Chapter 76: Let God Come to Save You!

April 16, Mandalay.

In the early morning, Yalishanda received bad news: the British First Division stationed at Ren'ankiang had been surrounded by the Japanese Army.

Yalishanda's mission was simple: to emulate the victorious Dunkirk evacuation and get the British forces in Myanmar to retreat safely to India.

That truly was bad news.

Yalishanda, Churchill's close comrade, stood firmly behind Churchill.

Therefore he intended, like at Dunkirk, to bring the British back to Myanmar.

Surrounded at Ren'ankiang were the First Division, Anglo-Burmese Forces, and the Armored Brigade.

Also present was the Burmese army's commander, William Joseph Sili Mu. Excellent, this basically wipes out the British-Myanmar army in one go; if Britain's Churchill learned of this, who knows how many days he would go without being able to eat fish and chips.

Yalishanda felt a sudden headache; he had no troops at his disposal, and the only force he could mobilize was the Expeditionary Force, which he despised for fighting in straw sandals.

But he had to grit his teeth and ask them for help.

"Yalishanda, what urgent matter brings you at this hour?" Stilwell looked at the veteran British officer, holding the British Army's conduct in low regard, even more so than the Expeditionary Force's soldiers.

"Oh, General, I have some bad news to tell you," Yalishanda said.

"Hey, Yalishanda, I've never heard a single good piece of news from you British," Stilwell teased.

Yalishanda's face was a bit embarrassed, "General, our troops at Ren'ankiang have been surrounded by the enemy; I hope you can send Chinese forces to rescue them."

Stilwell wiped his glasses, shook his head, "Yalishanda, you have truly given me the worst possible news. May I ask, are your British soldiers really fighting the Japanese in Myanmar?"

Even now, Stilwell cannot help but doubt whether the British have become allies of the Japanese, since from Malaysia to Myanmar the British troops have been constantly retreating.

"Moreover, I recall your units have been constantly retreating; may I ask how the Japanese managed to catch up with you," Stilwell retorted.

"Only God knows the answer," Yalishanda said.

"Then let God rescue your troops," Stilwell said bluntly.

Stilwell controlled the allocation of supplies for the Southeast Asian Allied Nations, so no matter how aristocratic the British are, they have no leverage with him.

Yalishanda was left speechless by Stilwell's tirade, but finally said, "General, if you do not dispatch troops to rescue them, I believe Sili Mu and Si Ke Te cannot hold out for a day."

Fine, the issue is once again back in Stilwell's hands.

Stilwell knew the British would certainly go to rescue them, but he no longer trusted the British; from the Tonggu Campaign, the Pingmana Battle, each engagement had turned into a defensive stand.

The main reason was the British's tendency to retreat without fighting; these British had no will to battle.

This forced Stilwell to consider reducing the British's supply allotments.

Stilwell immediately summoned senior officers of the Expeditionary Force, including Luo Zhuoying, Du Lvming, Sun Liren, Liao Yaoxiang and other Expeditionary commanders.

In the end the Expeditionary Force compromised, deciding that the New 38th Division would lead troops to rescue the British besieged at Ren'ankiang.

Whether it was the New 22nd Division or the New 93rd Division, their task was to block the current enemy and prepare for a decisive battle with the Japanese in Mandalay.

Stilwell and Luo Zhuoying were still pondering how to conduct the battle in Mandalay.

Sun Liren acted decisively, immediately heading to the 113th Regiment of the New 38th Division deployed on the front line, commanded by Liu Fangwu, with a total strength of just over a thousand men.

Indeed, Sun Liren had such audacity, leading over a thousand men to rescue Ren'ankiang, and when Yalishanda's liaison assigned to the 113th Regiment saw the rescue force was so small, he was stunned.

He immediately reported the matter to Yalishanda.

Yalishanda promptly relayed this to Stilwell, thinking it was a joke at the expense of the British Empire's soldiers.

Stilwell simply replied, "General, I don't think this is a joke; you have seven thousand men— even seven thousand pigs could break out of the encirclement, let alone you have guns and tanks. Are you wielding fire sticks?"

Stilwell's rebuttal made Yalishanda blush furiously, cursing Stilwell inwardly.

Yalishanda only wanted to rescue the First Division, Anglo-Burmese Forces, and the Armored Brigade as quickly as possible.

The British Army placed liaison officers in all Expeditionary Force units to monitor their movements.

The Expeditionary Force also sought to embed liaison officers within the British, but the British rejected the request.

This led to many subsequent problems.

Even though the Expeditionary Force's soldiers did not know Ren'ankiang and Sun Liren was unfamiliar with it, Ren'ankiang now shines as the brightest beacon in all of Myanmar.

Yalishanda did accomplish a major feat: after the Anglo-Burmese forces entered Ren'ankiang, he immediately ordered the oil wells there to be bombed.

Ren'ankiang holds extremely important oil, which is why the Japanese placed a division on the Western Front there; the 33rd Division's main objective was to seize Ren'ankiang's oil fields.

At this moment Ren'ankiang was ablaze, its flames shooting into the sky; even at night, the glow could be seen clearly from dozens of miles away, providing an excellent beacon for the 113th Regiment.

Sun Liren led the 113th Regiment without lingering; after contacting the forces inside the city, he set a timetable, ordered the British inside to prepare to withdraw, and opened fire on the Japanese north of the city.

The initial Japanese force that surrounded the British numbered only a thousand men—exactly a thousand, the size of a battalion. That battalion merely cut off the British's rear, causing the British to refrain from attacking the Japanese and instead hold a defensive position at Ren'ankiang.

That unit was the 33rd Division's maneuver battalion; its mission was to bypass Ren'ankiang's rear, sever its supply line, and it successfully blocked the British.

The British would not engage without reconnaissance planes; because they did not know how many Japanese were behind them, the British were blocked at Ren'ankiang.

It was nothing short of a miracle, and then there was no "after"; the Japanese forces that arrived later again surrounded the British at Ren'ankiang.

The Japanese were also exhausted, lacking horses, and were unable to launch an attack on the British; moreover, fearing a British counterattack, they learned from Burmese spies that the British inside Ren'ankiang possessed not only tanks but also artillery.

The Japanese dared not attack further, instead waiting for the main force to arrive to completely annihilate the British.

PS: Night owls, go to bed early!