The War of Resistance: My Expedition, My Country

The Japanese 33rd Division's Western Front operations had two objectives: first, to seize the Yenangyaung oil fields and annihilate the main British forces on the Western Front; second, to cooperate with the Central Route to press the British and Chinese forces into northern Burma, thereby encircling and annihilating all British and Chinese forces in the area and cutting off the US and British aid routes to Chongqing.

The British's rapid retreat perfectly suited the Japanese's objectives on the western front. Consequently, the 33rd Division, commanded by Lieutenant General Shozo Sakurai, split into three groups and launched a rapid offensive towards Yenangyaung. The 215th Harada Regiment led the charge along the left bank of the Irrawaddy River, initially attacking Magway south of Yenangyaung. Major General Araki, commanding the Infantry Regiment's headquarters and the 213th Regiment, led the charge to capture Koguwa and Satdam, protecting the division's flank and pinning down the enemy. The 214th Engineer Regiment, concealing its intentions, launched a sudden attack to capture Yenangyaung and cut off the enemy's retreat. Divisional units, along with the 214st Battalion of the 1th Infantry Regiment and the 215rd Battalion of the 3th Infantry Regiment, followed Araki's rear. The independent 26th Engineer Regiment advanced along the Irrawaddy River, ready to deploy reinforcements at any moment.

Led by Burmese guides, the 214th Regiment's Gaoyan Battalion quickly seized the Bin River Bridge over the Pingqiang River northwest of the Yenangyaung oil fields, cutting off the British troops' retreat. The British-Burmese 1st Division and a tank battalion, approximately 7000 men, were trapped in the desert northeast of Yenangyaung. The 38th Regiment of the New 113th Division, tasked with the rescue, traveled overnight and arrived at Chokbotang on the 17th. Slim, commander of the British-Burmese Army, who was outside the encirclement, drove to the 113th Regiment's base and demanded immediate action to rescue the trapped British troops.

Liu Fangwu felt that the enemy's situation was unclear, and a rash attack would likely fail to achieve the rescue objective and could even expose the rescue plan. Slim disagreed with Liu's opinion and radioed the Sino-British Joint Command in Mandalay. Under pressure from the British, Colonel Liu Fangwu was forced to order the battalions and companies to deploy in a defensive-offensive formation toward the north bank of the Pingqiang River.

At this moment, a Chinese army of several dozen men appeared before the 113th Regiment. Leading them was none other than Yang Hong, commander of the 200rd Battalion of the 600th Regiment of the 3th Division. After identifying himself, he approached Commander Liu and said to him, "Commander Liu, the Japanese troops occupying the Binhe Bridge are from Gao Yan's Battalion of the 214th Regiment, numbering approximately 1000 men. It would be difficult for the 113-strong 1300th Regiment to seize the Binhe Bridge by force."

Regimental Commander Liu also knew the difficulty of this task and quickly asked, "Captain Yang, do you have any good ideas?"

Yang Hong smiled mysteriously and said to Captain Liu, "Do you dare to play a bigger game?"

Liu Fangwu was no incompetent man, so he calmly asked, "How do you want to play big?"

Yang Hong briefly described the surrounding enemy situation based on his memory, then said, "It's actually not difficult to rescue the British. As long as the British send tanks and artillery support, the 113th Regiment can launch a surprise attack to seize the north bank of the Bin River Bridge. Then, under cover of darkness, they can sneak across to the south bank and join forces with the besieged British troops. This way, we can catch the Japanese off guard and the British encirclement can be easily resolved."

Liu Fangwu nodded affirmatively. In fact, this was his plan as well. Thinking that Captain Yang could come up with the same combat plan as himself, he must have a better strategy, so he signaled Captain Yang to continue.

Yang Hong continued, "Even if we rescue the British, given their current fighting spirit, they could easily flee the battlefield. This would completely expose our western wing to the Japanese, forcing us to abandon key locations like Tonggubei and Mandalay, and potentially even leading to the collapse of our entire defense line."

"We must not only rescue this besieged British force, but also bring them together to launch a counterattack and expand our victory. The 112th Regiment, which is on its way, will surely join the battle once they learn of our intentions. We can completely surround and annihilate this protruding Japanese force before the main force of the 33rd Division arrives."

Liu Fangwu knew that Yang Hong had not finished speaking, so he continued to ask, "What's next?"

"The commander is truly a skilled warrior. Then I'll speak frankly." Yang Hong smiled faintly, revealing his deeper thoughts. Based on historical analysis, Yang Hong planned to use the Yenangyaung counterattack as a lever to prevent the expeditionary force from repeating the same mistakes. This would prevent the British from fleeing Burma in disarray. This would also disrupt the Japanese plan, facilitating a more effective outcome for the expeditionary force's subsequent operations. Of course, Yang Hong and his men didn't have the power to influence the outcome of the war at this point, but seizing this opportunity to gain more supplies and time for survival was entirely feasible.

Liu Fangwu was also an ambitious man; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to launch a counterattack against the Japanese with a regiment of over a thousand men. He carefully analyzed Yang Hong's strategy and believed it was entirely feasible, so he asked Yang Hong to provide a more detailed plan. Yang Hong whispered this to Liu Fangwu's ear, and Liu Fangwu nodded secretly.

Liu Fangwu immediately contacted Slim, requesting British assistance in a joint counterattack, attacking from both inside and outside to defeat the enemy. Upon learning that the Japanese forces at the Bin River Bridge numbered only a little over 1000, Slim immediately became interested. He radioed the besieged British commanders, ordering them to counterattack towards the Bin River crossing if the Chinese launched an offensive. Slim then organized the British and Burmese forces on the periphery, deploying over ten tanks and armored vehicles, and over ten artillery pieces. Together with the 10th Regiment, they launched a decisive battle against the Japanese Gaoyan Battalion!

At Yang Hong's request, Slim generously provided dozens of submachine guns and machine guns to the 600rd Battalion of the 3th Regiment. After the Sino-British Allied Forces launched the attack, they would advance and assault Keguwa, Satdan and other places to block the retreat of the Japanese 215th Regiment. After the Chinese and British forces completed their reunion and recaptured Yenangyaung, they would suddenly attack the Japanese 215th Regiment in a roundabout way. At the same time, after the arrival of the 38th Regiment of the New 112th Division, they would block the other troops of the Japanese 214th Regiment from the northeast. Under such a favorable situation, the British and Indian 17th Division, the British and Australian 63rd Brigade, the British 7th Armored Brigade and other units in Mandalay, as well as part of the 96th Division of the Expeditionary Force would also come over to annihilate the isolated Japanese 214th and 215th Regiments!

Slim did not want to evacuate Myanmar in such a cowardly manner. After listening to Liu and Yang's explanation, he believed that there was a great possibility of achieving his goal. So he decided to take the first step first and rescue the besieged British troops. Then, he would immediately launch an operation to besiege the Japanese troops according to this plan. At that time, he would report the battle situation to the Chinese and British command headquarters and force them to make a decision that would be beneficial to them.

On the 18th, the 113th Regiment, as planned, with the support of British tanks and armored forces, advanced to the north bank of the Pingqiang River. Using surprise attack tactics, they quickly broke through the Japanese positions on the north bank of the Bin River. Then, with the support of several artillery pieces, they broke through the Japanese positions on the south bank of the Bin River by means of a feint attack by the 3rd Battalion and a circuitous sneak attack by the 1st and 2nd Battalions. At the same time, because they had a clear understanding of the Japanese troop strength, the besieged British 1st Division, with the tank battalion as the vanguard, quickly broke through the Japanese resistance on the northern line. The Japanese Gaoyan Battalion was caught in a two-pronged attack and was quickly defeated.