In 1992, then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was desperately looking for a Chinese during a visit to the United States, because this Chinese hero led 1,121 soldiers on the battlefield in Burma 50 years ago and successfully rescued 7,000 British soldiers besieged by the Japanese army in Ringanqiang. When mentioning this story, many people will think of General Sun Liren, but in fact, this hero is Liu Fangwu, who was the commander of the third regiment of the new 38th Division at that time.
Liu Fangwu, a native of Guiyang, Hunan, participated in the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Wuhan during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and was a brave soldier who had experienced countless tests of life and death. In 1942, when our expeditionary force went to Burma, he served as the commander of the third regiment of the new 38th Division. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he went to Taiwan, but because General Sun Liren was ** and implicated in Taiwan, he finally settled in Los Angeles, USA. The new 38th Division is an elite unit of our expeditionary force, equipped with a full set of American-style equipment, and many of its officers have studied abroad and have extremely high military quality.
All soldiers are required to take a cultural subject test when they enlist. Division commander General Sun Liren graduated from Tsinghua University and later went to the Virginia Military Academy in the United States for further study, and is one of the few Chinese in Western military academies. Even now, he is a rare talent. In early April 1942, after the defeat of the Japanese army in Tonggu, a new battle plan called the "Mandalay Plan" was formulated.
On the western front, the 33rd Division encircled and annihilated the British troops preparing to flee to India, while on the eastern front, the 56th Division broke through the defensive line of the 6th Division of our Expeditionary Force and took Lashio directly, so as to cut off the retreat of our expeditionary force. At this time, the morale of the British army was low, and they were bent on withdrawing to India. In the process of retreating, a large number of ** and supplies were captured by the Japanese army. Alexander, the commander-in-chief of the British army, who had led the Dunkirk retreat, was sent to command the British army this time, and the implication was obvious, that is, to use professional talents to guide the retreat of the British army.
In the ensuing battle, the British abandoned several positions one after another. On April 12, British troops were forced to evacuate Ringanchang, the site of Burma's oil fields. The rugged terrain and numerous hills in this area made it extremely difficult for mechanized troops to march. Due to the almost total loss of cars and tanks during the escape, the commander-in-chief of the British army, Alexander, ordered to blow up the oil fields and then retreat to the west. Early the next morning, the rumbling of Japanese artillery rang out around the British positions.
It turned out that more than 1,000 people of the 2nd and 4th Wings of the Japanese army used the captured British cars and tanks to play interspersed tactics and cut off the retreat of the British army. At this time, the British army was only more than 7,000 people, and they were very nervous, mistakenly believing that the Japanese army had arrived with airborne troops, and the British army was in a state of confusion and was eager to find an opportunity to break through. At the same time, the Japanese 2nd and 4th Wings were also facing the dilemma of insufficient troops, but they were determined to hold back the British army and wait for the main force of the 33rd Division to encircle.
In the middle of the night, the Japanese used small forces to harass and attack the British army, and set fire to the oil fields, causing the British army to fall into further panic. The 7,000 British troops were like frightened birds, surrounded by more than 1,000 Japanese legions in Ringanqiang. In the dark of night, the British army was so dizzy that the commander of the British 1st Division, Major General Scott, even considered surrendering to the Japanese en masse. The commander-in-chief of the British army, Alexander, urgently appealed to the Chinese expeditionary force for help. At this time, the closest to Ren'anqiang was the new 38th Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, but the main force of the division had been transferred to the front line by Du Yuming of the Fifth Army, leaving only the third regiment and a special battalion.
The elder Chiang Yuan also sent an order in Chongqing, asking the new 38th Division to go to the rescue of the British allies.