Ayeyarwady Province Front...

A small village in Burma's central Ayeyarwady province, it has been requisitioned by the Forces nouvelles as a temporary headquarters and logistical supply station, acting as a transit point, where the wounded and the supplies that are about to be sent to the front line will stop for a while.

The only people who dared to approach were the half-grown natives, who gathered around the camp in groups of monkeys, some climbing up the treetops like monkeys, curiously observing the soldiers who came from nowhere, but were soon driven away by the patrols.

Inside the camp... Fang Jingyao knelt on the table, looked at the map in front of him seriously, and fell into deep thought. Several staff officers next to them stood around with dejected expressions, a large number of beads of sweat hanging on their faces, and the weather was slowly getting hot and somewhat unsettling.

Several strategic lines of action were clearly marked on the map, the troops of both sides had been completely mixed together, and the expected operational objectives had been initially achieved, except that the 201st Division in the lower reaches of the Bosheng River had encountered some trouble.

"Hasn't the 201st Division found the location of the main artillery force of the Tanaka Wing yet?" Fang Jingyao suddenly asked.

One of the staff officers hurriedly replied: "Yes, but the intelligence bureau has detected some short-wave signals, and the main force of the Japanese army must be that artillery unit. ”

The Irrawaddy battlefield is divided into three parts, and it was originally planned that the three divisions of the new army would be divided into three offensive directions and advance in unison, and the 202nd and 203rd divisions in the east had already broken the Japanese defense line and were driving straight along the river, and a large number of armored troops were like fish in water on that alluvial plain, coupled with the continuous support of air fighters, it was difficult for the little devils to stop the rushing offensive.

On the other side, the 201st Division encountered quite a problem, because the southwest of Ayeyarwady Province is a hilly and swampy terrain, and there are many large and small river branches, it is not easy for soldiers and armored units to carry out coordinated operations, to put it bluntly, they can only rely on infantry to push hard, and large areas of bushes and forests have become natural hiding places for the Japanese army, so the offensive efficiency is greatly reduced.

Moreover, the Japanese army used a lot of movement warfare tactics here, never going head-to-head with the main force of the 201st Division, and chose to fight guerrilla attacks in the bushes, laying all kinds of mines, ambushes, and ambushes, so that the vanguard of the attack suffered heavy losses.

The Japanese garrison in the southwest of Ayeyarwady Province is actually not much, but there are still a large number of local Burmese puppet troops here, although these guys are not very effective in combat, but they are familiar with the environment and terrain, and they have played quite well with the Japanese army.

In particular, the elusive artillery unit, they used the Japanese army's specially improved 99-type 105 mm mountain gun for the jungle battlefield, the number is unknown, but this artillery is lower than the original model, the concealment is very strong, the overall combat weight is less than 700 kilograms, and it is easy to disassemble and combine, easy to carry with soldiers or horses in the mountainous jungle area without roads, the range is not low, and the power is great.

The most important thing is that it is lightweight, so that a mountain cannon can be disassembled or assembled in less than ten minutes, and only one mule and horse plus three or five soldiers can be transported to run all over the mountain.

This Japanese artillery unit was very experienced, and it was always able to provide support to the defending Japanese troops at critical moments in the course of the battle, and they never loved to fight, almost fighting in one rotation and one place, and it was difficult to calculate their position by ballistics.

Even the aerial reconnaissance planes will have a hard time spotting the opponent's track in the face of the large area of low bushes below, and by the time you find out that their fire has exposed their position and are ready to strike, these ghostly Japanese will already be running away with their gun racks, and it is difficult to catch them like live loaches.

In the hills and mountains around the main force of the 201st Division, there were many Japanese observation posts hidden, which could provide accurate firing coordinates for the Japanese artillery, and nearly seventy percent of the casualties of the attacking troops on the main battlefield were caused by this artillery.

The commander of the 201st Division was worried about casualties, coupled with the fact that his side was not very convenient in terms of supplies, and the materials needed for the later operations had not yet arrived, which also led to a stalemate in the unfavorable situation of the war.

The most important thing is that there are too many wounded, and the three divisions of the New Army do not have much combat experience, so it is better to say that they have a good fight, and with the blessing of equipment and firepower, they will not be able to give full play to their combat effectiveness.

But if it is a tough battle or falls into a disadvantage, it is difficult to say how endurance the soldiers will be, and if the Japanese army seizes the opportunity to counterattack, the collapse of the whole division and the fleeing front may only be in an instant.

After hearing this, Fang Jingyao threw away the pencil tip in his hand, and his face became a little solemn.

Now that the forces of all units are invested in the front-line battlefield, they really can't spare their hands to support the 201st Division, but if they are dragged there for a long time by the little devils, it will be difficult to carry out the battle plan of encircling Yangon Province in the future.

Alas... I can only pin my hope on that reconnaissance team, as long as we can find and defeat that Japanese artillery, the situation over there can be opened.

"Send a report to Junzuo, explain the specific situation of the 201st Division, request more air support, pay close attention to the battle situation over there, and notify me as soon as there are any changes."

"Yes, I'll go..."

Fang Jingyao slowly walked to the window with his hands behind his back, ready to breathe and soothe the nerves that had been tense for days, but a faint smell of blood mixed with disinfectant wafted to his nose.

Next to the headquarters was the field hospital, and the wails and screams of pain kept coming from the rows of camps next door, and the medical staff who came in and out brought out basins of blood and water and poured them out, and the surgeons inside were so busy that they didn't have time to rest at all.

This newly established new army has more than 40,000 people in three divisions and one brigade, and they are wearing new-style jungle camouflage uniforms, fishing nets, M1-style steel helmets, and all of them have brand-new guns of all kinds.

Although the new offensive in Ayeyarwady Province took the Japanese by surprise, and with the cooperation of all parties, they quickly pushed all the way from the southwest of Bago Province, and the front-line troops reached the delta near the southernmost mouth of the Irrawaddy River as fast as possible, but the heavy cost of casualties was also breathtaking.

To date, more than 2,700 people have been killed in battle, and more than 9,000 others have been lightly or seriously wounded, several field hospitals are overcrowded, and new wounded are constantly being sent to the rear at the front.

Obviously, it occupies the first move and has an absolute advantage, and the strategic goal of other directions has been achieved except for the obstacles encountered by the 201st Division, but this huge casualty is a bloody fact.