Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 91

Aside from the newly arrived Deng Yulin and others who still had some doubts, the others present understood Lin Xinyi's thoughts, because in the past few months, Lin Xinyi had been organizing people's committees at all levels while also discussing the relationship between the revolutionary party and the government with them.

Although the Indian comrades who joined later did not see anything wrong with Lin Xinyi and other foreigners leading the Indian People's Committee, after all, they were the ones who established it. Even the local people trusted the Chinese more than they trusted them. However, as the People's Committee expanded, the landlords who were unable to resist it by force began to attack its legitimacy by questioning whether the Chinese were neo-colonizers.

Many people dismissed these attacks as baseless, arguing that the Chinese had not gained much benefit from the People's Committee, a stark contrast to the actions of British officials in British India. However, Lin Xinyi took these remarks seriously and engaged in a earnest discussion with his comrades.

What he is recounting at this meeting today is precisely the result of these discussions. The final conclusion is to establish an alliance—the Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance—united by revolutionary parties from various countries, ethnic groups, or regions. This alliance will take anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism, and anti-feudalism as its basic program, and on this basis, seek the great liberation of all Asian nations and the development and construction of Asian socialism, while supporting the self-liberation movements of all nations in the world.

All revolutionary political parties applying to join the alliance must agree to the basic program and may not negate the basic program in their party program. Each party may apply to withdraw from the alliance, and the alliance may also expel parties that contradict or oppose the alliance's program. The alliance will not interfere with the personnel of each party, but should actively help people of all nationalities or regions to form revolutionary parties against imperialism, colonialism, and feudalism.

The alliance can guide political parties in various regions to carry out revolutionary movements, but it does not issue instructions to governments of various countries or regions. The alliance can appoint members to help political parties in various regions establish people's governments, but they should join the local governments as members of the party.

Based on the results of the above discussion, the People's Committee was re-elected, and Jadin, Savaka, Kumar, Chandl and others were elected as members of the Central Committee. The People's Committee was officially named the People's Committee of India. Although Lin Xinyi remained a member of the Central Committee, he became a representative member of the Labour Party of India.

The Asian Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ADRA) has four founding parties: the Chinese Labor Party, the Japanese Labor Party, the Nepalese Labor Party, and the Indian Labor Party. The newly formed ADRA elected a provisional executive committee, with Lin Xinyi as its chairman. However, the establishment of the alliance still requires notification to the Chinese Labor Party and the Japanese Labor Party, followed by a separate general meeting for resolution.

However, the organizational and leadership issues of the Indian Revolution were finally resolved. Based on Lin Xinyi's suggestion, in order to avoid provoking the British Indian government, the establishment of the Indian People's Committee was not announced for the time being. Instead, decrees and announcements were issued in the name of the Bihar Free State Government. In addition, the name of the army was changed to the Bihar People's Liberation Army to ease relations with other regional national self-liberation movement organizations.

The Indian National Congress (INC) sees itself as the political representative of the Indian people, and any individual or organization attempting to challenge this position is met with its scathing attacks. Previously, they used the name of the Chinese military, which, while causing considerable dissatisfaction among INC members regarding their political stances, primarily their policies towards the landowning class, at least mitigated the conflict due to nationality differences, as the Chinese military would eventually leave India.

However, after they localized their revolutionary organization, the conflict between the Labour Party and the Indian National Congress intensified. After all, their positions on the landowner issue were completely opposed. The Congress Party was now an ally of the landowner class, while the Labour Party's goal was to eliminate the landowner class and liberate the peasants. How could the Congress Party possibly let the Labour Party off the hook?

Lowering the organization to the status of a state's autonomous government, while not resolving the conflict with the Congress Party, could at least weaken the unity among Congress Party members. After all, the Congress Party organizations in different regions were not closely connected, and under British surveillance, the Congress Party was more like a political club.

A Congress Party that cannot unite is a perfect opponent for the nascent Labour Party of India. Having resolved the issue of revolutionary leadership, Lin Xinyi then moved on to the second item on the agenda.

"...I think everyone should have heard the news that Comrade Wu Luzhen won a great victory on the mountain, annihilating six or seven enemy battalions in one go, thus recovering the lost territory from Darjeeling to the foot of the mountain."

However, I must ask everyone not to be too happy yet. According to our intelligence: the British have stationed 5 infantry battalions east of the Teesta River and Jamuna, 2 battalions west of the Gossy River, 3 battalions south of the Ganges River, and 2 battalions south of the Bodo River.

In the central area surrounded by these rivers, the British army had at least 12 cavalry companies, 15 infantry battalions, plus 5 battalions withdrawn from the mountains, totaling 20 infantry battalions. In addition, there were 10-15 police battalions in the area.

Let's divide this area. The northernmost part is the foothills of the Himalayas, the middle part is the Ganges-Ghatikhar-Rakunatpur, and below that is the triangular area formed by the Bodo and Jamuna rivers flowing towards Dhaka. The British forces are fewest in the lower right triangle, with only three infantry battalions; the rest of the troops are in the rectangular area in the upper part.

However, this rectangle was bisected by the Getihar-Siliguri railway line, forming two trapezoids. The left trapezoid contained our current three base areas, while the smaller trapezoid on the right was the guerrilla zone where Li Tang and the British forces were maneuvering. The British only deployed two cavalry companies and four infantry battalions to the left trapezoid, primarily to protect the towns along the railway line; the right trapezoid, on the other hand, concentrated ten cavalry companies and eight infantry battalions to encircle and annihilate Li Tang's forces.

The five infantry battalions that have now retreated from the mountain have actually strengthened the encirclement of Li Tang's forces. In addition, we have received news that three British infantry brigades dispatched from the UK have arrived in Calcutta and begun training. Indian Army Commander-in-Chief Kitchener intends to use these three infantry brigades as the basis for forming three new infantry divisions. Once this force is deployed, we will be completely at a disadvantage.

Therefore, our current task is to crush the British encirclement and suppression in this region and break the British blockade along the river before Kitchener completes the formation of these three infantry divisions.

Although this region is located at the foot of the Himalayas, with forests and mountains as a safety net, I believe there is limited room for development. This is because no abundant iron or coal mines have been found in the area. Without iron and coal, we cannot develop industry in our base area, nor can we arm the people.

Therefore, in order to break the deadlock and allow the Indian Revolution more room to develop, it is necessary to cross the Ganges River and enter the southern Chordanagapur Plateau, where there are various minerals and forests, and the terrain is also conducive to the development of guerrilla warfare…”

Chapter 320 The Battle to Break Trade Channels

After Lin Xinyi shared his views, Deng Yulin said, "To crush the British encirclement of Li Tang's troops, I think it's appropriate to first eliminate the British forces in this trapezoidal area on the left, then join forces with Li Tang and Wu Luzhen to attack Heige's troops who have fled down the mountain, and then deal with the main British encirclement force..."

Jadin and Savaka supported Lin Xinyi's idea of ​​expanding beyond the region to the Jodhpur Plateau, rapidly spreading the revolution throughout the country—this had always been their hope. Compared to the rapid pace at which Lin Xinyi was establishing a revolutionary regime, the rest of India was still groping in the dark, unable to find a path to revolution, which caused them anxiety.

Although the national movement launched by the radical wing of the Congress Party greatly mobilized the Indian people, this time even rural farmers and urban workers joined the movement against the partition of Bangladesh, in reality, the farmers and workers joined the movement not to oppose the partition of Bangladesh, but to improve their own situation.

Under British rule, and especially after the famine of 1897-1900, though five years had passed, the memory of the deaths of tens of millions of people had not been forgotten in the minds of Indians. The Indian National Congress attributed the recurring famines in India to the excessive wealth taken from India by Britain, a propaganda effort that successfully rallied Indian national consciousness.

Therefore, in the movement against the partition of Bengal, Muslims and Hindus united, cities and villages united, and the people of Bengal, Madras, Mumbai, and Punjab united. Never before has the unity of the Indian people been shown as much as it is now, and the profound understanding of the disasters brought to India by the British colonialists has been demonstrated.

However, after spending a few months with Lin Xinyi, Jadin, Savaka, and other Indian intellectuals suddenly realized that the current vigorous anti-partitioning movement against Bengal actually lacked a goal to attract farmers to persist in the long term. If the anti-partitioning movement was not transformed into an anti-colonial and anti-feudal movement, it would soon fade away because it could not meet the real needs of farmers and workers.

The reason why the anti-Bangladesh partition movement was able to unite people's hearts and minds is not that Indian farmers and workers suddenly became true nationalists, but that they had suffered so much oppression and were eager to change their lives, so any movement that could break the status quo would gain their support.

However, once Indian farmers and workers realize that this movement cannot change their status quo and will only create a few high-ranking positions for upper-class intellectuals, they will lose all hope in it. Only when the People's Committee, under the guise of the anti-Bengali partition movement, calls on farmers to rise up against paying taxes to Britain and demands that landlords reduce rents and interest, thus genuinely benefiting the farmers, can this national resistance movement truly be transformed into a national self-liberation movement.

Therefore, these Indian intellectuals were particularly supportive of the idea of ​​spreading the revolution to more places, competing with the moderates of the Indian National Congress and the landowning class for local leadership, eliminating the idea of ​​begging the British to abandon colonialism, and replacing it with a genuine revolutionary program.

Lin Xinyi advocated launching a rent and interest reduction movement throughout Bengal and a movement to improve the living conditions of plantation workers, transforming the current anti-separation movement into a class struggle movement. Meanwhile, Jadin, Sawaka, and others would lead young people who had been trained locally over the past few months across the Ganges and Gosi rivers to lead the peasant movement and prepare the masses for the revolutionary army's westward and southward advance.

He said to the committee members: "Now is the autumn harvest season, the time to protect the fruits of the laboring people. When you comrades arrive in the localities, you can take advantage of the opportunity to publicize the anti-division movement to organize the awakened peasants and let them rise up to protect their own fruits of labor. As long as the peasants keep one more grain of rice, it is equivalent to the landlord class and the British colonists robbing one less grain of rice. This will strongly support the revolutionary regime and the revolutionary army."

Of course, when you depart, we also need to create a significant disturbance for the British, preventing them from paying attention to your activities. Therefore, I plan to have the People's Committee of Burnia launch a commerce raiding operation, dismantling a section of the railway line between Siliguri and Getihar. This will firstly disrupt the British army's transportation along the railway line, secondly, we need iron to make farm tools, and thirdly, it will isolate the British troops in Siliguri…”

That evening, the Central Committee decided on several proposals: militarily, to concentrate forces to annihilate five to seven British battalions and crush the British encirclement and suppression campaign; politically, to organize and lead the peasant movement in the Bengal region; and to cross the Ganges and Gosi rivers to develop towards the Jodhpur Plateau, where a second and third base area would be established.

On the second day at noon, in order to implement the military decisions, the Military Commission and the leaders of the army began to meet to discuss how to carry them out. After more than half a year of expansion, the 3 battalions that had come down from the mountain (later, another battalion was added) had expanded to 8 battalions, in addition to 57 militia companies. The army's weapon and equipment rate reached 70%, while the militia companies' weapon and equipment rate was less than 30%.

Therefore, Deng Yulin said: "We have 5 battalions that can be deployed to fight, but the remaining 3 battalions can only be used to supplement troops. The militia companies can deal with the police and can be used for guard duty, but I don't think they are very good for fighting the British army."

While sabotaging the railway is a relatively simple task—we can easily stop and annihilate the small British units scattered throughout the villages and towns along the railway if we can mobilize the masses—it would expose our strength. This would make it less likely that the British would disperse their forces further, so we worry that we will struggle to defeat the main British forces in a direct confrontation.

Therefore, I still advocate first eliminating the various British forces currently scattered in this region, equipping our soldiers with their weapons, and then carrying out commerce raiding; that might be more appropriate…”

The military representatives all supported Deng Yulin's view, believing that it would be more reasonable to first eliminate the scattered enemy forces in front of them and strengthen their army before engaging in commerce raiding. This might also draw some of the British forces from the right flank, thus relieving the pressure of fighting the British in the commerce raiding campaign.

However, Lin Xinyi did not agree with this prudent approach. Looking at the map, he said to everyone, "In fact, the biggest threats to us are the British infantry who can move quickly by rail, and the British cavalry."

It would be much easier for us to eliminate the British forces currently scattered in this area, but this would also disperse our forces, giving the British a buffer period. Once the British become wary, they will concentrate their cavalry to launch a surprise attack on us. Therefore, our subsequent commerce raiding will be difficult to achieve good results, because we cannot protect tens of thousands of civilians from a cavalry attack.

We must give the masses confidence and not let them feel that fighting the British is a losing proposition. Only when the masses understand that they can fight back against the British colonizers with their own strength will this war become a war between the Indian people and the British colonizers. This is far more meaningful than annihilating a few battalions of British troops now.

Therefore, this commerce raiding operation is not just about destroying an enemy railway line. I hope to take this opportunity to severely damage the enemy's cavalry, just like in the Battle of Burnia Forest earlier this year. Only by destroying the British army's mobility can we then calmly divide and encircle the British infantry.

Furthermore, for the British troops who escaped from the mountains, having their retreat cut off would cause them panic again, and those who had escaped once were much more likely to choose to flee. Therefore, our main target this time is actually the five battalions that escaped from the mountains. Whether we annihilate them or force them to escape across the Teesta River, it will shake the British troops on the plains, thus establishing our belief in victory for the next phase of our operations…”

To the west of the railway from Getihar to Siliguri, there is a river. Although it is not as wide as the Teesta or Gosi, it is a river formed by the confluence of many mountain streams from the Himalayas. During the rainy season, it becomes very wide and muddy, but during the dry season, it becomes a valuable source of agricultural irrigation water for this plain.

Of course, after the rainy season, the river's surface level shrinks dramatically, and in some places, it becomes traversable on foot. For the past few months, the British troops stationed along the railway line have had a relatively easy time, as they only need to monitor the river to prevent Chinese people from escaping across.

John Dean, a military doctor stationed in Dalcora, was writing a letter home from his office that day. October was harvest season, and the scene of abundant harvests on the Indian plains was simply breathtaking. He was trying to describe the sights to his family when someone knocked on his door. Soon, a nurse came in and told him, "Mr. Dean, many wounded soldiers have been brought in. Please go and see them..."

John Dean looked out the window with some surprise. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon. As he stood up, he asked, "Where did they come from? Did the Chinese defeat Dalcora?"

The nurse shook her head and said, "It's from Sayyidpur in the north. Farmers attacked these poor policemen; apparently, they want their grain back. Lieutenant Brian has already led reinforcements..."

John Dean could only shake his head and say, "It's starting again? Those farmers caused a disturbance earlier this year; they seem to have been corrupted by the Chinese. Hopefully, Lieutenant Brian can teach them a lesson and show them what it means to follow the rules..."

However, John Dean's prayers were clearly not heard by God. From Lecourtpur to Islampur, peasant riots broke out in the villages and towns along the railway line. After all, the peasants' grain needed to be transported by rail, so it was quite reasonable for riots to occur along the railway line. Soon, the action to seize the grain turned into an action to dismantle the railway.

General Lo, stationed in Getihar, and Lieutenant Colonel Townsend, who had penetrated deep into Saidpur, both received intelligence about the peasant uprising. General Lo, as was his habit, mobilized most of his cavalry to the railway line to suppress the peasant uprising, which greatly surprised Lieutenant Colonel Townsend. He said to his subordinates, "Why bother with the peasant uprising at this time? We finally managed to trap the Chinese near the Teesta River. Now that he has mobilized his cavalry, how am I supposed to intercept the Chinese?"

Chapter 321 The Tragedy of the Cavalry

A troop of cavalry searched along the riverbank for traces of the fleeing rioting peasants. Soon, one of the riders shouted to his superior, "Captain, they're over there! They're crossing the river..."

Captain Brady reined in his horse and looked up at the riverbank to his left. Sure enough, several hundred farmers were crossing a makeshift pontoon bridge toward the other side of the river. Those who had already crossed had disappeared into the forest on the other side, carrying sacks of various sizes on their backs.

He turned and shouted to his men, "Fifth Cavalry Regiment, charge! Seize those damned thieves! That's Imperial property..."

The commotion caused by Captain Brady's company quickly alerted the farmers who were crossing the river. They hurriedly dropped the sacks on their shoulders and rushed to the other side. Some even tried to sabotage the pontoon bridge, but the farmers had to give up as the cavalry closed in.

It was an extremely cool day, and Captain Brady, riding on horseback, had no intention of stopping. He charged onto the pontoon bridge and raised his longsword, attempting to make a hole in the backs of the fleeing farmers.

But at that moment, the farmers who were running behind suddenly panicked and jumped into the river, clearing a path for him. Captain Brady continued forward, unconcerned, figuring there were still fleeing farmers ahead. But just then, the bushes in front of the forest on the opposite side suddenly grew taller, even revealing gun barrels.

"An ambush?" The thought had barely crossed Captain Brady's mind when he suddenly sank down. Just before he fell, he saw that the pontoon bridge, a few meters from the opposite bank, had been dismantled, and the horses had lost their footing.

Captain Brady and his horse tumbled off the bridge, causing gasps from the cavalry behind him. But they could not stop and had to keep going, so they continued to fall off the bridge. Of course, some of the smarter ones turned their horses and charged into the river. But at that moment, gunfire erupted from the bank. There was an ambush not only ahead of them, but also on the other side behind them.

Losing their speed, the cavalrymen were easy targets on the open river, and the fifty or sixty men were ultimately annihilated. This wasn't the only such ambush. The British were accustomed to using cavalry to suppress peasant uprisings; once they charged in and dispersed the rebels, they could pursue and kill them without restraint. The Battle of Burnia clearly hadn't taught them a lesson.

The worst off, however, were the three companies of the 8th Royal Light Horse Regiment, honored as "King George," and more than one company of the 3th Bengal Horse Regiment, led by Colonel Van Coutt, heading to Gishanganj, the epicenter of the unrest, about 50 miles from Siliguri to the north and Getihar to the southwest.

As ordered by General Lowe, Colonel Van Coutt was to proceed as quickly as possible to relieve a British infantry company stationed there, who were holding out in the small town before rioting farmers cut the telegraph lines.

When Colonel Van Cout received the order, a day had passed since the riots began. He spent another day regrouping the scattered cavalry, so when he set off from Reigenj on the third day, his men, whom he had been urging to get to Gischengenj, 37 miles away, saw smoke rising over Gischengenj in just one morning.

Beside a creek, Colonel Van Coutt ordered his men to dismount and rest, and then sent out scouts to investigate. The scouts brought good news: the rioting peasants were still confronting the British troops in the town, and they had set up camps in the northwest and east corners of the town, and appeared to be cooking over fires.

However, the crops around the eastern camp had already been harvested, and chevaux-de-frise had been erected around the camp, making a surprise attack seem difficult. Below the camp in the northwest corner was a field of jute, which could conceal cavalry approaching. This camp had no defensive facilities; it was simply encamped near the forest, indicating that they were prepared to flee into the forest if things went wrong.

After assessing the relative strengths, Colonel Van Coutt decided to launch a surprise attack on the northwest corner camp first, not only because it was poorly defended, but also because it had a larger number of soldiers. There were at least three or four thousand peasants besieging Gischengenj, most of whom were in the main camp in the northwest. He only had about 500 cavalrymen with him, so he naturally hoped to defeat these peasants in one fell swoop rather than engage in a protracted battle.

Colonel Van Coutt allowed his horses to recover some strength before urging the troops to circle around to the western jute field. Under the cover of the tall jute trees, they approached the farmers who were eating on the ground. After seeing the unsuspecting farmers through the jute leaves, Colonel Van Coutt blew his whistle, and the cavalrymen of the 8th Light Cavalry Regiment immediately urged their mounts to rush out of the jute field.

The commotion in the hemp field quickly alerted the farmers who were eating. Someone immediately called the police, and then everyone began to abandon their banana leaves and run towards the forest to the north. Although the camp was right on the edge of the forest, not everyone could outrun the cavalry. Many farmers who were slower to react quickly became the victims of the cavalry's swords.

However, the cavalrymen who approached the forest soon faced retaliation. The camp was not entirely populated by farmers; in fact, it housed a battalion of infantry. They had simply placed their weapons inside the forest, particularly six Maxim machine guns at the edge of the forest, using tree branches and tents to obstruct the cavalrymen's view.

The ensuing battle was quite simple. The cavalrymen, who slowed down in the face of the forest, fell one after another in front of the machine gun positions. Occasionally, a few cavalrymen would desperately charge into the forest, but they would be forced to stop and pulled off their horses by the infantry in the forest. Lone cavalrymen could not fight against the numerically superior infantry in the forest.

Colonel Van Coutt died during the battle when his horse was hit by machine gun fire and he fell, fracturing his neck. His death shattered the remaining cavalry's will to fight, and they scattered and fled. However, most of the British cavalry were at the forefront, so the British mortality rate was as high as 70%. Many Indian cavalrymen did escape, but very few returned to camp.

The annihilation of Colonel Van Coutt's large cavalry force shifted the initiative on the battlefield to the People's Liberation Army of Bihar. The defenders of Gischengenj quickly raised a white flag after seeing their reinforcements wiped out.

After the battle, Lin Xinyi gave orders to Deng Yulin, instructing him to lead two battalions to stop the British infantry from advancing north in Gettihar, Dinajpur and other places, and to capture the towns and villages along the railway that had been besieged but not captured. He himself led three battalions of infantry to attack towns such as Islampur, Sonapur, Banjogor, Siliguri and Jerbaiguri.

However, instead of advancing along the railway line, he skipped Islampur and besieged Sonapur and Banjogor first. Sonapur led to Siliguri, and Banjogor led to Djarbaiguri, but the southern city of Banjogor, Sayedpur, was the center of the encirclement force led by Lieutenant Colonel Townsend.

In other words, capturing Banjogor would not only sever the connection between Lieutenant Colonel Townsend and Colonel Haig, but would also break the encirclement of Lieutenant Colonel Townsend's forces surrounding Li Tang. However, such an important place was only garrisoned by less than two companies, because when Colonel Haig came down from the mountain, he was worried that he could not hold the mountain passes at the foot of the mountain, so he transferred the nearby British troops there.

Colonel Haig's reasoning was that if the Chinese attempted to break out here, their ultimate goal would still be to return to the mountain. Therefore, as long as the foot of the mountain was held, there was no need to worry about the Chinese escaping. Moreover, Banjogor was surrounded by British troops, so if the area was attacked, reinforcements would arrive quickly, and there was no need to deploy too many troops.

However, Colonel Haig hadn't anticipated that the so-called "main force of the Chinese army" besieged by Lieutenant Colonel Townsend was not a main force at all. Therefore, when a large force attacked Siliguri from the west, not only was reinforcement for Banjogor impossible, but reinforcements for the surrounding towns were also needed. Upon being attacked from the west, the defenders of Banjogor immediately panicked and retreated towards Djilbeguri.

The garrison at Sonapur surrendered with little resistance, as the troops stationed there were the men of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mellis, who had been captured by the Chinese earlier. They had abandoned their superior and fled down the mountain, leaving the city to guard the railway line. In fact, if it weren't for a severe manpower shortage, these men would have been dismissed long ago; naturally, their morale was low.

These people felt that they would be deported sooner or later, so it was obviously not worth fighting the Chinese. In addition, the Chinese appeared from behind them, which meant that they were already trapped here. Even if they held on this time, they might not be able to hold on next time. So when they saw the red flag of the Chinese army on the outskirts of the city, they fired a volley of shots into the air and then raised a white flag.

The loss of Sonapur put immense pressure on the garrison in Baghdogra and Siliguri, two cities that guarded the mountain passes leading to Sikkim from the west and east respectively. However, the Chinese on the mountain were now relentlessly advancing towards the foot of the mountain, while another group of Chinese appeared behind them. The British troops, already having fled once, had little courage left to continue.

After receiving news that Sonapur had been occupied by the Chinese, the garrison in Baghdogra immediately retreated to Siliguri. On the fifth day of the commerce raid, Lin Xinyi joined forces with the troops in the mountains at Baghdogra. The troops on the outskirts of Siliguri began to lay down their weapons in large numbers, including not only Indian soldiers but also British soldiers. Only the British officers were stubborn and refused to lay down their weapons until all hope was lost.

Of course, Lin Xinyi could understand the British officers' insistence. After all, a junior officer's annual salary was as high as £152, while an Indian soldier's annual salary was £7.10 and a British soldier's was £15 a year.

In other words, even the lowest-ranking British officers earned ten times the annual salary of British soldiers, so of course they would defend the honor of the British Empire. As for British soldiers, they shouldn't expect to get rich from their military pay unless they resorted to robbery. The absurd idea of ​​going overseas to become superior is no different from some people in later generations who think they can become superior in Africa and India.

Whether these soldiers could rise to prominence overseas was uncertain. However, according to the military discipline established in the Victorian era, officers treated soldiers no differently than prisoners. Anyone who disobeyed an officer's orders was likely to be shot. A lighter punishment was to tie the person to a gun wheel or a T-shaped wooden frame and display them publicly for several hours each day, regardless of wind or rain.

Knowing that surrendering would not threaten their lives, the British soldiers quickly abandoned their sense of superiority and obediently became prisoners of the Chinese. At least during their captivity, they no longer had to worry about being threatened by officers to go to the battlefield.

Chapter 322 New War

Colonel Haig in Siliguri didn't actually want to retreat, because Siliguri had enough ammunition, artillery, and machine guns; after all, it was the forward logistics base for their troops advancing up the mountain. However, the Chinese arrived too quickly. The troops withdrawing from the mountain hadn't yet recovered from their defeat, and the defenders at the foot of the mountain were also in a state of panic.

When they realized they were surrounded by the Chinese and had only the Teesta River to the east as an exit, many British officers strongly advocated retreating to Jerbaguri to hold the Teesta River crossing and prevent the Chinese from cutting off their retreat.

Colonel Haig initially objected, ordering his men to hold their ground, believing General Lowe and Lieutenant Colonel Townsend would come to their rescue. However, the Chinese infiltration tactics and leapfrog attacks completely demoralized the already low-spirited British troops, rendering them ineffective. The British forces strategically positioned on the front lines proved largely useless; once the Chinese appeared in their rear, both Indian and British soldiers either deserted or laid down their arms.

Colonel Haig thought he could hold the Siliguri Line for at least half a month, but the Chinese army brought them to the city walls in less than two days. For the British army, whose communications had been cut off, the Chinese army's rapid attacks but reluctance to engage in a head-on confrontation completely bewildered them. This was a mode of warfare they had never encountered before.

At this time, the British army was essentially a Victorian-era infantry force. Most officers' understanding of large-scale warfare was still limited to line-of-sight combat, roughly no different from the tactics of the Napoleonic Wars 100 years earlier. As for dealing with the indigenous people of the colonies, they often relied on cavalry attacks and infantry formations for defense; trench warfare and barbed wire were not the mainstream tactics.

The training methods used by British officers for British and Indian soldiers were largely the same: fixing bayonets to rifles, forming skirmish lines, and advancing towards the enemy with a spirit of certain death and fearless courage. During the charge, soldiers were not even allowed to stop to return fire. The generals firmly believed that morale must be boosted and not dampened; stopping would cause morale to collapse, and soldiers would drop their weapons, run back, or even defect to the enemy.

Therefore, when the British army faced a frontal charge by groups of African mendicant monks, they could understand this way of fighting. It was simply a matter of holding their posts until officers were killed, ammunition was exhausted, or the enemy was repelled. This was a basic principle of their warfare.

However, faced with the Chinese army that disregarded the British-controlled front and focused solely on attacking the weak points in the British rear, the British army quickly became disoriented. Their organization was disrupted, and without orders from their superiors, the British soldiers at the front did not know what to do. Most soldiers at this point felt that there was no need to hold out any longer, as there were no more instructions from their officers.

The hastily constructed defensive line quickly became riddled with holes under such infiltration tactics. The British troops at the front were thrown into chaos because they could not receive orders from the British command in the city, while the British command in the city, having lost contact with the front, assumed that these troops had been killed or surrendered.

So the officers once again suggested retreating to Colonel Haig. This time, Colonel Haig fell into deep thought, but one of his subordinates frankly said to him, "Colonel, think about what happened to General Gordon."

The Indian soldiers here won't fight a hopeless battle with the Chinese for your sake. We'd better leave before these Indian soldiers make up their minds, otherwise Lieutenant Colonel Townsend will have to collect our corpses.

Moreover, we don't even know where Lieutenant Colonel Townsend's troops are, and it's questionable whether he has sent reinforcements. He has been besieging the Chinese army for months, claiming that the Chinese army has been trapped at the confluence of the Testa and Jamuna rivers. So where did these Chinese troops coming from our rear come from?

This defeat is not our problem, it's General Luo's and Lieutenant Colonel Townsend's problem. If we are captured by the Chinese here, then things will be even more complicated..."

Colonel Haig ultimately accepted his men's request and decided to retreat to Jerbaeguri first. However, he demanded that the ammunition and artillery in the city be destroyed before the retreat, so as not to leave them for the Chinese. But since he was already planning to flee, and the Chinese were on the outskirts of the city, who would draw their attention at this time? Therefore, Colonel Haig's order was not fully carried out.

Colonel Haig's escape and the fall of Siriguli caused the remaining British troops outside the city to lose their morale, and they quickly laid down their arms after being persuaded by the Chinese army. Lin Xinyi and Wu Luzhen both advocated a resolute pursuit of the British troops fleeing to Derbaiguri, arguing that they should not be allowed to remain on the west bank of the Teesta River.

The distance from Siliguri to Jerbaigur is 25 miles. Although there is a railway, the British troops had to proceed on foot due to sabotage by the guerrillas. Colonel Haig quickly realized that the retreat was a disaster, even more chaotic than the previous retreat down the mountain. About three battalions of troops had followed him from Siliguri, but after leaving Siliguri, the Indian soldiers began to break away from the main force and run away as the Chinese quickly caught up.

When Haig arrived in Jerbaguri, he was left with only a British infantry battalion, less than six hundred men, while Jerbaguri itself had only three or four hundred Indian soldiers, totaling nearly a thousand men. Although Jerbaguri was an important crossing city on the Teesta River, it was not a logistical center for the front lines, so supplies were scarce.

Before Haig could reorganize the defenses of Djerbaeguri, the Chinese army launched an attack near the town that very night. The attack seemed quite large, leading the British to believe that there were at least a thousand Chinese troops. Although they did not know where the Chinese army came from, they had no choice but to retreat across the Teesta River to defend themselves.

Although Haig remained silent, he tacitly approved of his men's actions. After a day of fleeing, the troops were in disarray and the soldiers were in a state of panic. Some British soldiers, hearing sounds of attack coming from the outskirts of the city, even mistook Indian soldiers and local residents for enemies and fired upon them.

While the darkness of the night made it difficult to discern anything, the most important factor was that the British discovered the so-called Chinese army was primarily composed of Indians. Therefore, on such a night, who would dare let Indians near their quarters? The chaos among the British soldiers directly jolted the Indian soldiers, who were still trying to hold the city, awakening them. They realized the British didn't trust them, and caught between the British and their compatriots, surrendering to their compatriots clearly offered a better chance of survival.

Some Indian soldiers, influenced by Indian nationalism and dissatisfied with the partition plan of Bengal, quickly pointed out the city's streets and defenses to their compatriots after surrendering. This further confused the British, and Colonel Haig led his men across the Teesta River to Mainaguri in less than six hours after arriving in Jerbaguri.

However, Colonel Haig was unaware that the army besieging Djarbaguri that night consisted of only two companies and some guerrillas, totaling less than six hundred. But after a series of victories, the morale of this hastily assembled force was high. One company had come from Siliguri, and others from Banchogor. After making contact, the two sides quickly decided on a strategy of harassing the British army and creating chaos. They just hadn't expected it to be so effective.

At noon on October 28, Lin Xinyi and Wu Luzhen arrived at Siliguri. The fires set by the British troops during their escape had been extinguished, and most of the warehouses had been preserved. In the afternoon, news came from Derbaiguri that the remaining British troops had escaped across the Teesta River, and there were no longer any organized troops in the area except for scattered British escapees.

After reviewing the intelligence summary, Wu Luzhen said to Lin Xinyi, "Now, Heig's troops are completely incapacitated. We only need to focus on dealing with Luo and Townsend's forces. Townsend's vanguard has already reached Banjogor. Before Townsend can react, we should move our forces there and wipe out this armed force. This will completely ruin their plan to encircle and annihilate Li Tang's troops."

Lin Xinyi basically agreed with Wu Luzhen's view, so he convened a military conference in Siliguri. At the conference, he first summarized: "Leaving aside the previous preparations, in the nine days from October 21st to today, we have basically completed the sabotage operation on the railway from Gettihar to Siliguri, and also destroyed at least 7 British cavalry companies, greatly destroying the British army's rapid movement capability. The first objective has been achieved."

Furthermore, with the support of the troops on the mountain, we defeated Haig's forces responsible for the offensive on the south side of the mountain, and also eliminated some garrison forces along the railway line. We destroyed three British battalions, and with the scattered British troops, according to the current intelligence, it is about three battalions. In other words, at least six British battalions have lost their combat capability.

Therefore, we can now conclude that we have won the battle against the British encirclement and suppression campaign. The first phase of this operation has concluded, and the war will now enter its second phase, which involves expanding our gains and extending our base of operations.

Based on current intelligence, the British forces advancing from Gettihar along the railway line towards Siliguri consist of approximately four to five infantry battalions and two to three cavalry companies, led by General Lowe. We can refer to them as the western route.

As for the eastern route, it consisted of Lieutenant Colonel Townsend's forces, which were tasked with encircling and suppressing Li Tang's troops. The force comprised approximately eight infantry battalions and three to four cavalry companies. However, at least half of the troops were scattered across an area nearly 100 kilometers south of Saidpur and could not be assembled in a short period of time.

Therefore, our objective this time is to first defeat Townsend's forces on the eastern front, and then directly attack the British forces on the western front, specifically at Reigenj, Lecourtpur, and Gettyhall, to encircle and annihilate them. Tactically, we can allow the British forces on the western front to continue advancing towards Sicily, while we advance eastward towards Saidpur to capture this central British stronghold…”