, Chapter 1108 Unusually smooth lì's breakthrough

In the first time, Alexander telegraphed the news that the British army had begun to break through the encirclement to Tang Qiuli, "Dear Vice Chairman Tang, my Mandalay troops have broken out of Mandalay on time at two o'clock this morning, and on behalf of all the soldiers of the British Empire's troops in Indochina, I would like to express my gratitude to you for the fruitful work you have done in helping the British army break through the encirclement. ”

After reading Alexander's telegram, Tang Qiuli breathed a sigh of relief, his demeanor also relaxed, and he leaned back comfortably in his chair, from the afternoon of June 7 to now, he was also tired enough, on the one hand, he was concerned about the Myitkyina battlefield, on the other hand, he had to fight with Alexander, and master the rhythm of the battle.

With the arrival of this telegram, the tense atmosphere in the front headquarters of the Ba Mo Independent Division in northern Burma suddenly relaxed, and the chief of staff Chang Feng asked him, "Division commander, how can we send a telegram back to Alexander?" Tang Qiuli smiled and replied: "Ignore him, the British are now ready to shoot and have to send it, and it is too late for Alexander to play any tricks." ”

"Also, telegraphed to Yu Guanghan that if the Japanese troops are found to have set up an ambush along the road to Myitkyina, do not intervene, if necessary, they can withdraw from the existing positions and give them to the Japanese troops, and if they have helped the British once, they should also help the Japanese, and order the troops attacking Myitkyina, and the fighting in the city of Myitkyina, after two hours, must end.

In the command headquarters, there was a burst of relaxed laughter, Tang Qiuli looked at the mountain tiger on the side, and said: "Huzi, do you want to get some game, let's have a supper, have a few drinks, and wait for the good news from General Alexander?" Why do I feel so hungry? "Mountain Tiger" hehe" smiled, he knows too well his good brother from childhood to adulthood, this mention yì is a qiē after mastering the ease, often at this time, Xiaoqiu's appetite is surprisingly good.

As long as the British begin to break through, this is a dead knot that cannot be untied, Tang Qiuli can conclude that Ito will definitely carry out an ambush somewhere on the way to Myitkyina, this preparation time was given by Alexander to Ito Yanzaburo, indeed, Alexander's hesitation gave Ito ample time to adjust the deployment for more than two hours.

Koizumi, the chief of staff, did not understand Ito's deployment, and he asked: "Your Excellency Commander, why don't we stop the British at the gate of the city when they are just beginning to break through, but instead put them in Libao to fight, it is a field, if the British break up, our total annihilation plan, won't it become a pursuit?" ”

Ito said to Koizumi unusually gently: "Koizumi-kun, you don't understand, the way of using troops in the ancient Chinese art of war is really unfathomable, among them, there is a strategy, which is suitable for the current battlefield situation, which is called encircling three and missing one, and destroying the enemy in the field, which can avoid the heavy casualties caused by our storming of Mandalay, and can also give a sudden blow to the British on the way to break through. ”

"As for what you are worried about, it is not taking into account the suddenness of the attack and the panic of the British army, as well as the complex terrain of Libao, there is no more suitable terrain for ambushing the British army than Libao on the way to Myitkyina, a long gorge, with dense forests on both sides, rolling hills, it is not a problem to accommodate a million troops, let alone more than 400,000 British people who are eager to flee?"

"Order to set up an ambush troops, leave a small number of troops, and when the British army breaks through, it must be desperately blocked, however, other troops are not allowed to reinforce this direction, and the troops in the other three directions, bypassing Mandalay, follow the British army to the north, and after Libao starts, immediately block all the routes of the British army's rout!"

After Ito Yanzaburo finished speaking, he looked like Zhizhu was in his hand, and said to himself: "Isn't this another urn to catch a turtle, wait and see!" ”

The vanguard of the British Seventh Mechanized Division, the Royal Tank Battalion of Whiteman, after leaving the north gate of Mandalay, encountered the resistance of the Japanese army, and those who could serve as sharp knife troops were not general, the battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Whiteman, organized dozens of tanks, a cannon and machine gun sweep, and then, the follow-up troops were at the breakthrough point, and spread out to the two wings, and the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, but the strength of a wing, how could it be the opponent of British tanks and infantry.

In less than thirty minutes, a large hole about four kilometers wide was torn open, and Lieutenant Colonel Whiteman immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie, "Report to Your Excellency Chief of Staff, my Sharp Knife Battalion has broken through the Japanese blocking position in the north of Mandalay, opened a gap three kilometers wide, and the troops can immediately follow up, in addition, it was found that there were large Japanese troops on both flanks, and they were closing towards the breakthrough." ”

Because of the excitement, Lieutenant Colonel Whiteman's voice trembled a little, and he was besieged for ten whole days, and once he got out of the trap, like a bird that had not yet come out of the cage, he longed to grow wings and fly to Myitkyina, and it was strange not to be excited!

Ito Yanzaburo was also insidious enough, took out a wing of more than 3,000 soldiers, as victims, to give the British the impression that the breakthrough had only been opened after fierce fighting, and ordered the troops on the two northern flanks of Mandalay to feint in the direction of the northern breakthrough with great fanfare, creating the illusion that the Japanese army was eager to block the breakthrough, all in order to convince the British that their breakthrough action had achieved a surprise effect, in fact, it was to drive the British to another place of death.

Major General Francis, in Mandalay City, anxiously waiting for the news of Whiteman's Sharp Knife Battalion, a burst of extremely fierce gunfire suddenly sounded in the night sky of Mandalay, Francis trembled, a desperate feeling, instantly filled his heart, he did not expect to be able to break through without firing a shot.

But the sound of this gun is too intense, can't it be that it has encountered heavy Japanese soldiers? Or is it a trap for the Japanese at all? All kinds of speculation, like a poisonous snake, biting Francis's heart, in just thirty minutes, he was as long as decades, Whiteman's phone call made him change from extreme worry to extreme ecstasy, this instantaneous change made his heart beat almost uncontrollably, and he felt a little dizzy.

Francis asked with difficulty, "Lieutenant Colonel Whiteman, can you be sure?" After receiving an affirmative answer, Francis suppressed his excitement and ordered: "According to the plan, start the breakout," and the 400,000 Anglo-Burmese soldiers who were ready to go looked cloudy and uncertain as if they were waiting for the verdict of the heavens.

The fierce gunfire in the north of Mandalay, their feelings, no less than Francis, nervousness, uneasiness mixed with a helpless atmosphere, permeated the soldiers, suddenly received the order to start breaking through, the morale of the British and Burmese soldiers, all lifted, as if a door to India had opened in front of them.

More than 400,000 Anglo-Burmese troops, according to the battle sequence, burst the embankment like a flood, gushing out of Mandalay, it should be said that Francis's command ability, far surpassing Alexander's, in such a short period of time, can organize hundreds of thousands of troops, and in an orderly manner, this is not simple in itself, do not forget, this is a force that has been surrounded for ten days, morale is extremely low, from Yangon and Bangkok, all the way to retreat, eager to flee for their lives.

After most of the troops had left Mandalay, Francis took the personnel of the General Headquarters with the personnel of the General Headquarters and left the city, which had been tormented by fear and despair for ten days, and he was not careless, and immediately ordered the troops of four brigades to take up the task of blocking the Japanese encirclement on both flanks of the breakthrough, which no unit was willing to undertake originally.

The British troops, who had been able to break through and successfully muster up their morale, also had the courage to spread out on the two flanks, mustered up courage, and fought with the Japanese with a crackling crackle, and it is strange to say that the Japanese were not as difficult to deal with as imagined, and after a few charges, they never launched an effective attack.

The breakthrough was still firmly in the hands of the British, and, by virtue of this momentum, the Japanese blocking forces were repulsed, and the breakthrough was expanded to a width of eight kilometers, and the speed of breaking through the British army was significantly accelerated, and more than two hours later, at about 4:30 a.m., Francis received a report that the 9th and 11th Infantry Divisions, which served as the rearguard, had broken away from the battle and moved closer in the direction of the larger forces after repelling the pursuing Japanese troops.

Francis looked up to the sky and sighed, "God forbid, it has finally come out," and it is no wonder that he sighed that it was a miracle that more than 400,000 people were able to break through the encirclement of more than 500,000 Japanese troops at the cost of very few casualties, "Immediately sent a telegram to Commander-in-Chief Alexander, and in a word, the breakthrough was successful, and the troops were advancing in the direction of Myitkyina." ”

Francis felt that this good news should be told to the anxious Alexander, no matter how stupid and incompetent this old fellow is, it is a great merit to be able to mobilize the Chinese Tang Qiu to leave the army and open the passage to withdraw west to India, Myitkyina, so to speak, without Alexander's Tengchong trip, there would be no Mandalay breakout operation this morning.

On a mountain peak in the northeast direction outside Mandalay, Ito Yanzaburo put down his binoculars and looked at the darkness before dawn, a long dragon composed of various vehicles, winding towards the north and swimming rapidly, the corners of his mouth showed an old fox-like smile, the British broke through in the direction he arranged, in the way he wanted, at this moment, the British commander should be very proud, right?

Ito said to Chief of Staff Koizumi without looking back: "Koizumi-kun, order the pursuing troops, bite the British who broke through, don't let their brains think about other things, inform the Libao ambush troops, the fish have entered the net, Koizumi-kun, we should also go, oh, by the way, arrange a troop, after dawn, prepare to receive the captured British, and the prisoner of war camp will be set up in Mandalay!" ”

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