Shadow Spy

Chapter 412: Future combat directions

The next day, Li Junhao and his party crossed the river and headed towards the west coast. They arrived at Jiagu on the 12th and went north to Delai on the 13th. After an inspection, they found that the port facilities in these two places were old and damaged and could not be used at all.

This situation made him a little helpless. Previously, like the generals of the expeditionary force, he believed that holding the northern part of Myanmar and finding a dock on the west coast to receive American military aid should be able to make up for the unfavorable situation of the loss of Yangon Port. But the fact is that Give him a head-on blow!
The reason is very simple. The terrain is undulating and the road conditions are too poor to complete the transportation task of military aid supplies!If we say that the Terai Port, which is in slightly better condition, can barely be used with some effort to repair it, but from the port to the nearest branch site of the Yangon-Mandalay Railway (Yangon to Mandalay) Magway, more than 130 kilometers of road... , it can only be called a dirt road. Now it is difficult to pass in the hot season. In three months, it will enter the rainy season. Transporting supplies on it will be a disaster!

In other words, if you want to use Terai as a military aid import port, you must not only build ports, but also build roads... The more serious problem is that Magway is only 160 kilometers away from the southern frontline Pyay and 480 kilometers away from Yangon. , this distance is too dangerous. We must be prepared not only for sneak attacks by the Japanese army on the ground, but also for surprise attacks!

In the evening, Li Junhao carefully studied the map of the west coast of Myanmar. The more he studied, the more headache he got. Under the terrain and infrastructure conditions of Myanmar, large-scale transportation of materials could only rely on railways. However, any west coast port in the central region of Myanmar is only a few kilometers away from the central port. The Yangtze-Manchurian railway is more than one or two hundred kilometers long. Large-scale transportation under current conditions is simply unrealistic!
In the end, he even felt that instead of struggling in central Myanmar, it would be more realistic to find a way to fight back to southern Myanmar and recapture Yangon.

Of course, there is another way, which is to use Chittagong Port in British India further southwest, and then transport the goods by rail to Imphal, 950 kilometers away, and then use a railway branch line to cross the India-Myanmar border to Sidang in northwest Myanmar. Then we will find a way to build a railway or road of about [-] kilometers to connect to the Wendo Station of the Mandalay-Myitkyina Railway.In comparison, this solution is not too labor-intensive, but it is safer.

Then there is the third method, which is like the "Hump Route" launched by the United States after the Burma Highway was cut off by the Japanese army in a previous life. Transport planes take off from Assam, India, and head east across the Himalayas, Gaoligong Mountains, Hengduan Mountain, Salween River, Nu River, Lancang River, Jinsha River, Lijiang Baisha Airport, and enter China's Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Sichuan Province.

This more than 500-mile air route has an altitude of 4500-5500 meters, with the highest altitude reaching 7000 meters. The mountains are undulating like the back of a camel, so it is named the "Hump Route."

This is a "death route", an aerial road of blood and sacrifice!In his previous life, in three years, the US military lost more than 1500 aircraft and nearly 3000 outstanding pilots on this route. The loss rate exceeded 80%. The price was too high!
He really didn't want to see this route appear unless it was absolutely necessary.

After thinking about it, Li Junhao drafted a very long message late at night on the future combat direction of the India-Burma Theater and sent it to the domestic Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Far East Theater Headquarters, which stated:
The main strategic objectives of the United States' participation in the Burma war should be formulated as follows: to ensure the rear area of ​​the Chinese theater and the smooth flow of the Burma Highway so that aid supplies can be transported smoothly to China, so that the Chinese army can hold back the Japanese combat force of more than 200 million. , to reduce the pressure on the United States to launch punitive operations against Japan in the Pacific Theater.

On the basis of this strategic goal, the British side’s unreasonable demands should be resolutely rejected.

Therefore, he specially proposed two combat plans:
The first plan is to ignore the withdrawal of British troops from Burma and rely on the strength of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to defend northern Burma. On this basis, control Chittagong Port in British India as a military aid port and use India's eastern border railway transportation Materials aiding China pass through Imphal, India-Sitang-Vendol, Myanmar, and then connect to the Manmi-Milan Railway to protect the transportation of materials aiding China.

The three key points in this plan are: first, the Chinese Expeditionary Force must defend northern Burma; second, the United States must control Chittagong and the Eastern Railway in British India; third, a [-]-kilometer railway branch line must be built from Sidang to Wendo. .The second plan was to concentrate military forces to counterattack southern Burma, drive the Japanese army out of Burma, regain Yangon, and restore the original transportation route to China.

The key point in this plan is to ensure the absolute command authority of the India-Burma Theater Command, so that the Chinese Expeditionary Force can strictly execute orders without interference from external forces, which mainly refers to interference from Chongqing.

In addition, in view of the need to counterattack Burma and the defense of Laos and Thailand on the eastern front, the military strength in the India-Burma theater must be strengthened. First, nearly [-] British-Burmese troops were left to participate in the war. Second, the Chinese Expeditionary Force was required to increase its troops.

Another thing to note about this plan is that even if the counterattack in southern Myanmar is successful, Yangon will still be within the range of Japanese air strikes, and air defense forces will need to be strengthened, which will require a huge investment of energy, time, and material resources.

Although he did not express his position clearly in the telegram, he was clearly leaning towards the first option during the discussion.
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When Li Junhao was inspecting the western coast, Lieutenant General Stilwell, commander of the India-Burma Theater, had already issued a combat order on the Tonggu battle plan:

The 200th Division of the Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force defended the same place as before, the newly formed 22nd Division defended Pyay, and the 96th Division was stationed in Arammu in the northwest as the reserve force of the Fifth Army;

The 55th Division of the Sixth Army was temporarily stationed in Liigu on the eastern front, the 49th Division was stationed in Gandulong, and the 93rd Division was stationed in Mengjiu to protect the left wing of the Fifth Army;
No.60 The Sixth Army marched out from Lashio, the new 28th Division was stationed in Mengbin, the new 29th Division was stationed in Mengpaya, and the new 38th Division was stationed in Mengyang to guard this triangle area, guard against the eastern front, cover the fifth and sixth armies, and serve as Mobile troops.

This time, it is planned to use troops from three armies and nine divisions. The number of troops exceeds 14, which is more than 3 more than in history. This is mainly due to the strength of the India-Burma Theater Command, which intercepted a large number of British military equipment, supplies, and equipment. The fifth and sixth armies of the Chinese Expeditionary Force that entered Myanmar made the big bosses in the rear see the benefits and dispatched the No. 60 and sixth armies in time, entering Myanmar nearly a month earlier than in the original history.

Lieutenant General Stilwell was now complacent and prepared to fight a war of annihilation before Tonggu, killing a large number of the Japanese army's effective forces and cutting off the Japanese army's hope of attacking north.

The first step of the battle was for the 200th Division stationed in Tonggu to take the initiative to attack the Japanese 8th Division, which was building a defense 55 kilometers south of the city. They wanted to beat it severely and cripple it, so as to annihilate it and attract other Japanese troops to rescue it. !
(End of this chapter)