In the Burma campaign during World War II, there was a very peculiar scene: thousands of British officers and soldiers actually gave a thumbs up to a Chinese army and shouted "Long live China" in gratitude.
You know, before that, the British army, which regarded itself as the royal army of the "Empire that never sets", had a rather arrogant attitude towards the Chinese army that was expeditionary to Burma. Why, then, did they change their previous arrogant attitude and show such respect to the Chinese army?
The story began in early April 1942, when the British troops stationed in Burma were besieged by the Japanese Thirty-third Division, and they were almost powerless to fight back, and they fell to the point of collapse.
The commander-in-chief of the British army in Burma, Alexander, panicked and helpless, asked the Chinese army for help on April 13.
The Chinese Expeditionary Force immediately responded, sending the New Thirty-eighth Division of the Sixty-sixth Army to rescue the British.
But the Chinese Expeditionary Force had not yet arrived, and the British were already in an extremely critical situation. The Japanese advanced extremely quickly, besieging more than 7,000 officers and men of the Anglo-Burmese First Division and the chariot battalion in the Area of Nyan Anqiang, Burma.
At the same time, the Anglo-Indian Seventeenth Division, the Anglo-Burmese Second Division, and the Seventh Armored Brigade were cut off by the Japanese from reinforcements and retreats.
It can be said that at this time, the British army was divided into several pieces by the Japanese army, and the situation was dangerous and urgent everywhere!
Among them, the first division of the Anglo-Burmese army, which was besieged in Ren'anqiang for two days and nights, was the most unfavorable, not only was they short of ammunition and food, but even the water source was cut off by the Japanese army, and they were facing the danger of total annihilation!
At this critical moment, Qi Xueqi, deputy commander of the New Thirty-eighth Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, personally led the 113th Regiment to rescue the British army, and it was not long before the division commander Sun Liren rushed to the Ren'anqiang area to command the battle.
This is really a thunder rescue force that killed in time! If they had come a few hours later, the British might have been completely annihilated by the Japanese.
Sun Liren personally came to the front line, commanded the officers and men of the 113th Regiment to fight fiercely for more than ten hours, and eliminated the Japanese army on the north bank of the (Bin) River that was defending, so that the Japanese army could not completely annihilate the British army.
At this time, the Anglo-Burmese army, which had become a frightened bird, constantly sent telegrams to the Chinese army for help, and Sun Liren immediately led his troops to attack.
However, after analyzing the enemy situation, Sun Liren believed that he only had the strength of one regiment and one regiment under his command, and immediately crossed the (Bin) River to confront the Japanese army with almost no chance of victory, so he decided to attack the Japanese army again at dawn the next day after full preparation.
However, General Slim, the commander of the First Army of the Anglo-Burmese Army, was impatient and repeatedly asked Sun Liren: We must immediately launch an attack on the Japanese army and rescue the First Division, and we must not delay it until the next day!
His reasoning was that the First Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army had reached the most critical moment and could be disintegrated by the Japanese army at any time.
Sun Liren reassessed the strength and posture of the enemy and us, and replied to Slim with great firmness: "As long as the First Division of the Anglo-Burmese Army insists on the last day, I will definitely lead the troops to rescue them all before six o'clock tomorrow afternoon!" ”
Slim was still unwilling and asked, "General Sun, do you have any certainty of this?" ”
"I assure you," Replied Sun Liren in a loud voice, "my troops and I will do our utmost to fight the Japanese to the death, and even if only the last person remains, we will rescue your troops at all costs!" ”
Slim was very touched to hear these words, and he clasped Sun Liren's hand and said in a loud voice, "Please! Please! ”
At dawn the next day, Sun Liren led the 113th Regiment to cross the (Bin) River and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese troops stationed on the south bank.
Due to the previous victories of the Japanese army and the relaxation of thinking, they were somewhat caught off guard in the face of the sudden attack of the Chinese soldiers, and they were beaten down at the beginning, and the 113 regiments progressed quite smoothly.
However, the Japanese army was well trained after all, and soon organized a fierce counterattack, and the two sides repeatedly competed for positions.
Sun Liren knew that in the case of an enemy outnumbered and outnumbered, it was necessary to win with wisdom and disrupt the enemy's deployment with suspicious soldiers.
To this end, he commanded the 113th Regiment to adopt the tactic of attacking with small forces and suddenly attacking the main force, so that the Japanese army could not figure out how many troops we had.
In the fierce battle, a battalion commander made a heroic sacrifice, which aroused the fighting spirit of all the soldiers, who had no fear in the face of the strong enemy and rushed to the enemy position bravely...
After a fierce battle that lasted for one day and one night, the 113th Regiment finally recaptured the main highlands of Ren'anqiang and achieved the impressive record of annihilating more than 1,200 Japanese troops, and rescued more than 7,000 British soldiers and more than 500 British prisoners, journalists, and American missionaries who had fallen into a desperate situation.
More than 1,000 horses and more than 100 cars captured by the Japanese from the British were also returned to their original owners.
Those British troops, who were already in despair, never expected that the Chinese army that defeated the Japanese army and successfully rescued them was the Chinese army with only one regiment of troops.
For everything the Chinese soldiers did, the officers and men of the British army were all grateful and shouted "Long live China!" ”
At that time, the Japanese army crossed the Asia-Pacific battlefield with strong combat strength, but in any case, it was not expected that in the Battle of Ren'anqiang, thousands of Japanese troops were defeated by a force of less than a thousand people led by Sun Liren.
This was also the only major victory of the Allied forces in the first battle against Japan in the Burmese battlefield, and it was precisely because of this battle that the strength of the Chinese Expeditionary Force began to be recognized and valued by allied countries and even opponents.
There is no doubt that this was a great victory in the annals of history, and even many researchers of war history believe that this was the most remarkable counterattack during World War II.