Chapter 18 In the fifth quarter, the siege of Myitkyina was fought for 2 months

After regaining the Hukang River Valley, the New 1st Army continued to march towards Meng Gong.Menggong is an important town in northern Myanmar. It forms horns with Myitkyina and Kameng. The Menggong River and Nanying River surround the city as a natural barrier. During the rainy season, the mountain mud is knee-deep and the flat land is vast. Such a terrain is naturally guarded. Easy to attack. At that time, in order to increase the attack force of the troops stationed in India, Chongqing specially airdropped the 14th and 50th divisions of the former 54th Army to Burma to assist the new 1st Army in combat. The 114th Wing and the 146th Wing of the enemy's 56th Division competed for Wakan and Yingkai

Tang Shi not only received the support of the 77th Brigade of the British Army and the 14th Air Force of Major General Chennault, but also received the strong cooperation of these two new forces from China. In late May, the rainy season came to the jungles of northern Myanmar again. The New 1st Army braved the rain and attacked Kameng in one fell swoop, wiping out more than 5,000 enemies.The poor bandits should chase after them, and the New 1st Army took advantage of the mountain torrents to follow them. The enemy was not on guard, and successfully attacked Menggong and took down this isolated city in the water. The guns of the Chinese troops stationed in India were finally placed in another important military location in northern Myanmar. — On the mountain opposite Myitkyina.

In fact, as early as early May, the main forces attacking Myitkyina—the 42nd Regiment of the 14th Division, the 88th Regiment of the New 30th Division, the 150th Regiment of the 50th Division, and the American G Regiment—had already taken action.According to Stilwell's order, these troops were organized into an advance detachment. The leader of the detachment was Brigadier General Mill. ) Colonel Hand.Stilwell's intentions were obvious: in the battle of northern Burma, the Chinese robbed the passes, attacked the city and overcame dangers, and fought like a broken bamboo. This time the battle of Myitkyina will depend on me, the Americans.

But Americans are used to looking at the Chinese with their own way of thinking and vision. They neither understand the characteristics of Chinese soldiers, nor are they willing to delegate power to Chinese officers. Eye-popping. Like many other cities in Myanmar, Myitkyina is also located on a plain, surrounded by mountains and forests.Accepting the lesson that Chinese officers and soldiers were good at opening roads in the dense forest and attacking the city by surprise, the Japanese sent troops to the Leiban pass and Ruili main road outside the city early to strengthen their vigilance.There is an air force airport in the west and north of Myitkyina, and the Japanese have also strengthened the surrounding fortifications.

The battle started on May 7th.On that day, the K column bombarded Leiban with cannons, and then attacked with infantry. However, the Japanese fortifications were strong, and the American cannons only scratched the surface. Therefore, when the infantry attacked the pass, they suddenly opened fire, and our 42nd regiment suffered heavy casualties. On the third day of the stalemate, our 88th regiment got the guidance of the local guide, climbed the cliff and went around to the enemy's back to attack, and the dangerous pass was captured by Lei Ban.Once Leiban was lost, Alan Airport in the north of Myitkyina was also lost. K Column quickly occupied Onka, and the forward pointed directly at Dinklage.

Seeing that the offensive was going well, the Americans rushed to act as the vanguard.Unexpectedly, after encountering the officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the U.S. G Regiment and the two squadrons of the Japanese Army in Dingkelugao, they not only failed to defeat the enemy after a day of hard work, but were surrounded by the enemy tightly. Many soldiers had written their wills and prepared to die. Fortunately, our 88th regiment arrived in time and stormed the enemy, and the danger of the US military was just lifted.But what is infuriating is that after the U.S. military escaped, the 88th Regiment took the initiative to leave a battalion of officers and soldiers to guard Dinkelugao in order to ensure the safety of the large troops. The U.S. commander only cared about his own escape, but forgot to airdrop supplies to the battalion. , As a result, the officers and soldiers of the battalion endured hunger for 8 days, and they only relied on picking wild fruits and wild vegetables to wrap their stomachs!

On May 17, the H column launched an attack on the Chengxi Airport in Myitkyina. After the enemy retreated into the urban area, our 150th regiment also pursued and attacked the city station.Due to the lack of support, the 150th regiment fell into a tight siege, was attacked by enemy artillery fire, and all communications were cut off. However, Lieutenant Colonel Kong, the US liaison officer, escaped from the battle and escaped outside the city. As a result, the regiment had no reinforcements outside and no one inside. Officer, if you persist for a day, you will lose more than half of it. The station will be lost again.

The rapid change of the situation made Stilwell, Baldnow and others feel very embarrassed. They did not expect that their compatriots handed over such a "war result"!As a last resort, they removed the post of the head of the Mier detachment, and stipulated that the Chinese army should be commanded by the division commander of its division. The 14th Division was commanded by Long Tianwu, the new 30th Division was commanded by Hu Su, and the 50th Division was commanded by Pan Yukun himself. The next day, Stilwell returned to Chongqing due to the incident.After Stilwell left, Baldnau insisted on going his own way, still forcing all ministries to attack in an all-round way with the order of the temporary headquarters.

At this time, the rainy season had already begun, and under the supervision of Baodenuo, the various ministries desperately attacked, while the enemy defended the hard top with houses, big trees, and bamboo bushes. I was killed and wounded, and the progress was slow. In mid-June, the New 1st Army that occupied Kameng and Menggong went south to join the team that attacked Myitkyina.Seeing that the command was ineffective, Baodenuo also let the troops choose their combat strategy according to the situation, which brought a new turning point in the Myitkyina battlefield. At the beginning of July, Zheng Dongguo came to the front line to inspect, deeply felt that all ministries were stalemate, delaying time would only increase casualties, so he decided to strengthen the attack across the board.Afterwards, various ministries dug trenches to get close to the enemy's fortifications. The air force and artillery continued to bombard the Japanese strongholds. The Japanese army retreated into the city again. On August 5, the city gate of Myitkyina was breached. Except for a few Japanese soldiers who escaped, most of the besieged stubborn enemies committed suicide with hand grenades!