The arrival of the two divisions of the Japanese army in the city of Amarabra was directly reported by Zhang Lingfu, commander of the 272nd Brigade, to the military headquarters of the 90th Army in Mandalay. Bayi Middle School?? Wenwang?? ? ≥=≠.≤8≥1≤Z≤≥.≤C≤O≠M Mandalay City Retreat is in full swing. Originally, in order to ensure the supply of the battlefield, a large amount of weapons, ammunition, and military supplies were transported from the country, but now they suddenly have to be withdrawn to the country, and these weapons, ammunition, and military supplies must not be left to small Japan.

Wang Haitao received the information and immediately called Tang Yifeng, deputy director of the logistics department and head of the Burma battlefield supply of the 90th Army, to the headquarters. Tang Yifeng is Tang Renli's cousin, and after Tang Yisheng went to the Jurong base, Tang Renli cultivated this cousin. When Wang Haitao saw Tang Yifeng, he immediately asked him how long it would take for him to transport all the materials stored in Mandalay City at the earliest.

Tang Yifeng replied: "Report to the military seat, a quarter of the various materials originally stockpiled in Mandalay City have not yet been shipped, and it will take eight to ten days to completely transport them under normal circumstances. Wang Haitao thought for a while and said: "No, it's too long, nearly 60,000 people from the two divisions of the Japanese army have arrived in the city of Amarabra, and the cost is too great to resist the 60,000 elite Japanese troops for ten days." I'll give you five days, and your logistics office must get all the supplies out. ”

Tang Yifeng pondered in his heart for a while, and said to Wang Haitao: "Junzao, now it is the rainy season in Myanmar, and the road conditions are too poor, and it is very difficult to transfer materials to Quanying within five days. But if we can add 100 trucks to our logistics office, I will be able to complete the transfer of all the supplies in five days. "Now the most trucks in Mandalay City, in addition to the logistics department, is the heavy artillery brigade, Tang Yifeng is eyeing the trucks of the heavy artillery brigade.

Wang Haitao also knew the pressure and difficulties of the logistics department, so he agreed to temporarily transfer all the trucks of the heavy artillery brigade to the logistics department. Tang Yifeng had Wang Haitao's support and hurriedly said goodbye and left. As soon as Tang Yifeng left, Wang Haitao brought Tang Xiaoshan over again. During this period, in addition to the necessary reconnaissance tasks for the Japanese army, the main task of the reconnaissance brigade was to attack General Aung San's Burma Independence Army, so as to ensure the smooth flow of the Yunnan-Burma road.

Tang Xiaoshan came to the command headquarters, Wang Haitao said to Tang Xiaoshan: "Xiaoshan, during this period of time, the troops are retreating into the country, and a large number of military supplies are being transported every day on the Yunnan-Burma Highway. ”

Tang Xiaoshan replied: "Commander, under our repeated blows, the Burmese Independence Army no longer dares to attack the Yunnan-Burma Highway, and other armed forces have no such courage, as long as Little Japan cannot attack the Yunnan-Burma Highway, I dare to ensure the smooth flow of the Yunnan-Burma Highway." Wang Haitao nodded with satisfaction and said to Tang Xiaoshan: "During this time, your reconnaissance brigade has performed well, but you still have to pay more attention, now is the time for the final retreat, to prevent the enemy from counterattacking." ”

After arranging the retreat, Wang Haitao sent a telegram to Zhang Lingfu, asking the 272nd Brigade to hold out in the city of Amarabra for five days to buy time for the whole army to retreat. Zhang Lingfu received a call back and called his battalion and regiment commanders to the command post. After the people arrived, Zhang Lingfu took out Wang Haitao's reply call and said to his subordinates: "Ladies and gentlemen, the military seat has called, asking our 272nd Brigade to hold on here for five days to buy time for the whole army to retreat. The telegram from the military seat is an order! Our brigade will not be able to retreat a single step within five days, and even one person left will be firmly nailed to me here. ”

Zhang Lingfu said this, glanced at the people sitting in a circle, and saw that all the people were calm, so he continued: "Ladies and gentlemen, in the face of tens of thousands of elite troops of the Japanese army, our brigade of more than 8,000 people is weaker in strength, but we have the confidence to succeed and the determination to become benevolent, I believe that you will be able to complete the task assigned to our brigade by the military seat, and I will be the last person to withdraw from this city." Tomorrow the Japanese will attack our positions, and you can put forward any other demands you have now. ”

Zhang Lingfu waited for a while, and when he saw that no one made a sound, he announced his disbandment. The regiment commander Zhao Fei flew out of the command post, took several battalion commanders under his command, and stepped out of the city and came to the position in a jeep. The positions outside the city have been repaired and strengthened during this period of time, and now they are basically completed, but the anti-artillery holes still need to be strengthened to prevent the bombardment of the Japanese heavy artillery. The 545th Regiment built five defensive lines in one go in the south of the city, each of which consisted of an infantry company and a heavy firepower company. The regimental artillery battalion was transferred, and the mortars of the heavy fire company became supporting fire.

Zhao Fei began to inspect the position again, and beside him was Yuan Zhongzhong, the commander of the first battalion. Yuan Zhongzhong said to Zhao Fei: "Tuanza, we have five lines of defense outside the city alone, even if Little Japan can capture a small defense line in one day, we can defend him for more than five days, and the task assigned by the military seat will definitely be completed." Zhao Fei said solemnly: "Old Yuan, don't underestimate the enemy, according to the report of the reconnaissance detachment, the little Japanese came up this time with the Guards Division, that is the Emperor's Imperial Forest Army of Little Japan, not those miscellaneous divisions, plus with the help of heavy artillery, this battle is not so easy to fight." ”

Yuan Zhongzhong responded with his mouth, but he really didn't take it seriously in his heart. In the evening, the Japanese army arrived and set up a large camp five kilometers away from the position, and the large camp of more than 60,000 people looked boundless and occupied a large area. The headquarters of the 25th Army of the Japanese Army was once again located in the city of Misha, which was abandoned by the squadron. Lieutenant General Fumifumi Yamashita of the Japanese Army Headquarters invited Lieutenant General Nishimura Takuma and Commander of the 16th Division Morioka Hayabusa.

Lieutenant General Yamashita knew that the opponent he would face was the 90th Army, which was known as the "First Army of China", and he did not dare to be careless. Shojiro Iida was an example before, so Lieutenant General Yamashita invited the two division commanders over to discuss the attack tomorrow. As soon as Lieutenant General Yamashita Fumimi said his intention to invite them over, Lieutenant General Yumura Takuma, the commander of the Guards Division, said: "Your Excellency, Commander, our opponent is just a group of troops, so there is no need to be so nervous!"

Lieutenant General Yamashita replied with a serious face: "Nishimura-kun, you must not underestimate this Chinese army, my great Japanese empire has suffered many times from this Chinese army. Even the Sixth Division, which has the strongest combat effectiveness, is broken in their hands, and not long ago, the 18th Division and the 56th Division are still in this Misha City, and the jade is broken in their hands.

Lieutenant General Nishimura Takuma listened to Yamashita Fumi's words, and on the surface he listened to it, but the arrogance of the Emperor's Praetorian Guard in his bones made him still very unconvinced by the 'First Army of China'. The reason why the Guards Division is arrogant is because of his arrogant capital. Since the establishment of the Konoe Division in December 1891, the 24th year of the Meiji era, the soldiers were all elite drawn from various divisions and regiments throughout the country, and the Konoe Division was established to defend the Imperial Palace and His Majesty the Emperor, so it is needless to say that the soldiers' sense of honor and pride is needless to say.

Although the first wing was missing, the second, third, and fifth wings, plus one wing of cavalry, artillery, engineers, baggage troops, and signal troops, reached 26,000 men, which was much more than the number of ordinary B divisions. In addition, as a royal janissary, the weapons and equipment are even better, so as the division commander, Nishimura Takuma is very arrogant.

To say that this Guards Division is much stronger than the A Division in terms of weapons and equipment, and an infantry brigade has a mortar squadron, equipped with eight 15O caliber heavy mortars. One wing has a special independent artillery brigade, equipped with 12 Type 92 infantry guns, 8 Type 94 37 mm guns, and 97 Type 81 mm curved infantry guns. There were also squadrons of heavy machine guns, armed with twelve Type 96 heavy machine guns.

And its artillery wing is armed with all Type 96 15o mm caliber field howitzers, the number of which reaches forty-eight. In addition to artillery, the infantry armament of the Guards Division was the most advanced, with four Southern-type submachine guns, four new grenadiers, two Type 96 light machine guns, and one Type 92 heavy machine gun, in addition to Type 38 rifles.

The sophisticated weapons and equipment that are different from other divisions and regiments, coupled with the excellent individual quality of the soldiers and the complete spirit of obedience, these are the arrogant capital of the commander of the Nishimura Takuma Division. In order to demonstrate the capabilities of the Guards Division, Lieutenant General Nishimura Takuma asked Commander Yamashita Fumimi to fight. Yamashita also hoped to defeat the Shina troops in front of him as soon as possible, so he agreed to the request of the commander of the Nishimura Takuma Division, and said that he would let the Fourth Heavy Artillery Brigade fully support the attack of the Guards Division.

The Japanese Army's 4th Heavy Artillery Brigade was already a strategic force, consisting of the 4th Heavy Artillery Wing and the 8th Heavy Artillery Wing. The 4th Heavy Artillery Wing is equipped with twenty-four Type 96 15o mm caliber heavy cannons, which not only have a range of 262oo meters, but also have great power, a projectile weighing 5o.2 kilograms. The 8th Heavy Artillery Wing was armed with eighteen Type 96 24o mm heavy howitzers, which had a projectile weight of 185 kg and a range of up to 16ooo meters, mainly for fortifications or fortifications.

The heavy artillery of the heavy artillery brigade is very powerful and difficult to move. If it weren't for the 90th Army this time, General Shouichi Terauchi would not have sent the Fourth Heavy Artillery Brigade to the Burma battlefield. It was precisely because of its difficulty in moving that the Japanese army walked for so many days before reaching the city of Amarapura. Although the 272nd Brigade knew that the Japanese army had sent heavy artillery units, they did not realize what kind of damage the Japanese heavy artillery units would bring to them.

In fact, in the past few years of participating in the Anti-Japanese War, the 90th Division encountered a lot of heavy artillery bombardment by the Japanese army, and the Shanghai battlefield, Nanjing battlefield, and Wuhan battlefield all had Japanese heavy artillery units participating in the attack, but these troops were wiped out by Wang Haitao not long after, which also made the soldiers lose their vigilance against the Japanese heavy artillery, which also caused the 545th Regiment of the 272nd Brigade to suffer heavy casualties under the heavy artillery of the Japanese army.