Mandalay, Myanmar.

Due to the imminent outbreak of the defense of Burma, in order to resist the attack of the Allied forces to the death, Mandalay, a city with rapid development, had to stop, build a large number of air defense shelters, frequent air defense drills, not only a large number of nearby field airfields and air defense troops to participate in the exercises, but also for ordinary people.

As the provincial capital of Southeast Asia, Mandalay's political status will be the political center of the entire Southeast Asia in the future, and now, it is the most developed city in Southeast Asia, with many factories and buildings, and it is the seat of the provincial capital, which will inevitably be heavily bombed by the Allies after the Burma War is going on.

On November 21, General Zheng Zhinan, commander-in-chief of the Southeast Asian Front of the National Defense Force, and Zhang Zhizhong, commander of the 9th Army, arrived in Mandalay and established the Burma Campaign Headquarters in the jungle as the command center of the entire campaign.

When Zheng Zhinan saw Tuozhong, the new provincial governor was covered in dust, and he only had time to wipe it.

"Commander-in-Chief Zheng, Commander Zhang, welcome."

After becoming the governor of the province, Tuo Chung officially took off the military uniform of the Burmese People's Army, which had been worn for nearly 20 years, and put on a southwest uniform. The whole person looks like he is about forty years old, but he already has the calmness and wisdom of a feudal official.

Although he is no longer responsible for commanding the army, he is still responsible for coordinating the military training work of the province, including national defense, recruitment, training, and militia organizations.

When he received the news that Zheng Zhinan and Zhang Zhizhong had arrived in Mandalay, he was still inspecting a large underground air defense center, and he commanded three drills on the spot.

"Governor Tuozhong has worked hard, how is the situation in the city now?"

Zheng Zhinan couldn't help but admire this famous former strongest leader in Southeast Asia who spoke very fluent Mandarin.

After Tuozhong motioned to the staff for tea, he said simply, "At present, the situation in the city is very good, and in terms of popular opinion, according to our old habit, it is to mobilize to every street to unify propaganda and understanding, and the current mainstream of popular opinion is against the Allies." However, we do not require the people to stand on the ground and shout slogans to the allied planes, but only require them to participate in some military production according to the streets in peacetime, actively carry out wartime military and civilian production, participate in logistics and supply support, repair of clothing, care for the wounded, and so on, and take refuge in underground air-raid shelters as quickly and orderly as possible in the face of air raids.

The people are still very supportive of the central government of the mainland, and they are all shouting to defend the nascent Southeast Asian provinces and surround Burma.

In terms of wartime production, most of the military factories were moved into the mountains, and some simple and detachable military industries were completed by the streets. In terms of war material supply, the 15 large-scale material supply centers built in the early years have been able to provide supplies 24 hours a day, which can support our army's existing military forces for at least two months of high-intensity fighting. The follow-up can only rely on self-production and the allocation of supplies by the central government.

The Allied air strikes were launched at dawn yesterday and the Radar Centre reported that more than 20 Allied fighter jets and 15 bombers had violated the skies over Chin State.

For now, Mandalay and other rear areas are still very safe. However, we have mobilized militia organizations in various localities to strictly guard against the infiltration of enemy troops, and if necessary, we can destroy small groups of enemy reconnaissance and infiltration forces in the form of small guerrilla units......"

Most of what Tuozhong introduced is the set of political axes taught by the central government of the mainland, first of all, to mobilize the people, unify their understanding, and let the people have a sense of belonging to the newly established provincial political axe. Secondly, on the basis of the existing military and civilian industries in Burma, wartime production will be actively carried out and thirteen large-scale supply centers will be replenished.

Of course, the most important point is to mobilize the people, to form well-trained, at least moderately well-equipped militia units, and to institutionalize the guerrillas.

Zhang Shusheng knew very well how much the Americans suffered in the Vietnam War, which was a traumatic war between the Vietnamese and the Americans. Myanmar, with its tropical and subtropical jungle terrain, also has the potential to be fought by all. Of course, he also does not want to increase the number of casualties among the Burmese people out of thin air, after all, the so-called guerrillas are often an embarrassing supplement to the lack of strength of the regular army. But what he wanted to do was to supplement the strong regular army with well-trained militia units. In this way, a large number of Myanmar militarized troops have been trained, and the people's self-protection capacity has been strengthened. And more often, the fundamental task of these militia organizations is to provide the regular army with enemy intelligence, counter-infiltration, auxiliary operations of the main forces, etc.

"The situation is also urgent, and judging from the latest war situation, the troops of the Southeast Asian provinces of Chin and Rakhine in the borders of Bengal in East India have already engaged in an exchange of fire with the Allied forces. Governor Tuo, the troops on the front line were once the 33rd Division under your command, how long do you think they can resist? Of course, I have already ordered the 126th Division to rush to their aid as quickly as possible. ”

Zhang Zhizhong is the head of the Qin State direction, Zheng Zhinan's commander-in-chief, and the main operational direction of the 9th Army is Qin State, the border between Qin State and Rakhine State. This area is also directly opposite Bengal and is the main direction of the Allied forces at present. Zhang Zhizhong not only ordered the 126th Division under his jurisdiction to rush to the Wenduo area of Qinbang, but also transported the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 126th Division to Wenduo by air. Further ahead was the Allied forces, small units of which had already crossed the Indo-Burmese border.

Tuozhong naturally understands the troops under his command, "Although I trust them very much, but frankly, I don't know how long they can resist, the number of allied forces is too much, the 33rd Division is just an ordinary division of 10,000 people, and the brigade in Wenduo has only more than 3,000 people, and it is very difficult to defend." There is a phone number to Wenduo, directly to the brigade headquarters Xuan Zemin, please ask Commander Zhang to call. ”

Tuozhong was not responsible for commanding the military forces of the Southeast Asian provinces, and since then, he has focused on government affairs, so he gave up this opportunity to call Zhang Zhizhong.

"Hey, I'm the 2nd Brigade of the People."

The phone went through, and there was not only a lot of noise on the other end, but also the rumbling of cannonballs.

Zhang Zhizhong naturally did not delay, and said directly, "Comrade Wei Zemin, I am Zhang Zhizhong, commander of the Ninth Group Army, how is the situation on the front line. ”

On the other end of the phone, after being slightly stunned, he immediately replied: "Commander Zhang, we are still on the position, and we have just repelled a small-scale tentative attack by the Allied forces, about a battalion of Indian troops. Now, they're firing cannons. ”

Zhang Zhizhong asked: "Comrade Xuan Zemin, in the face of a superior enemy, we can't eat it in one bite, and we must remember to act according to the original plan." ”

"Yes, please rest assured, Comrade Commander, that we will resolutely carry out the orders of the Front Army Command."

…… As soon as he put down the phone, he was interrupted by a burst of shouting.

"Report, the Allies are on the offensive again, and there is about a regiment of Indian troops."

The communicator shouted.

The 33rd Division's order was to retreat into the jungle, wait for an opportunity to annihilate the enemy, delay the actions of the allied forces, and wait for the main force of the follow-up Wehrmacht to catch up.

Speaking of the allies on the other side, the people are not afraid, just because they have more than 3,000 Burmese men under them.

The 33rd Division was not an ordinary Burmese division, but one of the 20 Burmese divisions that were reorganized into jungle field divisions. The 33rd Division and other divisions have a common characteristic: in the early days of the unit's establishment, the backbone of the army was composed of Chinese and Burmese, who were the most pro-China, and all of them had a high level of cultural knowledge, had received special militarized education and training, and were especially skilled in jungle warfare.

Moreover, the 33rd Division, like other divisions, grew from a platoon, a company, to a division, and was built up step by step by the division commander from platoon commander, company commander, battalion commander, regiment commander, brigade commander, and division commander. As a result, the combat style of the troops was particularly fierce, fearless of death, and in the years of fighting with the Allies, it snowballed and became more and more fierce. Although there is a tendency towards small-hillism, it does not hinder the overall situation, but on the contrary, it ensures extremely strong combat effectiveness.

The weapons and equipment are also good, at least stronger than the Indian army opposite, not worse than the US army, and the worse is in terms of life enjoyment, for example, the Burmese army will not enjoy the battlefield luxuries such as cola and chewing gum on the front line, but when it comes to Chinese-style rifles, semi-automatic rifles, machine guns, infantry guns, mortars, anti-tank rocket launchers and flat-fire guns, and even some bizarre special equipment, the 33rd Division, as one of the 20 Burmese elite divisions, may be stronger than the allies. The large-caliber artillery directly under the division headquarters and mountain tanks can also provide an offensive and defensive confrontation at the division level at a critical moment.

Generally speaking, the Burmese jungle field division below the division is mainly based on mountain warfare, movement warfare and jungle ambush warfare, but it has been integrated into the division level and can carry out frontal offensive and defensive warfare. It can be called the kind of troops that can stop and fight, run after fighting, run into the mountains and forests when they run, and drill out of the mountains and forests to defend or attack head-on.

For example, the 33rd Division's mountain tank battalion and 105mm field artillery regiment were stationed more than 20 kilometers behind Wenduo, waiting for an opportunity.

Therefore, although Wei Zemin knew that there would only be more and more allies on the opposite side, he was not afraid, there was his elite reconnaissance team on the flank, as long as he guaranteed not to be copied by the allies, after he won two small battles, he still had absolute time to retreat into the dense forest.

"Fight, how to provoke them if you don't fight." This is the idea of the people.

The position of the 2nd Brigade was built on the mountain, which was not high, but dense, similar to the shallow hilly terrain in the western Sichuan area of his hometown.

There are many hills, the field of vision is wide, and it is not convenient for the enemy's large forces to deploy, but Cha Cha Bundo is a bone here, and if this Burmese brigade is not pulled out, the speed of the deployment of the allied army in the frontal battlefield of Chin State will be greatly affected.

It was more troublesome to fight in a roundabout way, so when it was learned that there was only one Burmese brigade on the opposite Bundo position, the order from the Allied command was to make a big move, and one Indian division and a British regiment in the vanguard were responsible for taking it, and the time was two days, which was also the breakthrough time bottom line for several other Burmese army positions set by the Allied forces in Chin State.

"This third brother is really a lot of people."

Holding up the binoculars, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion, in the camera, the mountains were full of Indian soldiers wearing turbans and wrapping their heads. The saying of Ah Sange was handed down in China, and after the people arrived in Myanmar, they always claimed that they were Indians.

Just now, a battalion of hundreds of Indian third brothers, with guns and cannons, rushed for a long time with a roar, but was blown up by the mortars on this side, and immediately lay there to fight machine guns and shelling, and they couldn't get up alive or dead.

Later, he also blamed his regimental commanders for shooting too early and scaring away the Indians.

The troops on the front were the 3rd Regiment, and Xuan Zemin personally went to the position and found Zhu Zhongbo, the commander of the 3rd Regiment.

"Brigadier Commander, why are you here, it's too dangerous here." Zhu Zhongbo was observing the attack of the Indian army when he saw Xuan Zemin rushing to his side.

"What are you afraid of, it's dangerous here, it's just a few hundred meters behind, can't the enemy's artillery hit it?" Lu Zemin took the binoculars handed over by the guard, looked at it, and said, "Don't fight early this time, listen to me." ”

From time to time, the cautious Indian army climbed over the line of fire that had just been shelled like sheep, and found that the Burmese troops on the opposite side had not opened fire, and they were a little bolder, and under the urging of the British [***] officer behind, they began to prepare to climb the mountain.

"Boom...... Rumble...... Boom ......"

At this moment, the Allied artillery also opened fire, aiming directly at the hilltop position, and it was estimated that there was an artillery battalion, the caliber of the cannon was not large, it was likely to be some mountain artillery, and there were also mortars.

Taking advantage of the artillery bombardment, seeing that there was no fire on the position, and seeing that there was only a distance of less than 100 meters, the Indians began to stand up and start a charge.

Just when he saw the white wrapping heads that raised their heads, Lu Zemin raised the brigade commander's gun in his hand, aimed at the nearest Indian soldier, and fired first: "Fight!" ”

The guns of the 3rd Regiment of 1,000 people on the hill suddenly rang out, and the marksmanship of the Burmese soldiers was also very accurate, at least much stronger than the Indian soldiers in front of them, and they knocked down more than 100 Indian A3 at once.

The Indian regiment was quite numerous, and it seemed to be a large regiment, at least 2,500 men, and it was a little dizzy from the heavy fire on the hill, and then it was blown up indiscriminately by mortars and grenades that fell in a large curve, and it was a little afraid to raise its head.

"Damn, these Ah San are really cowards. I just wanted to run away from the fight, and my second American father spent so much money to arm it. This time we organized a counter-charge. ”

After all, the range of the pistol was limited, and after firing a few shots, killing one and wounding an Indian Ah San, Xuan Zemin put away the gun and picked up a telescope to observe the situation. With such a firepower of 1,000 people, a regiment of Indians couldn't bear it, which made him feel a little unbelievable.

Although I have heard that some European servants [***] are like a nest when they are fighting with the Soviets, and I also know that the Indians have always been not good at war, and there has never been a shortage of Indian cannon fodder troops in the Anglo-Burmese War for many years, but the Indian army in front of me is actually worse than the Indian army during the Anglo-Burmese War two or three years ago, and it can be compared with the garbage British and French armies on the European battlefield, the African battlefield and the previous Middle East battlefield.

"Let's organize a counter-charge." Lu Zemin was afraid of Zhu Zhongbo, the third head of the regiment next to him.

Soon, the counter-charge was organized, and the soldiers of the entire three regiments rushed out of the trenches with the old Huaxia-style rifles in their hands, and a small number of submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles were at the forefront.

"Kill !!"

In Chinese, the murderous shouting and killing sound resounded throughout the mountain, and for a time even overpowered the sound of gunfire.

The Indian regiment, which had never experienced this kind of battle at all, turned around and ran, and some rolled directly down the mountain, and the entire regiment of more than 2,000 people was like a duck fleeing from the famine, panicking.

Poor Indian Big Brothers, most of them are farmers who have just put down their farm tools, and they have been trained in a hurry to play, and they have never seen this kind of lethal battle at all, and they just heard the roar all over the mountains, and turned around and ran.

The combat effectiveness is so poor that it even makes the people feel miserable.

Lu Zemin was born in the southwest of the National Defense Force, and he didn't have no ideas about coming to Myanmar when he first came, but after he really trained a perverted Burmese army, he had a sense of accomplishment, and he looked down on the Indian cannon fodder army on the other side. It is clear that the quality of the Indian army has again declined due to the large expansion.

While reporting the battle situation on the front line in Vendo, he did not consider a strategic retreat until he learned that the Wehrmacht airlifted battalion had arrived at the field airfield less than 50 kilometers from Ventor. The battalion's mission was to support Bundo, not to support the position, and even according to the latest communication between the Commander and the rear, the command's order was to lure the Allied elite into the jungle and give the Allies an appetizer from the beginning of the defense of Burma.

So a whole day of fighting, until dark, the Indians ended up using almost the entire division, without success in breaking through the position.

An Indian division of 15,000 men did not even take a hilltop position of the Second Brigade of the 33rd Burmese Division in one day, but was wiped out more than 400 people and captured thousands of prisoners. The captives were taken to the rear overnight and immediately joined the coolie labor camp, and strangely enough, along the way, not a single Indian tried to escape, with the captive team not particularly well guarded.

Early the next morning, the Allied offensive began.

"Hey, this time India Ah San, the combat effectiveness seems to be much stronger."

Rubbing his blood-red eyes, he could tell from the sound of gunfire that at least this morning, the Indians' guns were much more accurate, and the landing points within the radius of the position were also significantly larger, and the mortars could even have a good hit rate.

"It turned out to be the British."

Sure enough, behind the Indian soldiers, followed by the British regiment, they were urged by the British masters like the Warlords, and these recruit-like Indians actually began to learn to bend over and charge.

Even the most stupid person, after suffering a big loss yesterday and being shot dead by British and American officers several Indian army officers and some deserters, understood the order and remembered what he learned during the training.

The recruit who has never been on the battlefield finally has a bit of a soldier.

"Hit. Don't fight too hard, give the British a little face. ”

However, he received information that the Allied forces on the opposite side were no longer an Indian division and a British regiment, but a small Indian division and a British division, as well as an American regiment. In just one day, the Allied forces were very fast.

He knew that if he wanted to go fishing, today would be the best opportunity, and if he didn't go to the position, he would inevitably suffer, and the jungle was the best place for the 2nd Brigade to deal with the enemy.

After the fighting was stopped and the British regiment was pushed back, the Allies finally tried to outflank and were beaten back by the regiment of Xuan Zemin, but the signs of the Allies using superior forces to outflank them were already clear.

"Brigade commander, that division of the British has moved, it has already passed the No. 3 forest, and it is outflanking us."

It wasn't until he received the latest jungle reconnaissance report that he ordered a retreat, and the British division was managed to fish it out, and when it was time for it to act alone, he had to entertain it well.

The British thought that the Indians were useless, and personally went into battle to pack up their brigade, so they could not live up to the expectations of the British and let them suffer a big loss.

(To be continued)