Phi-Fic Chapter 667 Victory in the first battle
Chapter 667 Victory in the first battle
Liu Shuren did not continue to use machine guns to deal with the panicked infantrymen who were bombarded by mortars. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to move the anti-aircraft machine guns immediately. When the machine guns were stuffed into the anti-artillery holes and the soldiers also got into the holes, the Japanese mortars sounded again and the mountain artillery readjusted its angle.
boom! Boom boom boom!
The Japanese artillery fire was very violent, and the Japanese regiment commander Ono Asaji was also very angry. Damn it, it was the Chinese army, they really came.
As the saying goes, enemies are extremely jealous when they see each other. One side feels that the other side is just a dog trying to catch a rat, meddling in other people's affairs, and must be buried in a foreign country. The other side feels that they suffered a great loss last time, and this time they have a chance to take revenge, so they started to kill with bloodshot eyes from the beginning of the battle.
The observers of the British army came up, and then went down again. The news they brought back made the officers confused and uncertain. With this kind of fighting style, if the 200 divisions couldn't hold out, they would certainly not be able to hold out either. It was time to consider retreat.
The Japanese army charged forward squadron by squadron, but the 200th Division only mobilized Liu Shuren's regiment. The other two regiments were hiding on the two wings, waiting for the right opportunity to deal a fatal blow to the Japs.
Seeing that the attack was not going well, Ono Asaji scolded the three infantry battalion captains. It was obvious that the opposite side only had one regiment of troops, and they relied on a few trenches to block the Imperial Japanese Army from recovering the Land of Ten Thousand Towers. This was simply a great shame and humiliation.
The Japs were going crazy. They didn't have lunch until two in the afternoon, and they still took turns eating. The commander of the 55th Division sent an urging telegram, saying that they must enter the Mandalay Plain before dark, and the main force of the division would follow before three in the morning.
The commander of the 200th Division had been watching the battlefield. At five o'clock in the afternoon, seeing that the Japanese army was in a state of decline, the commander gave an order and red flares were launched into the air. Soldiers from two regiments rushed out from the woods on both sides and used ten rapid fire from mortars to disrupt the outer defense of the Japanese formation. Thousands of people rushed forward with submachine guns.
The Japanese army had been chasing for hundreds of kilometers and had been going smoothly. Although they encountered the Chinese army, they thought it was just a minor trouble and had no intention of building trenches. The defense formation was also very sloppy. They did not expect that the enemy was not a regiment, but a reorganized division, and the firepower configuration was beyond their imagination.
After the signal flare was launched, Liu Shuren also rushed out of the trench with his regiment, and the anti-aircraft machine guns were set up again to cover the infantry's charge.
The Japanese squadron that had just charged halfway was stunned. They couldn't understand it at all! You guys were defending all the time, why did you charge out? You want to play with bayonets? Should we continue to charge or wait for you to come up?
No one wanted to play bayonet games with them. Submachine guns were fired at them. The Japanese army retreated. Before the expeditionary forces on both sides could charge forward, the 599th Regiment of Liushu people in the front rushed up and followed the fleeing soldiers into the enemy camp.
Ono Asaji was stunned. He had never expected that there were still so many troops on both sides. It had been almost a day! How could they hold back and not take action?
The expeditionary forces on both sides came up, and the Japanese army was completely unable to stop them. The Type 38 rifles fired one shot at a time and then pulled the bolt, and could not stop the bursts of submachine guns. The defensive battle turned into a pursuit battle, but this time the situation was reversed, and it was the expeditionary force that pursued the Japanese army.
On Mount Bago, near the Yangmiding battlefield, there were several special forces soldiers conducting reconnaissance. The fighting was fierce up ahead, and these special forces soldiers inevitably felt itchy, knowing that the people down there were their own people, and when their fellow villagers met, their eyes were filled with tears. It was a pity that they could not go down to see them.
"Platoon leader, the Japanese are running back, what's going on?"
The platoon leader stretched his neck and saw the Japs fleeing frantically to the south. He realized that it was his brothers in the Expeditionary Force who had won the battle.
"Brothers, lie down and just watch the fun."
The Japanese soldiers in the front were fine, running very fast on their bicycles, but those behind were huddled together in a large crowd, facing the pursuing submachine guns, and those left behind could not hold out for long.
call out!
A green flare was launched, and the officers and soldiers of the 200th Division stopped chasing. Unsure whether there were large Japanese troops following behind, the division commander decided to stop while he was ahead. That was enough. A regiment had more than 3,000 people, so at least 2,500 or 2,600 should have been killed! The first battle of the expedition was a success, and the next step was to perform. Since they looked down on it, they had to pay a price.
"Platoon leader, let's not chase them anymore, it's such a pity!"
"What a pity! It's right not to chase them. If we encounter a large army of Japanese enemies, the battle will be very tense. Let's go! Go back and report the news."
The 200th Division took pictures of the Japanese corpses and took advantage of the night to cover them up. More than 300 were killed and carried up. There were more than 500 serious wounded soldiers and more than 2,000 self-inflicted wounds. With 3,000 casualties, they killed nearly 3,000 Japanese. Compared with the British army, this record was a crushing defeat.
The British officers were very annoyed about the withdrawal of the 200th Division. They only hoped that the 200th Division would stand in front, so that even if the whole army was wiped out, they could still leave themselves enough time to retreat.
The 200th Division showed the British people its fallen soldiers and long lines of wounded soldiers, and demanded to retreat to the next position for garrison. They also needed a large amount of medicine and ammunition. Faced with the toughness of the commander of the 200th Division, the British commander backed down. If he wanted to defend Mandalay, his own men were absolutely unreliable, and he had to rely on these beggar teams. It must be said that they were really fighting hard!
The news of the initial victory spread quickly, and the 200th Division became famous in one battle. Perhaps there was nothing noteworthy about destroying a regiment in the country, but it was a fight abroad, a face-saving thing, and naturally aroused joy everywhere.
The destruction of Ono's regiment made the Japanese army realize the difficulties again. The commander of the coalition forces, Shojiro Iijima, ordered the troops to fight steadily and advance in unison in division sequence.
The main battle of the Battle of Mandalay was about to begin. The British army was very anxious and did not seem to want to lose their lives here. The reason for retreat they gave to the Allied commander was ridiculous, because their air force was wiped out while guarding the harbor. Facing the armored forces under the cover of the Japanese Air Force, they felt that they had no chance of winning.
The corrupt Chinese suggested that the Chinese army engage in a fight with the Japanese army in the Mandalay area, while they retreated fifty miles to build a defense line.
The good guy, who has always been a good person, couldn't stand it anymore, so he closed the door and scolded the corrupt guy harshly. Others were helping them to look after the house, but they let the helpers take the brunt of the trouble while they retreated and watched the fun. How shameless, so shameless that it was outrageous.
Shi Wei is very ruthless. If you want to retreat, then we can retreat together. If you retreat, he will drive the Chinese troops back. The land is yours, take it or leave it.
The British army is scared and will have to retreat sooner or later, but they can't just run away without fighting. At best they have to put up with some perfunctory response.
In this way, Mandalay's defense line was stabilized again. The 100,000 expeditionary forces and the 70,000 to 80,000 British and Indian coalition forces faced a Japanese army of 120,000 troops, and a war was about to break out.