When Luo Zhuoying found Li Junhao, he was having dinner with the commanders of the three brigades in the barracket hall.

Li Junhao took the telegram and beckoned him to sit down and eat together.

Xiaohu introduced Chief of Staff Luo to the three brigade commanders present, two Brigadier Generals, and a Gurkha Colonel Kuka, who had just been appointed brigade commander.

The Gurkhas, a mountainous ethnic group in Nepal, are close in appearance to some ethnic groups in southwestern China, and Luo Zhuoying saw that Kuka was more affectionate than the two British generals.

Kuka is an extremely outstanding person selected by Li Junhao from more than 5,000 people, in addition to having the same characteristics and specialties of those Gurkhas, he is also very good at learning, and learned English and the use of British-made weapons when he was a mercenary for the British army;

After being transferred to Li Junhao's command, he learned to use American-made weapons the fastest, and learned to drive various automobiles, even armored vehicles;

When he found out that there were many Chinese around Chief Pan Sen and that his allies were also Chinese troops, he was the first to learn Chinese!

After Li Junhao discovered Kuka's excellence, he personally had a deep talk with him, and was surprised to find that he was able to read English newspapers and books and had learned a lot of military theories...... Of course, such talents should be collected for their own use!

——

After reading the telegram, Li Junhao smiled and said: "General Luo, the plan is going very well, I know General Du's ability, everything is according to the plan, so I don't need to interfere in anything!" ”

Hearing this, Luo Zhuoying was a little stunned, this General Pan Sen was able to delegate power like this, which he had never thought of before, and immediately nodded: "I think General Du will be very happy when he knows the news." ”

"I hope so." Li Junhao said, "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, I will not comment on some things in the former Kuomintang army, but I hope to do one thing: that is, in the Indo-Burma Theater, when I am the commander of the theater, I hope that all commanders can give full play to their military talents under the condition of fulfilling their responsibilities!" ”

Luo Zhuoying was stunned at first, and then said sincerely: "General Pan Sen, having a commander like you is a blessing for the Indo-Burma Theater and the Chinese Expeditionary Force!" ”

"Hah! General Luo has won the prize! Li Junhao said, "Let's eat first, what is the difference between the food here and the headquarters?" ”

"Thank you, General." Luo Zhuoying smiled.

——

In the Tonggu Front Headquarters, after Du Yuming sent a telegram to the theater command, he waited for a reply, but no telegram arrived!

At eight o'clock in the evening, the reconnaissance unit of the 200th Division reported: The main force of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army has arrived in Mengzhen, and the second wave of reinforcements of the 55th Division is the 148th Wing, which is rushing towards Tonggu!

Although Du Yuming didn't know about Luo Zhuoying's conversation with Li Junhao, he knew what he was going to do - since Shangfeng didn't intervene, he needed to act according to the plan!

He then ordered the ministries to start acting according to the predetermined plan.

——

At 5:30 a.m., 32 B-24s that took off from Myitkyina dumped 16,000 pounds of bombs at Yangon Airport, and in cooperation with the 5th Flying Division of the 15th Army of the Japanese Army, almost all of the 280 planes were blown up on the ground, and the runway, oil depot, and tower facilities at the airport were completely destroyed, and there was basically no possibility of repairing them in a short time.

At the same time, the 200th Division of Tonggu, the three main regiments of the same army attacked again and pressed the positions of the 55th Division from the front; The three main regiments of the new 22nd Division, stationed in the humble new division, had reached the preset positions to the west, ready to copy the rear of the Japanese reinforcements.

The provisional 55th Division of the Sixth Army, which was originally stationed in Legou, had already stationed in Pasang, 100 kilometers east of Mengzhen, in advance, blocking the path for the Japanese army to flee eastward; The 49th Division, stationed in Ganshelong, sent two regiments to take over the fortification......

At six o'clock, the armored troops of the 200th Division once again attacked the third line of defense of the Japanese army, and the 146th Wing of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army also felt the blow like a storm.

The remnants of the 55th Division had already withdrawn to the rear of the defensive line, and at this time they were only immediately organized and set up new defensive positions......

After receiving the report from the front, the main force of the 56th Division in Mengzhen immediately set off to meet them. The commander of the division, Lieutenant General Watanabe Masao, had already sensed that something was wrong, but under the current circumstances, he could only move his army north, hoping to join up with the 55th Division and defend in a group, and of course this situation was immediately reported by him to the headquarters of the 15th Army.

Lieutenant General Shojiro Iida thought for a long time, but he still felt that Masao Watanabe was a little worried, he already knew that the 55th Division took the initiative to attack the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and he had a large number of tanks, armored vehicles and other heavy equipment left behind by the British army, but he did not believe that one division could defeat two divisions of the Japanese army!

However, out of prudence, he still ordered the 18th Division to be ready for attack within 24 hours, and then he went to deal with more serious incidents - the 5th Flying Division was wiped out on the airfield by American planes, and the losses this time were too great, and he didn't know how to explain to the base camp!

——

Although Li Junhao has made it clear that he will not interfere in the front-line command of this battle, Du Yuming still sends a battle report to the headquarters every hour, and Luo Zhuoying also arranges for someone to send it to Li Junhao's residence every time.

However, Li Junhao himself would not have gotten up so early, and the first few battle reports were all received by the guards on duty.

At half past seven in the morning, while eating breakfast, he flipped through the latest battle report......

After an hour of fierce fighting, the main force of the 200th Division broke through the third line of defense of the Japanese army, and was about to encircle the last defensive positions of the 55th Division and the 146th and 148th Wings......

The attacking forces of the 200th Division quickly retreated, the heavy artillery regiment returned fire with artillery fire, and the two sides engaged in an artillery battle and again gained the upper hand......

At present, the main force of the new 22nd Division and the two regiments of the provisional 55th Division are moving in the west, south, and east directions of the Japanese position, and it is expected that in three and a half hours, they will launch a general attack in cooperation with the 200th Division!

Li Junhao expressed his satisfaction with the current battlefield situation, saying that everything is going according to plan at present, and if the Japanese 18th Division or the 33rd Division do not arrive at the battlefield within 18 hours, the destruction of the 55th and 56th divisions will be a foregone conclusion.

In order to ensure the success rate, he also ordered the 10th Air Force to send reconnaissance planes to closely monitor the movements of the Japanese troops in Rangoon, and put the bomber group on standby, ready to help the expeditionary force in the general attack.

When he arrived at the theater headquarters and offered to send bombers to assist, Luo Zhuoying said that this was the first battle of the Chinese Expeditionary Force into Burma, hoping to annihilate the Japanese troops of these two divisions with his own hands!

(End of chapter)