With the idea of going to Burma, Wang Haitao began to prepare everything, taking advantage of the favorable location near the border with Vietnam, Wang Haitao put the three infantry divisions in his hands into the primeval forest between China and Vietnam in batches as brigades for various training, and each brigade was assigned a reconnaissance battalion. The veterans of the reconnaissance battalion have received training from Wang Haitao in jungle survival and combat, and this time the reconnaissance battalion will be responsible for guiding the brigades in jungle survival and combat training.

Wang Haitao tried his best to recall the reasons for the failure of the first expeditionary force in Burma in history, and he can't remember the details clearly, but one of the important reasons was that the British army fled without a fight and abandoned the Chinese army during the joint operation. In addition, General Stilwell, as chief of staff, blindly adhered to the American-style method of operation, and the inability to reach a good agreement with General Du Yuming, commander-in-chief of the national army, was also an important reason.

In this time and space, because Japan and Germany had good relations, they were not allied, so the United States did not declare war on Germany, and the German military advisory group here in China still left a few liaison officers although it had withdrawn to the country. General Stilwell has also just been appointed chief of staff of the Chinese theater of operations and has not yet come to China.

Wang Haitao is not interested in politics, he is concerned about when China will form the Burma Expeditionary Force, and how his own 90th Army will join the Burma Expeditionary Force. For this reason, Wang Haitao did not hesitate to find Tang Xiaoshan and asked Tang Xiaoshan to send a number of reconnaissance detachments, some of which entered Burma to pay attention to the movements of the Japanese army and the British army, and some of which went to Chongqing to pay attention to the situation in Chongqing.

Not long after sending his troops to the jungle for training, General Stilwell and a British liaison team arrived in Chongqing, and General Stilwell officially took up his post as Chief of Staff for the China Theater. Negotiations to form an elite force into Burma to assist the British in fighting the Japanese army also began in earnest. The reconnaissance detachment promptly sent this information back to Wang Haitao in Longzhou.

When Wang Haitao received the news, he immediately sent a telegram to his former commander, General Chen Cheng, proposing to General Chen Cheng that the 90th Army was willing to participate in the invasion of Burma, and indicating that his 90th Army had been recruited from the mountains and jungles of Guangxi, and that the soldiers were extremely familiar with the mountains and jungles. You can enter Burma at any time to fight without having to adapt.

Wang Haitao's telegram persuaded General Chen Cheng that the 90th Army had rested for a long time, and judging from the intelligence from all sides, the combat effectiveness of the 90th Army had surpassed that of any unit in the country, and now the Japanese army was still blocked to the east of Hunan, and there was not much fighting in the country, and the 90th Army could just participate in the operation into Burma. Chen Cheng, who was moved, immediately went to meet Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek's negotiations with General Stilwell and the British had come to an end, and he was about to start forming an expeditionary force into Burma. Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Cheng to sit down and said: "Rhetoric, you have come just in time, I was about to invite you to talk about the formation of the Burma Expeditionary Force." Now that we have basically negotiated with the British, the British are anxious to salvage the situation in Southeast Asia, and the conditions given are very good, and we also need this external channel to obtain British and American aid. The formation of the Burma Expeditionary Force is certain, and I would like to hear your opinion on which troops to send to fight in Burma. ”

Chen Cheng replied: "Principal, I also came to ask for instructions on this matter, I received a telegram from Wang Haitao, the commander of the 90th Army, Wang Haitao requested to send his 90th Army into Burma to fight, considering that the 90th Army was originally a soldier in Guangxi, and was very familiar with the mountains and jungles, and Wang Haitao has never disappointed the principal, and the combat effectiveness of the 90th Army is one of the best in the national army, and he thinks that Wang Haitao's 90th Army can be sent into Burma to fight. ”

After thinking about it, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to Wang Haitao and his 90th Army to enter the Burma Expeditionary Force, and Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Zheng discussed other troops for a long time, and initially decided that the expeditionary force entering Burma would be composed of the Fifth Army, the 66th Army, and the 90th Army, and the commander would be General Luo Zhuoying.

Soon a paper dispatch order was sent to Wang Haitao of Longzhou County, and the order was sent to the 90th Army to enter the Burma Expeditionary Force, and stipulated that the 90th Army should arrive at the line of Dali and Baoshan in Yunnan within a month, waiting for the order to attack. Wang Haitao, who accepted the order, let the troops who had gone out for training immediately return to the team and began to prepare for the expedition.

The first to set off was the 93rd Division led by Li Yuanhong, the 93rd Division was the first unit to conduct jungle training, and at this time it had returned to Longzhou after training, and the 93rd Division would be stationed in Baoshan. The 93 rd Division was accompanied by a regiment of the reconnaissance brigade, and after arriving at Baoshan, regiment commander Wei Changxing would immediately dispatch a reconnaissance detachment to conduct a comprehensive reconnaissance of the road situation into Burma, the situation of the British troops, and the situation of the Japanese army.

Within a few days of the departure of the 93rd Division, the other three divisions were all ready to go on the march. Wang Haitao handed over the whole place in Longzhou to Tang Renlilai to be responsible. In view of the fact that the Japanese army had already occupied Vietnam and was eyeing the Guangxi region, the Longzhou area, as Wang Haitao's old nest, was the object of the Japanese army's desire to get rid of it as soon as possible. The departure of the 90th Army will bring an opportunity for the Japanese army to attack, and Wang Haitao has to guard against this.

Wang Haitao left Tang Longzai's 211th Division in Longzhou, and let Zhao Zhongwu also stay, and cooperated with Tang Renli to recruit an independent division of 15,000 people. In this way, there are two divisions in the Longzhou area, and with the support of the Gui army, there should be no problem in self-preservation. Although Tang Longzai was a little reluctant to stay, the safety of Longzhou County could not be ignored at all, coupled with the safety of his family, Tang Longzai could only stay with the 211st Division.

After arranging the affairs of Longzhou, Wang Haitao let the 210th Division set off, the 210th Division is a mechanized division, and the requirements for the road are very high, and after entering Burma, the Yunnan-Burma highway is not easy to walk. Behind the 210th Division were the Heavy Artillery Brigade and the Armored Brigade, and the Guards Brigade was responsible for guarding the roads of the 2nd Brigade.

Finally, the headquarters of the 90th Army set out with the 90th Division. Three divisions and four brigades directly under the whole army, totaling more than 70,000 people, marched together to the territory of Yunnan, and stayed overnight along the way. The Fifth Army and the Sixty-sixth Army of the Nationalist Army also arrived at the Sino-Burmese border, General Stilwell and his entourage also arrived in Dali, Yunnan, and Wang Haitao also met General Stilwell, whose name will be recorded in the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he led the intelligence team to inspect the battle situation on the Chinese battlefield many times, and he was also familiar with the 90th Army under Wang Haitao's name, but he had never met Wang Haitao. General Stilwell has always believed that the 90th Army is a miracle on the Chinese battlefield, and in the war report sent to the United States, General Wang Haitao and the 90th Army have been mentioned many times.

In his report, General Stilwell pointed out that if there was no 90th Army on the battlefield of resistance against Japan, it would be more difficult for the Chinese army to stop the Japanese army's attack, the course of the war would be more favorable to the Japanese army, and it would be more difficult for the Chinese government to destroy so many Japanese troops. Therefore, General Stilwell was very pleased that Chiang Kai-shek was able to send the 90th Army to participate in the invasion of Burma, and he was also full of confidence in defeating the Japanese offensive in Burma.

In this case, the meeting between General Stilwell and Wang Haitao was very harmonious. After exchanging some tactical ideas on the Japanese army and visiting the troops of the 90th Army, General Stilwell had a greater appreciation for Wang Haitao and higher expectations for the operation in Burma. After the Sixth Army and the Sixty-sixth Army all arrived on the Sino-Burmese border, the strength of the Chinese army had reached nine divisions, and the number of independent units had reached nearly 150,000.

At the beginning of April 1941, nearly a year earlier than in history, the Japanese army approached the city of Yangon, the capital of Burma. On 15 April, when Rangoon was in critical condition, at the request of the British, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government established the First Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. The commander was General Luo Zhuoying, General Stilwell was the chief of the General Staff, and Wang Haitao was appointed deputy commander. The First Route Army is under the jurisdiction of the 90th Army, the 5th Army, the 66th Army, and the 36th Division directly under the headquarters, with a total of 160,000 people in 10 divisions.

On 25 April, Chiang Shi ordered the First Route Army to enter Burma under the unified command of Deputy Commander Wang Haitao, and the 90th Army and the Fifth Army to enter Burma in advance, while Wang Haitao was under the command of General Hutton, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Burmese Army. Wang Haitao immediately ordered that the 93rd Division, as the vanguard of the whole army, should enter Burma first, and the target was Tonggu after Yangon, and they would take over the 1st Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army in Tonggu to defend Ningning and cover its retreat.

After receiving the order, Li Yuanhong immediately led the 93rd Division to Tonggu day and night, and arrived at Tonggu on 5 May to build fortifications. On the third day after the departure of the 93rd Division, Wang Haitao led the rest of the troops into Burma via Wanding, and then advanced to Mandalay via Lashio. Along the way, the engineering regiment of the 90th Army built roads and bridges, and made great contributions to ensuring the smooth advance of the heavy weapons behind.

At the beginning of May, the new commander of the Burmese Army, General Alexander, did not organize any effective resistance to Rangoon, resulting in the Japanese taking Rangoon lightly on 8 May. After capturing Rangoon and learning that the Chinese Expeditionary Force had entered Burma to participate in the war, the Japanese Southern Army quickly formulated a new operational policy: to further master the fighters and fight boldly and decisively, to force the enemy in Mandalay, especially the Chinese army, to fight a decisive battle and annihilate them in a short time.

In order to achieve this policy smoothly. The commander of the Japanese Southern Army, General Terauchi Toshiichi, sent the 18th Division, the 56th Division, the 1st Division of the 3rd Flying Group, and the troops directly under the required army to the 15th Army in Burma. In this way, the commander of the 15th Japanese Army, Iida Shojiro, had four divisions, the 18th Division, the 33rd Marshal Regiment, the 55th Division, and the 56th Division, plus the troops directly under the 15th Army, the strength of the troops reached more than 100,000.

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