"What's even more strange is ......" Shozo Kawabe continued, "such a plan should be strictly secret, how could it be so easily detected by our army......"

"Hmm, can I ask how our army got this information?" Honda asked.

"It's a communications soldier in the British army!" Kawabe Shozo replied: "We found a document on his body that describes the whole plan in detail, but I suspect that it may be a conspiracy of the British!" ”

"Your Excellency, how should we deal with it?"

"I have decided to continue the battle of Imphal!" Kawabe Shozo replied: "Once the Battle of Imphal is won, we can directly take Ledo and cut off the Chinese army from India, then the entire Chinese army will be surrounded by our army, our greatest threat will also collapse, and the imperial army will be able to gain a foothold in Burma!" ”

"But Your Excellency, the offensive of the Chinese army in the direction of Mandalay ......"

"Honda-kun!" Shozo Kawabe asked without answering: "Remember how the Chinese stopped the main forces of our army from advancing during the first Burma campaign?" ”

"Your Excellency is talking about the Sva River blockade?" Honda Masato replied: "The cunning Chinese take turns to garrison one defense line after another, so that our army is advancing very slowly!" ”

"Yes!" Shozo Kawabe replied, "My plan is...... Compete with the Chinese army to see whether the Chinese army will take Rangoon or Imphal first. If the Imperial Army had taken Imphal first, then the supply of the Chinese army would have been cut off, and their offensive would not have been a cause for concern soon. If the Chinese army had taken Rangoon first, it would have been us who would have been cut off from supplies! So Honda-kun had to drag out the Chinese army, so that they would have to pay the price of time and lives for every step forward, and by the time they reached Rangoon, they would already be a tired army, and then it would be time for us to annihilate them, understand? And I'm going to urge Mutaguchi-kun to speed up the process of attacking Imphal! ”

"Understood!" Honda Masako responded.

When Masasai Honda hung up the phone, he couldn't help but feel a pain in his heart. Kawabe Shozo's plan is indeed good, but what has to be paid is the blood and lives of the Japanese soldiers of the 33rd Army.

Then Honda Masako gave several orders:

The first order was to give way to the main force of the 18th Division, which was located in Lashio, to abandon Lashio and retreat.

This decision was of course correct, because at this time the strategic goal of the 33rd Army was no longer to block the Chinese army, but to block the offensive of the Chinese army. If the 18th Division continues to fight with the Chinese army in Lashio, then the Japanese army will not have the strength to deal with the Chinese army.

As for the 56 division...... Not to mention that Honda Masasai believes that as long as the 56th Division can hold on to the China-Burma Highway for a period of time, it will not only disperse the strength of the Chinese army, but also hope to wait until the day when the Japanese army will fight back.

The second order was for Shinichi Tanaka to withdraw from Mandalay and to strictly order the Mandalay garrison to hold until the last moment.

The troops of the withdrawn Eighteenth Army Corps needed the command of Shinichi Tanaka. And it will take time to organize a defense in the rear of Mandalay, and this time will be won by the search wing of Mandalay.

The third order was to urgently mobilize all the troops that could be requisitioned.

Because according to such a defensive plan, the Japanese army should at least establish three lines of defense in the front to resist in turn, and at this time, the Japanese army only had one dissatisfied and exhausted 18th Division, which was obviously not enough, so Honda Masaki decided to make use of those who were wounded and not all healed, as well as engineer troops and baggage troops...... After all, this is fighting and withdrawing at the same time, and the logistics supply line will be shortened accordingly. So there is also no need for so many logistics troops.

After doing this, Honda Masasai sighed and sat back in his chair in a daze: this was something that had never happened since he commanded the operation, he had always known only to attack, attack and attack on the battlefield, and never thought that one day he would organize defense against the offensive of the Chinese army. Wish...... The final result will be as smooth as Your Excellency the General imagined!

In this case, of course, the conspiracy of General Mountbatten's side could not succeed. Not only did they not succeed, but because they knew about this plan, the Japanese army stepped up their progress and determination to attack Imphal.

From this point of view, Mountbatten's vision is still a little smaller. He thought that the Japanese army would withdraw when they knew about this plan, but the Japanese army thought further...... What about the withdrawal? The final rout is only a matter of time, and it is better to gamble on Imphal. It is also possible to achieve a complete victory.

Of course, the British army would not have known about these decisions of the Japanese army, so Mountbatten waited for the withdrawal of the Japanese troops in the direction of Imphal, and Rice decided to fight a battle in Mandalay.

In order not to involve the Chinese army, Rice even reported this plan and idea to Alexander.

"Joe!" Alexander said to Stilwell: "The Chinese army has fought several battles in succession, and now I am afraid that it is tired, so Mandalay will be handed over to the Anglo-Indian 36th Division!" ”

"Are you sure?" Stilwell was a little surprised by this, when did the British turn sex?!

"Of course!" Alexander replied: "We have just received news that there are 4,000 to 5,000 Japanese troops stationed in Mandalay, and I want to give these Japanese a little experience!" ”

Alexander is exaggerating the strength of the Japanese army, so as to ...... By the time the Anglo-Indian army captured Mandalay, the credit was to defeat the Japanese army of 4 or 5,000 men.

"Hmm!" Stilwell knew it wouldn't be as simple as Alexander said, but he nodded.

He would agree with Alexander to do this, on the one hand, to see what kind of medicine was sold in Alexander's gourd, and on the other hand, to use the British army to find out what was true in Mandalay.

"But Alex!" Stilwell added: "Our goal is a surprise attack, which is to move south along the Irrawaddy River before the Japanese have even had time to get out of Imphal, in short, to be fast." So I don't want to waste too much time in Mandalay. ”

"Of course!" Alexander replied confidently, "Don't worry! Joe, in a few days Mandalay will be on our map, and you can get the Chinese army ready to go! ”

In fact, at this time, Alexander snickered in his heart...... Saying that along the Irrawaddy River, these Americans and Chinese simply did not know that the Japanese already knew their plans to go south, and with the ferocity of the Japanese, this battle could not be as smooth as Stilwell imagined.

At the same time, Alexander also admired Mountbatten in his heart, and just leaked a little information, so that the British army once again seized the initiative. (To be continued.) )