Age of Rebirth

~- -~Chapter [-] Scared

Tang Qiuli ordered all the troops in Mogok to retreat. Hundreds of thousands of independent division troops disappeared without warning in one night, leaving behind a complete and solid defense system. All senior Japanese commanders, including Ito, couldn't figure out what it meant?

Lieutenant General Masaki Takemura, the new chief of staff of Japan's Southeast Asian Expeditionary Force, is a senior military officer who has been engaged in strategic planning in the General Staff Headquarters for a long time. To be honest, he has never even been on the battlefield. He is a typical man who relies on maps to command thousands of miles. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of troops, officers with rich theory and little practical experience.

He mobilized all the theoretical knowledge, and he couldn't judge the real reason why the independent division suddenly gave up its position and evacuated. The imperial army was preparing for a large-scale attack, but the opponent disappeared. What the hell is going on?I couldn't judge it myself, let alone be sure, so I asked General Ito Gensaburo.

Before Ito could answer, a lieutenant staff officer hurried in and said, "Report to Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief. After receiving an urgent report from the first-line troops in Leigu, Taunggyi, Nanlan, and Laika, the observation post located in the area east of Mandalay discovered that On the west bank of the Salween River, on the front about several hundred kilometers long, a large number of independent divisions were found, advancing rapidly, and judging from the actions of the enemy, the target was Mandalay.”[

Ito hugged his head and groaned in pain. He really had a terrible headache. The troops on the front line were sent by him to monitor the independent division troops coming from the eastern part of the Indochina Peninsula. The strength was no more than three divisions. For this reason, Ito secretly To myself, Tang Qiuli's troops were on the front line of the Salween River. Because of the heavy rain, their movements were slow, and this was a chance for him to recover.

At the very least, in a short period of time, you don't have to worry about your right wing, and you can concentrate on planning to deal with the independent division troops in the Mogok area. Ito knows in his heart that he doesn't have the strength to take the initiative to attack, at least not right now, and he is more worried about the independent division on the right wing More than [-] troops stabbed him in the side. Now, this worry has become a reality.

The three divisions are distributed on a defense line hundreds of kilometers long. Each key point is just a little more than a squadron. To put it bluntly, it is almost like a piece of paper. For a breakthrough attack, Ito dared to assert that once there was an exchange of fire, the imperial troops on the defense line east of Mandalay would not be able to hold out for three hours.

Ito realized his weakness, so he desperately replenished his troops and equipment. However, until now, the troops have been replenished to more than 80.00%, and the number of aircraft, tanks, and artillery replenished is far from enough to support a decisive battle. In the offensive battle, Ito hoped that the situation in Myanmar would remain stalemate until he fully recovered and made all preparations.

But just the day before yesterday, I received an order from the base camp, "Commander Ito Genzaburo of the Imperial Southeast Asian Expedition Army, with the approval of His Majesty the Emperor, the General Staff of the base camp has formulated a battle plan for Burma. Now, I will issue it to you, and hope to strictly follow the plan , carry out combat missions," Ito was furious after reading the Burmese battle plan.

He started to curse on the spot. Of course, Ito would never dare to insult His Majesty the Emperor. What he cursed were the officials and gentlemen of the General Staff, who sat in a comfortable office in Tokyo, thousands of miles away, and did not understand the war situation in Burma at all. He slapped his head and came up with a bullshit plan out of thin air. He even ordered the dispatched army, which is still recovering, to end the Burma campaign quickly. attack. "

It is no wonder that Ito was so angry that he scolded the world and the general staff. After the battle in the Baldwin mining area, the troops dispatched from Southeast Asia were injured. With the defense line of the Libao Grand Canyon, they were temporarily safe. They were very afraid of the independent division. Attacking the glass defense line is like the defeated army that retreated into the city in ancient times, wishing to hang up the card of avoiding battle.

But the damn General Staff actually sent troops from Southeast Asia, who had not yet recovered their strength and were at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment, to actively attack Tang Qiuli's independent division, which was fat and strong and prestige after victory. What does this have to do with suicide? the difference?Ito's original plan was that in mid-October, when the flanking troops of the Independent Division entered near Mandalay, most of the troops on the Libao Grand Canyon and Mandalay would be mobilized to the east.

First annihilate or defeat the troops of the two corps of the Independent Division from the eastern part of the Indochina Peninsula to relieve the flank threat, and then, in early November, after all the troops and equipment have been replenished, carry out a battle with Tang Qiuli's main force. It was a decisive battle, but this order from the base camp disrupted all his deployments.

If at this time, most of the troops on the Libao defense line were transferred to the east, it would be possible to stop or defeat the strength of the two corps of the Independent Division. There is no way to stop the independent division's attack, and the troops transferred to the East went deep into the front line of the Salween River to fight, and the distance was too far to even return to the rescue.

Ito knew that if the consequences of the Burmese battle plan in the base camp were carried out, the imperial army in Southeast Asia would be wiped out. He wanted to disobey, and even wanted to fly back to Tokyo in person to state his reasons at the base camp and prevent this tragedy from happening. However, in the telegram, The words "His Majesty the Emperor" dispelled all his impulsive thoughts.

That is to say, His Majesty the Emperor personally reviewed the plan for the battle in Burma, and it is very likely that he made it himself. Ito is very clear about His Majesty's temper. , State the reason, His Majesty will never be furious, but the position of commander-in-chief of the dispatched army will soon be replaced by an obedient ass.

In the past few days, Ito has been racking his brains to find a way to delay or avoid the implementation of this death plan. This idea, Ito held back in his heart, and no one revealed it, including the new chief of staff of the dispatched army, Lieutenant General Takemura Masaki , this Wu village, after receiving the order from the base camp, behaved very positively.

With a group of senior staff, he worked out a detailed plan day and night, and Ito sneered in his stomach. A guy who can only talk about wars on paper, this Wucun is obviously an imperial envoy sent by the headquarters to urge him to implement the plan. Son, he came to monitor his cronies of the emperor, but at this time, Tang Qiuli did it again.

This time, Takemura became more active, and Ito had no reason to delay. The enemy had already retreated, and the obstacle to the attack was gone. Why did the troops of the Imperial Army not dare to go north out of the Ribao Grand Canyon and attack in the direction of Myitkyina? Ito's old life.

Wu Cun's question was very meaningful, and Ito cursed in his stomach, "Pedantic guy, what do you think about this matter? Judging from my experience in fighting Tang Qiuli many times, this is a trap, trying to lure me The imperial army left the solid line of defense and fought against independent divisions in the field. Originally, the imperial Japanese army was not afraid of any field battles, but now the time is not ripe and the conditions are not met. This decisive battle in Burma is almost, it is basically ruining the imperial dispatch in Southeast Asia. The army's reminder!"

These considerations, the words in his stomach, Ito can't say a word to Wucun, the misfortune comes from his mouth, and when he turns around, Wucun, this guy, make sure to report his words to the gentlemen in the base camp after embellishing them. Isn't he looking for bad luck?Maybe, Takemura Masaki just took this opportunity to overthrow himself and take his place?

Therefore, Ito said gently to Wu Cun: "Mr. Wu Cun, it is too early to draw conclusions. Everything is speculation. We only have to get Tang Qiuli's troops to withdraw to that direction, and what will be the follow-up actions?" Only then can we determine the next action plan," Wu Cun took off his gold-rimmed glasses, and wiped them carefully with a snow-white handkerchief.

He said in an indifferent way: "Commander-in-Chief, I think that no matter what tricks the Chinese demon Tang Qiuli plays, this is an excellent opportunity. We should not miss it and send enough troops to seize Mogok immediately. First, we can also build a prominent point in front of the Libao Grand Canyon defense line, as a buffer zone to withstand the attack of the independent division troops, and it can also consume the spirit and strength of the independent division troops, wouldn't it be better?" [

Not only did Takemura think this way, but he even did so. He ordered the troops of the five divisions to immediately occupy the front line of Mogok without asking Gensaburo Ito for instructions. Unfortunately, Takemura overestimated his status and prestige, The heads of the five divisions who received the order responded surprisingly unanimously, "I'm sorry, Chief of Staff, according to the regulations for dispatching troops to Southeast Asia, we have the right to dispatch troops without the personal order or written order of the supreme military commander." Any troop."

Listening to the five division commanders, they sounded humble, but in reality, they didn’t have the tone of his own chief of staff. Takemura was so angry that he dropped the phone and rushed to find Ito. The chief of staff was a little thin-faced, and according to his order, each sent a squadron of troops to go out in the direction of Mogok to find out the situation.

How could Ito fail to hear Wucun's tone? From the bottom of his heart, he despised this guy who only talked on paper and had never smelled gunpowder smoke. He spoke clearly and logically, but he had never seen Tang Qiuli's methods. Before the start of the battle in the mining area, my idea was much simpler. I used the superior strength and equipment of the imperial army to settle the situation in northern Myanmar in one fell swoop.

But after the First World War, I was ambushed by Tang Qiuli, and the powerful Empire dispatched troops to Southeast Asia. At this point, who can guarantee that Mogok will not be another trap of Tang Qiuli, and the battle of the Baldwin Mine will repeat itself ?There are also two corps of the independent division that are approaching step by step, and they will lose everything if they are not careful!

(To be continued)

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