20demayo Chapter 507: Stilwell Returns
Chapter 507: Stilwell Returns
507 Stilwell Returns
Judging from the front battlefield alone, even Ye Qingshan won on the eastern front.
It was just to help the expeditionary force escape from the disadvantageous situation of being surrounded.
The expeditionary force and the devils fell into a stalemate again.
If you want to turn defeat into victory, it will not be effective just by fighting head-on on the battlefield.
Until now, the main force of the Japanese 15th Army has not been destroyed and its organization is still intact.
Moreover, even now that Ye Qingshan's 86th Army has more than troops entering Burma, they cannot say that their overall strength exceeds that of the Japanese th Army.
When the Japanese are on the front battlefield and there are no major command mistakes.
The expeditionary force wanted to win.
You can only take risky moves and use surprising tactics.
This has always been Ye Qingshan's forte.
On the afternoon of the 16th, the artillery brigade under Ye Qingshan's command began to launch artillery attacks on multiple Japanese positions on the Meimiu line.
According to the rules, Long Wendong and others formulated offensive tactics.
Fierce artillery fire is a necessary means to deal with the brutal jungle warfare.
In particular, artillery fire coverage and sudden attacks are the best ways to deal with the Japanese's sneak attacks relying on trees and guerrilla tactics.
After all, Ye Qingshan’s 86th Army was stronger than the Japanese in terms of artillery firepower at this time.
Ye Qingshan spent so much money and purchased so many artillery pieces from the Americans, just for this moment.
"Tell the artillery brigade to bomb me hard.
The artillery shells we have in stock are enough to keep them going for a while.
Now, we have the Burma Road behind us, so we don’t have to worry about the artillery shells not being delivered.
Even if the reserve shells run out, the Americans and the British will send us more."
Ye Qingshan said with a smile.
He guessed that the situation on the battlefield in Mandalay had changed to what it is now.
It's time for General Stilwell to return to Burma.
By then, it will be time to blackmail the Americans, especially the British.
Then, several regiments under Ye Qingshan launched a fierce attack on the nearly 10,000 Japanese defenders in Meimiu and Aniskan from three directions.
The battle was extremely brutal.
The two sides fought for one position after another around the mountains and jungles on both sides of the river valley.
Ye Qingshan's troops took advantage of their firepower.
The attacking group consists of small commandos carrying heavy firepower, with reserve troops in the rear ready to provide support at any time. The artillery brigade is divided into more than a dozen units.
Provide fire support to the assault teams attacking on the front line at any time.
We continued to provide fire coverage and artillery attacks on the Japanese squad in the jungle.
It effectively restrained the Japanese's previous jungle warfare tactics.
After all, when the Japanese fought against the expeditionary force before, they had never encountered such fierce firepower.
This made the jungle tactics that the Japanese had previously used against other expeditionary forces completely useless when encountering Ye Qingshan's 86th Army.
"Baga, in just one day and one night, we lost seven positions.
More than a thousand soldiers were killed.
Ye Qingshan's troops are about to capture Meimiu.
How this battle was fought.”
Masao Watanabe set up his headquarters in Aniskan. Looking at the battle reports sent by his subordinates, his face looked extremely grim.
The attack of Ye Qingshan's 86th Army was more fierce than he expected.
He finally understood why the 148th Regiment and the Engineer Regiment of his th Division, which were ambushed, were annihilated by Ye Qingshan so quickly.
Ye Qingshan's troops were completely different in strength from the expeditionary forces they had encountered before.
Originally, the three expeditionary armies selected to fight in Burma were among the best in terms of combat effectiveness among the domestic national army.
As a result, they now face the more powerful Ye Qingshan’s 86th Army.
After the Japanese 15th Army entered Burma, this was one of the few times it was defeated by the enemy in a large-scale battle on the front battlefield.
"Those idiots from the Special High Police, the information they provided is totally wrong.
Ye Qingshan’s 86th Army definitely has more than people.
Now, here alone, we have discovered that Ye Qingshan’s troops attacking us number more than 20,000.
He also needed to send troops to defend Lashio and Namkham, and also sent troops to Myitkyina.
Where did he get so many soldiers?
Ye Qingshan's 86th Army must have at least to people, and we were all deceived by him."
At this time, Watanabe Masao also realized that something was wrong.
The number of troops attacking them was much larger than the 20,000 he estimated.
This is very obvious on the battlefield.
But what's the use of finding out at this time?
Watanabe Masao could only curse in his heart, saying that Ye Qingshan was insidious.
"When will the reinforcements from the 33rd Division arrive?"
Watanabe Masao is now only looking forward to the reinforcements sent by the headquarters to arrive as soon as possible.
"Your Excellency, the headquarters called back and said it would be two days later.
The two regiments of the 33rd Division will arrive soon."
"Yoshi.
If we can get support from the two regiments of the 86rd Division, it should be no problem to stop Ye Qingshan's th Army."
After hearing this answer, Watanabe Masao's expression finally looked better.
At this time, among the 10,000 defenders under his command, there were more than 5,000 main Japanese infantry.
The remaining half were all the baggage soldiers and communications soldiers of the 55th and 56th Divisions, these two crippled divisions.
Their combat effectiveness is much worse than that of the main regiment infantry.
On the 17th, Lu Dahai and Hei Xiong's troops ambushed a Japanese baggage train in Ruibo, north of Mandalay, and wiped out more than 700 Japanese soldiers.
At this point, Lu Dahai and his troops established contact with the New 22nd Division and the New 96th Division of the Fifth Army.
They attacked the Japanese 18th Division from both front and back, forcing it to retreat more than ten miles and stabilize the front line again.
The crisis of the Fifth Army was resolved.
Du Yuming transferred the elite 200th Division, as well as armored and artillery units, to encircle and suppress the Japanese 113th Regiment that fled to Bamao.
As a result, the new 22nd Division and the new 96th Division, which were responsible for resisting the attack of the Japanese th Division, had a difficult time facing the fierce attack of the Japanese th Division.
Lu Dahai arrived with his troops and launched a pincer attack, forcing the Japanese 18th Division to retreat.
Let these two divisions of the Fifth Army stabilize the situation again.
As a result, the two sides once again fell into a stalemate on the northern battlefield, where the Japanese had originally held the advantage.
As for the 86th Army in Moneva, after the Japanese rd Division transferred two regiments to resist Ye Qingshan's th Army.
The pressure on their side was greatly reduced, although they still could not defeat the main force of the Japanese 33rd Division.
However, I was able to consolidate my own line.
As a result, the entire battlefield around Mandalay was in a stalemate.
It was at this time that General Stilwell led his men back from Imphal, re-entered Burma, and found Luo Zhuoying's command headquarters.
"General Stilwell is coming?
Let’s go and greet them.”
Luo Zhuoying couldn't help but laugh after receiving the news that Stilwell had returned.
Go out with the guards to greet them.
Luo Zhuoying knew that Stilwell must have known about the new situation in Mandalay, so he couldn't wait to return.