noffsinger Chapter 170 Strategic Shift
Chapter 170 Strategic Shift
Huang Wei and others, through General Stilwell, proposed to Allied high command that reactive armor and its updated technology be provided to the Soviet Union. This would give the Soviets a certain counterattack capability and curb the Germans' momentum. Furthermore, both the Germans and Soviets would soon learn about reactive armor from battlefield reports and intelligence reports. Since reactive armor was not a particularly advanced technology, Germany and the Soviets would soon be able to replicate it. US and British high command quickly agreed and generously provided a batch of produced reactive armor to the Soviets, demonstrating the Allies' commitment to treating all equally and jointly fighting fascism.
Huang Wei, Liu Molong and Wang Congwu were also discussing how to deal with the German Tiger tanks. The current German army is obviously different from the one in the different time and space, and is much stronger. The German army will soon obtain the technology of reactive armor, and the German Tiger tanks will become even more powerful.
It seems that we have to quickly launch stabilized wing armor-piercing projectiles. Unfortunately, none of the brothers who traveled here have learned the relevant technology. They only know simple principles. How to make the Allies believe and start research and development in advance? Wang Congwu, with the appearance of a tactical weapons expert, racked his brains to think about it.
As the Chinese military played an increasingly important role in North Africa, the Western Pacific, and northern Burma, Allied high command placed increasing emphasis on the formation and equipment upgrades of the Chinese army. As Chief of the Allied General Staff, General Marshall secretly traveled to Chongqing again to meet with the leaders of the Flower Planting Party. On the Soviet side, the 115th and 129th Armies of the Third Front of the Chinese Expeditionary Force participated in the battle for the first time at the Yershov front. Although many soldiers had not yet adapted to the harsh Soviet weather, they still took the initiative and launched large-scale outflanking operations, defeating three mechanized divisions of the German 6th Army in this salient and forcing the Germans to retreat from the area. This marked the first strategic retreat of the German army on the southern front since the Battle of Stalingrad!
The Soviet side urged again, eagerly hoping that the second echelon of the Chinese Expeditionary Force would act as soon as possible. They planned to take advantage of the winter and launch a large-scale counterattack against the German southern line after the arrival of the second batch of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. The Soviet army was very ambitious and hoped to defeat the German army group on the southern line and even wanted to encircle and annihilate the main force of the German 6th Army on the southern line.
China, the United States and the Soviet Union held a frank talk on this issue. China actually wanted to concentrate its military forces to solve the problem of occupied areas at home. The Soviet Union proposed to increase the number of China's expeditionary forces. The United States also had its own ideas. They hoped that China would increase its deployment of troops in the Western Pacific and Africa.
Privately, the US hinted to China that the war presented an opportunity, suggesting that China and the US should unite to exploit this opportunity, deplete the potential of Britain and the Soviet Union, and create conditions for a postwar world order. Marshall met separately with the two major parties in the Communist Party of China (CPC) and shared the LSF president's vision for a postwar United Nations. The CPC also took this opportunity to raise the issue of industrial infrastructure with the United States. Marshall, on behalf of the LSF, responded that if the CPC temporarily forgoed the settlement of occupied territories and fully supported the external war against Germany and Japan, postwar Japan's entire industrial sector would be transferred to China, and a portion of its basic industries in Europe would also be transferred to China in batches.
After receiving the promise, China immediately agreed to the request of the United States. China, the United States and the Soviet Union soon reached an agreement. The United States will increase its transportation capacity from the Far East to allow China's Third Expeditionary Front to be fully equipped within three months. To this end, the United States also sent a large weapons guidance group to China to assist the Third Front in quickly becoming familiar with the use of weapons and entering the battlefield as soon as possible. At the same time, China agreed that the second batch of the 4th, 35th, and 200th Group Armies would receive weapons while moving and enter the southern battlefield from the Kazakh direction.
The First Front Army in northern Burma was also strengthened, with two armies from the former Guangxi Army and one from the Yunnan Army incorporated into the First Front Army. Zheng Dongguo was required to capture northern Burma within a month and open the Sino-Indian Highway within three months. To this end, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Bai personally went to the front to supervise the operation.
China and the United States reached a secret agreement. Once the fighting in northern Burma ended, the First Front's Indian Corps would be transferred to North Africa to form the new Second Front, with Zheng Dongguo likely as its commander. The 6th Army and other units would be transferred to the Western Pacific, under the First Front, with Sun Yat-sen as its commander. Paik would reorganize the southern armies to form the Southern Front, which would launch an offensive against Indochina.
Liao Yaoxiang received new orders and had to adjust his plan and launch an attack on Myitkyina in advance. At the same time, Zheng Dongguo, with the strength of four armies, crossed the Yunnan-Burma border into northern Myanmar again and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese 33rd Army.
In order to open up the Sino-Indian highway as soon as possible, the bridge at Bhamo became a key bridge that must be secured. Zheng Dongguo ordered the Qinshi guerrilla army to defend it at all costs. The US Air Force also increased its patrols over the bridge to prevent Japanese planes from having any chance to bomb it.
After Qin Shi understood the strategic shift, he immediately gathered all the guerrilla forces he could and rushed to the Bhamo area. Liao was unwilling to let the 18th Division, the executioner of Nanjing, go. He secretly discussed with Qin Shi that if necessary, the Japanese 115th and 33rd Divisions could be spared, but the 18th Division must be encircled and annihilated in the Myitkyina line in northern Myanmar!
Qin Shi quietly prepared for this. He had the Second and Third Detachments of the First Column secretly infiltrate, crossing the Myitkyina-Bhamo highway and advancing toward the Myitkyina-Mandalay railway line. They also had to find the remnants of the former Burma National Salvation Army and jointly launch sabotage and harassment attacks on the railway and highway lines, delaying the Japanese army's southward retreat. The Burma National Salvation Army rebelled, and some of its subordinates, after contacting the Burma Independence Army, placed Chaichai under house arrest. Most of the National Salvation Army joined the Independence Army, becoming puppet troops of the Japanese army in Burma. A small number of ethnic minority troops survived the brutal fighting. They were very weak, but they persisted in carrying out guerrilla warfare in the Central Burma region.
Qin Shi ordered the second and third teams to try to contact them after arriving in this area. With their support, the two teams' harassment and destruction of the roads along the China-Myanmar border would be more successful.
Liao Yaoxiang was also in action. The new 22nd Division was secretly dispatched to move southward, planning to cut off the railway line at Mogang. If the battle in Myitkyina went well, Liao Yaoxiang planned to have another decisive battle with Mu Tian here, at least to annihilate the remnants of the 18th Division on the spot!
The Japanese were also on the move. Under pressure from headquarters and the Burma Front, Mutaguchi Ren'ya's 28th Army was forced to begin an orderly retreat southward. On the Yunnan-Burma Line, Watanabe Masao, commanding the 33rd Army, was eager to evacuate northeastern Burma as quickly as possible. However, the sudden onslaught of Zheng Dongguo's four armies caught him off guard, temporarily preventing him from disengaging from the fighting. At this point, the Japanese suddenly realized that if the 4th Army abandoned Myitkyina and the Indian Army advanced westward along the highway, the 28rd Army would be surrounded and annihilated. The Bhamo Bridge became a crucial battleground for both sides!