The terrain and road conditions in northern Burma have greatly affected the mobility of the troops, otherwise with the mechanized process of the directly subordinate corps, all the vehicles march, running hundreds of kilometers in one night, there is no difficulty at all, in addition, Tang Qiuli demanded that all brigades must march in concealment, and must not expose the campaign attempt, and more than 100,000 people in the ten brigades of the directly subordinate corps will abandon their vehicles and walk on foot after entering the territory of Burma, and the speed will certainly not be fast.

In view of the fact that the second and third brigades of the Hukang Valley were scheduled to be the combat targets and could not reach the combat area within the specified time, Tang Qiuli divided the entire northern Burma campaign into two parts, one was the Myitkyina battlefield and the other was the Hukang Valley battlefield, and the Hukang Valley Campaign was launched at least five hours later than the time of the general attack on Myitkyina.

When he and Chang Feng formulated the battle plan for northern Burma, they had taken the traffic situation in northern Burma into account as much as possible, but in fact, the marching speed of the interspersed troops was affected by different routes.

As the chief of staff of an independent division and directly under the corps, Chang Feng felt even more guilty in his heart; the division commander was in charge of the general direction of the campaign, and the specific implementation was the responsibility of the chief of staff; the marching plans of the various units were drawn up by Chang Feng himself, but now, there has been a deviation of five hours, and the main direction of attack cannot be carried out simultaneously with the launch of the campaign.

Chang Feng looked at Tang Qiuli and said with self-reproach: "Division commander, this is my responsibility, I ask for punishment," Tang Qiuli shook his head, this responsibility, why shouldn't he bear all of it, the topographical conditions of the Indochina Peninsula and the subtropical climate are the main factors affecting the formulation of the battle plan, it seems that this is a new topic for himself and all the commanders of the independent division.

Chang Feng still couldn't let go, and then said, "Division commander, as the chief of staff, I formulated the marching plan without taking into account the actual situation, this is my dereliction of duty, for the sake of strict military discipline, please inform the whole army of the punishment of me." ”

Tang Qiuli smiled and said gently: "Chang Feng, don't blame yourself, the actual situation, isn't it not enough to predict?" As a soldier, it is right to be strict with yourself, but what are the circumstances, and if you ask for punishment, wouldn't I, the maker of the battle plan, have to bear greater responsibility? It is estimated that my self-requested punishment can only be sent to Chairman Jiang for inspection!"

A few words made Chang Feng's mood a lot lighter, and he couldn't help laughing, Tang Qiuli continued: "The battlefield in the Hukang River Valley, hundreds of kilometers away from the Myitkyina battlefield, is a relatively independent battlefield, launching an attack a few hours late, it will not have any impact, I thought about it, since the time is pressing, then simply let the second and third brigades postpone the attack until the evening of June 8." ”

"In this way, the troops can also get enough rest, and the follow-up heavy weapons and tank units can also catch up in time, but you have to tell Wu Xinghe, commander of the 2nd Brigade, and Xiao Jian, commander of the 3rd Brigade, that the Japanese troops on the front line of the Hukang River Valley must be completely annihilated or forced into India, and they will never be allowed to flee to Myitkyina.

Chang Feng finished recording Tang Qiuli's order, and then asked, "Division Commander, do you have any other orders?" Tang Qiu was lazy and said: "Not for the time being, even if there is an order, you have to wait for the battle to start, Chang Feng, you stare for a while, I'll go to sleep, by the way, wake me up at four o'clock in the morning." ”

Chang Feng said: "Division Commander, you haven't closed your eyes for a day and a night, I'm staring," Tang Qiuli walked into the tent behind, and after a while, he fell asleep soundly, he could indeed sleep, all the deployments had been completed, and it seemed that he had nothing to do when he walked in, I remember that a famous general in ancient China said, "Those who sleep and eat as usual before the war must have the demeanor of a general!"

Just when Tang Qiuli was sleeping peacefully, in the dark night, around Myitkyina, the five brigades and troops directly under the corps were launched one after another, forming an encirclement of Myitkyina, not only Liu Hongzhang was angry and scolding, but Chu Ziye, the commander of the Sixth Brigade who was responsible for attacking the southeast direction of Myitkyina, was also attacking Mo Feng, the starting place, and lost his temper.

The situation encountered by the 6th Brigade was similar to that of the 1st Brigade, but the results were not the same, the Maili Kaijiang River and the Simei Kaijiang River, converged in Mofeng, forming a large river with turbulent water flow and rolling waves, and the river surface suddenly expanded to a width of several hundred meters, but there was only one bridge on the river surface, and the load-bearing capacity was extremely poor.

The Sixth Brigade belonged to two heavy artillery regiments, one rocket artillery battalion, and the Third Tank Brigade, with more than 100 heavy guns, more than 40 rocket launchers, and more than 600 tanks.

The direction of attack of the Sixth Brigade is the defensive position of the Japanese army in Myitkyina, the strongest fortifications and the most dense section of the Ming Bunker, all the deployments of Terauchi Shouichi are to prevent the British army from fleeing north, and the southeast of Myitkyina has become a hard bone to gnaw, without heavy artillery and tanks, Chu Ziye really doesn't know how to fight this battle?

Chu Ziye was on the other side of the river, looking at the artillery trucks and tanks, sweating profusely, why didn't he think of this roadblock? Even if the engineer regiment is temporarily building bridges, where can they find so many materials that can carry tanks and artillery trucks? Besides, it's too late for time, Chu Ziye's anxious group finished scolding the river and scolding God.

There was really no way, Chu Ziye had to ask the chief of staff to inform him, and the mortars and light artillery of the whole brigade were used intensively, after speaking, Chu Ziye sighed, just because these guys are children, after this battle, there must not be many casualties, "Da Dajiang, damn it," he couldn't help muttering again.

At this moment, the chief of staff rushed back, and shouted from afar, "Brigade commander, look who's coming!" Chu Ziye turned his head angrily, I am in a hurry to go to the house, you are quite happy, it is useless for anyone to come, unless I fall from the sky with a bridge.

When he saw clearly, it was Chu Tian, the head of the special operations detachment of the independent division, who was the division commander's confidant, so he hurriedly greeted him and said, "Oh, it's the head of the Chu detachment, why did you come to me?"

Chu Tian smiled and said: "Our detachment has three detachments, in this generation of activities, on the order of the division commander, we sent three small steamers to the Sixth Brigade, no, we can transport six heavy guns and three tanks across the river at one time," Chu Ziye almost jumped up with joy.

grabbed Chu Tian's hand, shook it again and again, and said: "Captain Chu, the big problem you can solve, do you see, for those big guys, I am in a hurry to jump into the river, timely rain, as long as I can pass a dozen heavy artillery, I can knock open the turtle shell of the little devil, my old Chu represents the soldiers of the whole brigade, thank you!" By the way, how does the division commander know that I am stumped by this river in the north?"

Chu Tian smiled faintly and said: "The division commander controls the overall situation, there is nothing he can't think of," Chu Ziye nodded again and again in agreement, in fact, Chu Tian received an order from the division commander last night to solve the problem of crossing the river with heavy artillery and tanks for the Sixth Brigade, which is also the experience and lesson that Chang Feng summed up from the practical difficulties encountered by the troops in the Hukang River Valley.

After Chu Tian received the order, at the point where the Sixth Brigade crossed the river, more than 100 kilometers downstream, a steamship company driven by an Englishman, the muzzle of the gun increased the ocean, and the British boss very happily handed over all the steamers, along with the sailors, to Chu Tian, Chu Tian took the boat, rushed against the current for a day and most of the night, and finally delivered the steamer when Chu Ziye was most anxious.

At four o'clock in the morning of 8 June, Tang Qiu woke up without waking up, and in the headquarters, there was a busy scene, dozens of radio stations, intertwined call signs, and the figures of staff officers and correspondents hurriedly entering and leaving, which further aggravated the tense atmosphere of the imminent war.

At 4:30 a.m., Chief of Staff Chu Tian reported again, "Division Commander, all the troops for the general attack on Myitkyina have all been in place on time, and all preparations have been made," Tang Qiuli smiled and said to Chang Feng: "The little hot wheel that Chu Tian gave to Chu Ziye came in handy?"

Chang Feng was a little embarrassed, and said: "Division commander, I can't hide anything from you," at four fifty o'clock, he contacted the radio station of the attacking troops, and all communicated, at five o'clock, Chang Feng glanced at Tang Qiuli, Tang Qiuli looked at his watch, and said calmly: "Let's start!"

In the early morning of June 8, as on every ordinary day in northern Burma, there was an unhurried shower, followed by wisps of mist, rising in every corner of the streets and alleys.

It was a different morning, because with the fog came not the rising sun, but countless shells falling from the sky, according to the memories of the Japanese soldiers who survived the battle, that morning, the shells bloomed everywhere, dispersed the fog of Myitkyina morning, and the fire of the explosion, instead of the morning sun, became hot and dry in the wet morning, and everywhere there was the roar of death of steel fragments.

Liu Hongzhang's 1st Brigade was the first to attack at 50 o'clock in the morning, and the direction of the 1st Brigade's attack was the weakest area of the Japanese defense line in Myitkyina

All the artillery, rocket artillery and tanks are gathered together, divided into three artillery groups according to different power and range, echelon configuration, heavy artillery destroys the Japanese pillbox fortifications, rocket artillery covers all directions in the area where the troops are scheduled to charge, tanks are used as fixed batteries, and low-trajectory tank guns are used to clear the remaining Japanese pillboxes point by point.

Liu Hongzhang kept in mind the order of the division commander Tang Qiuli, and used the strength of the main force with the strength of a brigade to attract the Japanese troops defending Myitkyina and reinforce the north.

Shells as dense as flying locusts, like a shower of stars in the sky, fell on the Japanese position, and immediately boiled like a furnace of molten iron, and a huge roar shook the dense fog of the early morning, and in the northern part of Myitkyina, there was a bloody rain.