bookrandom Chapter 144 Terauchi Hisahi 1: It would be better if there was no tension
Chapter 144 Terauchi Hisahi 1: It would be better if there was no tension
On the night of July 11, Terauchi Hisaichi, commander of the Fuso Southern Army stationed in Seongju, received a telegram from Pegu.
In the telegram, Matsuyama Yuzo declared that Myitkyina was under fierce attack by two tank divisions, three infantry divisions and one aviation division of the enemy. Faced with the charge of hundreds of tanks under Zhang Chi's command, the Locust Army fought desperately to maintain the outer defense line and urgently needed tactical guidance from the Southern Army.
Although Terauchi Hisashi immediately felt that Matsuyama Yuzo had exaggerated the enemy's strength, he couldn't figure out how Zhang Chi could create such a large and powerful army in the mountainous area north of Pegu.
But since the tone of the telegram is so anxious, rescue must be done.
Terauchi Hisaichi put down the telegram and walked to the large map hanging on the wall.
On the map, three huge arrows representing the direction of the enemy's attack were pointing north of Pegu.
On the border between Pegu and Sindhu, the New 1st Army launched an exploratory attack across the Savage Mountains.
In the Yunnan Province of Qian State, the national army also began to defend the Songshan Fortress.
To the north of Myitkyina, Zhang Chi's main force went south and reached the city of Myitkyina.
Judging from the map, the closest reinforcements to Myitkyina are the 18th Division in Mandalay and the 3rd Guards Regiment in Yangon.
However, according to the telegram sent by Matsuyama Yuzo, the enemy's main ground force alone had the strength of 5 divisions, and these reinforcements seemed far from enough.
With a sigh, Terauchi Hisaichi turned to his adjutant and said:
"Kuroshima-kun, notify the 25th Division stationed in Bangkok to dispatch one, no, two, regiments to Pegu for reinforcement. Also, notify Siamese Prime Minister Phibun to dispatch a Siamese division to Rangoon."
Adjutant Hei Dao was taken aback and replied subconsciously:
"Shouldn't we consult the cabinet first on such a major matter as withdrawing Siamese troops to Pegu?"
"Me? Ask that Private First Class Tojo? Is he qualified?" Terauchi Hisaichi sneered.
Terauchi Hisaichi graduated from the 21st class of the Army University, while the current Prime Minister Hideki Tojo graduated from the 27th class of the Army University. In Japan, where seniority is the key factor, they are completely juniors, and Terauchi Hisaichi has every right to look down on the latter.
Even though the adjutant knew his superiors would be displeased by this statement, he still advised as part of his duty: "Pegu and Siam are ultimately our allies in name only. It's best to discuss this matter before proceeding. Otherwise, there will be consequences in the future..."
"Forget it, forget it. I'm also too anxious. Let's just drop this matter. In the short term, we can only rely on Aung San's Pegu Army."
Terauchi Hisaichi knew very well that although they were all puppet troops, Siam, as one of the few independent Asian countries before the war, had an army whose equipment and training levels were not comparable to those of the puppet troops in Pegu.
But when it comes to cross-border troop deployments, he, as the retired emperor of Southeast Asia, can easily give people a chance to criticize him by doing it without asking for permission.
"Inform Mutaguchi Ren'ya of the 15th Army to stop thinking about his plan to attack Sindhu and focus on preparing for defense."
"Also, send a telegram to the mainland, requesting the formation of an additional 3 to 5 special divisions to reinforce the Southern Army, and grant me the right to control all allied forces (puppet troops) in Southeast Asia."
"Hey!" After taking note of this, Adjutant Kuroshima immediately stood at attention, saluted, and left, leaving only Terauchi Hisaichi in the room.
Terauchi Hisaichi stood in front of the map for a long time, and finally let out a long sigh.
"If it weren't for this tension, the situation wouldn't have collapsed to this point."
He placed his hand on the map, his eyes fixed.
Judging from the map, both the Wild Man Mountains to the northwest of Myitkyina and the Song Mountains to the east had mountainous terrain that could be defended. However, Zhang Chi, the sudden riser, led a mechanized force that appeared out of nowhere and suddenly emerged from the mountains near Jiangxinpo in the north, heading straight for the undefended Myitkyina.
(In case readers don’t understand, the hero’s geographical advantage here is equivalent to Shanxi Province’s advantage over the North China Plain. He is high above and can attack from above and below.)
"Variables, variables..."
Terauchi Juichi suddenly had a bad feeling.
A year ago, the Locust Army defeated the Expeditionary Force and the Allied Forces and occupied the entire South Seas. Now they are not going to give it all up, right?
Terauchi Juichi can only hope that Matsuyama Yuzo on the front line will play better.
"Mr. Songshan, even if we can't defend Myitkyina, we must inflict heavy casualties on the enemy..."
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On July 12, with the basic movements of various departments in place, Zhang Chi officially launched a fierce attack.
Starting at 10 o'clock in the morning, the artillery column's 155mm self-propelled artillery and the 105mm towed artillery of each column, totaling nearly 200 heavy artillery pieces, launched a fierce bombardment of the Japanese positions.
Because of the control of air supremacy, B-25 bombers with artillery observation teams could hover over the Japanese positions for a long time and use radio to correct artillery fire.
This made Zhang Chi's artillery firepower more and more accurate. The 105mm and 155mm high-explosive bombs completely plowed the Japanese's outer positions, deep positions, and the core city of Myitkyina.
In particular, the firing points, bunkers, and concrete pillboxes exposed during the fast fire reconnaissance on the 11th were all hit hard by the artillery.
The Japanese artillery and anti-aircraft firepower had learned their lesson after the bombing by the independent air force in the previous few days. They all hid themselves and did not fire a single shot.
At 3:00 p.m., following the order from the radio, the first and second infantry columns, under the cover of more than 50 M4A3 (105) medium tanks of the additionally reinforced independent tank regiment, launched a full-scale attack on the Japanese positions.
That's right, after a long-distance march of hundreds of kilometers, more than half of the independent tank regiment with 72 M4 tanks broke down. After emergency repairs, only two-thirds of the tanks could be put into battle.
(A little trivia: the straight-line distance from Pegu from north to south is about 1400 km, while the distance from Warsaw to Moscow is 1200 km. This means that Guderian fought for several years but still couldn't cover the distance from Yanjing to Hunan Province.)
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The view comes to Yukinosuke Takae.
During yesterday's fire reconnaissance, because the fast-moving tanks were firing from a distance away from the trenches, Takae Yukinosuke did not need to jump out of the trenches to blow up the tanks with his body, and he luckily survived the day.
However, his luck ended today. As the M4A3 (105) medium tanks in a triangle formation, covering the infantry behind them, came closer and closer, Takae Yukinosuke trembled as he took off his shirt, put on his victory headscarf, drank a bowl of wine, and climbed out of the trench carrying two anti-tank mines tied together.
"Give me the killing intent!"
The sergeant leading the team waved his hand, and more than twenty native puppet soldiers, who only had rifles, launched a desperate charge towards the tanks with tears streaming down their faces.
Those Japanese officers did not even regard the Japanese soldiers as human beings, so naturally they would not regard these puppet troops as human beings. In their eyes, the only role of the puppet troops was to consume the enemy's bullets and artillery shells and attract attention.
Lying on the ground, Takae Yukinosuke noticed that his own mortars and infantry guns opened fire behind the trench.
"Run, Private!"
The ferocious old sergeant threw out a smoke canister, and taking advantage of the cover of smoke, he pulled up Takae Yukinosuke from the ground and started walking towards the tank opposite with bow legs.
"While the cannon fodder is attracting attention, charge! The time has come to serve our country with all our lives!"
Facing the smoke, with snot and tears all over his face, Takae Yukinosuke gritted his teeth, shouted, and ran.