The last month of 1940 is a festive month for the Chinese people and one worth remembering forever. With the efforts of the Xuebing Army and the help of the Americans, a total of more than 63,000 Chinese escaped from the clutches of the Japanese army and returned. After arriving in the motherland, after nearly two hundred years of silence, China, this ancient oriental civilization that once had a huge influence on most of the earth, once again straightened its body and told the world with a loud voice: a responsible How should a big country treat its own citizens?
The "Great Rescue of the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia" has therefore become a textbook for various countries in dealing with similar incidents. Naturally, Ouyang Yun, the main initiator, did not expect this. When the whole of Guangzhou enthusiastically devoted itself to welcoming the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia, , he left Phnom Penh and took nearly three divisions of troops to Popet, a border town on the border between Cambodia and Thailand.
After two Song-class aircraft carriers, including one heavy cruiser and one frigate each, sank the "Kaga" of the Japanese Expeditionary Fleet, they returned to the Haikou base on the 18th. On the same day, the British Singaporean army attacked Percival's Under the leadership of the Japanese army, he surrendered to the Japanese army.
The blame for the Xuebing Army is not easy to bear. After the "Kaga" was sunk by a "British submarine" torpedo fire, the Japanese army strengthened its land offensive. The British army was once inspired by Percival's morale. , quickly disappeared under the fierce offensive of the Japanese army. Some Japanese army captains refused the surrender of a small group of British troops out of revenge. By the 17th, the British army had lost nearly 15,000 soldiers in just five days. At least 3,000 of them were stabbed to death or beheaded by the Japanese army after they gave up resistance. That night, after Percival counted the casualties, he was worried that more British soldiers would die in battle, so he reported to the base camp, please Granted unconditional surrender,
The British government was completely cowed at this time. Churchill approved Percival's report while scolding him. As soon as the British army in Singapore surrendered, Wavell's pressure immediately increased. Percival handed over his own weapon to Shun Hashimoto. Commanding the sword, he shrank the defense line with his back foot and withdrew all the British Indian troops to the Songkhla area of Thailand. Considering that the Japanese army could launch land, sea and air attacks at the same time with its powerful naval power, he had no confidence in defeating the Japanese army. Not only did he order the Savile's Eastern Fleet all withdrew into the Sea of Bengal, and began to build a defense line between Phetchaburi, Thailand, and Myeik, Myanmar. He wanted to use the wide depth in the rear to fight the Japanese army to death, so as to prevent the Japanese army from entering deep into Thailand and Myanmar.
The Northeastern Army participated in the construction of this line of defense. After Ouyang Yun learned of this situation, he immediately concluded that it was impossible for the British to hold this line of defense, so he sent a message to Wan Fulin not to expend too much troops on this line of defense. At the same time, it was decided to place the headquarters in Popet to prevent the Japanese army from forcibly landing from the Gulf of Thailand.
The current distribution of forces of the Xuebing Army is that Huang Haifu's 1st Mountain Division is stationed in Hanoi to ensure the smooth flow of logistics supply channels for the Xuebing Army; Chu Tiange leads the main force of the First Western Expedition Army to station in Dishi and Kampong Dek. La area; Guo Da's Old 1st Division stayed in Phnom Penh; Ouyang Yun led the 2nd Mountain Division, 3rd Mountain Division and directly affiliated troops to Pobiet.
On the 21st, the Japanese army attacked Songkhla with Hashimoto Shun's 3rd Marine Division as the main force, and defeated it in one day. On the 22nd, the two British divisions marched straight in, advancing 150 kilometers in one day and night. The front line was advanced to Nakhon Si Thammarat and Krabi Province. On the 23rd, the Japanese army continued their efforts. Under the cover of two bomber groups and a fighter group, they advanced about 150 kilometers and approached Ranong Province in Thailand. ,
It is worth mentioning that during this process, three divisions of Thai troops and two divisions of British troops in the so-called Royal Thai Garrison surrendered without a fight. Three of the divisions of Thai troops were directly incorporated into the so-called "Kingdom of Thailand Garrison" by the Japanese. The Southeast Asian National Independence Army played a pioneering role for the Japanese army.
By the 26th, the Japanese army had already approached the Phrao defense line. At this time, Wavell had only assembled 30,000 British troops, 50,000 Thai troops and 20,000 Indian troops on the Phrao defense line. Of course, including two divisions As for the Northeastern Army, Wavell has already assembled an army of 120,000 troops.
In Bobie, the new headquarters and military base of the Cadet Expeditionary Force were finally built. In Ouyang Yun's office, there were Ouyang Yun, Guo Kui, Huang Hua, Bao Jun, the commander of the Second Mountain Division, and Bian Jiansheng, the commander of the Third Mountain Division. Wang Changlong, the brigade commander of the Unity Brigade, and others gathered around a large sand table and were discussing the battlefield situation based on the battle reports that had just been sent back from the front line.
"Twenty thousand people, if they work together, can survive for at least three months. After all, behind the Buddha and Lao defense line is a wide rear area, which is very convenient for supply and dispatch." Huang Hua was the first to speak.
As the commander of the Western Expedition Special Artillery Brigade, Huang Hua is a young officer trained by Ouyang Yun. The Western Expedition Special Artillery Brigade has an anti-air warfare section and a rocket launcher brigade, and is the king of firepower output in the Western Expedition student army. , Under Ouyang Yun's deliberate decision, the current development trend of the Xuebing Army is a modernization approach. The trend is not to emphasize the number of troops, but to focus on the effectiveness of unit firepower output.
After Huang Hua finished speaking his opinion, he looked at Ouyang Yun expectantly. Before Ouyang Yun could speak, Guo Kui said: "Three months. I think it will be a blessing if we can defend for one month. The army of more than 30,000 people surrendered without a fight. This is incredible.”
Wang Changlong: "I agree with Commander Guo. Fighting a war does not rely solely on the number of people. The key lies in the quality of the troops. As far as I know, the British Air Force and the Japanese Expeditionary Fleet's aviation units have fought against each other several times, and they have all been defeated. Unfortunately, Wavell still has at most a hundred aircraft in his hands, and if he loses his air supremacy, hey, I guess Buddha will be like Singapore again."
Huang Hua frowned, while Ouyang Yun looked at Baojun and Bian Jiansheng and said, "You two should also talk about it."
Baojun is from the Li tribe and Bian Jiansheng is from the Gaoshan tribe. This is not the first time for the two of them to participate in such a high-level military meeting, but they have not yet adapted to the atmosphere. When they were called by the commander-in-chief, both of them had a look on their faces. Blushing, after they looked at each other, Bao Jun spoke first: "Since it is the commander-in-chief's order, let me tell you that I think the issue you are discussing is not important, and you have ignored a very important issue. .”
Bao Jun's remarks were a blockbuster. Everyone's eyes were swept towards him. Even Ouyang Yun could not suppress his curiosity.
Bao Jun's face turned redder, but his voice became louder: "I think so, what we are worried about this war is actually how much time the British can buy us and how much time they can consume. It's just the Japanese army. But judging from the recent information we have, the Japanese established the so-called Southeast Asian National Independence Army and recruited many locals to serve as strong men. So I think this issue is no longer important. The natives of Southeast Asia have resentments against the British. Yes, if the Japanese use some more tricks, they will be willing to sacrifice their lives. By then, the British army may be defeated without the Japanese taking action. There is another thing, because of the commander-in-chief's ultimatum, the British are actually now They are also our enemies, so, therefore, I think the war between Britain and Japan is more like dog eating dog."