latelenovela Chapter 294 Battle of Myitkyina in Northern Burma
Chapter 294 Battle of Myitkyina in Northern Burma
The Xiao Bayi radio station set up an anti-aircraft antenna, which could enable communications over hundreds of kilometers even in mountainous areas. Fang Yue used this radio to contact the 101st Division.
The road from western Yunnan to Myitkyina was not as good as the Burma Road, so the marching speed was very slow. When the Battle of Guigai broke out, it took the 101st Division three days to secretly move to the vicinity of Myitkyina.
The Japanese had always believed that the main force of Xu's army was on the Burma Road. After all, the firepower here was extremely fierce, and their intelligence did not know that the 4th Infantry Division had also come to reinforce. In addition, they had not seen any soldiers of Xu's army from beginning to end, so they mistakenly believed that the main force of Xu's army was on the Burma Road, and therefore deployed heavy troops in Mandalay and Lashio.
The 101st Division was going to launch a surprise attack while the Japanese had no reaction, then advance southward as quickly as possible, occupy Bhamo and Yingduo, and cut off the Japanese in all of northern Myanmar.
The Japanese army's deployment in Myanmar is mainly to ensure the east-west direction, from the southeast Thailand direction to the northwest Myanmar. Mandalay is located in the center of Myanmar. It is the largest city in Myanmar's inland area and the largest transit station of the Central Railway. The Japanese army has the most troops here.
The Japanese armed forces passed through Mandalay and then moved westward to attack India.
The northernmost part of Myanmar borders Xikang Province, and on the left is the towering Himalayas. It is a pure dead end. Therefore, due to various factors, the Japanese do not have many troops in northern Myanmar.
Even in Myitkyina, the largest city in northern Myanmar, there is only one 38th Division with three regiments stationed there. This is to prevent Xu's army from attacking from here. Before Xu's army came to Yunnan Province, there was only one battalion stationed here!
Given that northern Burma was a weakly defended area for the Japanese and the terrain was complex, the 101st Motorized Infantry Division, which was good at mountain warfare, took the lead. The newly formed 4th Mechanized Infantry Division had no combat experience and was responsible for secondary combat tasks in this operation. The machine gun regiment was responsible for fire suppression tasks, and the firepower reached at least that of 5 fully-strengthened divisions of the Japanese, which was comparable to 8 divisions.
At 10 a.m. on October 3, although it is already late autumn, Myanmar is closer to the equator than the Tang Dynasty. Myitkyina and Kunming are on the same north latitude, so the climate is more pleasant. Even in the early morning, the temperature is around 3 degrees.
In a village 20 kilometers southeast of Myitkyina, the 101st Regiment of the 101st Division, led by Zhu Yuan, eliminated the Japanese guard post and then dispersed to completely surround the village.
Bang bang bang...
单个摩步团拥有90挺轻机枪，54门82毫米迫击炮，18门83式122毫米榴弹炮，大口径重机枪上可以由防空营的77式12.7毫米高射机枪代替，可谓是火力拉满。
[After thinking about it, I decided to call the infantry regiment of the motorized infantry division the motorized infantry regiment. The artillery battalion of the infantry regiment of the mechanized infantry division is the 122 self-propelled artillery, and the motorized infantry regiment is the 122 towed howitzer! ]
Without using howitzers, the 101st Battalion of the 5st Regiment occupied the entire village at close range in just 60 minutes and wiped out more than enemies, which happened to be an infantry squad of the Japanese!
"Captain, we have checked and found that not a single Japanese soldier is alive! But Captain, what should we do with these Burmese puppet soldiers? Should we kill them or not?"
Faced with his subordinates' questions, Zhu Yuan was a little troubled.
Puppet troops are not unique to the Tang Dynasty. They can be found in almost all places caught in war. They betrayed their country, chose to stand with the invaders, and in turn massacred their own compatriots!
There were more than 20 Burmese puppet soldiers in front of them. They were probably brought by the devils to facilitate their plundering of the people.
At this moment, the division commander Dai Ming came over. After learning about the situation, he immediately shouted: "No matter which country they are from, as long as they are collaborating with the devils, they will be killed!"
Then, dozens of gunshots rang out again, and more than 20 Burmese puppet soldiers went to hell to meet their masters.
"Captain Zhu, this place is less than 20 kilometers away from Myitkyina. Due to terrain restrictions, the troops cannot deploy on a large scale. Your regiment will be the main force and launch an attack at 5 o'clock. The artillery regiment will cooperate with you at that time! How about it, can you enter the city within two hours?"
Zhu Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Myitkyina is the largest city in northern Myanmar. It is said that the city walls are relatively strong. We have few tanks. If I rely on just one regiment, it will take at least half a day to open a breakthrough! It will be easy if we have an artillery regiment. Their 36 cannons can fire a few shots. As long as a gap is opened, my tank battalion can go in!"
Dai Ming nodded carefully: "Okay, I'll give you the command of the artillery regiment for now. You must enter the city within two hours! Buy time for the main force!"
Zhu Yuan looked outside the empty door and said, "Division Commander, where is the machine gun regiment? What is their mission?"
"Why are you asking about the machine gun regiment? They have their mission, and it's not time for them to be deployed yet!"
"But commander, we will definitely encounter heavy firepower from the Japanese when we attack the city. We have few tanks, and the armored vehicles of the infantry battalion have poor protection. We must have strong firepower support! Why don't you transfer the machine gun regiment to use it?
In the past, I disliked the MG42 machine gun, but now I find that sometimes this thing is really powerful! "
But Dai Ming walked out without even turning his head, and said impatiently as he walked, "Forget about the machine gun regiment. You know how much bullets that thing consumes. Before the Marshal arrived, they only had so much ammunition. It's very useful, so we can't waste it here."
Watching Dai Ming disappear into the night, Zhu Yuan sighed heavily: "You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you don't give it to me, I'll have to ask the tank battalion to act as a shield."
"Communicator, tell all battalions to set out after half an hour of rest. We are going to attack Myitkyina!"
......
There are good and bad people in every place. There are puppet soldiers from Myanmar here, and naturally there are also hardworking and honest Myanmar people.
The people were grateful to Xu's army for saving them from suffering, and two people volunteered to serve as guides for the troops.
With the guidance of local guides, the troops advanced faster. At 5 a.m., the 101st Regiment stopped 10 kilometers outside Myitkyina. The artillery regiment's two howitzer battalions and a 130mm rocket artillery battalion also set up artillery positions here.
5点10分，加上团属的83式122毫米榴弹炮营，72门炮对着密支那东城门就是猛轰！
Inside the city, the sleeping commander of the 38th Division, Tadayoshi Sano, was instantly awakened by the sound of artillery fire.
"Someone, someone, someone, what happened? Why are there so many artillery fires?"
A Japanese captain rushed in without knocking on the door: "Your Excellency, the division commander, there is heavy artillery fire from unknown sources attacking the East Gate. According to the report from the gate garrison, this should be the size of an army!"
Upon hearing this, Sano Tadayoshi almost fell off the bed, and said in disbelief, "Damn it, how is this possible! The East Gate is in the direction of the Tang Dynasty, and the road is rugged and difficult to travel. How could the Tang Dynasty army quietly approach us with a force of one army!"
The captain hesitated and said, "But we can also hear the size and density of the explosions. I'm afraid the enemy has more than a hundred artillery pieces, and they are all large-caliber heavy artillery. It is very likely that they are reinforced troops.
This can't be the British army. They couldn't even hold out in Imphal, so how could they possibly spare a main force to come over!
Moreover, Myitkyina is built along the river, and people must enter the city to travel east-west and north-south. If it were the British army, they could only attack at the west gate, so how could they possibly reach the east gate? Moreover, for them, attacking Myitkyina would be meaningless!"
Sano Tadayoshi, who was half asleep, suddenly woke up and finally thought of something terrible: "Oh no, it must be the Xu family army in Jin Province of the Tang Dynasty! Apart from this, I can't think of any other army in the Tang Dynasty that is capable of carrying heavy artillery through the mountains of northern Myanmar!"
He got out of bed in a hurry, without even having time to put on his trousers, and ran out in his pajamas: "Quick, send a telegram to General Hebian Zhengsan, saying that the main force of Xu's army appeared in Myitkyina, with extremely strong firepower, and requesting support!"