Chapter 126: Rainy Season Approaches

"Command." From afar came rustling sounds, the Guard Company sentry's nerves tensed instantly, the muzzle rose quickly, and he whispered a warning.

"Scallion oil noodles!" The reply was clean and crisp; this was also today's operation code phrase.

The Guard Company sentry's tense muscles finally relaxed; the arrivals were the Special Forces Unit dispatched by Jiang Anguo. Among them they escorted a guy bound with thick ropes, a torn cloth stuffed in his mouth, tightly sealed. Yet from his clothing he seemed to be one of their own.

Jiang Anguo gave a glance, and the guard immediately stepped forward to remove the thing from the other's mouth.

The other was terrified, looking at blurred faces, wanting to scream but fearing the Japanese, "Who are you?"

"Remember, from now on, I ask, you answer; if you answer wrong, you die," Jiang Anguo said in a low voice.

Because it was raining, marching at night, they couldn't light torches, and even flashlights were useless; they had been coming along the road from Lashu to Bamo.

The other nodded.

"What is your name?"

"Wu Dayou."

"Are you a defender of Bamo?" Jiang Anguo asked.

"Yes."

"How many of you are there?"

"Just me. Our company was scattered by the Japanese; many don't know where they went, probably like me, hidden in the forest."

Jiang Anguo nodded satisfactorily, "We are the Lashu defenders; now I need to know the situation inside Bamo."

Wu Dayou's eyes widened; it turned out they were allies, and he felt relieved.

"Sir, I don't know that either; I only know that the sky was filled with countless parachutes, we thought deities had descended, then we saw the Japanese and opened fire, but it was already too late; the Japanese outnumbered us," Wu Dayou said.

Wu Dayou's account was fairly clear, but it wasn't what Jiang Anguo needed.

"Consider carefully, how many parachutes were there at that time—one thousand, or more?" Jiang Anguo deliberately quoted a figure, which was indeed accurate; soldiers back home had never seen paratroopers, and facing such a force they could genuinely think they were deities.

Wu Dayou paused, shook his head, and thought seriously: "Sir, I wouldn't guess recklessly. However, from a high point I saw that the parachute canopies, though many, didn't cover the whole sky. From my observation, probably under a thousand, maybe five hundred to eight hundred."

"How is the firepower?" The numbers shouldn't be many, and indeed they weren't; even though Jiang Anguo didn't know about Japanese paratroopers, he guessed their number was under ten thousand, and this airborne drop couldn't possibly involve ten thousand; ten thousand would require a massive fleet of transport aircraft, which Japan clearly lacked.

It seemed the Japanese had about seven to eight hundred men.

"Besides the Type 38 rifle, there are machine guns, but not many," Wu Dayou said.

Jiang Anguo waved his hand, "You take him down first."

Wu Dayou walked a few steps and said, "By the way, sir, at that time some aircraft flew toward the northwest; we don't know whether they went to bomb or for something else."

Northwest, Myitkyina.

Well, the Japanese actually divided their troops, with such a modest force, they even dared to split forces between Bamo and Myitkyina; the Japanese intend to completely cut off the Expeditionary Force's rear.

If Myitkyina falls, and Du Lvming makes a wrong decision, the Expeditionary Force could indeed take the old route—into Wild Man Mountain.

"All units, move fast, increase speed," Jiang Anguo shouted, urging the troops behind to keep up.

Now, regardless of any stragglers, retaking Bamo is the top priority.

April 26, 00:02.

The heavy rain continued to pour.

West of Bamo is the Yi Luo Wa Di Jiang, a relatively wide river, but that's fine; Jiang Anguo's party came from Lashu, i. e., from the east.

They crossed an unnamed river; if the Japanese had deployed forces at Bamo's forward outpost Manxi, the loss for Jiang Anguo's troops would be huge.

Just as he fortified at Zai An, the terrain of northern Myanmar, a thousand troops defending against ten thousand enemies is no problem at all.

The troops had already moved into a position over seven hundred meters away.

"Everyone already in combat positions?" Jiang Anguo glanced back and asked in a low voice.

He wiped the rain off his binoculars; this heavy rain was really annoying, not just the rain but also the terrifying rainforest around, Jiang Anguo couldn't help but get goosebumps.

Even wearing rain gear, his body was completely soaked.

Looking at distant Bamo, only the Japanese searchlights were sweeping back and forth; those lights were the Expeditionary Force's former ones, and because of the weather and distance Jiang Anguo couldn't discern how many Japanese there were.

The forces stationed at the airport didn't seem many, which was correct; the airport is on Bamo's north side, and the Expeditionary Force's retreat route runs from south to north, so holding the south side is enough.

Jiang Anguo let out a big sigh, feeling very grateful to have come to this world and become a member of the Expeditionary Force.

The Japanese were blocked at Bamo; the key is Jiang Anguo hadn't expected Bamo to have two rivers blocking the way. The Japanese let the first river go, i. e., they defended the second river.

MianDianBeibu originally has high mountains and dense forest, plus rivers as barriers; this Bamo is basically another version of Changsha.

When the weather clears, Japanese transport planes can continuously deliver troops from the rear.

The transport ship behind Jiang Anguo had already been left at the first river; he had thought Bamo only had one river, but there were actually two rivers, two defensive lines.

Guard Company Commander Jiang Fei said, "Commander, everything is ready."

The force Jiang Anguo brought out this time exceeded a thousand men, with the Guard Company alone accounting for five hundred.

The rain's sound well concealed Jiang Anguo's party's actions, including that Jiang Anguo had already given the Tank Company, fully equipped with T-34 tanks—only ten T-34 tanks.

The remaining Tank Company soldiers must move with the tanks and protect the tanks' flanks and rear.

The tank units were positioned on the east side, i. e., the right wing, which was Jiang Anguo's main attacking axis, to first seize the airfield; another factor was that the Special Forces Unit had already reconnoitered and found the river water level here the shallowest, so even tanks could charge across, especially during the dry season.

Heaven itself gave a great help.

But this downpour raised the water level somewhat.

The middle road to the south was the feint force, also directly confronting the Japanese main force.

The left wing was the Seventh Company, led personally by Third Battalion commander Hu Dali, with Seventh Company commander Jin Jian.

All forces were fully deployed, and battle was about to erupt.

"Artillery three-round covering fire, tanks advance, infantry follow closely," Jiang Anguo ordered, his gaze unwavering.

All artillery units were on the middle road, i. e., the feint force; this was led by Third Battalion deputy commander Huang Xuan, with Ninth Company, Company commander Qian Jiaguo, and two Platoons of Guard Company.

"Yes." Jiang Fei immediately turned back to his command post, and via radio contacted Third Battalion's Huang Xuan.

"Understood."

All the 80mm mortars were aimed at Bamo small town, 20 mortars.

He did not Exchange the howitzer, first because that big guy deploys too slowly, second because in this terrain mortars are the true kings. Once set up, calculate the Corner angle, you can pour high‑explosive shells straight into the enemy's crotch, both simple and brutal.

In summary, the distance is too short; the 105mm howitzer is a bit of overkill!