Chapter 440: Recapturing Mandalay

Mukoda Koya led the division's remnants to fall back to the Governor's building in central Mandalay; the Governor's building, already under artillery fire, was only half standing, making a final, dying struggle.

His staff officers and commanders had suffered over half casualties; ammunition and food were completely exhausted, leaving only a few hundred stragglers trapped amid the ruins.

"Regiment Commander, we can't hold! The Japanese Army has already broken in!"

"We have no bullets! No shells!"

"The soldiers are already starving to death!"

The staff knelt on the ground, their voices desperate.

Mukoda Koya was covered in mud, his uniform torn, his gaze hollow, no longer the proud swagger of former days.

He stared out the window at the endless rain and the ruins everywhere.

Listening to the increasingly close shouts and gunfire, he finally understood.

The 18th Division is completely finished.

Mukoda Koya could not believe that his 18th Division, which had roamed the Huaxia Battlefield and Southeast Asia, had actually fallen in Mandalay.

He drew the command sword at his waist, intending to commit seppuku, but the staff stopped him dead.

"Regiment Commander! You cannot die! Break out! We still have a chance to break out!"

"Break out? Where to break out?" Mukoda Koya let out a bitter laugh, tears mixing with rain streaming down, "The Japanese Army surrounds us on all sides; we are trapped with no escape…"

Mukoda Koya was forcibly dragged away by soldiers and fled north of Mandalay.

Because there was no Japanese attack north of Mandalay, yet everyone knew that the north was defended by the Japanese at Bamo and Myitkyina.

But it was still better than dying in Mandalay.

However, what they could never have imagined was that the Special Forces Unit of Jiang Xingxue and Li Yi's guerrilla battalion, stationed in the Beilong Mountains east of Mandalay, had waited for the opportunity.

Jiang Xingxue's final order was to establish a position north of Mandalay to prevent the Japanese Army from escaping northward.

Jiang Xingxue also did not realize that the Japanese troops fleeing north were Mukoda Koya; when the blocking force ceased fire and withdrew from the battlefield, the soldiers discovered that the enemy they had killed was actually a Japanese Lieutenant General, and finally confirmed that it was Mukoda Koya.

At dawn on the third day.

The rain eased, and a faint glimmer of light appeared on the horizon.

After two days and two nights of bloody fighting, the Japanese resistance in Mandalay's city district was finally eradicated.

The last gunshot faded into the ruins.

The final Japanese soldier fell into a pool of blood.

The last plaster flag was stomped hard under the foot of an Expeditionary Force soldier.

Mandalay, reclaimed!

"We have won! We have won!"

"Mandalay has been taken!"

"The Little Devils have been driven away! Completely annihilated!"

The Expeditionary Force soldiers erupted in a thunderous roar of cheers. Exhausted to the limit, the warriors embraced and wept, collapsed on the muddy ruins, gasping for breath, tears streaming uncontrollably.

Some raised their guns and fired wildly into the sky; some knelt on the ground, crying out loudly; some, exhausted, simply collapsed into unconsciousness, yet a smile lingered on their faces.

A warrior took from his backpack a neatly folded Blue Sky, White Sun flag.

That flag had once fluttered over Mandalay's city walls, later seized by the Japanese Army and lowered in disgrace.

Today, it will rise again.

The warriors fetched a broken flagpole, secured the flag, and a few helped each other climb to the highest ruined bell tower in Mandalay.

Under the gaze of countless eyes.

Swish—!

The Blue Sky, White Sun flag, catching the morning breeze, rose slowly, soaring high above Mandalay!

"Long live!"

"Long live the Expeditionary Force!"

"Long live the Motherland!"

The cheers shot straight into the clouds, echoing through the reborn ancient city.

Dai Anlan stood beneath the bell tower, gazing up at the flag fluttering in the sky; the rain had long ceased, sunlight pierced the clouds, bathing his dust‑ and blood‑stained face.

The iron‑blooded general's eyes reddened slightly as he rendered a solemn military salute toward the flag.

Beside him, Hu Xianqun, Gao Jiren and other commanders stood at attention and saluted.

The city, broken and restored, won the bloody battle.

This victory was bought with the blood and lives of countless soldiers.

Although this is not home soil, everyone knows that this line represents a life‑or‑death front; if the Japanese Army seized it, the Huaxia rear would become extremely difficult.

Yet, when the soldiers looked around at the Mandalay before them, everyone fell silent.

This once prosperous, ancient, exotic Burmese capital has now been utterly leveled.

There is not a single intact building, not a single complete street, not a single whole roof.

Everywhere are broken walls and ruins, scorched earth and rubble, shell‑crater mud pits, blood and corpses.

The temples, palaces, shops, and homes that once stood have all turned into a wasteland, a scene of devastation too horrible to behold.

If the 200th Division's troops had not previously been stationed in Mandalay, they would never have believed that this hellish landscape had once been a vibrant city.

The cruelty of war was laid bare at this moment.

Yet no one regretted it.

Because they held the bottom line, repelled the invaders, reclaimed lost ground, and defended the soldiers' honor with blood.

Mijie South Bank, st Division Headquarters.

Jiang Anguo stood on the heights, holding a telescope, watching the flag rise again over Mandalay's skyline; his face, strained for days, finally relaxed, revealing a hint of relief.

The war is over.

The Japanese Army's 18th Division had its main force completely annihilated, its remnants scattered, and Mandalay achieved a great victory.

In fact, the expeditionary force soldiers who were collecting weapons and equipment in Mandalay did not discover Mukoda Koya of the 18th Division.

But it doesn't matter, because Jiang Anguo has already seen Mukoda Koya's information in the WarSystem; he was killed by a Machine Gunner of Jiang Xingxue's Special Forces Unit, and now should also be sent over from the north.

He did not linger in the joy of victory; instead, he turned immediately and, facing the staff officer and the communications soldier beside him, issued a series of urgent orders, his voice steady and forceful:

"Immediately order the Engineer Battalion of the st Division to mobilize fully! First, rush‑repair all bridges over the Mi Jie River! Second, rush‑repair the railway and tracks along the Mi Jie River! Third, clear the riverside roads, remove landmines and obstacles, and ensure unobstructed passage!"

The staff officer stepped forward immediately: "Division Commander! Why the such haste? Mandalay has just been retaken; shouldn't we rest first?"

Jiang Anguo shook his head, his gaze sharp, looking toward the south, in the direction of Yangon.

"Rest? We have no time to rest."

"Fantiang Xiang Erlang has, in his hands, the remnants of the rd Division and others, moving northward along the Yi Luo Wa Di Jiang. Mandalay is only the first step; our next step is to move south, retake Yangon, and completely drive the Little Devil out of Myanmar!"

"The Mi Jie River bridges and railway are the most crucial strategic routes for the southward advance! They are supply lines, transport lines, lifelines! They must be repaired at the fastest speed to ensure the main forces, heavy equipment, and supplies can move south smoothly!"

"Understood?"

"Understood!" the staff officer said solemnly, standing at attention.

Jiang Anguo looked again at the flag atop Mandalay's city walls, a steadfast light flashing in his eyes.

The recapture of Mandalay is only the beginning of the great counter‑offensive in northern Myanmar.

The real decisive battle is still in the south.

And he is already prepared.

Soon after, horns sounded again on both banks of the Mi Jie River.

The soldiers of the Engineer Battalion of the st Division, carrying tools and materials, braved the morning sun and rushed to the riverbank. Bridge repairs, railway laying, road clearing— the engineering work unfolded in full swing.

The southward passage of the steel torrent is being opened rapidly.

Above the ruins of Mandalay, new hope has already risen. The expeditionary force's flag flutters with a rustling sound in the wind.

Next stop, Yangon!

Completely expel the Japanese invaders, restore all of Myanmar, and open the Dian-Mian Highway!