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The expedition to Myanmar was the first time for China to have fought on a foreign land since the First Sino-Japanese War during 1894-95. What was its significance? |
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See answer below. |
Left: The Burma Road stretching over the mountains in Myitkyina in northern Myanmar during World War II. The Burma Road stretched from Kunming (昆明) in Yunnan, China, to Lashio in Myanmar. The construction of this 1,453km-long road started in the spring of 1938 and open to traffic in December of that year. It went through several upgrades afterwards. The Burma Road served as a key channel for international supplies and forces to enter China’s rear area on the southwest, thus greatly contributing to its resistance against Japan.
Right: US C-46 Commando loaded with supplies for China flying through the “Hump” route over the Himalayas. Japan managed to cut off the Burma Road soon after the Pacific War erupted. Left with no choice, China and the United States established the “Hump” route between Kunming in China and Assam in the northeast India to transport strategic supplies. The “Hump” route was named after the mountain peaks the pilots had to fly over. Flying the “Hump” was dangerous but necessary. The United States Air Force sent 65,000 tonnes of munitions and supplies to China via this route from April 1942 to August 1945. Over 500 planes crashed and more than 1,500 lives were sacrificed during the missions.
The Chinese Expeditionary Force first entered Myanmar in March 1942. On 9 April, the Japanese took the Yenangyaung oil field and attempted to encircle the British forces there. The expeditionary force repulsed the Japanese and relieved more than 7,000 British soldiers, over 500 British and Myanmar war prisoners and American missionaries and journalists. However, it was defeated and forced to retreat. Part of the force retreated to China via the Kumon Bum Mountains where the Division Commander Dai Anlan died. The rest of the force, led by Division Commander Sun Liren, went westward to India and became known as the Chinese Army in India. The NRA inflicted 56,480 casualties during the expedition, over 30,000 of whom died when crossing the Kumon Bum Mountains on the China-India-Myanmar border. British casualties reached 13,000 while the Japanese casualties stood around 4,500.
On 10 May 1942, Japan captured Tengchong, a city of strategic interest in west Yunnan near the China-Myanmar border. On 11 May 1944, the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossed the Nu River to launch an offensive in Tengchong and met a strenuous engagement with Japan. Although Japan only had 2,700 soldiers in Tengchong, the robust fortifications including the sturdy Tengchong city wall served as its strong defence that necessitated nearly 50,000 expeditionary force to encounter. The recovery of Tengchong and the annihilation of the Japanese were at a high cost of 20,000 Chinese casualties. Tengchong was the first Japanese-garrisoned city the NRA reclaimed since the War of Resistance.
During the second expedition, the Chinese Expeditionary Force (consisting of the Chinese Army in India and the Chinese Expeditionary Force in west Yunnan) suffered heavily. The annihilation of 69,000 Japanese soldiers inflicted a huge cost of 85,000 Chinese casualties (History of Japan’s Ground Force recorded that 230,800 Japanese soldiers were mobilised and 160,400 were killed in the Burma Campaign). China recovered 38,000 square kilometres of territory in west Yunnan and more than 50 towns and cities covering 130,000 square kilometres were relieved in Myanmar. Altogether, the gains were remarkable.
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The expedition to Myanmar was the first time for China to have fought on a foreign land since the First Sino-Japanese War during 1894-95. What was its significance? |
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Myanmar occupied a strategic position connecting the China theatre and the Pacific theatre in China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. It was also the main war zone in Southeast Asia. The two Chinese expeditions to Myanmar against Japan supported the Allies in China, India, and Myanmar theatres and secured international transport routes in southwest China. The counteroffensive mounted by China in north Myanmar and west Yunnan repelled the Japanese from southwest China, reinforcing the Chinese army in the centre-stage battlefields and relieving the Allied powers. The operation also kept India from falling and created enabling conditions for the liberation of Myanmar. In History of the Centre-stage Battlefield of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (published by Jiangsu People’s Publishing House﹝江蘇人民出版社﹞in 2015), the expeditionary force’s counterattack in west Yunnan was described as “the only successful large-scale offensive in the centre-stage battlefield since the start of the War of Resistance”. Meanwhile, the joint operation with the Chinese Army in India, which resulted in the annihilation of Japanese forces in Myanmar was “the first successful large-scale operation on a foreign land in support of the allies since the First Sino-Japanese War”. Furthermore, the Chinese Expeditionary Force’s victories enhanced China’s national pride and international status. |
