Section V
China-Burma-India1

China's last important supply link with the Allies, the Burma Road, was closed when the Japanese occupied northern Burma in May 1942. Despite her isolation, China resisted the Japanese and remained an active ally. The importance of giving China sufficient support to keep her in the war led to the Allied plan to re-establish surface communications with China and to increase supply by air over the Hump.

In August 1942 a training center was established at Ramgarh, India, for training the poorly equipped Chinese troops; concurrently, training centers were also established in China. In December 1942 the Allies began the construction of a new road leading from Ledo, India, across northern Burma to an intersection with the Burma Road near the China border. Subsequently this was supplemented by a pipeline for aviation and fuel oil from Calcutta, India, to Kunming, China. Pending the reopening of ground communications with China, the only route of supply available was the air transport system over the spur of the Himalayas from the Assam valley, India, to Kunming, a distance of approximately 500 air miles.

Fighting in Burma was relatively light in 1943; however, Allied aircraft pounded enemy airfields, communications, and rear installations. Rangoon, important center of the enemy supply system, was bombed repeatedly with damaging results.

In China during 1943, air attacks constituted the only offensive operations by the Allies. U.S. planes carried out attacks against enemy bases in Burma, Thailand, Indo-China, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Formosa. Shipping along the China coast was attacked with little loss to the enemy. In 1944 B-29's based in China attacked targets in Manchuria, on Formosa, and in Japan. During this time the Japanese had increased their China-based air strength but were deploying their best planes and pilots to meet the threat in the Southwest Pacific.

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The Allied counteroffensive in north Burma, which started early in 1944, continued to the end of the year with great intensity. Landings in the Philippines and U.S. naval operations in the China Sea threatened the Japanese supply line to Burma and by the end of January 1945, large groups of enemy forces were retreating from north Burma. As a result of the Allied advance in Burma in 1944, the entire route of the new Ledo Road was cleared except for a small stretch near its junction with the Burma Road. On 4 February the first Allied convoy travelled over the Ledo Road, which was renamed the Stilwell Highway.

In the latter stages of the Burma Campaign, American troops together with Chinese troops were flown to China. Serious Japanese offensives in China during the summer of 1944 and early 1945 were terminated in the spring of 1945 and the enemy began to withdraw from south and central China.

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China-Burma-India Theater
China-Burma-India Theater

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U.S. TROOPS ABOARD A TRANSPORT waiting to go ashore at a port in India

U.S. TROOPS ABOARD A TRANSPORT waiting to go ashore at a port in India. At the end of 1942 only about 17,000 American troops were in the China-Burma-India theater, consisting almost entirely of Air Forces and Services of Supply personnel.

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AMERICAN PERSONNEL, just arrived in India, load into trucks bound for their new station

AMERICAN PERSONNEL, just arrived in India, load into trucks bound for their new station (top); unloading American supplies (bottom). With the railroads, and vital areas of China were controlled by the Japanese and were occasionally harassed by raids of Chinese guerrilla forces.

unloading American supplies

--417--


Chinese troops learning to handle a .30-caliber M1917A1 Browning machine gun and a 75mm. pack howitzer M1A1

CHINESE TROOPS TRAINING AT RAMGARH, INDIA. Chinese troops learning to handle a .30-caliber M1917A1 Browning machine gun (top left) and a 75mm. pack howitzer M1A1 (top right); on a road march (bottom) From October 1942 to the end of the year some 21,000 Chinese soldiers were flown to the Ramgarh training center.

Chinese troops on a road march

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TRANSPORTING U.S. SUPPLIES IN INDIA, 1942

TRANSPORTING U.S. SUPPLIES IN INDIA, 1942. An American air force based in China was dependent upon the Hump air route, which was at the end of a 10,000-mile line of supply from the United States, for the much needed gasoline, bombs, and other munitions. In order for one American bomber in China to execute a mission against the enemy, a transport plane had to make an average of four separate flights over the Hump, the most hazardous mountain terrain in the world.

--419--


SNOW-CAPPED PEAKS of a spur of the Himalayas between the Salween and Mekong Rivers

SNOW-CAPPED PEAKS of a spur of the Himalayas between the Salween and Mekong Rivers. Some of these peaks reach over 20,000 feet high. The air route over the system, called the Hump, was about 500 air miles, from the Assam Valley in northeast India over the Himalayas to Kunming in western China. Cargo transported over the Hump increased from about 10,000 tons a month during the summer of 1943 to approximately 46,000 tons a month by January 1945.

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KOWLOON DOCKS UNDER AIR ATTACK BY U.S. PLANES

KOWLOON DOCKS UNDER AIR ATTACK BY U.S. PLANES, a portion of Hong Kong in foreground. A Japanese Zero can be seen just to the left of the smoke from a hit on the Kowloon docks and railroad yards. In Burma during 1942 most of the action following the Japanese conquest of the country consisted of limited air attacks and patrol clashes along the Burma-India border. At the end of 1943 there was no evidence of a weakened Japanese grip on the railroads, big cities, and ports in China.

--422--


North American Mitchell medium bomber B-25

U.S. AIRCRAFT USED IN CHINA DURING 1942-43. North American Mitchell medium bomber B-25 (top); Curtiss single-seat fighter P-40 (bottom). In July 1942 U.S. air strength in China consisted of about 40 aircraft against some 200 enemy planes.

Curtiss single-seat fighter P-40

--423--


Pack animals used in transporting supplies

AMERICAN AND CHINESE TROOPS moving forward over difficult terrain into northern Burma, 1944. Pack animals used in transporting supplies (top); men stop to make repairs on a bridge which was damaged by the pack train (bottom). During the early part of 1943, Allied forces in northern Burma conducted experimental offensive operations to harass and cut enemy lines of communications, and defensive operations to cover the construction of the Ledo Road. By the end of 1943, the Japanese had increased their strength in Burma to six divisions, preparing to resume offensive operations against India.

men stop to make repairs on a bridge which was damaged by the pack train

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40-MM. ANTIAIRCRAFT GUN M1 with its crew in India, April 1944

40-MM. ANTIAIRCRAFT GUN M1 with its crew in India, April 1944 (top); 81-mm. mortar M1 firing on enemy supply and communications lines (bottom). In February 1944 the Chinese troops advancing down the Hukawng Valley were joined by a specially trained American infantry combat team. In May 1944 the Allied forces had fought their way into the airfield at Myitkyina, the key to northern Burma.

81-mm. mortar M1 firing on enemy supply and communications lines

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CHINESE SOLDIERS ON GUARD near a bridge over the Salween River

CHINESE SOLDIERS ON GUARD near a bridge over the Salween River has rigged up a shady spot for himself by tying an umbrella to his rifle. The Burma Road reaches its lowest point, some 2,000 feet above sea level, at this bridge site.

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CROSSING THE SALWEEN RIVER, July 1944

CROSSING THE SALWEEN RIVER, July 1944. The temporary suspension bridge was built to replace the permanent bridge here which was blown up in 1942 by the Chinese as a defense measure against the Japanese advance. While Allied forces advanced on Myitkyina, Chinese troops crossed the Salween River from the east. The two forces met at Teng-chung in September 1944, establishing the first thin hold in northern Burma.

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SUPPLY DROP IN BURMA, spring of 1944

SUPPLY DROP IN BURMA, spring of 1944. Men can be seen waiting to recover supplies dropped by parachute; note small stockpile in center foreground. From October 1943 to August 1944 food, equipment, and ammunition was supplied largely or entirely to the some 100,000 troops involved in the fighting by air÷ either air-landed, or by parachute or free drop.

--428--


DOUGLAS C-47 TRANSPORT taking off in a cloud of dust from an airstrip near Man Wing, Burma

DOUGLAS C-47 TRANSPORT taking off in a cloud of dust from an airstrip near Man Wing, Burma. Air supply operations were maintained by both British and American troop carrier squadrons, flying night and day from bases in the Brahmaputra Valley to points of rendezvous with Allied ground troops in Burma. Air supply made the Burma campaign possible.

--429--


U.S. SERVICES OF SUPPLY TRUCK CONVOY starting across a temporary ponton bridge

U.S. SERVICES OF SUPPLY TRUCK CONVOY starting across a temporary ponton bridge just after its completion in 1944. Built across the treacherous Irrawaddy River, this bridge was approximately 1,200 feet long and served as a link in the Ledo Road for the combat troops and supply vehicles. When the torrential rains ceased a permanent structure was built to handle the tremendous loads of the convoys going to China.

--430--


PIPELINES showing the manifold valve installation on the pipeline near Myitkyina, Burma

PIPELINES showing the manifold valve installation on the pipeline near Myitkyina, Burma, September 1944. Engineers were to build two 4-inch pipelines for motor fuel and aviation gasoline starting in Assam, paralleling the Ledo Road, and extending through to Kunming, China. By October 1944 one of the lines reached Myitkyina, a distance of about 268 miles; 202 miles were completed on the other line by this date. Another 6-inch pipeline for gasoline was built in India from Calcutta to Assam.

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TANKS driven by American-trained Chinese soldiers making a sharp horseshoe turn on the road to Bhamo

TANKS driven by American-trained Chinese soldiers making a sharp horseshoe turn on the road to Bhamo, December 1944. Tank in foreground is a light tank M3A3; in the background are M4A4 medium tanks. The Burma-India Campaign continued with intensity during the monsoon season of 1944. By December the projected route of the supply road to Bhamo had been cleared.

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SURVEYING PARTY planning for a portion of the Ledo Road across abandoned rice paddies

SURVEYING PARTY planning for a portion of the Ledo Road across abandoned rice paddies (top); hundreds of Chinese laborers pull a roller to smooth a runway for an airstrip (bottom). B-29 attacks on targets in Manchuria, Formosa, and Japan, beginning in 1944, necessitated the building of several new airfields in China and India.

hundreds of Chinese laborers pull a roller to smooth a runway for an airstrip

--433--


CASUALTY BEING LOWERED BY ROPES AND PULLEY from a liaison plane which crashed into a tree in Burma

CASUALTY BEING LOWERED BY ROPES AND PULLEY from a liaison plane which crashed into a tree in Burma; portion of plane can be seen in upper left. When it crashed, the plane was being used to evacuate three casualties from the fighting area.

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RECOVERING SUPPLIES dropped by parachute

RECOVERING SUPPLIES dropped by parachute. During 1943 and 1944 the flow of U.S. arms and materiel through Calcutta, India, and up the valley had become great enough to support the tasks of building the Ledo Road and of destroying the Japanese forces in its path and increasing steadily the capacity of the Hump air route.

--435--


ASSEMBLY OF FIRST TRUCK CONVOY IN LEDO, Assam, to travel the Ledo-Burma Road

ASSEMBLY OF FIRST TRUCK CONVOY IN LEDO, Assam, to travel the Ledo-Burma Road, a route stretching over approximately 1,000 miles through Myitkyina, Burma, to Kunming, China. Note railroad to left of the road. The vehicles are loaded with supplies and ammunition; some are pulling antitank guns and filed artillery pieces.

--436--


cargo truckis a 2-1/2-ton 6x6

FIRST CONVOY OVER THE LEDO ROAD, renamed the Stilwell Highway; cargo truck (top) is a 2½-ton 6x6. In December 1942, engineers started to construct the Ledo Road starting from Ledo, Assam, across northern Burma to an intersection with the Burma Road near the China border. They moved ahead as fast as the combat troops, often working under enemy fire. On 28 January 1945, the first convoy crossed the Burma-China frontier.

Sign marking beginning of Ledo Road

--437--


SECTION OF BURMA ROAD just east of Yun-nan-i, China

SECTION OF BURMA ROAD just east of Yun-nan-i, China. Many hairpin turns were necessary to wind a road around the treacherous mountain terrain. Note the many terraced rice paddies on the mountain sides and the distance from the road of the two Chinese villages, left center. Over most difficult terrain and under intolerable weather conditions, Allied forces defeated the Japanese in Burma in late spring of 1945.

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JAPANESE WARSHIP UNDER ATTACK by North American medium bomber B-25 near Amoy, China, 6 April 1945

JAPANESE WARSHIP UNDER ATTACK by North American medium bomber B-25 near Amoy, China, 6 April 1945; some enemy survivors can be seen in the water as others cling to the side of the wreckage (bottom). In the spring of 1945 the Japanese began to withdraw from south and central China.

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Footnotes

1. See Charles F. Romanus and Riley Sunderland, Stillwell's Mission to China, Stillwell's Command Problems, and Time Runs Out, in the series U.S. ARMY IN WORLD WAR II.



Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Larry Jewell & Patrick Clancey, HyperWar Foundation