The siege of Dagon continued.

Liao Yaoxiang, the commander-in-chief of the campaign, had a fierce and bold style, and he personally commanded the main force of the 3rd Division to carry out the main attack from one direction, and the other two directions to close together, and finally drove the 18th Division to the mountain behind Dagong.

However, after the 18th Division, which was good at jungle warfare, got into the jungle in the back mountains, it built fortifications on the spot, relied on strong combat effectiveness to continue to resist, and waited for an opportunity to break through.

Dagon Back Mountain is not actually a mountain, just a plain that is a little higher than the usual ground, but it is covered with dense vegetation, and it is full of dense jungles and rivers, which looks like a mountain from a distance, hence the name of Back Mountain.

After entering the back mountain, it was difficult for the large-scale Japanese troops to break through again, and the expeditionary force closed in all directions and surrounded this arrogant force to death.

However, this is also a loss. Because of the dense jungles and rivers, the original tanks and armored vehicles of the expeditionary force could not be used, and the heavy weapons that were finally equipped had no advantage at this time.

The commander of the main attack asked Liao Yaoxiang to transfer the two rocket artillery regiments attached to the headquarters. Dozens of ten-wheeled rocket artillery vehicles used as platforms lined up front and rear, and before the battle, with 75 field guns and 120 mm guns, they bombarded the Japanese concentration area.

Suddenly, * fell like rain, and the Japanese positions in the jungle were on fire, and the trenches and machine gun nests that the Japanese officers and soldiers had just dug with shovels turned into a sea of fire in an instant, and the Type 92 heavy machine guns forged from stainless steel also turned into molten steel in the high temperature, not to mention people.

This kind of rocket artillery is not the first time it has been used on the battlefield in Burma, but it can bring extremely strong psychological shock to the Japanese army every time, especially the screams of rocket artillery shells in the air, which made many Japanese soldiers change their colors.

In a simple command post in the jungle of the back mountain, the commander of the 18th Division, Mutaguchi Lian, was also quite irritable, he wanted to smoke, but found that he didn't touch the match, and in anger, he crumpled the whole pack of cigarettes into a ball of scrap and threw it at the door.

This time, I wanted to take it by surprise, and I should cooperate with the outside to defeat the Chinese army, but I didn't expect to be besieged here, and Mu Tian had a sense of frustration that stealing chickens and rice could not be eaten.

As a matter of fact, according to the plan of the Burmese Front Command, the 56th Division was planned to be sent to carry out this mission in advance. However, the 56th Division later became entangled with the Chinese army on the Tonggu front, so naturally it could no longer be dispatched. This burden also fell on the head of the 18th Division.

The 18th Division sent this time was not fully staffed, and one of the wings was still fighting in the Tonggu area and could not be redeployed. But the commander of the division, Mu Tian Koulian, did not think so, he waved his hand and said: "The current strength is enough!" ”

Mutaguchi Ryoya's self-confidence is not blind, his self-confidence comes from the outstanding combat exploits of the 18th Division.

At the beginning of the invasion of China, the 18th Division was not equipped as it is today, but the division acted as the vanguard, and after landing in Shanghai, it went all the way to the west, and the combat area spanned the entire East China, and several elite Chinese troops fought bloody battles without losing the wind.

In the ensuing battle of the Japanese army moving south, the combat effectiveness of the unit reached its peak. The unit landed in Singapore and then moved to Burma, where it was invincible.

In the battle of Burma, the division defeated the British 17th Indian Division, the 1st Burmese Division, the 7th Armored Brigade and the Australian 63rd Brigade in one fell swoop, and successfully defeated Yangon, the capital of Burma.

He was not only promoted by this officer, but also served as the commander of the 15th Army and the commander of the 18th Division, and was almost equal to the commander of the Burma Front.

It is precisely because of these sweetness that this arrogant guy chose to personally lead a surprise attack on Mandalay this time. The war in Burma has been stalemate for too long, and those expeditionary forces have made great progress in terms of firepower, equipment and combat effectiveness compared with the Chinese army at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War.

Initially, it went well, as they disguised themselves as the Burmese Independence Army (MIA) and bypassed the Tonggu defensive line and swooped down on Mandalay. I thought that the expeditionary force was concentrated in Tonggu, and the rear must be empty and lacking troops, who would have thought that they would be able to mobilize so many troops in such a short time.

The number of soldiers is still not the most important thing, the most troublesome thing is that the equipment that the expeditionary force does not know has been qualitatively improved compared with before.

When they were still a few dozen kilometers from Mandalay, their intentions were discovered by the expeditionary force, so the expeditionary force began to close and besiege. Thus began the battle between the two sides.

On the third day after the battle, a brigade of the vanguard of the 18th Division bypassed the blockade and advanced towards Mandalay, attempting to disrupt the attack by harassing the rear of the Chinese army.

Nakamura's brigade shook off the pursuers behind them and slaughtered along the road towards Mandalay. The mission of this unit is to cause trouble, so they burn, kill, loot, and do all kinds of evil along the way.

However, they had not gone far before they encountered a quartermaster depot of the expeditionary force, which was guarded by only a company of transports.

In the past, the firepower of a brigade of the Japanese army was equivalent to that of a regiment of the Chinese army, and even a division of the second- and third-line troops.

The captain of the brigade, Kojiro Nakamura, gave feedback to the rear, and immediately organized troops to charge the Chinese army, and by the way, they restocked.

What he didn't know was that one of the companies guarding the place was the pioneer of the 1st Army Teaching Brigade of the Expeditionary Force, the reconnaissance and search company.

This company is a reinforced company, with more than 300 soldiers, equipped with 12 mortars, 3 anti-tank guns, and 25 light and heavy machine guns. The entire company was staffed with a single "M4 Tom"* and M1 Garand semi-automatic rifles.

The reason why they came to this place was entirely because they didn't know which tendon was wrong, and they regarded this student brigade as a second- or third-rate baggage force.

Originally, this brigade was mainly composed of enthusiastic young students, but after arriving in Burma, they were assigned to Stilwell's name as a demonstration teaching brigade of American weapons.

With this arrogance, they finally ushered in their first battle, but unexpectedly they were assigned to this rear to be responsible for hauling supplies. This kind of thing is all done by the logistics baggage troops, and it is really depressing that the dignified and beautiful weapons training brigade is actually in charge of logistics.

When encountering such a fucking thing, it is natural to hold a fire in my heart, but the whole brigade is like this, the company commander complained to the battalion commander, and was scolded by the battalion commander, "You complain to me, who am I complaining to?" I see you're idle, go! Load the cart of canned food into the truck and prepare to send it to the military station. ”

It was precisely because of this kind of grievance and injustice that when they encountered a Japanese brigade approaching, the officers and men of the reconnaissance and search company not only did not have the slightest fear, but became excited.

Although the company commander Lin Jiafu was excited in his heart, he responded calmly. On the one hand, he reported the situation of the enemy, and on the other hand, he organized his troops to actively defend. After the battalion headquarters heard his report, they also sent reinforcements when they reported to their superiors.

Zhang Lin, the commander of the teaching brigade, personally called the reconnaissance and search company, and he said to Lin Jiafu: "Fight hard, whether our teaching brigade can go to the front line depends on your battle!" ”

Lin Jiafu leaned on his heels and assured the brigade commander on the phone: "Don't worry, brigade commander, I want the little devil to see what the American style of play is!" ”

The Japanese attack began in the evening, and a large group of grenadiers and 75 mountain guns began to leap forward continuously, and the footsteps of pigskin shoes were heard from time to time on the position.

"Don't worry! Wait until you get into range before you fight! Lin Jiafu hooked his waist and shouted back and forth.

The officers and men held their breath and sweated from time to time with American-made automatic weapons in their hands, after all, this was the first time that most of them had done it with real guns and knives.

After a while, the Japanese, who were lined up in a straggler line, rushed up with a vigorous momentum, and suddenly, the sound of chirping sounded, and three flares rose into the air, illuminating the positions of the two armies as if it were daytime.

At this moment, with the roar of the M2 Browning heavy machine gun, the battle began in an instant.

Suddenly, a hail* smashed down on the Japanese troops, and the Browning heavy machine guns and Czech light machine guns formed an impenetrable wall of fire with a rain of machine gun bullets, and the Thomson* and Garand rifles in the hands of the officers and men also opened fire with a bang, and the bullets poured out like money.

The fire net composed of automatic firearms was not covered, and the intensity of the attack in front of the position was so dense that there were no dead ends, and the Japanese soldiers wearing pigskin shoes fell to the ground one by one, row by row, like cutting grass.

For the Japanese army, the most terrifying thing was this American-made Browning heavy machine gun, this large-caliber heavy machine gun swept through the Japanese army in front of them at a speed of more than 300 rounds per minute.

The gun's long range and penetrating power were so strong that the Japanese army did not expect it. A large-caliber bullet hit the human body and cut off the waist, seeing a group of imperial soldiers turn into piles of minced meat, Nakamura Kojiro Shaozo kept gasping.

Here, after Lin Jiafu watched the first batch of Japanese troops retreat with dozens of corpses left behind, he ordered everyone to stop shooting, leaving only the heavy machine guns with a long range to suppress the Japanese position. Anyway, with his back to the supply station, there are a lot of bullets or something.

The Type 92 heavy machine gun had no power to fight back under the suppression of the Browning machine gun, and the machine gun nest that had just been piled up was immediately beaten to pieces, and the machine gunners inside were also a pile of flesh and blood.

"Well played! Coke the brethren! On this side, Lin Jiafu saw that he had repelled the first attack, so he seized the time to rest.

The cooking class was already ready in the back, and they boiled a pot of hot water, dismantled the instant noodles and canned beef and poured them in. In the evening, the brothers of the reconnaissance and search company ate canned beef and instant noodles, not to mention the Coca-Cola that was aided by the United States.