, Chapter 1084 The retreat turned into a rout

The dispute between sea and land in the Japanese military circles has a long history, and it can be traced back to the Russo-Japanese War at the beginning of this century, and this time, it is no exception, and the army believes that it can completely rely on the military strength gathered by the army in Southeast Asia to complete the important task of the empire's occupation of Southeast Asia, and at this time, the Japanese navy has not yet selected a clear opponent in the South Pacific, and its strategic intentions are rather vague.

In such a big operation of Japan in Southeast Asia, the navy cannot let the army monopolize its beauty, and it will inevitably come out and get a piece of the pie, and Emperor Hirohito does not want the army to dominate out of the need to balance the relationship between the army and the navy, so Emperor Hirohito cut a piece of cake with a word and gave the navy, the three main directions of attack of the Japanese army in the Southeast Asian battlefield, occupying Singapore and controlling the Strait of Malacca, which became the task of the Japanese navy.

After the war in Southeast Asia began, in fact, the Japanese navy and army were in a relatively separate state, each doing its own thing, not communicating with each other, and also had the intention of competing with each other, otherwise, the British would be even more uncomfortable.

On the third day of the Japanese army's all-out attack on Indochina, Alexander, in the name of the commander-in-chief of the British forces in Southeast Asia, issued an order to all British troops and the attached Burmese army, all troops, to immediately withdraw to the Mandalay assembly area in central Burma.

In fact, without Alexander's order, the British army was defeated and retreated under the offensive of the Japanese, and the defeat was like a mountain, and after the initial blood cooled, the Japanese artillery and bullets finally hit the greed for life and fear of death of the British descendants, from Lyme in Burma to Chiang Mai in Thailand, there was no obvious blocking line at all, and the speed of the Japanese advance was quite amazing.

Following the occupation of Yangon and Bangkok, the two Japanese armies marched hand in hand, from Burma and southern Thailand, like a turbid wave, swept northward, and the British troops who withdrew from the southern part of the Indochina Peninsula hated their father and mother for having two legs and ran wildly all the way, according to the basic principle of the general retreat of the troops, it should be to block and make use of the favorable terrain on the retreat road as much as possible, block or delay the speed of the pursuing troops, and buy time for the large army.

Alexander also emphasized this point in the order for the general retreat of the whole army, and he still overestimated the combat effectiveness and will to fight of his troops, so to speak, all the British troops had been frightened by the ferocity of the Japanese, and that unit was unwilling to act as a rearguard to block the pursuit of the Japanese.

The British and Burmese troops retreating north from Burma and southern Thailand filled all the roads of the Indochina Peninsula, and the Japanese pursued them all the way north, attacking cities and plundering land, as if entering a no-man's land, this phenomenon happened at the beginning of the war, and even the Japanese who were ready to make a comeback at the greatest cost in order to kill the British were quite surprised and puzzled.

This kind of mentality was fully revealed in a telegram to Emperor Hirohito, General Ito Yanzaburo, commander-in-chief of Japan's Southeast Asian Dispatch Army, "Your Majesty the Emperor, since the Imperial Army launched the Southeast Asian Campaign on April 30, the results of the battle are completely different from what was originally expected. ”

"Wherever the Imperial Army went, the British army had already fled, and the abandoned equipment and materials were piled up at various strategic points, and only three days after the campaign was launched, our Imperial Japanese Army advanced more than 200 kilometers on a frontal area several hundred kilometers wide, and if the momentum continued to develop in this way, in the first half of this year, it would be completely possible to end the combat mission of the Indochina Peninsula against the British army."

General Ito Yanzaburo's smugness, overflowing, he has reason to be proud, fought for three days, originally expected to use 20,000 casualties to capture Yangon and Bangkok, but after the defeat, the casualties were only more than 1,000 people, not even one-tenth of the expected, Ito Yanzaburo's triangular eyes were almost squinted together,

At the end of the telegram, General Ito Yanzaburo said in an affirmative tone: "Your Majesty the Emperor, two months later, the war situation in Indochina can be determined, and this rich land has been owned by the Japanese Empire," Emperor Hirohito was overjoyed, and in addition to commending the brilliant achievements of the Imperial Southeast Asian Dispatch Army, he also specially awarded Ito Yanzaburo the Imperial Chrysanthemum Medal, and Hirohito could finally sleep at ease.

After Alexander gave the order, he waited in Mandalay for the arrival of the retreating troops, during which time he did not forget the small troops sent by Jì to lead the way for the Japanese army Terauchi Shouichi's troops, and now he realized that he had done a stupid thing that even God would not forgive.

Baba's go to greet him, what kind of ally is that, it is clearly a group of wolves, if this is led by the guide team he sent, more than 200,000 Japanese soldiers, out of the Savage Mountain, and more than 400,000 Japanese troops in the north, echoing each other from afar, attacking from the north and south, and withdrawing to Mandalay, the British ** team will become a dumpling filling, and the Japanese can eat whatever they want.

He ordered the headquarters radio station to call the guide team all the time, and there was only one order, stop searching and contacting the Japanese army, and immediately withdraw to Myitkyina, all the news sent out was like a stone sinking into the sea, there was no echo at all, more than 20 guide teams, none of them could be contacted, Alexander's head was "buzzing".

He couldn't figure it out, could it be that all the guides had mysteriously disappeared? Alexander didn't even have time to regret it, the big stone he lifted, not only smashed his own feet, I'm afraid he couldn't even be spared from his head, this matter, he controlled it within a very small range, he couldn't afford to lose this person, Chief of Staff Francis Jianyi, and Tang Qiuli made peace, Alexander hesitated, the Japanese army in the savage mountain was a piece of his heart.

Two days ago, taking advantage of the darkness before dawn and the Japanese army stopped attacking, Major General Ethrich, the commander of the British garrison stationed in Rangoon, finally got tired of running and couldn't run anymore, and made a short stop in a small town more than 200 kilometers north of Rim.

After taking a good breath, he sent a telegram to Alexander, "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, I have to report to you the bad news, in the early morning of April 30, the Japanese army launched an attack on Rangoon, and the Governor-General's residence in Ebsen became a key bombing target of the Japanese air force, the residence was blown up and razed to the ground, and when the Governor himself entered the basement, the passage suddenly collapsed, and more than ten people with his attaché were all killed, because the troops were evacuated hastily, and the Governor's body remained in the ruins of the Governor's Palace in Rangoon. ”

That is to say, the supreme administrator of the British Empire in Burma, the personal representative of the Queen of England, and the Turkish Emperor Lord Ebson, who has ruled Burma for more than ten years, was not able to enter the earth for peace, and the violent corpse was in ruins, and Major General Ethridge ran in a hurry enough, and did not even have time to bury himself, except for the body of Governor Ebson left to the Japanese, more than half of the British officials and expatriates in Rangoon became prisoners of the Japanese army.

After receiving the telegram from Major General Ethelridge, Alexander burst into tears, and could not help but feel sad that the rabbit had died and the fox had died, and the personal relationship between him and Lord Ebson was not very close, nor was it estranged, but the two were in the position of military and political heads, and they worked together for the expansion of the overseas territories of the British Empire, and they came and went frequently.

Speaking of which, this is still the sin of Alexander himself, in order to deal with Tang Qiuli's alliance with the Japanese, the entire Burma and Indochina Peninsula are not defended against the Japanese, with such a good opportunity, how could the Japanese miss it, spies and eyes and ears, every street in Yangon is carefully marked on the map.

Of course, the Governor's Palace will become the target of key care, I am afraid that even the color of the underwear dried by the Governor's wife during the day will be placed on the desk of General Ito Yanzaburo, commander-in-chief of the Japanese Southeast Asian Dispatch Army, Alexander himself, is still favored by God, belongs to the lucky one, when the Japanese air raid on Rangoon, he was in Mandalay, busy planning the deployment against the Chinese, not in the General Headquarters.

Otherwise, the fate of the general himself may not be better than that of Governor Ebson, in fact, the whole of Yangon, these two places were the most heavily bombed by the Japanese, dozens of Japanese bombers, around the British General Headquarters and the Governor's Palace, slipped around the British headquarters and the governor's palace, and bombed for a whole day, and all the buildings on the ground were reduced to a pile of rubble.

The Japanese were ruthless enough, not at all taking into account General Alexander's own ardent friendship with them, secretly sending autumn waves, saying that they would turn their faces, and they were determined to put an end to the British military and political leaders in Southeast Asia, uproot the British Empire's power in the Indochina Peninsula, and put overseas territories in their pockets.

The intelligence system of the Indochina Peninsula of the Independent Division's intelligence office was running at a tense and high-speed speed, and the information about the battle situation in various places, the speed of the Japanese army's advance, the deployment of troops, the retreat route of the British army, and so on was continuously gathered to the intelligence analysis center of the intelligence department.

Tang Qiuli looked at this information, shook his head again and again, the British are finished in the Indochina Peninsula, such an unplanned panicked retreat, although they can be as far away from the pursuers as possible, and race with the Japanese, but hundreds of thousands of people, chaotically crowded on several not wide roads in Burma, the Japanese infantry has no choice, but for the Japanese air force, it is a golden opportunity.

Is it strange that the live targets everywhere, the several improvised roads leading to Mandalay, the soldiers vying for their lives, and the great retreat without any anti-aircraft fire cover, can escape the eyes of the Japanese air force? Alexander will pay enough for his previous stupidity, and this price is the lives of thousands of British soldiers.

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