Battle for Yunnan-Burma-India: A Chronicle of the Chinese Expeditionary Force's War Effort

Author: Fang Zhijin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: The Japanese began their assault on Tongguo City. Still the old tactics—planes and artillery. Dozens of planes rained down hundreds of tons of steel on Tongguo City, while hundreds of cannons fired at the ancient city with a density of thousands of shells per hour. Buildings in Tongguo City collapsed one after another. By March 25, Tongguo City had been reduced to a wasteland by the Japanese. March 26 was the most brutal day of the Battle of Tongguo. Enraged after consecutive setbacks, the Japanese launched a fierce assault from three sides. The soldiers of the Japanese, wearing white cloth bands on their foreheads, charged fiercely toward Tongguo, with close-quarters combat breaking out at every position. However, the spirit of Bushido was once again swept away before the heroic soldiers of the 200th Division, leaving behind rows of corpses without seizing any inch of Tongguo.
In this nearly 400,000-character work, the author, with the unique identity and convenience of being a descendant of Huangpu alumni, has listened to the recollections of senior commanders of the Expeditionary Force on multiple occasions, interviewed relevant individuals and the families of Expeditionary Force soldiers, and vividlyed the touching scenes of Chinese soldiers fighting the Japanese in the Anti-Japanese War on the with heartfelt emotions and fluent prose. At the same time, while praising the heroic deeds of the Expeditionary Force officers and soldiers, the author truthfully reflects the ruthless factional struggles among senior Nationalist Party generals, the high-level power struggles among the three giants of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom based on differing interests, and vividlyed the tragic yet stirring history of the Southeast Asian Peninsula on the Pacific battlefield 60 years ago.