Chapter 123: Japanese Army

The mountain road was rugged and hard to traverse, and the Transport Vehicle's jolting exceeded Jiang Anguo's imagination.

The journey was full of scares but no real danger; the road was uneven, full of pits and depressions, all waterlogged, and a moment's carelessness would cause the Transport Vehicle to sink.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

Everyone in the vehicle got out and began helping push it; soldiers also disembarked from the vehicles behind.

With everyone's combined effort, the vehicle finally got out of the mud.

The gravest problem was a broken axle; in that case they just pushed the vehicle off the cliff, and Jiang Anguo simply bought a new one from the system.

What's needed now is speed.

At the same time.

The main forces of the Expeditionary Force Fifth Army were marching north from Mandalay. After learning that Bamo had been captured, Du Lvming truly did not consider a direct assault to retake Bamo; instead, he proceeded cautiously, deciding to detour via Myitkyina, which added a considerable distance.

It wasn't that Du Lvming was actually scared; first, the intelligence was unclear, and second, the British were again surrounded.

Once more, Chongqing and Stilwell were threatened, and consequently Du Lvming had to split his forces again.

Among the retreating troops were, besides the Fifth Army's main force, the newly formed 38th Division, the newly formed 22nd Division, and part of the 28th Division.

His original intention was to send Sun Liren's newly formed 38th Division to the rescue, but the British kept demanding more, insisting on two divisions' worth of troops, so he could only dispatch Liao Yaoxiang's newly formed 22nd Division as well.

Both Du Lvming and Stilwell were very disappointed with the British combat effectiveness.

Du Lvming still recalled Stilwell's final words, "Let Churchill come to rescue you."

The British conduct in Myanmar had greatly angered the commander; the British lacked the strength of an old‑power nation and were constantly a hindrance on the Myanmar battlefield.

As he had said before, "The British really should go meet God."

Stilwell even, when no one was around, openly cursed the British.

Look, the vanguard first received news that the th Division had defeated the Japanese 56th Division's 148th Regiment at Xibu.

But what are you British doing, withdrawing from Mandalay even earlier than the Expeditionary Force, exposing its right flank to the Japanese, and now being surrounded again, with no answers to any questions.

You don't even know which Japanese unit it is?

The Expeditionary Force's retreat was far earlier than history records, and the British were even faster.

After Ren'ankiang failed to hold, retreating back to Mandalay, Yalishanda convened the senior officers of the British forces in Myanmar to discuss the withdrawal.

You say retreat quickly, yet they're still dragging their feet; the main force is still at Kalewa, and the Anglo‑Myanmar alliance is now blocked by the Japanese at Kalewa, with the British not even considering a strong attack but instead trying to locate Expeditionary Force units.

After being surrounded, they acted like children whining for reinforcements.

Precisely because of that, Du Lvming's remaining forces were few.

And Stilwell finally understood who was actually fighting; the British old‑guard troops never intended to hold Myanmar, while the Americans merely hoped the Japanese would commit more troops to Myanmar, thereby easing the Pacific pressure on the U. S. forces.

The United States was building up strength for a naval showdown with the Japanese, even though its own navy was not as strong as Japan's.

Looking at the British, their weapons are like fire‑tipped sticks; these arms should all be handed over to the Expeditionary Force.

Tanks and Transport Vehicles are more like transport units, and crucially, these weapons were eventually all handed over to the Japanese.

A rift formed between Stilwell and the British, an insurmountable barrier; Stilwell reported this series of battles in Myanmar to Roosevelt, who, upon seeing it, was very angry and decided to increase aid to China.

Singapore.

Southern Front Headquarters.

Terauchi Hisaichi was considering Jiu Mi Jingyi's plan to Air Drop Bamo; Jiu Mi Jingyi, a Colonel, is the commander of the Japanese 1st Paratrooper Brigade.

"General, our best option now is to Air Drop Bamo and then cut off the Expeditionary Force's retreat route," Jiu Mi Jingyi said, envying other units blooming across Southeast Asia while his paratrooper brigade faced constant setbacks.

Since its inception, it has constantly encountered various problems.

At first, the high‑jump, the Japanese thought they had mastered the essence, but the Americans said it was just for entertainment.

Later they hired German instructors; the German side of the paratroopers was relatively better than the Japanese, but once the German instructors got involved they discovered that many of these "elite" soldiers suffered from acrophobia.

During a training session, many soldiers refused to jump, so the Japanese officers kicked those who wouldn't jump out of the plane.

That caused a serious problem; many soldiers, in panic, didn't know how to open their parachutes and consequently fell to their deaths.

The paratrooper unit Jiu Mi Jingyi now leads is vastly different from the previous one, because the earlier troops were all killed.

"Jiu Mi Jingyi, are you sure the paratrooper unit is usable?" Even Terauchi Hisaichi had to consider whether the paratroopers were reliable.

"General, once we cut off Bamo's retreat route and seize Myitkyina, the 18th Division and the 55th Division will follow from behind; we can definitely encircle and annihilate the Expeditionary Force," Jiu Mi Jingyi pleaded.

After considering it, Terauchi Hisaichi agreed to Jiu Mi Jingyi's request.

The original plan was for the Southern Army to also employ airborne troops, with the drop zone at Lashu; the direction was altered because Lashu reported that the Expeditionary Force had over five thousand troops stationed there.

For the relatively immature paratrooper unit, Air Dropping into Lashu was too risky.

Terauchi Hisaichi also dared not take the risk, so he ultimately chose Jiu Mi Jingyi's suggestion: Air Drop Bamo and seize Myitkyina.

"If this battle succeeds, I will certainly request the headquarters to expand the paratrooper brigade," Terauchi Hisaichi said sincerely.

"Hey." Jiu Mi Jingyi bowed ninety degrees.

A Colonel is only one step away from a Major General, yet the gap is far from easy to cross; Jiu Mi Jingyi seemed to see hope.

Bamo, heavy rain, 19:27 in the evening.

Having successfully completed the Air Drop, Jiu Mi Jingyi did not relax.

"Make haste and construct fortifications," Jiu Mi Jingyi shouted.

In this parachute drop, Jiu Mi Jingyi personally led the First Paratrooper Regiment; his brigade numbered only 3,800 men, comprising three infantry battalions of 1,100 soldiers each, plus additional support troops.

In reality, the paratrooper battalion was only at the regiment level, about 700 men.

Jiu Mi Jingyi personally led the First Paratrooper Regiment to Air Drop Bamo, while the Second Paratrooper Regiment, led by Lieutenant Colonel Gao Cun Jian Nan, Air Dropped into Myitkyina.

This time, the actual mobilized paratrooper force numbered only 1,400, and they operated in split units.

Bamo's fortifications were truly poor; the Expeditionary Force soldiers never imagined the Little Devil would come from the sky.

When Jiu Mi Jingyi's paratroopers first landed, he himself was worried that ground forces would counterattack. Yet when his feet touched the ground, there was no resistance, because the Expeditionary Force guarding Bamo consisted of only a single company; they had never seen such things and thought celestial beings had fallen from the sky.

Fortunately the sharp‑eyed soldier saw the Japanese Army's sun flag and immediately counter‑attacked, but by then it was already too late.