Heroic and Critical Battles in
Yunnan
During WWII
(How
Chinese, Americans, and Overseas Chinese Joined Forces to Regain Control of
the Critical Supply Route to China)
2009-08-R18
(Copyrighted 2009
by Don M. Tow)
For more than two and a half years during WWII, fierce, deadly, and heroic
battles took place in the western
Yunnan Province
(in the region called Dianxi,
滇西) in
China.
Besides helping to turn the tide against the
Japanese Imperial Army in the Asian warfront, the events that occurred
during this period are of great historical significance for two reasons.
One is that by studying what happened in
Dianxi, one can learn about all four major types of atrocities committed by
the Japanese in Asia
during WWII:
(1) Massacre, (2) sex slaves, (3) germ warfare,
and (4) slave labor.
The other is how the Chinese, Americans, and
Overseas Chinese joined forces to fight successfully to drive out the
invading Japanese army.
This article is based on a personal visit to Dianxi in July 2009, as part of
the 2009 Peace and Reconciliation Tour to
China
(also called China Study Tour) organized by the Global Alliance for
Preserving the History of WWII in Asia (GA) and the New Jersey Alliance for
Learning and Preserving the History of WWII in
Asia
(NJ-ALPHA).[1]
Japan’s
Invasion of Western
Yunnan:
Japan’s
invasion of Southeast Asia began on December 8, 1941 with its invasion of
Thailand
and Malaya, i.e., about the same time as the Pearl Harbor attack on December
7, 1941, which in Asia
was December 8, 1941.
In early 1942
Japan
invaded and gained control of
Burma
from the British colonial power.
At that time,
Japan
already controlled all the sea ports along the east coast of
China
and a large part of the urban areas of
China,
making it extremely difficult for the Allies to provide supplies to China.
However, since Japan did not control Yunnan
Province, which shares a western border with Burma and other Southeast Asian
countries,
the Allied Forces, in particular, the U.S.,
were able to transport military and other supplies to Kunming (昆明,
capital of Yunnan) and there to other parts of China, either via the ground
using the Burma Road[2]
starting from the port of Rangoon in southern Burma or via the air by flying
through the Himalayan mountain range bordering Yunnan and nearby Asian
countries.
In order to shut off this critical supply route to
China
which greatly helped the Chinese to fight against the Japanese, in late
April 1942 Japan
moved their troops in
Burma
to invade western Yunnan,
with the objective of gaining control of
Kunming
which is several hundred miles to the east.
On the way to Kunming they first had to cross
the Salween River (also known as Nujiang,
怒江
meaning Angry River in Chinese) and go through the city of Baoshan (保山),
which is the heart of the Dianxi region and just to the east of the Salween
River.
To help soften the defense of Baoshan, the Japanese
army periodically bombed Baoshan and the surrounding area in late April and
early May in 1942.
This is followed by a massive bombing raid on
Baoshan on May 4, 1942, including using large amounts of germ warfare, in
particular, bombs that can spread cholera and bubonic plague.
May 4 is an important historic day in China in
honor of the May 4, 1919 student movement (perhaps the world’s largest
student movement ever), which was an anti-imperialist, cultural, and
political movement growing out of students protesting the Chinese
government’s weak response to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, including the
transfer of German concessions in Shandong Province to Japan, instead of
returning its sovereignty to China.
Therefore, on May 4, 1942, as on other May 4,
many people in Baoshan were out commemorating the May 4 Movement when the
bombing attack started around noon.
In one day this bombing attack killed 10,000
people in Baoshan, and the effects of the germ warfare lasted many years,
and cholera alone killed about 60,000 people in the Baoshan area, plus
thousands more killed from the bubonic plague in the Baoshan area.[3]
The
population of Baoshan in 1942 was about 400,000.
Three Survivors’ Testimonies:
During our recent trip, we interviewed three people who were survivors of
the May 4, 1942 bombing and germ warfare attack.
They are
-
Yizhi Yuan:
a 90 year old woman who was 22 on May 4,
1942
-
An Xian Ma:
a 75 year old man who was eight on May 4,
1942
-
Jia Zhen Ma (wife of An Xian Ma):
a 72 year old woman who was five on May 4,
1942
These are their stories.
Yizhi Yuan:
She
was an overseas Chinese living in Burma.
She is Muslim.
Besides Chinese, she also speaks Burmese and a
little bit of English.
After Japan
took control of Burma,
the Japanese just randomly burned and killed people.
In Burma
many of the overseas Chinese who could afford to do so escaped to
Baoshan,
Yunnan;
those who could not afford to do so remained in Burma
and most likely were killed.
She thinks that if they had not escaped from
Burma,
they would have all died.
On May 4, 1942, a bomb hit the roof of her house and killed her husband,
younger brother, and younger sister.
(She also had another younger brother and
younger sister in Burma,
but she has lost contacts with them.)
The bomb wounded her in several parts of her
body, and her right foot was damaged.
She was saved by two Americans (perhaps
soldiers), who were part of a contingent of 30-40 Americans stationed in
that area, perhaps to build airports.
She was very happy to see us, because it was
the first time she has met Americans since 1942.
The doctors wanted to amputate her foot, but she refused because she would
prefer death.
Subsequently a Chinese doctor treated her and
saved her foot, but her right foot is permanently deformed.
She was also infected with cholera, but
treatment by a Burmese oriental doctor cured her.
Later she remarried, to a man whose first wife and brother and sister were
also killed during the bombing attack.
They have three daughters and a son, the latter
we also met during our visit.
Her second husband kept a daily diary starting
in 1942 with detailed records of the bombing and the cholera (this diary was
also shown to us).
Several of his relatives also died from
cholera.
Our contingent included two young college students, Sophia and her younger
brother Brian, whose parents lived in
Burma
before moving to
Taiwan.
Sophia can speak a few phrases of Burmese, and
Brian was born in
Burma.
When Sophia spoke with old Yuan in Burmese, old
Yuan was overjoyed to hear Burmese, and she said it was the first time in
over 60 years that she had spoken Burmese.
Old Yuan said that the Japanese right wing must understand that Japan
went very far away and destroyed people’s lives and destroyed a peaceful
region’s livelihood.
|
|
Survivor Yizhi Yuan
|
Yizhi Yuan with Sophia and
Brian
|
To get a bigger size of each of the photos, just click on
the photo.
An Xian Ma:
He first noticed skin lesions, signs of
bubonic plague (other signs are swollen glands), among the people in Baoshan
about seven-eight days after the May 4, 1942 bombing.
His sister was also infected with the plague,
but his father, who was a Chinese doctor, treated his sister and she
survived.
Also around the same time, he saw signs of
cholera infection (symptom was exhaustive diarrhea).
He said that before the bombing, Baoshan had no
bubonic plague, and only a few cases of cholera.
But after the bombing, he saw many bodies.
Many of his playmates, including the whole
family of one of his playmates, died from bubonic plague.
The Japanese would even ask innocent small
children to supply them with rats (in exchange for a small monetary reward),
and then infect the rats with the bubonic plague bacteria.
They then let the rats loose to infect more
Chinese.
There were so many deaths that they even ran out of coffins, resulting in
bodies just being left exposed on mattresses.
One day, he even saw dogs running around with
human leg bones in their mouths.
So many men were killed; it was up to the women
to carry away the bodies.
He
said it was like hell.
He said that his sister met an old man who saw a bomb on the ground.
The bomb was split opened, either opened upon
impact or opened by itself.
Then lots of flies with sticky yellow,
jelly-like material on their wings flew away.
These flies would carry and spread the
cholera-infecting bacteria.
It seems that every year there was a reappearance of the
bubonic plague, until 1952 when the Chinese government had a campaign to
eradicate rats, whose fleas are the main carrier of the bubonic plague
bacteria.
Before he retired, Mr. Ma was a business administrator in
a government agency.
Jia Zhen Ma:
Her parents’ family moved from
Burma
to Baoshan in 1941.
Her aunt (her mother’s sister) and her aunt’s
six-year-old daughter both died from bubonic plague resulting from the 1942
bombing.
After the Japanese bombed Baoshan in 1942, Baoshan’s whole social and
political fabric was destroyed and was basically non-existent.
People had to rely on themselves to find food,
and often also shelter since so many buildings and houses were also
destroyed.
Survival was a difficult, daily task.
Japanese planes bombed Baoshan again several times from May to July 1942.
But after three Japanese planes were shot down
by General Chennault’s Flying Tigers[4]
in July 1942, the Japanese planes flew away and never returned to bomb
Baoshan again.
Her mother was an elementary school teacher (my notes did not record the
profession of her father).
She was the only child, and she received better
education as compared to other girls of that generation.
She was sent to school, and graduated from a
university, and became a school teacher.
Now in retirement, she still attends adult
university classes in the afternoon, and practices Taiji in the morning.
She is also Muslim.
In Baoshan today, there are about 3,000 Muslim
minorities, and another 1,000 who believed in the Muslim religion but not
considered as Muslim minorities.
She said that independent of their racial
background or religion, they are all nationalistic toward the Chinese
government.
Even though they are Muslims, their love for
the Chinese motherland never diminished.
She said that we cannot forget history.
Those Chinese who know about this part of
history must educate other Chinese.
She said that Japan
should also learn from the past, and teach their young people about history.
She would like good Sino-Japanese relationship
and world peace.
Although she has not written her memoirs, her niece has asked her many times
to do so.
She has now decided to write her memoirs.
|
Survivors An Xian Ma and Jia Zhen
Ma with two members of our group, Linda Grandfield (2nd
from left) and Leah Brown-Klein (4th from left)
|
Stopping Japanese Army’s Advance and Japanese
Atrocities:
As the Japanese army advanced
from the west toward Baoshan, the only way that the Chinese army was able to
stop the Japanese army’s advance, to not only Baoshan, but all the way to
Kunming, was to blow up the Salween Bridge (also called the Huitung Bridge,
惠通桥) over the
Salween River.
This resulted in a stand-off, with the Japanese
army on the west shore, and the Chinese army on the east shore, of the
Salween River.
This
stand-off lasted slightly more than two years.
Although the Japanese army was not able to advance past the
Salween
River,
they did control the western border of
Yunnan and
the western part of Dianxi, and thus that part of the
Burma Road.
Since they also control Burma,
the Burma Road
was no longer operational, and supplies to the Chinese army had to be flown
in by the Flying Tigers via the air route over the Himalayan mountain range
(also called the
Camel Hump Route).
In their advance through western
Yunnan
and during this stand-off, the Japanese army exhibited the cruelest and most
inhuman nature in carrying out various atrocities.
They did not consider the Chinese as humans,
and not only massacred innumerable civilians, including women and children,
but used methods such as beheading, bayonet stabbing, burning down houses
with people inside, boiling live people in hot water, and burying people
alive.
As a matter of fact, during road constructions in the
1970s in Dianxi, numerous skeletons were dug up from various mass burial
spots.
|
Drawing based on an eyewitness
account of a live burial:
When a crow tried to peck at a man’s eye, the man was still
alive and shook his head.
|
Besides raping women and young girls whenever they came across them, the
Japanese army also kidnapped many girls and women from this area and other
parts of China
and other countries to be sex slaves housed in what they called Comfort
Women Stations.
These sex slaves were each raped by a dozen
Japanese soldiers on a daily basis, and many died.
There were several dozen such sex slave
stations just in Dianxi alone.[5]
To avoid the Japanese searching for females
when the Japanese were in their dwellings, the Chinese got into the habit of
hiding any female shoes in their dwellings.
Robbing the Chinese farmers and merchants of their holdings, including crops
and livestock, was automatic.
Besides raping the Chinese women, kidnapping
Chinese males to do various menial tasks, including building roads and
bunkers, was also automatic.
Being a prisoner of war of the Japanese army
was almost like a death sentence.[6]
These kinds of atrocities happened on a regular
basis in Dianxi, just like they happened almost everywhere else under the
control of the Japanese.
Heroic Battles at Songshan:
After the Salween
Bridge
was destroyed by the retreating Chinese army, the Japanese army’s advance to
Kunming
and east
Yunnan
was stopped.
South of the Salween Bridge
is a 7,000 feet mountain peak called Songshan (松山)
that could provide a strategic mountain-top view of the Dianxi area and an
excellent defensive location for the Japanese troops.
So the Japanese army built a vast array of
bunkers and trenches on Songshan.
They also built roads that could carry tanks
and other military vehicles to transport troops and supplies to their
Songshan fortified base.
They of course drafted many Chinese to provide
the free labor to build their base.
After more than a two-year stand-off on the shores of the Salween
River,
the Chinese Expedition Army finally mounted a counter-offensive on the night
of May 11, 1944.
Under the cover of darkness, 20,000 Chinese
soldiers (about 10% of the 200,000-strong Chinese Expedition Army) crossed
the
Salween
River
via 12 crossings using American-supplied plastic water crafts.
The counter-offensive was successful and the
Japanese troops retreated, many of them retreated to their Songshan base.
On June 4, 1944, the Chinese Expedition Army received order to attack the
Songshan base.
Since this base was on top of a 7,000 feet
mountain peak and was strongly fortified with many bunkers and trenches, it
was a long, difficult, and deadly objective to achieve.
Because of its strategic importance in pushing
the Japanese troops out of
Yunnan and
regain the use of the
Burma Road, this objective had to
be achieved.
It took three months and three days of many
heroic and deadly battles to regain Songshan, at the cost of the lives of
over 7,600 Chinese soldiers.
About 3,000 Japanese soldiers were killed and
only 10 became prisoners.
Several of the battles involved hand-to-hand combats, including one in which
the attacking Chinese soldiers ran out of ammunition.
Instead of retreating which would allow the
Japanese soldiers to regroup, the Chinese soldiers kept on running toward
the Japanese soldiers to engage in hand-to-hand combats.
Sometimes one battle would immediately follow
another, so that there was no time to retrieve the bodies of those killed.
By the time they were able to retrieve the
bodies, the bodies already decayed so much that the bodies could no longer
be recognized.
In attacking two especially solidly fortified
four-story bunkers, the Chinese were repeatedly pushed back.
Finally, the Chinese dug two long underground
tunnels to beneath these two bunkers, and used 70 boxes of TNT on one and 50
boxes of TNT on the other to blow up these two bunkers (the TNT was supplied
by the U.S.).
The Chinese were then able to kill or drive out
the soldiers defending the two bunkers.
No American ground troop was involved in the Songshan
battles, but the Flying Tigers provided some air support, and seven Flying
Tiger soldiers were killed when their plane was shot down.
Having defeated the Japanese at Songshan, the Chinese Expedition Army was
then able to push the Japanese troops out of
Yunnan, and
regain control of all of
Yunnan and the China
portion of the Burma Road.
Because the Burma Road started in the seaport
of Rangoon
in southern
Burma
and Burma
was still under the control of Japan,
the Allied forces were still not able to use the Burma Road to provide
supplies to China.
Only when the Allied forces finished building
in January 1945[7]
the Ledo Road from Ledo, India to Wanting, Yunnan and connected to the China
portion of the Burma Road, supplies to Kunming once again were able to be
transported via the ground.
The ordinary Chinese people in Baoshan and surrounding areas played a key
role in the successful counter-offensive to regain control of west Yunnan.
Even though life was already extremely
difficult during wartime, the ordinary Chinese people provided over many
months food and shelter to feed and house the 200,000-strong Chinese
Expedition Army, as well as providing many other necessary supplies,
including raw material for ammunitions.
They provided labor to repair damaged vehicles,
roads, and airports, and help transport ammunitions and supplies to the
front lines, including serving as drivers and mechanics of various vehicles,
which was an important role that was taken up by a lot of overseas Chinese.
Many men including young boys either joined the
Chinese Expedition Army or fought alongside the Chinese Expedition Army.
They also provided shelter and medical aids for
the thousands of wounded.
Besides providing a lot of the drivers and mechanics, the overseas Chinese
made other significant contributions.
In general, the overseas Chinese who returned
to China before or during WWII were relatively speaking more educated,
better off financially (many were shop or business owners), and also very
patriotic.
Around 1938, more than 1,000 overseas Chinese
returned to
China to help build the
Burma Road
or to join the fight against the Japanese, and many died.
With their business and management experience,
they provided a lot of the leadership and know-how to keep a war-time
economy running that could support not only the local citizens, but also the
huge number of soldiers of the Chinese Expedition Army.
The overseas Chinese also donated a lot of
money to help the war effort or improve the country in general.
For example, a Mr. Leung who was originally
from Baoshan donated two-thirds of the money that were needed to rebuild the
Salween Bridge
in 1931.
In 1937, he also donated to China
several dozen heavy trucks and an airplane.
In 1941 when
Japan
invaded Southeast Asia, he used his automobile company to transport for free
the Chinese troops and military supplies that were located outside of
China
back to
China.
Although there was no American ground troop involved in the Songshan
battles, American ground troops were involved in other counter-offensive
battles (see, e.g., the next section).
With or without providing ground troops, the
U.S.
did play a pivotal role in the whole counter-offensive to regain western
Yunnan.
The U.S. provided critical supplies to the
Chinese Expedition Army, including the large number of plastic water crafts
(that allowed the Chinese soldiers to cross the Salween River to begin the
counter-offensive) and the large amount of TNT and other ammunitions (that
was so crucial in destroying the fortified bunkers on Songshan).
Without the U.S. Flying Tigers, the Japanese
would have controlled the air.
However, even though the Japanese had better
and more versatile planes, they were repeatedly outfought by the Flying
Tigers due to the superior air fighting skills of the Flying Tigers pilots.
The Flying Tigers also transported a large
amount of supplies to China.
As a matter of fact, even after the Burma Road
became operational again after the completion of the Ledo Road
in January 1945, most of the supplies were still being flown over the
Himalayas by
the Flying Tigers.
But the battle and transport in the air also
took a heavy toll.
Five hundred
U.S.
planes were lost, and over 1,500 American and Chinese pilots and other
airmen were killed.[8]
The
U.S.
also led in the construction of the original Burma Road in 1937-38, and in
the construction of the
Ledo Road
(from December 1942 to January 1945) that started in
India
and bypassed most of
Burma
and connected to the
China
portion of the Burma Road.
Finally, General Stilwell, as the commander of
the American troops in the China-Burma-India region, also provided overall
strategy guidance and leadership.
These American contributions are well known and
recognized in China,
especially in Yunnan.
There are quite a few monuments and memorials
in Yunnan
that honor the contributions and sacrifices of the American soldiers and the
Flying Tigers.
As a matter of fact, in one of the hotels we
stayed in at Baoshan, the hotel owner named the hotel bar the “Stilwell Bar”
in honor of General Stilwell.
In
China,
the Burma Road
and the
Ledo Road
are known as the
Stilwell Road.
A Tribute to Ordinary Chinese Soldiers and also
American Soldiers:
After the Japanese Imperial Army invaded and occupied the western part of
Dianxi (east of the Salween River) in May 1942, for the next two years there
was a continuous war of resistance from the Chinese, with help from the
American military, against the invaders and occupiers.
The largest of such war of resistance in
western Dianxi was a series of heroic and deadly battles to regain control
of Tengchong
County
(腾冲县),
located to the west of the Salween River
and almost directly west of Baoshan. This series of battles took place from
May 1944 to September 1944 and lasted 127 days. The dead toll was about
9,000 Chinese, dozens of American soldiers, and over 6,000 Japanese
soldiers.
To keep this article from getting even longer,
I will highlight only a few points, and not elaborate on this part of the
war of resistance.
-
In the town of
Heshun (和顺),
the main town in
Tengchong
County,
a “Dianxi War of
Resistance
Museum”
(滇酉抗战纪念馆)
was established by the local people in July 1945.
This was the first non-government museum in
China
focusing on WWII in Dianxi.
It was rebuilt in 1984, classified in 1996
as a
National
Historical
Museum,
and expanded in 2004.
-
3,346 of the killed Chinese soldiers whose
identities were known are buried here, each having its own tombstone.
This is the only large-scale memorial
cemetery in
China
with individual tombstones for ordinary soldiers, and not just for their
commanders.
Although they know the names of many who
were killed, their bodies were not always identifiable (e.g., bodies
already decayed before they were retrieved).
Therefore, all the bodies were cremated
collectively, and one cup of collective ash was buried under each
tombstone.
-
Within this museum, there is also a separate memorial site with plagues
for the 19 American soldiers (including Major William C. McMurrey)
killed here, although their bodies had since been shipped back and
reburied in the U.S.
-
This museum is one of only two museums in the
People’s Republic of
China
that has the flag and symbol of the Republic of China hanging on the
walls of the museum.
For more information and photos about the “Dianxi War of
Resistance Museum,”
especially about Major McMurrey and other American soldiers, read the two
articles in:
http://cbi-theater-6.home.comcast.net/~cbi-theater-6/sixtyyears/sixtyyears.html
and
http://www.eng.yn.gov.cn/yunnanEnglish/146929937842962432/20050711/500389.html
Dedication of the New
“Dianxi
Anti-Japanese
War
Cemetery
of Heroes”:
As discussed earlier in this article, it is clear that the success of the
war of resistance against the Japanese Imperial Army in west
Yunnan was
due to the successful integration of the contributions of the Chinese army,
the Chinese population (including the overseas Chinese), and the
U.S.
army.[9]
This
is well recognized by the Chinese people, especially the Chinese people in
Yunnan.
This is why the people in Long
Ling County
(the county where Songshan is located) recently held the completion ceremony
for the “Dianxi Anti-Japanese War Cemetery of Heroes.”
This
is a new war memorial to honor the Chinese soldiers, Chinese ordinary
citizens, and American soldiers who died while participating in the war of
resistance.
Because our delegation represented both
Americans and overseas Chinese, the local organizers actually chose the date
of this
completion ceremony to coincide with our day of visit.
The head of our delegation, Dr. Pete Stanek,
President of the Global Alliance for Preserving the History of WWII in Asia
(GA), was also asked to speak during this ceremony.
|
|
Completion Ceremony of the new “Dianxi
Anti-Japanese War Cemetery of Heroes”
|
Pete Stanek, President of GA,
invited to speak at this ceremony.
To his right is Ignatius Ding, EVP of GA, acting as
translator.
|
|
|
English
wording on the left plague explicitly mentioned Major William C.
McMurrey. Note also the
American flag on the top right that was put there before the
ceremony. The right
plague has the same description in Chinese.
|
Bilingual wording on the middle
plague.
|
Summary:
Personally I found this ceremony and the whole visit to west Yunnan
quite emotional and educational.
It is hard to understand how one group of
people can be so inhumane in treating another group of people.
It is also so heartening to learn how people,
including ordinary people and people from different countries, can join
forces and face all kinds of difficulties and sacrifices to resist
successfully and drive out the invading and occupying forces.
As an overseas Chinese, I especially admire the
great contributions and sacrifices that the overseas Chinese made in the
Dianxi war of resistance.
I wish that my current generation of overseas
Chinese would be more willing to make contributions and sacrifices to
improving the social and political fabrics of either their adopted country -
the U.S.,
or their country of origin - China.
[1]
The 2009 China Study Tour also visited Shanghai and Nanking.
[2]
More information about the Burma Road (and the Ledo Road), which is
also known as the Stilwell Road (in honor of the American Army
General Joseph Stilwell) is provided later in this article.
Also, more information can be found in, e.g.,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Road.
[3]
The total number killed by the bubonic plague in the whole Dianxi
region during WWII was estimated to be about 50,000.
[4]
The Flying Tigers, although when it was first formed in 1941 was not
an official unit of the U.S. Army, it was formally incorporated into
the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1942.
[7]
Construction of the
Ledo Road started in December 1942.
[8]
The pilots and other airmen of the Flying Tigers included both
Americans and Chinese, but the planes were American and the Flying
Tigers was led by the American General Chennault.
[9]
During WWII, the Flying Tigers, as well as the U.S. Air Force, was a
unit of the U.S. Army.
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