In order to eliminate the great threat posed by the Japanese army to the US mainland through the Pacific, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marshall was instructed to draw up an operational plan aimed at completely defeating Japan and withdrawing it from the war in 1945, so that the US military could concentrate all its forces on the European theater against the German army.
Although Roosevelt was not a military strategist, he also knew that multi-front operations were extremely dangerous even for the US military in terms of strategy, and by June 1944, the US government had mobilized and conscripted 22 million young men and women to join the ranks of the war service, but what the US military lacked most was that there was still a serious shortage of soldiers who could be used on the front line, and the lack of troops made Roosevelt unable to carry out the plan of opening up a second battlefield in Europe that had been planned long ago.
As for the strategic policy that Britain has always adhered to in Europe first and then Asia, Roosevelt knew that this was considered by Britain's own interests in the security of its homeland, and this could not change the overall interests of the Allies, and the successive defeats of the British army in North Africa and India made Roosevelt hesitate, and the British habitually played the position of commander in the joint Anglo-American campaign, and this alone made many American generals very dissatisfied.
Roosevelt did not believe Churchill's intelligence prediction that the European war could end before 1945, and the German army's war with the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front was exactly what Roosevelt wanted, and the general battle between the Soviet Union and Germany would be a great strategic weakening for both the Soviet and German armies, and even in the future when the world pattern was redistributed after the war, Roosevelt did not want the Red Empire to occupy the so-called dominant position in Europe.
Roosevelt knew that if the United States wanted to completely defeat Japan in 1945, it would have to carry out a direct and effective attack and occupation of the Japanese mainland, and in order to achieve this strategic goal, the army must break through the numerous defense lines set by the Japanese army in the Pacific, and the US military must clean up the Japanese troops occupying each chain island in the Pacific one by one, but the huge casualties in the island landing battle shook Roosevelt's confidence that the Japanese problem could be resolved in 1945.
The joining of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was a relief for Roosevelt, and this unit was still a Chinese army unit with excellent performance and brilliant results that Roosevelt had always paid more attention to.
With the full support of Chiang Kai-shek, the reinforcements and midshipmen of the annual army were replenished in large numbers to Calcutta, and the 500 American Marines with experience in fighting on tropical islands were also airlifted to Calcutta.
In the early morning of 30 June, when Song Yu was devoting himself wholeheartedly to the training of the troops, in accordance with the instructions of the Supreme Military Commission, the Huo Chang Corps of the Chinese Expeditionary Force launched a general attack on the Japanese 55th Division Watanabe Masao entrenched in Rangoon under the cover of the 28th Strategic Air Bombardment Team of the US Army Air Corps.
The attack of the Huo Chang Corps was not smooth at the beginning, Yangon as the capital of Burma, its peripheral defense system has been built by the British for many years, although the British in Burma is neither to build bridges nor roads, but for the fortifications of important cities, the Chinese people use genuine reinforced concrete, Yangon's defense system is designed and built by the famous British positional warfare theorist Mark Vance and urban defense expert Baker Akken.
Mark Wins and Baker Akon, the two hometowns have been holding the principle of positional warfare and urban defensive warfare in the First World War to design the city defense of Yangon, this circular multi-line defense mode is also the most often used by the Japanese, so in March 1942, after the Japanese soldiers captured Rangoon bloodlessly, the Rangoon garrison brigade has been sapped 59th Brigade began to continuously improve the defense of Rangoon on the basis of the permanent fortifications of the British, and the fortifications of Rangoon can be called impregnable at this moment.
The Chinese team has always lacked the experience and equipment to attack permanent garrison fortifications.
Although the 53rd Army and the 54th Army under Huo Zhang's Corps were supplemented with a large number of American-style weapons and equipment, and the squadron also far surpassed the Japanese army in terms of firepower.
Between the bombardment, the dust and the plumes of smoke.
The earth trembled incessantly.
Yangon City is like a volcanic crater that is erupting.
With the 28B24 bomber after the low-altitude bombing.
The 53rd Army, the 54th Army and the artillery group of the Corps began to suppress the Japanese positions on the outskirts of Rangoon.
The deafening sound of artillery made the Chinese officers and men in the area where the attack was about to be launched extremely excited, and they all persevered with their flesh and blood in the face of the overwhelming bombardment and artillery fire of the Japanese army.
Today, the bombardment of the army and the artillery of our own ground have almost leveled Yangon.
This is something that Chinese soldiers have never dared to imagine before.
As the artillery fire extended, military flags were erected impressively.
The Chinese soldiers shouted loudly and followed the military flag and pounced on Huo, the commander of the Japanese positional corps The front is an ordinary soldier in the front land.
No one would have attacked with such ferocity: it seemed that the Japanese army in Rangoon had been wiped out by bombing and shelling.
When those covered, crab-type semi-excavated, sub-mother hidden forts, bridge forts and other firepower points were resurrected.
Bursts of scorching fire erupted.
On the run, Chinese soldiers were shot and fell to the ground.
Blood seeped into the dirt beneath him.
The loyal and brave Chinese officers and soldiers fought bravely in front of the Japanese firepower network, stepping on the corpses of their comrades like a tide, and the onslaught of the Chinese soldiers lasted for more than ten minutes, and the attacking troops began to retreat one after another because of the huge casualties and the charge with no hope of breakthrough.
In the ensuing attack, Huo Zhang put all the 4 Erman medium tanks with only one company and the 3 light tanks with one battalion into the attack, and it was disheartening that after the hard battle, the squadron still failed to make a major breakthrough after paying huge casualties and sacrifices.
In order to wash away the previous defeat, Yamashita Fengwen after careful thinking and repeated weighing, he believed that the Indian Dispatch Army had received sufficient supplies at the moment, and the Indian National Army in Bausi had developed rapidly during this period of time, and its strength had reached 7 armies with a total of 16 divisions.
The large amount of weapons and ammunition captured by the British forces left the Indian National Army in Bauss without weapons and ammunition supply problems for the time being, which allowed the Japanese Navy's 1st Rapid Transport Fleet to transport more troops, weapons, ammunition, and supplies for the Indian Dispatch Force under Yamashita Fumi.
After the Chinese Expeditionary Force's Huo Chang Corps suffered heavy casualties in the attack on Rangoon, Yamashita Fengwen took it for granted that the Song Yuhang Corps must be the most active in sending reinforcements, because the current situation in India is relatively stable, and Rangoon in Burma is a nail in the back of the Chinese Expeditionary Song Yuhang Corps, if Rangoon is not taken, the Chinese Expeditionary Force troops deep in India will face the threat from Burma at any time, and if the Imperial Army can seize the opportunity to land from Yangon, it will be able to cut off the retreat of the Chinese Expeditionary Force into India in one fell swoop.
Yamashita knew that since he had thought of it, then Song Yuhang must have also thought that now that the Huo Chang Corps of the Chinese Expeditionary Force had lost in the process of attacking Yangon, Song Yuhang, as the supreme commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, was very likely to send the troops deployed on the front line of Calcutta to return to Burma to participate in the offensive, so as to seek security and stability in the back road.
If Song Yu's troops return to Burma to participate in the Battle of Rangoon, it is likely that the opportunity that Yamashita has been waiting for will appear.
For this reason, Yamashita sent a telegram to Watanabe Masao, he hoped that Watanabe Masao could attract more Chinese expeditionary forces in Yangon and create an opportunity for India to send troops.
Since there was an irreparable gap between himself and his opponent in terms of weapons and firepower, Yamashita Fengfumi made up his mind that if Song Yuhang's troops were to return to Burma to participate in the war, there would be a blank area in the deployment and defense of the Chinese expeditionary force along the Calcutta line.
In response to the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Yamashita Fengfumi intended to use small forces to lure the Chinese Expeditionary Force out of the range of the left and right flanks to coordinate the covering force, and then concentrate four to six times the number of troops to destroy the enemy in the movement.
In Song Yuhang's view, Yangon's impregnable point of sticking to the defensive mode is actually outdated, as long as the accuracy and continuity of firepower are guaranteed, there is no need to care about the life and death of the Burmese and Japanese immigrants in the city, and it is only a matter of time before Yangon is taken.
The sunset on the west mountain, the blood-red sunset symbolizes a more fierce bloody battle tomorrow, the 30th all-day attack made Huo Zhang's corps participate in the attack of the two armies lost a total of more than 1,000 people, Huo Zhang has realized that if only bombing and shelling the periphery of Yangon City is not an effective blow to the Japanese army's vital forces continue to send reinforcements to the defense line outside the city, but Huo Zhang is not Song Yuhang after all, he must take into account the international influence and personal reputation.
Huo Zhang knew that looking at the battle sequence, Song Yuhang was the only one who could be called bold and reckless, ignoring the strict orders of the Supreme Military Council, ignoring all international public opinion, and still going his own way, massacring the wounded Japanese prisoners of war and burning the city, which no one dared to emulate.
Huo Zhang's corps fell into a dilemma for the attack on Yangon for a while
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