Hump Route

Author: Liu Xiaotong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: The Hump Route (1942-1945) — A route that changed the dynamics of the Pacific Theater in WWII! The "Hump Route" was a major air corridor for China and the Allies during WWII, running from 1942 until the war's end, making significant contributions to combating Japanese fascism. In the summer of 1942, Japanese forces cut off the last supply route between the Allies and China via the Burma Road, forcing all material transport to halt. President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered: "At all costs, open a route to China." With both sea and land routes blocked, the only option was to establish an air route, giving birth to the Hump Air Transport. The Hump Route started in Assam, India, and stretched eastward across the Himalayas, Gaoligongshan, Hengduanshan, Salween River, Nujiang River, Lancang River, Jinsha River, into the Yunnan Plateau and Sichuan Province of China. The route spanned 500 miles, with elevations ranging between 4,500 and 5,500 meters, reaching a maximum of 7,000 meters. The rugged, rolling peaks resembled the humps of a camel, hence the name "Hump Route." The Hump Route was the longest, most arduous, and costliest tragic air transport in the history of war-time air logistics. Over three years of grueling flights, China Airlines flew 80,000 missions, the U.S. Army Air Forces deployed over 2,100 transport aircraft, with a total of more than 84,000 participants from both sides. They transported 850,000 tons of strategic supplies and 33,477 combat personnel. A single U.S. Air Transport Command Tenth Air Force group, equipped with 629 transport aircraft, lost 563 planes. On this route alone, the U.S. Air Forces lost over 1,500 aircraft and nearly 3,000 elite pilots, with a loss rate exceeding 80%! Meanwhile, China Airlines, which initially had only 100 transport aircraft, suffered 48 plane losses and 168 pilot casualties, with a loss rate exceeding 50%! Recording a tragic history, warning against forgotten memories! This book delves deeply into the history of the Hump Route, extensively interviewing the participants of "Flying Over the Hump"—the surviving Chinese employees of China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). Combining rigorous historical records with the firsthand accounts of numerous invaluable witnesses, it truthfully documents the tragic history of the Hump Route during the War of Resistance— about war, courage, friendship, and flight. This book is the first of its kind in China to provide a comprehensive, authentic, and detailed record of this period. The author records this tragic route from a Chinese perspective while also tracing the historical fates of Chinese participants, gathering reliable historical records and extensive firsthand accounts from mainland China, the United States, and Taiwan. The author interviewed all Chinese witnesses who could still be found, the youngest of whom was already 82 years old, leaving behind invaluable historical records. The work not only fully documents the tragedy of the event but also records a truthful history of people's lives. The memory of history and the fate of individuals move the heart profoundly.