On New Year's Day in 1943, Li Junhao spent it with the soldiers in the barracks, which was the fourth New Year he came to this world.

He knew that from this year, the Allies would enter a full-scale counteroffensive, and he would also start preparing for a new campaign on the Southeast Asian side!

On the occasion of the New Year, he also received good news that the Japanese army had never launched an attack on the concession in Shanghai, and his old subordinates sent him telegrams to congratulate him on his victory in Burma, and even asked to come to Burma to fight with him.

Of course, in the current situation, it is much more difficult to transfer troops from Shanghai to Burma than it is to transport troops from the United States, so this is basically impossible.

However, his Chinese chief of staff, Yang Shixiong, has successfully sneaked out of the Shanghai Sea, reached the Kuomintang area, and is currently heading towards Kunming, where he will be sent to Burma by plane, and he will have to worry a lot at that time!

His current two chiefs of staff, one is Wheeler, who has just arrived in Burma, is not familiar with the situation, does not know Chinese, and does not communicate smoothly with the expeditionary force and the 101st Group Army; Another chief of staff, Luo Zhuoying, has now been ordered to be transferred back to China, and he will soon be out of hope.

As for the Philippine side, the troops led by Lieutenant General Wainwright, commander of the US Far East Army, fought extremely tenaciously in the previous battles, and the 16th and 48th Divisions and 65th Brigade of the 14th Army of the Japanese Southern Army were unable to attack for a long time and were besieging Luzon Island; Other units of the Southern Army are constantly attacking the islands in the Pacific, and they will not be able to draw more troops to join the Philippine direction for a while.

I don't know if there is any credit for him fighting too hard in Burma, killing more than 180,000 Japanese troops, which must have caused problems with his troop deployment. And as we enter the new year, with the US war machine in full swing, the opportunities for the Japanese army will become less and less!

At this time, Li Junhao couldn't help but feel a little proud, the current situation actually proved that the goal of the three points of the Far East strategy designed by him before the start of the war had basically been achieved!

——

On 5 January, at the Indo-Burma Theater Command of the Allied Forces in Tonggu, the first military meeting of the new year was held with the theme of troop reorganization and training and operational plans for the new year.

After the meeting began, Lieutenant General Luo Zhuoying, chief of staff of the theater, first introduced the current situation in the theater, "Commander, generals, at present, the allied forces in the theater have completely recovered the whole of Burma, and have controlled half of the northern region of Laos and most of the southwestern part of Thailand......

After introducing the situation in the war zone, Luo Zhuoying coughed lightly and said with some embarrassment: "Commander, I have already received an order from the Domestic Military Commission......

"I know. General Luo, just take advantage of this meeting to announce the adjustment plan of the Chinese side, so that everyone can prepare in advance. ”

"Thank you, Commander, for your understanding." Luo Zhuoying said, at this time, he really felt that the general's cultivation was good, and he was not angry! Taking out a new telegram, he said: "According to the latest order of the Military Commission, before March 5 this year, the main force of the Chinese Expeditionary Force will be withdrawn to China in batches, leaving only three divisions of troops to form a new First Army and remain in the sequence of the Indo-Burma Theater......

In fact, this order has long been passed down privately - in the Kuomintang army, this kind of thing cannot be kept secret! The generals of all armies and divisions were silent at this time, not knowing what they were thinking!

"The 96th Division of the Fifth Army, the 55th Division of the Sixth Army, and the 38th Division of the new troops directly under the theater." Luo Zhuoying looked at the three lieutenant generals Yu Shao, Chen Mianwu, and Sun Liren who stood up, and continued, "The three divisions of you will stay and form a new army, with General Sun Liren as the commander. The main task of the New First Army is to protect northern Burma and ensure the smooth flow of the Yunnan-Burma road."

"Yes, Chief of Staff." All three received orders, while the other generals remained silent.

Originally, in the order of the Military Commission, there was also a request for three Chinese divisions to be stationed in Lashio, Mandalay, and Mitiera to defend the railway line, but Luo Zhuoying couldn't say anything at this time, so he could only skip this paragraph, and continued: "Before the end of this month, other units of the Fifth Army will return to China in advance; In early February it was the Sixth Army, and in the middle and late February it was the Sixty-sixth Army. ”

The commanders of the three corps and the commanders of the divisions under their jurisdiction stood up to receive the order.

Luo Zhuoying finally got up and said: "According to the order of the Military Commission, I and General Du Yuming will no longer serve in the Indo-Burma Theater, and I hereby ask the commander to resign. ”

"You may be seated, General Luo. There is an old Chinese saying, called 'the feast that will not be dispersed in the world', and the generals have completed their mission in Burma this time, and they can continue to fight the Japanese army after returning home, and there is nothing to regret! On behalf of the Allied Indo-Burma Theater Command, I would like to thank the generals for their previous work! As he spoke, he stood up and saluted everyone with a standard American military salute.

During this time, they all admired the young American general very much, and the equipment, supplies, training, and campaign command could be said to be impeccable, and working under such a commander was the most comfortable time for these Chinese generals.

Then, Luo Zhuoying led the generals who were about to evacuate to leave the table, and the rest of the meeting had nothing to do with them.

After the rest of the generals readjusted their seats and sat down, the commander introduced the new theater team to everyone:

Deputy Commander of the Theater and Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, Matthew Ridgway, Major General;

Commander of the Theater Air Force, George Strattmeyer, Major General of Army Aviation;

Chief of Staff of the War Zone, Raymond Wheeler, Major General;

Deputy Chief of Staff of the Theater and Chief of Staff of the 101st Group Army, Yang Shixiong, Major General of the U.S. Army (wartime);

Commander of the 101st Battle Group of the 105th Army, Major General Lores;

Commander of the 106 Battle Group, Major General Montero;

Commander of the 108th New England Battalion, Colonel Yuri;

Commander of the 109th Gurkha Light Infantry Brigade, Brigadier General Kuka;

Commander of the 103rd Group Army (New First Army) and commander of the New 38th Division, Lieutenant General Sun Liren;

Commander of the 96th Division, Lieutenant General Yu Shao;

Provisional commander of the 55th Division, Lieutenant General Chen Mianwu;

Commander of the new 121st Group Army (new training unit in northern Shaanxi), Lieutenant General Peng Xuefeng;

Commander of the new 212th Division, Major General Du Wenhua;

Commander of the new 213th Division, Major General Li Yunxiang;

Commander of the newly formed 214th Division, Major General Shigeyama Hayama.

(End of chapter)