Chapter 88: Dodging the Bombardment

Buzz—.

The enemy aircraft have arrived and begun bombing Taunggyi.

The Expeditionary Force soldiers who had already taken cover felt extremely fortunate; had they been ten minutes later, those bombs and bullets would have fallen on their heads.

Even at daybreak, the pilots of the Japanese Army's Fifth Flight Division only thought the Chinese troops had hidden inside houses, unaware that there were no Chinese soldiers inside Taunggyi.

An Eighth Company fire team did not withdraw from the fight; instead it ran into a fleeing Japanese squad.

They immediately counterattacked; seeing the Expeditionary Force's firepower so fierce, the Japanese squad dropped a dozen corpses and fled into the forest to the southeast.

The Eighth Company soldiers did not pursue; after hearing the aircraft, each squad moved into the jungle to avoid the bombers' bombing.

After an encounter with a Japanese reconnaissance plane over Chanda, Jiang Anguo conducted avoidance training for the troops, emphasizing early detection and early evasion.

After all, the Eighth Company lacked anti‑air weapons; using their handheld MG42 for anti‑air fire was still rather weak.

There are over thirty fighters and bombers in the sky; if we can't beat them, can we still not dodge?

During the first wave, the Japanese bombers did not drop all their ordnance; after flying over, they returned for a second bombing of Taunggyi.

The bombing caused no casualties to the Expeditionary Force but inflicted heavy losses on the Burmese in Taunggyi.

Some quick‑witted Burmese had already fled into the mountains during the first barrage.

Dai Anlan watched the retreating Japanese planes and felt relieved, "Company Commander, you really saved us all this time!"

"No need to thank me, it's my duty," Quanzong said.

At night the Japanese planes dared not take off because the flight distance was too great, the direction uncertain, with no landmarks for reference—they might end up at Tonggu instead of Taunggyi. Another reason was the unclear friend‑or‑foe situation; even the Fifth Flight Division's bombers would not bomb indiscriminately.

After two bombing runs, they double‑checked repeatedly.

Dai Anlan dispatched a battalion into Taunggyi City to maintain order.

Sure enough, a Japanese plane returned once more, but this time only a single aircraft, apparently on a reconnaissance mission; after spotting Chinese soldiers entering Taunggyi, it did not linger and flew southward, presumably toward Tonggu.

Quanzong also sent a small detachment to reinforce the fire team that had fallen behind.

Dai Anlan led the division staff to Du Lvming's side to open an account.

"Platoon One, report numbers," Quanzong shouted.

"1… 25"

"Report to the Company Commander, the first company actually has 25 men." The Platoon Leader was no longer Zhang Shen.

"Where's your Platoon Leader?"

"Report, I am Shen Qi, squad leader of Platoon One, acting as Platoon Leader. Our Platoon Leader was hit by a bullet in the first wave, gritted his teeth, kept fighting, bled out, and fell." Shen Qi shouted.

It turned out that when the attack launched, Zhang Shenyi was unfortunately hit by two bullets; had he been withdrawn then, he could have been treated.

But Zhang Shenyi did not; he still led the charge.

After breaking into Taunggyi, Zhang Shenyi finally could not hold on, collapsing inside Taunggyi City, his body facing north, toward China.

He died from massive blood loss.

Quanzong did not expect that Zhang Shenyi, who had just spoken to him, would be gone like that.

Second Platoon: 31 men; Third Platoon: 35 men; Company Section: 38.

Quanzong's Eighth Company still had 129 men left, including lightly and seriously wounded, who were already receiving emergency treatment.

In a single battle they lost nearly a quarter of their strength; despite the Japanese having such a massive numerical advantage, they were still encircled from front and rear yet managed such a swift counterattack, causing great damage to the Eighth Company.

The Eighth Company's results were huge: they not only killed Colonel DaSuJiaShi of the 113rd Regiment, earning 8,000 points, but also slew countless Japanese soldiers.

They killed over two hundred Japanese soldiers, including three squad leaders and six platoon leaders.

Quanzong was unaware of these figures; they were displayed in Jiang Anguo's system, showing the total points earned.

The achievements were glorious.

After the war, the Japanese 113rd Regiment, which had 3,600 men before the battle, lost 1,600 in the Taunggyi fight, and the artillery regiment that helped defend Taunggyi lost most of its guns.

In reality the Japanese combat power was not fully diminished; only the command post was hit by the Expeditionary Force, the regiment commander DaSuJiaShi was killed, the command structure fell into chaos, prompting the retreat order.

"Collect the bodies." Quanzong was about to order the cremation of the fallen soldiers.

But before Quanzong could lead men to cremate the dead, a higher command arrived, ordering the th Division to pursue the Japanese northward.

After gathering those trivial data and sorting them, Du Lvming learned that the enemy faced was the Japanese 56th Division's 113rd Regiment, and concluded the 56th Division must have launched an attack northward from Taunggyi.

He then ordered the th Division to advance north.

Dai Anlan tried to ask the Burmese of Taunggyi about Japanese movements and strength, but the Burmese, staring at the Expeditionary Force soldiers, were filled with hatred and could not answer.

In fact the Burmese despised the British and also the Expeditionary Force soldiers who aided them.

Conversely, when the Japanese entered Taunggyi, they were greeted with flags and even supplied with food.

Du Lvming did not think the Japanese would launch a large force from Taunggyi to attack Lashu, so it could only be a small detachment, about a regiment's size. The Expeditionary Force's th Division had already endured two months of fierce fighting with heavy losses, so he let the th Division chase the enemy, retreat to defend Lashu, and garrison Lashu to block the enemy.

Another point: Du Lvming received news that the New 22nd Division and the 96th Division were attacked by the Japanese at Mi Tiela.

The New 22nd Division had also planned to join the Taunggyi campaign, but did not expect the previously idle 55th Division and 18th Division to suddenly attack the Expeditionary Force.

Du Lvming personally led the main force to reinforce Mi Tiela.

It is unclear why the Expeditionary Force Headquarters in Mandalay, after hearing of Taunggyi's victory, Stilwell and Luo Zhuoying ordered the troops to abandon Taunggyi, return to Mandalay, and prepare for the Mandalay Battle.

It is precisely because the Expeditionary Force added Luo Zhuoying that Du Lvming found himself constantly in difficulty, since Luo Zhuoying was essentially an outsider.

From this we can see Du Lvming's strategic mistake: he misread the Japanese advance route; had they pushed further east, they would have discovered the Japanese were advancing north from Lei Lem toward Lashu.

The Japanese march route was not from Taunggyi northward; Du Lvming's rapid judgment may also stem from the fact that if Lashu were lost, they could defend the line between Lashu and Mandalay, establishing a positional defense to block the Japanese threat to Mandalay's eastern flank.

(Don't ask; the answer is that earlier Du really brought 105mm howitzers, six of them. I wrote eight because I thought we'd need more later, but now it seems unnecessary.)