. Chapter 1112 Death Place

Faced with a desperate situation and heavy losses from an ambush, the chief of staff of the British army, Major General Francis, who commanded the troops to break through to Libao, had to consider surrendering to the Japanese army after being surrounded by the Japanese regiments, and in the situation of no return.

The current situation, there is no need for Mandalay, the British army at that time, at least had strong fortifications, which could resist, and the materials hoarded in Mandalay could support the troops until the moment when reinforcements arrived.

With no food and grass inside, heavy casualties, no reinforcements outside, and the Japanese army having the upper hand, is there still a way to fight this battle? Moreover, the European tradition of surrendering to the other side in the face of irreversible circumstances is not seen as shameful, or that the military integrity has been lost, which is very different from the Oriental concept.

The Europeans do not have the word "death war", the reason is very good, in order to reduce the pain, in order to avoid greater casualties, therefore, in history, in the Southeast Asian battlefield of World War II, the British and American armies, when surrounded by the Japanese army, resisted a little, or did not resist at all, and surrendered to the Japanese army one after another.

Even Alexander, the commander-in-chief of the British army, ran to India, the commander-in-chief of the US military in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, that is, General MacArthur, who later provoked the Korean War and served as the commander-in-chief of the joint **, even more simply, the Japanese shelled Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and the American five-star general, left more than 100,000 soldiers, and ran to Australia by boat to avoid the limelight.

It was not until two years later, when General Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Fleet, was almost wiped out of the Japanese naval and air forces in several naval battles in the South Pacific, that General MacArthur returned to the Philippines under the protection of the Navy and continued to be his emperor.

This is not only a strange thing that will happen on the Chinese battlefield, ** miscellaneous troops, the British and Americans, in the Southeast Asian war, did more than the Chinese, more than that, about this history, the British and Americans are secretive, silent, for the similar situation on the Chinese battlefield, there are rare accusations without a word.

Francis was just doing things according to tradition, so when he saw Commander Gerdeman, he couldn't help but be very surprised, and the first thing he asked was, "Jack, the Japanese let you back?" What conditions to bring? Hearing this, Jeerdeman's tears came down at that time, and he wept bitterly, and only choked up and shouted, "Chief of Staff!" "I can't say any more.

When Francis listened to Gerderman and truthfully told everything he saw, it was like a thunderbolt from the blue, slamming into his head, his eyes were full of stars, and he was dizzy, the Japanese actually shot and killed the prisoners of war who laid down their arms, and he was still here with beautiful illusions, negotiating with the Japanese about surrender and looking for a way to survive for hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

He was wrong, the Japanese didn't want prisoners of war, thinking of the bloody scene of hundreds of thousands of soldiers who laid down their arms and bare hands were massacred by the Japanese army, with corpses all over the field and rivers of blood, Francis couldn't help but shudder, and his own thought almost sent hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the butcher's knife of the Japanese.

He completely believed Geldeman's words, the rear guard troops, the whole army was wiped out unusually clean, no one escaped, originally he thought that he was sent to the Japanese prisoner of war camp, but now it seems that he was slaughtered en masse, Gerdeman's words also shocked all the senior British officers present, and immediately, the atmosphere in the cave was as oppressive and cold as solidification.

After a long time, Francis raised his head, looked at these senior officers, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the reality is in front of us, even if we surrender to the Japanese army, we will be slaughtered, my opinion is that while the rearguard troops hold on to their positions, they continue to send troops to open the road from the Libao Grand Canyon to Myitkyina at any cost, and in doing so, this army may be buried." ”

After speaking, he looked at these officers quietly, the faces of the officers changed sharply, and they all knew in their hearts that surrender was a dead end, which was not only what Jeerdeman had seen with his own eyes, but also a little rumor about the shooting of prisoners of war by the Japanese army, but, deep down, they didn't want to believe it.

Jeerdeman confirmed this rumor, since there is no way out, it is better to fight to the death, maybe to break a way out, it is better than stretching out his neck, waiting for the Japanese to cut down, and when he raises his head again, there is already fortitude and determination in the eyes of these officers.

Francis was relieved, and then said: "Okay, start deploying now, the 11th, 13th, and 19th Infantry Divisions, the 7th and 8th Mixed Brigades, strengthen the rearguard defense line overnight, and must block all the attacks of the Japanese army, firmly nail there, and buy time for the troops who open the passage, and the rest of the troops will continue to attack the exit of the northern foot of the Libao Grand Canyon, and in addition, the Japanese will shoot the prisoners of war and not accept the surrender of our army, and convey it to all the troops." ”

At one o'clock in the morning that night, knowing that there was no way to retreat, even if they laid down their arms, the Japanese would not let go of their British and Burmese soldiers, aroused the fighting spirit and blood in their hearts, and launched a decisive attack on the Japanese position at the southern foot of the Libao Grand Canyon.

The battlefield that had fallen silent suddenly erupted into fierce gunfire and cannons, and there were not many Japanese soldiers who had been fighting for a day and had a good time, and they did not expect that the British, who were already open and dying, would take the initiative to attack, and it was not until the British soldiers felt under their noses that they suddenly realized it.

In the dark night, after a short burst of gunfire, and then, the red-eyed British and Burmese soldiers, not afraid of death, rushed into the Japanese position, a hand-to-hand combat, the British soldiers who were cornered, burst out with unprecedented courage and fierceness, after a bayonet to bayonet, fist to fist to death entanglement, the Japanese positions on both sides of the Libao Grand Canyon, which blocked the northward retreat channel, were occupied in many places.

When Francis learned of this, he immediately threw in a large number of troops again, and at about four o'clock in the morning, the east had gradually brightened, and the British army finally occupied and consolidated the Japanese position that was stuck in the retreat road at the cost of more than 20,000 casualties and more than three hours of blood.

Lieutenant General Takashima Uemon, the commander of the Japanese Liho ambush unit who learned the news, was shocked and angry, and in a fit of rage, he immediately threw in the elite troops of three divisions to repeatedly fight with the British for the lost positions, and by about 8 o'clock in the morning, the positions on both sides of the passage at the northern foot of the Libao Grand Canyon were still firmly in the hands of the British troops.

More than 20,000 Japanese soldiers lay on the wet and cold ground, in order to save this lifeline, the British army paid the price of tens of thousands of people, the corpses of soldiers on both sides covered the green mountains and rivers of central Burma, and the blood stained the grass under their feet, making it a shocking sauce red.

After learning the news that the Libao Grand Canyon, the passage at the northern foothills, was occupied by the British, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Southeast Asian Dispatch Army, Ito Yanzaburo, the first order, was to immediately remove Lieutenant General Takashima Emon from his post and hand him over to a military tribunal.

It took a lot of effort to lure the British out of Mandalay, where there was a strong city defense, and rushed to Libao, such an advantageous place, but at a critical time, otherwise Takashima, who was tied to his pocket, would have let the British get out of his pocket, causing his strategic intentions to be all in vain, he would not spare Takashima no matter what, if it weren't for Takashima's military rank was not low, even if it was a large officer, Ito would even personally cut off the pig's head of this idiot.

Ito Yanzaburo's eyes were almost on fire with anger, now, it is almost impossible to recapture the exit of the northern foothills, the troops chasing after him have no way to cross the canyon and rush to the front of the British, and the British troops at the southern foot of the canyon resist unusually fiercely, often in a position, and the British soldiers fight to the last man, and they do not retreat.

Just when a fierce battle broke out at the northern foot of the canyon, Ito ordered the troops who were chasing after him to enter the attack battle, and the result was similar to Takashima's troops, and the battle lasted until more than eight o'clock in the morning, the British did not give an inch, and the Japanese retreat was blocked on the whole line, and paid a lot of casualties.

The Japanese army advanced step by step, and stopped there, he couldn't understand in any case, how could the British, who were already a turtle in the urn and dying, be like taking a stimulant, and in just a few hours, the soldiers burst out with an astonishing combat will to fight? In the case of heavy blows during the day, an active attack was carried out on the Imperial Army of Great Japan.

Incredible, it's incredible, Ito was in the command headquarters, constantly shaking his head and talking to himself, his head was thinking a few times bigger, but there was still no clear answer, he wouldn't have thought of it at all, just because of his order of "no prisoners of war", he led the Japanese soldiers to shoot prisoners at will, and it just so happened that a wounded British commander saw this qiē, perhaps, it was a certain number in the dark, Ito's order to reduce trouble in the future became the fuse of the British soldiers' desperateness.

The British troops who broke through the barrier, like a flood that broke the embankment, rolled towards the exit of the southern foot of the Libao Grand Canyon, rushing away, and the Japanese ambush troops could no longer stop this torrent of hope, and even the troops sent to block it were swept away by this torrent, which was a crazy and irritable torrent, like wild horses, galloping towards Myitkyina.

Knowing that most of the British troops rushed out of the ambush circle they had carefully designed, Ito Yanzaburo roared out four words like thunder: "Pursue on all fronts!" It's just that in the seemingly angry words, there seems to be no confidence and confidence in the past.

(To be continued)

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