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Chapter 1599: Allied Counterattack (3)

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    In order to change the unfavorable situation in northern Myanmar, the Myanmar Front Army attacked the British army in the Buthidang area from the west coast northward in an attempt to contain the opponent.

    The result was counterproductive. Sakurai's 28th Army began to attack north from Arakan and surrounded the Indian 7th Division in the Buthidang area. Four divisions of the British 15th Army arrived immediately, not only breaking through the Japanese encirclement  , and also pursued.

    Based on the above situation, the Myanmar Army believes that the Chinese expeditionary force in Yunnan will soon move westward to cooperate with the West Route Army to attack the Japanese army in northern Myanmar from a campaign. In this way, the military situation in Myanmar will be even more unfavorable to the Japanese army.

    Therefore, it was determined that the three divisions of the 15th Army would cross the Chindon River to the west, cross the Arakan Mountains, capture the city of Imphal, the capital of the Manipur Territory in India, and then continue northward and enter Assa via Kohima.  M'bang, cut off the Chinese, British and US military's retreat route to attack northern Burma, forcing them to give up their offensive, thereby changing the unfavorable situation in northern Burma and coastal Arakan.

    When the above plan was approved by the Japanese base camp, Mutaguchi Renya's 15th Army Headquarters located in Meimiao, east of Mandalay, immediately began to organize the battle. Its deployment was Yanagida Genzo's 33rd Division, composed of Tetsune and Tong.  Zan, attack Imphal from the south along the Manipur River.  Yamauchi Masabumi's 15th Division crossed the Chindon River from the Tangdu and Homarin areas, crossed the dense forest of the Arakan Mountains, and attacked Imphal with a surprise attack from the east.

    Kotoku Sato's 31st Division crossed the Chindon River between Homarin and Tamanti, attacked the Kohima area, blocked the retreat route of the British and Indian troops to the north, and prepared to capture the city of Dimapur.  The railway from this place to Ledo will be cut off.

    When the enemy¡¯s 15th Army was preparing to attack the Imphal area, the situation in Myanmar was already very tight.

    The Burmese Army decided to use Tanaka Shinichi's 18th Division to defend northern Burma and prevent the Chinese, British and American troops from attacking from Mengong to Miyang in the north and Mandalay in the south; Matsuyama Yuzo's 58th Division,  Still defending the Tengchong and Longling areas west of the Nu River to prevent the attack of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Yunnan; Lin Yixiu's independent mixed 24th Brigade and part of the 18th Division encircled and annihilated the British and Indian forces that Wingate parachuted into the Moning and Jisha areas.  Army 3rd Division.  Sakurai Shozo's 28th Army continues to defend the coastal areas of western and southern Myanmar.

    However, the Burmese Army¡¯s plan to attack Imphal was strongly opposed by Bose, chairman of the ¡°Free India Government¡± who moved from Singapore to Yangon. He advocated attacking Chittagong from Arakan along the Bay of Bengal.

    The reason is that the Bengal area of ??Chittagong is a place where the Indian National Congress Party has strong power. If it attacks from here, it will firstly give great encouragement to the whole of India; secondly, Chittagong is close to Calcutta, making it easy to develop future attacks.

    The Burmese Front Army and the Southern Army believe that the Japanese attack is defensive and not an expansion of the occupied area. Attacking Chittagong along the Bay of Bengal is difficult to do when ships have suffered considerable losses, and it will be difficult to be effective in the future.  of maintaining water transport in this area.

    Therefore, it was determined that the original battle plan would not be changed, but Bose's "Indian National Army" 1st Division was allowed to participate in the 15th Army's frontal attack on Imphal in order to expand its domestic political influence.

    When the 15th Army was preparing to attack Imphal, the first problem it encountered was how much equipment and supplies the troops should carry through the uninhabited temperate virgin forest area.  In order to achieve the effect of a sudden attack, it was determined that each division would carry three weeks of food and a minimum amount of artillery.

    But the staff pointed out that if the attack was blocked, the troops would be in danger.

    But Mutaguchi Lian believed that it was beyond the imagination of the British army for the Japanese army to cross the Chindon River and cross the Arakan Mountains. As long as they passed through this natural barrier, Imphal would definitely be occupied.

    All divisions expressed their dissatisfaction with Mutaguchi's reckless and inconsiderate approach to commanding troops when the overall situation in Myanmar was already quite unfavorable.

    " But Mutaguchi Lian didn't care. The guy who fired the first shot of the all-out invasion of China was selfish and could not care about the feelings of others. He only had his own future and achievements in his eyes.

    With desperation, the Japanese troops on the battlefield in Myanmar could only start their attack on Imphal according to the original plan on March 8, 1944.

    The Japanese 33rd Division, which was the first to launch the attack, surrounded the Indian 17th Division in the narrow valley area in the ironclad area on the east bank of the Manipur River, and cut off the back roads of Thongzan and Singhal to the north.

    Defending the Imphal area is the British 4th Army Corps of Lieutenant General Siram, which includes the 17th, 20th and 23rd Divisions.

    Based on the above situation, Siram ordered the 17th Division to organize defense on the spot and ordered the 23rd Division to go for reinforcements.  After about 10 days of continuous fierce fighting.  The British army broke through the siege of Yanagida Genzo's 33rd Division, and the British 17th and 23rd Divisions were defeated after March 30.?, withdrew from the encirclement.

    During these 10 days of combat, the Japanese army suffered serious casualties and consumed too much ammunition. It was also discovered that the British and Indian troops had strong combat capabilities.

    Genzo Yanagida, commander of the 33rd Division, felt that the problem was serious and beyond expectation, and he would continue to fight if he continued.  Not only will it be difficult to capture Imphal, but the troops will suffer greater losses.

    Based on this, in a rare move by Japanese soldiers, he sent a telegram to his army commander, Lieutenant General Mutaguchi Renya, on March 25 while the battle was still in progress, stating his interests and suggesting that the battle be suspended.

    After receiving the telegram, Mutaguchi angrily accused Yanagida Genzo of this cowardly behavior and ordered him to march north to the plains of Imphal immediately.

    Just after the 33rd Division began to attack the British and Indian troops, Lieutenant General Kawabe Shozo, commander of the Burmese Front, arrived at the headquarters of the 15th Army in Meimiao, east of Mandalay. After listening to the report on the battle situation ahead, he reminded  Mutaguchi, who was willful when he was in trouble, had to be particularly cautious about crossing the primitive mountains and forests to fight in a specific area as the war situation in Myanmar was getting increasingly serious.

    But Mutaguchi Ren didn¡¯t care, because at this time he was busy licking Tojo¡¯s buttocks.

    In mid-March, when Terauchi Juichi's Southern Army staff officer Colonel Kushida Masao went to the Tokyo base camp to report on the combat situation, Prime Minister, Minister of War, and Chief of Staff Hideki Tojo made the following three explanations regarding the future tasks of the Burmese Front:  The first is to prevent the opening of the road from China to India; the second is to strengthen the defense of Myanmar's southern coast; the other is the aviation force, which mainly blocks air transportation from India to China.

    After receiving the above instructions from Tojo, Mutaguchi Ren believed that the best way to implement it was to continue to attack Imphal according to the current plan, so that the Chinese, British and American troops living in Myanmar could be contained.

    Subsequently, the Japanese 15th and 31st Divisions, according to the final plan, crossed the Chiton River to the west side by side, opened a path through the dense forest, and climbed forward in some areas.

    At this time, the British reconnaissance force discovered that the Japanese army had entered the dense forests of the Arakan Mountains in some areas, and reported it immediately.

    However, General Siram and the staff of his headquarters believed that the large force could not pass through the primeval forest area of ??the Arakan Mountains, and concluded that this was a small force of the Japanese army.  An attempt was made to carry out harassment in response to the main battle of the 33rd Division in the south.

    This judgment of the British 4th Army happened to fall into the trap of the Japanese army.  The Japanese army ordered the South Road to attack first, and the Middle Road and North Road to cross Jiangxi and advance through the primeval forest area a week later.

    From now on, the northern road will first approach the city of Cohima, north of Imphal, and then the middle road will suddenly appear on the Imphal plains, catching the British army off guard and making it difficult to take care of both.

    When the Japanese 31st Division arrived in Cohima and the 15th Division suddenly appeared in the area east of Imphal, Siram discovered that it had been surrounded by Japanese troops on three sides, and immediately deployed defense in this area.

    After about a week of fierce fighting, Cosima in the north was captured by the Japanese 31st Division on April 6.  Subsequently, Mutian ordered the 31st Division to pursue northward and capture Dimapur, about 40 kilometers away, in order to cut off the railway there.

    Lieutenant General Shozo Kawabe, commander of the Burmese Front, believed that the 31st Division had already suffered considerable losses and it would be too dangerous to continue doing so. Therefore, he issued a strict order to the 15th Army that day to cancel the order to pursue northward from Kosima.

    At this time, the British army had only two squadrons in Dimapur.

    Based on the battle situation in the Imphal area, the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Southeast Asia and the British General Mountbatten determined that the 4th Army will stick to the Imphal Plain.  The 3rd Army was transported by rail to Dimapur and then took control of the point and counterattacked Kohima.

    At the same time, tanks and artillery units were reinforced in this area, and a large amount of supplies were airdropped.  (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com
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