Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan

• 1. Introduction

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  The Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan traced its origins to the 4th of May 1942. That day, fifty-four Japanese aircraft struck Baoshan, the Millennium Ancient City of Yunnan Province. Six days later, Japanese troops entered Tengchong, a border city to the west. Those events handed Japan control of territory west of the Salween River. They also severed the Burma Road, the only overland route for military supplies into China. China, the United States, and Britain fought together for one and a half years to reverse those losses. That campaign ran from October 1943 to March 1945. The cost exceeded 80,000 Allied casualties. Who shaped the coalition that fought it? How did armies operating across two countries coordinate toward a common objective? And what did victory finally look like at the border town of Muse?

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• 2. Stalemate on the Salween

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  Japan's aim after seizing Burma was to advance east into Yunnan Province and ultimately threaten Chongqing. The plan called for a drive along the Burma Road toward China's wartime capital. The 71st Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force held the east bank of the Nu River. For two years, that force frustrated every Japanese attempt to cross and push further into China. American pilots meanwhile flew the Himalayas on a route the US Air Force called "The Hump." Those flights carried goods through great difficulty and offered no reliable security. The Allied campaign's stated purpose was to reopen the China-India Highway. Six Chinese divisions based in India joined British and Indian forces for the counterattack in northern Myanmar. The alliance would be commanded at the top by a Chinese general, with a US Army officer as deputy.

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• 3. The Coalition and Its Commands

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  General Wei Lihuang of the Chinese National Army led the campaign as commander-in-chief. His deputy was General Joseph Stilwell of the US Army. Chinese forces were organized into two components. One was the Chinese Army in India, retrained after earlier setbacks in Burma. The other was the Chinese Expeditionary Force, positioned along the Yunnan front. British forces added a third partner from the west. Allied strength reached between 200,000 and 400,000 troops. Japan's main force was the Burmese front command. Command on the Japanese side moved in succession from Masakazu Kawabe to Heitaro Kimura and then to Shinichi Tanaka. Japan fielded between 90,000 and 150,000 soldiers. Ranged against each other across Burma and Yunnan, these forces would open the campaign in the jungles of northern Myanmar.

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• 4. The Burma Battles

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  The Battle of the Hukawng Valley opened on the 30th of October 1943 and ran until the 9th of March 1944. Fighting at Yupang began the same day and closed on the 24th of December 1943. Early March 1944 brought rapid action: Maingkwan fell between the 2nd and 5th, and Waluban between the 3rd and 9th. The Siege of Myitkyina opened on the 17th of May 1944 and lasted until the 3rd of August 1944, nearly three months of sustained pressure. Mogaung fell after fighting between the 4th and the 26th of June 1944. On the 17th of April 1944, the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossed the Nu River into western Yunnan. That crossing opened a second front while the Burma battles still continued.

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• 5. The Yunnan Front

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  The Battle of Tengchong ran from the 11th of May 1944 to the 13th of September 1944, four months of combat on western Yunnan's border. Simultaneously, forces fought at Mount Song from the 4th of June to the 7th of September 1944. The Battle of Longling opened on the 6th of June 1944, while both of those engagements still raged. It ran until the 3rd of November 1944. Mount Song was secured on the 7th of September, six days before Tengchong. Fighting then moved to Mangshi, from the 3rd of November to the 1st of December 1944. With Mangshi taken, the Allied advance turned toward the remaining Japanese positions at Bhamo and beyond.

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• 6. Final Push to Muse

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  The Battle of Bhamo ran from the 17th of November to the 15th of December 1944. Mongyu followed, with fighting from the 15th of December 1944 to the 27th of January 1945. Wanding opened on the 27th of December 1944 and held until the 19th of January 1945. Lashio fell in five days of fighting, from the 2nd to the 7th of March 1945. Hsipaw resisted from the 11th to the 16th of March. At the end of March 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the British Army, and Merrill's Marauders converged at Muse, in Burma. With that junction, the Japanese lost the North Burma Stronghold. The Allies claimed to have killed more than 30,000 Japanese soldiers over the campaign's course. A formal accounting of which units earned recognition was still ahead, to be settled in June 1945.

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• 7. The Flying Tiger Flag

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  In June 1945, the Nationalist Government awarded the Flying Tiger Flag to eleven units. The 36th, 87th, 88th, and honorary 1st divisions received the honor for recapturing Longling. The 54th corps, the 198th division, and the 103rd division were recognized for their actions at Mount Song and Tengchong. The new 1st army and new 6th army were honored for completing their missions abroad. The new 22nd division received the flag for its record at Maingkwan, Kamaing, Shwegu, and Hsipaw. The new 38th division was recognized for Yupang, Mogaung, Bhamo, and Lashio. A second ceremony came on the 27th of September 1945. On that day, the Nationalist Government gave the Flying Tiger Flag to the 9th division of the 2nd army. That final ceremony closed the roll, capping a campaign that had recovered all the lost land on the Salween's west bank.

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