, Chapter 1095 The Siege of Mandalay

The British army from Mandalay to Ye'an and Indo, if the mechanized march, at most two hours, can be reached, if the rapid march on foot, it can be reached in more than five hours, and the Japanese army in the north, in a car and spread out the legs, the fastest time to arrive, and the Japanese army in World War II has not yet reached the mechanized Cheng dù.

But when the British army arrived listlessly at Ye'an and Indo, a wing of the 133rd Division, the vanguard of the Japanese army, had already established a position here, and speaking of which, the combat group sent by the British chief of staff Francis to defend was not enough when it set out from Mandalay, and these British troops were driven by the Japanese from Thailand and southern Burma all the way to Mandalay.

Now, they were ordered to return to fight the Japanese army, from the commander to the ordinary soldiers, they finally escaped alive, and the one was reluctant, just to assemble troops in Mandalay, it took more than three hours, and they got into the car slowly, all the way suspicious, the car drove like an ox cart, from Mandalay to Ya'an, Indo, 50 kilometers, walked for six or seven hours, and the avant-garde wing of the 1133rd Division of the Japanese army, with two legs, ran in front of the British, occupied Ye'an and Indo.

A wing of more than 4,000 troops, facing the strength of tens of thousands of troops of two divisions, three brigades, and two tank regiments of the British and Burmese army, was not afraid at all, and the British troops who arrived at the scene, and the two division commanders quarreled for more than an hour about how to carry out the attack.

At about two o'clock in the afternoon, the British army was in the beginning of the offensive operation to retake Ye'an and Indo, with two tank regiments as the lead, covering the shrunken British soldiers, and slaughtered the Japanese position.

Several tanks were blown up, Japanese soldiers were beaten with light and heavy machine guns and Type 38 rifle bullets, and more than 100 people were killed and wounded.

After several rounds of pushing back and forth, tens of thousands of British troops and more than 100 tanks were repulsed one after another by more than 4,000 Japanese soldiers, relying on light weapons, and at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the main forces of the 113th Division and the 97th Division of the Japanese Army arrived.

Set up the cannons, and there was a fierce bombardment of the British troops gathered on the opposite side, the British troops were knocked unconscious at that time, and the positions began to be chaotic, and the British soldiers who withdrew all the way were experienced, and as soon as they heard the sound of the cannons, they knew that the Japanese army was coming, and they still had the heart to recapture Ye'an and Indo, and they would break up at that time, and they were already worthy of the reputation that Alexander called elite.

As a matter of fact, the Japanese troops who rushed to Ye'an and Indo were only more than 50,000 people, while the British army had more than 70,000 people, and their weapons and equipment were twice as strong as the Japanese.

The ferocious attack of the Japanese army frightened the courage of the British, and they immediately retreated in a hurry, and the Japanese army who marched north to the victory and the remnants of the brave army bit the British to the death, chasing and fighting all the way, and the British army was mixed together, and the battlefield approached the direction of Mandalay step by step, the Japanese army could not eat the British, and the British army could not get rid of the Japanese, and they were entangled together.

The British troops who lost their fighting spirit and were eager to get out and run back to Mandalay were beaten by the Japanese army and did not even have the strength to fight back, and behind the rolling war group, it was only a three-day journey, and it was the main force of the Japanese Southeast Asian Dispatch Army.

Two days later, the flames of war finally reached the outskirts of Mandalay, and the more than 70,000 British troops sent to Ye'an and Indo ran back to Mandalay with no more than 50,000 people, and the Japanese troops who pursued them lost only a few thousand.

Francis disobeyed Alexander's military orders, and organized the Ye'an, Indo defense group, crashed and defeated, lost the army, lost the armor and ran back to Mandalay, and finally heard the Japanese "boom" cannon, the whole city of Mandalay fell into a panic, the British in the Indochina Peninsula for decades of hegemony, fought a jaw-dropping battle, the British Empire in Asia, lost no face.

At this time, the Japanese army surrounding Mandalay was only more than 50,000 people in two divisions, and the Anglo-Burmese army in Mandalay City had more than 400,000 people.

But the British were completely panicked, an atmosphere of despair and terror, like a plague, spread among the British soldiers, just when Francis reported the dangerous situation in Mandalay to Alexander, some British commanders were already secretly discussing with the Japanese about surrendering, can such troops still fight?

For two whole days, the more than 400,000 British and Burmese troops in Mandalay City did nothing, neither had the courage and courage to carry out a counteroffensive against the Japanese army on all fronts, let alone build fortifications around Mandalay, and made preparations for long-term stubborn support.

Almost all the British pinned their hopes on the results of their commander-in-chief, General Alexander's Chinese entourage, and waited for reinforcements to come down from the sky to relieve the siege of the British, perhaps, since the Opium War, the British, who had not seen the Chinese with their eyes, had never so hoped that the Chinese would come to their side and block the Japanese bullets for themselves.

If the British army continues to retreat unswervingly, the remnants of Terauchi Shou 190,000 may not be able to stop the more than 400,000 British and Burmese troops who are bent on fleeing for their lives, and during this period, Alexander did not even give a clear order to the troops.

In this way, in the chaos and masterlessness of the British in the whole city, two days of the most precious time passed, and the British did nothing, which is really the strangest phenomenon in the history of world warfare, more than 400,000 soldiers, surrounded by more than 50,000 Japanese troops, turned out to be a posture of waiting to be killed.

Two days later, the main force of the Japanese Southeast Asian dispatch army appeared on the Ye'an and Indo lines, and merged all the way in Kyaukmei, rushing to Mandalay like a flood, and then, forming a siege of Mandalay, more than 400,000 British and Burmese troops became turtles in the urn, and the British finally came to a catastrophe, and paid the due price for their own cowardice and avoidance of war, for their own harm to others and themselves.

General Ito Yanzaburo, commander-in-chief of Japan's Southeast Asian Dispatch Army, stood proudly on the slope north of Kyaukmei, under his feet, there were countless Japanese troops rolling forward, and the outline of Mandalay could already be seen from the telescope.

But which one created his own brilliant record, at the cost of more than 10,000 casualties, surrounded more than 400,000 enemy soldiers, in a few months, swept across the Indochina Peninsula, striking at the British like a withered and decaying, the wind swept the leaves, so that they were a little surprised, this rich land, in their own hands, belonged to the territory of the Japanese Empire, this kind of pride in expanding the territory, made Ito's eyes hot.

Major General Nitta, chief of staff of the dispatch army, looked at his commander with reverence, it is undeniable that His Excellency the Commander is a genius, such a record, those guys in the navy, can't catch up, His Excellency the Commander is destined to remain in the annals of the empire forever, of course, there is an element of luck in this, a senior staff officer, ran over with a telegram, Nitta waved his hand to stop, he didn't want his subordinates to disturb the general's mood at this time.

After reading the telegram, Xintian asked respectfully: "Commander-in-chief, the front-line troops have called to ask whether they will immediately launch a general attack on the British in Mandalay City?" I think that it should be easy for our Imperial Japanese Army troops to occupy Mandalay and eliminate the British, so I personally believe that I should immediately order the troops to launch an attack on Mandalay! ”

General Ito Yanzaburo, with an unfathomable smile, shook his head lightly, and said: "Xintian-kun, the ancient art of war of the Chinese, sometimes, is more powerful than cannons and machine guns, the British have lost their fighting spirit, and attacking immediately will make the desperate British trapped and fighting, increase unnecessary casualties to the troops, order down, all troops immediately around Mandalay, form an encirclement, build positions, encircle but not attack, I want to use the force of soldiers to suppress the situation, destroy the British will to resist." ”

In fact, Ito was too cautious and cautious, and also overestimated the British will to fight and morale, if the Japanese army immediately attacked Mandalay, the more than 400,000 British and Burmese soldiers in the city would definitely not last more than a day, and the Japanese would wait for a large number of prisoners to be captured and surrendered!

Chief of Staff Nitta, after listening to Ito's high arguments, he did not doubt the decision of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief at all, and was just about to leave, but Ito stopped him again and said: "Nitta-kun, do you know that in the ancient art of war in China, there is a plan called the army that surrenders without a fight?" Nitta shook his head blankly, why did the commander-in-chief ask such a strange question, inferior Shina people, what else is there to learn from our Imperial Japanese generals?

Ito Yanzaburo smiled reservedly, and said gently to the confused Chief of Staff of Nitta: "Nitta-kun, go and convey my order!" "You will witness a miracle.

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