.At noon, on a long and winding Sass Road about 20 kilometers southeast of Mandalay, a large team was slowly advancing. Looking around, the soldiers in this field green team were not well equipped - some were wearing Thai helmets similar to tropical large-brimmed helmets, some were wearing British flat-edge steel helmets, and some were wearing short-brimmed cloth military caps. The weapons of these people were also diverse, one was carrying Thai imitation 38 rifles similar to 38 rifles, one was a legal m1902 Indochina rifle, and some soldiers used Lee Enfield rifles and Mauser rifles. If the flag bearers were not holding the Thai king's flag, people might think this was an international column with complex composition.

"Enemy planes! Enemy planes! They all leave the road and hide!"

The commander riding a horse conveyed the commander's order loudly. What was surprising was that the team disappeared on the sandy road at an extremely fast speed. Although these soldiers were marching slowly, they could accelerate to the fastest in an instant when they heard the orders to disperse and finally flashed into the woods next to the road with lightning speed.

A moment later, a team of silver-gray fighter jets slid past at a very low altitude, but the prey left for them was only a few baggage vehicles scattered on the road. The depressed German pilots had to vent their anger on these small trucks, carriages and trolleys, but aviation bombs and machine gun bullets seemed a little unworthy of the cost of dealing with these targets.

"Oh, why do you think we are coming to fight the Germans! Don't they know how powerful the Germans are?" A Thai sergeant with anxiety muttered with objection that his so-called "they" were pro-Japanese generals who currently control the Thai army. Although Thailand's King Rama VI advocated to remain relatively neutral in the German-Japanese war, these generals with military power still forced the government to accept the Japanese's request for troops on the grounds of the treaty of the Japan-Thailand Alliance.

When the German-Turkish Expeditionary Force launched the Myanmar Battle, six reorganized Thai divisions had quietly crossed the border and entered Myanmar.

Hearing the non-commissioned officer complaining, many soldiers around him agreed.

"Even the Japanese can't beat the Germans, how can we?"

"Stop talking about the Japanese, France, Britain, and the United States are all defeated by the Germans. I think we should not die!"

"I heard that the German cannons were so thick that they could stuff into a man. Their chariots were as big as a hill!"

"Didn't you see the German planes flying around over our heads? I guess they were hung up before they even arrived at the battlefield!"

"Or... let's go!"

Finally, everyone focused their attention on the soldier who proposed to leave.

The non-commissioned officer who was just complaining looked around carefully. Since the air raid alarm had not been lifted, the other soldiers were gathered together to chat, while the officer standing not far away just looked at all this silently.

"Everyone tells me that you will definitely be caught when you run away now! When you arrive at the battlefield, we will seize the opportunity..." The non-commissioned officer made a move with two fingers, "Even if you are caught, you can be said to be broken up by the enemy!"

No need to think too much. The Thai soldiers around them happily accepted this suggestion that sounded good.

A few minutes later, the messenger riding horse appeared on the road again, "The whole team will continue to move forward!"

With twelve minutes of reluctance, the Thai soldiers walked out of the woods one after another. The officers shouted loudly, with some scattered subordinates. After nearly 10 minutes of squadrons, Tian Green's long team appeared on the road again and continued to move northwest at a slower speed.

Pingli Town.

"Great! Shoot again 20 meters to the right!"

Holding the telescope in both hands, Andres enjoyed the feeling of the battlefield comfortably. He had never observed a battle at such a close distance, let alone commanding an assault gun battalion himself!

Although the division headquarters did not hand over the command of the assault gun battalion to Andres. After General Klester's special instructions, Captain Hans, the battalion commander of the assault gun battalion, was "obeyed" by the lieutenant from the command center. At the beginning, Andres only used his own observation to suggest that the assault gun battalion bombarded a target on the opposite side. As he fought, he unknowingly entered the commander's state. In the hazy, he saw the Corsican boy standing in Toulon.

There was another rumbling sound of artillery. The 35 assault guns that occupied the appropriate artillery positions in the towns on the west bank of the river hit the Japanese army on the other side one after another. By this time, all the German crossings of the river ended in failure, and the number of casualties exceeded that of the predecessors. The Japanese commander on the opposite side might be looking forward to the medals given by the emperor, but the arrival of this German assault gun battalion caused the German firepower to increase, and the German infantry were also actively preparing for the next attack.

"here you go!"

Seeing his designated targets being shrouded in dense artillery fire, Andres was not stingy with his praise, even though he was an informal interim commander. It was indeed an exciting thing to be able to command such a high-quality force.

"10 meters to the right of the previous target, that bungalow, kill it!"

Intuition told Andres that deploying several mortars at that location was a good choice, and the German infantry in charge of the attack also observed fierce mortar fire in that direction.

The rumbling guns followed one after another. The division's assault artillery battalion not only had more than 30 assault guns, but also had corresponding half-track ammunition transport vehicles. The German assault gunners did not need to worry too much about ammunition. Just as the shelling was about to end, a whole squadron of German "condor" appeared above the battlefield.

"This is Graybird 1, this is Graybird 1, please instruct the ground to attack the target!"

When the sound of a pilot came from the walkie-talkie, the front-line commander here, a German Army colonel over forty, turned his head and looked at Andres. It was obvious that he had also received special "care" from Klester.

Andres whispered a few words to the lieutenant beside him, and the lieutenant walked to the colonel and whispered something. The colonel nodded, then picked up the microphone, "Graybird No. 1, Graybird No. 1, this is Gray Wolf No. 1. We cross the river now, please pay attention to suppressing the Japanese firepower! Please suppress the Japanese firepower!"

"receive!"

More than 20 Vulture II dive bombers began to hover at a height of four or five hundred meters above the battlefield. Although this was not a standard dive altitude, it was conducive to pilots observing the flames on the Japanese positions.

After a sharp whistle, a large number of well-equipped German infantry quickly rushed down the river beach with kayaks, assault boats and other crossing tools. The stone beach, which was only a few meters deep, suddenly became crowded. With the fire support of their assault guns, mortars and machine guns, the first land raft boat carrying several soldiers quickly left the river beach. In just half a minute, more than 20 boats were struggling to row the other side.

At this time, the Japanese position was surprisingly quiet, but the officer who had experienced several previous attacks told Andres that the Japanese army adopted the strategy of "half-crossing attack".

Andres widened his eyes. Sure enough, when the first boat was only one step away from the opposite river beach, a wolves-like cry broke the calm of the other side. Then, dense firepower burst out in an instant, and bullets and artillery shells instantly covered the large area of ​​the river. Several boats approaching the other side were immediately overturned by bullets. The German officers and soldiers on the boats in the middle of the river also increased sharply without any cover.

A hint of anger flashed across Andres's face. He put down his telescope and gave Hans a look not far away. He turned his head to look at the colonel commander on the other side. The two of them immediately understood it. 35 assault guns, 35 long-barreled 75mm cannons, and 35 angrily shells hit the other side as soon as possible. The places where the Japanese firepower was concentrated began to be favored by them.

In the sky, some vulture ii began to climb rapidly, while the other part dived towards the Japanese position at a small angle. Although the two 7.92mm machine guns at the wing position were slightly insufficient in power, their accurate and stable shooting immediately made the Japanese machine guns silence.

On the river beach here, the German crossing troops who were shot by the Japanese army were not in chaos. Rubber boats were put into the river one after another. Japanese bullets kept splashing slaloms beside them. The German infantry still waved their sloppy sloping sloppy sloping on the nearly boiling river surface. The crossing of the river reached a climax.

The frequency of German artillery fired at the other side, and the explosions one after another caused the Japanese army on the other side to suffer unprecedented attacks, but this was not all. With the shrill whistling sound coming from the air, the most ground-attack weapons in the 20s began to be put into the battlefield. The pair of surprisingly calm eyes stared at the ground closer and closer, and the black bombs hanging under the belly of the aircraft had opened their death wings.

Explosions, waves of violent explosions ravaged the vast area across the river. The Japanese firepower was completely suppressed at this moment. The German fighter jets that had dropped bombs had just flew up, and a group of them began to dive again.

Taking advantage of the brief stop of the Japanese firepower, the German crossing troops quickly narrowed the distance from the other river beach. With the blessings and expectations of their own officers and soldiers, the first small boat finally approached the river beach. When several infantry staggered to the river beach, everyone's hearts almost reached their throats. Fortunately, although two soldiers were shot and fell, the rest successfully rushed to the base of the river bank - which was the dead end of the Japanese firepower.

German fighter jets that had lost all the bombs were still hovering over the battlefield. Inspired by them, more and more tenacious German infantry rushed to the other side of the river. The fierce battle soon became fierce. Bloody hand-to-hand combat began between the houses and the streets. The morale of German officers and soldiers was at its peak. Just 25 minutes later, the Japanese defenders were expelled from their positions.

If the soldiers knew that their crown prince was watching the battle on the other side, the joy of victory would be even stronger.

In the headquarters of the German-Turkish Expeditionary Force, there was no obvious joy or anxiety on the faces of the busy officers.

"General, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived at the front line. Although we have basically controlled the west of the Mu River, it is a battlefield after all..." The speaker was a middle-aged officer with the rank of colonel, one of the trusted staff officers of Lieutenant General Oscar von Hutiel, commander of the German Expeditionary Force.

It was originally a good thing to inspire the morale of the army, but the complex terrain of Southeast Asia and the Japanese army's desire to fight to the death obviously made the royal family and the Supreme Commander worry, not to mention Andres was the only son of the German emperor. Therefore, the whereabouts of the crown prince became a secret and a close object of attention for the top leaders. "Chrester acted cautiously, we can rest assured that this is! Your Majesty intends to let His Royal Highness receive the influence of the battlefield, which is a good thing for the empire and the army!" Hutiel, the most outstanding infantry commander in the German army, looked up at the simple windows of the camp tent. From the shadow, the day was in vain.

"Tell Kleister that he will send His Highness back to the headquarters before the evening! No matter what the result of the daytime war is, I think the Japanese army will definitely take action tonight!" Hutiel walked to the large battlefield sand table and said: "According to our intelligence, a Thai army entered Myanmar the day before yesterday, and our reconnaissance planes also found their traces! Although the combat effectiveness of the Thai army is very limited, this is a signal-the Japanese army does not intend to give up Myanmar!"

"If I were the Japanese commander and still had 200,000 troops in my hand, I would choose to make a bold counterattack!" The colonel said in great agreement before.

"But where is the location for the counterattack?" Another colonel officer stared at the sand table with frown.

"The jungle hinders us from seeing the distribution of the Japanese army's troops. Judging from the current firepower of the Japanese defense line, the closer it is to Mandalay, the stronger the Japanese army's troops are, but this is just a superficial phenomenon!" Hutiel was also a little worried. If he was fighting on the endless plain, he would put the armored division into a large-scale interweaving battle without hesitation. Although he is famous for his infantry tactics, Hutiel is not the kind of person who refuses to accept new ideas. Moreover, the several classic armored large-scale interweaving battles have allowed every commander of the German Army to see the huge power of this tactic.

Unfortunately, this is Myanmar, and Hutiel had to deal with the changes with inconvenience. However, in the next hour, battlefield reports and air reconnaissance reports forced him to deploy.

"Klester's troops successfully broke through the Japanese defense line in Hirari, and the engineering troops are setting up a pontoon bridge there!"

"The large-scale mobilization of Japanese troops was discovered east of Hirari!"

"General Klester's vanguard exchanged fire with the Japanese army east of Hirari, and the Japanese army's firepower was very fierce!"

"About 7,000 Japanese troops began to counterattack Hirari!"

"Our army repels the first Japanese attack on Hirari!"

"The Japanese offensive troops increased rapidly, with more than 10,000 people!"

"The Japanese army has put several heavy artillery shot at our Pingli position with a caliber of more than 120 mm!"

"General Klester asked the Air Force to provide brigade-level fire support!"

The atmosphere in the headquarters suddenly became heavier. It was indeed a bit surprising that the Japanese army counterattacks so quickly and violently, while several senior officials of Hutiel believed that the crown prince should be evacuated from the front line first.

"Your Majesty said, don't bind our hands and feet because of the crown prince. War is not for a single person. A small decision will affect the life and death of tens of thousands of soldiers!" Hutiel said this as if reminding himself. After a moment of contemplation, he made a decision: "Order Kleist to defend Pingli's position! Order the 2nd Armored Division to send 3 tank battalions and JArson Battalions to quickly go to Pingli! Order the 7th Infantry Division to move towards Pingli! Order the front line to strengthen the attack!"

"Then the Crown Prince..." The Colonel Staff Officer hesitated.
Chapter completed!