Li Junhao has not wasted his time in the past few months, using the British army that does not want to fight to repair a 130-kilometer expressway, open up a new channel for military aid materials, exchange 65,000 recruits from Chairman Chiang of China with the British-made weapons and equipment that have been redressed and intercepted, comprehensively reequip all units of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Burma, and organize combined training in air-ground coordination, infantry-tank coordination, and infantry and artillery coordination......

And trained a powerful field unit directly under his own command - the Allied 101st Army!

In the conference room, after Chief of Staff Luo introduced the current situation of the Japanese army in South Asia, Li Junhao walked to the front of the stage and began to explain his new battle plan in combination with the large map on the wall.

The combat plan, which he named the "Indo-Burma Theater Day-by-Day Plan," has three main contents:

The first was to eliminate the Japanese 3rd Air Force stationed at two airfields in Yangon, Burma, and Chiang Mai, Thailand;

Second, the counteroffensive in southern Myanmar and western Laos and Thailand was carried out simultaneously;

The third is to wipe out the Japanese army's military strength in South Asia to the greatest extent.

……

——

On 5 November, the expanded 10th Air Force, which had been placed under the command of the Indo-Burma Theater, began to dispatch a squadron of P-40 fighters to conduct reconnaissance and harassment operations in southern Burma and the western Taixi region, waiting for an opportunity to provoke an air battle with the Japanese 3rd Air Force, in the hope of destroying more Japanese fighters before the real war......

Thanks to the two-plane tactics taught to the US military pilots by Li Junhao and the rear-end chasing tactics designed for the shortcomings of the Japanese Zero, the US fighters formed a rolling strike against the Japanese Zero!

In just three days, the 10th Air Force completely defeated the arrogance of the Japanese fighters with a record of 75 to 8, but the Japanese 3rd Air Force retreated back to the airfields of Rangoon and Chiang Mai in vain, and the US fighters continued to attack and harass, and occasionally B-24 bombers came on the field, firmly suppressing the Japanese troops within the airfield!

At 5 o'clock in the morning of the 9th, the 10th Air Force of the US Army simultaneously dispatched 96 B-24 bombers and 180 P-40 and P-38 fighters to attack the airfields of Rangoon and Chiang Mai in two groups, completely paralyzing these two bases of the Japanese 3rd Air Army!

At 6 o'clock, all the units under the command of the commander of the Indo-Burma theater of operations attacked on all fronts:

The Fifth Army, with the 200th Division as the vanguard, marched south along the Yangman Railway to attack Rangoon, the new 22nd Division marched along the Irrawaddy River from the West Road, and the 96th Division was the reserve of two divisions;

Divisions of the Sixth Army broke through the Burma-Thailand border and attacked Chiang Dao, Chiang Mai, and Ban Hong;

The new 29th Division of the 66th Army left the east of the Burma-Laos border and attacked Vyanpukka, the 36th Division broke through the Burma-Thailand border and attacked Tang County, and the new 28th Division followed up as a reserve;

The new 38th Division, as the reserve of the whole army, was stationed in Mengzhen;

Behind the various armies, Li Junhao personally led the 101st Group Army as the general reserve of the campaign, providing strong support for the forward units......

——

The sudden attack of the Allies caught the Japanese by surprise.

The commander of the 15th Army, Mutaguchi Ryo, first received the news of the attacks on the Yangon and Chiang Mai airports, and had just ordered the 3rd Air Force to transfer the remaining fighters to the Nakhon Sawan airfield in central Thailand, and then received the news that the 54th Division in Laos, the 53rd Division in Thailand, and the 33rd Division in Ryaung Reibin in southern Myanmar had been attacked by the Allied forces.

The 33rd Division stationed in Liang Libin is a special division with 18,000 men, and its combat effectiveness can be trusted, but he is a little worried about the 53rd and 54th Divisions stationed in Thailand and Laos, both of which are garrison divisions with only 12,000 men, and the quality of personnel and equipment are much worse.

After thinking about it, Mutaguchi ordered the 31st Division, which had just arrived in Burma and was being reared in Mawlamyine, to move east to Thailand to support the 53rd and 54th Divisions, the 72nd Mixed Brigade stationed in Bago to be ready to support the 33rd Division at any time, the 49th Division to move north from Goma to Mawlamyine, and the 18th Division stationed in Rangoon to prepare for battle.

——

The battle lasted only one day, and Lieutenant General Mutaguchi Ryoya felt that something was wrong - the Allied forces were all troops of the Chinese Expeditionary Force at this time, but all of them were mechanized corps using American-style equipment, and their heavy firepower exceeded that of the Japanese army several times, and they were completely pressing the Japanese army!

In order to support the front-line troops, Mutaguchi ordered the 3rd Air Army, which had suffered heavy losses and had just been transferred to Nakhon Sawan, to send fighters to help in the battle, but shortly after the 72 Japanese planes took off, they were intercepted by more than 100 P40s, and most of the Japanese planes were shot down except for a few that escaped......

Immediately, dozens of B-24s that followed again bombed Nakhon Sawan Airport, once again inflicting heavy damage on the Japanese 3rd Air Army......

So far, the Allied forces have mastered the battlefield air supremacy in southern Burma and Taixi, clearing the way for the subsequent ground battles!

Li Junhao sent a telegram to the 10th Air Force of the U.S. Army, commending it and asking it to make persistent efforts to provide air support for the Allied ground offensive! ——

The ensuing battle was almost one-sided, and the first to make contributions was still the 200th Division of the Fifth Army, and the first to complete the redressing and the earliest to complete the infantry and tan coordination training, under the command of the division commander Dai Anlan, completely brought into play what they had learned, and completely defeated the main force of the Japanese 33rd Division in Lianglibin......

The new 22nd Division, which attacked from the west road, under the command of division commander Liao Yaoxiang, completely annihilated a mixed wing of Japanese troops in Xingshida......

After the 49th, 55th, and 93rd divisions of the Sixth Army broke through the Burma-Thailand border, they were like a bamboo, and the 49th Division broke through the Qingdao and the 55th Division Kebanhong; The 93rd Division entered Thailand from Muang Yang, rushed to Phayao, and after defeating the local Thai army, it passed through the city and captured Lampang in the southeast of Chiang Mai! Three divisions besieged the Japanese 53rd Division and the 3rd Air Army in Chiang Mai......

The new 29th Division of the 66th Army invaded Laos, completely annihilated an infantry brigade of the Japanese army, and occupied Vyanpukka; After the 36th Division broke through to the Burma-Thailand border and occupied Tang County, it continued eastward into Laos and attacked Luang Prabang; After capturing the south of Banhui in Laos, the new 28th Division advanced to the southeast, preparing to join forces with the 36th Division to attack the Japanese 54th Division in Luang Prabang......

The officers and men of the new 38th Division, from the division commander to Lieutenant General Sun Liren, collectively applied for battle and asked to participate in the battle of attacking Yangon and encircling and annihilating the 18th Division of the Japanese Army......

After careful consideration, Li Junhao agreed to the request of the new 38th Division and ordered it to set off for Bago ......

In this way, Li Junhao could only use the premise of the 101st Group Army, which was the general reserve of the campaign, and ordered the 105th Brigade Major General Lores to lead the 111th, 112th, and 113th brigades to go forward instead of the new 38th Division to defend Mengzhen; Major General Montero of the 106th Brigade led the 114th, 115th, and 116th Brigades to the east to go down to Pasang, responsible for supporting the Thai direction.

He moved the theater headquarters forward and stationed the 108th New England Battalion, the 109th Gurkha Brigade, and the 117th-120th Infantry Brigade into Tonggu, and ordered the 10th Air Force to allocate half of its aircraft to the Tonggu airfield, so as to facilitate rapid sorties and strengthen the air support frequency of the front-line units.

(End of chapter)