Charge of the Sun: The Battle of Western Yunnan of the Chinese Expeditionary Force

Author: Peng Jingfeng / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Since the establishment of the Republic of China government in 1911, China has been in a state of humiliation, oppressed and invaded by foreign enemies. Has there ever been a time when China sent troops abroad to aid other countries? Moreover, this time the aid was requested by the once arrogant British Empire. For many senior military and political figures, this was truly a chance to sigh in relief and gain prestige in a foreign land. Therefore, the 100,000 troops sent to the battlefield in Myanmar were mostly the elite forces of the Kuomintang army, such as the Fifth Army commanded by Du Yuming, which was one of the most powerful armored units in the Chinese army. The entire army had over 42,000 personnel, equipped with three infantry divisions armed with American equipment, as well as specialized units like tank regiments, heavy artillery regiments, and automobile regiments. They were skilled in organizing infantry-artillery coordination and using tanks for breakthroughs. During the Guangxi Kunlunk Pass campaign from November to December 1939, they annihilated over 4,000 Japanese invaders from the 12th Division and killed the enemy division commander, Nakamura Masao. As a result, the Fifth Army gained great fame. Before forming the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the British and American sides specifically requested the Chinese government to allow the Fifth Army under Du Yuming to fight in Myanmar. The other two armies (the Sixth Army and the 66th Army) may not have been as combat-ready as the Fifth Army, but they were also equipped with brand-new American equipment before entering Myanmar. Some of their commanders were highly capable, such as Sun Liren, the commander of the New Third Division, a young and talented officer who graduated from Tsinghua University in 1923 and studied civil engineering at Purdue University in the United States. Later, he abandoned his studies in the humanities to pursue a military career, attending the Virginia Military Institute. Commanders like Dai Anlan, who were graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy, had also fought many tough battles in the early and mid-term stages of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Later battles in Myanmar also proved that if British generals had not avoided combat and protected themselves, the Chinese Expeditionary Force could have performed much better. For example, the 113th Regiment of the 38th Division of the 66th Army, under the command of Colonel Liu Fangwu, inflicted heavy casualties on Japanese forces seven times their size and rescued over 7,000 British troops who were surrounded. However, this "ally" Britain still harbored sinister intentions during the critical situation in Myanmar, fearing that the victory of the Chinese Expeditionary Force might make Myanmar, which had historical ties with China, incline toward China again. They adhered to the wrong policy of "rather than giving Myanmar to Japan, we would rather give it to China." Combined with the incompetence of British commanders such as Hu Dun and Alexander, who successively served as the commander of British forces in Myanmar, when Japanese forces surged northward, they did not gather the main forces of the Chinese, British, and Indian coalition to confront the enemy. Instead, they only wanted to use the Chinese Expeditionary Force to cover their retreat toward India, achieving their goal of "abandoning Yangon to preserve strength." They often withdrew quietly without waiting for the Japanese to approach, leaving the Chinese army's flanks exposed and vulnerable to repeated attacks and encirclement. Although the Chinese forces fought bravely, they were isolated and unable to turn the tide. Moreover, this time they entered Myanmar in a hurry, unfamiliar with the terrain and enemy situation, making it difficult to reverse the crisis. As a result, the Japanese forces, with only four divisions and over 90,000 personnel, crushed the nearly 200,000-strong Chinese-British-Indian coalition in less than four months. They followed the retreating Chinese forces from northern Myanmar into China, occupying vast territories west of the Nujiang River. This turned Yunnan, which was originally the rear base of the War of Resistance Against Japan, into the front line of the war. After entering Myanmar, the Chinese Expeditionary Force fought for only two and a half months (from February 16, 1942, to May 3, 1942), but due to the above reasons, they suffered heavy losses. The original 100,000 troops were reduced to 40,000, with over 60,000 casualties. Only 7,300 of them were killed or injured in battle, most of them dying in the retreat. For example, the Fifth Army under Du Yuming, which had 42,000 personnel, suffered over 14,700 casualties in the retreat. The remaining 20,000 soldiers retreated in a disorganized manner, crossing mountains and rivers back to China and India, leaving behind their tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery.