How Sun Liren convinced the British troops in World War II

How did Sun Liren convince the British army during World War II? As mentioned above, didn't Sun Liren save 8,000 British troops? Are the British troops still unwilling to surrender? Yes, Alexander, the rescued commander-in-chief of the Allied First Front in the Southeast Asian Theater, was of course convinced. However, the Eastern Corps of the British Army in India had not seen Sun Liren's troops and believed that the Chinese army was just a bunch of rabble. They ordered the British Army in India to surrender the Chinese New 38th Division that was escorting the British Army back to India. Of course Sun Liren couldn't tolerate it and had to find a way to convince the British. The whole story has to be told from the beginning.

After the Yan'an Qiang War, the British army was frightened and decided to abandon Burma and withdraw to India, allowing the New 38th Division to cover the retreat of the British coalition forces. This wrong decision not only ruined China's supply line, the Burma Highway, but also caused many officers and soldiers of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to die in the forest, making unnecessary sacrifices. Later, the Japanese army invaded Tengchong, causing greater losses to the Chinese military and civilians.

On April 19, 1942, after the Battle of Ren'an and Qiang, Sun Liren had already discussed with his subordinates and prepared to expand the results and launch a counterattack. On this day, Sun Liren stayed up all night. Liu Fangwu ran non-stop throughout the various defense areas of the Ren'anqiang Oilfield, checking combat readiness and explaining tasks, and he never slept a wink all night. By the early morning of the 20th, they learned that the 114th Regiment was on its way and the 112th Regiment was almost at Ren'anqiang. Since they had to wait for both regiments to arrive before they could take action, Sun Liren decided to postpone the launch. Attack and order all units to stand by.

Unexpectedly, Stilwell and Luo Zhuoying had decided to abandon the "Battle of Pingmanna" at this time, and ordered Du Yumin to lead the Fifth Army on the 18th to start attacking the Tayi and Mintela areas on the 19th. transfer.

The telegram informing Sun Liren to evacuate to Jiaobodong was not delivered until the 20th, and Sun Liren was notified of the massive retreat. All combat opportunities have been delayed. If we do not retreat quickly, the New 38th Division will be in a very dangerous situation. This extremely serious and dangerous situation before Sun Liren must be faced seriously and appropriate measures must be taken quickly, otherwise the New 38th Division will suffer a terrible fate. Sun Liren was famous for his calmness, bravery and decisiveness. He decided to use the 112th Regiment of his division to set up ambushes on the north and south banks of Neibin River in Ren'anqiang Oil Field, and cover the 113th Regiment and the division headquarters to retreat in the dark. Go to Jiaobodong to set up defenses; order the incoming 114th Regiment to occupy Kannat, try their best to prevent the Japanese pursuit, cover the 112th Regiment, and begin to retreat from Ren'anqiang after midnight, and go to Jiaobodong to set up their formation; 11 The fourth regiment must wait until the 112th regiment has completely retreated to Jiaobodong, and then it can gradually turn towards Jiaobodong according to the successive resistance tactics. The time to start the retreat will wait for the telegram from the division headquarters. Under Sun Liren's careful planning, the New 38th Division finally arrived safely at Jiaobodong on the 21st. Later, he received an order to serve as the rear guard for the retreat of the Fifth Army led by Du Yumin.

In late April 1942, the British troops withdrew from Mandalay and continued to flee west to India. Du Yuming, the deputy commander of the First Route Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, was dissatisfied with the deception and disloyalty of the British. He refused the instruction of Stilwell, then Chief of Staff of the Chinese Theater, to evacuate to India, and instead carried out Chiang Kai-shek's order to go north. Withdraw the Yunnan order. Du Yumin asked the troops to withdraw into the country through Yeren Mountain. Sun Liren believed that Yeren Mountain was not feasible because of the long distance, difficult roads, sparsely populated areas, and difficulty in providing supplies. At present, the expeditionary force still has four divisions. It is better to concentrate its forces, take advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold, recapture Myitkyina, and return home along the Burma Road, which is safe and fast. Unfortunately, Du Yumin refused to listen. From then on, the Fifth Army embarked on a road of no return, went through many hardships, and made a big circle. With only more than 5,000 troops in one army, it still retreated to India. This is a story later.

As a result, Sun Liren refused to obey Du Yumin's order, immediately decided to withdraw westward, implemented the order of the expeditionary force Luo Zhuoying, and led the New 38th Division to withdraw westward to India.

On May 10, when Sun Liren led the division and the 114th Regiment to the southern town of Yingduo, Chen Mining's rear guard, the 112th Regiment, was tracked down in Wenzuo. The arriving Japanese 33rd Division was surrounded by the Fujia detachment composed of the Mountain Artillery Regiment, and was in a difficult situation from which it was unable to escape. After hearing the news, Sun Liren immediately led his troops back south and rushed to Wenzuo to rescue the 112th Regiment.

He was well aware that the enemy's artillery had great lethality and destructive power against long-distance targets, but lacked the ability to defend itself at close range. He formed an engineer and infantry commando team to attack the enemy's artillery array, adopting the tactics of "containment from the front and flank attack from both wings". The Second Regiment counterattacked outwards in the enemy's encirclement, forming a pincer attack on the enemy from both inside and outside. They implemented close-range assault tactics and defeated the enemy in one fell swoop. They killed and wounded more than 400 people including Major Sato and Captain Nakai on the spot, destroying the enemy. There were 10 cannons, more than 20 cars, more than 100 enemy mules and horses were killed, and a batch of weapons, ammunition and food were seized. This was another victory in the Allied rout.

Sun Liren then deftly withdrew. After Du Yuming sent two special envoys, Cai Yue and Xiong Ying, to urge the New 38th Division to advance toward Myitkyina, they boldly decided to lead the entire division to withdraw northward. , marched towards Bangpin via Pinlebu, crossed the Chindon River from there and entered India. On May 27, they arrived at Phuler, a small town about 40 kilometers south of Imphal, to gather and rest. When Sun Liren led his division to withdraw from Wenzuo North, he sent another telegram to inform the deputy division commander Major General Qi Xueqi and the regiment commander Colonel Liu Fangwu who were accompanying the 113th Regiment in a fierce battle with the enemy in Kasa, ordering them to get rid of the enemy immediately and lead his troops via Homalin or Bang Bin crossed the Qindun River and came to Puluer to return home. At this time, the New 38th Division still had more than 7,000 officers and soldiers and was fully equipped. It was among the nine divisions of the Chinese Expeditionary Force that entered Myanmar and retained the most complete strength, the most personnel, the most complete equipment, and the most morale during the retreat. The most noble division can be regarded as a model.

As the Japanese army was attracted by the large force headed north by Du Yuming, during the retreat of the New 38th Division, Sun Liren personally took the lead with a submachine gun and successfully defeated the Japanese blockade. After retreating to India, there were still 7,000 troops left. The remaining people. However, the Fifth Army led by Du Yuming was blocked and pursued by the Japanese army and lost the best opportunity to cross the Savage Mountain. Most of them were buried in the Savage Mountain. Only more than 5,000 people were left to retreat to India. Another three of the 96th Division were Sixteen hundred people retreated to Yunnan, and a few officers and soldiers of Dai Anlan's 100 Division also retreated to Yunnan, and Dai Anlan died.

Under Luo Zhuoying's arrangement, General Sun dispatched some officers and soldiers of the New 38th Division, along with Station Commander Tao, to participate in the search and rescue of the missing officers and soldiers of the Fifth Army, and set up supply stations from Mingshaoguan to Lieduo. The station was equipped with doctors and nurses to prepare supplies and treat sick and wounded officers and soldiers of Du Yumin's Fifth Army Corps.

At the end of May, Sun Liren led the New 38th Division to the Indian border. Unexpectedly, the British Border Guards in India (India was still under British jurisdiction at that time) asked the Chinese army to disarm and enter India as refugees. Seeing how ungrateful the British were, Sun Liren turned his back on them and refused to disarm. Order the troops to prepare for battle.

Lieutenant General Owen, the commander of the British Eastern Army in India, saw that the British troops entering India from Burma were lax in discipline and in poor appearance, so he thought that the new 38th Division would be like the British army, and he once suggested to Wavell After disarming the New 38th Division, they were allowed to enter India and assemble.

After the matter was discovered by Alexander, the commander-in-chief of the Allied First Front in the British Southeast Asia Theater, he immediately telegraphed Wavell and said: The New 38th Division is a heroic regiment that rescued the British army from danger, and it is a great favor. The British troops must be treated with courtesy and must not act recklessly, let alone have the wrong and confused idea of ??disarming them. Alexander frankly and solemnly pointed out to Wavell: "Any reckless behavior and rude behavior towards the Chinese army, especially against China's New 38th Division, will be strongly condemned internationally and will give the British army an international reputation." Moreover, judging from the current morale and combat effectiveness of the British army, if one or two British divisions are used to disarm the Chinese New 38th Division, I am afraid that the British army will not only disarm it. It cannot be effective and will be met with a vigorous counterattack by the new 38th Division. Instead, it will lose troops and achieve nothing.

We must not forget that the Chinese military is our ally and comrade-in-arms on the same front. How can we hurt each other and turn our friends into enemies? What's more, on April 19, the New 38th Division defeated two regiments of the Japanese 33rd Division with thousands of men, killing more than 1,200 people under Lieutenant Colonel Gao Yan and rescuing them, with a regiment of less than 1,000 men. There are more than 7,000 officers and soldiers of the British-Burmese Division who are on the verge of despair. How can we repay kindness with enmity and kindness with enmity for the Chinese army that is so kind to the British army? How will the world and history judge us? ”

Alexander’s sonorous and righteous words shocked Wavell deeply. He felt that Lieutenant General Irving not only lacked understanding of the political significance of the US-British-Chinese alliance to fight against Japan, but also had no understanding of the Chinese military. There are also misunderstandings and disagreements. The problem is very serious and must be stopped immediately, otherwise it will cause catastrophe that will cause pain to relatives and happiness to enemies. So he immediately warned Lieutenant General Irving with an urgent message: "To General Sun Liren and the officers and soldiers of the New 38th Division." They must be welcomed warmly and treated with courtesy. The supply of military needs must be ensured. And a capable general was selected to lead the necessary staff to Plur, the headquarters of the division, to comfort the officers and soldiers of the New 38th Division, and to inspect and report on their current situation. "

After Irving received the call, he was suspicious of the letter and went to Puller in person to inspect the New 38th Division. Sun Liren pulled out an honor guard and greeted him at the entrance of the barracks. Two hundred strong soldiers went to the entrance of the camp to greet them. The soldiers' uniforms are a little worn, but their guns are sharp; they are a little short, but they are full of energy. There are two small steel cannons and four heavy machine guns in front of the guard of honor. The lieutenant general was greatly surprised. He had seen British soldiers who had been defeated from Burma. In order to save their lives, not to mention their guns and guns, they even threw away their clothes and pants and ran back wearing only pantyhose. But the Chinese soldiers forced them to do so. It was incredible that the steel cannons and heavy machine guns were carried over. He asked the Chinese soldiers how they carried the heavy machine guns over. The Chinese soldiers immediately answered loudly that the weapons are our lives. After hearing this, the British man understood. The truth: Weapons are the lives of Chinese soldiers. If you want to hand over your guns, will he agree?

Sun Liren then accompanied him on a tour of the troop garrison, watching live ammunition firing of various weapons and a company's confrontational combat drills. Fighting. He watched for a day and saw that although the uniforms of the officers and soldiers were shabby, they were very neat. Their combat skills and command skills, as well as the morale of the troops, were all excellent. Owen was full of praise and amazed.

< p> Before saying goodbye to Sun Liren, he said to Sun Liren affectionately and sincerely: "General Sun! This army of yours is the finest I have ever seen. It was previously said that you performed the miracle of defeating two Japanese regiments with one regiment in Yan'an Qiang, Burma, but I couldn't believe it after hearing it. General Alexander, General Slim and General Stilwell also praised you and the many extraordinary things of the New 38th Division you command. Today I personally came to watch your unit for a whole day. , what I saw completely confirmed their evaluation of the general and your new 38th Division. Everything they said was true, and what I saw was even more worthwhile! I am deeply happy to meet you this time and watch your division's wonderful shooting and combat drills. I hope that you and I will fight side by side against the Japanese army in the future. "

Irving was completely convinced. After returning, he sent a medical team to treat the wounded of the New 38th Division, and also sent a large amount of supplies and medicine by car. Soon, one by one, the New 38th Division The third regiment also returned victoriously. Except for the deputy division commander Qi Xueqi who was seriously injured and captured, there were still nearly 7,000 officers and soldiers in the division. The next day, the new 38th Division marched into India in order. Owen also organized an honor guard to play music and fire cannons. Ten bells were given as a welcome. Among the troops retreating to India, only Sun Liren's 38th Division received this courtesy, because the 38th Division was the rear army of the British army, an iron army, not a broken team. This convinced the British army.