The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

How to fight a defensive battle?

Wei Junru, a famous general of the Seventh Route and a Half of the White Party, said that when there is sufficient manpower, the troops should be deployed in echelons, and dense defense lines should be used to exhaust the attack kinetic energy of the main force of the Japanese.

A large number of fresh troops were ambushed on both sides of the Japanese attack route. After the Japanese troops' supplies and ammunition had been consumed in the resistance of the previous lines of defense, these suddenly appearing fresh forces would defeat the tired and exhausted Japanese troops in one fell swoop, forcing them to retreat on their own initiative.

Relying on this fighting style, which is similar to the Japanese Navy's nine-stage invitation and gradual reduction tactics, Wei Junru personally repelled the Japanese attacks many times during the defense of Zhongtiao Mountain. (After Wei was transferred, his successor did not use this method and was immediately defeated by the Japanese in Zhongtiao Mountain.)

Similarly, the "Tianlu Tactics" used by another White Party general also shattered the Japanese offensive plans many times.

However, as a time traveler, Zhang Chi felt that if he abandoned his own advantages of numerous amphibious vehicles and high mobility while being in a foreign country with no advantage in manpower, and instead commanded the 212th Division to fight a camp competition and a static battle, wouldn't his time travel be in vain?

Therefore, he and the staff of the 212th Division worked together to formulate a mobile combat plan of "hold one, harass one, and eat one".

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Colonel Sato Mikichiro is determined to avenge his previous humiliation.

In June half a year ago, he sent Changpu's new infantry battalion to attack an airport defended by only a few hundred John people. Unexpectedly, he encountered Zhang Chi, who had just crossed over and gathered some of the defeated soldiers.

After a fierce battle at the airport, Zhang Chi killed nearly half of his battalion, and his battalion commander, Major Changpu Xin, also died in battle.

Because of his poor performance in the battle, he was severely reprimanded by the division commander, Lieutenant General Matsuyama Yuzo, and received several "three pendege" slaps on the face.

This made Sato Mikichiro, who had previously achieved great success in the battle against the John people in Pegu, feel like he had experienced a great humiliation.

Six months later, Sato Mikichiro led the fully refitted and equipped 146th Infantry Regiment, over 3000 men, from Myitkyina, embarking on a journey of revenge. (Map in the author's notes)

由于第 146 步兵联队编制下，只有一个炮兵中队、8门射程不到3km的九二式步兵炮，和4门穿深捉急的37mm速射炮。

Therefore, in order to ensure the firepower of this unit, the 56th Division specially reinforced Sato Mikichiro's unit with a mountain artillery company under the division artillery regiment and four Type 4 75mm mountain guns with a range of 8km.

In addition, a squadron of six modified Type 6 medium tanks belonging to the 1st Tank Regiment was also incorporated into his command. (The Japanese tank squadron was fully staffed with 13 medium tanks, but the poor Japanese never had a full staffing.)

Normally, such an elite Japanese regiment composed of mixed infantry, artillery, and tanks can quickly break through a division's position or defend against an army's attack on the front battlefield of Qian Country.

If they had the support of aircraft and field heavy artillery, they could even stop the attack of an entire army. (Okazaki's 226th Regiment in the bloody battle of Guanjiazhai is a clear example.)

Because of this, although the Japanese had obtained information that Zhang Chi's guerrilla independent regiment was expanded into the newly formed 212th Division in September, Sato Mikichiro was still confident that his regiment could directly defeat Zhang Chi's troops.

Since he knew nothing about the crazy airdrops from the wealthy White Eagle and the large number of armored vehicles that Zhang Chi exchanged through the system, Sato Mikichiro, based on his stubborn common sense, did not believe that Zhang Chi could significantly improve the combat effectiveness of a regiment-level guerrilla force in just three months.

He even thought that there was no need for the other two friendly forces. His 146th Infantry Regiment alone could go straight to the heart of the matter and solve everything.

After all, according to the "Battle Report from Headquarters", since the beginning of the war, the Locust Army has been winning all the frontal battles it has initiated. How could he possibly lose?

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On December 12, the 146th Infantry Regiment began to move north along the road from Myitkyina to Putao Town beside the Mailikai River.

Feeling full of strength, Sato Mikichiro formed a marching formation with one infantry battalion and two medium tanks as the vanguard, two infantry battalions in the middle to protect the artillery, and a logistics squadron and baggage as the rear guard.

Because of the previous incident at the end of June, the Hizuka pursuit team, which was mainly composed of the 3rd Battalion of the 144th Infantry Regiment, encountered an ambush by the Independent Regiment while heading north and suffered heavy losses (see Chapter 50).

Therefore, this time Sato Mikichiro learned his lesson. He ordered the Horiji Battalion at the forefront to send a large number of devils, in groups of several, deep into the jungle beside the highway to conduct guard and search to prevent ambushes.

At the same time, the 56th Division collected the last few motor boats in Myitkyina, installed Type 92 7.7mm heavy machine guns and Type 92 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns on them, and took charge of surface surveillance on the march.

On the first day of the march, Sato Mikichiro was warmly welcomed.

The mines that had been buried on the road blew up a dozen Japanese soldiers who were leading the march.

The tracks of two Type 2 medium tanks were also blown off.

When Sato Mikichiro sent the engineering team to clear mines, snipers wearing camouflage uniforms and holding M70 hunting rifles with 4x scopes in the jungle killed more than a dozen Japanese engineers with cold guns.

The Japanese vanguards who were on guard in the jungle were completely unable to find these snipers who had undergone professional camouflage training. Instead, they exclaimed that "the rainforest is speaking the dry language" and several of them were killed or injured.

In this way, while clearing mines and deploying a large number of personnel to conduct a dragnet search in the rainforest, the 146th Regiment only advanced less than 20 kilometers on the first day.

They kept moving and stopping like this, and on the day of December 14, the radio suddenly brought news that a battalion of the 15th Division's Takamoto Takuma Regiment had been wiped out while moving north on its flank.

Then he received a message forwarded by the division headquarters, which said that the main force of the 33rd Division, which had set out from Xinpingyang and crossed Kumenling to the east, had also encountered fierce resistance and could not advance an inch in front of the firepower points of reinforced concrete fortifications on the mountain tops.

(Don't think it's impossible to cross the mountain. The Japanese often use mechas and artillery units to attack over the mountains. The most classic one is to forcefully cross Niangzi Pass to attack Shanxi Province. If the Shanxi Suiyuan Army was not so weak, the losses would be huge.)

At the same time, Sato Mikichiro discovered that the small-scale harassment he had previously encountered on the march had completely disappeared, and the troops' marching speed had greatly increased.

The 'clever' Sato Mikichiro instantly judged that this was due to insufficient troops from Zhang Chi, and sent his main force to resist the gap created by many units of the 15th and 33rd Divisions.

"Yoshi, if you don't take what heaven gives you, you will suffer the consequences." After reciting a proverb in a literary manner, Mikichiro ordered, "All troops, speed up your march. The enemy's hinterland has been exposed. We will definitely take the enemy's nest directly. Hahahaha!"

In this way, the 146th Regiment advanced rapidly for two days at a speed of 40 kilometers a day, while all its friendly forces on the flank were held back.

On the night of December 16, Terauchi Hisaichi received a telegram from Sato Mikichiro, forwarded by the 56th Division. The message read: "Our troops have advanced unhindered, inflicting heavy casualties on Zhang's troops and their fortifications along the way. We will quickly penetrate their core territory and reduce their base to smithereens!"

(Don’t think the Japanese wouldn’t be stupid enough to go deep into the enemy’s territory alone. In the Battle of Lanfeng, the 14th Division broke through alone and was almost surrounded and annihilated.)