The Battle of Myanmar lasted for three years from April 1942 when the new 38th Division entered Myanmar to the end of April 1945. If only the war in northern Myanmar is counted back, it will take two years.
In these two years, except for two months' rest in Myitkyina, the troops almost never stopped fighting in wyndell dichinson, and always maintained a high fighting morale, and they became more and more brave. This long-term fighting force is unique not only in the history of China's Anti-Japanese War, but also in the history of World War II.
In recognition of Sun Liren's meritorious service in leading a new army to open up the Sino-Indian highway from Myitkyina to Lashio, the US government awarded him the American Commander Medal of Meritorious Service again. The awarding ceremony was held in the afternoon of1947 65438+February 10 at the US Embassy in Nanjing. More than 30 people, including Lieutenant General Ruks, head of the US military advisory group, attended the ceremony, and the ambassador personally wore a medal for General Sun.
Sur, the chief military attache of the United States in China, read the certificate and said:
? During the period from 1944 10 10/5 to1945 March 15, General Sun Liren served as the new commander of the first army of Indian troops in, leading the troops from Myitkyina, a rugged forest area, to Lashio, Myanmar. General Sun completed this special and arduous task, which fully demonstrated the high reputation of him and the allied forces.
? Truman (signed by the President)
Looking back at the early days when China's Indian troops stationed in Myanmar counterattacked Myanmar, except Stilwell and Sun Liren, other people, such as mountbatten, commander-in-chief of the Far East Theater, Wei Fei, Indian Governor, and even British Prime Minister Churchill, thought that China's army could not conquer the sinister natural environment in northern Myanmar, defeat the powerful Japanese army, ensure the construction of the Sino-Indian highway and make it unimpeded, and directly connect with the original Yunnan-Myanmar highway to open an international passage for China.
Stilwell, commander-in-chief of British troops stationed in India, pointed out in his talks with Stilwell that to launch a full-scale counterattack in northern Myanmar depends on whether two necessary conditions can be obtained. "One is to control the air force over Myanmar, and the other is to control the Indian Ocean and cover the powerful British fleet composed of four or five aircraft carriers to attack Yangon. In view of the fact that the navy has to fight in other troops, the second condition is actually impossible, because the tasks of the British navy in other regions are already overwhelmed. " Read Hart's History of World War II on page 350. However, as the Allied Air Force gradually gained air superiority in 1943, it did provide strong support for the counterattack. At that time, Stilwell and others also put forward a battle plan for landing from Yangon to the British side. Although the British could not implement it later, the Allies overcame all kinds of difficulties by virtue of their own Excellence, thus achieving a devastating blow to the Japanese troops stationed in Myanmar.
In addition to the casualties of pro-Japanese armed forces in Myanmar, according to Japanese rough statistics, Japanese troops stationed in Myanmar have invested 10 in three years, with three independent mixed brigades directly under 30,3501person, and the number of people who died in battle, disease or accident is 185 149. Among them, 18 division successively invested 3 1444 people, and the death toll was 20393, and the death rate also exceeded 60%. Under "Burma War", page 2 16, excluding the Air Force.
According to China's rough statistics, the officers and men of the new army confronted the 2nd, 18, 49, 53, 56 and other special forces such as the 34th Independent Brigade, and170,000 people (including supplementary personnel) were killed. 75,499 people were injured, and 323 officers and men below Captain Dai Tian were captured. The total casualty ratio between our army and the Japanese army is roughly 1 6 (lower than the record of the new 38th Division). In fact, due to the subsequent civil war, the mainland and Taiwan Province Province paid little attention to the Indo-Myanmar war for a long time, and the British and American troops entered the war in northern Myanmar, so there was no in-depth study and accurate statistics on the body count of the new army after the war. In fact, careful statistics are almost impossible. -but on the battlefield in China, the casualties were between 1 and 8. According to rough statistics, the total death of Japanese troops in the battlefield in China was more than 400,000, and the death cost paid by the national army was more than 3.2 million (the total death of Japanese troops was about 500,000, including the results of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army); More importantly, the battlefield in northern Myanmar is still dominated by Indian troops, while the domestic battlefield is dominated by Japan, and the attacker will suffer at least 20% of the troops.
7938 rifles, 643 light and heavy machine guns, 552 cars, 45 trains, locomotives and carriages, 67 tanks, 5 planes, 0/08 warehouses and more than 20,000 tons of metal equipment were seized. It occupies 646 miles of roads (including 465 miles from Leiduo and Stilwell Road to Mangyou, 465 miles from Mangyou 1 14 miles from the old Yunnan-Myanmar road, and 67 miles from Lashou to Qiaomei, excluding other feeder roads and non-international roads), which exceeds the southwest highway from Chongqing to Jin Chengjiang via Guiyang. Occupy the railway 16 1 mile, which is approximately equal to beijing-shanghai railway's journey from Nanjing to Shanghai. The Japanese army occupied an area of more than 50,000 square miles (6.5438+0.3 million square kilometers), slightly smaller than a Shandong province-Myanmar with a total area of 670,000 square kilometers, equivalent to one-fifth of its land area. A story about Myanmar, p. 164.
After two years of bloody fighting, Sun Liren led the officers and men of the New 38th Division and the New Army. This victory not only inspired the people of the whole country during the Anti-Japanese War, but also shocked the world, making them have to sit up and take notice of China's army. To sum up this hard-won victory, we can't help but owe it to General Sun's outstanding military talents and highly effective troops.
General Sun is resourceful, brave and good at fighting. He attaches great importance to searching the enemy's situation, is good at capturing fighters, and is particularly flexible in using troops. He dares to break through the routine and make the enemy impossible to prevent. He is sober-minded, calm in a crisis, and knows the enemy like a god. Whoever the enemy has plans for us is what he expects, so he can defeat the enemy plane first and be invincible.
During the siege of Myitkyina, three regiments of the new 30 th Division were called to fight in succession. Major-General Su Hu was dismissed as a teacher and transferred back to China because of his poor performance. After the division was transferred to General Sun's new army, it became the main force to capture Nankan, sweeping Ruili and defeating the stubborn enemy. It can be seen that Sun Liren is good at commanding and fighting. Under his strategizing, the same unit can play an unparalleled fighting capacity and let the enemy run away. It can be seen that commanders can play different roles in the victory or defeat of the war.
Sun Liren also insists on training troops, which is the basic condition for the troops to maintain a high level of combat effectiveness. According to Sun Kegang's observation: "I see that although the new army keeps adding recruits to the combat troops, those recruits are skilled and there is not much difference compared with veterans. The reason is that after the training opportunities are not relaxed, the recruits are airlifted from China to the army. Immediately set up a boot camp, step up training and complete all basic combat skills. When there are casualties, they can be replenished at any time. When it is the turn of front-line troops to take up reserve or alert duties, they should also take time out for training, even for ten days and a half, or even three to five days. Such training and combat are implemented together, and the effect is great, which can increase combat effectiveness. " Myanmar Dangkou Story, 138.
In addition, the public's opposition is also an important prerequisite for the successful counterattack of Indian troops stationed in China. Japan's propaganda and espionage work in Myanmar is painstaking. Before the Pacific War, they sent a large number of officers, disguised as monks, distributed in temples all over the country, and engaged in various espionage activities and spy work under the guise of worshipping Buddhism and learning from the scriptures. Some people are afraid of being seen by the British, so they simply change to Burmese and pretend to be Burmese. This kind of conspiracy obviously played a great role in the first Burma War, which made the Chinese Expeditionary Force suffer a lot. After the Japanese occupied Myanmar, their masks of hypocrisy, kindness and compassion began to be taken off, and their original ferocious faces began to be exposed. The Japanese occupation aroused the strong resistance of Burmese.
So in the second Burma War, the Burmese people chose to cooperate with the allied forces, and our army was innocent in autumn, which made the Burmese people overjoyed: "In the deep mountains and forests, we can often see many kachins and barbarians helping our army transport grain and ammunition, carry wounded soldiers, spy on the enemy and lead the way. In the battle of Meng Gong, thousands of enemy troops were scattered in the mountains. The local people tried many ways to lure them to leave the team, then caught them, tied them up and sent them to the military camp near me, and brought back some parachutes as a reward. This gradually turned into a deal. At first, two prisoners exchanged a parachute. Later, when there were fewer parachutes, we could change them more. Finally, without a parachute, they still sent the prisoners away without asking for compensation. It's a long way and inconvenient to give away, so I cut my ear and sent it as evidence to kill the enemy. Teams of enemies, afraid to start, wrote to our army and sent people to guide our army in combat. How can these enemies who have lost their lives not fail? " Myanmar Dangkou Story, 140 page.
Although the gain and loss of people's hearts is not the decisive factor in the victory or defeat of the war, the brutal performance of the Japanese army in the war of aggression undoubtedly accelerated the demise of Japanese militarism.
When General Sun Liren led the new 38th Division to counterattack Myanmar, he was often interfered by Stilwell's commander-in-chief and chief of staff, Boetner, who failed to give full play to his command ability. Sometimes he even trapped our army or let the besieged enemy escape calmly.
When Lieutenant General Solden succeeded as Commander-in-Chief of Indian troops in, he was more enlightened and democratic and trusted Sun Liren more. He has never issued a different operational order from General Sun. He gave General Sun full command from bhamo to Lashio and Xibao, and gave him great support. The so-called "the sky is vast, the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant" makes General Sun show his military genius! Under the command of Sun Liren, the new army finally won an all-round victory in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Myanmar, and made immortal contributions to the Chinese nation.
However, when analyzing the shortage of troops stationed in India, Sun Liren pointed out two problems: "First, although the chariot battalion followed (the troops) in the past, it was not under the direct command of this (Xinyi) army. The US military command group was very strict and was an offensive weapon. Every time you lose a fighter, you can't exert your power; Second, the air force, which does not have direct support from our army, must be transferred to the headquarters whenever it needs air force support, and it is impossible to get appropriate and effective support at the expected time and place, and there are no fighters. " A Record of the Sino-Japanese War in Myanmar, p. 640.
More than 38 regiments of the new 38 th Division grew into the backbone of the fourth regiment of the original tax police. All of them have been honed by General Sun's courage and wisdom, and they have the tactical accomplishment of fighting alone. Soldiers are familiar with all kinds of tactics and tactics, and have the shooting skills of one shot and one shot. In Ramga, the new equipment of the US military was acquired, and after ten months of rigorous training in the Redo Mountain Forest War, it constituted the capital to fight against five Japanese divisions and 1 brigade in northern Myanmar.
General sun knows people and is good at their duties. He is familiar with the names of cadres at or above the platoon level in the new 38 th Division, and knows more about the combat ability and command ability of cadres at the company, battalion and regiment levels. He can even name some veterans. In this way, only by knowing and learning from soldiers can we command the war and command it with ease.
The platoon of the new 38th Division is an independent combat unit, and every soldier has the spirit of fighting independently: in the inshore battle, gunners Ye Yigui and Yu Hengyuan are bold and cautious, and keep up with the crisis and turn the corner; Yi Mingqing and other three soldiers left the army for two days and two nights. After killing eight enemies alone, they could still get out of the gap in the enemy line in the jungle at night and return to their platoon, which showed their fighting confidence and ability. 1 14 regiment took over the position of 500 men of the 77th brigade of British and Indian troops in Meng Gong, and was able to complete the combat mission that British and Indian troops failed to complete within two months. Peng Xinmin and Chen Shi 'an, two sentries, dared to laugh and took great risks, killed Colonel Ryotaro, defeated a large group of troops led by him and seized several cannons of various calibers; The 1 14 regiment north of South Baka intercepted tens of thousands of officers and men of the 56th Japanese Division with only two reinforced battalions. The fleeing enemy fought back madly in an attempt to break through the encirclement, and the officers and men of the 1 14 regiment fought hard to kill the enemy, and their positions were impregnable ... These achievements are the best performance of the new 38th Division's well-trained and excellent martial arts.
In the final summary of the report of the new army, Sun Liren and his colleagues in the new army are so proud of their achievements:
Strategically, it forced the enemy to collapse rapidly throughout Myanmar, breaking its delusion of sticking to northern Myanmar and waiting for assistance to counterattack, and crushing its dream of blocking China's external communication lines; Tactically, I used firepower, encirclement, circuitous and surprise attacks to annihilate the stubborn enemy many times and accomplish the heavy task, so that the enemy dared not look back. In the past, the so-called bushido spirit was completely destroyed by the imperial army. In diplomacy, due to our army's long-term efforts after 17, we have made great unexpected achievements, which aroused the surprise and admiration of friendly people and improved my international status during the anti-construction period. Especially the allied generals who fought side by side in the battlefield between India and Myanmar, because of their deep understanding of the dangers and bad weather in northern Myanmar and their tenacity in fighting against the enemy, fought for a long time in this continuous 17.
In a word, after more than three years of hard struggle, our army sacrificed the flesh and blood of many soldiers, from Myanmar to India, from India to Myanmar, back to Lashio, and walked back and forth 15000 miles. Moreover, the above-mentioned combat areas don't even have peak days, kudzu vine spreads, old trees cover the sky, birds can't get through, and rivers and canals crisscross. Looking back on the past, it seems painful. All this depends on the inspiration of the supreme commander, Dewei, and on the spirit of all officers and men of our army who risked their lives, went through fire and water, honed their dedication to saving the country, vowed to open the Sino-Indian highway and complete their mission, which led to all this. A Record of the Sino-Japanese War in Northern Myanmar, p. 643.
"Firepower" here refers to giving full play to the effectiveness of heavy weapons. The mountains in northern Myanmar are densely forested, and light weapons such as rifles and machine guns are often useless to enemy fortifications. But using all kinds of artillery, especially heavy mortars, can play a role in destroying enemy fortifications; In addition, there are many kinds of mortar shells, such as delayed explosion, which can often go deep into Japanese fortifications and have a good destructive effect.
Undoubtedly, the Sino-Burmese War has achieved brilliant results, which has cleared away the humiliation of China being ravaged by foreign powers since the Opium War, greatly enhanced China's international prestige and helped China enter the position of the "five permanent members" of the United Nations. And Sun Liren's brilliant record in Myanmar has also been recognized by military and political leaders of various countries, becoming the only patriotic and anti-Japanese star in China in World War II!
American military scientists who studied the history of the Second World War, after analyzing the combat power and previous battles of the armies of all countries in the world, especially praised the new army as the army with the strongest combat power, and pointed out that they established the "four best"-the longest front (1500 km) and the longest fighting time (lasting for one and a half years), and the battlefield environment was the worst in terms of combat power, equipment, command and training.
As for the Japanese evaluation, it has already been mentioned in the preface of this book, so I won't go into details here. In a word, it goes without saying that General Sun Liren is the only world-class star in China in the 20th century and the pride of the Chinese nation! His personality and great achievements deserve our future generations to remember forever!