After the war in yenangyaung, the British army lost its tourist trap and decided to abandon Burma and retreat to India, so that the new 38th Division could cover the retreat of the British allies. This wrong decision not only ruined China's supply line, the Burma Road, but also caused many officers and men of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to die in Lin Mang, making unnecessary sacrifices. Later, when the Japanese invaded Tengchong, the losses of China's soldiers and civilians were even greater.
1April, 942 19, after the battle of yenangyaung, Sun Liren had consulted with his men, ready to expand the results and fight back. On this day, Sun Liren stayed up all night. Liu kept running around the defense zones of various units in yenangyaung Oilfield, checking the combat readiness and handing over tasks, and didn't sleep a wink all night. By the early morning of 20th, they learned that the 1 14 regiment was on its way here, and the 1 12 regiment was approaching yenangyaung. As they had to wait until both regiments arrived, Sun Liren decided to postpone the attack and put all the troops on standby.
Unexpectedly, at this time, Stilwell and Luo had decided to give up the "Battle of Pinmanna" and ordered Tu Youyou people to lead the fifth army to move to Taie and Mingtiela on 18 and 19.
The telegram informing Sun Liren to retreat to Kyaukphyu was not sent until 20th, and Sun Liren knew that there was going to be a big retreat. All the fighters were delayed. If we don't retreat quickly, the new 38th Division will be in a very dangerous situation. This extremely serious and dangerous situation in front of Sun Liren's eyes must also be seriously faced and dealt with quickly and properly, otherwise the new 38th Division will suffer terrible doom. Sun Liren is famous for his composure, courage and determination. He decided: firstly, our division 1 12 regiment ambushed the north and south banks of the riverside in yenangyaung Oilfield to cover the evacuation of 1 13 regiment and divisional headquarters to Kyaukphyu East at night; Make the upcoming 1 14 regiment occupy Kahnert, try to stop the Japanese pursuit, and cover the 1 12 regiment to retreat from yenangyaung after midnight and go to Kyaukphyu East; 1 14 regiment must wait until 1 12 regiment completely retreats to Kyaukphyu cave before it can gradually turn to Kyaukphyu cave according to the tactics of successive resistance, and its retreat time is waiting for the command of the division. Under the careful planning of Sun Liren, the new 38th Division finally arrived safely in Kyaukphyu on 2 1 day. Later, he was ordered to serve as the rear area for the retreat of the Fifth Army led by Tu Youyou.
1942 In late April, after withdrawing from Mandalay, British troops continued to flee westward to India. Du Fu, deputy commander of the First Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, was dissatisfied with the cheating and disloyalty of the British. He refused Stilwell's instructions to withdraw to India at that time and carried out Chiang Kai-shek's order to withdraw from the north to Yunnan. Tu Youyou citizens demanded that the troops return home through savage mountain. Sun Liren thinks that savage mountain is not feasible, and the road is long, dangerous, sparsely populated and difficult to supply. At present, the expeditionary force has four divisions. It's better to concentrate our forces, take back Myitkyina while the enemy's foothold is unstable, and return home along the Yunnan-Myanmar highway, which is both safe and fast. Helpless, Tu Yumin didn't listen. Since then, the five armies have embarked on a road of no return, gone through hardships and turned a big circle. Only one army with more than 5,000 troops has withdrawn to India, and that is another story.
So he refused to obey Tu Youyou's orders, decided to retreat from the west, carried out the orders of the Luo Expeditionary Force, and led the new 38th Division to India.
On May 10, when Sun Liren came to Miza, a small town in the south of Yingduo, with his division headquarters and 1 14 regiment, his defender 1 12 regiment of Chen Mingren Department was followed in Wen Zuo, and was surrounded by Fu Jia detachment, which was dominated by Shanbao United, and was in trouble. Upon hearing the news, Sun Liren immediately led his men back to the south and went to Wen Zuo to rescue the First and Second Regiment. He knows that the enemy's artillery has great lethality and destructive power to long-range targets, but it lacks the ability of close self-defense. He formed an engineering infantry commando team to directly attack the enemy artillery array, and adopted the tactics of "frontal containment and flanking with two wings". The first and second regiments counterattacked the enemy within the encirclement, forming a situation of internal and external attack, and implemented close-range assault tactics to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, killing more than 400 people such as Shaozuo Sato and Captain Nakai on the spot and destroying the enemy artillery.
Sun Liren then wisely left. After Du Pai and two special envoys urged the new 38th Division to advance to Myitkyina, they boldly decided to withdraw the whole division from the north, advance to Bangbin via Pingle, cross the Qindun River from there and enter India. On May 27th, they arrived in proll, a small town about 40 kilometers south of Impal. When he led his troops from the north, he telegraphed Major General Qi Xueqi, deputy head of the 1 13 regiment, which was fighting fiercely with the enemy in Casa, and asked them to destroy the enemy immediately, and led his troops to cross the pro-Dun River via Homalin or Bangbin to rebuild in proll. At this time, the new 38 th Division still has more than 7,000 officers and men and is fully equipped. It is one of the nine divisions of the Chinese Expeditionary Force fighting in Myanmar. In the great retreat, the troops were the most complete, the personnel were the most complete, the equipment was the most complete, and the morale was the highest, which was a model.
As the Japanese army was attracted to the north by the large troops led by Du, they took the lead with submachine guns when the new 38th Division retreated, and successfully repelled the Japanese troops, leaving more than 7,000 people after retreating to Indochina. The fifth army of Du, because of the Japanese sniper and pursuit, lost the best opportunity to cross savage mountain, most of them were buried in savage mountain, only 5,000 people retreated to India, 3,600 people from the 96th Division retreated to Yunnan, and a few officers and men from the 100 Division returned to Yunnan and died.
Under Luo's arrangement, General Sun sent some officers and men of the new 38th Division to search and rescue the lost officers and men of the Fifth Army together with stationmaster Tao, and set up a supply station at Mingshaoguan Zhiliduo respectively, equipped with doctors and nurses, and prepared materials to treat the wounded and sick of the Fifth Army such as Tu Youyou.
At the end of May, Sun Liren led the new 38th Division to the Indian border. Unexpectedly, the British border guards in China (India was still under British jurisdiction at that time) asked the Indian army to disarm and enter India as a refugee. When Sun Liren saw the ingratitude of such a British guy, he turned against people, suddenly became angry and refused to disarm, and ordered the troops to prepare for battle.
Lieutenant General Owen, commander of the British Eastern Corps in India, saw that the British army from Myanmar was lax in discipline and disheveled in military capacity, so he thought that the new 38 th Division would be like the British army and suggested that Wavell disarm the new 38 th Division before allowing it to assemble in India.
Alexander, commander-in-chief of the First Allied Army in the Southeast Asian Theater of the British Army, immediately telegraphed Wavell, saying: The new 38th Division is a heroic corps that saved the British army from danger and has great kindness to the British army. We must treat it with courtesy, never act rashly, and we are not allowed to have the wrong and chaotic ideas of disarming it. Alexander frankly and seriously pointed out to Wavell: "Any reckless and rude behavior against China's army, especially against the new 38th Division of China, will be strongly condemned internationally, which will seriously damage the image and reputation of the British army in the world. Besides, judging from the current morale and fighting capacity of the British army, if one or two divisions of the British army are used to disarm the new 38th Division in China, I am afraid that the British army will not only fail, but will also be vigorously countered by the new 38th Division, and it will be defeated and accomplish nothing. We must never forget that China's army is our ally and comrade-in-arms on the same front. How can we kill ourselves and turn friends into enemies? What's more, on April 9 1000, the new 38th Division, with a corps of less than1000 people, defeated thousands of people in the two wings of the Japanese 33rd Division, annihilated more than 200 people in Gao Xiali/kloc-0, and rescued more than 7,000 officers and men of the British-Burmese First Division who were on the verge of despair. How can we bite the hand that feeds us? How will the world and history judge us? "
Wavell was deeply shocked by the sonorous words of Alexander hit the floor and best decission. He felt that Lieutenant General Owen not only lacked understanding of the political significance of the United States, Britain and China in the war of resistance, but also misunderstood and disagreed with China's army. This problem is very serious and must be stopped immediately, otherwise it will lead to a catastrophe that will make relatives suffer and the enemy will be quickly destroyed. So he immediately warned Lieutenant General Owen with an urgent telegram: "General Sun Liren and the officers and men of the new 38th Division must be warmly welcomed and treated. We should ensure the supply needed by the army. And send an effective general to lead the necessary staff to proll, the resident of the Ministry, to express condolences to the officers and men of the new 38 th Division and inspect their recent situation. "
Owen received the phone call with a grain of salt, so he personally went to proll to inspect the new 38th Division. Sun Liren pulled out the guard of honor and greeted him at the gate of the military camp. Two hundred able-bodied soldiers, standing at the gate of the camp, are a wall. The soldier's uniform is a little worn, but the gun is very sharp; He is a little short, but he is full of energy. There are two small steel cannons and four heavy machine guns in front of the honor guard. Lieutenant General Owen, commander of the British Oriental Corps, was greatly surprised. He saw the British troops retreating from Burma. In order to save his life, he threw away his clothes and trousers. Needless to say, he ran back wearing only pantyhose. And China soldiers, hard to carry steel guns and heavy machine guns, is incredible. He asked China soldiers how to carry heavy machine guns. China soldiers immediately loudly replied that weapons are our lives, and people are in weapons. Hearing this, the British understood a truth: weapons are the life of China soldiers. If you want to surrender your gun, can he promise?
Sun Liren then accompanied him to inspect the troops' station and watched the live-fire shooting of various weapons and the confrontation and combat drills of a company. After watching it for a day, he saw that the uniforms of the officers and men were shabby but neat, the interior was very tidy, and the fighting skills and command art, as well as the military ability and morale of the troops were excellent, which made Owen full of praise and wonder.
Before leaving, he said to Sun Liren affectionately, "General Sun! Your army is the best I have ever seen. In yenangyaung, Myanmar, it was said that you had created a miracle that one regiment defeated two Japanese regiments. I couldn't believe it after listening to it. General Alexander, General Slim and General Stilwell also praised me for many extraordinary things about you and your new 38th Division. Today, I personally came to your company to see it all day. What I have seen fully confirms their evaluation of the general and your new 38th Division. What they said is true, and I am even more glad that you came! I am deeply happy to meet you this time and see your wonderful shooting and fighting practice. I hope that you and I can fight side by side on the Japanese front in the future. "
Owen was completely taken down. When he came back, he sent a medical team to the new 38th Division to treat the wounded, and also sent a lot of materials and medicines by car. Soon, the new 38th Division 1 13 regiment also returned triumphantly. Except for Qi Xueqi, the deputy division commander, who was seriously injured and captured, there are still nearly 7,000 officers and men in the whole division. The next day, the new 38th Division marched neatly into India. Owen also organized a guard of honor to line up and play music, and fired ten salutes to welcome him. Only the 38th Division in Sun Liren received this courtesy for the troops retreating to India, because the 38th Division is the rear unit of the British army, an iron army, not a broken team. This is how Sun Liren persuaded the British army.