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Volume 1 On the Songhua River Chapter 1499 Suicide

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    In the desk drawer of Lieutenant General Chelsea, the commander of the British Army in India's Eastward Expedition, lies a black and shiny Colt Type 3 gun. The small gun body and compact structure contain a deadly weapon.  The danger reflects the beauty of violence.

    Chelsea pulled the gun, and a yellow-orange bullet jumped on the table. He reloaded the bullet into the gun chamber. At this moment, "bang bang", there was a gentle knock on the office door. Chelsea  Put the **** back in the drawer and calmly shouted: "Come in!"

    A young combat staff officer walked in, saluted with a military salute, looked at the commander's blurred face under the dim light, and said: "I am reporting to you, Commander, that a reconnaissance plane flying from New Delhi brought the Governor-General to you.  A personal letter from you!¡±

    Chelsea opened the letter. It turned out that it was from the Governor-General in India. Entrusted by General Brandts, the Chief of General Staff of the British Army, he took the risk of sending a two-seater light reconnaissance aircraft to Imphal to pick him up. The letter from the Governor  , seems sincere.

    "General Chelsea, the development of the situation in East India to this day is definitely not the fault of the general or the crime of war, but our ability to reverse the defeat. The British Empire's military strength in East India has been exhausted, and the Chinese army has been  Advancing to the front line between China and India, this is an unstoppable momentum. I have been entrusted by the Chief of the General Staff, General Brandts, to send a special plane to pick you up in New Delhi."

    "There is General Alexander before him, whose life and death are unknown. I don't want to see such a tragedy happen to you. There is a Chinese saying that goes well, if you leave green hills, you will not have to worry about having no firewood. The general can gather strength in New Delhi.  , in order to make a comeback, after the domestic situation improves, we will inevitably increase investment in the South Asian subcontinent. This is an opportunity. I have every reason to believe that the South Asian subcontinent will still be dominated by generals in the future!"

    Chelsea smiled bitterly. He understood the good intentions of His Excellency the Governor, and was even more grateful to the Chief of General Staff, General Brandts, for thinking of him so much.  In terms of their personal relationship, this was an unusual move. His popularity in the General Staff Headquarters was not very good.

    But.  This means that more than 50,000 soldiers will be abandoned and left. To put it nicely, they are ordered to evacuate.  To put it more harshly, it means that he ran away from the battle, fearing for his own life, and killed more than 50,000 soldiers.  Being left on the front line, soldiers naturally have the pride of being a soldier.  Chelsea cannot do this anyway, even if they are destined to return to New Delhi.  His days in the British Imperial Army were coming to an end.

    ??The headquarters and superiors will not punish themselves for this, but the honor and dignity of soldiers will be lost in Imphal, and they will become the laughing stock of the British Empire. Do they still have the face to hang out in the army?

    Chelsea put down the Governor's letter, thought about it, and added a sentence after his own handwritten letter, "I will maintain the dignity of the British Empire generals in my own way. Chelsea's last words in Imphal!" Then, to the staff officer  Said: "You rush to the airport immediately, hand this letter to the pilot, and ask the Governor to forward it to Prime Minister Churchill and Chief of General Staff General Brandts, and let him fly back to New Delhi. Imphal is no longer safe!  "

    The staff officer opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Chelsea stopped him, and then signaled him to leave. The door of the office opened, and the light in the corridor suddenly poured in. It was dazzling, and then the light was shut out again.

    Of course Chelsea knew how difficult it was to send a plane when Imphal was surrounded by the Army's troops like an iron barrel. Fortunately, there was a simple runway in Imphal city, which could  Light aircraft take off and land, but the sky in East India belongs to Chinese aircraft. Light reconnaissance aircraft can only fly in secretly at night.

    Only God knows when the next time will come. Chelsea understood that he gave up the last chance to escape. He sat down on the chair again and wrote the last order in his life.

    "Chief of Staff of the Legion, after I died in the line of duty, the command of the army will be completely handed over to you. Without the determination to survive and die with Imphal, the army will no longer have the strength to fight. You can order the troops to surrender to the Chinese, but  , Never try to break through, that will only ruin the lives of soldiers. May Almighty God bless my soldiers of the British Empire to return home safely! "

    The dull sound of gunshots was particularly harsh in the corridor of the legion headquarters. Two guards quickly rushed into Chelsea's office. What they saw shocked them. Your Excellency, the Commander, was lying on the floor.  On the desk, his hands hung down feebly, holding a gun, still smoking, and blood was "gurgling" on his temples.

    Your Excellency, Commander, shot himself!  This bad news quickly spread throughout the legion headquarters compound. The other senior officers of the eastward marching legion who came after hearing the news looked at Chelsea's body with dull expressions and complicated emotions, with the fear of death and grief in their eyes.

    The chief of staff picked up the copy?The blood-stained order was followed by a long silence. He glanced at the corpse of his former boss with complex eyes, and said to the staff beside him: "Immediately report the bad news of Lieutenant General Chelsea's suicide to the cabinet and the general staff!  "

    After reading the order, the chief of staff burst into tears and said in a deep tone: "Generals, the commander has left an order. I will command the troops. Everyone is here. Go to the conference room. We should also take care of ourselves and several others."  The fate of ten thousand soldiers has to be decided!"

    On the night of the same day, outside Imphal, deputy division commander Tang Qiusheng, who commanded four brigades directly under the corps, one brigade of his own corps, one artillery brigade, and one tank brigade with nearly 90,000 troops, was holding a military meeting to deploy the division commander Tang Qiuli.  Order to capture Imphal immediately.

    The meeting went very smoothly. Imphal was already a ripe melon that would fall off at the first touch. If the division commander hadn't defeated it as soon as possible and surrounded it for a month or two, the British and Indian troops would have collapsed without a fight. All the troops would have collapsed.  The deployment was all in place. When the main attack force was determined, several brigade commanders refused to give in and had a huge quarrel. This involved the issue of who would touch the ripe melon.

    In particular, Liu Hongzhang, commander of the 1st Brigade of the Directly Affiliated Corps, and Chu Ziye, Commander of the 4th Brigade, had extremely tight neck tendons. Tang Qiusheng had heard for a long time that in the Directly Affiliated Corps, Liu Hongzhang and Chu Ziye, two people, were fighting for  He is famous for his main mission, and when I saw him today, he really lived up to his reputation.

    But there is only one direction to take the initiative. Ouyang Yishan, commander of the second brigade of the directly affiliated corps, and Xiao Jian, commander of the third brigade, are also eager to try, but they are not as thick-skinned and loud as Liu Hongzhang and Chu Ziye.

    Zhao Shoushan, commander of the 11th Brigade of the Sulu Mobile Corps, felt that he was alone. There were only four people in the regiment directly under him, and he could not compete with him. He could only pin his hopes on his commander. He was pitiful.  Looking at Tang Qiusheng, the two commanders of the artillery brigade and tank brigade seemed very stable. The key was that the assault was the task of the infantry. Otherwise, the two would never mind fighting.

    Tang Qiusheng was not in a hurry, and looked at Liu Hongzhang and Chu Ziye with a smile, who were letting go of their voices and showing off their brigade advantages. The two argued for a long time, then turned around to see the deputy division commander, looking at them with a smile, Liu Hongzhang  He said sheepishly: "Deputy division commander, I'm not being arrogant. I'm used to it, even in front of the division commander. Don't mind!"

    Tang Qiusheng spoke, "We all want to launch a main attack, but there is only one direction for the main attack. This makes it very difficult for me. I thought about it and realized that the division commander's intention was to minimize the strategic maneuvering space of the British and Indian troops in Imphal. In the end,  The best thing is to force them to surrender, so my plan is to attack from all four directions, but there must be a brigade as a reserve. "

    "The artillery brigade and the tank brigade are divided into regiments and assigned equally to each main attack brigade. Which of you will take a stand first and become the reserve team? Can you show your initiative?"

    When Tang Qiusheng asked this question, Liu Hongzhang and Chu Ziye, who were shouting the loudest, shrank their necks, and then there was no movement. Tang Qiusheng smiled and continued: "Since there is no one who actively asked to serve as a reserve team, then I will  Called by name directly!¡±

    Liu Hongzhang and Chu Ziye looked at Tang Qiusheng nervously. They both knew that the division commander's cousin, the third boss of the division, usually seemed amiable and soft-spoken, but once he got angry,  Come on, even the teacher doesn't dare to see him in person. If Deputy Teacher Tang points his finger at him, he will have to admit that he is unlucky.

    Tang Qiusheng turned his attention to Zhao Shoushan, commander of the 11th Brigade, and said: "Shoushan, your 11th Brigade will serve as the general reserve team for the campaign!"

    Zhao Shoushan looked frustrated, and Tang Qiusheng also considered many aspects. He would rather his subordinates suffer some losses than make the brigade commanders directly under the corps unhappy.

    He continued: "The specific tactics of the attack are as follows. Use fierce artillery fire to destroy the outer positions of the British and Indian troops. Then, use tanks as the lead to assault the urban area. I want to emphasize one point in particular. This is not a fierce battle or a fierce battle."  When fighting a battle, you must have a sense of proportion. If that person among you does not take the lives of the soldiers seriously and blindly shows off his personal heroism and causes heavy casualties to the troops, I will not forgive him lightly!"

    As he said that, a cold light flashed in Tang Qiusheng's eyes, and when he saw the four brigade commanders directly under the corps, his heart tightened, and he thought to himself: "I have seen the cruelty in this good-tempered deputy commander's heart!"

    Finally, Tang Qiusheng said: "The time for the general attack is set at fifty-thirty tomorrow morning. After the meeting, Chief of Staff Yu will issue the specific battle deployment to each of you. After you return to the army,  Convene a meeting immediately to implement it and report the battle plan to the headquarters.¡±

    At 5 o'clock in the morning on May 24, behind the positions of the troops of the ** Division surrounding Imphal, the attached artillery units, plus the positions of the artillery regiments of each brigade, were busy. Large-caliber artillery pieces,  He raised his thick cannon barrel and pointed it at Imphal.

    ?Each tank also took off its camouflage, its engine roared, and bursts of blue smoke were emitted, which mixed with the light fog in East India in the early morning. The positions of the ** division troops were full of pre-battle scenes.  Busy scene.

    At 5:23, the closed east gate of Imphal City slowly opened.

    (To be continued) (To be continued Piaotian) This work is recommended by registered literature members
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