It only took Wei Bin a day to reach Pugan, which is only ten kilometers away from Ren'anqiang. Eight?? Chinese After some reconnaissance, the reconnaissance detachment determined that two Japanese infantry brigades had built a defensive line here, probably to prevent the British from breaking through in the direction of Mandalay. The reconnaissance detachment hurriedly reported to Wei Bin, the brigade commander of the 460th Brigade.

For the 460th Brigade, the two Japanese infantry brigades could not stop their own advance at all, Wei Bin immediately ordered the heavy armored vehicles as the lead, the 871st Infantry Regiment and the armored vehicles to fight together, first break through the Japanese position, and then the 872nd Infantry Regiment pursued the fleeing Japanese troops. Five 1o5 caliber self-propelled howitzers and eighteen 75 caliber field guns of the brigade artillery battalion provided cover.

As a mechanized brigade, the 460th Brigade has the advantage that when marching long distances, the chariots sit on trucks and do not consume physical strength, so they do not need much rest to enter the battle. Half an hour later, the artillery positions of the artillery battalion were set up, and ten heavy armored vehicles were ready for combat as assault knives. Fifteen light armored vehicles were used as cover behind heavy armored bodies. Behind the armored car, the infantry of the 871st Regiment was ready to go.

As soon as the order to attack was given, the more than 20 guns of the artillery battalion first plowed the Japanese positions with artillery fire, and as soon as the sound of the artillery stopped, the heavy armored vehicles roared, and they took the lead in launching a surprise attack on the Japanese positions, and behind them were more than 1,000 heavily armed officers and men of the 871st Regiment. Armed with semi-automatic rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, and other light weapons, these officers and men accompanied the armored vehicles to surprise the Japanese positions.

The two Japanese infantry battalions on the position, in order to prevent the British troops in the encirclement from breaking through in the direction of Mandalay, were not prepared for reinforcements coming from the direction of Mandalay. Therefore, the formations were all arranged in the direction of Ringanqiang, and at this time, the two infantry brigades had already been blown up by artillery fire, and the armored vehicles attacked and routed the remaining Japanese troops on the position without much effort.

After breaking through the Japanese position, the armored vehicles and the 871st Regiment did not stop, but still broke through to Ringanqiang, and the task of cleaning up the remnants of the Japanese army was completed by the 872nd Regiment. The 873rd Regiment covered the brigade headquarters and artillery battalion and also continued to advance in the direction of Ringanqiang. Wei Bin and the brigade headquarters advanced less than five kilometers, and the commander of the 871st Regiment accompanied a British ** officer in a general's uniform, and a group of people came to the brigade headquarters.

Wei Bin was about to ask what the situation was, when a British major in the gang stood up, first saluted, and then said in Chinese, not fluent: "Hello, Mr. General of China, this is General Alexander, Commander-in-Chief of the Anglo-Burmese Army." When Wei Bin heard that he was the commander of the Anglo-Burmese Army, he hurriedly stood up and saluted, and said: "Hello, General! I am Wei Bin, commander of the 460th Brigade of the 210th Division of the 90th Army of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China. I was ordered to come to reinforce the British ** team in Ringanqiang and cover the retreat of the British ** team. ”

The British major translated Wei Bin's words in English to Commander Alexander, who then spoke to the major. The major translated: "Mr. General of China, Commander Alexander said, 'Thank you for the squadron for arriving here in time, there are still nearly 10,000 British soldiers who are surrounded by the Japanese army east of the Yao River in order to ensure the retreat of the large army, and I hope that Mr. General can immediately send troops to rescue these Yingyuan soldiers who are surrounded." ’”

After speaking, the major said to Wei Bin: "Mr. General, the situation of the surrounded Yinggu soldiers is very bad, if the general does not send troops to rescue them, then they can only die in battle or enter the prisoner of war camp." Wei Bin replied: "Mr. Major, please tell the commander that the purpose of our 460th Brigade is to rescue the British troops and cover your retreat. I immediately ordered the troops to advance towards the Yao River, and they would surely be able to rescue the besieged British troops. ”

The major translated Wei Bin's words to Commander Alexander, and Commander Alexander smiled when he heard it. He said a few words loudly, and took the initiative to stretch out his right hand to Wei Bin. Wei Bin didn't wait for the major to translate, he first stretched out his right hand and shook Commander Alexander's outstretched hand, and then the major translated: "Commander Alexander expressed his gratitude to Mr. General for saving the British ** team in time, and said that he would propose to Chief of Staff Stilwell to reward Mr. General for his heroic behavior. This place will all be handed over to the squadron and Mr. General, and Commander Alexander will retreat first with the British soldiers here. ”

After Commander Alexander led the people away, Wei Bin immediately ordered Wei Shaofeng, the commander of the 871st Regiment, to let the troops immediately advance in the direction of the Yao River, and be sure to seize the Yao River crossing first. The troops still used armored vehicles as sharp knives, and coordinated with the 871st Regiment to go straight to the Yao River crossing. When Wei Bin also led his troops to the Yao River, he passed opposite the retreating British army.

Tang Yu, the commander of the 873rd Regiment, looked at the British army and said to Wei Bin: "Brigade seat, I think these British guys are not bad in weaponry, they all have artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, and light and heavy machine guns, but why are they so unbeaten? There are tens of thousands of people, right? The little Japanese drove them around. Wei Bin replied: "How can the army win a battle if it has no fighting spirit? These British troops have no desperate heart, they only want to save their lives, so there are still undefeated ones? Leave them alone, let's see us deal with little Japan." ”

The 871st Regiment, which used armored vehicles as sharp knives, rushed to the Yaohe crossing without encountering many Japanese troops along the way, and after occupying the Yaohe crossing, the artillery sound on the west side of the Yaohe River could be heard. Wei Shaofeng did not wait for the brigade commander Wei Bin to give an order, and ordered the troops to build a pontoon bridge over the Yao River. The Yao River is not a big river, it is only more than 30 meters wide, the water depth is about 2 meters, and the water flow is relatively gentle.

There were more than a dozen ferries left by Ying at the ferry, and the 871st Regiment did not make much effort to build two pontoon bridges on the river. The pontoon bridge was erected, and Wei Bin arrived here with the follow-up troops. The reconnaissance detachment that had crossed the river in advance had already returned to report on the situation of the Japanese troops. The British troops west of the river were the 1st Division of the British Burmese Army and the 7th Armoured Brigade of the British Burmese Army. There are about seven thousand people, and there are several hundred non-combatants. Now an infantry brigade of the Japanese army has cut off the road for the British troops to withdraw to the Yao River, and the British army is also blocking the Japanese attack.

With accurate information, Wei Bin decided that without further ado, the armored troops, the 871st Regiment, the 872nd Regiment, and the artillery battalion immediately crossed the river, quickly opened the Japanese encirclement, and covered the British ** team to quickly cross the Yao River and retreat. The 873rd Regiment was responsible for receiving the British ** team on the east bank of the river, guarding the ferry, and establishing defensive positions. When the whole brigade retreats, cover the whole brigade. After breaking through the Japanese encirclement, the 871st Regiment took over the British position as soon as possible.

As soon as the military ordered, the armored vehicles roared and crossed the Yao River along the pontoon bridge, and then the 871st Regiment, the 872nd Regiment, the artillery battalion, and the guard battalion crossed the Yao River one after another. With the coordination and cooperation of the 871st Regiment, the armored troops quickly launched a fierce attack on the Japanese defense line, and fought fiercely for an hour, basically annihilating a Japanese infantry brigade on the position.

Having broken through the Japanese positions, the artillery battalion first built artillery positions, and according to the azimuth coordinates provided by the reconnaissance detachment, launched an artillery bombardment of the Japanese attacking troops. Shells rained down on the heads of the attacking Japanese troops, blowing up one of the attacking infantry squadrons on their backs. When the Japanese infantry squadron withdrew, only twenty or thirty men remained.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese army was stunned, the 871st Regiment quickly took over the defense of the position from the British army. The encircled British and non-combatants were now in the air with Chinese reinforcements and had opened the way to retreat, and the positions burst into cheers. Then nearly 7,000 British officers and soldiers and more than 500 missionaries, journalists and other non-combatants withdrew from the pontoon bridge and crossed the Yao River along the open passage.

In the face of the squadron whose combat effectiveness was not at the same level at all, the Japanese 55th Division did not have the courage to attack, and the two sides faced each other in front of the position for a whole day. After the 460th Brigade withdrew to cross the Yao River, it blew up the pontoon bridge. The Japanese army also reached the west bank of the Yao River, but was never ready to cross the river. The 460th Brigade held on the east bank of the Yao River for another day, and then Wei Bin ordered the whole brigade to retreat to Mandalay, and the 873rd Regiment was responsible for the rearguard of the whole brigade.

Wei Bin had just returned to Mandalay with the 460th Brigade, and the news that they had successfully rescued the British army by raiding Ringanqiang had already spread. This news caused a sensation in China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Fortunately for China, there is too much news of the victory of the 90th Army, which has made the Chinese people accustomed to it, while the United States and Britain are very different, these two countries do not know much about the squadron, and always think that the squadron is extremely poorly equipped and does not have much combat effectiveness at all.

Now there are so many articles from the rescued war correspondents, all of which confirm that the squadron broke through the encirclement of a division of the Japanese army with the strength of a brigade, and successively rescued tens of thousands of British troops, including Commander Alexander of the British and Burmese Army.

Shortly after Wei Bin returned to Mandalay, the commendation order from Chongqing was sent to Mandalay along with a medal from the British command. The medal was personally awarded to Wei Bin by General Stilwell, Chief of Staff of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Chongqing also promoted Wei Bin to a military rank, and the 460th Brigade also had a bonus of 200,000 legal currency. Wei Bin himself did not take these rewards seriously, and gave all the bonuses to the officers and soldiers of the 460th Brigade.

At this time, Wang Haitao had already discussed the battle plan for the Battle of Mandalay with General Stilwell and General Du Yuming, and here in Mandalay, he used three divisions of the 90th Army, a heavy artillery brigade, an armored brigade, and the new 22nd Division of the Fifth Army to lay out a pocket formation for the 18th and 56th divisions of the Japanese army.

General Stilwell agreed with Wang Haitao's plan, but General Du Yuming did not know much about the strength of the 90th Army, so he was very worried about the plan to eat the two divisions of the Japanese army in one bite. However, Wang Haitao, the deputy commander, and Stilwell, the chief of staff, both agreed, and he had no choice but to agree to the battle plan.