It was not until two days later that the Japanese 16th Division rushed to the outside of Lashio, and the 33rd Division, under the strict orders of Commander Fengwen at Yamashita, also assembled an infantry wing, and rushed to join the 16th Division outside Lashio at the same time as a tank squadron. Lieutenant General Morioka Hayabusa, commander of the 16th Division, originally looked down on a Type B division like the 33rd Division, but at the moment of the great enemy, it is always good to have more troops.

After the Japanese set up camp, the two lieutenant generals, Hayabusa Morioka and Sakurai Seizo, led several of their joint commanders, under the escort of the guards, climbed to a high ground and carefully observed the defenders' positions in front of them. The more Morioka looked at it, the more ugly his face became, and he also saw that the defensive positions of the defenders were extremely well built, and it was really not easy to break through this defender's position without the help of heavy artillery.

Lieutenant General Morioka Hayabusa observed for half an hour, and then said to the third lieutenant general of Sakurai Province with a heavy face: "Sakurai-kun, it seems that the defenders here are not easy to deal with, see that the fortifications of the people of China are very complete, it is difficult to break through these fortifications with only the artillery in your hands and me, I want to ask the commander of the mountain for aircraft support, what do you think of Sakurai-kun?"

The third lieutenant general of Sakurai Province only brought an infantry wing and a chariot squadron this time, and he couldn't even bring a few mountain artillery, so everything was naturally subject to Lieutenant General Morioka Hayabusa's arrangement. At this time, listening to Lieutenant General Morioka Hayabusa's words, he would definitely not have any opinions, and hurriedly said: "What Morioka-kun said is extremely true, according to the reconnaissance of the Shina defenders here is the famous Shina 90th Army, Morioka-kun, we should be cautious!"

Hearing the name of the 90th Army, not only Morioka Hayabusa's face was ugly, but even the captains of the wings around him were shocked. When the group returned to the camp, Lieutenant General Morioka Hayabusa immediately sent a telegram to Commander Yamashita Fumi, saying that his 16th Division had caught up with the 90th Army of the Chinese at Lashio City, and that the 90th Army of China was defending Lashio City, and that the 16th Division lacked heavy artillery to attack the fortified position, and asked Commander Yamashita to send planes to assist in the battle.

Lieutenant General Yamashita Fumi, who was commanding the Guards Division in Mandalay City, was both surprised and delighted when he received a telegram from Morioka Hayabusa. I am surprised that the 90th Army of this branch will continue to block its own troops here in Lashio, and the good thing is that if the 90th Army of this branch can be severely damaged or eliminated in Lashio, then General Terauchi Shouichi can be completely accountable for the past, and may be rewarded for his military exploits.

In response to Morioka Hayabusa's request, Yamashita agreed without thinking about it, and within his authority, mobilized all nearly 200 planes to provide air support in turns. Yamashita sent a telegram back to Morioka Hayabusa, ordering Morioka Hayabusa, with the cooperation of the planes, to severely damage and even destroy the 90th Army of China in Lashio. When Morioka received this order, he could only smile bitterly and carry it out.

Early the next morning, the 9th Infantry Wing of the 16th Division, under the command of Wing Commander Takeyoshi Imanaka, assembled in front of the camp, and one of the infantry battalions was ready for the attack. At 8 a.m., the roar of motivation was heard in the air, and the first group of Japanese support planes reached the position of the defenders outside the city of Lashio.

Outside the city of Lashio was the 93rd Division was responsible for the defense, while the western direction was the focus of the defense, and here Li Yuanhong handed over to the 278th Brigade. The three regiments of the 278th Brigade suffered little losses in the battle against the Taiwan Brigade and are now in good shape. The out-of-town position on the west side of Lashio is wider because of the flat terrain and the Yunnan-Burma Highway next to it. Huanggang put the 571st Regiment, which had the most combat effectiveness, on the front-line position.

The roar of the Japanese planes also attracted the attention of the 90 officers and men. All kinds of anti-aircraft weapons, which had been prepared for a long time, began to aim in the direction of the planes. On the position west of the city, Wang Haitao placed 60 German-made 37mm caliber anti-aircraft guns, in addition to 90 Type 69 heavy machine guns with anti-aircraft tripods. These air defense weapons were divided into three firepower networks, and once the Japanese planes dived and bombed, the three firepower networks would certainly cause considerable losses to the Japanese planes.

Soon Japanese planes appeared in the sky to the west, and this batch of Japanese troops sent 36 planes, including 8 escort fighters and 28 Type 96 medium bombers. The Japanese planes had suffered many losses from the 90 th Army's air defense weapons, so they also learned wisely, and after reaching the air above the target, the bombers did not dive and bomb at first, but several fighters tentatively rushed down.

In the face of this situation, those anti-aircraft guns did not fire, but more than a dozen heavy machine guns fired tongues of fire from each fire network. The number and power of heavy machine guns pose little of a threat to a highly agile fighter. Instead, the fighters circled around the heavy machine guns like flies, firing at them with their on-board machine guns.

After a ten-minute struggle between the two sides, half of the heavy machine guns were destroyed, and two Japanese fighters were wounded. As soon as the fighters left, the bombers began to dive and bomb, and the pilots of the eight bombers were in the air to see the approximate positions of the heavy machine guns fired at the air, and then they rushed down to these positions.

As soon as the bombers moved, all the heavy machine guns that could fire on the three firepower nets spit out tongues of fire, and the suddenly much denser firepower nets caught the Japanese pilots off guard, and four of the eight bombers were hit before they could drop their bombs, and the remaining four did not care about the position, so they hurriedly dropped their bombs and pulled them up into the air. In the process of pulling up, two more planes were shot and fell headlong.

Six of the eight planes were broken at once, and the bomber pilots who had not yet dived couldn't help but get nervous, they took out all their skills, secretly prayed for Aunt Amaterasu's blessing, and pushed the longitudinal rod with a ruthless heart, and dived down. Twenty bombers dived down one after another, and dozens of heavy machine guns were not enough, and then the anti-aircraft guns decisively began to fire at the air.

As soon as the 60 anti-aircraft guns joined the ranks of aerial firing, the situation was immediately different, and those Japanese pilots immediately vomited blood in their hearts, and 10,000 grass and mud horses were galloping in their hearts. All the pilots scolded the shameless and despicable people in their hearts for hiding so many anti-aircraft guns! It's just that they no longer had a chance to protest, and under the guns of the anti-aircraft guns, the Japanese planes were shot one after another, caught fire, and planted down!

The air raid lasted only half an hour, and only six of the 28 planes were lucky enough to fly back intact, 22 were planted outside Lashio, and even two of them were shot down during the rescue battle. In this case, the effect of the bombing of the positions can be imagined. Standing on a high place and ready to enjoy the scene of the bombing of the Shina position, Lieutenant General Pseudo Morioka Hayabusa's eyes were about to fall off at this time, he never expected that the bombing of the plane he was looking forward to would be such a result.

The bombing had no effect, and Lieutenant General Morioka had no choice but to go back to the old ways, and he ordered his 22nd Field Artillery Wing to shell the defensive positions of the Shina with all its artillery. The field artillery wing of the 16th Division is equipped with 24 Type 91 1O5 mm field guns and 24 Type 95 75 mm field guns.

This kind of artillery wing can be said to be very strong in terms of firepower against other Chinese troops, but against the outliers of the 90th Army, Lieutenant General Morioka Hayabusa is completely unconfident, not only worried about not being able to break through the fortifications on the position, but also worried about the counterattack artillery fire of the Chinese army. It was no secret that the 90th Army in China had a large number of artillery pieces, as well as large-caliber heavy artillery.

The shelling lasted for half an hour, and there was no movement on the position of the Shina people except for gunsmoke and fire, and Lieutenant General Morioka Hayabusa could not hold his breath and ordered the 9th Infantry Wing to attack. The commander of the 9th Infantry Wing, Takeyoshi Imanaka, was an old man in the army, and he had been fighting with the 90th Army since the battlefield in Nanjing.

Zheng Daodong, the commander of the 571st Regiment, who was hiding from the Japanese artillery bombardment in the anti-artillery hole, shook his head disdainfully when he heard the warning post report that the Japanese army had only come up with an infantry squadron, and directly ordered Xiao Shuyun, the commander of the first battalion, to take the first battalion to the position, and the rest of the people were still resting in the anti-artillery hole. In Zheng Daozhong's eyes, the previous battalion was really useless against an infantry squadron in small Japan, but in fact, one company was enough.

Xiao Shuyun, the commander of the first battalion, led his troops to rush into the position under artillery fire, and when he saw through a telescope in the bunker, several hundred Japanese troops were still 300 meters away. Xiao Shuyun left the shooting hole, gave up his position to the guard post, and sat down on the bullet box on the ground. A company commander next to him came over, handed over a cigarette, and lit a fire for Xiao Shuyun.

The first company commander said: "Battalion commander, this may be our last battle abroad, right? I heard that we will be withdrawing to the country in half a month." Xiao Shuyun spat out a puff of smoke and said, "You kid just need to fight the battle well, don't worry about other things, is that something you and I can worry about?"

The first company commander laughed dryly and said: "Battalion commander, don't I want to make more military exploits and get more rewards? I have calculated, in the past few months abroad, the salary and reward for meritorious service are almost enough to buy more than a dozen acres of good land for my father.

Xiao Shuyun was about to say something, when the guard post shouted: "Battalion commander, little Japan is 200 meters away from the position!" Xiao Shuyun stood up, took a few steps to the shooting hole, and looked outside, hundreds of Japanese soldiers had already approached the barbed wire fence 150 meters away. Xiao Shuyun turned his head and said to the company commander: "Don't think so much about it first, let's talk about it after this battle." You go to the position and give orders, and wait for little Japan to get to the barbed wire fence before firing. ”