The British had carefully considered the possibility of a Ming attack - what would happen if they landed from Songkhla and Pattanii in Thailand?

The Commander-in-Chief, Air Force Lieutenant General Arthur Ted, together with his staff officers, conscientiously worked out a preemptive plan of action, codenamed "Deer Hound".

They intended to cross the border first with a brigade of infantry and a tank regiment of ground troops into the territory of Thailand, which was subsequently divided into two scenarios:

First, the Ming army has not yet landed, so rely on the favorable terrain to arrange the defense line.

Second, the Ming army has already landed, so take advantage of their unstable foothold to launch a counterattack.

On the basis of this pre-drawn plan, the Anglo-Indian 11th Infantry Division stationed at Alor Setar sent a telegram to Singapore asking whether it would be dispatched according to the original plan.

The British staff officers of the Far East General Command quarreled fiercely - some people thought that now that the Ming troops had come ashore, the best time had been missed, and there was no need to move; Some people also felt that the landing efficiency of the large army was not high, and as long as they seized the time, they would be able to deal an effective blow to the Ming army, which had not yet gained a firm foothold.

After all, Lieutenant General Arthur was an air force general, and he lacked experience and courage to decide on ground operations, and he was a little timid.

At first, he ordered the 11th Division to carry out the plan, but seven hours later, aerial reconnaissance photographs were sent to the headquarters, and seeing that the Ming troops who had landed in Pattani had established a solid position, he ordered the operation to be halted.

But in the early hours of the next morning, he changed his mind again and ordered the resumption of the operation—at least a tentative attack at any rate.

Who doesn't have a big head in such a situation where the order changes overnight? The Anglo-Indian 11th Infantry Division can be said to be full of resentment.

At this time, the sky was not yet dawn, the waning moon was still above the western horizon, and the sky changed from black to a deep blue-black.

The soldiers, who had been woken up in their sleep, were depressed, and at the urging of British officers and non-commissioned officers, the listless, yawning force continued its march towards Pattani.

The Thai border guards stationed at the border expressed strong verbal protest, but did not open fire, not even daring to fire warning shots.

The Thais sent the news of the British and Indian troops crossing the border back to Bangkok, and then naturally let the Ming side know.

Combined with aerial reconnaissance, the General Department of the Third Army quickly responded.

Qiu Peisheng ordered the 22nd Infantry Division, which was advancing in the southwest direction, to make preparations immediately, cooperate with air support, and strive to inflict heavy losses on the invading enemy.

The territory of the 22nd Division is Shaozhou, which is a typical southern first-class infantry division.

Because of the great difference in the natural geographical environment between the north and the south, the Ming army also divided the army units into two categories, the north and the south, with the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River as the boundary.

In order to reduce expenditures, although the Ming Army nominally had more than 40 divisions in normal times, there were only 14 fully equipped standing armies, and the rest were short of about half, and it took half a month to mobilize and reorganize training.

This is also the difference between the first class and the second class - the former can fight at any time; The latter had an abundance of officers and non-commissioned officers, and although there were many fewer soldiers, they were able to quickly build up combat effectiveness after replenishment.

The distinction between the north and the south is mainly in the artillery configuration, and the artillery regiment of the northern division is three 112mm howitzer battalions; The Southern Division consists of one 112mm howitzer battalion and two 80mm howitzer battalions to adapt to the complex rough hills and poor terrain of the south.

The total combat weight of the three-four 112mm howitzer is 1720kg, which is fine in the north, but it is more bulky in the south.

In comparison, the total combat weight of the Type 33 80mm howitzer is only 660kg, which is small in power, but it is light.

At 10:57 on February 26, in the drizzle, the unsuspecting Anglo-Indian 11th Infantry Division crashed head-on into the net laid by the Ming army.

"Damn! This place is full of mud when it rains! ”

"Disgusting land, disgusting Indu!"

The British in the unit were complaining about the bad weather and environment in Southeast Asia, as well as the loose, clumsy Indo-Dusk soldiers.

Brigadier General Rupert, commander of the 6th Brigade of the 11th Division, was riding in an Austin SUV, the canvas canopy had been opened, but from time to time there would still be rain dripping in, especially when driving through puddles, the muddy water would splash up, making clothes and pants dirty.

But now Brigadier General Rupert did not care whether it was dirty or not, he just wanted to get to the predetermined position as soon as possible, and then end the march and spread the troops.

"If we go on like this, we won't be able to attack tonight, so we have to pick up the pace." After saying that, he complained about Lieutenant General Arthur Ted again, "They would actually send such a hesitant guy over, a tiger is needed here, not a cat!" ”

But just then, an exploding flash of fire suddenly appeared in front of the convoy.

"Boom!"

At the same time as the shock wave and the sound of explosions were heard, more flames burst out almost in unison.

"Artillery fire is coming!"

Someone shouted "take cover" with all his might, officers waved in command, and soldiers fled in panic to both sides of the muddy dirt road.

Brigadier Rupert, who was slightly unresponsive, dragged his lieutenant out of the car and dragged him towards the nearby woods.

Annoyed and stubborn, the brigadier general broke free from the hands of his adjutant, Major Jean, and looked ahead of the dirt road.

A truck was directly hit by a shell, and glass slag and broken iron sheets were scattered and splashed in all directions, and suddenly became burning scrap metal.

Loads of food supplies were tossed into the air, countless cans of biscuits fell, and some canned corned beef for the British was fried, and the beef residue was covered in the surrounding Indu soldiers.

"This must be an ambush by the Chinese army! Excellency! Excellency! We ......"

"Occupy that high ground, and the troops will defend it, immediately!"

The Anub battalion was then instructed and hurried to the unknown hill.

In fact, as early as this morning, the 22nd Infantry Division of the Ming Army had already arrived here, and the division commander thought that this was an excellent ambush location, so he personally led a mixed regiment to rush here.

The "mixed regiment" is similar to the historical German battle group, the American regimental combat team, and the Japanese detachment, with an infantry regiment as the backbone, temporarily reinforcing various units as the situation.

This mixed regiment was based on the 65th Infantry Regiment and reinforced the divisional scout battalion, two 80mm howitzer battalions of the divisional mountain artillery regiment, and a tank battalion of the 1st Tank Brigade.

At the same time, they also gathered all available cars and requisitioned many civilian vehicles in the city of Pattani, striving to get to this place as quickly as possible.

The division commander insisted that the air power was on his side, so he chose to continue the march at night with all the vehicles on the lights without fear. Civilian vehicles with poor off-road performance are connected to the tail of the tank with cables, and they are strung together like sugar gourds.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! ”

In the drizzling rain, the British and Indian soldiers who were struggling to climb the mountain through the mud heard a faint sound.

The next moment, mortar shells fell like hail in a scream.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

Because there is no need to withstand high chamber pressure, the mortar shell shell can be made of cast iron, which makes it more fragmented and denser. The 64mm anti-explosive projectiles that exploded in the crowd burst out countless high-velocity fragments, and the Indu soldiers who were hit rolled down with a wail.

At this time, the machine guns arranged on both flanks also fired, and the dense network of light machine guns and heavy machine guns swept across this area of enemy troops in the blink of an eye.

The frightened Anglo-Indian soldiers retreated on the ground, and the Anubl battalion suffered at least fifty casualties in a single effort before engaging the battle.

In fact, both the Ming army and the British and Indian armies, which had been in peace for a long time, lacked actual combat experience, and the ambush positions arranged by the officers and men of the 22 nd Division were actually quite rigid and dogmatic, lacking the agility of the elite troops who had been on the battlefield for a long time.

But at least they strictly followed the battle rules and regulations, and the Anglo-Indian army seemed to subconsciously think that they were suppressing a colonial rebellion?

Although the Anglo-Indian 6th Brigade was not stupid enough not to even send a leading unit, it was very close.

Because the mechanized cavalry regiment (battalion) of the 6th Brigade was too scattered, the vigilance was almost zero, and the existence of the Ming army was not discovered at all.

And the Ming army also deliberately let go of this deaf and blind leading unit, and directly ambushed the large army behind.

When the sound of gunfire came from the rear, these British and Indian troops thought it was an air raid, but they did not expect that it was their own negligence.

Subsequently, they were blocked and attacked by the fire of the Ming army, and this "elite" mechanized force of more than 400 people soon ushered in the end.

The Commonwealth Army's armored corps and cavalry are very strange, the regiments (battalions) are subordinate units (squadrons) and squadrons (Troop), and the mechanized cavalry regiment of the 6th Brigade is equipped with a large number of Bren machine gun carriers, which are the iconic armored vehicles of the British Empire.

"Sir! Sir! What are we going to do?! ”

"We are suppressed! They're all over the place! ”

The two artillery battalions of the mixed regiment were firing heavily at the large Anglo-Indian forces in the rear, and only a few mortars were bombarding the leading unit that had been cut off.

The commander, Lieutenant Colonel Yarman, was bleeding from a long cut in his neck from the shell fragments.

He poked his head out of his Bren carrier and ordered hoarsely: "Attack backwards, we must break through the blockade and converge the main forces!! ”

But at this moment, the terrifying anti-aircraft machine gun fire was poured on them, and a 12.8mm machine gun bullet containing tens of thousands of joules of kinetic energy smashed down, splashing a man-high muddy water!

The weak armor of the MkII Bren carrier, which was only ten millimeters thick at most, could not stop such a strong firepower, and the whole metal was easily pierced through the steel plate by the armor bullets, and the people inside were beaten to the ground!

But the British and Indian soldiers were still huddled in armored vehicles, almost waiting to die, as if only these thin tin cans could give them a sense of emptiness.

"Oh God! We need support! ”

"Chinese Tank !!"

The terrible scream of a British second lieutenant pierced through the flames of battle, making everyone's hearts churn.

But Lieutenant Colonel Yarman did not despair, because some of the Bren carriers were also equipped with Beuys anti-tank guns, which were theoretically capable of penetrating 10mm thick steel plates at a distance of 500m.

The same anti-tank gun, the 16kg Boyce is too bad, and similar products in other countries are stronger than it.

The current tank brigade of the Ming Army is more like an organization that facilitates unified training and management, and in actual combat, the four battalions under its jurisdiction are generally assigned to various infantry divisions for support.

The 104th Tank Battalion had two light tanks and one medium-tank squadron, and at this moment, three Type 38 medium tanks were at the head of the spearhead and 14 Type 37 light tanks were in the rear, and they launched a direct attack on the chaotic British and Indian troops.

"Bang! Bang! ”

The frightened Indu soldiers had already opened fire with their anti-tank guns, but the weak 13.9×99mm steel core bullets were obviously unable to penetrate the 24mm thick case-hardened armor steel on the front of the Type 38 midtank.

Bullets shattered on armor or crashed with a "Biang".

Not to mention the medium tank, it can't even do anything with the 16mm thick armor on the front of the 37-type light tank.

Under the dripping spring rain, the tank detachment of the Ming army rushed in a trapezoidal formation, and the tracks rolled up muddy water, during which they kept strafing, slowing down and firing artillery!

Metal shards flew in all directions with the sound of an explosion, and a barrage of bullets and shells smashed the Bren carriers that crashed, crushed, and clogged up here into a campfire worth thousands of pounds.

On this muddy dirt road, which is strewn with ruts, the corpses of British and Indian soldiers are lying all over the place.

Hitting the hands and feet with a large-caliber anti-aircraft machine gun bullet was almost equivalent to a free amputation, and the massive amount of blood gushing from the arteries stained the muddy water in the craters on the ground red.

The eighteen-ton tank ran over the corpses on the ground like crushing tomatoes, from which bodily fluids and dark red blood burst out.

"Calm down! Corporal! What are you doing?! Commander Lieutenant Colonel Yarman yelled loudly.

"We've failed, we've failed......" The young British corporal beside him had broken down at the moment, covering his head and muttering to himself.

Yarman pulled the corporal away, removed the body of the Indu soldier who had been shot in the head, and went to operate the Beuys anti-tank gun himself.

He ignores the red and white stuff on it, aims and shoots!

"Bang!"

The armor-piercing tracer shot diagonally into the turret of a Type 36 light tank, but flew straight away, leaving a dazzling trail of light.

After firing three shots in a row to no avail, the angry Yarman cursed the shameless fellows for equipping the British Imperial Army with such a wasteful weapon.

He dropped his weapon, and a 38.4mm anti-explosive bomb exploded next to him, but he didn't react.

Yarman looked around and saw that the gray-green painted Ming tanks were still raging, firing wildly at everything here!

More and more Indu soldiers threw down their weapons and threw their hands up in surrender, while many of the disillusioned people were shivering under their cars.

It was only at this time that the Ming infantry launched a final attack.

Two red flares rose into the sky, and a sharp whistle and a terrible suona sounded suddenly!

The officers and men of the 22nd Division appeared in the front, left, and right directions, and at this time the overall situation had been decided, and their morale was high, and they rushed towards the Anglo-Indian troops who were scattered in the mud.

After 21 minutes, the mechanized cavalry regiment (battalion) of the Anglo-Indian 6th Brigade, which had not even formed an effective resistance, was completely annihilated in an unknown place near the Black Wood Mountains in Siam, and they paid the same price for their arrogance.

(End of chapter)