Quartermasters can also fight the devils

At dawn on March 25, 1942, the 55th Division of the Japanese Army had surrounded Tonggu City from the south, west and north. In order to stop the advance of the Japanese offensive forces, Commander Dai of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force ordered his troops to set fire to the forest. At the same time, he ordered the troops in Tonggu City to tighten the front line, strengthen the defensive fortifications, and prepare for a major battle with the Japanese offensive forces.

Afterwards, the attacking force of the 55th Division of the Japanese Army broke through into the city of Tonggu and began a house-to-house battle with the officers and soldiers of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. The 55th Division of the Japanese Army was also in a situation of defending the north and attacking the south in the city of Tonggu.

Commander Du of the Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was also determined to attack the Japanese offensive forces in the front, and then push the Japanese offensive forces to the right bank of Kabawinkel to encircle and annihilate them.

On March 26, 1942, the Japanese offensive forces also went out in full force. The 55th Division of the Japanese Army sent a part of its troops to advance to Nanyang Station in the north of Tonggu City. At the same time, the 112th, 143rd and 144th Regiments began to besiege the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Tonggu City from the front. Under the fierce attack of the Japanese offensive forces with superior forces and firepower, the defensive position of the 600th Regiment of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was broken through by the Japanese offensive forces.

On March 27, 1942, the newly formed 22nd Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force arrived at Nanyang Station north of Tonggu, and encountered the troops of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army near Yongkegang Airport. After a thorough and fierce battle, the two sides formed a confrontation situation.

On March 28, the troops of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army began to build defensive fortifications in the north of Tonggu to block the advance of the newly formed 22nd Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. At the same time, the 55th Division also concentrated its forces in the city of Tonggu to attack the defensive positions of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

In order to speed up the occupation of Tonggu, the 55th Division of the Japanese Army also released poison gas bombs on the occupied areas and defensive positions of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in the city, which caused heavy casualties to the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

At this time, the main force of the 56th Division of the Japanese follow-up troops had also arrived in Tonggu. After contacting the 55th Division of the Japanese Army in Tonggu City, the 56th Division of the Japanese Army moved its main force to the east bank of the Xitang River and began to attack the left flank of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force which was defending Tonggu City.

At dusk on March 28, 1942, the vanguard of the 56th Division of the Japanese Army waded across the Xitang River and launched a surprise attack on the headquarters of the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force at night. In the dark, officers and soldiers of both sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat and fierce fighting broke out.

Infantry commander Zheng Tingji heard the intense gunfire in Hedong and then received a call from Dai Anlan, in which he learned that the division headquarters had been attacked, and immediately sent two companies to support. The two sides formed a standoff southeast of the Xitang River Bridge, but the connection between the Hedong division headquarters and the defenders in Hexi City had been cut off.

On March 29, 1942, the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force launched a counterattack from Nanyang Station. The counterattack troops took advantage of the cover of the forest outside Tonggu City and launched a roundabout attack on the flank of the Japanese offensive force that surrounded Tonggu City, forcing the Japanese offensive force to temporarily stop the attack inside Tonggu City.

The fierce fighting lasted until March 30th. The Chinese Expeditionary Force and the Japanese Army fought repeatedly in Tonggu. At the same time, the Chinese Expeditionary Force's Sixth Army, which was responsible for operations on the eastern route, and the British-Burmese Allied Forces, which was responsible for operations on the western route, also fought fiercely with other offensive forces of the Japanese Army.

The 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force had been holding out in Tonggu for twelve days and had suffered heavy casualties. Facing the continuous and fierce attacks by the Japanese army, the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force could no longer hold on to the city of Tonggu. In addition, the Japanese reinforcements, the 56th Division and the 18th Division, had all arrived at the Tonggu battlefield and began to implement a roundabout encirclement of the 200th Division of the Chinese government that was holding out in the city of Tonggu.

Faced with more and more Japanese troops, the 200th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was trapped in the isolated city of Tonggu. The situation had become extremely critical. Commander Du of the Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force could only order the 200th Division to break out on the night of March 29th. The entire division withdrew from Tonggu City and moved to the northeast.

On March 30, 1942, Commander Du of the Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force ordered the newly formed 22nd Division to support the breakout operation of the 200th Division and launch a feint attack on the Japanese troops at the Nanyang Railway Station in order to tie down the Japanese troops and cover the breakout and retreat operation of the 200th Division.

After successfully covering the 200th Division's breakout and retreat from the city of Tonggu, the New 22nd Division of the Fifth Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force dispatched troops to occupy forward positions in Yedaisi to cover the main force of the New 22nd Division in building successive resistance positions on the north and south banks of the Sva River.

On March 30, after the Japanese attacking force discovered that the Chinese Expeditionary Force had abandoned Tonggucheng and moved northward, the two regiments of the Japanese 55th Division and the Japanese 18th Division attacked northward.

The newly formed 22nd Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force used the strength of three regiments to tenaciously block the Japanese army's northward attack force, and dealt a powerful blow to the Japanese army's northward attack force in Shagaya, Swa and other places, making the Japanese army's northward attack force dare not act rashly in the following days.

However, on April 1, 1942, another Japanese attack force easily defeated the British armored forces in the south of Prome. The Japanese attack force then used the captured British tanks, armored vehicles and cars for the attack, which completely exposed the flank of the Chinese Expeditionary Force on the Tonggu line to the Japanese attack force.

On April 2, 1942, the Military Commission of the Chinese Government appointed Commander Luo as the commander-in-chief of the First Route of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, under the command of Stilwell and the commander of the British Pacific Theater.

After occupying Tonggu, the Japanese offensive forces continued to attack along the Tonggu-Mandalay axis with their main force, while supporting with the attacks from the east and west wings, and launched a comprehensive attack to the north.

On April 5, 1942, the Japanese attacking force dispatched three regiments of troops and advanced northward with the support of aircraft, tanks and artillery, but was repelled by the troops of the newly formed 22nd Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

At the same time, Commander-in-Chief of the First Route of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Commander Luo, accompanied the top leaders of the Chinese government by plane to Lashio to meet with Chief of Staff of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Stilwell, to deploy the Pingmanna Campaign. After the top leaders of the Chinese government arrived in Meimiao, they also personally commanded and deployed the Chinese Expeditionary Force. At the same time, in order to strengthen the combat power of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Myanmar, the top leaders of the government also decided to dispatch the 66th Army of the Chinese government to Myanmar to fight.