Chapter 528: Lightning Strike on Yangon (2)

Even as they shouted, the tank convoy did not slow at all; the sound of the tracks rolling over the road rang loudly and powerfully.

The infantry of the st Division stood upright on the trucks, shouts and gunfire rose and fell, and the previously somewhat dull marching column was instantly ignited by this fierce spirit.

The main troops of the Expeditionary Force, originally exhausted from days of forced marching and rainy‑season mud, were the soldiers of the main force.

Seeing the unstoppable momentum of the st Division, the fighting spirit and bloodlust in their hearts were instantly awakened, their steps unconsciously quickened, and the previously sluggish marching rhythm was completely broken.

"The st Division is already charging ahead; we must not fall behind!"

"Right! We can't let them take all the credit; the Little Devil also deserves his share!"

Soldiers of the various divisions of the Expeditionary Force shouted to each other, and the previously loose formation instantly tightened, sweeping away fatigue.

One by one they broke into long strides, sprinting forward, with shouts, gunfire, footfalls, and tank roars interweaving.

The whole Expeditionary Force, like ignited flame, followed the steel torrent of the st Division, surging full‑speed toward Yangon, no longer lagging as before.

Everyone was brimming with determination, aiming to race the st Division in speed and seize Yangon first.

Behind the Expeditionary Force, Du Yuming and Stilwell watched the sudden surge in speed, unable to believe it.

It turned out it was all to vie for credit.

Stilwell could not believe that this unit was the same one that had set out into Myanmar.

The combat power that erupted was vastly different from before.

Especially, he saw that the fighting will in the eyes of these Huaxia soldiers was truly terrifying.

Stilwell wrote in his notebook: "Never again fight the Huaxia army on land!"

At 'Bogu', sixty kilometers from Yangon, Zhang Bing's tanks met resistance from the Japanese Army.

And this was an old friend of the th Division, the former 56th Division's 148th Regiment, the regiment that had escaped at Xibu.

The regiment commander was the escaped Xiangyuan Wuwei Zhi Fu.

When Dai Anlan at the rear heard that the front was the 148th Regiment, he recalled that this regiment had blocked Xibu, and the 200th Division had paid a heavy price for it.

At that time, Jiang Anguo devised an air‑lift solution, sending all supplies via water‑borne transport aircraft to land on the Mi River, delivering weapons, equipment, and personnel to the ground, which finally broke through the 148th Regiment's blockade.

"What, the battle is over." Dai Anlan rode a Jeep from the Expeditionary Force's rear and arrived in just about an hour.

The artillery ahead rumbled.

Flames shot skyward, and Dai Anlan could see them from far away.

But when he reached Bogu, he was told that Bogu had already been taken, and the tank brigade of the st Division was already advancing toward Yangon.

Tomorrow Zhang Bing's tank brigade will reach Yangon, and the Sherman tanks will be able to charge into Yangon.

Only the soldiers of the st Division left behind at Bogu to clean up the remnants, to clear the scattered Japanese forces still resisting and the Myanmar volunteers.

Two soldiers carried a stretcher bearing a Japanese soldier's corpse.

The uniform and shoulder insignia showed he was the Japanese regiment commander.

"This is the commander of the 148th Regiment, Xiangyuan Wuwei Zhi Fu!" Dai Anlan asked.

The two st Division soldiers nodded and said, "Yes, Commander Dai, this is the Little Devil's regiment commander."

"Well done, nicely fought; with this, the Japanese 56th Division has been completely annihilated in Myanmar," Dai Anlan shouted.

At that time, to capture Xibu and allow the th Division to withdraw smoothly to Lashu, Dai Anlan personally commanded the battle, and was struck by a stray bullet.

Therefore, regarding how the later fighting went, Dai Anlan actually learned from the battle reports of the 200th Division and the Supplement Battalion, as well as the post‑war summary, what had happened.

Dai Anlan touched his scar; the gunshot wound scar is still on his body to this day.

"What a bargain for that Little Devil!" Dai Anlan said, but he never dared to underestimate the Little Devil.

The reason they could break through Bogu so quickly, Dai Anlan believed, was Jiang Anguo's st Division's combat power, far surpassing the Little Devil.

Dai Anlan counted on his fingers and said that now four divisions have been defeated at Jiang Anguo's hands, although the main force attacking Mandalay, the 18th Division, was the 200th Division.

But Dai Anlan knew clearly that without Jiang Anguo's provision of tanks, fighter aircraft and bombers, Mandalay would not have been so easy to capture.

The st Division soldiers who were cleaning up, seeing the Expeditionary Force's main body arriving from behind in succession, simply abandoned even the position and handed Bogu over directly to the Expeditionary Force in the rear.

This infuriated them.

It was interesting that the Expeditionary Force could keep up with the st Division; Jiang Anguo ordered the transport vehicles behind to continuously drop supplies along the route, resupplying the Expeditionary Force's main troops.

In other words, the Expeditionary Force's main supply line along this route once again fell into Jiang Anguo's hands.

July 27, 01:30.

The night was as black as ink, heavy darkness shrouding Yangon, and only the scattered lights of the Japanese Army's positions within the city flickered in the dead silence, like the final breaths of the dying.

Outside the city, the Sherman tanks' tracks rolled over the river‑washed mudflats of the Irrawaddy River, emitting a dull yet resolute sound.

Under Jiang Anguo's command, the st Division's tank brigade, led by brigade commander Zhang Bing, after three days and three nights of high‑intensity forced march, finally stood before Yangon's walls.

Zhang Bing stood on the tank turret, his face covered with oil stains and dust.

The three days of nonstop day‑and‑night travel.

The sweltering summer heat of Myanmar, plus the tank's interior nearing fifty degrees Celsius, drenched him, left him exhausted, his throat dry and burning, and he spat out a thick foam.

Zhang Bing barked, "Damn it! We finally made it to Yangon! Bah!"

The tone was full of fatigue, yet also concealed a determined edge.

No one knew that during those three days and nights, they not only had to overcome the muddy roads and scorching heat.

They also had to launch a surprise raid on Bogu midway, brutally wiping out the Japanese Army's 148th Regiment stationed there.

That brief yet fierce battle gave the tank brigade a chance to rest.

It replenished some fuel and ammunition, greatly boosting the whole army's morale.

It kept this weary Armored Troops unit maintaining an unstoppable drive.

Compared with Zhang Bing's fatigue and resolve outside the city, the Japanese Army's 15th Army commander Iida Shojirou inside Yangon.

His mood at this moment was a hundred times more complex than Zhang Bing's, tension and despair like cold tides completely engulfing him.

As the supreme commander of the Myanmar Campaign, Iida Shojirou, since the expedition began, has always believed that the Imperial Japanese Army is invincible, and the early battles indeed went as he wished.

They swiftly seized multiple strategic points in Myanmar, driving the British Army into a corner.

It even for a time put the China Expeditionary Force on the defensive; at that moment he was full of vigor, believing that capturing all of Myanmar was only a matter of time.

But all these turns began with the Chinese general named Jiang Anguo.

Since the elite Japanese Army 56th 448th Regiment was defeated by Jiang Anguo's Supplement Battalion at Lashu, suffering heavy casualties and a severe loss of morale, Fan Tian Xiang Er Lang clearly felt that the advantage of the Japanese Army's 15th Army was gradually fading.

The once invincible Imperial Japanese Army began to suffer repeated setbacks, especially in the Mandalay campaign, where the 18th 448th Regiment was completely annihilated by the Expeditionary Force.

The Pingmana Defensive Line was easily breached, and Bogu stronghold fell within a single day.

Now, the China Expeditionary Force is at the foot of Yangon, pressing him into a corner.