By about four o'clock in the morning, the Anglo-Indian attack on Sido had stopped, not because Acting Commander Adams did not want to fight, but because he could no longer organize an effective offensive.

Attack after attack, be repulsed again and again, blow at once, then decline, exhaustion, and then crazy attack, there is always a time of exhaustion, the blocking position of the Sido Independent Division, like an immovable rock, countless huge waves rushed past, in front of the rock, crashed into waves all over the ground, and finally dissipated and retreated.

In front of the position, the British and Indian troops left thousands of corpses of soldiers, the casualties were not very large, except for the first two hard attacks, the rest of the attacks, even the other British and Indian generals could see, the soldiers no longer had the minimum offensive spirit and fighting spirit, the attack to the independent division defenders within the range of fire, the Chinese army began to return fire, the guns rang out, and the soldiers retreated like a tide.

The attack was futile, the more fierce the attack, the more fierce the counterattack of the independent division, within the range of mortars and heavy machine guns, there was an impassable line of death, all the soldiers who tried to cross this line were reduced to fragmented corpses, and more than half of the casualties of the troops were inflicted in the first two attacks.

The generals tried to persuade General Adams to stop the attack and make good plans to avoid unnecessary casualties, but General Adams, who had fallen into a state of paranoid madness, threatened the generals who came to persuade him, in addition to severe accusations: "If anyone gives up lightly, he will be a sinner of the British Empire and will be severely punished by military law." ”

Moreover, General Adams also had his own reasons, he told these generals, "Why don't the independent divisions of Sido take the initiative to attack, hold out, and just repel our attack, the reason is very simple, Tang Qiuli's blocking troops in Xiduo are not many, it should be about 20,000 people in a division, otherwise, every counterattack will cause greater casualties to our troops."

For the artillery of the independent division, which never appeared again, General Adams's explanation was that Tang Qiuli's troops, interspersed with long-distance raids, overtook our army and rushed to Xido, the heavy equipment was inconvenient to carry, and the ammunition carrying capacity of the artillery was only enough for one base of artillery bombardment, otherwise, it was only necessary to carry out a large-scale artillery fire coverage of our army's assembly area, and the battle would have ended long ago.

However, the current situation is obviously not the case, General Adams concluded that the independent division did not have many defensive forces in Sido, and could not carry out an active large-scale counterattack against our troops, and their artillery had already exhausted all the shells, and it was precisely because of these two judgments that Adams would ignore the crazy attack.

From another point of view, if you don't maintain a continuous attack, as long as you stop, this anger will be discharged, with the current state of the soldiers, in the face of the fierce firepower of the Chinese defenders, their own huge casualties, and then want to fight, it will be extremely difficult, even if you attack reluctantly, there is no practical effect, just add some more corpses!

Adams thinks so, and he does this, he keeps organizing the retreating troops, and after a little rectification, he once again devotes himself to the attack, if he doesn't take Sido before dawn, and moves away Sido's roadblock, tens of thousands of soldiers and himself will fall into a more dangerous situation, he didn't forget it, not far behind him, there are Tang Qiuli's pursuers.

However, it backfired, all the attacks did not receive any effect, his own soldiers, did not advance half a step, even if he was close to Sido, to gain a foothold, he would not be so frustrated, the soldiers' expression, even more made Adams despair, saying that it was an attack, just approaching the range of fire of the defenders of the independent division, as long as the guns rang out, the soldiers turned around and ran back

By four o'clock in the morning, Adams had used almost all of his troops, that is, each formed unit had attacked at least once, and the soldiers were greeted by an endless stream of mortar shells and light and heavy machine gun bullets from the defenders of the Independent Division, as well as the incessant whistling of submachine guns, and in each attack, the British and Indian troops had nothing but corpses left behind....,

Sido, still firmly in the hands of the independent division troops, the battle to this extent, General Adams's crazy mind, also began to sober up, Sido, has become his own insurmountable chasm, if he continues to fight, I am afraid that this little capital in his hands will be consumed here.

Form is stronger than man, in the face of such a reality, Adams sighed, and finally gave the order to stop the attack, all the British and Indian officers and soldiers, as if hearing the gospel of God, this night, for them, like a nightmare, not only morale and courage, but also faith and hope.

Adams realized that Sido could not be captured, and that he would be faced with a choice, in order to avoid being caught in a flanking siege, he had to lead the rest of his troops to find another way out, bypassing Sido, and returning to the East Indies from another road, in order to escape the tragic fate of total annihilation.

This is a last resort, but the road in front of Adams, there is no room for choice, that route, need to retreat from the current position, more than 50 kilometers, across the Hukang River valley to the south, through the northern Burma Sipma, grapes and other places, over the Nuduan Mountains at an altitude of several thousand meters, than through the west to return to the East Indies, nearly 800 kilometers more than the distance.

What kind of route does that mean that all the soldiers cannot carry too much equipment, even the heavy machine guns must be abandoned, and they are also prepared to fight with primeval forests, countless rivers, and unpredictable dangers, if it were not for the casual conversation with several Indian senior officers, General Adams, at this time, is really helpless.

In the faint starlight, Adams convened a brief military meeting, looking below, a dozen senior officers with tired expressions, frustrated, frightened and dazed, his heart kept sinking, "There was no fighting spirit, all morale and confidence, all was lost in Sido, a place of only a few square kilometers," Adams lamented in his heart.

When they heard that Acting Commander Adams announced his decision, the officers' eyes had a hint of vitality, it was better to take a dangerous route than to fight with the soldiers of the independent division here, at least, there was still a way to live, and all the people became active because of the general's decision, and put forward a lot of proposals.

General Adams himself will face another painful decision, that is, he must abandon thousands of wounded soldiers, and take them with him, which means that no one can walk back to the East Indies, and will be dragged to death on the road of retreat.

After the meeting, the Anglo-Indian troops, in order to retreat, were in a hurry to prepare, and there was no clear rule on what could be discarded or what must be kept, but the soldiers and officers, invariably, threw all the equipment and supplies that hindered the speed of the march on the side of the road, and everyone looked panicked.

Of course, there are thousands of wounded soldiers with blank expressions, from their eyes, they have predicted the fate they will face, this is not the first time, in Xinduo, thousands of brothers, are not also facing the same fate, they have just become the outcast of the British Empire again.

Major General Wang Yiwu, commander of the 10th Brigade of the Sulu Mobile Corps of the Independent Division, put down the phone and said to the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, just now the commander of the second regiment called, the British and Indian soldiers opposite them, stop fighting, these turtles and grandsons, just this little ability, Lao Tzu's four regiments, take turns to fight, fight all night, and it's not enjoyable, that's it, forget it, immediately report the situation to Deputy Division Commander Tang."

Then, he sighed and said: "Cheap British and Indian soldiers, if it weren't for the division commander's order, we were not allowed to leave the position for a counterattack, otherwise, we would have a brigade of our own, counterattack on the whole front, and the British and Indian troops on the opposite side, don't even think about running, wait to be a prisoner of Lao Tzu!"

Tang Qiuli received Tang Qiusheng's telegram, pondered it carefully, and said to Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe: "Yuhe, I judge that Alexander is afraid of being attacked from the front and back because of the unsuccessful attack on Xido, he should find another way out, he will not sit idly by, call back to Deputy Division Commander Tang, agree with the Xiduo Battle Command, and propose to use the strength of two vanguard regiments to raid the rear flank of the British and Indian army." …,

"As for how to fight, it is up to them to decide, with the purpose of blocking Alexander in Sido, the remnants of the army are defeated, retreat from exhaustion, and find another way out, interesting, I have more than 200,000 people in 17 brigades, blocking and chasing after the rear, enough to look at Alexander, I hope he can understand the current affairs, do his best to ask for help, and it will not be in vain to waste my thoughts."

To the east of Xiduo, Major General Xiao Jinshan, commander of the Ninth Brigade of the Corps, was anxious to turn around, for a while, to look at the direction of Xiduo, and for a while, to ask the communication staff officers around him, "Did Deputy Division Commander Tang come to give an order, he was really anxious!" Seeing that the sky is about to dawn, whether to fight or not, give me a happy word!"

A communications soldier with a walkie-talkie on his back ran over quickly: "Report to the brigade commander, I received a report from the commander of the reconnaissance battalion that the British and Indian troops are abandoning equipment and supplies, as well as wounded soldiers, gathering troops, and there seem to be signs of turning around and returning."

Xiao Jinshan slapped his thigh and said: "Oops, the British are going to find another way and turn around, don't they just run into us, the raid battle has become an encounter battle, and now it is passive."

Then he said to the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, do you remember the fork in the road we passed when we came?" You can bypass Sido, immediately report the situation to the command headquarters, order the troops, and get ready for battle! This battle can't be fought without fighting!"

And at this moment, Tang Qiusheng's order also arrived, "The front commander orders your department to immediately raid the rear flank of the British and Indian troops and nail them firmly to Xido, in addition, the division commander judged that the British and Indian troops have the possibility of turning around and retreating, and the tactical arrangements for this battle can be determined by your own department, so as to prevent the retreat of the British and Indian troops as the only purpose."

(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. )