Charge of the Sun (China Expeditionary Force's Western Yunnan Battle)

Author: Peng Jingfeng
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 and oppression due to foreign aggression. Has there ever been a time when China sent troops abroad to aid other countries? Moreover, this time the request for assistance came from the once arrogant British Empire, which truly brought relief and pride to many high-ranking military and political officials in China. As a result, the 100,000 troops sent to the battlefield in Myanmar were mostly the elite, battle-hardened forces of the Kuomintang, such as the Fifth Army commanded by Du Yuming, which was one of the most advanced 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 motorized regiments. They excelled in organizing combined infantry-artillery operations and using tanks for breakthroughs. During the Guangxi Kunlun 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. The Fifth Army thus gained great fame. Before forming the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the British and American sides specifically requested the Chinese government to include the Fifth Army under Du Yuming in the operations 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 was both scholarly and martial. After graduating from Tsinghua University in 1923, he studied civil engineering at Purdue University in the United States before abandoning his literary pursuits for military studies at the Virginia Military Institute. Generals like Dai Anlan, who were graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy, had also fought numerous tough battles in the early and mid-term stages of the Anti-Japanese War. Later battles in Myanmar also proved that if British generals had not been timid and avoided combat, 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 trapped in a siege. However, this "ally" of 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, lean toward China again. They adhered to the wrong policy of "rather give Myanmar to Japan than to China," and coupled with the incompetence of British commanders such as Hu Dun and Alexander, who successively served as the commander of British forces in Myanmar, they did not gather the main forces of the Chinese, British, and Indian to confront the enemy when Japanese forces surged northward. Instead, they only used the Chinese Expeditionary Force to cover their retreat toward India, aiming to achieve 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 encirclements. Although the Chinese forces fought bravely, they were fighting alone and, having entered Myanmar in a hurry, were unfamiliar with the terrain and enemy situation, making it impossible to turn the tide of war. As a result, the Japanese forces, with only four divisions and over 90,000 personnel, crushed the nearly 200,000-strong Chinese-British-Indian in less than four months and followed the retreating Chinese troops from northern Myanmar into China, occupying vast territories west of the Nujiang River. This transformed Yunnan, which had been the rear base of the Anti-Japanese War, into the front line of the conflict. The Chinese Expeditionary Force fought for only two and a half months after entering Myanmar (from February 16 to May 3, 1942), yet due to the aforementioned reasons, suffered heavy losses. Of the original 100,000 troops, only 40,000 remained, with over 60,000 casualties. Only 7,300 of them were killed or wounded in battle, the majority having perished during the retreat. For instance, the Fifth Army under Du Yuming, which had 42,000 personnel, suffered over 14,700 casualties during the retreat. The remaining 20,000 soldiers returned to China and India in a disorganized state, leaving behind their tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery.