Chapter 56: The Chaos of Lashu

He in his previous life never traversed the Dian‑Mian Highway; he only visited Tengchong, never stepping out of the country.

He wore comfortable travel shoes, walked on clean tidy stone slabs, visited the solemn National Memorial Cemetery, and listened to the guide narrate the expeditionary force's history in a steady tone. At that time he was a spectator; history to him was the cold names on monuments, the yellowed photos in museums, a past already settled in dust.

But now, he is not a spectator.

After all, hundreds of thousands of troops gathered in a border town, where logistics were relatively difficult; Dali, being a somewhat larger city, was where the expeditionary force actually assembled.

Since China's war of resistance, all strategic and civilian supplies—gasoline, kerosene, diesel, rubber, automobile parts—have been imported, and over ninety percent of medicines, steel, cotton yarn, white sugar, paper also come from abroad.

If the Japanese Army cut off the Dian‑Mian Highway, severing all China‑external world links, Jiang Anguo could not even imagine what calamities would arise.

Even ammunition supply is problematic; let alone supplies not arriving and existing stock unable to sustain the resistance. Whether China could hold out three months with the China‑Myanmar Road blocked is extremely difficult.

Precisely because of the Dian‑Mian Highway's importance, China must and will send troops, with no retreat; the battle is only a matter of how to fight, and if we lose, how we lose. It was just that the start was swift and the end equally swift.

The British believed the Chinese had once been Burma's suzerain; Chinese entry would hinder their colonial control, so they never dared let Chinese troops enter Burma.

During the Ming and Qing, Burma paid tribute to the imperial court; the British knew this, let alone the Chinese.

The Dian‑Mian Highway, delivering ten thousand tons of supplies per month, was the lifeline of China's resistance; if we truly lost, the Japanese would be free of constraints, Southeast Asia would have no opponent, and with millions of soldiers, whether advancing south, striking north, or even targeting Australia, the Japanese had the capability to seize them.

The Japanese southern forces' main issue was manpower: with only four hundred thousand troops spread over the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, defending was hard, let alone attacking.

But if they had a million troops, the Japanese would truly dare to invade Australia.

During World War II, Australia could not be ignored; it was a crucial United States transit hub, with many supplies and ships docking there.

After seven days, Jiang Anguo finally arrived at Lashu on the evening of April 6.

To Jiang Anguo's surprise, he encountered the New 38th Division, whose roots lie in Song Ziwen's Tax Police Corps, and even now remains entangled with Song Ziwen.

The division commander of the New 38th Division has always been under Song Ziwen's patronage, and the current commander is Sun Liren.

"That's odd, the 38th Division is still at Lashu, so the 66th Army hasn't departed yet." Jiang Anguo suddenly had many questions.

Soon, Jiang Anguo's doubts were answered: a force of nearly ten thousand cannot be completely secret, especially when they are allies.

The person Jiang Anguo sent out returned with a report half an hour later.

It cost nothing; just a few cans yielded the answer Jiang Anguo wanted.

It meant the 38th Division had just come out of Yunnan, arriving at Lashu on April 6.

Jiang Anguo stared at the map in astonishment, "The Fifth Army, a single army, has to face three Japanese divisions."

Jiang Anguo had always thought the Japanese poured four divisions into Burma at once, but actually the 55th Division was on the Tonggu Front, while the 33rd Division chased the British on the Western Front.

Because the 55th Division suffered heavy losses, the Japanese decided to reinforce Burma with the 56th Division, and later sent the 18th Division into Burma.

The Japanese 18th and 56th Divisions were actually transferred from the Malay Peninsula, landing at Yangon; the campaign on the Malay Peninsula had gone too smoothly.

Jiang Anguo realized all his intelligence was wrong; would this affect Dai Anlan's 200th Division?

Dai Anlan had already identified that the Tonggu direction faced the Japanese 56th and 55th Divisions, while the force chasing the British was the Japanese 33rd Division.

Only now does the Mandalay Expeditionary Force Headquarters confirm one fact: the immediate enemy is not a single or even two Japanese divisions, but three divisions already present on the Burmese battlefield.

"It seems the expeditionary force's combat power is still decent." Dai Anlan's single division held off the 55th Division's attack, showing the importance of seizing terrain advantage early; unfortunately there was no air support, otherwise the gains would have expanded.

Even if they could not drive back the Japanese 55th Division, the depth of the 200th Division and New 22nd Division could still stand firm against its assault.

"Then are the other two divisions of the 66th Army still behind us?" He only saw the 38th Division, not the 66th Army's other two divisions, the 28th and 29th.

Jiang Anguo lowered his head, muttering, "So the expeditionary force's reserve has two divisions stationed at Lashu, and Lashu was lost in just one day."

Jiang Anguo stared wide‑eyed, unable to believe it: two divisions, the expeditionary force's 66th Army, the 38th Division's combat power is undeniable, being from the Tax Police Corps, and the veterans in Sun Liren's unit were formed by soldiers wounded in the Battle of Songhu.

The New 28th Division and New 29th Division, though mostly fresh recruits, are fully staffed infantry divisions, fully equipped, each soldier with a standard rifle—not two men sharing one gun. The real problem is that these two divisions are still behind Jiang Anguo.

That means the expeditionary force's supposed hundred‑thousand men is actually less; only the Fifth Army and the Senary Army have reached their designated positions.

Yet, in this way, the 200th Division also held off the Japanese attack, meaning the 200th withdrew from Tonggu due to lack of reinforcements.

Seeing so much materiel at Lashu end up given to the Japanese, even if they had blown it up while withdrawing, it would have been fine.

The expeditionary force's Staff Department was also stationed at Lashu; Lin Wei, as commander of the Staff Corps, in this rear area, left Jiang Anguo speechless.

The crux is the system is truly chaotic: Luo Zhuoying can command, Du Lvming can too; if Lin Wei were to issue orders, it would be disastrous.

Moreover, Lin Wei, as the expeditionary force's Staff Corps, failed to send information to the Fifth Army during the retreat; the Fifth Army initially didn't even know Lashu had fallen.

Someone like that, even killing them would not be excessive.