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Chapter 1008: The Battle of Western Yunnan (5)

The strong wind, which lasted for more than half an hour, gradually blew away the rain, and the rain and mist evaporated away, and the thousands of mountains and ravines in western Yunnan gradually showed a lush and green face. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoWhen the light rain completely stopped, a few red glows flashed through the dark gray clouds, and the gray night slowly fell.

The gunfire on the Luxi battlefield gradually thinned, the thick smoke of gunpowder rolled and filled under the strong wind, and the humid air was mixed with the choking smell of gunpowder and blood, which was particularly spicy and heavy. The high-intensity combat from dawn to the present without a moment's rest has exhausted the physical strength of the vast majority of the people to the limit, so after the offensive of the Yunnan army weakened for three consecutive hours, the officers and men of the British and Burmese coalition also lay in the muddy trenches around the city, or lie on their stomachs under the ruins and trees, gasping weakly.

In the wide hangar of Mangshi Airport in the west of the city, the radio waves were complicated, the footsteps were hurried, Brigadier General Kent, the commander-in-chief of the Anglo-Burmese coalition front, was soaked from the waist down, the grass and mud were stained with his marching soft leather boots, and the body heat emitted by the constant movement filled the entire space with his strong smell of stinky sweat, only the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his red high nose were spotless, and a pair of chestnut eyes behind the lenses still flashed with a calm and free look.

In fact, at this moment, Kent has reached the edge of the mountains and rivers, according to the reconnaissance report sent back by the three people, the coalition army commanded by Kent has been blocked by the squadron *** team that came out of nowhere. The most surprising thing for Kent was that he never expected that the squadron that raided Wan Town would have as many as two brigades of nearly 10,000 troops, and four of the regiments had already driven from Wan Town Expressway to the line from Padang to Donggua Village, twelve kilometers southwest of Luxi City, before contacting the reserves of the two regiments of the Burmese Army who were bravely facing the enemy, they quickly occupied the commanding heights on both sides of the road, and put on a stubborn posture of blocking on the spot, until a few minutes ago, the two sides were still shooting at each other, and the stalemate was stalemate, and the two regiments of the Burmese Army were unable to launch an attack at all. The four regiments of the squadron, which cut off the retreat route to the west, also did not launch any attack.

Kent clearly knew that the reason why the four regiments of the squadron in the west did not launch an attack immediately was entirely because they came at high speed and were already in a state of extreme exhaustion, as long as they were allowed to rest for an hour and have a full meal, the two regiments of the Burmese army could not resist the onslaught of the elite troops that quietly moved behind their main force, and Kent even dared to assert that the two reserve regiments of the Burmese army, which had no morale, were probably unable to withstand a charge from the squadron that was twice as large as himself. As long as the squadrons of these four regiments in the west defeat the Burmese army's blockade, they can attack the forward position of the headquarters in Kent within an hour and a half, and deal the most fatal blow to the Anglo-Burmese coalition forces that are struggling to support them from behind.

Gary, the thin chief of staff, hurriedly came, stopped Kent's constantly moving steps, and reported solemnly: "General, the Western Route Army has received an urgent order from the Lashio Command Headquarters and has broken away from the blocking enemy in the direction of Songyou Ridge an hour and a half ago, and one division and one regiment after another have to throw away their heavy equipment and evacuate lightly, and are retreating to the border along the rugged road leading to Bamo, and we can no longer get the support of the Western Route Army. ”

Kent took a deep breath and said in a low voice: "I have already speculated on this result, even if the squadron is not blocked on the first line of Songyouling in the southeast of Yingjiang, the Western Route Army under the command of Colonel Francis will not be able to cross the eighty-kilometer mountain road after the heavy rain, not to mention that since they entered Yingjiang, there has been a sudden outbreak of terrible dysentery in the army, and his subordinates are likely to have no combat effectiveness, if they force themselves to move closer to us, I am afraid that they need to risk the annihilation of the whole army, in such a complex terrain, We will not be able to defeat the elusive Yunnan monkeys in any case, and perhaps we will be constantly attacked by the enemy and savage natives without fighting, and more than 10,000 people will be dragged to death in the lofty mountains and mountains full of poisonous snakes and locusts. ”

"General, what shall we do? The short period of calm was the prelude to another violent storm, if the enemy who was familiar with the terrain launched a night attack with one heart, we would not be able to resist at all, the officers and men of the brigades and regiments were already very tired, the attrition of the Burmese army was very serious, a heavy rain last night made the already poor physical fitness of the Burmese army even weaker, coupled with today's non-stop fighting and rapid march, many people could not even raise their guns. ”

Gary reported worriedly, looking at Kent with a complicated look in his eyes.

Brigadier General Kent, knowing that his chief of staff thought of the thirty-four colleagues in the Wan Town headquarters who had been robbed by the enemy's surprise attack, looked gloomy and pulled Gary to the wall:

"Gary, as long as there is a glimmer of hope, we must not give up, in any case, the 17th Division of the Imperial Army of the Commonwealth, which has a glorious history, has never had a disgraceful record of a commander being captured, and I did not expect that the Honorary Division, which had been crisscrossing the Eastern Colonies for many years, would be in such an embarrassing situation as it is today, which was unpredictable at all levels of the command system before the war. Originally, we pinned our hopes on the main forces of the three divisions in the direction of Lashio, but the cunning Chinese saw through our plan, and more than 30,000 enemies in the southern Yunnan direction held back our three main divisions, so that we could only fight alone. Gary, I ask you to calmly command the battle on all fronts, especially to command the main regiment of the escort headquarters, and to review the breakout line again, until the last moment, we must not give up lightly! ”

Gary nodded painfully, "Yes, General, I know what to do. But general, if you can't break through in the end......"

"Don't worry, dear Gary, I know what you're trying to say, and if that moment really comes, I'll be with you and face it bravely."

Brigadier Kent squeezed Gary's hand tightly, squeezed out a smile, and walked out the door with ease.

At nightfall, the dense artillery fire of the Yunnan army suddenly sounded, and the soldiers of the Yunnan army on both sides of the southeast began to prepare for the charge again. At the same time, Liu Yifang and Jiao Guangxu, who were 12 kilometers to the west, received an order from the former enemy's headquarters at the same time, immediately returned to their respective posts, and commanded the troops to launch the most fierce attack, trying to crush the two regiments of Burmese troops blocking the way of advance within half an hour, reinforce the Luxi battlefield as quickly as possible, and deliver a swift blow to the enemy from behind.

The 1,500 officers and men of the special service regiment directly under the security headquarters successfully bypassed Lei Xiu Mountain, and suddenly appeared on the north bank of the Mangshi River, two kilometers directly north of the enemy's headquarters, and routed a battalion of British troops on the flank of the guard headquarters with an unstoppable momentum, set up light and heavy machine guns and mortars along the riverbank, and launched a frantic attack on all the buildings at the airport.

The gunfire in the east and south of the city was getting closer and closer, and after the command team of Brigadier General Kent had given the last order to resist desperately, they rushed out of the headquarters one after another, jumped on the nine large and small vehicles that had already been launched, threw down more than 18,000 British and Burmese officers and men who were struggling to support them, and took the lead in fleeing for their lives.

The roaring convoy rushed out of the airport less than five kilometers, the military truck in front of the sudden loss of control, crashed headlong on the rocks on the side of the mountain, after a loud noise, more than 10 staff officers and communications equipment on the car flew to the ground, the overturned truck caught fire, blocking most of the road, so anxious that more than 100 people behind shouted wow, the scene was chaotic for a while, everyone jumped out of the car, could not care whether the people on the ground were dead or alive, all rushed to the Brigadier General Kent, waiting for him to issue an order.

Kent's glasses, dizzy from the bumpy road, didn't know where they had fallen, blinking in the dark, spinning in circles, and shouting the name of Chief of Staff Gary.

At this moment, a dense exchange of fire sounded a kilometer to the west, followed by dense and rapid footsteps, and more than 100 British *** officers who could not advance or retreat were completely desperate.

More than a dozen British lieutenants who could not bear to be captured drew their pistols one after another, trying to resist stubbornly, and the voice of Chief of Staff Gary suddenly rang out:

"Don't move, never put up futile resistance, for any resistance is meaningless! Judging by the shouts and footsteps, the enemy rushing towards us at high speed was at least three hundred or more, and we could not make senseless sacrifices! Gentlemen, this is the order! Put away your weapons, line up, raise your proud heads, and bravely meet the coming destiny with the generals, may God be with us! ”

The arrogant British officers lined up very gentlemanly, all with their chests and bellies, and they looked invincible, but their eyes were full of fear and pain in the light of the blazing fire, but not a single one of them made a noise, and all of them stood majestically on the side of the road, waiting for the prisoners of the squadron to rush in.

The team that rushed out in the dark made more than 100 British officers standing on the side of the road puzzled, and under the firelight, they saw that the officers and soldiers who were rushing quickly seemed to be wearing the same style of military uniforms as themselves.

Just when everyone was puzzled and uneasy, a thick voice shouted out a sentence in skilled English: "Are you gentlemen of the Seventeenth Division?" ”

Gary took a step forward, carefully looked at the big man who was panting in front of him, and suddenly shouted excitedly: "Colonel Shatong? Oh my God...... Why are you here? ”

The man named Shatong stepped forward, recognized it as Gary, and immediately exclaimed, "My God...... Colonel Gary! I've finally found you...... On the orders of the Lashio Command, our Mang Regiment sneaked all the way across the border this morning and rushed to Luxi, with the purpose of reconnoitring the troop deployment of the squadron and eliminating the local indigenous armed forces and small enemy reconnaissance units that were secretly harassing the main force. We immediately rushed to the north, and encountered the sudden rush of the squadron two kilometers to the west, and we were able to get out of the battle with more than 70 dead, originally we wanted to retreat south from the mountain pass in this area, but we didn't expect to meet you...... Let's go! The squadron is getting closer and closer, their weapons and equipment are very advanced, and their firepower is extremely powerful, we can't stop them, run gentlemen! Cross this col to the south, and run four kilometers to the Golang River, our ferry stops on the opposite side of the river, as long as it crosses the river smoothly, it is safe, run, otherwise it will be too late......"

More than 100 British officers were overjoyed, left all their vehicles and baggage, and followed the officers and soldiers of the Mang **** regiment to rush up to the southern mountain pass, and stumbled and embarrassed in the support of the Mang indigenous soldiers.

Five minutes later, Liu Yifang led the Yunnan Army Assault Brigade to take the lead in killing, glanced at the overturned burning truck and the eight cars parked on the road, a little strange, glanced around but saw nothing, so left two staff officers, conveyed the follow-up Jiao Guangxu Department to be responsible for cleaning up the order, continued to lead the soldiers, and rushed to the Luxi battlefield where the fire was red through half the sky.