World War II: Burma--Reopening the Burma Road (1942-45)

World War II CBI Theater Burmese forces
Figure 1.--This U.S. Army photograph shows Chinese workers, including women and children, working to reopen the Burma Road. It is undated but was probably taken in 1944. Unfortunately the Army caption is torn. What we can make out reads, "Children and women contribute ????otrate hand to hand fight with Monsoon rains to repair the road and get in in shape for future U.S. .... This photograph was taken in the rain, of laborers working in .... ... it gets too dark for work. The location is not specified. American construction crews working on the Ledo Road had heavy equipment. The Chinese working on the Burma Road had to do work with their hands. Of course after the link up with the Ledo Road, American construction equipment became available on the Burma Road proper. There does seem to be a jeep in the background. Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps.

The Burma Road had been China's last life line to the outsise world. Chaing had dispatched Nationalist forces to help the British defend Burma. They were commanded by newly arrived American General 'Viniger' Joe Stillwell. Some of these forces joined the desperte British retreat to India. It became mission of Stillwell and his largely Chinese force to re-open the Burma Road and until that was acomplished to supply the Nationlists as much as possible through an air-lift from India over the towering Himalayas -- The Hump. It was a daunting task for the aircraft available at the time (C-46s and C-47s). The American effort to renter Burma began with jungle operations of Merrill's Marauders after British General Orde Wingate had organized Chindit Brigades. The men involved in the CBI Theater fought in some of the most difficult terraine and environmental conutions of the War. And they were for the most part the lowest priority of the Allied war effort. Stillwell was able to train and supply his Chinese division, tuning thm into some of the most effective units in the Nationalist Army. Despite the terrible conditions, the British who were less convinced of the importanbce of China, were determined to take back Burma. The Americans were primarily determined to reopen the Burma Road to keep China in the War. China was also seen as providing bases for the planned air assault on the Japanese Home Islands. The British and Americans faced monsoon rains, mud, leeches, and heat as well as tropical conditions. [Webster] The British with Anerican support defeated a Japanese attempt to capture Assam. This allowed the American-Chinese force to recapture northern Burma. This allowed construction of a new road to link up with the old Burma Road--the Ledo Road. While Rangoodn was still in Japanese hads, the Ledo Road provided a link between the Burma Road and the Indian rail network. The Ledo Road This was one of the most challenging construction projects of the War. The Ledo Road eventually ran from Ledo Assam, through Myitkyina and connected to the Burma Road at Wandingzhen, Yunnan, China. The first trucks reached the Chinese frontier over this road (January 28, 1945). Although supplies began flowing into China, the quantities were still limited, largely because of the distances from the ports in India to the Nationalists in Yunnan. It required a enormous quantity of fuel to move supplies such distances by truck. Only a seaport could provide the means to adequantly supply the Nationalists. This was not achieved, however, until after the Japanese surrender (August 1945).

Battle for Burma (1942)

The Burma Road had been China's last life line to the outsise world. The reason the Japanese launched the Pacific war was to size the resoites of the Southern Resource Zone (SRZ) area and to isolate China ftrom outside assisance so the Japanese Army could complete their conquest. The Japanese first seized the poor of Rangoon nd then moved north toward Mandalay. Chaing had dispatched Nationalist forces to help the British defend Burma. They were commanded by newly arrived American General 'Viniger' Joe Stillwell. They attempted to aid the British, but the effort was poorly coordinated. The British had to stage a desperate retreat through the untamed jungle of western Burma. Some of the Chinese forces joined the desperte British retreat to India. Other units retreated north up the Burma Road toward China. The Chinese blew the Huitong bridge crossing the Salween River. The River then became the frontline between Nationalist China and the Japanese forces in northern Burma (1942-44).

The Hump

It became mission of Stillwell and his largely Chinese force to re-open the Burma Road and until that was acomplished to supply the Nationlists as much as possible through an air-lift from India over the towering Himalayas -- The Hump. It was a daunting task for the aircraft available at the time (C-46s and C-47s). It was important for the Allies to keep Chiang and China in the War because the bulk of the Japanese Army was deployed there. And President Roosevelt believed that China could play a major role in the war. But to do so, the Chinese needed the equipment and supplies the United states provided its other allies. Unfortunately, there was no way of getting the needed supplies to China. Japan occupied all the Chinese ports. And they cut the Burma Road (February 1942). he only way to support China was by air. It was not possible, however, to supply the vast quantity of equipmnt and supplies the Chinese Army needed by air. The air lift capacity could not begin to meet the mamouth needs of the Chinese Army. The AAC's focus before the War was on bombers. Other aircraft types like fighters and transports were given little attention as well as other missions. Not only the aircraft, but the AAC's training programs focused primarily on strategic bombing. The AAC was totally unprepared for a important air transport operation--let alone one over the Himalayas. Not only did the United States not have the plans or enough enough transport planes and crews to do his, but the route over the eastern Himalayas was extrenmely dangerous. It was the worse place in the world to fly heavily laden transport planes, but it is here the AAC was forced to organize a major air transport opertion.

Guerrila Operations in Burma

The American effort to renter Burma began with jungle operations of Merrill's Marauders after British General Orde Wingate had organized Chindit Brigades. These operations helped to weaken the badly overstreached Japanese forces in Burma.

Low Priority Theater

The men involved in the CBI Theater fought in some of the most difficult terraine and environmental conutions of the War. The British and Americans faced monsoon rains, mud, leeches, and heat as well as tropical conditions. [Webster] And they were for the most part the lowest priority of the Allied war effort.

Objectives

Despite the terrible conditions, the British who were less convinced of the importanbce of China, were determined to take back Burma. The Americans were primarily determined to reopen the Burma Road to keep China in the War. China was also seen as providing bases for the planned air assault on the Japanese Home Islands.

Japanese Offensive toward India (March-Juy 1944)

British and Indian troops with Anerican support defeated a Japanese attempt to invade India and capture Assam. The main objectives were British bases at Imphal and Kohima. These were rail heads where the British were building up forces and supplies. Th problem for the Japanese was logistics. There were no rail lines into the area or even roads. TheJapanese soldiers had to litterally carry their supplies and equioment on ther backs. Their great victoties in Malaya, Singaport, and Burma had been achieved by this tactic and sustained by capturing British supplies. The infmous Thai-Burma Railway had been built to improve the lofistical sitution, but it did not extend this far west. When the Japanese failed to capture the Britsh supply dumps, they began to sarve. Virtually the entire Japanese force that invaded Egypt was destroyed, signicantly affecing the miitary situation in Burma.

Northern Burma

Gen. Stillwell was seen as one of the most most capable corps commander in the U.S. Army. He would have plyed a major role in the European theater, but over his objections, President Roosevelt and Gen. Marshall selected him to be the senior U.S. commander in China and the CBI Theater. It was a commitment to help keep China in the War. He became the Chief of Staff to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The northern Burma campaign was acceptable to Chiang because unlik British opertions in cntrl Burma, it was ot designed to return Burma to British colonial rule, but to get American Lend Lease supplies flowing to China again. Stillwell began to retrain and resupply his Chinese troops, tuning them into some of the most effective units in the Nationalist Army. Chinese troops in China proper were performing very poorly. Stillwell proved that well led and properly equipped and supplied, the Chinese were more than capable of taking on the Japanese. Realizing that it would take some time for the British to retake central Burma and reopen the Burma Road, Stillwell reasoned that the weakened Japanese forces could no longer hold northern Burma. And that if the Allies could retake northern Burma, they could build a road connecting the rail heads in India to the northern streach of the old Burma Road, restablishing a land connection with China. Here Stillwell would order the Chinese troops in China on the Salween River (Y Force) to attack south, his Chinese troops in India (X Force) to attack east, and insert Merrill's Marauderss in the Japanese rear. The X Force was the portion of the Nationalist Army's Expeditionary Force that retreated from Burma into India (1942). After the retreat with Stillwell they regrouped at Ramgarh Cantonment in Bihar (modern Jharkhand State). They were expanded to five-Division strength (Chinese New 30th, New 22nd, New 38th, 14th and 50th Divisions). There they were retrained by American instructors and resupplied by the British. Each divisions had about 15,000 troops for a total of 75,000 for the whole force. The were organized into the New 1st Army and the New 6th Army. The Chinese forces which reentered Burma from Yunnan in the north were designated the Y Force. And as X Force attacked east, they crossed the Salween River and attacked south. Merrill’s Marauders or Unit Galahad was the 5307th Composite Unit, was a United States Army long range penetration special operations group trained in jungle warfare. Their goal was to capture the Japanese airfield at Myitkyina. With some X Force units they took the airfield (May 17, 1944). They were so depleted and suffering from Malaria and other ilnesses, that they could not take Myitkyina itself to which the Japanese had just moved reinforcements. Here American ar power came to the rescue, air liftinh an X Force division. With the Myitkyina airfied in American hands, the United States could use its air power advantage to dominate northern Burma. With northern Burma in Allied hands, the Ledo Road could be built to connect with the Old Burma Road.

Ledo Road

The failure of the Japanese invasion of India (Assam) and weakening of Japanese forces allowed the American-Chinese force to recapture northern Burma. This made possible the construction of a new road to link up with the old Burma Road--the Ledo Road. While the port of Rangoodn was still in Japanese hads, the Ledo Road provided a link between the Burma Road and the Indian rail network. The Ledo Road This was one of the most challenging construction projects of the War. It eventually ran from Ledo Assam, through Myitkyina and connected to the Burma Road at Wandingzhen, Yunnan, China. The first trucks reached the Chinese frontier over this road (January 28, 1945). Although supplies began flowing into China, the quantities were still limited, largely because of the distances from the ports in India to the Nationalists in Yunnan. It required a enormous quantity of fuel to move supplies such distances by truck. Only a seaport could provide the means to adequantly supply the Nationalists. This was finally achieved when the British finally retook Rangoon (May 1945). .

Sources

Webster, Donovan. The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II.







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Created: 2:45 AM 1/8/2016
Last updated: 2:45 AM 1/8/2016