Chapter 72: Finding a Breakthrough

  The gunfire gradually subsided, and Zhang Dali and Zhao Yong led the two squads to converge with Dong Li Mao and others at the village entrance.

  "Company Commander, we've caught a little devil's interpreter." Zhang Dalu pushed a bespectacled man in front of Dong Limao.

  "Are there any casualties among our brothers?" Dong Li Mao seemed uninterested in the translator, he cared about whether his own people were injured or killed in this battle.

  "Two were killed and three were lightly injured." Zhao Yong replied. Someone brought over the bodies of the two fallen soldiers and gently laid them on the ground.

  Dong Li Mao squatted down, looking at the two warriors who were about the same age as him. Although he felt a pang of regret for the loss of these two young lives, he didn't feel sad. This was war, and death was unavoidable. He stood up and said: "Little Hu Zi, take note of their names, we must remember to send condolence money to their families. Find a place to give our two brothers a proper burial."

  After finishing speaking, he walked up to the bespectacled interpreter and asked: "Were the two villages in front also done by you?"

  The captured Japanese interpreter hung his head and replied in a low voice: "No, it may have been done by another squad."

  Dong Li Mao understood, another squad he mentioned was that group of Japanese soldiers they encountered by the riverbank.

  "How far is it from here to the besieged British First Division?" Dong Limao asked again.

  "About ten or more miles."

  "Why have you come to this village?"

  "We were ordered to patrol and defend along the riverbank, we came out with two squads, including that one in front, over a hundred people." The interpreter seemed to think that if he said more, he wouldn't die, so he tried to say everything he knew.

  "Are you also Chinese?" Dong Li Mao couldn't tell where this person's accent was from.

  "No, I'm Burmese. They caught me and made me translate for them. It wasn't my choice, sir. I didn't kill anyone or do anything wrong to the villagers..."

  "Why can you speak Chinese?" Dong Li Mao interrupted him and asked.

  "I studied at the Yangon Chinese School and am good friends with some Chinese people in Myanmar."

  Dong Li Mao thought for a moment, feeling that keeping this person might be useful, so he said: "Your life is temporarily in my hands, if you dare to play any tricks on the road, I will cut your throat with one knife."

  "Officer..." The translator glanced at the person beside him, as if he had something to say.

  "What else do you want to say?" Dong Li Mao sensed that he seemed to have something important to say.

  "There are too few of you, surrounding the British army, there is an entire division, and on the way, you will encounter Japanese troops, I'm afraid..."

  "This is none of your business, just mind your own way."

  While talking to the interpreter, some living villagers gathered around, a few even brought food, but most were local fruits. A man who seemed to be the leader said a few words.

  "What did he say?" Dong Li Mao asked the interpreter.

  "He said the villagers are grateful for your lifesaving efforts and would like you to accept this food." The interpreter replied.

  Dong Li Mao then ordered his men to take in the things brought by the villagers and gave a ten-minute rest.

  The chief learned from the interpreter that his name was Dong Limao. He said that the descendants of the village would remember this name in the future.

  The next ten or so miles of road saw three encounters with Japanese patrols, but because it was too dark, the interpreter played a very important role and there was no exchange of fire between the two sides.

  They arrived at the outer ring of the besieged British 1st Division, but didn't see anyone from the 38th Division. They were all Japanese soldiers, and they didn't hear any gunfire. Dong Li Mao felt something was off, he had a premonition that he and his brothers had charged into the encirclement of the British 1st Division by the Japanese devils.

  Dong Li Mao made everyone hide in the woods, dragged the interpreter over, held a knife to his neck and asked loudly: "Did you intentionally lead us to the Japanese army?"

  "Officer... are you asking me to take you... where you came from..." The interpreter replied nervously.

  "Was there a Chinese army here yesterday exchanging fire with the Japanese?"

  "There is, but not on this side, it's on the other side of the dam, and the fighting is quite intense... The Japanese even sent planes from Rangoon to bomb..."

  Dong Li Mao suddenly understood, the 38th Division's rescue of the besieged British army was a frontal assault, while the Special Forces went in the completely opposite direction. No wonder all they met along the way were Japanese devils. In other words, the besieged British army was just ahead, and perhaps the Japanese army was waiting for dawn to launch its final fierce attack.

  Because they had entered the Japanese army's hinterland, Dong Limao was unable to use the walkie-talkie to contact Zhu Yongsheng and the others.

  "We must sneak into the British encircled position before dawn, you know what to do, right?" Dong Li Mao said to the interpreter.

  The interpreter nodded and replied: "I know there's a place that can be entered, but it's a cliff."

  "Go!" Dong Li Mao put away his sword and let the interpreter lead the way.

  Perhaps because the 38th Division was attacking from the opposite side, the Japanese army's main force was deployed in front, so there weren't many defending troops on this side. Instead, there were numerous small patrol teams, not only along the riverbank but also patrolling in the mountains and forests. Moreover, this location was fundamentally unsuitable for a large-scale breakout or rescue operation. The terrain consisted almost entirely of mountains and cliffs, making it utterly impossible to rescue several thousand troops from the Japanese encirclement from this direction.

  Dong Li Mao was unaware of this situation. He led his brothers and mistakenly entered the position with the weakest defense against the Japanese army.

  There are less than two hours before dawn, the interpreter led Dong Li Mao and others to climb a mountain top. There were no Japanese troops guarding here, but it seemed that there had been battles before, and corpses could be kicked everywhere, most of whom were British soldiers in uniform, and a small number were Japanese corpses. From these bodies, it can be seen that the besieged British army also tried to escape from here, but failed.

  "It's right here," said the interpreter, pointing at a cliff dozens of meters high.

  Dong Li Mao stood at the edge of the cliff, and could see that down below there were faint lights scattered over an area of several square kilometers on the flat plain. He estimated that these must be the British First Division and Armored Regiment troops who had been surrounded here.

  "Second, take the person around and be on high alert, others find the rattan stick! Hurry!" Dong Li Mao gave a decisive order, then he took out a map, tore off a piece, wrote a few words on it, took the water bottle from Hu San's body, stuffed the piece of map with the words between the water bottle and the strap, grabbed the water bottle strap with his right hand, swung it in the air several times like a chain ball, and threw the water bottle down the cliff.

  "Hu San couldn't help but ask: 'Commander Lian, what are you doing?'"

  "If there were British troops defending at the foot of the mountain, we wouldn't have even reached halfway down and would probably have been shot dead in mid-air. I'm reminding them that we are the Chinese army here to rescue them." Dong Li Mao replied.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, there were British troops defending below the cliff. The canteen happened to hit a soldier's helmet by the side of a trench, and he shouted "Grenade!" before tumbling into the trench.

  The rest of the soldiers on the edge of the trench quickly hid in the trenches, aiming their guns upwards at the cliff, thinking that the Japanese devils were coming down from above again. They had been holding out for several days and nights, and had clashed with the Japanese army's surprise attack team descending from the cliff many times before, so everyone was like a startled bird as soon as they heard the bombs falling from above.

  A few minutes later, still no explosion, and nothing else fell down. The soldier who was hit by the kettle on the head carefully picked up the kettle, shook it a few times next to his ear, and found that there was still water inside. He unscrewed the lid, sniffed it with his nose, then brought it to his lips to taste it, and found that it was clean drinking water. So he gulped down several big mouthfuls.

  A man who looked like an official came over, snatched the canteen from the soldier's hand, shook it twice and asked: "Did this fall from above?"

  "Report, sir! It fell from above." The soldier stood up straight and replied.

  The squad leader examined the kettle carefully, bringing it close to his eyes in the dim light of night. He finally spotted a piece of paper stuck between the kettle and its strap. He jumped down into the trench, hiding in a shaded area, and pulled out a flashlight to examine the paper more closely. The Chinese characters on it were unfamiliar to him, so he called over a soldier and handed him the paper, saying: "Take this to battalion HQ - they have an interpreter there who can tell us what's written on it. Then come back immediately and report."