Chapter 71: The Vanished 18th Division

Trench—Jiang Anguo has never dealt with them in his whole life.

If it hadn't been during the drills at Chanda, where he trained for a few days, he never would have imagined he'd have to do civil engineering work!

He was speaking of his past life; now he wishes he could hollow out the mountains west of Lashu.

But this is the second-to-last defensive line; the final line is, of course, Lashu.

On the railway and road leading to Lashu, Jiang Anguo must also arrange fortifications.

Therefore he exchanged a large quantity of sandbags; merely digging earth and timber wouldn't suffice, sandbags are needed, sandbags are used for fortifications, and both Bright Spears and Dark Arrows also need to be set up.

"Little brother, are you gearing up for a decisive battle with the Japanese at Lashu?" Hu Xianqun, not a fool, glanced at the map's fortifications and thought it was simply over the top.

Jiang Anguo nodded, "I have that plan."

"Lashu is the Expeditionary Force's rear; if we lose it, the Expeditionary Force's rear road will be severed."

The Japanese Army's 56th Division goes through Lashu, then north to Myitkyina, completely severing the Expeditionary Force's retreat.

There is a railway from Mandalay to Myitkyina, and with the rear cut off, Du Lvming oddly considered bypassing Myitkyina, yet the Japanese forces there were few, the Japanese were also pressing forward, even finding they could launch a single thrust across the Nujiang into Baoshan.

This resulted in the Japanese 56th Division, after sending a portion of troops to capture Myitkyina, having the main force stationed along the Nujiang line.

The Expeditionary Force's rear was truly too empty; perhaps even the Japanese Watanabe Masao hadn't anticipated it would proceed so smoothly.

When the Japanese Headquarters finally reacts and continues to dispatch troops to Myanmar, it's already too late.

The mountains are high and the waters perilous; the Nujiang is far from being easy.

"Commander, lately the pressure on Dr. Lei Ao and me has been a bit heavy," Li Qing said as she walked over at that moment.

Since it was a battlefield, Li Qing, Lei Ao, and all medical personnel wore military uniforms, but every member of the medical team had a blue cross insignia affixed to the chest.

Why blue? No reason—Jiang Anguo simply likes it.

Red is far too conspicuous, and white clothing is also very noticeable; the Japanese don't observe the Geneva Convention—anyone they see is a target—so they aren't permitted to wear white coats and must all wear uniforms.

"Exactly, the two of you are indeed lacking a few." In fact, Jiang Anguo assigned a doctor to Li Yi's guerrilla unit, and the Eighth Company's headquarters also assigned a doctor.

A force of over three thousand, with only four doctors, is indeed somewhat lacking.

"Commander, the majority are Lashu soldiers; many come to our camp for treatment, so medical staff are severely lacking," Li Qing said.

Jiang Anguo nodded and said, "Li Qing, you go back first; I'll bring the medical personnel over soon—it's my fault."

At present, the Independent Battalion's medical team comprises just two doctors and roughly twenty medical staff, all women, all acquired through system exchange.

The Lashu soldiers Li Qing mentioned seeking treatment at the Independent Battalion are there because Jiang Anguo allowed it; he wishes to win over Lashu's troops and later can recruit those veterans into his own forces.

Non-combat casualties are also numerous, not merely to see the female medical staff.

Mosquito bites, malaria, colds, and the like all contributed to Expeditionary Force soldier losses.

Lashu does have supplies, certainly, and isn't lacking medical items, but these must be reserved for the rear; even if Expeditionary Force soldiers wish to use them, it's impractical—strict regulations allow only officers to access them.

Ordinary soldiers' lives are too cheap.

Sulfonamide and penicillin are equivalent to gold.

With Jiang Anguo, if you come, I'll provide medication; consequently, when people fell ill they all headed to Jiang Anguo, and his reputation gradually spread.

All this is due to the system's existence; Jiang Anguo can acquire such inexpensive drugs, though purchasing soldiers likely remains costlier.

Thus Jiang Anguo was bluntly unreserved, exchanging ten doctors and sixty medical staff, bringing his regiment's medical team to over 100 personnel.

It was precisely because Li Qing found Jiang Anguo early that many unnecessary complications later were reduced.

Jiang Anguo led the medical team to Li Qing's camp, handed the personnel to Li Qing, who then organized them uniformly.

The war seemed to stand still during this interval; Lin Yi hadn't received any recent updates, and the most Jiang Anguo learned from Lin Yi were the 56th Division, the 55th Division, and the Japanese 33rd Division.

"Where did the Japanese 18th Division go?" Jiang Anguo wondered.

With Tonggu's fall, the Japanese could continue northward, yet they appeared to have halted at Tonggu, attacking the British on the Western Front while also assaulting the provisional 55th Division to the east.

Could he be wrong again?

"Commander, is it possible that the 18th Division you mentioned hasn't yet entered the Myanmar battlefield?" Deputy Battalion Commander Yan Xing said.

A battalion commander previously required five hundred points; after the system upgrade, only two hundred fifty points are needed.

Jiang Anguo's mind is truly about to hit two hundred fifty; the battlefield information is so massive he can barely keep up.

If it weren't for the computer's signal reception being too strong in Jiang Anguo's system exchange, he wouldn't have so many difficulties.

Yan Xing, courtesy name Yanlin, a Yangzhou native, thirty‑five, Central Military Academy Fifth Cohort, trait: combat staff officer.

Regarding Yan Xing's legitimacy, the system marks it as legitimate, and even his Central Military Academy enrollment can be checked.

Lin Yi remains unqualified; after all, a lieutenant without war experience is rare, so Lin Yi's help to Jiang Anguo is presently limited.

He's still not as good as Jiang Anguo, who in his past life had watched countless documentaries as a military novice.

"Yanlin, you're absolutely right, exactly— the Japanese 18th Division must have just landed in Myanmar," Jiang Anguo said, clapping.

Yan Xing instantly got to the point, just as he said.

The Japanese 18th Army landed at Yangon on April 8, and this division is a Class A Division with 28,000 troops.

Consequently the large force required rest; the Japanese 18th Division's weapons and equipment all had to be moved from Malaya, and for this reason, after a few days of rest in Yangon, the Japanese 18th Division departed on April 12 to reach Tonggu.

The Japanese 56th Division also came from Malaya.

The 56th Division and the 18th Division, these two units, are both forces of the Japanese Southern Army, under the 25th Army—Xia Shan Feng Wen—and it was this force that attacked Malaya and Singapore.

It also earned Xia Shan Feng Wen the moniker "Malayan Tiger".

This is also the main reason why the hostilities were so calm.