In central Burma, Chu Tingchang's troops began to shrink back, and his troops relied more on road maneuverability, so they had to rush to Kyaukpak Dong through the pontoon bridge over the Irrawaddy River before the returning friendly troops and refugees in Ringanqiang, where they would join up with the 200th Division, which had halted its advance, and then find a clue from the chaotic battle situation to cover the withdrawal of the new 38th Division from the front.

24 hours ago, Du Yuming's fantasy plan to save the British army on the Western Front, maintain the battle line, and wait for an opportunity to annihilate the 33rd Division had been in vain; He did take it for granted that he was not sensitive enough to the rapid development of the enemy situation, and of course everyone who regularly read Chen Zhiping's report, even if it was only used as a reference, would inevitably be affected.

When the 200th Division was still on the road, the British army in Sittwe had already quickly fled, if it weren't for Qin Xiaosu's simulated British radio station and calling the national army to the fall of Ren'anqiang and the position of the Japanese army, their convoy would probably have collided with the Japanese troops advancing north in the night in a marching state with no flank cover at all, and then fell into a situation of being caught in two sides.

Now that the Japanese army landed on the Yanqin Dunjiang River and the Japanese army going north on the Yanqin Dunjiang River have almost been connected, the momentum has become unstoppable, and the situation behind them is even more critical, and the 33rd Division, which has been annihilated for more than half of its time, has recovered from the encircled state and immediately turned to a counterattack.

It is impossible for any infantry to quickly recover its combat effectiveness under such heavy losses, but Sakurai was anxious for revenge, and after the pontoon bridge was rebuilt, he immediately summoned the 214th Wing, which was extremely combat-effective and fully organized on the other side, to cross the river and converge, set up the broken division headquarters above the wing headquarters, and gathered some peripheral support units to piece together an offensive cluster of more than 4,000 people, and followed the new 38th Division, which had just withdrawn.

He is now the person in the Japanese army who knows the strength of the new 38th Division the most, he has been fighting fiercely with Sun Liren for a week, and he knows that this unit besieging him is exhausted, and the casualties are far greater than his own, and he can't even fire a few bullets in the last few days of the battle, and if he can catch up, he will definitely be able to deal a heavy blow. Of course, for personal reasons, he must also consider that he burned the Emperor's Imperial Flag, and he did not apologize for his crimes, and he did not immediately seize the merits of the war, which is really unreasonable. To this end, he sent a telegram to Commander Iida, earnestly asking the air force to immediately concentrate its efforts on attacking the towns south of Kyaukbodong, driving the refugees onto the road, and delaying the withdrawal of the new 38th Division and the 22nd Division, and he vowed to take revenge.

Iida naturally understood the revenge of the imperial soldiers, and he really needed a force to assault in the center, cut off the connection between China and Britain, and prevent a Chinese army from escaping to India by a shortcut, and the purpose of this battle was to annihilate the hundreds of thousands of expeditionary forces in Burma. So he decisively supported this suggestion. The 5th Flying Group immediately ceased its air raids on the British forces in Sittwe and switched to air raids on the retreating Expeditionary Force and the towns ahead. Since the British radars, which the Japanese army feared the most, had been packed and moved north (Mountbatten needed these radars to defend India, so he was given priority to evacuate), there was a huge blind spot in the air surveillance, which made the Sino-American joint air force attack in a flying force.

Chu Tingchang sat on the jeep and slowly withdrew eastward with the troops, if possible, a jeep staggered not far away, and Lin Xiuxuan threw a shot at Chu Tingchang in the passenger seat, Chu Tingchang shook his head with a wry smile. They have already made contact and are ready to find an opportunity to meet in the evening to discuss the next phase of the operation. Of course, it is impossible to stop the Japanese army, so we can only plan whether we can rely on the mountains to hold northern Burma, and plan for the worst, and see if we can guide the main force to retreat to India and rearm. Of course, they were also worried that the Japanese army would hit India in one go and cut off China's last transportation line.

Ninety percent of the refugees on the road are overseas Chinese, which is different from the situation in the past during the great evacuation. These overseas Chinese, who desperately provided assistance to the Chinese army a while ago, will inevitably become the target of the frenzied liquidation of the Burmese independence elements under the wing of the Japanese. Of course, the mood of these refugees is complicated, and what they have come to help in exchange for is a failure with no end in sight. A few days ago, it was rumored that the expeditionary force had collapsed on all fronts, and most people still didn't believe it, but now it was really frustrating to see huge fortress-like tanks mixed in the crowd, with their backs to the pursuers, all the way to the northeast. Chu Tingchang sat in the jeep behind and followed slowly, and heard a lot of complaints.

"Hey...... Ninety-one-eight, eleven years later, they still have to run, it's a pity to have such a good weapon......"

"Our family sold their possessions to support the war effort...... The result was another defeat...... When is it a ...... head?"

"My youngest son is in the Nanyang Machinery Corps, and a while ago he wrote that he was going to win a big victory...... I don't know if it's dead or alive now. ”

The Chinese soldiers on the march could only pretend not to hear, many of the refugees fled into Yunnan from the Japanese army when they attacked Guangxi, and then entered Burma, this way was chased by the Japanese, and they did not know how many roads they ran, finally, they thought that the 5th Army of the Changsheng Army had arrived, and they could see hope, but after the two armies fought for a while, the victory was still the Japanese invaders, and they still had to flee.

The convoy parted ways with the main stream of refugees west of Kyaukbodong, where they headed west and the refugees headed north. When he arrived at the temporary station, Zhou Youfu reported that there were about seven or eight people who took off their military uniforms and deserted into the refugee team, and he captured two of them. This is unprecedented in a composite battalion composed mostly of student troops.

Chu Aiyun asked hastily, it was nothing more than the instigation of the villagers, and the excuse of missing the old mother was nothing more than that people's hearts began to weaken, and the soldiers felt that no matter how well they fought, it was inevitable that they would lose again in the end; Under the mood of this gang, it is easy to be coerced by fellow villagers in other units and want to take off their military uniforms and escape.

He knew that the consequences of indulgence would be like a plague in the army if he did not stop it, so he sent the deserters to the gendarmerie of the 5th Army, knowing that the court-martials were just a procedure, and that shooting his own people was always inevitable.

At night, the sound of chasing artillery in the distance sounded, he used the excuse of surveying the enemy's situation, took Zhou Youfu and a few others to the south of the mountain, and when he arrived at the bottom of the mountain, he asked Zhou Youfu to stay at the bottom of the mountain to be on guard, and went up the mountain alone. Zhou Youfu is a reckless man, obedient to orders, and does not ask much.

Ascending the mountain, I finally met with the main members of the task force, and then planned my next move. From the distance from the mountain, the men and horses of the new 38th Division were walking on the road with their heads down, but the soldiers still insisted on carrying the stretcher and did not abandon the seriously wounded.

Unfortunately, this road is all by land, and there is no longer a bridge to blow up and temporarily block the enemy. The rearguard sappers were constantly destroying the roads, but they were of little use, and the Japanese army had a strong field pursuit ability and did not rely on the road.

It seems that the overall defeat is difficult to avoid, unless Lashio has a miracle to hold, of course, everyone is not hopeful. The immediate problem is that the enemy is very close to the enemy, and the retreating troops are trapped by the refugees, unless they throw away the burden of heavy artillery, tanks, and cars, which of course the high command will not allow.

Several people were in a stalemate for a while in a gloomy atmosphere, and Chu Tingchang suddenly had a plan.

"Otherwise, it's better to hit the snake and hit the seven inches. Sakurai's division followed closely and found a way to kill him? In this way, the enemy will stop, and the troops here will also be able to gain western Sichuan and temporarily disengage from contact with the enemy? ”

"We have fought many times at the division headquarters of the 33rd Division, one surprise attack, one decapitation," Ma Qiang immediately expressed his opinion, not showing much interest, "At present, there is no integrated drone, it is difficult to succeed in decapitation, and the intelligence collection is not sufficient, and the location of the enemy's division headquarters and Sakurai photos are not yet known." ”

"Yes, the two main divisions of the Kuomintang, more than 5,000 people were killed and wounded, and the division headquarters of Sakurai was not annihilated, and the troops we can use now are only a few plus a few of us, I don't think it's optimistic. Especially, you have just deserted from your ranks, and I'm afraid the morale is not high. Xu Chong said.

"Sakurai is a hungry wolf, he won't let go if he bites, if he can be eliminated, the problem of the enemy's pursuit can be solved in the short term." Lin Xiuxuan finally opened his mouth and seemed to be on the side of Chu Tingchang. "In the first two attacks, we were not fully prepared, so we managed to get accurate information first, if we can't snipe and decapitate, your troops will carry out a night attack, and we must kill this old devil Sakurai."

He set the tone, and everyone went their separate ways. Chu Aiyun returned to the bottom of the mountain alone, looking a little more emotional, Zhou Youfu knew that the battalion commander should have an idea, and couldn't help but inquire about the next plan, he also heard the rumbling cannon sound not far behind him, and realized that the enemy who followed up actually had a lot of mountain artillery, I am afraid that there are quite a few people.

"Boss, if we don't leave tonight, let the troops withdrawn from the 22nd Division occupy the road, I'm afraid the tanks and cars won't be able to go fast......"

"Don't go, stay."

"Stay? The military seat allows you to bring your weapons to the north. ”

"The north is full of mountains, and tanks can't be used."

"But the enemy behind ...... You also heard that it was 75 mountain guns, and their artillery position was twenty or thirty miles away, and the infantry forward was estimated to be under their noses. Our battalion is mechanized, as long as it is scattered, they will not be able to catch up, but if the friendly forces drag it down......"

"Friendly drag, friendly drag, can you have something else in your head?" He couldn't help but scold Zhou Youfu, he couldn't understand why the national army was always full of such thoughts from top to bottom.

"Are you going to fight? The 38th Division killed and wounded three or four thousand brothers, and the new 22nd Division lost more than 1,000 people, and it did not eat the devils behind. ”

"It didn't run into me. Go back first, I'm in my own measure. ”

Lashio, an important town in northern Myanmar, where fierce fighting is still going on, is a crucial place that has not even entered the scope of discussion between Lin Xiuxuan and Chu Aiyun, because they agree that the special team will not be able to intervene in this place, and it is destined to be lost in a few hours.

In fact, the first charge of the Japanese army broke through the defensive line and entered the city, and at one point the sun flag was erected on the head of the old city of Chengnan. But a reinforced company of the 51st Division, which happened to be nearby, had just opened an arsenal and reinforced more than two dozen Bren machine guns and a dozen Stern*. Under the cover of strong firepower, this company sent a death squad full of straps to launch a decisive assault, but it turned out that the Japanese army that captured the city was only a small team, and they rushed back at once. The deputy company commander went up and waved the Japanese flag, and all of a sudden, the stragglers from all directions also came to fight and resumed their positions, only to find that there were really not many Japanese who came by surprise. This kind of fire reconnaissance by a detachment of several dozen people has evolved into a situation of seizing the city with a handful of hands, and it does not happen often in China.

Zhang Lingfu stood in the temporary headquarters on the hill outside the city, watching the situation with a telescope, the enemy's firepower was very weak, thinking that if he attacked from both sides, the Chinese army would habitually collapse, and he almost succeeded. Fortunately, his overseer had just arrived, and had already set up machine guns behind the other troops.