On the morning of 10 March, Stilwell, who had already arrived in Lashio in northern Burma and was preparing to establish the Indo-Burma Theater Command, received the latest order from China: Major General Pansen, the president's special envoy, who was conducting an inspection tour of the Indo-Burma battlefield, would immediately concurrently serve as deputy chief of the general staff of the Allied Far Eastern Theater and deputy commander of the Indo-Burma Theater, and would have arbitrary command authority in an emergency.

After reading the order, Lieutenant General Stilwell laughed, Pansen will come to the Indo-Burma theater, which is great, he knows the strength of this friend! He already had a premonition that the British would not be able to fight well in front of Pan Sen, and it was estimated that there would be a fierce conflict, but he bet that Pan Sen would win, although he did not know Pan Sen's hidden identity at this time.

Therefore, he immediately arranged for a telegraph operator to contact General Pan Sen, who was inspecting the battlefield in Burma, and asked him to come to northern Burma as soon as possible to meet and discuss important matters...... If necessary, find a safe airport, and he arranges for a special plane to pick it up.

Li Junhao, who was on the way, also smiled happily after receiving Stilwell's telegram, this old man, at this time, must have been overwhelmed by the contradictions between the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the British Army!

In the reply, he said that he still needs to continue the investigation, and hopes that the commander can timely report the situation of the British army and the Chinese expeditionary force, especially the situation of the former! And let Stilwell keep his identity secret from the British army and the Chinese expeditionary force for the time being, because he needs to see the real situation during the investigation!

Subsequently, he sent a telegram to the Chongqing Embassy and asked it to forward it to China, indicating that he would perform his duties after the inspection was completed, and requested that the "New England Battalion" be strengthened, and that after he officially took up his duties, he would be airlifted from the mainland to Burma and organized into a unit directly under the Indo-Burma Theater Command.

——

Lieutenant General Thomas Hutton, who was reinstated as commander of the Anglo-Burmese Army, was a little energetic at this time, and was determined to fight a tough battle with the Japanese army in Tonggu to revive the reputation of the British army! For this reason, he specially informed Lieutenant General Stilwell of the United States, the newly appointed commander of the Indo-Burma Theater of Operations, and won support.

Almost at the same time as this day, after the 1st Anglo-Burmese Division stationed in Tonggu lost 500 men in a battle with the Japanese forward troops, its division commander, Lieutenant General Scott, wanted to order a retreat, but was stopped by Lieutenant General William Joseph Slim (transferred from the position of commander of the 10th Indian Division to Burma in March 1942 as commander of the 1st Anglo-Burmese Army) urgently sent by Commander Hutton!

Slim told Scott that if he dared to let the 1st Division retreat without an order from the British and Burmese command, he would immediately take his place, and General Hutton would report back to the country where Prime Minister Churchill would punish him and his family.

At this time, Lieutenant General Scott was dumbfounded, but he knew the power of Churchill, the "crazy" prime minister, and now that Hutton is also crazy, he didn't dare to gamble on the fate of himself and his family, so he could only give a death order to stick to the battle!

Originally, he thought that the front-line troops would collapse because of this, but what he didn't expect was that the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level, who had been holding back their fires before, had long been tired of the cowardice of the top level and running away without a fight, and they actually cheered loudly after receiving the order to stick to the battle.

In this way, in the surrounding battles of Tonggu in the following days, the troops of the 1st Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army actually withstood the attack of the 55th Division of the Japanese Army, but at the same time, they also suffered heavy losses under the frantic offensive of the Japanese army.

On the evening of March 12, Lieutenant General Scott sent a telegram to General Hutton, again requesting a retreat, but it was still refused, and he was strictly ordered to hold on for another 5 to 10 days! This made Scott furious, believing that Hutton was deliberately targeting him and the 1st Division, and even clamored for a complaint to London.

Lieutenant General Slim, as the "overseer", received a secret telegram from Hutton, explaining why he asked the 1st Division to hold on to Tonggu, saying that this was an opportunity for the British army to prove itself, after all, the previous retreat from southern Burma had lost all the face of the British Empire, and the battle of Tonggu was the time to re-prove the British army.

This was recognized by Lieutenant General Slim.

At the end of the telegram, Hutton told him that the Anglo-Burmese Army Command had coordinated with the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and that the Chinese 200th Division had now reached 50 kilometers north of Tonggu, ready to advance to the rescue. If, in this case, Scott still had to order the 1st Division to retreat, Lieutenant General Slim could immediately take command of the 1st Division and call for help from the 200th Division.

With this assurance, Slim also hardened up, and sternly rejected Scott's idea of retreating.

Because of this, the 1st Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army, which did not dare to fight hard with the Japanese army in the original history, actually held out on the Tonggu peripheral front for seven days under the condition of not suffering a lot of casualties!

Until March 14, Lieutenant General Scott, who could not stand it anymore, no longer listened to the dissuasion and gave the order for the whole division to retreat, but was immediately stopped by Slim with the gendarmerie, and removed him from his post as commander of the 1st Division in front of all the middle-ranking officers of the 1st Division.

Lieutenant General Slim, who took over the command of the 1st Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army, ordered all units of the front line to hold their positions while transferring the reserves in the rear; At the same time, a request was sent to the 200th Division using the contact code given to him by Hutton.

A moment later, the 200th Division called back: The Chinese Expeditionary Force will enter Tonggu in 4 hours, and pay tribute to the British troops who fought bravely!

When the reply of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was read out in the headquarters of the 1st Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army, all the British officers present were excited and were paid tribute by the Allies, an honor that the British Army had not received for many years!

Although the 1st Division has suffered a lot of casualties, it has killed more Japanese soldiers, and now it has been praised by the Allies.

In addition, after 4 hours, the Chinese Expeditionary Force could assist in the defense, so for a while, the British officers were enthusiastic and said: Resolutely carry out General Slim's order, hold Tonggu, and defeat the arrogant Japanese army together with the Chinese Expeditionary Force that came up after the defense!

Seeing this situation, General Slim was stunned at first, and then secretly rejoiced, he didn't expect that there would be such a harvest on this trip to mend the pot!

Before he was only the commander of the 10th Indian Division, he had been fighting in the Arab region of the Middle East, and when the Japanese army began to attack Burma, he was transferred by General Alexander, and gave a vacant position as the commander of the 1st Army of the Burmese Army. This treasure of your own is pressed right!

(End of chapter)