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Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Rebirth of the war years Volume 1 On the Songhua River Chapter 1111 A Sad Day
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- Chapter 1111 A sad day
On the night of June 9, the Libao Grand Canyon battlefield, filled with artillery fire, blood and blood, and smoke, finally calmed down temporarily. The night wind could not dissipate the pungent smell of blood, which stretched from the canyon to Madeira, the British rear line. The dozens of kilometers long front were littered with the bloody corpses of British soldiers, and there were cars and tanks belching thick smoke and dark red flames everywhere. .
It was a bloody day. Of the hundreds of thousands of British Burmese troops who entered the canyon, only 60,000 to 70,000 survived. The Japanese artillery fire began at noon and continued to bombard the British troops in the canyon. The rain of bullets, like locusts, plowed the land in the canyon over and over again. Planes from Japan's Southeast Asia Dispatch Army aviation also came to help in the battle.
Under the combined attack of the Japanese army with air, ground and fire, this day was the saddest day for the British Empire troops stationed in Indochina. Hundreds of thousands of people were crowded into such a small area with a radius of only a few dozen kilometers. The Japanese pilots did not even need to aim. A single heavy aerial bomb dropped could cause dozens of casualties to British soldiers.
The Japanese pilots, who were not threatened by anti-aircraft fire, flew the plane almost touching the high treetops. The Japanese pilots smiled ferociously, looking at the panicked British soldiers running aimlessly to avoid the opposite, and pressed the machine gun button with their fingers. On the plane, three tongues of flames spurted out from the nose of the aircraft. The body of the British soldier who was hit was like a salted fish on a frying pan, twitching violently and falling down.
The Japanese bomber pilot specifically circled the most crowded place with the most British vehicles. He dropped an aerial bomb, and a thick smoke and fire appeared on the ground. The fireworks dissipated, and a huge deep pit appeared in front of him. The British soldiers around the pit have disappeared. Only broken limbs and scattered pieces of clothing prove that there were dozens of British soldiers here.
According to Japan¡¯s Southeast Asia Expeditionary Force Army Air Corps, Colonel Matsushita Jun, commander of the 133rd Bomb Wing, later boasted to his friend, Colonel Miyaki Akihiro, commander of the 7th Fighter Wing, ¡°On the afternoon of June 9, In the five-hour bombing operation of the wing, each bomber took off an average of four sorties, and the number of British pigs killed was more than ten times that of your fighter wing."
This may be a rumor, but the casualties of the British army on this day seem to corroborate the statement of Colonel Matsushita Jun, and also illustrate the blows and heavy losses suffered by the British army during this breakout operation.
There was gunpowder smoke everywhere, craters everywhere, guns and supplies scattered everywhere, the bodies of British and Burmese soldiers everywhere, burning vehicles everywhere, and the thick smoke even covered the stars in the night sky in southern Myanmar. On this day, one afternoon During that time, the casualties of the British and Burmese troops reached more than 50,000. Among them, as many as six senior officers above the rank of major general were killed.
Starting at three o'clock in the afternoon, after the first Japanese shelling stopped, hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers ambushing both sides of the Libao Grand Canyon launched a ferocious attack on the British troops who were battered and dizzy by the artillery fire. Libao Throughout the Grand Canyon, the sound of gunfire and shouts of death were heard, and fierce fighting was taking place everywhere.
The British troops serving as rear guards were under greater pressure. The Japanese army's intention was obvious. They desperately compressed the British troops into the canyon to facilitate the ambush of the troops and take advantage of artillery fire. Ito Yanzaburo's idea was to use favorable conditions. The terrain, unexpected ambush, and pre-set artillery positions were able to annihilate most of the British troops with very few casualties, and end the Battle of Libao within three days.
Next, it was time to head north to Myitkyina to meet the troops of the notorious China Devil Tang Qiuli. At this time, Ito no longer wanted to adopt Mandalay's method. Released into the wild, with an ambush in front and a pursuit behind them, the British were at the end of their rope. Any unit that was ambushed on the way would quickly bring great panic to the soldiers.
Ito didn't even want prisoners of war. In his opinion, these British people who laid down their weapons were useless. In addition to providing a large amount of food to feed them, they also involved many troubles, such as the management of prisoners of war. The question is, does Ito know that his subordinate officers and soldiers, including some senior officers, all have a taste of bloodshed in their bones. .
If you can't control it and massacre prisoners of war, it doesn't matter. It is a practice of the Imperial Army to dispose of useless and wasteful things on the spot, cleanly. As for the "Geneva Convention", that is a lie. It's just that the civil servants in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should blame themselves for causing trouble for them.
Therefore, Ito's order to the attacking troops was, "Use the most ferocious firepower to inflict maximum damage on the British, and do not accept any form of surrender by the British. I do not want to see a large number of prisoners of war pouring in after the battle." The prisoner of war camp has its ugly mouth open, waiting for us to take out precious food to feed these lost?Popular festival for the British. "
In one word, they killed all the surrounding British troops. The Japanese troops faithfully carried out the orders of the Commander-in-Chief. Madeira, a small village with only a few dozen families, was the British and Burmese who served as rear guards. The fifth mixed brigade of the army blocked the pursuing Japanese army. It was an important tactical support point on the defensive front and the key point of the defense of the first regiment of the fifth mixed brigade.
Captain Jeldman was ordered to stay here. More than half of his regiment was British soldiers, and less than half were Burmese soldiers. After the battle started, the combat effectiveness of the Burmese soldiers turned out to be stronger than the soldiers of the British Empire. This made Captain Jeldman overjoyed. The bravery of the Burmese people also aroused the morale of the British soldiers. With this brute force, the first regiment held on until more than four o'clock. There were more than 2,000 soldiers in one regiment. There were more than 1,300 casualties.
Under the Japanese artillery fire and air raids, the overwhelming artillery shells and bombs almost overturned the ground. The temporary field positions constructed by the British and Burmese soldiers were razed to the ground. After the explosions and gunpowder smoke dissipated, there were no more people on the positions. With the sound of retaliatory gunfire, Captain Jeldman woke up leisurely, with a long wound on his head caused by shell fragments.
Holding back the waves of dizziness and severe pain, Jeldman reluctantly poked his head out of the soil and saw a scene he would never forget. Not far away, four to five hundred British and Burmese soldiers from his regiment, Among them, more than half were wounded, who were driven up a mountain ridge by Japanese soldiers.
"Being captured and sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp may be the best destination for these soldiers. They can finally save their lives, which is better than being blown into pieces that cannot be found by bombs and artillery shells. We have fulfilled our responsibilities as soldiers," Jay Captain Deman thought painfully, and at the same time, he felt relieved after being weak for a while.
At this moment, a sudden burst of gunfire woke up Jeldman, who was so weak that he was about to faint. Right in front of his eyes, the captured British and Burmese soldiers were knocked down by Japanese machine guns in rows. The military machine gunner gritted his teeth, with bloodthirsty madness and pleasure on his face. Dozens of light machine guns poured bullets at the four to five hundred prisoners of war who had laid down their weapons.
This is a naked massacre, the Japanese are actually massacring prisoners of war! Jeldman suddenly fainted. When he was woken up by the cool night breeze, it was already a starry night. There were sporadic gunshots everywhere, piles of burning fires, and will-o'-the-wisps flickering in the night. The same red light.
There was not a single living soldier around Jeldman, and there were cold corpses everywhere. Perhaps, he was the only one alive on this blocking line. Under the cover of night, Jeldman was lucky enough to run back. He joined the large force and was immediately led to the cave where Chief of Staff Francis was hiding.
Francis was struggling to support the situation, mobilizing all available troops as much as possible, and tenaciously blocking the Japanese attack. Finally, God blessed, the Japanese did not break through the blocking troops on the rear line, nor did they destroy the troops trapped in the canyon. All the troops were killed, but the British army also paid a huge price for this. Francis successively filled in five divisions that were relatively well-organized, and then blocked the crazy momentum of the Japanese army.
Starting from the breakout of Mandalay, in the middle of the day and night, Francis was almost frighteningly old. Amidst the roar of artillery shells and bombs, the bullets flying and the crazy howling of Japanese soldiers, he wrote one letter after another to Alexander. Commander, he sent an emergency telegram. As for the number of casualties among the troops, he had no control at all.
Every telegram that Francis personally dictated contained these words: "The Japanese army's air and ground firepower combined to carry out a devastating blow to our troops, and then they used infantry to conduct uninterrupted assaults. After a day of fierce fighting, the troops suffered heavy casualties and heavy weapons." Most of the tanks and tanks were destroyed by Japanese artillery fire and will soon be exhausted. If there are no reinforcements, the entire army will be wiped out in the next two days. "
"I have to inform the general with the deepest heart. In view of the fact that our army is in dire straits in Libao, if Tang Qiuli's army cannot rescue them in time, in order to avoid unnecessary injuries to the soldiers, Sacrifice, I will consider laying down my arms and surrendering to the Japanese commander. Of course, by making this decision, I may become a sinner of the British Empire, but I have no regrets and no choice, and in the general situation, whether you agree or not I will do this all the time.¡±
Francis was heartbroken and frightened by being beaten by the Japanese. He knew clearly in his mind that if Tang Qiuli's troops really came to the rescue, then Libao should be the time when the Chinese army was fighting fiercely with the Japanese all day and night. At that time, Tang Qiuli's troops should have arrived? Since the Chinese army has not come, if the fight continues, hundreds of thousands of young people from the British Empire will turn into cold corpses.
Francis even drafted the surrender letter himself, and was waiting for the telegram sent by Alexander himself to confirm his guess, "The Chinese Tang Qiuli did not send troops in the direction of Mandalay at all." At dawn tomorrow,??will negotiate with the Japanese for surrender.
At this moment, Captain Jeldman, who was covered in blood and swaying, was brought in by the guards. Francis was shocked. According to the information he had, the fifth mixed brigade of the British-Burmese Army, which was responsible for blocking the rearguard, had already completely It was destroyed and no one survived. How come there was still a regiment leader who survived?
(To be continued)
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