Dai Anlan pursed his lips and smiled: "What the military seat said is extremely true, I was indeed a little too anxious before!" At present, we really should be quiet and not move, we have to see how the devil makes a move first, and it is not too late for us to come back and strike again. "That's right!"

Du Yuming nodded, and said confidently: "As long as Jiang Qiang can firmly lock the mouth of the Salween River downstream and prevent the devil warships from going up the river, as long as they can be equal to the devil air force, we will be invincible in this battle!" Liao Yaoxiang seconded: "That's true, there are the most elite troops of the expeditionary force in the lower reaches of the Salween River to defend the river, and the devils will pay the price of blood if they want to break through the defense line from under our noses."

I'm just a little worried about the safety of our rear now, the 18th Army of the devil has a full 3 fully formed divisions! Yu Shao continued: "There are the 6th Army and the 66th Army on the front line of Dongzhi Jingdong, and the 71st Army in Lashio, in addition to the strength of the 3 armies of the Tiger Ben Army in Darcy, Mandalay, Mi** and other places. Although the 18th Army, which attacked from the Shan Plateau after the devil's circle, was very strong, after all, there was no way to carry too many heavy weapons, and I think even if they could break through the Taunggyi Jingdong defense line, they would never threaten the rear, let alone cut off the Yunnan-Burma highway and threaten the industrial base in northern Burma! ”

Liao Yaoxiang said again: "But what if the devils break through the defense line of Taunggyi Jingdong, instead of attacking all the way to the north, they will attack Yangon along the road and railway lines to the south and outflank our side?" "This!" Yu Shao was speechless.

At present, the defense focus of the Chinese Expeditionary Force is on the defense line on the Salween River, the Taunggyi-Jingdong defense line, and the large rear defense line built around the Yunnan-Burma highway and railway line, and the industrial base in northern Burma.

If the 18th Army of the devil does not advance all the way to the Yunnan-Burma Highway and Lashio according to the deduced script, but goes south to attack one by one, it will outflank the 5th Army, the 22nd Army, the 31st Army and the 1st Army of the Huben Expedition stationed on the Salween River defense line and the coastal cities of Yangon, as well as the 1st Army and the 2nd Army of the Huben Expedition. In that case, the whole situation is really a bit passive. "This possibility does exist, but it doesn't matter, the 18th Army is tantamount to a tiger with teeth pulled out if it does not have enough heavy equipment and enough supplies.

However, our Chinese Expeditionary Force is no longer weaker than the Japanese army in terms of weapons and equipment, the only thing that is inferior is that there are too many new recruits, and the overall quality of the soldiers is much worse than that of the Japanese army. However, the 18th Army alone penetrated deeply, and it could not pose a mortal threat to the rear of our army, and at most it would cause some trouble. Unless the defense line of the Salween River is broken through on all fronts, the Japanese army will not be able to form an effective force to encircle and kill! ”

Du Yuming nodded his head and said, "Therefore, we just need to hold the defense line of the Salween River with peace of mind, as for the rest, we can only look at one step at a time!" "All the gun positions are there, give me a hard beating!" These dogs are starting to cross the river again! ”

"Quick! Send the cannonballs! At this moment, the artillery of the 22nd Army roared again, rushing towards the third wave of devils who were attacking with all their might to cross the river and frantically output. Although it had suffered from the indiscriminate bombardment of the Devil bomber group and lost more than a quarter of its heavy artillery, most of the heavy artillery units of the 22nd Army were still intact.

If it was before, Li Jiayu was really reluctant to let the remaining heavy artillery be exposed again, but now, the devil soldiers launched a third wave of attacks like crazy, and a large number of devil soldiers pushed rafts, boats and other river-crossing tools into the Salween River like dumplings. In addition, the front-line troops of the 22nd Group Army were fighting desperately with the devil soldiers who rushed to the west bank, and the two sides were inseparable, and there was no way to take care of the devil's third wave of river-crossing troops.

At this time, if the artillery unit is not used to intercept the fire, then we can only watch these new devil troops rushing to the west bank completely. Therefore, Li Jiayu had to cut off his love, risking the threat of the artillery position being bombed by devil bombers again, and let the artillery unit go all out to cover the fire!

The same recipe, the same taste, and the same routine as last time, the devil soldiers carried a large number of steel shields on the raft wooden boat, and after going ashore, they also dismantled the raft to build a tidal flat position. Even, the devil soldiers used the corpses of their compatriots to pile up flesh and blood bunkers, and used all kinds of methods to advance step by step. At the same time, the remnants of more than 20 heavy artillery pieces of devils on the other side of the river were not idle. There are also hundreds of mortars and infantry guns that are also roaring non-stop.

The 22nd Army's defense line along the river was put to great test, and the soldiers not only had to fight to the death with the devil's troops, who were advancing forward, but also had to withstand the fierce artillery bombardment of the devils. Seeing that the third wave of the devil's attacking force had arrived in Jiangxin, it would soon break through the fire blockade of the heavy artillery troops, and the front-line troops had been fighting with the devil for more than an hour, and the front-line casualties were extremely serious.

Yang Junqing was extremely worried, and he couldn't bear it anymore, so he asked Li Jiayu in a very anxious manner: "Deputy Commander-in-Chief Li, when can you use the trump card of the rocket artillery regiment?" Our losses are already very serious, and the number of casualties is at least 3,000! ”

The rocket artillery unit mentioned by Yang Junqing is a new branch of the Huben Army, but the total number is not large at present, and Yang Fan can only deploy one rocket artillery regiment to the 22nd Group Army for temporary use, which can carry out fire support and fire suppression at critical moments. In addition, the rocket artillery unit is still a new branch of the army that has been kept secret all along, and it has always been kept in a state of strict secrecy, except for a very small number of army-level generals, ordinary division-level generals have no way of knowing.

In order to give the Japanese devils a big surprise at a critical moment! "No hurry! We have to wait for the devil to send the 4th wave of river-crossing troops to the west bank before we can sacrifice this trump card, so that it will be refreshing enough to kill! The corners of Li Jiayu's mouth curled slightly, and he smiled in a very good mood, since the last time he saw the test launch of rocket artillery at the secret experimental base, he was completely inflated.

With such a big killer, if the devil wants to break through the defense line of the Salween River head-on with infantry, it is simply a pipe dream! Of course, there is a prerequisite that there are enough rocket artillery, and the safety of the rocket artillery must be ensured. "Yes, that's right!" "That's right, if you directly scare the devil, and the devil shrinks back, it won't be fun, haha!"

"Today, we must tear off a piece of meat from the devil! Otherwise, how can you be worthy of the dead brothers! Chen Dingxun, Yang Junqing and others nodded their heads in agreement, although the front-line troops are under great pressure and suffer heavy casualties, they can still cope with it, and the casualties are much smaller than those of the little devils! Therefore, Li Jiayu has been thinking about making an overall situation in his heart, how can it be the same as last time, he must get rid of the strength of the devil's 4 infantry wings to be satisfied! East bank of the Salween River.

Standing on the top of the hill with a telescope, his face was full of solemnity, like a sculpture that did not move, and all his attention was on the battlefield on the front line of the Salween River, where a fierce battle was taking place. The chief of staff of the 19th Army, Ichikawa Yoshiji, who was beside Shozo River, also had a very ugly face, completely lacking the confidence and calm he had before the war.

The 19th Army launched the battle of crossing the river for more than two hours, and sent three waves of offensive troops before and after, totaling more than 12,000 people, including more than 3,000 Burmese militia at the cannon fodder level.

After a bitter and bloody battle, the Japanese army paid the price of nearly 5,000 lives, and finally established a relatively stable beachhead in the tidal flat along the river, which was several kilometers long, and seemed to have gained a firm foothold. But Hebian Zhengsan always felt that he was not so down-to-earth, and no matter how he looked at it, he felt that the more than 7,000 people on the other side of the river might be driven directly into the Salween River by a wave of counter-charges by the Chinese army at any time to feed Wang Ba.

Because of the heroic and fearless resistance of the 22nd Group Army and the incomparably powerful firepower network, Kawabe Shozo was deeply aware of a very serious problem, that is, the 22nd Group Army on the other side was by no means the local miscellaneous unit with poor weapons and equipment and low combat effectiveness in the past! Kawabe Shozo took a deep breath and said in pieces: "Without the cooperation of the Imperial Navy, it is too difficult to break through the Huaxia army's defense line along the river!" ”

Ichikawa Yongji nodded and said: "The technical equipment and automatic firepower of the Chinese army are no worse than those of the imperial army, and they occupy a geographical advantage, so it is indeed difficult to break through from the front. At the same time, this also shows a very serious problem, the Chinese army is not really vulnerable, but lacks sufficiently sophisticated weapons and equipment. ”

"It is true that China cannot continue to allow a steady stream of US military aid, once millions of Chinese troops are replaced with advanced American equipment, the Japanese Empire will pay an unimaginable price!" Kawabe Shozo gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Therefore, the war in Myanmar must be calmed down as soon as possible, even if it costs a lot!" "Shuffle!" Yoji Ichikawa nodded and said, "Kawabe-kun is right, for the sake of the great cause of the Great Japanese Empire, even if we pay a big price, it is worth it!"

Now we only need to grit our teeth again, we can rush into the forward position of China in one breath, and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese defenders. "Don't be in a hurry!" Kawabe Shozo waved his hand and said: "We still need to wait for the Imperial Air Force to completely dumb the Huaxia artillery positions and carry out precise bombardment of the Huaxia positions, and then it is not too late for the Imperial Army to launch a deadly charge!"

Every drop of blood of the Imperial Warriors is precious, and we must be prepared! Yi Zhi Chuanyong nodded and said, "Haiyi! The Imperial Army of the Great Japanese Empire will win! Kawabe Shozo turned his head to look at a communications staff officer and said, "Pass my order, when the Imperial Air Force comes to support again, immediately launch the fourth wave of river-crossing operations!"

After the bombardment was over, the combat troops on the west bank immediately launched a full-line charge to completely break through the defense line of the Chinese defenders along the river! "Hello!" The Devil's Communications Staff Officer immediately took the order and left. While the 19th Army of the Devils was attacking the defense line of the Salween River garrisoned by the 22nd Army, the 55th Division of the 15th Army of the Devils and the Devil's Task Force were working together to attack the Mawlamyine Fortress and the Billu Island Fortress.

At this time, Xie Jinyuanzheng, commander of the 1st Division, Tang Zhensi, chief of staff of the 1st Division, Shangguan Zhibiao, commander of the 3rd Brigade, and others stood in an observation post overlooking the surrounding battlefield. Although the fighting here was not as magnificent as that of the Hpa-An section, the intensity was not bad at all, and the devil soldiers used a large number of artillery, naval guns, bombers to repeatedly saturate and bomb the fortress of Pilu Island and Mawlamyine, and then sent a large number of tanks and infantry to storm it.

The 1st Division had repelled more than 10 strong attacks by the devil's troops, and there were tragic tug-of-wars in some positions. This time, the devil was really determined to smash open the mouth of the Salween River, completely break through the defense line of the Salween River, and open the southern gateway to attack Yangon.

Not only did the elite of the Devil Army do their best to attack one after another, but the naval forces also invested enough money and fired at full firepower, ignoring the threat of coastal defense artillery. In order to strengthen the suppression of firepower, the Japanese Navy's task force had three battleships, five heavy cruisers, and eight light cruisers, as well as more than 10 destroyers, submarines, and other types of ships. Three of the battleships were the Yamato battleship, the Haruna battleship, and the Kirishima battleship.

The Haruna Battle and the Kirishima battleships both belonged to the Kongo-class battleships, of which the Haruna had a standard displacement of 32,156 tons, a length of 222.5 meters, a width of meters, and a draft of meters. The ship's armament is equipped with 8 356 mm guns, 14 152 mm guns, 12 127 mm guns, 34 25 mm anti-aircraft guns and 4 533 mm torpedo tubes.

The battleship Kirishima was 31 980 tons, with a hull length of 222 meters, a width of 31 meters, a draft of 9.7 meters, and 16 152-mm five-mounted naval guns and eight 127-mm high-angle guns. The Yamato battleship was even more impressive, with heavy armor and heavy armor protection, and the ship was equipped with 9 460 mm large-caliber guns, 12 155 mm secondary guns and 156 25 mm anti-aircraft guns.

The ship is driven by four steam turbines with a total power of up to 150,000 horsepower, equipped with optoelectronic and radar detection systems, and has a full load displacement of 72,810 tons, making it the largest battleship in the history of human ships. On November 4, 1937, four months after the outbreak of the war of aggression against China, Japan began the construction of the Yamato-class battleships, and the first ship, the Yamato, officially started construction at the Kure Naval Factory in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture. , laying the first keel?.

On August 8, 1940, the battleship Yamato was launched, but the launching ceremony was not open to the public in order to keep it secret. Originally, the Yamato-class battleship was the ace killer of the Japanese Navy, and it was a super hole card when preparing to fight a tough battle with the US Navy. However, due to the surprisingly successful attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Pacific Fleet was completely annihilated. The Yamato-class battleships could not find a decent opponent for a while, and secrecy was no longer so important.

In addition, the Burma battlefield had become the only war that Japan needed to solve urgently, so the Taihe battleship, which was undergoing trial training, was sent to the Burma theater to serve as the flagship of the task force to assist the Burmese dispatch force to participate in the Burma battle.

"These dogs, today is really hard to eat! Bilu Island is in danger! The sound of cannons rumbling in his ears, and there were skyrocketing fires and billowing smoke everywhere in front of him, Xie Jinyuan showed a solemn look that he had not seen for a long time. Billu Island suffered heavy losses in artillery, anti-aircraft guns and other heavy equipment under the bombardment of the devil's bomber group and naval guns, and although it withstood several strong attacks by the devil's troops before and after, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and the entire fortress of Billu Island was already in danger.

"Division, do you want to send troops to reinforce the 5th Regiment?" Shangguan Zhibiao also saw the seriousness of the problem, and asked in a deep voice: "The guns of the Devil Battleship are too powerful, and the batteries on Bilu Island are completely damaged, and they are no longer able to pose a threat to the Devil Fleet. Our fortress artillery here and the coastal defense artillery of the coastal defense line are beyond the reach of the whip! Alas, what a hurry! ”

Tang Zhensi seconded: "Yes, these three battleships are indeed a big trouble, especially the Yamato-class battleship, the threat of 9 460mm naval guns is too great, and our fortifications can't withstand its bombardment at all!" Although this is the first official appearance of the Yamato-class battleship, Jiang Qiang is well aware of its existence, so the technical information about it is not a secret among the senior generals of the Burmese Liberation Army.

It's just that what Jiang Qiang didn't expect was that the Dahe battleship, which had been hiding at home in the original history, appeared a few years ahead of schedule and appeared on the battlefield in Burma. It has to be mentioned here that when the 460 mm naval gun attacks a ground target, it can create a huge crater with a radius of more than 40 meters and a depth of more than 10 meters, and the killing range will reach 300 meters.

The 155 mm large-caliber howitzers used by the armies of countries around the world today can only cause craters with a radius of more than 15 meters and a depth of about 2 meters, which is a huge difference. The battleship Yamato fired a salvo of 3 3 3 guns and 9 main guns, which could directly destroy a target in a residential area or in the range of a large stadium. Wherever the shells went, there was no grass, no people were destroyed, there was no life, only death.

"No, if you don't solve the threat of the devil battleship, no matter how many people go up, it's useless! Report the situation to the head office immediately, and tell Hao Cheng to let them hold on for another 2 hours, and then immediately retreat to Mawlamyine City! Xie Jinyuan waved his hand, the artillery of the fortress on Bilu Island was basically dumb, and the fortifications were also greatly damaged, but he completely relied on the terrain advantage and the remaining fortifications to eat one or two waves of devil attack troops.

"The regimental seat, the division seat is urgent!" Soon, the communications staff officer sent a telegram from the division headquarters to Hao Cheng, commander of the 7th Regiment. Hao Cheng hurriedly took the telegram and looked at it, and immediately frowned: "What? Let's hold back for another 2 hours and retreat to Mawlamyine on all fronts? ”

"Just give up on Billu Island so easily? Although the devil's artillery fire is very dreamy, and the casualties of our regiment are not small, we can rely on our geographical advantage to continue to fight with the devils, and there will be no problem in holding on for two or three days! Hao Cheng looked at Li Binkai, the chief of staff of the regiment, extremely puzzled, and said urgently: "Lao Li, what do you think about this?" ”

Li Binkai pondered for a moment and said, "There is indeed no problem for us to hold on until dark, but obviously in this case, I am afraid that there will not be many people left in our group!" The devil's naval artillery is indeed too powerful, especially the devil's Yamato battleship, even our main fort can't withstand a few shots, and once the ordinary pillbox fortifications are bombarded, it is really a big die!

Our 5 240mm K3 heavy guns were blown away by this ghostly thing, otherwise how could the devil's fleet be so arrogantly bombarded close to the shore? Hao Cheng gritted his teeth and said, "Then you can't easily give up the entire Bilu Island, in that case, wouldn't there be no Iron Triangle?" Once the devils have captured Bilu Island, they can use this as a springboard to launch an attack on Mawlamyine and Motama City! In that case, it will inevitably involve the whole body, will it cause a chain reaction to the entire battle situation? ”

Li Binkai said helplessly: "But the problem is that Bilu Island can no longer be defended, even if we can delay it for half a day longer, it will not be of much significance to the entire battle." Moreover, there are more powerful fortress guns and shore defense guns in Mawlamyine Fortress and Motama City, even if the devils capture Bilu Island, but the devil fleet does not want to rush through the mouth of the Salween River. ”

Li Binkai is naturally unwilling to admit it easily and give up Bilu Island, which has been operating for several months, but starting from the actual situation, it is wise to stop losses and retreat in time. Most of the area of Bilu Island is a flat plain, only the central and northern part of the island is a hilly area, the terrain is not dangerous, and it is not easy to hold on to it until now under the frantic attack of devil planes, naval guns and ground troops.

Seeing that Hao Cheng was still frowning, and seemed to be still thinking about asking for his life to hold his position and fight the devil to the end, Li Binkai opened his mouth again and comforted: "Old Hao, stay in the green mountains without worrying about no firewood, there must be a reason for the division to arrange it like this!" "Alright! Soldiers take obedience as their duty! Then carry out the order! Hao Cheng sighed lightly, although he was unwilling, and he didn't understand that he would give up Bilu Island, but the situation was stronger than people, and he could only temporarily avoid the edge for the sake of today.

The defense line of the 22nd Army on the Pa'an River section. The fierce fighting continued, and the 19th Army of the Devils had already completed three waves of landing operations, and the troops arriving on the west bank had built a series of beachheads with timber, stones, and even the corpses of compatriots in the narrow riverside tidal flats under the rain of bullets and bullets from the Chinese defenders.

Immediately afterwards, the devil soldiers began to dig a large number of trenches and tunnels, and continued to approach the forward positions of the 22nd Army step by step. The average distance between the forward positions of the enemy and us is less than 150 meters, and it is only one step away from a close encounter. After a fierce confrontation and bombardment, there were only more than 6,200 devil troops left on the west bank, the total number of casualties in the 19th Army reached 5,800, and the 22nd Army also paid the price of more than 3,600 casualties.

However, this is only the beginning, both sides are secretly accumulating strength to compete with each other, ready to give each other a big surprise. Woo ~ Woo ~ Woo ~ At this moment, the Salween River defense line and the Mawlamyine defense line sounded the fierce air defense siren again. "The devil air force of the dog day is finally here again! Quick, immediately give the order to go down, the artillery positions are immediately camouflaged and protected, and the conditional artillery is pulled into the nearby bomb shelters! ”

"The front-line troops are ready according to the original plan!" "Rocket artillery units ready for battle!" "Damn, it's time to see you in the dagger!" As soon as the air defense siren sounded, Li Jiayu smelled an unusual smell and immediately issued three orders. "Yo Si! The Imperial Air Force is finally here again, hurry up, and order the 4th wave of river-crossing troops to prepare for an attack! This time, we must break through the first line of defense of the 22nd Army in a clean and comprehensive way, and completely gain a firm foothold! ”

As long as it holds its ground on the other side, the 19th Army can continue to drive to the west bank, and then go south to break through the Mawlamyine defense line with the Japanese Navy and the 15th Army and smash the mouth of the Salween River. In this case, the entire defense line of the Salween River of the Chinese Expeditionary Force will completely collapse, and the door to attack Rangoon will be opened!

The total strength of the 19th Army is as high as more than 100,000 people, and it can be said that it has a lot of money, and there is no need to worry about the lack of follow-up and the dilemma of the 15th Army last time. "Shw! The great cause of the Great Japanese Empire is about to unfold in our hands! ”

The chief of staff of the devil, Ichikawa Yongji, is also very excited, although the casualties are not small at present, as long as he can gain a firm foothold on the west bank and break through the entire Salween River defense line, it is worth paying the price of casualties! "Quick! Pull these guns into the dugout! "Quick, remove the shells! Camouflage the cannons! ”

Hearing the alarm, the artillery positions everywhere immediately stopped shelling, and the heavy artillery that could not be moved could only be camouflaged and hidden. Ten minutes later, a group of Devil's bombers appeared over the Salween River, and this time the Devil once again dispatched a bombing group and a large number of escort fighters.

"Yaga! The Huaxia army is dead, dead! "The bomber group is quick to fight, and quickly drop bombs!"

Because the anti-aircraft artillery group arranged along the defense line along the river was seriously damaged and the shells were exhausted, the few anti-aircraft guns were no longer able to cause substantial damage to the devil group. Therefore, in the face of this air attack by the Devil Air Force, the air defense units of the 22nd Army all pulled artillery into the bomb shelter to protect it.

Although there was no direct threat from anti-aircraft artillery this time, the Devil bomber group still did not dare to slow and accurately drop bombs. Because of today's fierce air battles, the Devil's Air Force has once again suffered very serious casualties, and more than 300 combat planes have been directly destroyed before and after. The devil air force really can't get up, especially at present, the devil doesn't know the specific strength of the Tiger Army, and only feels that this terrible opponent, the combat planes seem to be endless, and they will never be finished!

Tweeting and tweeting, soon the devil bomber group began to frantically drop bombs, indiscriminately bombing the 22nd Army's defense line along the river and artillery positions. Boom, bombshells fell to the ground and blossomed, making an earth-shattering explosion, and clouds of black gunpowder smoke rose into the sky.

"Hurry up!" "Tao Ci Change!" "Assault!" Thump! Thump!

Taking advantage of the Devil's Air Force's bombardment, the fourth wave of the Devil's soldiers crossed the river and began to fish in troubled waters, and a whole wing of the Devil's Soldiers pushed the raft and wooden boat to get dumplings. This time, there were also dozens of light tanks that crossed the river with the army! "Yo Xi, these air defense units of the Huaxia Army have been crippled and scared, and they have no courage or strength to continue to compete with the Imperial Japanese Air Force!

The Imperial Army of the Great Japanese Empire is an invincible army after all, how can the Salween River and the Chinese army stop it, this time the Imperial Japanese Army will definitely be able to win a big victory!! Seeing that this round of air raids and river crossing operations were unusually smooth, the only little worry that Kawabe Shozo had disappeared in an instant, and an arrogant smile appeared on the corner of his mouth when he looked at the troops whose morale was like a rainbow and was crossing the river with all their might.