On April 19, a theater military meeting was held in the large conference room of the newly renovated Allied Indo-Burma Theater Command in Mula, and even the British and Burmese generals hiding in Ringanqiang were present at the order of the Allied Far Eastern Theater Headquarters.

Sitting at the long table and presiding over the meeting was Lieutenant General Stilwell, chief of staff of the Chinese Theater and commander of the Indo-Burma Theater.

The first on the left is Major General Pan Sen, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Far Eastern Theater and deputy commander of the Indo-Burma Theater, and the second is Lieutenant General Alwin, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Burmese Army, and below him are the generals of the Anglo-Burmese Army.

The first on the right is Lieutenant General Luo Zhuoying, commander of the First Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and below him is Lieutenant General Lin Wei, head of the staff of the Kuomintang Government's Military Commission stationed in the Expeditionary Force, commanders of all armies, and commanders of divisions under its jurisdiction.

At the beginning of the meeting, Stilwell began by reading out the latest order signed by the Allied Far Eastern Theater Command:

"By the decision of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Allied Forces, the United States, the United Kingdom, and China, and with the approval of the Supreme Leaders of the three countries, the sequence of the Allied Indo-Burma Theater is hereby reorganized:

"1. Appointment of Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Allied Far Eastern Theater of Operations, Ognyan J. Lieutenant General Lee Panson (wartime) Commander of the Allied Indo-Burma Theater of Operations; The former commander, Lieutenant General Stilwell, was appointed separately.

"2. Lieutenant General Luo Zhuoying is appointed Chief of Staff of the Theater, and Lieutenant General Lin Wei and Lieutenant General Ervin are appointed Deputy Chief of Staff.

"3. The combat forces of the theater shall be under the jurisdiction of the Anglo-Burmese Army, the 5th Army, the 6th Army, the 66th Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and the units directly under them; From now on, the above-mentioned units will be separated from their original command sequence and completely under the direct command of the Theater Command. ”

"4. Lieutenant General Hutton shall be appointed as commander of the Anglo-Burmese Army, under the following authority:

"The 1st Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army, Division Commander Lieutenant General Slim;

"The 17th Division of the Anglo-Indian Army, the division commander is Major General Yuen;

"36th Indian Infantry Division, Division Commander Major General Kruger;

"5. Lieutenant General Du Yuming is appointed as commander of the Fifth Army, under the jurisdiction of:

"The 200th Division, the division commander, Major General Dai Anlan;

"The new 22nd Division, division commander Major General Liao Yaoxiang;

"The 96th Division, the division commander, Major General Yu Shao.

"6. Appoint Senior General Gan Li as commander of the Sixth Army, under the jurisdiction of:

"The 49th Division, the division commander, Major General Peng Bisheng;

"The provisional 55th Division, division commander Major General Chen Mianwu;

"The 93rd Division, the division commander, Major General Lu Guoquan.

"7. Lieutenant General Zhang Zhen is appointed commander of the 66th Army, under the jurisdiction of:

"The new 28th Division, division commander Major General Liu Bolong;

"The new 29th Division, the division commander, Major General Ma Weiji;

"The 36th Division, Division Commander Major General Li Zhipeng.

"8. Establish a corps directly under the Theater Command, with Lieutenant General Pan Sen concurrently serving as the commander of the corps, under the jurisdiction of:

"The 108th New England Battalion of the U.S. Army, Commander Colonel Yuri;

"Allied 109th Gurkha Light Infantry Brigade, Brigade Commander Colonel Jackie;

"The 7th Armoured Brigade of the British Army, Brigadier General Lores;

"The 63rd Brigade of the Anglo-Australian Army, Brigadier General Montero, the commander of the brigade.

"The new 38th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the division commander is Lieutenant General Sun Liren.

"This Order, April 18, 1942."

——

Hearing this order, everyone in the conference room looked different, the Chinese side was both surprised and happy, and the British side was both cold and fire, and Alvin and Scott both looked like they couldn't believe it.

Stilwell circulated the original order to everyone present, then gave them a military salute before getting up to leave.

The guards on duty at the door opened the door, and Stilwell shook hands with the two British generals who came in, and then left; The two British generals are none other than Lieutenant General Hutton and Lieutenant General Slim, who were previously dismissed and went to India!

Hutton's demeanor was quite peaceful, but Slim had a look of revenge, and after saluting Li Junhao, who was already on the throne, he turned to the British general and said: "General Scott, it just so happens that the plane that sent me and General Hutton here is refueling and resting, and you are just in time to go back to India, I heard that Lord Wavell is waiting to see you!" ”

At this time, Scott had already read the order of the Allied General Staff, and Churchill's signature on it was impressive, and at this time, he was angry with Slim, and immediately brushed his sleeves up, and walked out with a face in front of Tieqing......

"Wait a minute!" Lieutenant General Alwin stopped him, got up and said to Li Junhao: "Your Excellency Commander, please forgive me, my health has been not good, and I need to ask for leave to go to India for treatment, please approve it!" ”

"Oh, really?" Li Junhao said, "Since it is a physical reason, it is important to treat it first, of course I approve it, General Erwin, please take care of yourself." ”

"Thank you!" At this moment, Alvin no longer looked high-spirited, and after saluting everyone, he walked out quickly, and Scott immediately followed.

At this time, Li Junhao also suspended the meeting in due time, led a group of generals to send Stilwell to the airport, hugged him goodbye, and now his plane flew away, at this time, he really realized that he was now in control of the allied forces in the entire Burma battlefield!

At this time, he didn't know what to think of Stilwell, saying that it seemed unfair to blame the other party for picking on people and leaving, as if his own responsibility was greater; But he really didn't expect that he would take the initiative to resign and push himself into this position.

It's come to this point, it's useless to think about it, he still thinks about what to do next, right?

Speaking of which, Stilwell's previous painstaking preparations for the Battle of Tonggu had been almost ready, and he could use it now, at most with a few minor modifications, which saved him a lot of trouble.

——

After returning to the conference room, Li Junhao first asked the new Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Luo Zhuoying, to introduce the plan for the battle of Tonggu formulated by Stilwell before he said: "Ladies and gentlemen, just now Chief of Staff Luo reiterated the plan for the battle of Tonggu, and on the whole, it is already very perfect, but the Indo-Burma Theater has just made some adjustments, and in order to adapt to these changes, I have decided to make some minor modifications and additions to the plan......

"First of all, because the new 38th Division of the Expeditionary Force is strong in combat, I decided to transfer it to the corps directly under the headquarters as the general reserve of the whole army; In this way, the 36th Division, which was directly under the First Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, was transferred to the command of the 66th Army.

"Second, the 7th Armored Brigade of the British Army and the 63rd Brigade of the British and Australian Army were transferred from Ringanqiang to Mula for retraining, plus the Gurkha Brigade, to form a rapid reaction force directly under the headquarters, which can surprise or reinforce in all directions at any time according to the battlefield situation!"

"Third, General Hutton led the 1st Division of the LinkedIn Burmese Army to garrison Ringanqiang, the 17th Division of the British and Indian Army to Mitiera, and the 36th Indian Infantry Division to Taunggyi to form the second line of defense in central Burma. After the above departments are adjusted in place, they will carry out internal rectification and training to restore their combat effectiveness.

"My request is very simple, the Anglo-Burmese army has been transferred to the command of the theater of operations, and if there is any disobedience to orders or obedience to the orders of a third party, or leaving the battle position without authorization, all the main officers will be sent to the military court, and they will not be spared! Don't be unpredictable. ”

(End of chapter)