Glorious Mission 1937

As reported by the media in the United States, Britain and other countries, although the Japanese government has achieved unprecedented victories in the South Pacific battlefield, it has encountered Waterloo in the Chinese battlefield. Not to mention that the Kwantung Army in northern China was completely besieged by the Chinese giant Chen Feng's army. The aforementioned Japanese Burmese Front Army on the Indochina Peninsula in the South Pacific was also fully blocked by the Chinese and British troops.

The Japanese army started in mid-September, with the 9th and 55rd divisions as the main force, and launched attacks from Thailand to Dawei and Mawlamyine in southern Myanmar respectively. In less than a week, the Japanese army defeated 33 The defense line formed by Wando British Burmese Army occupied Yangon, the administrative center of Myanmar.

After occupying Yangon, the Japanese army was not satisfied, and immediately formed the Burmese Front Army, with Army General Kawabe Shozo as the commander-in-chief, commanding the 18th, 33rd, 55th, and 56th divisions to enter Myanmar.Then Hebian Zhengsan ordered the Burmese army to advance northward in three routes, pursue the retreating British army, invade Minerwa, go straight to Kayuanli, occupy Ren'anqiang oil field, and cut off the British army's retreat; at the same time, he planned to capture Tonggu and push Mande Le, to encircle and wipe out the main force of the British Burmese Army; in addition, Hebian Zhengsan also used a division as the main force to attack Lashio from Tonggu east to Taunggyi, and north to Bhamo and Myitkyina to meet the Chinese expeditionary force going south.

The poor performance of the British Burmese Army directly forced the Nationalist Government to send troops south to fight in Burma. In order to win this battle, Lao Jiang also paid a lot of money, directly mobilizing 9 divisions and 15 people from the battle order of the Central Army to participate in the battle, and with Luo Zhuoying is the commander-in-chief, and Lieutenant General Stilwell of the US Army is the chief of staff.

In addition to the national government's expeditionary force, there is also the British Burmese Army of the Commonwealth in Burma.The total force is about 10, with Alexander as the commander-in-chief.In terms of military strength, the Sino-British coalition forces are about three times that of the Japanese army, and the various materials and equipment are not much worse than the Japanese army, so the Allied forces are relatively confident in this battle.

According to the movement of the Japanese army, the Burmese Campaign Headquarters responded immediately. Before the Nationalist Government took over Burma’s defense completely, the British and Burmese Army wanted to join the Nationalist Government to guard Burma. After all, if Burma is lost, it will not only be China that suffers. .After all, Myanmar is the east gate to India.Burma loses the main force of the Japanese army and will soon be able to enter India.

Although the Commonwealth is unwilling to pay the bill for the Chinese government, it has to agree to such an approach, because they cannot tolerate the most beautiful pearl on Her Majesty's head being picked off by the Japanese anyway.The Sino-British coalition agreed to use the Yangon-Mandalay railway as the boundary.The east of the railway to the Thai border is the defense area of ​​the Chinese Expeditionary Force.The west of the railway is the British defense line.The Chinese and British coalition forces deployed three lines of defense to meet the enemy according to the route of the Japanese attack.It is planned to fight the Japanese army in the Pingmanna to Mandalay area to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

the end of September.The 9th Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Army is the Central Route Army, and its headquarters is located in Piaobei. The 5th Division of its vanguard arrived in Tonggu to take over the defense of the 200st Division of the British Army and defended Tonggu. Two divisions were assembled in the northeast area of ​​Mandalay.The 1th Army of the Expeditionary Army is the Eastern Route Army, with its military headquarters located in Leylem, temporarily organized as the 22th Division, located in the Leigu area, the 96th Division, located in the Mengpan area, and the 6rd Division, located in the Jingdong area, to prevent the sun from falling The Thai army attacked from the east and covered the left side of the 55th Army.The 49th Army of the Expeditionary Force, located between Mandalay and Lashio, is a mobile force.

The 5th Division (Division Commander Dai Anlan), the vanguard of the 200th Army entering Myanmar, is a mechanized and equipped unit that has made outstanding achievements in the Anti-Japanese War. It entered Myanmar first, and its morale was high.The military trucks were covered with slogans written in both Chinese and Burmese languages: "The Chinese army is here to protect the people of Myanmar!" "Strengthen China-UK military cooperation!" "Myanmar is China's best neighbor!" "Expel the Japanese pirates and show off to foreign lands!" "To win glory for the country, never give back!"

Tonggun is 250 kilometers away from Yangon in the south and 320 kilometers away from Mandalay in the north. It is an important city and a strategic location for the Yangon-Manchurian Railway. There is also Keyonggang Airport in the northwest, which is a place that the Japanese army "must quickly occupy".The expeditionary force believes that it echoes with Prome on the western front and Moltke on the eastern front, and constitutes a barrier to prevent the Japanese army from invading the north.After the fall of Yangon, the battle with the ancients became even more important.

The morale of the British-Myanmar 1st Division stationed in the Tonggu area was extremely low. They neither understood the enemy's situation nor prepared for a battle. They were only prepared to retreat safely and preserve their strength. On September 9, the Japanese army advanced to Tonggu, and the British army withdrew to Prome at the same time.From the 26th, the 27th Regiment of the 55th Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack on Tonggu, and the 112rd Regiment entered the battle on the 143th. The two sides fought fiercely for 29 days until October 10th. Taking a half step back, the Japanese army encountered fierce resistance that had not been encountered since the beginning of the Pacific War.

According to the suggestion made by Chen Feng at the Chongqing Military Conference not long ago, it is believed that the British and Burmese troops will not and cannot actively cooperate with each other. If the British army is regarded as an important part of the strategy, it is very likely that the British army’s mistakes will cause the expeditionary force to fail. Due to the huge loss, Chen Feng suggested that the national government only use the British army as an auxiliary force instead of the main defense force. Therefore, although the battle with ancient times was as tragic as it was in history, the result was completely different.

Of course, this is also related to Chen Feng's action. With the support of the Chen family's large amount of weapons and equipment, the national government has also become richer in terms of equipment and establishment of the expeditionary force. The original establishment of 10 people has become 15 When the 15 elite arrived in Myanmar, the impact they had was extraordinary. In addition, the British government announced that it would give up ownership of Myanmar, which also made the attitude of the local soldiers and civilians in Myanmar towards the Japanese army completely different from that in history.

In history, the reason why the Japanese army was able to be so rampant and advance with triumph, and the more than [-] expeditionary troops and the more than [-] British and Burmese troops that could fight with just three or four divisions, was because of the high combat quality of the Japanese army. On the Allied side, morale was low and so on.But there is another point that cannot be ignored, and that is the support for the Japanese army by the majority of Southeast Asians, including the local residents of Myanmar.

That's right, support.Because in the eyes of the people of Southeast Asian countries, the US and British troops are invaders and colonists, while the Japanese are liberators. Is it ironic, but it is a fact.In Myanmar, before the war, many Burmese had hoped that with the help of the Japanese, they could end the British colonial rule in the country. Many volunteered to act as guides for the Japanese army, leading the way for the Japanese army, and providing the Japanese army with information about the British Burmese army.

In addition, the Myanmar Independence Army led by Aung San, the leader of the Myanmar Independence Movement, directly joined the Japanese camp and launched an attack on the British and Burmese troops together with the Japanese army. This is also an important reason why the Japanese army was able to win.

But with the Commonwealth's public statement to relinquish ownership of Myanmar and hand it over to Myanmar's sovereign state, China, this has greatly quelled the wave of opposition within Myanmar.In addition, the leaders of the Myanmar Independence Army quickly saw the cunning and hypocrisy of the Japanese "allies" in the process of cooperating with the Japanese army. Koo encountered unprecedented resistance.

At the same time as the Battle of Tonggu, the follow-up troops of the expeditionary force were transported to the front line of Tonggu according to the scheduled plan. There are less than 10 Japanese troops left, and their main force has already been half surrounded by the expeditionary force. If they do not retreat, they will be dumped by the expeditionary force.

On the evening of October 10, the commander of the Japanese Burmese Front Army, General Masahiro Kawabe, issued the final order, ordering the 8th Division to immediately withdraw from Tonggu, and the battle with Tonggu ended.The 55-day Tonggu War finally ended with the squadron winning the final victory. Although the Tonggu City has become a ruin at this time, its significance is extraordinary.

First of all, the battle with ancient times contained the rapidly advancing chariots of the Japanese army, reducing the crisis in the southwestern border of China and India.Secondly, the Yunnan-Burma Highway was preserved, which is good news for the domestic war of resistance.In the end, the Japanese army finally suffered a defeat in Southeast Asia, which is tantamount to breaking the undefeated golden body of the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, which is a great encouragement to all Southeast Asian countries.

When the news came, the whole country was excited. Of course, the happiest person was Chen Feng himself. The expeditionary army actually won the battle with Gu. This was really beyond Chen Feng's expectations.Although he provided the expeditionary army with a lot of weapons and equipment, and also made many suggestions, Chen Feng also knew that many things were independent of people's will, and he had no confidence in whether he could change the fate of the expeditionary army.

Historically, it was because the Japanese army captured Tonggu that the entire front of the expeditionary force began to collapse.The Japanese army pursued and occupied Lashio all the way, cut off the Burma Road, and then occupied Mandalay.The Chinese and British troops were forced to retreat to India and China.During the retreat, Du Yuming saw that Myitkyina on the Yunnan-Burma Highway had been occupied by the Japanese army, so he ordered all the ministries to go northwest across Yeren Mountain and return to Yunnan.Except for Sun Liren's new 38th Division which withdrew to India, the rest of the troops followed Du Yuming back home via Yeren Mountain.

Bypassing Myitkyina and returning to the country via Yeren Mountain is not only a long journey, but also difficult roads, uninhabited, and difficult supplies.The 5th Army in the Savage Mountain quickly fell into trouble. Food and ammunition were exhausted, the morale of the army was lax, and diseases prevailed. More than a thousand people, including Dai Anlan, the commander of the 3th Division, Liu Shuren, the head of the regiment, Hu Yibin, the deputy commander of the 5th Division, and Ling Zemin, the head of the 3th Division, died for the country.

In the end, Du Yuming, who had only half his life left, led the troops directly under the army and Liao Yaoxiang's new 22nd Division to withdraw to India. In addition, the 5 people of the 66th Division of the 28th Army who followed the 5th Army into the Savage Mountain had 5 people because the [-]th Army had removed the bark and grass roots. The banana leaves were all eaten, and the situation was even worse. In the end, only a hundred people were left alive, and the ending was extremely tragic.

Unexpectedly, after the expeditionary force changed its face, it finally changed its own destiny, and at the same time changed the destiny of Myanmar.With the victory in the battle with ancient times, it must be possible to defend Burma, and at worst, northern Burma, so as not to be beaten into Yunnan by the Japanese. (To be continued..)