In late February, the situation in Burma took a sharp turn for the worse, and the battlefield situation became more and more unfavorable for the British army, the Japanese 55th Division captured Mawlamyine, forced the Salween River, defeated the 17th Division of the British Burmese Army, and the 48th Brigade of the British Army, and the 33rd Division and the 55th Division of the Japanese Army pursued together, severely inflicted heavy losses on the British and Indian 17th Division, and defeated the British 7th Armored Brigade transferred back from North Africa.
In early March, the 215th Wing of the 55th Division of the Japanese Army captured Rangoon, so that the southern coast of Burma had fallen, and the British army had lost its armor under the sharp offensive of the Japanese army, and the defense system in southern Burma had completely collapsed.
After the victorious Japanese army captured southern Burma cleanly, it opened the door to Burma, and quickly adjusted its strategic objectives, placing the target of attack on the Mandalay and Tonggu lines in northern Burma.
The dominance of the British authorities in Burma has also taken a sharp turn for the worse, on the railways and highways in southern Burma, the British and the fleeing people in Burma have struggled to go north, along the way, the Burmese who are dissatisfied with the British, and the Burmese who have been bribed by the Japanese army continue to sneak attack the British army on the road, and the ruling order of the entire southern Burma has completely collapsed, and the British and Burmese army and the rulers of the British and Burmese authorities have to retreat every day under the enemy attack of the Japanese army and the sneak attack of the Burmese, and they cannot live in fear Just a few days after the loss of Yangon's Haikou, the Nationalist Government announced that the Chinese Expeditionary Force would immediately enter Burma, and issued a proclamation on Burma's entry, on the Sino-Burmese border, nearly 100,000 troops, through the Yunnan-Burma Highway, drove into Burma, and the soldiers of the National Army sang military songs, and under the farewell of the border people, or walked, or took a car, entered a foreign land.
The Fifth Army, the Sixth Army, and the Sixty-sixth Army, a total of three armies, stepped out of the country with great momentum, opening the prelude to the Chinese army's use of troops against foreign countries since the First Sino-Japanese War.
At this time, in Tonggu, the second supplementary regiment that served as the advance team had already been waiting for the day, and the whole regiment was at the forefront of Tonggu, and the Ekechun line had built a solid semi-permanent and permanent fortification position, and the soldiers were on guard day and night on the constructed position, and they did not dare to slack off.
After the news of the loss of Rangoon came, the special service platoon strengthened its vigilance on the south bank of the Biaoguan River, and 12 Brun tracked personnel carriers had to cross the bridge every day to coordinate the officers and men of the 1st Battalion and 1st Company of the 2nd Regiment, which were deployed in the guard positions on the south bank of the Biaoguan River.
On the south bank of the Biaoguan River, Zhang Wei placed a battalion and a company to supplement the second regiment, which was alone on the south bank and was responsible for the leading guard task of the whole regiment; in order to increase their mobility, Zhang Wei transferred a truck platoon from two Burmese automobile companies to them, and nearly 20 trucks were equipped with them to ensure that once an emergency occurred, the officers and men of the first company could quickly cross the bridge and withdraw to the north bank.
For the main force of the expeditionary force that was coming, the defeat in the Burma battle situation may have just happened, but for the second supplementary regiment in Tonggu, it was a real war crisis.
Two days after the loss of Yangon, the first battalion and one company of the second supplementary regiment on the south bank found the retreating British-Burmese stragglers, the number was not large, about 400 people, most of them were Burmese, driving a truck to the south bank of the Biaoguan River, trying to forcibly rush to the bridge of the Biaoguan River to retreat, and almost clashed with a battalion and a company on the south bank.
In the end, the two armies reached a negotiation, and Zhang Wei allowed them to cross the river, but the price paid was that everyone was disarmed by the Second Supplementary Regiment, and the rout team of more than 400 people handed over all the light and heavy machine guns, submachine guns and ammunition, and Zhang Wei took advantage of the fire to loot, leaving only rifles and pistols for self-defense.
After this incident, Zhang Wei ordered that the small groups of defeated and scattered soldiers of the British and Burmese troops found along the way, as long as there was no relatively tight organization and large units, and those who retreated in the whole system should be disarmed and controlled, and arranged for them to retreat in an orderly manner.
Recently, near the Sitang River in the eastern part of Tonggu, I have encountered Burmese people who have fled, and the number of defeated soldiers and civilians is increasing every day, in short, the city of Tonggu has been shrouded in the clouds of war.
The people in the city have almost run away, and the remaining people in the city are either very big-hearted, or they are old and weak women and children in their seventies and eighties, and they have almost become an empty city.
Most of these dozens of tons of materials are valuable chemical industry materials and military materials, as well as some weapons and ammunition, which can only be eaten in Tonggu, Zhang Wei did not want to let these materials be used by the enemy, so he forced the Burmese train driver to send things to Yunnan-Burma Road.
The situation around Tonggu is changing every day, and it is changing towards a grim situation.
The Ekechun position, supplementing the command post of the 2nd Regiment.
The officers of the regiment and above sat up and held a meeting in the command post with a grim face.
"Our expeditionary force entered Burma, the 200th Division of the Fifth Army is the advance division, and now it is galloping to Tonggu, Commander Du sent a telegram back to our regiment, and our regiment forwarded the enemy situation in Tonggu and the situation in Burma, he has forwarded it to the 200th Division, informed the whole army, and Commander Du encouraged our regiment to fight bravely and hold the position."
"In addition, the army commander increased the firepower of the 200th division of the advance, and in addition to the 200th division, an engineer battalion of the army's subordinate engineer regiment, a flat-fire artillery battalion under the army, a motorcycle company of the army's cavalry regiment, and a horse cavalry company were strengthened to the command of the 200th division, which was under the command of the commander of the 200th division, and all belonged to the future Tonggu defenders."
Zheng Yiqun, attached to the regiment, read the telegram in his hand.
Zhang Wei: "Well, continue" After Zheng Yiqun, who was attached to the regiment, sat down, Qiu Wei, the commander of the first battalion, stood up and said.
"Report regiment, early this morning, the first company of our battalion on the south bank once again discovered the Anglo-Burmese army's rout, and after verification, it was determined that it was the rout of the first division of the Anglo-Burmese army, according to the old rules, we confiscated their weapons, collected 20 light machine guns, dozens of submachine guns and two British heavy machine guns, and the people had been pulled by car to the designated place square, according to the report of Captain Zhang Xitong, the commander of the first company, the Japanese army was likely to be less than 30 kilometers away from the south of Tonggu, and the report was completed."
"Sit" Zhang Wei's face was grim, he stood up, and glanced at the officers under him.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the situation is already very clear, the Japanese army is imminent, and the 200 divisions deployed in Tonggu to fight in coordination with us are also in the process of expedited transportation, I will not say much about the current situation, now, I request, the whole regiment further improves its combat readiness, the soldiers are all in the position, the guns do not leave their bodies, the live ammunition is loaded and fired, the officers perform their duties, the mobile posts reduce the patrol of Tonggu things, focus on strengthening the south, as soon as there is a situation, report it immediately, I want the whole regiment to work together in Tonggu to attack the Japanese army" "Striking the Japanese Army" The officers stood up and shouted in unison without a hint of hesitation. ：。
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