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Rangoon, New Burma Front Headquarters.

Terauchi Juichi threw the stack of intelligence in his hand fiercely on the face of a lieutenant and shouted angrily: "It's been a day and a night, and this is all the information you gave me?"

Chief of Staff Shigenori Kuroda signaled the lieutenant to withdraw: "Commander, please calm down!"

"How can I calm down? In order to prepare for this decisive battle, the three tank divisions were equipped with the latest Showa 3-style heavy tanks. But what was the result? The 17th and 6th Divisions, with thousands of tanks and hundreds of heavy artillery, retreated step by step and lost 7 kilometers of defense!"

Kuroda Shigenori said leisurely: "We thought our new tanks could compete with Xu's army's tanks, but we didn't expect them to be so vulnerable. We lost more than 200 tanks in one day! It's our fault that we haven't captured a single tank from Xu's army so far, and we don't know their data!"

Terauchi Juichi sighed heavily: "I thought that with the new tanks and the advantage in numbers, we could turn the situation around a little, but I didn't expect that we would still suffer the same miserable defeat as before!"

Before the war, he had solemnly promised his soldiers that he would use the new equipment to defeat Xu's army and reoccupy Burmese territory.

Now he is too embarrassed to even think about it, it's so embarrassing!

"Commander, the report from the front line shows that the tank troops of the Xu family army do not seem to be in a hurry to advance, and they almost stop after moving for a while!"

Terauchi Shouichi smiled coldly: "Of course, they are waiting. Now I know that the warships on the Irrawaddy River are not from England, but from the Xu family army! We have deployed a large number of mines on the river in advance, and their navy is sweeping the mines.

The ground forces must want to maintain the same speed as the surface forces and dare not advance too deep unilaterally!"

Until this moment, even though he had received accurate intelligence, Kuroda Shigenori still did not dare to believe that the warships on the river belonged to Xu's army.

Because he couldn't figure out where those warships came from!

Some time ago, in order to find out the origins of these warships, he inspected the entire terrain of Myanmar several times. In the end, he came to only one conclusion: there was no place in all the main streams and tributaries below Myitkyina that could hide so many warships.

After ruling out the impossible, he finally had to think about the origin of the warship within the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

There is no other possibility except that it originated from the waters within the territory of the Tang Dynasty.

But how did Xu's army drive the warships down from the upstream waters? There is no navigation there, or is there a hidden river channel that has not been detected?

"Commander, there are many water bodies and rivers in southern Myanmar. If the ground forces want to advance in a large scale, they must have the support of the surface forces. I think we should strengthen our combat capability in the waters and prevent the enemy warships from heading south!"

Terauchi Juichi nodded heavily this time: "Well, because time is urgent, we don't have many mines deployed, and the Xu family army will be able to clear them all in no time! By then, their warships will be able to take advantage of the situation and threaten our rear!

So, pass on my order and ask the navy to assist you. Let them send warships to fight. It would be best if they send battleships to completely annihilate the Xu family's navy!"

The Japanese Navy was mainly composed of the Combined Fleet, and its combat effectiveness ranked among the top three in the world. Especially after defeating the United States at Midway Island, its arrogance became even more rampant.

In the Combined Fleet, its 2nd Fleet is the main force, with 4 heavy cruiser squadrons and dozens of destroyers. It is the focus of long-distance cruises and mission strikes.

The attack on Ceylon was the masterpiece of the 2nd Fleet!

And its 1st Fleet, which was mainly composed of battleships, used its powerful heavy naval guns to repel the United States.

For the Burma campaign, the Japanese Navy, for the first time ever, abandoned its feud with the Army and sent several battleships, cruisers and destroyers from the 1st and 2nd Fleets to the Indian Ocean to assist the Army!

If necessary, the Soryu and Hiryu aircraft carriers in Ceylon will also come to support!

......

On December 12, with the full efforts of five 2K minesweepers, thousands of mines had been cleared, and the 5st Destroyer Squadron had crossed the "Myingyan" front and arrived at the western line of Meiktila.

However, the fleet stopped here because the Japanese had deployed coastal defense artillery on the shore. Although it did not cause damage to the warships, it also prevented their advance!

In order to ease the navy's predicament, the 176th Division pushed forward with all its might, the self-propelled artillery regiment pursued and bombarded, and the Japanese tank troops kept retreating.

In the air, two squadrons of light bombers circled back and forth, causing the Japanese retreat to fall into brief chaos.

The Japanese naturally would not just sit there and watch, and immediately sent all the fighter planes of the 12th Flying Division to intercept, a total of more than 300 planes, all of which were Shenying fighters.

The H-5 can use the machine gun on the nose and the two movable machine guns at the tail to deal with several Japanese fighter planes, but facing fighter planes that are more than 10 times its size, the H-5 is powerless and can only retreat temporarily!

The Japs also learned to be smart. They did not pursue but only circled over their own ground forces, occasionally dropping two bombs on the vanguard tank units of the 176th Division and then running away!

Such cautious fighting style made it impossible for the tank's anti-aircraft machine guns to find any chance to counterattack!

In the afternoon, Wei Li adjusted the Air Force's combat mission based on the real-time battle situation!

He took advantage of the fact that the Japanese planes did not dare to linger over Xu's army, and ordered two attack aircraft squadrons and one fighter squadron to fly through the Japanese defense line from high altitude and head straight for the Inrawaddy River Delta in the rear, which is the southern estuary of Myanmar.

Just when the 176th Division and the Japanese tank division were engaged in a fierce battle, Guo Tietie quietly moved out with the 2nd Armored Division. This was the only combat-capable unit in the 2nd Army.

Moreover, they are elite troops who have fought countless battles in Shanxi Province, and their combat effectiveness is comparable to that of the 176th Division!

While the Japanese were focusing their attention on the main battlefield, the 2nd Armored Division made a detour from the side and headed towards the Japanese coastal defense forces.

At this time, under the order of Kondo Nobutake, commander of the Japanese Navy's 2nd Fleet, two cruisers of his 4th Squadron and four Asashio-class destroyers of the 2th Destroyer Squadron sailed along the Rangoon River towards the middle reaches of the Inrawaddy River.

Early morning of December 12, eastern Myanmar.

The 101st Motorized Infantry Division and the Japanese 34th Division engaged in a firefight. Because they were located in a mountainous area, there was little room for artillery to be used.

However, the motorized infantry regiment's artillery battalion is equipped with the Type 63 107mm rocket launcher, one of the world's three major guerrilla warfare weapons.

Thus, this magical device completely blossomed.