A large number of paratroopers landed near Budalin, and Nishida did not have reserves at all to deal with, and with his own, there were only more than two hundred people here.

He wanted to urgently mobilize troops for dozens of kilometers, but found that the telephone line was cut off, and the timing was neither early nor late. Xu Chong was nearby, of course it was impossible for him to wait comfortably to die. The important thing is not to stop his resistance, but also to prevent him from passing on the news, although it is impossible for such a large-scale airborne landing not to alarm the Japanese command structure in Mandalay at all, but it is still necessary to confuse the enemy's judgment.

For this purpose, only on this morning, Sun Liren and Wingate's troops began to launch a fierce attack, and the telegrams of Japanese troops asking for help flew back like snowflakes, which was bound to make a commander like Kimura Hyotaro, who was not sharp enough, at least until the afternoon, unable to discover the true intentions of Chu Tingchang.

There was a supply distribution center in the city of Budalin, one of a series of military stations leading to the north, and the capture of livestock and rice was a secondary tactical objective of the operation.

Xu Chong appeared nearby early and killed several guards with his amazing sniper tactics. The Japanese defenders dispersed in a hurry. He found that the combat effectiveness of this security combat unit was obviously inferior to that of the field division, which gave him a new idea, so he no longer waited for the paratroopers, but took his more than 20 scouts to attack the enemy's headquarters.

The enemy command was drawing up a telegram, and the work was not yet completed due to the need to consult the codebook. Xu Chong's troops had already reached the front, and the enemy's machine guns blocked the troops' attack. But Xu Chong could see the whip-shaped antenna erected above the headquarters. He couldn't wait for the American planes to solve the problem, and those low-flying P38s were chasing targets like trucks, and they could only see moving targets in the air.

Fortunately, his Springfield rifle was specially selected, with an accuracy of about 150 meters and an accuracy of 0.5 arc minutes. Taking advantage of the lack of wind in the morning, he fired at the end section of the thicker antenna from 200 meters away, breaking the enemy's antenna with one shot. He was also a little surprised by his results, as it was expected that he would need 3 to 4 guns to be able to hit such a small target.

The enemy's short-wave communications rely heavily on transmitting antennas, otherwise it is impossible to complete communication over distant areas. Apparently the blow was fatal. The Kimura command, far away in Mandalay, received only the first half of the distress telegram.

Suzuki found that the telegram mentioned the appearance of the Airborne Forces in the nearby air, but there was no follow-up, and he waited twenty minutes, and it seemed that there was no more information left. He hurried to see Kimura. Kimura was also a little surprised, in principle, the Airborne Forces are a heavy weapon of the army, and it is very likely to be used in important strategic directions, but the telegram does not mention the number of paratroopers, maybe it is just sabotage behind enemy lines? Prior to this, the British had often used this tactic by throwing platoon-level troops into the forests of northern Burma, armed with radios and gold, and responsible for liaising with local tribes. He can't judge that, although Mandalay still have some reserves.

Suzuki reminded the commander that this was likely to be the direction of Chu Tingchang's main attack, of course, he couldn't come up with the evidence on the request, but the study of Chu Tingchang made him feel that this person likes to surprise and attack him unprepared. If combined with the rest of the telegrams of the 96th Mixed Brigade in the morning, such as the discovery of enemy weather observation planes, and the Burmese army's report of abnormal movements in the Chin State Mountains, then it is very likely that Chu Tingchang once again jumped out of everyone's predictions, and he was going to launch an attack from the most unlikely area.

However, Suzuki has long since fallen out of favor, especially now that he is trying to interfere with the command as an intelligence officer, which annoys Kimura. Kimura almost deliberately ignored Suzuki's opinion and only agreed that Suzuki was mobilizing a command reconnaissance plane. Venture to the enemy plane-infested to go around the Budarin. If the problem is not serious, you can land on a nearby flat plane and restore contact.

While the enemies in Mandalay were fighting each other, the paratroopers had already easily captured Budalin, and most of the paratroopers did not fire a single shot. There are about 200 old, weak, sick and disabled devils here, most of whom fled in advance, and the rest is not enough for more than 2,000 people here. The airdrop lost more than 70 people, only half of whom died in the battle, and the main losses came from the hasty preparation that caused some paratroopers to fall into nearby rivers and drown.

Zhou Youfu's first batch of tanks is rumbling to arrive. Commander Chu gave him most of the division's tanks. Lao Zhou had just completed the magic stroke of the dark Chen Cang, but the next two long-distance attacks were even more critical. He needed to use Stewart tanks and half-tracks for a quick assault that tore apart the enemy's north-south connection. The road in the rear was still being repaired and was not to the point where it could be used by trucks, so there were no self-propelled guns in his troops, because there was no way to supply shells. The fire cover of this fast force will be completed by mortars and American aircraft.

In order to carry out a deadly mission in an area where the Allies had air supremacy, the plane did not even bring a second crew member in charge of observation to increase its speed. The plane quickly flew over Budalin, and a P38 tried to pursue it, but without success.

The 100-type reconnaissance plane burrowed into the ravine, its camouflage worked, and the American plane flew to the other side. When the pilot made a turn against the mountain, he saw a tank driving through the mountain. He immediately made a call to headquarters, but the distance was too far and voice communication did not work. Originally, it could have been possible to telegraph over longer distances, but it was not possible without a second crew member. This will allow the Japanese army to continue to delay the correct judgment.

Zhou Youfu's troops marched through Budalin to liaise with Zinke, who had just landed, and the paratroopers were to attack south as agreed, blocking the Japanese counterattack in this direction, and to flank Sun Liren's 30th Division from east to west, opening the road to Monnewa (the road taken by the 5th Army when it withdrew from northern Burma).

The 202nd Division continued to the southeast and took Mandalay, and the rest of the 5th Army will join the attack one after another, and then Zhou Youfu will go to Longling to break the 56th Division, rescue the 74th Army, and open up the Lashio communication line.

The 200 local ponies and 250,000 catties of grain captured by the 96th Division from nearby villages were captured by Butalin, which could free up the transportation capacity of Chu Tingchang to transport one more division.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Suzuki realized that the situation was not good, because the second detective verified the situation reported by the first pilot, and there were indeed tanks east of the Chin State Mountains. His first instinct was to call Suzuki over and scold him, as the intelligence services were seriously lagging behind, which led to his miscalculation.

However, Kimura was not in a hurry, his front army had just received a division of the first division, the 4th Division, and now the main force of this division, the 8th Wing, was on the railway south of Mandalay and could arrive in the evening.

The 4th Division is the old unit of the commander-in-chief of the Southern Army, Terauchi Shouichi, and is the guard reserve of the Southern Army.

To some extent, the effect of Stilwell's desire to see the Japanese Army's tail through World War I has been revealed, and the base camp is not willing to accept the total retreat of Burma and begins to resort to refueling tactics here. The stagnation and attrition of the Japanese army in any strategic direction was what the Allies wanted to see.

Meanwhile, MacArthur of Australia was nervously watching the coastline, waiting for the first Japanese soldier to come into view, and Marshall's last line of defense for his old friend was Tasmania, the last stop from which he could retreat, but he would never be allowed to flee to New Zealand.

The Project 419 submarine quickly crossed the Louisiade Islands and entered the vast sea, taking advantage of the darkness of the night, the submarine launched a drone to conduct reconnaissance on a large area. The sonar has detected the movement of more than 200 ships of various types, some of which belong to the main force of Yamamoto's Pacific Fleet, and some belong to the escort fleet of the Mikawa Army and the First Support Army landing at Cape York. Others are army landing ships.

The weather was still bad, delaying the landing of Japanese troops. The Japanese had already occupied the Torres Islands, and had set up heavy artillery on the Prince of Wales Island, 20 kilometers away, to carry out non-stop shelling of the intended landing site at Cape York, and Yamashita did not hide the question of whether he would attack here or just launch a feint at the place where he was about to land, and let him guess.

However, 419 learned from the intercepted telegram between the Japanese army and the navy that the main attack was here, and the Japanese did not have enough ships and no professional landing ships, so they simply chose the shortest route to launch the main attack, although there were also a number of troops that detoured back to Darwin and Brisbane to land, but the troops were not much. Yamashita didn't care how many more people would die if he landed in such an obvious place that was easy for the enemy to guess, and now he was just hoping that the good weather would come sooner.

The detachment attacking Brisbane had already set out, covered by a naval fleet of cruisers. In addition, a fleet of Navy aircraft carriers, the Great Eagle, will also appear in the nearby ocean, and according to Yamamoto, the planes on the Great Eagle can provide cover at any time to block the American fleet that Sydney is heading north to support.

At this time, the U.S. fleet was heading north from Sydney to look for the Japanese fleet that had attacked Brisbane a few days ago, of course, to cheer up the Australian people.

Many people believe that Australia has become an island, that the Americans have abandoned the place following the British, and that they are going to retreat to New Zealand; There are even rumors that in the face of the powerful Japanese army, the United States has abandoned the Pacific Ocean and is preparing to retreat to the mainland, and the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet has also been withdrawn from Hawaii to San Diego.

The only way to boost morale now is for the warships of the Pacific Fleet to patrol the coastal waters so that the coastal people can see the presence of the US Navy. At the same time, MacArthur would appear on the radio every day to announce his expectations of the war, mainly to make his voice heard by Australians. In order to boost morale, MacArthur had to mention the victory in Burma in his speech, telling the people that the Japanese army was by no means invincible, of course, he never mentioned the name of Chief Chu, but only mentioned two things, one is the stability of the US-British alliance, and the other is the superiority of US-made weapons.

MacArthur was ashamed to tell the Australians that he had gained enough experience from resistance in the Philippines to help the Americans defeat the Japanese in Burma, and now he is going to defeat the Japanese here.