From the beginning of April to April 16, 1942, the New 22nd Division held the Japanese at bay for half a month, and the Japanese 55th Division, having to resort to the 18th Division to jointly attack Pingmana after paying a heavy price of thousands of casualties.
On the morning of the 16th, more than 200 Japanese infantry and cavalry with 6 combat vehicles attacked the guard position of the defenders of Pingmanna, and a platoon of the 288th Regiment of the 96th Division of the defenders resolutely counterattacked, with more than 40 Japanese corpses, and retreated in a hurry.
At about 10 o'clock in the morning, in front of the position of the Wei detachment of the defenders, five or six hundred Burmese refugees suddenly appeared, men and women supporting the old and the young, and it was pitiful; Lieutenant Colonel Xia Ding, the commander of the Wei detachment, knew that there were Burmese, and it was not uncommon in the ancient battlefield, but he was indecisive and afraid of hurting the innocent, so he could not bear to shoot and stop the attack.
As a result, the Burmese took the opportunity to rush out of the refugees and burst into our positions, and at the same time, the Japanese troops outflanked our two wings, and there was a scuffle, and the position changed hands.
This Burmese group is part of the Burmese Independence Volunteer Corps, which intruded from Thailand into Myanmar with a force of just over 100 and quickly expanded to more than 3,000 soon after entering Burma. They went deep into northern and central Burma, incited the masses everywhere, attacked and harassed the Chinese and British troops, and created a lot of trouble for the Chinese and British troops.
On the 17th and 18th, the Japanese army marched to Pingmana one after another, the defenders resisted stubbornly, and the Japanese army had been firmly attracted to our predetermined position, just as the new 22nd Division and the 200th Division adjusted their deployment and encircled from the east and west, the telephone of the headquarters of the 5th Army suddenly reached all units on the front line:
"At present, the situation of the British Army on the right flank and the 6th Army on the left flank is urgent, our 200th Division and the newly organized 22nd Division must first aid Magwi and then transfer to Tangji to rescue, and the 96th Division should buy time to block the enemy and do not have to fight a strong decisive battle."
The sudden change caused the situation on the battlefield to change greatly, the east and west roads were lost, the 5th Army in the center was in danger, and in an instant, the balance of war was tilted, and the Battle of Pingmana became a shadow again, and the situation changed beyond imagination.
On April 12, the British army completely collapsed, and they fled without a fight, and the strategic locations of East Dungyi, Saswa and Xinpongwei became three empty cities. On the 14th, the air base Magway and the important city of Xindian were abandoned one after another. On the 15th, they blew up the Ren'an Qiang oil field and retreated towards India around the sky-high fire.
The Japanese saw the oil field on fire, and the 214th Infantry Wing of the 33rd Division pounced at full speed at Ren'an Qiang, trying to hold the oil field and capture the British.
In the early morning of the 17th, the 3rd Group of the Japanese 214th Wing entered and occupied Kaimin, and Wing Commander Sakuma Yoshicho Daisaku personally led the main force to break into the three-way fork in the northeast corner of Ren'an Qiang. At this time, the main forces of the British army had not completely withdrawn to Ren'an Qiang, and the Japanese army cut off the retreat.
In the encirclement, there were more than 7,000 well-equipped British-Burmese 1st Division and other units, as well as more than 500 missionaries, journalists and other non-combatants from various countries, but the funny thing is that the British did not know that the Japanese army besieging them only had two infantry brigades and one artillery brigade, and the strength was only more than 2,000 at best.
But they had been frightened by the Japanese army, and the turtles shrank into a ball, only to shout for help. Stilwell heard the news and rushed to the rescue of Mandalay's newly formed 38th Division.
The newly organized 38th Division is subordinate to the 66th Army and has not been very popular since its formation, first, he was adapted from Song Ziwen's tax police corps, Song Ziwen has strong financial resources and is willing to spend money, and the equipment of the tax police regiment is second to none in the country.
Second, most of his officers and men were not from the Whampoa family, or even non-martial arts, and division commander Sun Liren and deputy division commander Qi Xueqi all had experience in famous schools and studying abroad, so in the Kuomintang army, where accelerated cadets and troops were rampant, the new 38th Division with family business and education became an outlier.
At the beginning of the establishment of the 66th Army, Sun Liren reported to the military headquarters, and the commander Zhang Yi relied on the old and sold the old, and actually ridiculed him in person: "Oh, how can you be a soldier? Why did you become a soldier as a student? What a pity! You look at my 3 divisions, just this division of yours is the worst. ”
Time has passed, but the words are still in my ears. Sun Liren is by no means an idle person, that is, today, he can be admitted to Tsinghua, and he can also go to West Point Military Academy, that is not a human spirit? In the face of the humiliation of the old military stick Zhang Yi, Sun Liren did not say anything, but engraved this shame in his heart. He knows how pale the justification is, and only battle merit can wash away the humiliation.
The British army was besieged, and the supreme commander asked him to save him, and this opportunity came. The first to reach Ren'an Qiang was the 113th Regiment of the new 38th Division Liu Fangwu, while the main force of the division was still in Mandalay. When the British heard that the rescues had arrived, they were overjoyed, but when they saw that there were not many rescuers, they turned to sweat for Chinese.
In fact, they are anxious for themselves, for a few days, they have not eaten or drunk, many people have reached their physiological limits, and they will not be able to save the soldiers, and they will be finished first without the Japanese fighting. For a time, China, Britain, the United States, and even the Japanese all focused on Ren'an Qiang.
The commander of the 113th Regiment, Liu Fangwu, was not good at words, and did not explain much to the British, so he led his troops to fight the Japanese. Ren'an Qiang is located in the desert, full of ditches and bumps, high temperature and drought, the temperature is often around 40 degrees.
The Japanese army traveled a long distance, exhausted, and pursued all the way, but did not meet the opponent, so the enemy was slack. With only a few charges, the 113th Regiment cleared the Japanese troops on the north bank of the Pingqiang River and recaptured the crossing.
At dawn on the 19th, taking advantage of the fact that the temperature had not yet risen, the officers and men of the 113th Regiment stepped on a bamboo raft, rushed to the south bank of the Pingqiang River, and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army. When our 113th Regiment charged, British shells also fell accurately near the Japanese position, exploded and caught fire, reflecting half the sky, and even the rising sun was obscured. The British army was surrounded between the 501 heights, Ren'an Qiang, and the 510 heights, and the targets of our army naturally pointed to these two heights.
On the south bank of the Pingqiang River, oil wells stand, and oil pipes, oil tanks, oil drums, and oil pollution are everywhere. Our army broke behind enemy lines, pushed the oil barrel and oil tank up the high ground, opened the oil tank, rolled down the oil drum, and a mortar shell hit, and immediately there was a fire in the sky, and the explosion of the oil barrel also rose and fell one after another.
When our troops crossed the river, most of their clothes were wet, which somewhat protected them from the heat wave generated by the fire, while the Japanese army was not, and those who could not escape were burned into black charcoal, and those who escaped became the targets of our army's activities.
It was not long, black smoke covered half of the sky, the Japanese army fled one after another, our army chased after it, the Japanese army had fled, inspected the battlefield, in addition to corpses and weapons, there were more than 500 military lunch boxes, took them and opened, the box was still just made steaming meals did not have time to eat, the Japanese army was defeated, it can be seen.
In this battle, the 113th Regiment defeated the Japanese army, killing and wounding more than 500 Japanese soldiers, and the 113th Regiment also killed hundreds of people under Zhang Qi, commander of the 3rd Battalion.
More than 7,000 British and Burmese troops were saved, and when they saw the Chinese officers and soldiers, they shouted with excitement and burst into tears. Some hugged each other, some threw their clothes and hats into the sky, and many more ran to kiss and hug their lifesavers. They raised the Chinese officers and soldiers high and gave a thumbs up and shouted: "Long live China!" "Long live the Chinese army!"
Dignity is earned by strength. In the eyes of these rescued Westerners, Chinese has never been so cute, so tall, so strong, Sun Liren won the favor of fate and became famous in World War I.
In this battle, the British were grateful to him. King George VI awarded him a medal of "Commander of the Empire"; U.S. President Roosevelt also awarded him a medal of "meritorious service". Chiang Kai-shek's face was bright, and naturally he was not willing to be resigned, and he was awarded a Yunli medal, which symbolized the highest honor.
Liu Fangwu and other officers of the 113th Regiment who directly rescued the British-Burmese Army were also awarded for their meritorious service, but their aura was far less than their contribution.
In the 90s of the 20th century, Liu Fangwu, who was in his 80s, was personally received by the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the "Iron Lady" was warm, caring, and personally presented the belated medal, which is the highest courtesy and praise for the benefactor of the British Empire.
In the First World War of Ren'an and Qiang, Sun Liren, in addition to receiving unexpected honors, was also unanimously recognized by the military circles of China, the United States, and Britain. Of course, this is inextricably linked to his background in studying in the United States. Wavell and Alexander saw him as a lifesaver, Stilwell as his right-hand man, and Chiang Kai-shek as his right-hand man.
A general star rose in this way on the war-torn land of Burma.
Sun Liren and his calligraphy
Anti-Japanese Beacon [Issue 205]
About the author
Since childhood, I like words, and when I was a primary school student, I often made model essays in composition. During his youthful period, many articles won awards. Decades of ups and downs, hobbies have not changed, like to read literature and history, insist on writing, welcome to communicate.