Chapter 4 3. The Battle of Burma - Golden Ge Iron Horse

1 The Yunnan-Burma Highway starts from Kunming, Yunnan in the east, and ends at the important border town of Wanding in the west, connecting with the Yangon Highway, with a total length of 963 kilometers.There are high mountains and deep valleys along the way, and the terrain is steep.The highway was built at the end of the 26th year of the Republic of China. More than 200,000 migrant workers were recruited.It will be completed after more than a year. ———"The Twenty-seventh Series of Yunnan Literature and History Materials" In February 1942, about two weeks after the fall of Mawlamyine, Burma, dust suddenly flew up on the Burma Road and flags were waved. The mighty Chinese army, like a long gray dragon that could not be seen, began to attack Burma on a large scale. advance.

Domestic public opinion is all cheered and encouraged. Dai Anlan, self-named Seagull, major general of the army, Wuweiren in Anhui.Graduated from the third phase of Whampoa, and participated in the Northern Expedition in his early years.Because of his outstanding military exploits in the "communist suppression", he has been promoted many times. After the "Lugou Bridge Incident", he successively participated in the Great Wall Defense Battle, the Taierzhuang Battle and the Wuhan General Battle, and made many achievements.At the age of 25, he was promoted to the commander of the 200th Division of the Army.

The 200th Division was the direct descendant of Chiang Kai-shek and the only motorized artillery division in China at that time.The whole division is equipped with tanks, armored vehicles, motorcycles and large-caliber artillery, and the ratio of infantry and artillery is three to one.In November 1939, the 200th Division fought fiercely with the Fifth Division of the Japanese elite troops at the Kunlun Pass in Guangxi. In January, they competed repeatedly for positions, and finally killed the Japanese commander Masao Nakamura, achieving the famous victory at the Kunlun Pass. victory.This campaign fully demonstrated the equipment advantages and combat effectiveness of the 200th Division. For this reason, the whole division received a collective commendation from the Nationalist Government once, and the combatants raised their salaries twice.The division commander, Dai Anlan, won a fourth-class Blue Sky and White Sun Baoding Medal for his commanding skills and his ability to stay on the front line due to serious injuries. He was honored as "a contemporary standard young general" (Chiang Kai-shek).

At the beginning of the Burma war, the three armies of the central government were the main force, and the 200th division, the most elite in the country, was led into Burma to fight.This troop allocation itself is enough to show that the chairman's determination is greater than the domestic war. In early March, Chiang Kai-shek flew to Lashio, Myanmar for the first time as the commander-in-chief of the Allied China-Myanmar-India Theater. Lashio is a small historical border town in northern Myanmar.It is located in the triangle between the Tang Peng Mountains and the Salween River, and is an important transportation hub in northern Myanmar.The Yunnan-Myanmar Highway winds its way here, where it connects with the Yangon Highway and the Yangon (Light) Close (China) Railway.Lashio used to be under the jurisdiction of the Qing government in history, and the stone carvings of Yongchang Mansion can still be seen on the stone wall in the eastern suburbs of Lashio City.

On March 3, when the chairman's plane had just come to a stop at Lashio Airport, another American bomber painted black also came out of the clouds and landed slowly at the other end of the runway.The Generalissimo met unexpectedly in Burma with his American chief of staff. The chairman slowly went up to him.He stretched out his hand far away, smiled, and stood still.His head was thrown back hard, his eyes were level, and his posture was quite stiff.The chairman wants to show friendship to the guests, but is also restrained by his inner reserve and sense of superiority, so he is like a puppet who can't help himself.

American Stilwell, on the other hand, relied on the intuition of Westerners to dislike the Chinese chairman in front of him in the military uniform of the Generalissimo.He critically felt that the chairman's expression was too contrived, his eyes were cold, and he lacked the charm of wit and passion.Fortunately, the enthusiastic and lively Mrs. Jiang diverted the attention of the American general in time. She spoke fluent American English and made all the American guests feel cordial. In the afternoon, the Chairman met Stilwell at the Royal Hotel where he was staying and introduced him to his subordinates.The interview method is quite Chinese: the chairman stands on the balcony and lectures endlessly, while his generals look like a flock of sheep.

Stilwell frowned. He smelled a dictator's despotism from the Chairman. In the evening, Stilwell and his party left Lashio, boarded a plane and continued eastward. 2 Dawn on March 29th.The sun has not yet appeared, and the Puyou River outside the ancient city is shrouded in a thin layer of mist.Looking from a distance, the Pew River Bridge looks like a lifeless python, lying motionless on the water. In the past few days, the defeated British and Burmese troops withdrawn from Yangon rushed across the bridge like a tide. They did not dare to stay even in the ancient city, so they hurried around the city and fled towards Mandalay.On the endless Yangman Highway, weapons and equipment discarded by the British were everywhere, and many cars were overturned in the ditch.

According to intelligence, one division of the Japanese army has already chased after it, and another division has gone westward in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the main force of the British and Burmese troops in one fell swoop.The panicked British retreated steadily, and the Japanese forward was now less than twenty miles away from Tonggucheng. When the last batch of defeated British and Burmese soldiers rushed across the Pew River Bridge, a battalion of the vanguard of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force just rushed to the north bank of the bridge. For the Chinese army that had just entered Myanmar, the battlefield situation they faced was very unfavorable: Yangon fell, the gate of Myanmar was opened, the Japanese army drove straight in, and the Allied forces collapsed at the first touch.

More importantly, the chairman once again appeared to lack confidence. It is impossible to recover Yangon with the Chinese expeditionary force alone under the enemy's large forces. However, if Yangon cannot be recovered, the purpose of entering Myanmar will be lost, and the biggest victim of Myanmar's fall will still be China.The British replied: The Middle East and Indian troops have been ordered to reinforce Burma, please send your troops to the front line as soon as possible.The chairman was sensitive to the fact that this was a trick of the British.The British didn't want to regain Rangoon at all, they just wanted to use the Chinese army as a shield.

The problem is that Chiang Kai-shek is already on the verge of riding a tiger: he is not sure of victory, and there is no excuse for withdrawing troops.At the beginning of his tenure as the commander-in-chief of the China-Myanmar-India Theater, the Chairman called the President of the United States, boasting that he would "let the Chinese army independently defend Burma."If he fails to win the battle, or flees without firing a shot, it will seriously damage the image of the chairman.What's more, the chairman also intends to get more weapons and equipment and leased materials from the Americans.

Chiang Kai-shek deserves to be a politician, and politicians are often good at grasping strategies and opportunities from a macro perspective.Of course the battle must be fought, and it should be fought vigorously, but losses must be limited.The chairman does not want to make wedding dresses for the British. So while he ordered the army to stand still, he summoned Dai Anlan alone and asked if the 200th Division could hold out in Tonggu for a week or two and win the battle?Dai Lizheng, vowed sonorously: "This expedition is a grand event to show its prestige abroad since the Tang and Ming Dynasties. Although Dai has fought to the death of a single soldier, he will surely defeat the enemy's fierce flames and stick to the same ancient times." ("Biography of Dai Anlan", PLA Press, 1988 edition ) On March 9, the chairman left Lashio to return to China, and the command power was handed over to Du Liming. On the morning of the 19th, a fast brigade of the Japanese army took 20 captured cars and motorcycles and swaggered to the south bank of the Pew River. The Japanese did not pay attention to the defeated British and Burmese troops. The reconnaissance was omitted, so we went straight to the bridge with guns and guns all the way. Major Cao Xingxian, the deputy battalion commander of the advance battalion lying on the north bank, could see clearly through the binoculars. He put the enemy convoy into the ambush circle, and then waved his hand violently. Lifting up to the sky, the cars and people on the bridge fell into the river like dumplings. The Chinese army ambushing on the river bank poured a storm of machine gun bullets and artillery shells at the enemy. The enemy had no time to parry and dropped many corpses He and the car fled in a panic. The advance battalion won the first battle and sent back to the division headquarters the good news of repelling a large enemy group and annihilating a small group. While cleaning the battlefield, soldiers found a combat map from the body of a Japanese captain officer.It is marked on the map: The enemy facing Tonggu is the 55th Division of the Japanese Army, and the west road is the 33rd Division.Another two main reinforcement divisions are rushing from the sea to Yangon to land.Deputy Cao Ying gasped, and hurriedly sent the seized map to the division headquarters in person. Tonggu is a small city on the southern Myanmar plain, also translated as Dongyu or Donggua, with a population of 110,000.Tonggu is 260 kilometers away from Yangon, and is at the center of highways, railways and waterways. There is also a Yongkegang military airport in the north of the city, which has a very important strategic position.The famous war with ancient times kicked off here. At the headquarters of the 200th Division, division commander Dai Anlan fell into a rare and inexplicable restlessness. The situation developed unexpectedly.In Lashio, the chairman encouraged Dai Anlan's loyalty, but the timing of the face-to-face lecture was very vague.The chairman repeatedly emphasized "preserving strength" and "sticking to Tonggu for a week or two", but he did not specify the tactical significance of sticking to Tonggu.Deter the enemy and cover the retreat of the British army?Or bluff?If the superior forces of the expeditionary force are concentrated, it is entirely possible to repel or eat one of the aggressive enemies in front of them bravely.The problem is that Dai Anlan is just a teacher. He has no right to question the leader's decision-making, and he dare not speak rashly.His mission is destined to be "execute what you understand and what you don't understand." Since the Chairman needed the 200th Division to "win the battle", his understanding was to block the enemy and prevent the enemy from crossing the ancient city.But the enemy sent back by the advance battalion aggravated his uneasiness.Once the enemy's reinforcements arrive, can his mere division block the powerful attack of the enemy's two to three divisions? At that time, the so-called victory meant living and dying in the same position, but what was the meaning of sacrifice?Dai Anlan stopped in front of the map, a faint sadness crept into her heart like a bug. Dai Anlan was deeply afraid that her pessimism would affect her subordinates, so she resolutely announced: "Come on! Pass my order. All the regiments and battalions will enter the positions and prepare for battle. The division commander will make a will first: if the division commander dies in battle, he will be replaced by the deputy division commander. The deputy division commander will be replaced by the chief of staff. , the battalion commander will replace it... and so on, all levels are the same." In order to prevent the isolated 200th Division from being eaten by the Japanese invaders, the chief of the Expeditionary Forces hurriedly ordered the 5th and 6th Armies to advance from Lashio to Mandalay, and at the same time ordered the new 22nd Division to advance to Yangmi. Ding and Binwen served as the backup of the 200th Division.The three divisions of the British and Burmese allied forces also stabilized their positions in Pyay on the western front, echoing the Chinese army at a distance.So far, both sides of the war have set up their battles: the Japanese army is aggressively attacking, but there are only two divisions on the front line.The Chinese and British allied forces are on the defensive, with a total force of thirteen main divisions across the board. But only the 200th division actually played on the Chinese side. 3 On March 20, 1942, a fierce battle broke out between the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the 55th Division of the Japanese Army invading Burma outside the ancient city of Tong. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. On the same day, 200 planes of the Japanese Air Force bombed the largest Allied airfield in southern Myanmar, Ugui. Most of the planes of the British Burma Air Force were destroyed on the ground except for a few planes that escaped to India.For a period of time thereafter, Allied planes disappeared from Burmese skies for two full years. Since the Battle of Tonggu was destined to be a defensive battle with disparity in local forces, when the Japanese started to attack, the 200th Division huddled like a hedgehog, assuming a posture of defending Tonggu and preparing to be beaten. Although the Japanese army has a greater advantage over the Chinese army, the Japanese reinforcements are still bumping on the sea, and the strong backing of the Chinese army is in Mandalay, 200 kilometers away.If the Sino-British coalition forces are determined to realize the strategic vision for the purpose of recovering Yangon, it is entirely possible to actively encircle and eat this Japanese division near Tonggu. Mutual suspicion and bedfellows between the Allies ruined any hope of victory. The 55th Division of the Japanese Army is a second-rate division withdrawn from the Chinese battlefield. The division suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Changsha and never recovered.The new division commander, Admiral Takeuchi Hironaka, is an ambitious and indomitable young general.After the battle in Yangon, in order to expand the results of the battle, he even ignored the emptiness of the rear and led the division to pursue and attack Mandalay in one fell swoop. After all, it is a big taboo for military strategists to underestimate the enemy. The Pew River outpost initially set back his ambition to continue north.Then at noon on the 20th, the 143rd Infantry Regiment was ordered to launch an offensive, but was blocked on the north bank of the Pugh River after encountering a strong counterattack.On the 21st, the main force of the division arrived and launched a full-scale attack on the ancient city and the surrounding most cups and houses. To the surprise of the division commander, his troops encountered the most violent resistance since the Burmese war.For three days in a row, the 143rd and 144th regiments suffered heavy casualties, and the attack was weakening. The division commander immediately transferred the other two regiments to fight. The Japanese Air Force dispatched more than a hundred planes from Yangon Airport to bomb the ancient city indiscriminately every day, dropping countless incendiary bombs and gas bombs.However, the Tonggu defense line has not been broken through, and the defenders in the city have never wavered or retreated. On the night of the 22nd, the Japanese death squad captured an officer on the enemy's position. After interrogation, it was learned that the Tonggu garrison was the 200th Division of the Chinese Army, and there were two Chinese troops standing on the front line of Mandalay. Up to 100,000 people. A lot of cold sweat suddenly oozes from the back of Commander Takeuchi's division. "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be imperiled in a hundred battles," he was shocked by the fact that the Japanese didn't know anything about the arrival of the Chinese army, and at the same time secretly rejoiced.If the Chinese set a trap in Tonggu, then his career as a general is doomed to come to an end.What puzzled him was why the Chinese only shrank in the city and ignored this excellent fighter? Soon, the reconnaissance information sent back from the air and the ground made the division chief heave a sigh of relief: the Chinese are building defensive positions in Binwena and Yangmidin, destroying the railway, and the main force of the Chinese army in Mandalay has no signs of going south. . That is to say, the Chinese only intend to use a division to find out the truth, and they don't want to go all out to compete with the Japanese army.The head of the Takeuchi Division re-established his faith and was determined to eat up the 200th Division and wipe out Tonggucheng. At this time, the Myanmar Independence Volunteer Army led by General Aung San also rushed to help in time and joined the ranks of attacking the Chinese. 4 At 2:00 p.m. on the 24th, an unknown number of Japanese troops led by the Burmese Independence Volunteer Army took a detour to the north of the city through a small road, and suddenly encountered the engineering corps that was destroying the railway.The Japanese army defeated the engineering regiment in one charge, and then attacked the airport.The airfield defenders put up a heroic resistance, but were outnumbered, and the remnants retreated to the city.Major James took off against the enemy's heavy bullets and escaped from Tonggu by chance.The Japanese army occupied the airport, cut off the retreat route of the 200th Division, and surrounded Tonggucheng. The fall of Yongkegang Airport was reported to the Allied Command as evidence that the Chinese would not fight, and Du Yuming was reprimanded by the Chairman for this.Li Shuzheng, the head of the engineering corps, did not get the chance to make up for his mistakes. He was sentenced to be shot by the military court and executed on the spot. In March 1942, Chinese soldiers on the Tonggu battlefield showed rare fighting courage and a high spirit of sacrifice in front of a powerful enemy.Relying on crude fortifications and weapons, Chinese officers and soldiers have always resisted the enemy outside the city.The city was razed to the ground, food and water were out of positions, and hand-to-hand combat took place every day. Every day, officers and soldiers fired grenades and died with the enemy. The enemy failed to cross the thunder pool. On the night of the 24th, more than a hundred members of the Japanese Death Squad entered the top position. Ma Licheng, the leader of the platoon, was shot six times. Jin, a senior soldier, skillfully dealt with the enemy for three days, killed seven enemies, and returned to the position safely. On the 26th, the Wudun position was lost twice.The Third Battalion of the 597th Regiment fought hand-to-hand with the Japanese army repeatedly, and all died heroically. On the morning of the 28th, more than a hundred Japanese soldiers and Burmese traitors disguised themselves as local aborigines, hid guns and bombs in bullock carts, and attempted to sneak into the city via the bridgehead of the Xitang River.After being detected by the 598th Regiment, all of them were wiped out.The enemy became furious and fired hundreds of corrosive mustard gas bombs into the city.Fortunately, it was the dry season, and the poisonous gas was mostly blown away by the monsoon, and more than ten people were poisoned. At night, the Japanese army attacked the headquarters of the 200th Division.The fierce battle lasted all night, and communication was interrupted for a while.Master Dai personally held a machine gun to fight the Japanese army.When the reinforcements arrived at dawn, Fang was out of danger. By the 29th, the Japanese offensive gradually weakened, and a rare calm atmosphere appeared in the frontline positions.Flocks of crows and eagles flew to the position to peck at the carrion. Dai Anlan patrolled the bomb-cratered position. Days of fierce fighting made this majestic major general look a lot weaker at the moment.He had been wounded in two places, his arms were bandaged, and his ginger mud uniform had been torn wide by shrapnel.The blood-stained shirt was exposed. Soldiers sat in the fortifications in twos and threes, smoking, or took a nap in the bunker, and many of them were wounded.The soldiers watched their division commander pass by in silence, with indifferent expressions, and no one stood up to salute.The emotions of pessimism, despair and resignation are like poisonous snakes, quietly gnawing at the heart of the major general and division commander. In the shelter of the first battalion of the cavalry regiment, Dai Anlan met a wounded officer with a bandage on his head. He recognized Cao Xingxian, the deputy of the advance battalion.The battalion deputy of the major who graduated from the German mechanization school looked quite embarrassed at the moment: his clothes were ragged, his feet were bare, and his eyes were bloodshot.Because the chariot was still in Lashio, the cavalry regiment had no choice but to serve as infantry, so these amateur infantry had a harder time than others. Dai Anlan frowned, and reprimanded coldly: "You are an officer, where is your original prestige?" Deputy Cao Ying stood at attention: "Yes, sir." "How many people are left in the advance battalion?" "Report, including the wounded, there are still 227 people." Dai Anlan's heart skipped a beat.This battalion is full of mechanized talents, and it is the capital of the 200th Division. Could it be that they are reimbursed in this positional warfare that is not worth the loss? "Remove the cavalry regiment." He made up his mind and ordered the chief of staff: "Bring up the reserve team, and the divisional special service battalion will be the general reserve team." Deputy Cao Ying didn't move, and resolutely said: "Master, I have something to say." Dai Anlan stopped. He saw Cao Ying's breathing was short and the corners of his mouth were trembling. "Master, this battle can no longer be fought." "How did you see that?" "The enemy has the upper hand, and our army is trapped in the isolated city. This is not fighting, but sitting and waiting to die." "Bastard! Do you dare to shake the morale of the army?" Deputy Cao Ying suddenly knelt down with a plop, and said tearfully: "Master, it's not that Cao is afraid of death, it's really for the sake of you and all the brothers and sisters! Once the enemy reinforcements arrive, our army will undoubtedly be trapped to death. Master, think about the brothers who are alive. Hurry up and break through to the east. It's too late!" Dai Anlan was furious and kicked him to the ground.But Deputy Cao Ying hugged his leg again. "Master, you can't fight any longer, the 200th division and 10,000 brothers are counting on you!" Dai Anlan was furious, and slapped Deputy Cao Ying twice in the face, and ordered the guards to drag him down.Unexpectedly, just as the teacher turned around, two gunshots came from behind.It turned out that Deputy Cao Ying broke free from the guards and shot himself. Dai Anlan was speechless, heartbroken. He originally expected to be loyal to the chairman, even if he fought to the death of one soldier, he would not hesitate.But two gunshots shook his numb and indifferent soul.Soldiers are not afraid of death, but what is the purpose of death?Dai Anlan clearly heard the grievances and protests from the officers and soldiers. Dai Anlan began to succumb to the desire of life. On the 29th, an unconfirmed news came: the selfish British finally abandoned their Chinese allies, and they retreated hastily without notifying their allies, exposing the Tonggu flank to the enemy. Dai Anlan's determination was completely shaken. "Commander Du and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Guan Taijian: From the nineteenth day to the twenty-eighth, the enemy and our contact battle lasted for more than ten days.I am on the verge of running out of ammunition and food. The officers and soldiers have not been able to eat for two days, and they are still sticking to the position east of the Tonggu Railway... Since the beginning of the war, the enemy has been fiercer than ever. Especially since the 24th day, the enemy's planes have become more Constantly bombing, covering their tanks, and the artillery used a large number of poison gas bombs to attack my position day and night... No reinforcements came, although I wanted to live and die with the same ancient city, but it was difficult to stop the fierce flames of the Japanese pirates... What is the benefit? ..." When we study history, we can regard this telegram as the double evidence of Mr. Dai's unsteady will and rational recovery. As soon as the telegram was sent, there was another fierce gunfire from the positions outside the city, and the position at the bridgehead of the Xitang River was lost. It turned out that the 56th Division of the Japanese reinforcements had already arrived in Tonggu. 5 The 56th Division of the Japanese Army is the main force of an army that is mighty and good at performing miracles.Lieutenant General Masao Watanabe, head of the division, graduated from the Tokyo Army University and is known for his proficiency in mountain and forest stations.The entire battle series of the division is composed of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, automobiles, motorcycles and infantry regiments, marching fast and powerful.The division took the lead in capturing Kuala Lumpur in the just-concluded Malay Peninsula operations.Since the base camp deeply felt that the strength of the 55th Division in Myanmar was weak, it ordered the 56th Division and another elite division, the 18th Division, to be urgently transferred to Yangon for reinforcements.When the fleet of the head of the Watanabe division was still bumping in the waves, he received urgent telegrams from the Tonggu front line one after another, so he ordered the troops to set off while landing. As a result, the vanguard completed the 300 kilometers in just three days. After a long and rapid march, they launched an attack on Tonggu on the evening of the 29th. The arrival of Japanese reinforcements broke the deadlock on the Tonggu front.The Chinese and Japanese armies were originally like two exhausted wrestlers, neither of which could knock the other down, but the addition of the 56th Division immediately caused the Chinese army's defense line to be torn apart like a fragile plate. On the 30th, part of the Japanese army broke into the city under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles, and separated the 200th Division from the north and south.On the same day, another Japanese army occupied the position east of the Xitang River, cutting off the last hope of the 200th Division to break through to the east. In the afternoon, a wave of Japanese troops approached the division headquarters again.Commander Dai commanded the spy company to fight fiercely with the enemy, and the enemy was repelled in the evening. On the evening of the 30th, the New 22nd Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was ordered to rescue the 200th Division.They fought a bloody road from the north of Nanyang Station to cover the retreat of the 200th Division.They fought a bloody road from the north of Nanyang Station to cover the retreat of the 200th Division.It was night and the sound of gunfire continued all night, and the two sides fought in the dark, causing casualties to each other.By the early morning of the next day, most of the Chinese defenders had crossed the Xitang River and jumped out of the Japanese encirclement. So far, the 12-day war with ancient times finally came to an end with the voluntary retreat of the Chinese army.The Japanese occupied an empty city, while the Chinese retreated to Binwenna, a hundred miles away.The battle has not yet ended, and both China and Japan can't wait to release battle reports in their respective capitals, claiming that they have won a major victory.The public opinion on both sides was uproarious about this, and the national sentiment was inspired.