The War of Resistance: My Expedition, My Country

Sure enough, about ten Japanese soldiers on each side attempted to cross the flat river channel. Without any orders from Platoon Leader Zhang, two light machine guns and one heavy machine gun immediately opened fire, leaving the Japanese with no chance of escape.

"Da da da——", "Bang bang bang——", the rapid rain of bullets mercilessly harvested the lives of these Japanese soldiers.

At this point, the Japanese squad leader realized they had been tricked. The enemy was probably at least a company strong. If they didn't leave, the entire squad would be killed. He immediately ordered a retreat into the jungle.

Upon seeing this, Platoon Leader Zhang immediately ordered the mortars to open fire and the entire platoon rushed forward!

Boom! Boom! Shells exploded behind the Japanese lines. The entire platoon, supported by machine guns, quickly crossed the river and pursued the enemy in their direction of flight. At that moment, a flurry of American-style gunfire and grenade explosions echoed from behind. Platoon Leader Zhang, realizing the company headquarters had arrived, rushed behind enemy lines to intercept them.

Under the double-line attack of the search company's headquarters platoon and the 1st platoon, only a small number of the Japanese squad escaped, including the squad leader, and were annihilated around the nameless river.

After counting, Captain Li Xiangyang was also shocked. The Japanese army was not an ordinary squad, but a reinforced squad of more than 100 people, and was equipped with a 92 infantry gun. He just couldn't figure out why it was wiped out by himself before it was put into use.

Captain Li stopped Platoon Leader Zhang and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "It seems we didn't destroy the Japanese search party, but the Japanese troops preparing to establish a forward offensive stronghold!"

While Lieutenant Li ordered the 2nd and 3rd Platoons via walkie-talkie to pay attention to any abnormalities in the surrounding area and not to advance for the time being, he also reported the situation directly to the division headquarters!

Huang Wei received an urgent report from the search company and immediately realized that the Japanese army was unwilling to accept defeat and was about to launch a new attack! He then reported the situation to Zheng Dongguo and Merrill.

Merrill couldn't understand the Japanese army's behavior. It had only been three months since the failure of its attack on India, and they were about to launch a new large-scale attack. Didn't they care about the feelings of the soldiers at all?

Zheng Dongguo and other Chinese soldiers were already aware of the Japanese army's brutality and gambling tendencies. After analyzing the situation, they concluded that precautions were necessary and ordered the 30th and 50th Divisions, training at Ramgarh, to end their training early and prepare to march eastward to the Sardinian front to await further orders.

Mountbatten initially believed the report from the Indian Army to be a diversionary offensive launched by the Japanese in northeastern India. However, subsequent news from Imphal immediately made him realize that this was another large-scale Japanese military operation. All signs indicated that the Japanese goal was still to capture Silchar and cut off the railway line in the East India region!

Mountbatten was clearly no pushover. Having nearly let the Japanese succeed in their first battle was already a huge loss of face, and if things went wrong again, he'd probably be retired. He immediately ordered the formation of several heavy artillery brigades from the West Indies to be transferred. These troops, which were about to be transferred to the mainland, were detained. Just like the previous time, they decided to fight this battle before leaving!

At the same time, he organized a high-level meeting of the theater of war and specially invited Huang Wei and Yang Hong to attend. This was also the beginning of their formal entry into the top leadership of the Allied Southeast Asia Theater.

Mountbatten's plan was to fight the Japanese army on the north, central and south lines, and he took the initiative to propose a plan to lure the enemy deep into the territory, and once again annihilate the Japanese heavy forces on the Silchar line.

Chief of Staff Wedemeyer had discussed with Sun Liren and Yang Hong on the way here and reached a consensus. At Wedemeyer's instruction, Yang Hong stood up and put forward optimization suggestions on behalf of the southern line.

Yang Hong said, "In the Western Pacific, the Allied forces have already begun the Battle of Guadalcanal. The Japanese navy is being tied down, and it is impossible for a large fleet to support the attack on the Jida line. The troops on the southern line should move closer to Siljaur, forming the largest mobile force and deploying them into the battlefield!"

As if on tacit agreement, Merrill signaled Huang Wei to speak for the northern front. Huang Wei stood up and said, "Our army cannot continue to be led by the nose by the Japanese. We should adopt a 'you fight yours, I fight mine' approach. On the northern front, the Indian Army must confront the Japanese 28th Army head-on and defeat it head-on. We must continue to implement our established plan to open the Sino-Indian Highway as soon as possible! On the central front, with the First Army joining us, there's no need to lure the enemy to Silchar. We can instead launch a siege against them along the Aizawl front!"

While everyone was confused, Wedemeyer, as the chief of staff of the theater, told everyone his plan:

1. With the Allied 1st Army's new 28th Division as the main force, shrink and defend the Ideoka line. Even if the Japanese army uses a single division, it will be impossible to break through in a short time. Even if something abnormal happens, the Allies can calmly use the railway line to dispatch troops for support!

2. The main force of the 1st Army secretly entered Telmanagar and lay in ambush in the area to the east of it, facing Aizawl. The British Indian 1st Army deployed along the Aizawl-Silchar highway, sending a clear signal to the Japanese army that our army had made plans to prevent them from launching another sneak attack on Silchar. The 11th Army defended the Silchar line, and the 18th Army resisted step by step to the west of Imphal and retreated towards Aizawl.

3. The Sardin line was handed over to the 30th and 50th Divisions of the Indian Army for defense. The 8th Division of the Indian Army advanced to defend the vast hilly area east of Sardin. The 1st British Burmese Division continued to defend Ukhrul. The 14th Division of the Indian Army was deployed along the northern railway line of Sardin. The main force was stationed in Kohima to prevent the Japanese army from attacking northward after capturing Ukhrul.

4. The Indian Army concentrated its main forces, the 200th Division, the new 22nd Division, the 71st Division and three heavy artillery regiments, to fight against the Japanese 28th Army, and waited for an opportunity to attack northern Myanmar and start the construction of the Sino-Indian Highway!

5. In terms of the air force, the British Indian Air Force has more than 200 fighter jets, which can fully cope with the battlefield on the central line. In addition to covering the Hump Route, the US 10th and 20th Air Forces should withdraw some troops to assist the Indian Army in its operations.

After Wedemeyer finished his introduction, Merrill also stood up and said that General Stilwell had instructed the Second Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force (Yunnan Group) to concentrate its forces to launch an attack on Tengchong and Baoshan, and the 14th Air Force would also move its main force south to strangle the Japanese 3rd Air Corps!

When Mountbatten saw this, he obviously understood that this was an action reached by the top US military and was related to the strategic global layout. After thinking about it carefully, he immediately understood.

The German army had suppressed the Soviet Union to the point where it could not raise its head. The German army on the southern front even began to plan to advance into the Middle East. At this time, the importance of the Chinese theater of war became prominent. It not only had to tie up most of the Japanese troops and force them to be unable to send troops south, but also had to prevent the Japanese army in the northeast from taking advantage of the Soviet Union's weakness and advancing north again to attack the Soviet Union's rear.

Mountbatten, as the theater commander, was aware that the United States had already sent high-level military and political delegations to meet with Chiang Kai-shek and Mao to discuss China's future political situation, and that they intended to arm Mao to advance northward. At this time, the possibility of a Japanese offensive of hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops in the Southeast Asian theater would naturally be a concern for Allied headquarters.

Montgomery also secretly told Mountbatten that in Southeast Asia, the main focus now was on maintaining the front line, and future counterattacks and even the political map might be left to the United States and China to complete.