As the large-scale bombing ended, Hamilton also knew that the opponent's land attack was definitely coming. Myitkyina was only 100 kilometers away from the Chinese border, and nearly 500 kilometers away from Mandalay. This distance made the British unable to do so.
There is no time to mobilize reinforcements. Moreover, the entire colony is relatively empty now. The limited troops have to maintain the stability of the colony. How can they get people to assist Myitkyina? And it is at this time that the British Empire, which has always been arrogant, realizes that it has
Being so weak, Britain didn't have much to do against a country with a strong army.
The news of the successful bombing was sent back to China immediately, and the whole country was immediately shocked. Then there was a kind of ecstasy, almost crazy joy. Just a few months ago, China's reasonable demands were rejected by the Paris Peace Conference. China
The people have gone through a process from hope to despair. When can China's power be restored?
This is a question that every Chinese is reflecting on, especially in the academic world. Conscientious scholars have begun to openly criticize the West and have begun to seek new ways to save the country. Some people have begun to publicize the ideas of the majority party and are eager to build a red
China, while others have turned their attention to the southwest, to the United Democratic Party, and to Qiao Yu.
Now the Southwest Army has used a hearty air raid to show the country the results of their industrial construction. Being able to challenge the most powerful country in the world is undoubtedly the best proof of China's re-emergence. Nothing is convincing about its actual strength. Of course, this
This border conflict is still going on. China won the air battle 1 to 0, and then came the land battle. Only by defeating the British on land can it be considered a complete victory.
At this time, there was indeed heavy artillery fire outside the city of Myitkyina, and the fighting was extremely fierce. The armored brigade led by Lu Han, as the vanguard, had already rushed to the outer positions of Myitkyina. As an officer who had experienced the European battlefield, Hamilton still had some skills.
A large number of trenches and barbed wire fences were set up on the periphery of the position, and a large number of bunkers were dug. Then troops were deployed in depth to form a solid defense line.
Hamilton knew his situation very well. The air force was almost completely lost. What was even worse was that the oil depot was bombed, which meant that his armored forces had completely lost their ability to move. Dozens of tanks could only be used as fixed turrets.
In this situation, if you want to attack, you can only be crazy, so it is better to wait for help. Fortunately, there are many Indian veterans who have experienced World War I. After getting used to the cruelty of the Western Front battlefield,
, these veterans can still cope with the situation in the Far East, and these veterans have maintained the best tradition of the Indians, which is obedience, simply blind obedience. It is this blind obedience that makes them good warriors.
Lu Han was also greedy for success and did not wait for all the follow-up troops to arrive. Instead, he took the lead in launching an attack. The Biao tank's outstanding cross-country performance was displayed. It was easy to cross the trench and crush the barbed wire. The British team fired at them.
The bullets can only tickle Biao Shi, but cannot do anything to them.
Soon the Chinese armored forces broke through the outer defense line. Hamilton, who was in command, was on pins and needles at this time. He did not expect that the Chinese Army's attack would be so sharp. He could only hope that the Indian soldiers could withstand the Chinese attack.
Ah San was indeed working very hard for his master without caring about his own life. Some people even rushed forward with cluster grenades to fight for their lives. Although tanks and armored vehicles could easily kill them, Lu Han only had one tank brigade in his hands, which was slightly under-strength. There could always be a few
A fish slipped through the net, and all three of the fastest tanks were injured, causing the charge to slow down. This brief pause was caught by the British officers, who began to mobilize artillery to quickly cover the Chinese tanks. The damage on the Chinese side began.
increase.
Lu Han was also furious and commanded his tanks to break open the British turtle shell. At this moment, Zhu Qinglan suddenly issued an order to suspend the attack and asked all the tank brigades to withdraw. Lu Han was already about to break through the second
At this line of defense, victory was in sight, but they had no choice but to obey the order and command their men to withdraw from the position. At this time, Zhu Qinglan and his follow-up troops had also arrived and were building a position.
"Commander-in-chief, I have broken through two British positions. As long as the follow-up troops work harder, they will be able to reach the city of Myitkyina before sunset today. How can you let me retreat?"
Zhu Qinglan looked at the extremely annoyed Lu Han and smiled and said: "This is not my order, but Jun Zuo's intention. We have to adjust our tactics. We will encircle Myitkyina instead of attacking it. We will use this place as a bait to lure the British to send more troops."
Reinforcements!”
In fact, Qiao Yu originally planned to conquer Myitkyina in one fell swoop and let the British know the power of China through a great victory, so that the southwest border would be stable. However, Qiao Yu discovered a problem during the negotiations with Zhu Erdian.
The British cannot retreat at all now. If they withdraw from Myitkyina, it will be a fatal blow to the British colonial system. The small Myitkyina is like a fulcrum that moves the earth.
After World War I, British power was greatly weakened, and all the colonies showed signs of instability. As long as the British took a step back, they were showing weakness. Once Britain's weakness was seen by outsiders, there would be a large-scale independence frenzy in the colonies.
, and then submerged the British Empire. In fact, the reason why Britain was able to maintain a huge colonial empire was largely through intimidation. It was precisely because the colonial people had a deep-rooted fear of Britain that they were able to dominate
.
But being driven out of Myitkyina was to break the myth of Britain. Without fear, the fate of the British Empire was no different from that of all empires in history. Qiao Yu suddenly discovered this problem and hurriedly found Jiang Baili and Wu.
After discussing with Tong, Jiang Baili also agreed with Qiao Yu's judgment. In fact, on the border issue, neither China nor Britain had a way out.
For China, there is no possibility of negotiation on the sovereignty issue, and Britain is not willing to give up its colonies. However, this is not the result that Qiao Yu wants. Britain is destined to decline. The one who poses the greatest threat to China is Red Russia, and the other is a ruthless and ruthless country.
Japan and Russia are still in civil war at this time. China must not give up this opportunity. It is possible for China and Britain to cooperate in terms of their stance on Russia.
Therefore, after careful discussion, Qiao Yu decided to change the combat strategy and encircle Myitkyina without attacking. He used the more than 30,000 troops as a bargaining chip to force the British to make concessions. This way, he could mobilize British forces to a greater extent, gain strategic initiative, and maintain the security of the British Empire.
A trace of British dignity left the possibility of peace talks, so Qiao Yu gave Zhu Qinglan an order.
After understanding Qiao Yu's intentions, Zhu Qinglan immediately changed his combat strategy and immediately mobilized three divisions to surround Myitkyina. In addition, he gave Lu Han, the most mobile armored force, a new task, which was to move along the route.
Take the highway south and seize Bhamo.
"Brigadier Lu, Bhamo is located on the east bank of the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River and near the confluence of its tributary Taiping River. It is an important land and water junction. It is nearly 200 kilometers away from Myitkyina and less than 300 kilometers away from Mandalay. There is also a road connecting it.
Nankan and Nankan is also one of the territories we must take back this time. Therefore, Bhamo happens to be at a key node and is the place where British reinforcements from the north must pass. Therefore, I ask you to move the territory before British reinforcements arrive.
Occupy Bhamo and build it into an unbreakable fortress to block British reinforcements in Bhamo!"
Lu Han also understood the importance of Bhamo at this time. Indeed, as Zhu Qinglan said, as long as Bhamo is occupied, it will be equivalent to cutting off northern Myanmar and turning it into a huge piece of fat. Britain will fall into unprecedented passivity.
, this kind of work is what the armored troops like best.
Lu Han immediately went to prepare. The tank brigade had just experienced a battle. Some of the tanks had been damaged and needed to be repaired immediately. The more critical issue was the fuel problem. A long-distance attack of 200 kilometers would absolutely not be possible without fuel as support.
Each tank carries two oil barrels, and the logistics team must also be carefully prepared. Although the Piao tank is very durable, the technology is still immature. Moreover, Myanmar is a ghost place with high mountains and dense forests, and the roads are very difficult, so the tanks are easy to carry out.
Something went wrong.
At this time, maintenance work becomes more important. In order to allow the tank troops to move quickly, a total of twelve trucks have been prepared, specially equipped with maintenance equipment and a large number of spare parts, to follow closely and solve problems at any time. This is exactly what happened
This kind of careful consideration gave Lu Han enough confidence. Looking at the Southwest Army, there were almost no troops that could reach this level.
Lu Han gave an order, and the tank brigade bypassed Myitkyina and quickly moved south along the highway. They were advancing rapidly like a group of giant beasts, and no force could stop their progress.
A support force also set off from Mandalay two days ago. This force consists of three divisions, including two Indian divisions and a Scottish division. They are all elite troops that have experienced the test of war in World War I.
These troops were originally planned to stabilize the situation in Myanmar. Now that the conflict with China broke out, they hurriedly left Mandalay to quickly assist Myitkyina, and Bhamo was also a must-stop for them.
The marching battle between the Chinese and British armies began. Whoever can reach Bhamo first will be able to occupy a favorable position. This battle is a race at the same time. Fortunately, China uses tanks, while the British
They had to rely on two legs. Although they left two days earlier, this advantage was gradually equalized by the tank troops.
The roads in Myanmar are not very good, and there are a lot of slopes, which is a great test for the performance of the tanks. Even if the British have built roads, roads of this level cannot bear the weight of more than ten tons of tanks.
, was crushed to pieces, and the speed of the tank was greatly restricted. It could only maintain a speed of about ten kilometers per hour, but this was already amazing. Another major advantage of the tank was that it did not need to rest and could move at night. It seemed that it could
What limits the speed of a tank is fuel.
In order to ensure the marching speed, Lu Han specially installed some wooden planks on some tanks. When encountering a muddy road, he put the wooden planks on the road to ensure that the tanks could pass smoothly. Ordinary Xiulibiao tanks could easily wade through the water.
In the past, bridges had to be built over slightly wider rivers. Fortunately, there was an engineer battalion accompanying the tank troops to carry out maintenance at any time.
In fact, it is not the battle that occupies the largest time in the war, but the march. This time accounts for more than 70% to 80%. In ancient wars, it even exceeded 90%. The emergence of tanks greatly increased the marching speed.
, after nearly a day's march, Lu Han's troops finally arrived at Bhamo. Seeing the troops descending from heaven, the locals in Bhamo were stunned and couldn't believe it.dd