Chapter 1106: Flesh and Blood Flying in Mandalay (2)

Tang Qiuli was completely sure that before eleven o'clock in the night, he would conquer Myitkyina, as long as Terauchi Shou changed the original defensive deployment, he would lose, with five main field brigades, four tank brigades, five Thunder rocket artillery battalions, plus the heavy artillery regiments of each brigade, in four and a half hours, he could not take Myitkyina, he should commit suicide.

At the same time, the 7th Brigade, which had forced into Mon Pass, Hinbetting's 8th Brigade, and Ma Gao's 9th Brigade, launched a surprise attack on the Japanese troops in front of them at the same time as Myitkyina was fighting.

Five hours later, that is, Liu Hongzhang's 1st Brigade, in the north of Myitkyina, when the Japanese army was repeatedly fighting, arrived at the 3rd and 4th Brigades in the Hukang River Valley, and launched a full-line attack on the Japanese troops in the Hukang River Valley.

As Tang Qiuli expected, the 3rd and 4th Brigades, which launched the attack five hours late, did not affect the course of the campaign because they were out of sync with the Battle of Myitkyina, and the Japanese troops stationed here, although they received an order from Terauchi Shouichi to withdraw to Myitkyina, could gather the troops scattered everywhere and prepare supplies for a long march, which consumed them for several hours.

The Japanese soldiers who had had had enough of the hardships of the Savage Mountains trembled when they thought about the hundreds of kilometers of road from the Hukang River Valley to Myitkyina, which were full of primeval forests and high mountains and valleys.

Each Japanese soldier brought as much food, drink, medicine and other items as possible, and when the Japanese soldiers stuffed their backpacks with their things and were ready to set off, the 3rd and 4th Brigades of the Corps directly under the Independent Division had already spread out on the front line of the Hukang River Valley, and each regiment had arrived at the designated position.

In addition, in accordance with the order of the division commander, the 3rd Brigade sent two regiments of troops to set up ambushes in Sugiya at the place where it was necessary to return to Myitkyina from the Hukang River Valley, which was tantamount to cutting off the retreat route of the Japanese troops in the Hukang Valley to Myitkyina.

Liu Hongzhang, commander of the 1st Brigade, finally realized the idea of serving braised pork to the Japanese army, and the 1st and 2nd Regiments, after a little resistance to the counterattacking Japanese army, immediately retreated, and the commander of the 19th Division, Lieutenant General Koizumi, who commanded the counterattack, was overjoyed.

This is the best chance to regain the northern defense line, more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers, chasing down, Liu Hongzhang in the telescope, staring at the Japanese army's every move, nervous palms sweating, mouth muttering, "Quick, hurry up, don't let the shells fall on your own heads," ten minutes later, Liu Hongzhang roared violently, "Open the cannon!" ”

A sea of fire suddenly ignited in the formation of the Japanese troops that were chasing after them, and then, the dark red flames, twisting, churning, and carrying thick smoke, rushed into the evening Myitkyina sky, covering all directions, and the Thunder Rocket Artillery once again wielded its might, hitting a death fire net composed of flames and steel on the road pursued by the Japanese army.

The ground shook and the mountains shook, and only 15 minutes of artillery fire made the Japanese soldiers lonely and helpless, lying on the bare ground, having the feeling that they had lived a lifetime, the shelling stopped, the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, and thousands of Japanese soldiers disappeared from this world, not even a shadow of zài was seen, and when the rocket shells exploded, the terrible high temperature produced was burned into a puff of ashes.

Lying on the ground, blowing off their arms and legs, burning their blind eyes, rolling and wailing, there are even more everywhere, a miserable image of hell on earth, the surviving Japanese soldiers got up, and when they didn't know whether to retreat or continue the attack, rows of steel fortresses appeared in front of them, black holes, and indifferent pointing forward.

The commander of the Koizumi Division, got up with a disgraced face, and the hellish scene in front of him made him shudder, he found that he was very wrong, the Zhi Na troops, that was a retreat, it was clearly to lure the imperial army into their artillery range, but what kind of artillery is this, so powerful? "Convey my order, and the entire force immediately withdraw to the city." Koizumi ordered loudly.

As soon as the words fell, on the ground that was already twilight, suddenly burst out of firelight, and in an instant, weaving into a huge fire net, head-on cover, and then, the indistinguishable number of gunfire, in an instant, filled the space, the first tank brigade and the third and fourth infantry regiments, began to carry out a fierce attack on the Japanese army.

Terauchi Shouichi's more than 20,000 troops used in the counterattack in northern Myitkyina collapsed, and nearly half of the Japanese soldiers could never return to their island country, Liu Hongzhang was an excellent tactician, and the infantry, artillery, and tank coordinated tactics, and carried out the fire perfectly, and in just one round, he cut down about a quarter of the garrison troops of Terauchi Shouichi, and the casualties of the first brigade were less than 500 people, and only four tanks were lost.

This is the superior firepower plus tactics, saying that the record of Zào, the Japanese army retreated into the city in a hurry like a retreat, Liu Hongzhang muttered unhappily, "It's really boring, hide when you see it, what kind of bullshit bushido is it?" A telegram was sent to the division commander that the first counterattack of the Japanese army was repulsed by our department, leaving the lives of nearly 10,000 little devils. ”

After receiving Liu Hongzhang's telegram, Tang Qiuli, who was in the Bamo Command Headquarters in northern Myanmar, laughed and said to Chief of Staff Chang Feng: "Liu Hongzhang is very good at fighting, the rocket artillery battalion, he is very good at using it," Chang Feng nodded, and said as if unintentionally, "The Thunder Rocket Artillery is extremely powerful, and if a salvo is fired, the jade will be burned." ”

Tang Qiuli glanced at Chang Feng thoughtfully, knowing that in his heart, he still had the order to shell residential areas, and it was difficult to let go, but the general attack on Myitkyina was about to begin, not the time to have an in-depth and long talk with him.

The troops who counterattacked the independent division returned with a great defeat, losing more than 8,000 people, and it took only more than an hour to fight like this, and if they continued to fight like this, the little strength in their hands was almost exhausted, but the northern defense line was not recaptured, and it was always a nail wedged into Myitkyina, and the troops of the independent division could launch an attack on the city at any time.

There was no way, he could only mobilize some troops from other directions again to form the second counterattack corps, which was already the limit of the Japanese army's strength to defend Myitkyina, or under the command of Lieutenant General Koizumi, the commander of the 19th Division, the Japanese army had just assembled in the north of Myitkyina, the starting point of the counterattack, at 6:30, the south, east, and west of Myitkyina, and at the same time fierce artillery sounded.

The corps directly under the independent division, the troops participating in the battle of Myitkyina, the general attack on Myitkyina began, each brigade belonged to the heavy artillery regiments, pouring shells on the Japanese positions, under the twilight, scorching ballistics, flying in the twilight, the first blow was a heavy punch that the Japanese could not react, thirty minutes after the shelling, the troops under the cover of tanks, from three different directions, pounced on Myitkyina.

By 9 o'clock on the night of the 8th, the independent division attacked Myitkyina of all the troops, all broke through the Japanese army's outlying positions, and attacked the city, the end of Terauchi Shouichi arrived, about half an hour later, Mengguan, Hin Betting, Magao, Hukang River valley direction, there were battle reports, "Division Commander, our division has completed the campaign objectives, the attacked Japanese army, stride annihilated, only a few remnants, fled into the primeval forest, our division has sent a small force to pursue. ”

Among them, the battle reports of the 3rd and 3rd Brigades in the Hukang River Valley are the most distinctive: "The division refers to the fact that Sugiya intercepted the 113th Division, the 95th Division, and the 93rd Division of the Japanese Army that wanted to return to Myitkyina, fought fiercely for four hours, annihilated about 14,000 Japanese troops there, and the remnants of about 3,000 of them, fled into the Impal area in eastern India. ”

Terauchi Shouichi's long snake formation from Myitkyina to the Hukang River valley was torn into several separate sections by the troops of the 10 brigades of the Corps directly under the Independent Division almost at the same time, and the battle in Myitkyina City ended before the early morning at the latest, and the Japanese army was only dying and struggling, and could not change the entire situation of the war.

When the battle report came, Tang Qiuli was not surprised at all, this was expected, but it was only an hour and a half in advance, only Alexander's attitude made him puzzled, the telegram had been sent for more than two hours, Alexander, there was no response at all, what was this Englishman thinking?

Tang Qiuli thought for a moment and said to Chang Feng: "Send a telegram to Alexander again, the passage from Myitkyina to the Hukang River valley in eastern India has been opened at 9:30 p.m. today, and the Japanese army in Myitkyina has been completely annihilated. ”

Alexander was more confused than the temple Shouichi who was surrounded in Myitkyina, the difference is that in the chaotic mood, there is a huge opportunity, receiving Tang Qiuli's first telegram, Alexander was so surprised that he almost fainted, he always thought that the main force of the independent division had all been forced to the periphery of Mandalay, and the message he conveyed to the surrounded British army was that the squadron was rushing to Mandalay.

But Tang Qiuli unexpectedly came to raid Myitkyina, even if Alexander had two heads, he couldn't think of this, he blurted out, "Tang Qiuli, this villain and liar!" But calm down and think about it, how can people deceive you, Tang Qiuli promised to rescue the British troops surrounded in Mandalay, capture Myitkyina, and open the way to withdraw to India, which is also an indispensable part of this plan, and it is also a battle that must be carried out.

It's just that he has always put his mind on the intention of letting the Chinese and the Japanese fight in Mandalay, and the British army taking the opportunity to retreat, the door to India is opened, Tang Qiuli has already done this, next, it depends on the British themselves, Alexander is like a mirror in his heart, Tang Qiuli did it, impeccable.

Is it easy to break through from the encirclement of hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops? Just when Alexander was undecided, Tang Qiuli's second telegram came.

……