. And Saburo Takeshita habitually thought that this was a British plane, and he didn't take into account the Naval Resistance Army at all, let alone that his next opponent would be the Naval Resistance Army.

On the Chinese battlefield, Saburo Takeshita had become accustomed to the combat mode of the Chinese army without fighters. According to the intelligence of the Japanese army, the British army has always restricted the scope of activities of the Naval Resistance Army, and all the actions of the Naval Resistance Army were previously restricted by the British within 30 kilometers of Tang Port. Moreover, Tanggang is more than 100 kilometers away from Butler Mountain, and Saburo Takeshita does not think that the poorly trained "Chinese army" has the ability to rush to Butara Mountain at this time.

Before the Japanese infantry squadron set off, Saburo Takeshita also gave a face-to-face lecture. Squadron Leader Quan Chuanzao, with a loud voice, led more than 200 devils straight to Butel Mountain.

Saburo Takeshita is cautious, and Captain Hayashi Jeonkawa is also cautious. There were still two kilometers to go from the mountain pass, so the little devil got off his bicycle and began to attack on foot. Captain Jeonkawa did not go directly into the valley. Although he could not see any fortifications on the hillside in front of him.

He sent two squads out on both flanks, with the aim of occupying the hills on both sides of the valley first. And the two squads are ready in the mountains about a kilometer away from the pass, just in case.

It should be said that the devil is very experienced. If the flanks are not attacked, then the hills on both sides of the valley can be easily occupied, and the main forces can easily pass through, passing through the valley to occupy another entrance to the valley.

If there are defenders on the mountain, then the Japanese army can also choose a more suitable tactic after a little temptation.

The Japanese army's small abacus played well, but the naval resistance army was not the Chinese army that the Japanese army had faced, nor the British army, let alone the British and Indian army. Saburo Takeshita's assumptions are all based on the absence of opponents or the fact that opponents dare not take the initiative.

The assumption is completely incorrect, Saburo Takeshita and Quan Chuan are naturally going to suffer. (To be continued......)