Eight Hundred and Seventy-Six Imphals

Even in the 21st century, the jungles of Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar, are still very backward, a piece of virgin land that maintains the original jungle form. At the beginning of 1939, there was almost no difference from hundreds of thousands of years ago, and it was still a large forest with few people.

However, in the jungle these days, it seems to be different from before, and it is very lively. There was just a downpour here yesterday, and the slippery ground was full of rotten leaves and wet rotten roots. In short, monkeys might sprain their feet if they stand on it, let alone humans.

A yellow-faced, skinny yellow man pushed aside the large leaves that blocked his vision, and looked at the lush forest on the ridge with a pair of dull eyes. There is nothing else here, only endless trees, anyone will be tormented by the same scene repeated in front of them, and finally collapse in a deserted corner, and die in pain and loneliness.

Judging from the attire, this is a Japanese soldier. On his head was a Japanese military-style steel helmet, and the red five-pointed star on it looked very worn out. The inside of the helmet is lined with two Japanese-style ear curtains. These two fart curtains are the "cap drape" on the Japanese army cap, which can be regarded as a small Japanese feature.

There are different opinions about what this hanging cloth is for. The more reliable ones are to prevent shrapnel from hurting the neck, and to repel mosquitoes... As for the saying that it is blessed by the Emperor, this is completely nonsense. Although the Japanese believe in ghosts and gods, and have really done things that believe that they are invulnerable to swords and guns, it should be too outrageous to stick couplets next to their ears to ward off evil spirits.

Leaving aside what these two pieces of cloth with Japanese characteristics are used for, the Japanese soldier in front of him has no distinctive characteristics of the Japanese army except for the helmet on his head.

He was naked from head to toe, and he was carrying a Japanese-style 38 rifle with a bayonet stuck in it. The armed belt around his waist was loose, and there was nothing on it except a few ammunition pouches.

Pushing away the branches and leaves blocking the way with his hands, the Japanese soldier mechanically moved his legs forward, and continued walking with three steps. Behind him, followed one after another Japanese soldiers who looked very sick. They walked quietly on the road without roads, and they didn't even have the strength to speak.

The Japanese 15th Army launched the Battle of Imphal after hasty preparations. The commander of the 15th Army, Mutaguchi, even boasted that he wanted to use the fastest speed to defeat the British troops in India and control the Indian Ocean.

Before the start of this battle, Mutaguchi, the commander of the 15th Army Headquarters of the Japanese Army, would gather all the officers and soldiers of the headquarters every morning to preach his tirade. What he said the most during the nagging process was: "If the Imphal operation is not successful and I cannot be promoted to the general of the army, I will never return to Japan."

Of course, apart from this unparalleled determination,

The general could no longer give anything decent to his subordinates. If Frick, the commander of the 3rd SS Armored Division who was born as an officer in the logistics department, is known as the "commander of material reserves", then this Lieutenant General Mutakou can be said to be the real logistics supply killer-special killer The killer of his own logistics supplies.

Based on the experience he gained from burning, killing and looting all the way in China, he felt that his troops could get food on the spot along the way, and he didn't have to worry about logistical supplies at all. So before the rainy season came in March, he urged his troops to set off, dreaming of conquering India, and embarked on the tourist route to Imphal to scare the British to death.

The British really couldn't fight the Japanese in the Burmese jungle. They were short of troops and couldn't fight them. So Mountbatten didn't even think about it, so he left the Chinese army fighting hard alone to the British rear, all the way Flee back to Imphal base camp.

The Chinese troops were unable to support themselves, and they also chose to retreat strategically, giving up some areas leading to Imphal. So the Japanese army, which had achieved staged victories, sang triumphant songs all the way, and rushed to Imphal, which seemed destined to belong to them.

The script sketched by Mutaguchi turned out to be like this: the Japanese army passed through the "familiar" tropical rainforest of Myanmar at a relatively fast speed, and then suddenly appeared in front of the unprepared British army, and succeeded in raiding Imphal, where the supplies all over the mountains and plains were filled. It can make the 15th Army alive and well, and it is not difficult to win India.

However, on the 15th day after the outbreak of the battle, that is, when the Japanese army walked two-thirds of the way in the entire Myanmar tropical rainforest, the Japanese army ran out of supplies. Because of the heavy rain, many animals that were driven as rations were lost in the dense forest trails, and the remaining ones were consumed by a hundred thousand eating mouths.

So everyone began to despair. Wherever the troops passed by, they did not spare bark and weeds. Many people were malnourished and contracted malaria, dysentery and cholera. The combat effectiveness of the troops plummeted like diving, and typhoid fever, the most taboo of the army, also began to break out and spread to the entire Japanese army.

The front-line troops saw that if this situation continued, they would all be buried in the tropical rainforest of Myanmar before reaching Imphal, so they had to send a telegram to the 15th Army Headquarters requesting support.

The distress telegram from the 33rd Division was full of tears, and it was extremely miserable: "Our army has run out of food. I hope that Your Excellency, General, can allocate supplies in time, otherwise the entire army is in danger of being wiped out."

As a result, after receiving a telegram from the frontline Japanese troops asking for food supplements, Admiral Mutakou did not believe what his subordinates said, so he replied as follows: "The Japanese have been herbivores since ancient times. You are surrounded by such dense jungles. Reporting a lack of food? What the heck!"

As the Japanese army approached Imphal, the British defense line, which was strengthened by the Indian army and part of the American army, was displayed in front of the Japanese army. The battle then broke out. After fighting for a day, the Japanese army had to give up the idea of ​​a battle to determine the outcome because of lack of ammunition.

The head of the Sato Division of the 31st Division asked for ammunition and food supplies, but was rejected by the 15th Army. The desperate Sato led the remnants of the 31st Division to violate the military order and retreated backwards, which opened the prelude to the total collapse of the entire Japanese army.

In response to the fact that the troops often used the lack of supplies as an excuse to send telegrams to embarrass him, even Sato's 31st Division kept ordering and retreating privately. Mu Taguchi summoned all the staff of the headquarters for a lecture.

Standing in front of everyone, he babbled to his subordinates with what he thought was a sonorous voice: "Everyone, Commander Sato violated the military order and abandoned the Cosima front without authorization. Because there was no food and he could not fight, he did so without authorization." Retreat. Can such a person still be called an 'imperial army'? Even if the 'imperial army' has no food, they must continue to fight."

Seeing his subordinates listless due to lack of nutrition, Mutaguchi became even more angry halfway through the speech, so he waved his arms to cheer up these people: "You can't fight without weapons, ammunition and food? This can never be a valid reason... If there are no bullets , don’t you still have a bayonet? If you don’t have a bayonet, you still have your fist. If you don’t have a fist, you can kick it with your feet. Even if these are gone, you can still bite with your teeth... Don’t forget the Yamato soul that Japanese men should have ! Japan is China, and the gods will definitely bless us..."

As a result, Mutaguchi's speech was too long, and after more than an hour, some malnourished officers collapsed one after another due to cerebral anemia. The whole lecture will be over, and the attack on Imphal can only continue to bite the bullet.

Hungry, no ammunition... The Japanese finally experienced how the Chinese army faced a powerful enemy in the Battle of Imphal, Myanmar, one year after the war began. The British on the opposite side were eating curry steak, shooting violently at the Japanese army rushing up from the machine gun bunker, and every time the Japanese army advanced, some people would fall down because of hunger.

As the battle progresses, it is still unknown whether Imphal can be captured, but even if the Japanese 15th Army captures Imphal, it may not be able to launch a new offensive forward.

What's more, just near the rear transportation and supply line in Japan that has been completely submerged by floods and mudslides, there are still tens of thousands of soldiers from the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Although they don't know why they gave up their defense line, they can't. Let the Japanese army completely rest assured about their rear - at some point, the Chinese Expeditionary Force will go south and cut off those small trails, making the entire 15th Army beyond redemption.

In the end, they bit the bullet and persisted until yesterday, when the Japanese army finally waited for the telegram from the base camp: "Start to implement the "Wu" combat order, transfer to Burma, and eliminate all invading enemies!" Everyone knows that the so-called transfer is completely self-deception. It was a total rout.

The 33rd Division that persisted until the end completely collapsed and fled in a hurry under the counterattack of the British army. Facts have proved that even the British troops that were randomly rounded and flattened by the German army are still capable of fighting in front of the Japanese army-of course, there are also The reinforcement of U.S. troops to Imphal also played an important role.

The 15th Division also gave up the attack, fled across the road, and retreated without armor and armor. They didn't even want the tanks that they regarded as treasures. They discarded all these treasures on the roadside and burned them hastily.

Thus, the scene just opened appeared, the Japanese soldiers took their wounded, and walked painfully on the road to defeat step by step. They walked towards the starting point with dejected expressions. From time to time, some people just fell straight down, and then rolled into the distance and could no longer be seen. The rest of the people watched their companions fall numbly, and they didn't even have the strength to rescue them.