In December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the Pacific War broke out. Since then, the Japanese divided forces to attack all parts of Southeast Asia, and the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway and Hong Kong Passage, two major transportation lines connecting China and the outside world, were cut off one after another. Western aid materials to China could only be delivered to Yangon, Myanmar, and then to Kunming via the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway. "If the Japanese invaders invade Myanmar, the soldiers and civilians behind us will be trapped in the isolated city and sit still."
In December 1941, the vanguard troops of the 15th Army of the Japanese invaders invaded southern Myanmar, pushing Yangon. China, Britain and the United States held a joint military meeting in Chongqing that month, and decided that China would "send troops to Myanmar in a few days to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese aggressors".
One hundred thousand troops marched south.
For Chinese, which is in the arduous period of Anti-Japanese War, ensuring the security of Myanmar is directly related to the safety of the rear area of the Anti-Japanese War. But for Britain, Myanmar is at best a peripheral barrier of India. Although the British who colonized Myanmar have taken care of their own affairs, they have not forgotten to plan their own "career"-what if China’s army beat the Japanese away in Myanmar and persisted? In this way, the Chinese Expeditionary Force’s operation in Myanmar was delayed by the British, and it lost its excellent fighter plane to "strike it halfway" while the Japanese army was unstable in Myanmar. American President Roosevelt was determined to convince the British, because he knew that only China persisted in the war of resistance in Asia could Britain and the United States concentrate on dealing with Nazi Germany in Europe. At the end of 1941, the Allied Forces decided to merge the war zones of Myanmar, Thailand, Viet Nam and China into the China-Myanmar-India war zone. In order to coordinate the relationship between the British and Chinese armies, Roosevelt also sent General Stilwell as the chief of staff of the theater.
While Roosevelt was busy threading a needle between China and Britain, the Japanese were not idle. On December 23, 1941, the Japanese army began a full-scale invasion of Myanmar. In January of the following year, the British garrison collapsed and Yangon fell on March 8. However, the Japanese did not expect that at this time, the 100,000 troops of the 5 th, 6 th and 66 th armies of the Chinese Expeditionary Force were marching into Myanmar. China National Government took out 9 of all 15 mechanized divisions to fight in Myanmar, which shows that it attaches great importance to this campaign.
In March, 1942, Dai Anlan led the 200th Division to leap thousands of miles and arrived in Tonggu, an important town in southern Myanmar.
Tonggu is located 260 kilometers north of Yangon, which is at the crossroads of land and water. When the 200th Division arrived here, the first thing they saw was not the Japanese army, but a large number of British troops defeated from Yangon. These British troops were really frightened by the Japanese, and many of them, together with the ancient capital, fled to Mandalay in the north, leaving a large number of abandoned weapons on both sides of the road. It was here that the Chinese Expeditionary Force fought the first fierce battle with the Japanese aggressors since they entered Myanmar. From March 19th, the 200th Division, which was alone, and the 55th Division of the Japanese Army in the north were killed in utter darkness. On the 24th, more than 100 Japanese death squads touched the most cup position, and the platoon leader Ma Licheng was killed by six bullets. On the 26th, the Wudun position was lost twice, and the 3rd Battalion of the 597th Regiment repeatedly fought with the Japanese army, all of them died heroically … Although the Japanese army dispatched more than 100 sorties every day to bombard the ancient city, the Tonggu defense line was still not broken. However, 11 days later, the Japanese army tore open the defense line of the 200 th Division. The reason is not that Hironaka Takeuchi, the head of the 55th Division, has made any amazing move, but that their reinforcements, the 56th Division, suddenly appeared. On the evening of the 30th, under the cover of the new 22nd Division, the 200th Division fought its way out and successfully broke through. In the end, the Great War with Ancient China ended with the active withdrawal of China troops.
In April, 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force set out for a decisive battle with the Japanese main force in the Pingmanna area of central Myanmar. The war is just around the corner, but the British on the west side of the front line have lost their chains again. On 16th, the 33rd Division of the Japanese army quickly crossed the three lines of defense of the British army and surrounded nearly 10,000 British troops in yenangyaung. On the evening of 17th, at the moment when the British commander began to pray to God, a miracle really appeared-an China army suddenly appeared, and a United wing of the Japanese aggressors was destroyed, which opened a retreat channel for the trapped British army. This unit is the new 38 th Division of the 66 th Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. To thank China’s army for its rescue, the Queen of England awarded the "Commander of the Empire" to General Sun Liren, the commander of the new 38th Division. Although the victory of the battle of Ren ‘an Qiang can’t be called "brilliant", it was the first victory of the Chinese expeditionary force after it entered Myanmar, which dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of the Japanese aggressors.
Poor cooperation leads to a thousand miles of failure.
Due to the British army’s flight on the West Road and the defeat of the Chinese Expeditionary Force on the East Road, the plan of Pingmanna Battle fell through. At that time, however, the strength of the allied forces in Myanmar was still stronger than that of the Japanese army. Based on Mandalay, an important town in central Myanmar, they planned to concentrate the 5th, 6th and 66th armies of China and five British divisions, with a total of 250,000 troops to fight the Japanese aggressors. However, the British once again abandoned his China allies. On April 20th, 1942, the British and Burmese troops on the front line in Mandalay once again began to retreat without informing the friendly forces in China. The treacherous British completely shook the last confidence of China’s army, and the expeditionary force was forced to change the battle plan of Mandalay to "defense in depth" to keep the enemy out of the country and focus on defense in Lashio.
腊戍是滇缅公路的门户和远征军回国的通道。1942年4月28日，由日本本州造船工厂工人组成的第56师团奔袭1500公里绕到了盟军防御空虚的后方，对腊戍发起了猛攻，当天腊戍失守。此时中国远征军被三面包围，留给他们的出路只有撤退。然而，日军第56师团并没有停止进攻。4月30日，该师团分兵两路，一路扑向缅甸密支那，以切断中国远征军的退路，另一路沿滇缅公路向中国境内推进。一周后，密支那被攻占，中国远征军回国的最后一条通道被掐断了。
此刻，摆在远征军面前的只有两个选择——要么往北杀回祖国，要么往西退入印度。以师长孙立人为首的新38师果断撤往印度，实力得到较好保存。而远征军指挥官杜聿明则坚持把部队带回祖国，其心情亦可以理解——回想当初远征军是以消灭日军为目的开赴缅甸的，而今不仅没能歼灭日寇，还被追得狼狈不堪，要是连所剩部队都没带回国内，他还有什么脸面去见江东父老？于是，杜聿明带领主力大部队向北进发。1942年5月10日，当他们来到缅北境内的野人山附近时，侦察部队传来消息：日军正张网以待。杜聿明决定扔下重武器，率部队一头扎进野人山，而这个决定竟成为生还远征军军人心中永恒的噩梦！
After the main force of the expeditionary force fled into Savage Mountain, the 200th division, which served as a defender, was divided by the enemy. Dai Anlan was fearless in the face of crisis and decisively commanded the troops to break through. Unfortunately, he was seriously injured in the fierce battle and died heroically on May 26, 1942, at the age of 38. Like the 200th Division, other troops of the Chinese Expeditionary Force who withdrew from the north also paid a heavy price in the savage mountain. The unpredictable climate, poisonous snakes and beasts, plagues and hungry teams went hand in hand, and this black jungle swallowed tens of thousands of expeditionary officers and men. According to the figures released by the allied forces after the war, the number of Chinese expeditionary forces entering Myanmar for the first time was 100,000, with a total of more than 61,000 casualties, of which nearly 50,000 people died or disappeared during the retreat.
远征军在野人山苦苦挣扎的同时，日军攻入滇西。从1942年5月2日开始，日寇相继攻陷畹町、遮放、腾冲等地，所幸惠通桥守军及时炸毁了这座连接天险怒江两岸的唯一通道，日军前进的铁蹄才被迫停止。不久前热播的电视剧《我的团长我的团》中龙文章带领大伙在南天门抵挡日军，讲述的应该就是这段历史。之后，中国守军和日本侵略者在怒江两岸对峙了1年多。剧中炮灰团在祭旗坡上的那段“安逸”日子，也正源自于此。
重整旗鼓痛击日寇
1942年5月2日，史迪威在给美国总部的一份急电中，首次提到在印度建立基地训练中国军队和反攻缅甸的计划。随后，中国国民政府将退到印度的新22师、新38师残部整编为X部队,将撤退到云南的远征军与新增派的部队整编为Y部队。
1943年，为提高部队战斗力，中国的昆明、大理和印度的兰姆伽等地分别设立了干部训练团和训练学校，对官兵进行兵器、射击、战术等训练，并配备盟军提供的新式装备。
1943年10月20日，在中国远征军曾经的伤心地——野人山，孙立人率领的新38师对素有“丛林作战之王”之称的日军第18师团发起攻击。上午11时，新38师搜索连在行进途中与日军的一个大队遭遇，双方几乎同时向对方开火。从前，日军一个营的战斗力相当于或超过中国军队一个师。所以，此次战斗一开始，日军根本没把中国士兵放在眼里，立即发起冲锋。他们做梦也没想到，此时的中国军队已今非昔比：搜索连配有迫击炮12门，反坦克炮3门，轻重机枪25挺，300余名士兵人手一支美制“汤姆逊”冲锋枪。战斗一打响，手持“三八大盖”的日本人便被密集的子弹打得血肉横飞。
接下来，X部队势如破竹，连克欣贝延、达邦加、孟拱、密支那等战略要地。“孙立人”这个名字更是让日寇闻风丧胆。值得一提的是，曾有名军官请示孙立人如何处理一个被擒的日本兵，孙立人大喝：“你去审审，只要到过中国的一概枪毙，以后都照此办理。”
与X部队相呼应，1944年5月中旬，中国远征军Y部队近20万人也渡过怒江向日军据点发起雷霆般的攻势。《我的团长我的团》结尾描写的攻击南天门战斗，应该是取自Y部队发起的松山大反攻。和剧情相比，真实的战斗更加惨烈——
One morning in July, an expeditionary force commander rushed to the front to fight the enemy. Lao Cui, the cookhouse squad, took out the most exquisite craftsmanship and prepared to greet the brothers with a delicious meal. After the meal was ready, Lao Cui waited from noon to evening, and finally there was good news from the front. He shouted excitedly, "What are you waiting for? Go! " After that, he led the cooking soldiers to pick up the food and send it to the front line. The Songshan Mountain in the sunset is a river of blood. The cookhouse squad turned several hills and didn’t meet a brother. Suddenly, someone exclaimed, "Brothers are here!" Old Cui hurried over, but tears streamed down. I saw that the brothers were bloody one by one, and lying with them were double the dead bodies of the Japanese army. Counting carefully, all 141 officers and men of the company died … The kitchen soldiers cried into tears one by one. Lao Cui wiped a tear and cried, "We can’t let the brothers be starved to death. Even if we feed them, we have to feed them and send them on their way!"
In the process of the Expeditionary Force’s counterattack against western Yunnan and northern Myanmar, there are many tearful stories like this. It is this indomitable spirit that enabled the Chinese Expeditionary Force to conquer several cities and kill tens of thousands of enemies, and won the counter-offensive operations in western Yunnan and northern Myanmar. It is also this kind of loyalty that casts the unyielding soul of the Chinese nation! History will not forget, and we should not forget this group of magnificent China soldiers on the battlefield in Yunnan and Burma more than 60 years ago!
Editor: Li Yongchao
