20demayo Chapter 551 The British Army Rises Up
Chapter 551 The British Army Rises Up
551 The British Army Rises Up
After listening to Stilwell's words, Robert fell silent.
Just half a day ago, he had received orders from their top leaders at home.
Let him assist Stilwell to defeat the Japanese in Burma as soon as possible and resume the exploitation of the oil fields in the Yenangyaung area.
Because Ye Qingshan had sent people to discover the two large oil fields in Yenangyaung.
After completing initial development, these two large oil fields have become the second-highest producing oil fields in the British colonies overseas.
Now, the army of mustache men in Europe has begun to take action.
Britain and France have declared war on Germany, and more intense fighting will soon begin.
The British top leaders also need to prepare for a larger-scale war in the future, and oil is absolutely indispensable.
In this context, Robert is clear.
At this time, the interests of the three parties, including them, the Americans, and the expeditionary force, truly overlapped for the first time.
In this case, Robert had to help solve the problem that Stilwell was facing at this time.
After all, Stilwell did not understand the situation of the British Army.
But Robert was different. Although he was a logistics officer of the British Army, he was ultimately a British aristocrat and a senior officer.
He knows better how to solve the problem of being afraid of the enemy and cowardly fighting.
"Commander-in-Chief, I have a plan."
After a moment, Robert spoke.
"Oh? What can I do?"
Stilwell looked at him.
“The army must be strictly disciplined, especially before a major war like this.
Never tolerate anyone who is afraid of the enemy and afraid of fighting.
Therefore, I suggest that the officers and soldiers who fled on the front line this time be severely punished to serve as a warning to others."
Robert's tone was icy.
After hearing this, Stilwell immediately understood what Robert meant.
This is to kill the chicken to scare the monkey!
"Is this appropriate?"
Stilwell hesitated.
It's not like he hasn't thought about this method.
Stilwell was worried that if he went too far, it would cause dissatisfaction among British officers and soldiers.
After that, he was no longer able to command the British army in battle.
After all, he was an outsider as the commander-in-chief, and if he acted too harshly, he would easily incur the dissatisfaction of British officers and soldiers.
"Don't worry, Commander-in-Chief. I'll take care of this matter."
Robert also understood Stilwell's concerns and took the initiative to undertake the task of killing the chicken to scare the monkey.
Stilwell was immediately moved. He walked up to Robert, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Robert, you are so thoughtful."
In fact, it boosted the morale of the British army and eliminated their fear of the Japanese.
There is another method, which Ye Qingshan used before.
Defeat the Japanese and win a battle to let the soldiers on our side realize that the Japanese are not invincible.
In this way, the fear of the Japanese devils will naturally be eliminated.
Unfortunately, even the British commander Robert himself had no hope for this method at this time.
He never expected that his British army could defeat the Japanese 25th Army.
We just need to hold the defense line for a while and wait for Ye Qingshan to annihilate the Japanese 15th Army.
So, in this case.
Robert decided to use the old method they had used before in the Indian colony.
Killing the chicken to scare the monkey, high pressure policy.
Soon, Robert gave the order after more than 60,000 British troops on the front line withdrew to the second line of defense.
Several commanders of British troops and a large number of Indian vassal soldiers were arrested.
Without exception, these people were from the first troops to escape when they were blocking the Japanese army on the coastal defense line.
The officers were put on hold pending a court-martial.
As for those Indian soldiers, there is no need to go through so much trouble and just treat them as deserters.
All were executed by firing squad.
Bang bang bang!
In the jungle camp behind the British second line of defense, a row of British soldiers opened fire.
A dozen steps away, rows of deserters were executed en masse.
There were Indian soldiers watching all around.
"next batch!"
After executing this row, the next batch will come up immediately.
Keep killing!
Within one day, hundreds of Indian vassal soldiers who were the first to flee on the battlefield were all ordered to be executed by Robert.
It greatly intimidated the other Indian vassal soldiers.
At the same time, Robert issued an order that the families of these escaped soldiers would not only be fined.
Moreover, all their family members, regardless of their social status, would be demoted to untouchables.
The untouchables over there are basically slaves.
Robert's order was a deadly weapon for the Indian vassal soldiers, who made up 80% of the British army.
Now, those Indian vassal soldiers no longer dared to escape on the battlefield.
Otherwise, my family will become untouchables, which is horrible.
Stilwell looked at Robert and was horrified by the use of such high-pressure tactics in the military.
They were afraid that the absolute number of Indian vassal soldiers occupying the British army would rise up in rebellion and trigger a mutiny.
But in the end, none of these Indian soldiers opposed Robert's order.
This surprised Stilwell.
"Commander-in-Chief, it's done!"
Robert found Stilwell and said with a smile.
Soon, facts proved that Robert's military purge was very effective.
On May 4th, after the heavy rain stopped, the Japanese finally reached the British army's second line of defense.
Launched another fierce attack on the British army.
This time, the British troops defending the second line of defense were mainly those Indian vassal soldiers, who fought very tenaciously.
No one dared to escape without permission anymore.
Even those Indian recruits did not dare to retreat a single step.
It would be a small matter if they died in battle. But if they were considered deserters during the retreat, their entire families would suffer.
So, the Japanese who attacked on the 4th fiercely attacked the British army's second line of defense for a whole day.
Unexpectedly, they failed to capture a position on the British army’s second line of defense.
The British army changed its previous decadence and stood up.
"good, very good!"
Stilwell couldn't help but smile when he saw the battle reports sent back from the front line.
This is the right way to fight!
As long as all the British troops perform like this, they will have no problem holding off the Japanese 25th Army for a week.
"Nani?
How come the British Army’s combat effectiveness suddenly became stronger?
The soldiers in several British defensive positions fought to the end.
They would rather be killed by our soldiers than flee, and no one surrendered.
What’s going on? ”
After the Japanese commander Ono Kota received telegrams sent back by the Japanese commanders on the front line.
I soon realized this and was extremely surprised.
Unfortunately, the Japanese never figured out the real reason in the end.
They could only continue to launch a fierce attack on the British army’s second line of defense.
Unfortunately, nothing was found.
The hundreds of thousands of British troops under Stilwell's command were determined to play coward, staying on the second line of defense and not taking the initiative to attack.
It's just delaying time.
Anyway, Stilwell knew that time was now on their side.
They had ammunition and supplies delivered from Yenangyaung every day, which gave Stilwell sufficient confidence.
Just keep fighting the Japs like this.