Chapter 525: Iron Fist Strike (5)

The newly formed 22nd Division commander Liao Yaoxiang also slowly nodded, his gaze solemnly scanning the sides of the tunnel, and said in a heavy tone: "Commander Sun is right; this position is too terrifying."

"Look, the tunnel is just wide enough for two soldiers to walk side by side; temporary shelters and firing ports have been built on both sides. The Japanese Army can use these shelters to unleash frantic fire on us as we enter the tunnel, while we find it hard to bring our firepower to bear."

More crucially, the tunnels are interconnected, allowing the Japanese Army to redeploy troops at any time to support any direction.

If we had not used white phosphorus bombs to destroy their underground system, an attack on Pingmana with the forces Du Yuming brought this time would likely suffer more than half losses at Pingmana and would find it very hard to breach this place.

Yu Shao followed behind the two, staring at the crisscrossing tunnels, his face full of shocking dread. He turned to Dai Anlan and said with emotion: "Commander Dai, to be frank, if it weren't for that junior brother of yours who delivered the white phosphorus bombs, we have no idea what price we would have had to pay to take Pingmana."

"Look at these successive defensive works: on the surface there are reinforced‑concrete shelters, underground there are such dense tunnels and communication trenches. Without ten times the manpower, you can't even think of capturing this place." Yu Shao said sincerely, because he had suffered losses at Pingmana.

Fortunately, after the first wave of attack failed, the 200th Division was promptly rotated in, and Dai Anlan did not rush to force a quick victory.

Instead, he used the Artillery's advantage to bombard the Japanese positions while carrying out engineering works, inching closer to the enemy lines, and with the white phosphorus bombs delivered in time by the st Division behind, the Expeditionary Force was able to seize this seemingly impregnable fortress with minimal losses.

Dai Anlan gave a slight nod, his tone steady, and said: "Commander Yu, you're flattering me. This is not my sole merit; it is the result of all the Expeditionary Force soldiers fighting bravely, and of course it also owed much to Jiang Anguo's delivery of the white phosphorus bombs that broke the stalemate on the battlefield."

In fact, no one expected Song Jing Xiu Zhi could, in such a short time, construct such an enormous defensive system.

Later, from the surrendered Japanese troops we learned that when Song Jing Xiu Zhi received orders to defend Pingmana, there was less than a month before the Expeditionary Force launched its counter‑offensive.

Tonggu's counter‑attack was in May; no one expected the Expeditionary Force to smoothly capture Mandalay by mid‑July, then march southward to prepare an assault on Yangon, which left Song Jing Xiu Zhi with very little time to prepare defenses.

Dai Anlan paused, pointed at a fork ahead in the tunnel, and added: "Look, the communication trenches within the Second and Third Defensive Lines are far from complete; the walls are unreinforced, the ground uneven, and some sections haven't even been fully excavated. Clearly Song Jing Xiu Zhi was rushed for time and couldn't finish construction."

"If we gave Song Jing Xiu Zhi another month to perfect these defenses, I'm afraid even with white phosphorus bombs we would have to pay a terrible price to take this place."

Everyone looked in the direction Dai Anlan indicated and indeed saw the walls of the forward communication trench rough, many spots still bearing collapse marks, the ground littered with rubble and mud, a stark contrast to the solidity of the First Defensive Line.

Sun Liren walked to an unfinished communication trench, crouched, and examined its structure closely, saying with admiration: "Honestly, Song Jing Xiu Zhi's military talent is not to be underestimated. If given enough time, he would surely turn Pingmana into a truly insurmountable sky‑ditch."

Pingmana's terrain, high ground striking low ground, is inherently suitable for defensive warfare, which is why the Expeditionary Force had previously planned to stage a battle there against the Japanese.

"Fortunately we seized the moment and advanced quickly, denying him the chance to perfect his defenses. Moreover, the power of the white phosphorus bombs truly exceeded our expectations; without such weapons, destroying the Japanese underground tunnels would have cost us many times the casualties."

Liao Yaoxiang echoed: "Commander Sun is right. We previously thought that, with the Expeditionary Force's manpower advantage, taking Pingmana was only a matter of time, but only after stepping into this underground stronghold did we truly grasp how meticulous Song Jing Xiu Zhi's defensive deployment was."

"Even if we poured in ten times the troops, we might still fail to breach this place; then we would not only be unable to take Pingmana, but also lose the ability to march south to attack Yangon, and might even be encircled by the Japanese, falling into a desperate situation."

Du Yuming stood in the middle of the tunnel, silent for a long while, his eyes filled with complex emotions—shock, relief, and a hint of self‑blame.

Du Yuming raised his hand to touch the tunnel wall and said heavily: "Indeed, thanks to our rapid advance, Song Jing Xiu Zhi didn't have enough time to perfect the defenses."

"Looking back, I insisted on moving south during the rainy season, ignoring Jiang Anguo's warning, which caused the Tank regiment to become mired, hindering the Pingmana offensive. Had I been more cautious, perhaps we wouldn't have suffered so many casualties, nor forced our soldiers into a life‑or‑death fight with the Japanese in the tunnels."

At this point Du Yuming also had to admire Jiang Anguo's foresight; the Telegram Jiang Anguo had sent him had been ignored, and in frustration Jiang Anguo could only contact Dai Anlan directly.

That led to the elite th Division becoming the Expeditionary Force's reserve unit.

Stilwell stood beside Du Yuming, his expression equally grave, and scanned everything inside the tunnel with the Flashlight he carried.

Stilwell said, his tone tinged with guilt: "General Du, in fact I share responsibility. I have been eager to capture Yangon, constantly urging the troops forward, overlooking the harsh rainy‑season road conditions and the Japanese defensive strength, and even blamed you when you ran into trouble. In hindsight, that was indeed inappropriate."

Du Yuming waved his hand, his tone softening a bit: "General Stilwell, the situation has come this far; saying this is now meaningless. Pingmana is already under our control."

"Now we share a common goal: to go all‑out to capture Yangon and open the Dian‑Mian Highway. As long as we achieve that, past disagreements and mistakes can be forgiven."

Stilwell nodded, turned to Dai Anlan, and said with admiration: "Commander Dai, you truly are an outstanding commander."

"During the Pingmana offensive, you did not rush for quick results; instead you formulated a sound plan based on battlefield conditions—first using Artillery to suppress Japanese fire, then undertaking engineering work, advancing covertly, and finally employing white phosphorus bombs to completely destroy the Japanese underground defenses, capturing the position with minimal loss. That command talent is truly admirable."

After entering the Japanese position earlier, Stilwell was jotting notes in his notebook, and the few people accompanying Stilwell were also taking notes.

Obviously, these people were also seeing such complete underground works for the first time.

"General Stilwell, you're overpraising me," Dai Anlan said modestly, "I only did what I was supposed to do. As a commander, my duty is to minimize soldiers' casualties; the real effort came from the st Division. We still aimed to seize the position as quickly as possible, paving the way for the main force's southward advance."

"Moreover, without Commander‑in‑Chief Du's support, without the cooperation of the division commanders, and without the soldiers' valiant fighting, we could not have smoothly taken Pingmana."

This line of speech is flawless; you want to make Jiang Anguo the one who can't utter it.

As for credit, Jiang Anguo doesn't care much.