The British and Indian troops approached the rear of the forward positions of Xinduo, and the artillery was ready, and one by one American-made 155 mm caliber howitzers raised their thick muzzles, and they were eyeing the small town of Xinduo in the faint twilight.

Major General Fisher stood in an excellent observation position, comfortably lit a cigarette, surrounded by a large group of staff officers, in front, rows of soldiers ready to go, had entered the attack position, of course, at the front of the attack formation, there were still Indian soldiers, for the soldiers under his command, the current state of battle, he was very satisfied.

In five minutes, in the twilight ahead, the quiet town would turn into a sea of fire, and as for how many soldiers of the squadron were inside, or how many ordinary civilians were there, it was not in the consideration of Division Commander Fisher.

At this time, the signal soldier ran over with a walkie-talkie on his back, "Report to Your Excellency the division commander, Commander Alexander is calling you!" ”

Major General Fisher frowned, he didn't like this old guy who was unwillingly and suddenly rose to a high position, and when he had already been deployed, he came to point fingers again, after listening to Alexander's words, his brows furrowed even tighter, and he put down the walkie-talkie with an ugly face, and muttered rather frustratedly, "What a fucking life!" ”

Then, to the signal corps, he said: "Order the artillery regiment, stop shelling Xinduo, and all troops camp on the spot!" ”

The chief of staff beside him asked in surprise: "Your Excellency the division commander, aren't we going to attack the target?" ”

Major General Fisher shrugged helplessly, and said with a helpless face: "I received an order from Commander Alexander, in view of the fact that it is getting late, the forward troops have stopped attacking Xinduo, I am going to the headquarters for a meeting, my God, I really don't know what the hell is going on!" My artillery and soldiers are ready for a while, is this hellish meeting more important than my capture of the target? ”

Inside the town of Xinduo. Xiao Jinshan put down the binoculars, he couldn't understand why the British and Indian troops who were putting on an offensive posture suddenly stopped moving. Instead, he began to bury pots and cook and set up tents.

Xiao Jinshan picked up the walkie-talkie, "Old Fang, how is the situation there?" The Brit across from me, I don't know why, didn't attack, what, you are there too. I said the old side, did we ambush the troops in Sindobu and let the British find out? ”

Putting down the walkie-talkie, Xiao Jinshan looked at his side, crouched behind the stone wall, staring intently at the soldiers of the British and Indian troops opposite, sighing in disappointment, and arranging it very carefully. But in the end, it was still an empty joy, and there was no fighting, which was annoying!

Xiao Jinshan and Fang Yuanshan's deployment is like this. The two brigades each deployed a reinforced regiment to the western part of Sindo, across the river, and the division commander's order was to abandon Sindo before eight o'clock tomorrow morning, so that now would take advantage of the favorable terrain in Sindo, and put one battalion at a time in the front by virtue of the favorable terrain of Xindo. After fighting for a while, you will change to the next battalion and have a wheel battle.

If the British and Indian troops attack overnight, they will be able to fight for more than ten hours, and by eight o'clock tomorrow morning, the British and Indian soldiers will not spare a few thousand lives, and they will not want to get close to Xinduo by half a step. The common people of Xinduo have already retreated in the direction of Magao with the other three regiments of the brigade, and there is an empty town, it makes sense to fight, and the plan is very good, but they are not fooled!

Xiao Jinshan even had such a plan, when the battle reached midnight, the forward position deliberately opened a gap, and put in thousands of eight hundred British and Indian soldiers, several other battalions in rotation, small Baotun dumplings, all of them fought, and the battalion commanders who were withdrawn from the province looked unhappy, but what is the use of planning, the British and Indian troops do not plan to attack, and they can't take the initiative to attack with a few thousand people, right?

When Xiao Jinshan was troubled, the combat staff officer asked, "Brigade commander, what should we do next?" He said angrily, "What should I do?" Leave a company of troops to keep an eye on the enemy, and the rest of the troops eat, rest, and sleep, or else we will watch these British guys eat and drink here? ”…,

Xiao Jinshan and Fang Yuanshan, they should be thanked to Alexander, if it were not for the sudden convening of a military meeting and that order, thousands of shells from the Anglo-Indian artillery would have fallen on their heads.

The two of them did not know that more than 8,000 soldiers of the two reinforced regiments, including themselves, had escaped a catastrophe, otherwise, the artillery of the two main divisions of the Anglo-Indian army and the four artillery regiments had carried out a covering and destructive shelling of Xinduo, and none of them could have escaped the overwhelming shelling.

Xinduo was completely destroyed, and the two reinforced regiments became the only team that was completely wiped out in all the battles of the independent division since its formation, Xiao Jinshan and Fang Yuanshan, and also became the two major generals and brigade commanders who died together in a battle.

Xiao Jinshan and Fang Yuanshan's battle deployment was correct, but they encountered two British generals who did not follow common sense, and first destroyed the target with artillery fire without launching an infantry attack, but they would know that the danger of all the deaths, the troops passed by, and what they thought in their hearts was the disappointment of not being able to fight this battle.

And Alexander, who was holding a military meeting, did not realize that his order, inadvertently, saved the lives of thousands of soldiers of the Independent Division, if he knew such a result, Alexander would have to let the artillery of two divisions of the artillery bomb Xinduo into ruins, and bury thousands of soldiers and two major generals of the Independent Division along the way.

Although Alexander was very eager to get out of the Hukang River Valley, and his troops were under the city of Magao, the troops in the direction of Keledo, Sugia, Gamai, and New Taiji, the latest battle report made him have to slow down the pace of his advance, and besides, night had fallen, and he had to attack Sindo, and if it was a night battle, it would be a nightmare experience for the soldiers of the British Empire.

His idea was not accepted by most of the British commanders, and Major General Fisher complained to His Excellency the Commander very unhappily, because the war was going smoothly, Alexander was in a very good mood, and after listening to Major General Fisher's grumbling words with a smile on his face, instead of being angry, he said gently: "Dear Fisher, I know that your men are very brave in battle, and I believe that tonight, your soldiers will be able to camp in the town ahead." ”

"But, dear Fisher, our soldiers, have been chasing the Chinese soldiers for two days in a row, constantly chasing the back of the Chinese soldiers' buttocks and beating them fiercely, they are very tired and need to rest, Xinduo is the last barrier out of the Hukang River Valley, I believe that the commander of the local troops of the independent division will not give up this point, and will definitely increase the number of troops overnight, dear Fisher, are you not willing, your artillery, at 5:30 tomorrow morning, eliminate more Chinese soldiers?"

After saying this, Major General Fisher nodded again and again, yes, why didn't he think of this? In the end, it is the commander, he has a lot of experience, if the Chinese increase their troops overnight, their own artillery bombardment tomorrow will achieve greater results, and after entering northern Myanmar, there will be a lot less resistance, killing two birds with one stone, what an old fox.

Fisher stood up and said respectfully: "Yes, in accordance with the order of His Excellency the Commander, tomorrow at 5:30 a.m., our troops will launch an artillery bombardment on Xinduo on time, and I promise that within an hour, His Excellency the Commander's military boots will set foot on the land of Xinduo!" ”

Alexander's words were half-true and half-false, and he was not sure that the local troops of the Independent Division in northern Burma would definitely increase their troops overnight, and the main factor that prompted him to make the decision not to attack Xinduo overnight was the four-way troops on the left and right flanks, and there was a problem.

From this afternoon onwards, the local units of the independent divisions in the direction of Ledo, Sugia, Gamai, and New Taigi became very stubborn in their resistance, and used every available terrain to carry out uninterrupted blocking and harassment, so that the speed of the attacking troops was immediately reduced, and Alexander found a very unsatisfactory phenomenon on the map, according to the positions reported by the four divisions. …,

According to the campaign plan for attacking northern Burma, the troops attacking in the direction of Ledo, Sugia, Gamai, and New Taiji were in the nature of a feint, in order to attract the troops of the independent division in northern Burma to their direction of attack, and to capture Magao and Myitkyina for the main force of their central route army, so as to create favorable conditions.

Ma Gao is the key point of guarding the exit of the Hukang River Valley, Myitkyina is the largest base of the independent division's air force in the Indochina Peninsula, and it is also the logistics supply base of the independent division, which plays the role of a link connecting Chinese mainland and the Indochina Peninsula.

It is normal for Alexander to be in Tang Qiuli's position, and he will do it at any cost, he can't afford to lose it, Alexander doesn't want to be entangled with the local troops of the independent division when he captures these two key points, or in other words, he doesn't want to delay the time in fighting the local troops of the independent division and affect his plan to attack Mandalay in the south.

Therefore, the attacking troops in the direction of Ledo, Sugia, Gamai, and New Taiji should have been in front of the Central Route Army for at least a day, but the current situation is that because of the desperate resistance of the local troops of the Independent Division, their speed slowed down and became more than a day behind the Central Route Army.

On the military map, the staff officers marked a few thick arrows, unmistakably illustrating this point, forming a situation in which the middle route army is alone and prominent, as far as Alexander's current thoughts are concerned, he is not worried that his position is too prominent, more than 200,000 well-equipped troops, Tang Qiuli's miscellaneous troops, have not yet blocked their own ability.

However, the layout of his own campaign was completely opposite to the plan, and Alexander had to make inappropriate adjustments, slow down the attack speed of the Central Route Army, and wait for the troops of the four divisions to catch up, at least in parallel with the Central Route Army, so as to achieve the expected campaign results.

Therefore, Alexander believed that it was absolutely necessary to suspend the attack on Sindo, not to mention that the troops really needed to rest for the night.

(To be continued) (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )