STILWELL ROAD

[Music] [Music] this is the story of a bridge it is a land bridge to China and its name is Burma the main span of this bridge the Burma Road was started by the Chinese after the Japanese invasion of eastern China in 1937 according to one eyewitness it was scratched out of the mountains with fingernails [Music] for months some 200,000 Chinese labored and many died so that blockaded China could fight on late in 1938 the road was completed following the ancient trade route used in the Middle Ages by caravans bearing silk and Jade amber and ivory now that route was to be traveled by caravans of guns and fuel ammunition and food across the land bridge of Burma for China to keep that country alive in a struggle against Japan just as Russia had been kept alive in its battle against Germany by the land bridge of Iran the Nazis tried to destroy that lifeline but Iran was saved by the British at El Alamein and by the Russians at Stalingrad China was not as fortunate one month after Pearl Harbor the Japanese struck at the land bridge of Burma this is the story of the destruction of that bridge and of the men who fought and died to rebuild it so that China could fight on a defeated China would mean India invaded and increased pressure on General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz in the Pacific the invasion started in January 1942 both on the ground and in the air the Japs had overwhelming superiority [Music] the Allied side general Alexander headed small forces of British Indians and Burmese and general Stilwell commanded Chinese troops sent by Generalissimo Chiang kai-shek the Japanese sought to cut off China's supply line from Rangoon to Mandalay and then to the Burma Road running from lassi Otakon main they struck from the border of Thailand toward the vital port of Rangoon Chennault and his American volunteer group the Flying Tigers together with small units of the RAF helped to hold off the advance the Japs attacked Rangoon in horse [Music] [Music] rangoon cell the enemy swept down to central Burma along the road to Mandalay where by air and ground and with the aid of dipped columnist and looters they destroyed that city [Music] [Music] [Music] despite Chinese resistance they overran the SOL Wien River area on to Lazio terminus of the Burma Road by the end of April they captured the strategically important town of Michener the Burma Road was cut thousands of refugees shook the roads as Alexander and Stilwell were forced to retreat with what was left of their armies last to leave with the demolition squads who scorched the earth destroyed equipment put fire to oil supplies [Music] [Music] as the Allies retreated that joined with them an ever-growing mass of refugees Burmese whose homes and lives had been shattered [Music] the Allies did what they could for these refugees and through brilliant leadership an individual fortitude managed to keep ahead of the Japs [Music] they retreated along elephant trails through jungle across rivers and mountainous to the safety of India [Music] Stillwell said the last word on the campaign I claimed we got a hell of a beating we got run out of Burma and it's humiliating as hell I think we ought to find out what caused it go back and retake the place [Music] Burma covers approximately the same area as Texas on its western border lies India on its eastern China Indochina and Thailand too many Burma is a land of legend a shrine of Buddhism with its pagodas its fabled road to Mandalay it's colorful cities and villages and strange in picturesque people [Music] to the allies however who were to fight there Burma is a land of Perpetual struggle against nature but jungles so thick that whole armies can pass within a short distance of each other without detection wide and turbulent rivers that are almost impassable mountain barriers reaching their greatest height in the Himalayas the highest range in the world it's a land of extreme clay intense cold heat and monsoon rainfall as great as anywhere on earth it's swamps are breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes cholera beriberi typhus dysentery tropical fevers and sores plague its inhabitants this was the land where we were to fight [Music] the task of reopening the land bridge of Burma was a tremendously general Stilwell's first act after the Japanese invasion was the formation of an American command known as CBI China Burma India from China came thousands of Chinese [Music] they were carried over the Himalayas by planes of the American Air Force to Ramgarh in India here under CBI a huge training station had been started [Music] on the British side the commander-in-chief of India command was Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell later to become Viceroy and to be succeeded in his military leadership by General Sir Claude Auchinleck on the shoulders of these men there fell the responsibility of raising and training huge armies for the defense of Indian [Music] wasn't long before India became a vast armed camp [Music] from the independent kingdom of Nepal came the Gurkhas from the Naga Hills Naga headhunters joined forces with the allies from East Africa and West Africa came more troops from Burma came the Burma rifles and from the chin Hills chin in Kachin tribesman scots-irish English Welsh Australian New Zealand er Indian Gurkha Burman African Chinese American never was there such a polyglot army in the mean time in China roads packed with refugees gave evidence of the terrific struggle against the Japanese advance [Music] there were attempts to push through other trails mule packs were driven over the Himalayas to China at freezing altitudes but the cargo they could carry was pitifully small and the time it took incredibly long [Music] the first step was the construction of an air bridge across which supplies were to be flown by flyers of the American Transport Command shuttling back and forth over what they called the hump it was a slow process the equipment had to be taken apart so there could be low to the board planes [Music] it was flown across Burma over the Himalayas to Kunming in China enemy interception particularly from the important airbase at mission ah denied them a direct line and forced them north over a much higher roof [Music] [Music] they flew across jungles [Music] through mist and fog over mountains often at heights of over 20,000 feet but the Menace of Japanese planes ever-present they made a sky bridge 525 miles long over the roof of the world and carried across in unarmed transport planes the vital supplies needed by the American and Chinese air forces and the Chinese armies but it wasn't enough there was still desperate need for a land bridge so at the end of 1942 a road was started the Ledo Road starting at Lido in northern India the plan was to drive through jungles rivers mountains and [ __ ] opposition to a juncture with the Burma Road a supply route would then be forged from Calcutta Toledo by rail across the lido Burma Road to Kunming and thence to Chongqing in China Burma's mountains rivers railways and highways extend from north to south to push through this new road the Allies would have to fight against the grain from west to east the Ledo Road was begun by a handful of men facing a test that had been called impossible [Music] and so with inadequate machinery and tools a few American engineering units with a detachment of Chinese engineers and what Asiatic labor could be head started one of the greatest road building jobs in history [Music] [Music] again and again they saw their work collapse as the monsoon washed away whole stretches but the road inched along [Applause] at the docks in Calcutta second-largest city of the British Empire supplies from America and Great Britain and the factories of India were piling up waiting to be hauled to the Lido Road in the hunk some of the supplies were sent by water up the Hooghly River to the Brahmaputra in primitive flat boats and barges come almost as cumbersome a route with the Bengal hosam railway it travelled a circuitous Road making long detours to outlying tea plantations switching three times to different gauge rails over road beds that had to be constantly repaired as a result of the monsoon the fastest method was by cargo plane from Calcutta but as yet there were too few planes available for this purpose during this time there was a secret expedition that came to light when a small group of worn and Haggard men emerged from the Burmese jungle they were called the Chindits their name was taken from the Burmese name for a legendary animal that symbolized protection almost as legendary was their leader Brigadier later Major General Charles Ward Windgate professional soldier pioneer jungle fighter in the beginning of 1943 with complete secrecy he had led British and Indian troops behind the enemy lines into the heart of Burma across the Chindwin River to the Irrawaddy a distance of 200 miles on foot [Music] about this time the first Quebec conference took place between Roosevelt Churchill and the American and British chiefs of staff here new plans were evolved for the war against Japan a new command was formed Southeast Asia Command combining the British and American operations the appointment of supreme Allied commander went to Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten former chief of combined operations in Britain and leader of the commandos general Stilwell was appointed deputy supreme Allied commander in addition to his duties as chief of staff in China and head of CBI back in Southeast Asia Mountbatten set up his allied headquarters choosing as its emblem the Phoenix the symbolic bird that emerged from the ashes of a destroying fire meanwhile on the Ledo Road construction was progressing with Colonel later to become Major General Louis APIC in command of the engineers the Ledo Road is going to be built CENTAC mud and rain and malaria be damned as the bulldozers and tractors cleared away obstructions Chinese infantry and artillery trained by the American army in Ramgarh India moved ahead to clear away in the opposition along this route another great engineering project was starting a fuel pipeline fed from India across Burma to China over 2,000 miles of pipe was laid like a huge artery across the savage terrain to carry a transfusion of gasoline diesel oil and lubricating oil each in its turn for the trucks and tanks the machines and the planes that were fighting in China [Music] during this time a campaign was being waged against another enemy in Burma the enemy of disease with its deadly spearhead the malarial mosquito which had taken a huge toll of the fighting men it was necessary to cut these communication lines too [Music] another problem was the treatment of casualties from enemy gunfire wounded men were sometimes carried miles by foot by raft mule Jeep truck ox cart [Music] one of the great heroes of this campaign was Colonel Gordon Seagrave formerly an American medical missionary who was with still well on his retreat from Burma and went back to that country with a group of nurses of various native races and a series of mobile hospital units Seagrave and his men and women performed operations under the most primitive conditions the conquest of disease made huge strides now the conquest of the Japs had to keep pace more and more Chinese were being trained at Ramgarh in India and at Kunming in China these would have become part of the UN Han force that would have strike at the enemy from the China Burma border across the Salween River to northern India the Chinese American composite wing had been organized by major-general Claire Chennault for the Generalissimo a pict group of American volunteers was instructing Chinese pilots and crews to fly the latest types of planes [Music] and another base in India Brigadier later major-general Frank Merrill was training the Marauders a force of experienced American jungle fighters sent to CBI by General Marshall there were less than 3,000 of them at a secret airfield in our Sam planes and gliders assembled for another American unit the first Air Commando Force sent by General Arnold it was commanded by Colonel Phillip Cochran known to millions as flipcore cannon Terry and the Pirates and by Colonel John Allison formerly of the Flying Tigers cargo plane shuttled back and forth over the Honda China [Music] advanced troops in the Ledo Road drive were supplied from the air by the troop carrier command [Music] supplies were carefully packed according to weight size and breakable nests then they were loaded on planes with parachutes attached now to find the men hidden in the jungles that needed these supplies the Allied air force of British and Americans in the newly formed Eastern Air Command bombed and strafed [ __ ] strongholds [Music] in India and in China huge air bases were being built for a new and powerful weapons the b-29 Superfortress thousands of Asiatic labourers men women and children used whatever tools they could find no matter how primitive [Music] on the enemy side the Japs gathered reinforcements into their Burmese Garrison's and airfields to meet the growing strength of the Allies in China the struggle continued the reopening of the land bridge had to be accomplished [Music] in the early part of 1944 the Supreme and deputy supreme Allied commanders met and laid out a plan of action for this reopening the British Indian 14th Army in the era can in order to hold the southern front more effectively was to extend its frontier lines down the occupant insulin simultaneously Stilwell's lead off forces of Americans and Chinese were to speed up the Ledo Road campaign with a drive on the strongholds of Mo gong and Michener to aid in his purpose the American Marauders led by Merrill were placed under Stilwell a third coordinating operation was a penetration from the air in which windgates British and Indian Chindits would have he flowed into the heart of Burma to land behind and cut enemy supply lines for the fourth and last phase of the plan the Chinese Union Force would strike from the China Burma border across the mountains and jungles of the saw Wayne River area in order to reopen the Burma Road for a juncture with the Ledo Road now the plans were laid and the stage set for the reopening of the Burma land bridge the first step was taken on the air again front when the 14th began its march down the acumen insula the army moved rapidly toward the towns of Mandar and Boothe Adan however the jeff's succeeded in carrying out a flanking movement on our lines of communication and moving by night seize the Naugatuck pass through which went the main road connecting our forward troops with the rear for some time it looked as though they had succeeded in cutting off a complete advanced division from the air RAF bombers open an attack on the [ __ ] positions in the Naugatuck pass meanwhile the seventh Indian division using tanks for the first time in this campaign attack the same objective in that vital pass vii Indian division finally succeeded in clearing the pass and relieving the beleaguered troops once again our lines of communication were reopened by the time the monsoon broke on the southern front in June the 14th army had destroyed nearly 7,000 of the chaps finest troops and it extended allied lines to form a powerful defense bloc the second blow for the reopening of the land bridge was struck by the Ledo force in an offensive to push the Ledo Road through moe gong to Michener to aid in the drive on Michener the American Marauders acted as a flanking force harrassing the enemy in a series of left hooks these Marauders were seasoned jungle fighters veterans of Guadalcanal New Britain and New Guinea men gathered together by a message which read the President of the United States has called for volunteers from experienced jungle troops for a dangerous and hazardous operation somewhere [Music] on March 5th came the third blow an aerial penetration of Burma the plan was to fly a detachment of American engineers in gliders 200 miles into enemy occupied territory and land them on jungle strips which they would convert into airfields once these airfields were prepared transport planes would fly in a force of Chindits patrols would then fan out cut [ __ ] communication lines and Harris the enemy from the rear British general Wingate in command of the Chindits arrived at legate to discuss final plan