JOURNEYS IN TIME 1 – WHAT THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW
Kyaemon
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Removing home grown warlords like Than Shwe is hard enough. Superstitious people believe Burma is now suffering a calamity (Kart Sike), as if gripped by a devil.They won’t go away on their own.
Same with the Japanese fascist warlords! Only a thousand times harder.
Imagine Burma as it was, a virtual Japanese colony to be yet brutalized for many more centuries to come, speaking Japanese, and ruled by a succession of puppets like Dr Ba Maw.
How horrible!
Schools taught us British and AFPFL versions of the Japanese war. Nothing was mentioned about the humongous Chinese contributions. They don’t want you to know.
Yet, among all the allies, they contributed the most manpower, sacrificed by far the most in blood, and displayed uncommon heroism – recognized by both Japanese foes and allied soldiers and generals alike.
Find out why it’s important to hear all sides to a story.
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JOURNEYS IN TIME
The Chinese Expeditionary Force
By 1941, the war was entering its darkest days. Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, and the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and several British overseas colonies, had ignited the Pacific War. China was embroiled in a desperate struggle to resist the Japanese invasion. Japanese forces were bombing China’s major cities day and night; at the same time, they were conducting operations, aimed at encircling the rear areas.
The campaign to cut China off, had left only one line of communication open with the West – the Yunnan-Burma Road in China’s southwest. Meanwhile Britain, deeply involved in the European theatre, had made its strategic priority in the Far East, the protection of India. At the end of 1941, China and Britain established a military alliance,and on February the 25th, 1942, a one-hundred-thousand-strong Chinese Expeditionary Force began to enter Burma.
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Journeys in Time 2010-08-15 The Chinese Expeditionary Force (1)- An arduous expedition
http://english.cntv.cn/program/journeysintime/20100815/101790.shtml
Intro
Today, we’re beginning a brand new series, in which we’ll chronicle the exploits of a Chinese Expeditionary Force during World War Two. By 1941, the war was entering its darkest days. Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, and the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and several British overseas colonies, had ignited the Pacific War.
China was embroiled in a desperate struggle to resist the Japanese invasion. Japanese forces were bombing China’s major cities day and night; at the same time, they were conducting operations,aimed at encircling the rear areas. The campaign to cut China off, had left only one line of communication open with the West – the Yunnan-Burma Road in China’s southwest.
Meanwhile Britain, deeply involved in the European theatre, had made its strategic priority in the Far East, the protection of India. At the end of 1941, China and Britain established a military alliance,and on February the 25th, 1942, a one-hundred-thousand-strong Chinese Expeditionary Force began to enter Burma.
As the Japanese forces closed in on Rangoon, Chinese forces were marching to the aid of the British. However, the Chinese forces were seriously under strength; the 6th Army consisted mainly of untrained raw recruits. And there was only one mechanized infantry division, which belonged to the 5th Army.
Dai Anlan, commander of the 200th Division, decided to make the city of Toungoo the main defensive position for the Chinese forces. If the city were to fall, the flank of the Allied defensive line in Burma would be exposed, and the way would be opened for a Japanese advance into Central Burma. However, General Dai, with only foot soldiers at his command, found himself having to face a Japanese assault from land and air.
Outro
The Battle of Toungoo lasted for twelve days. It was one of the key battles in the Yunnan-Burma Road campaign of World War II. The Japanese sacrificed over five thousand men for the sake of capturing an empty city.
As for the Chinese forces, despite being numerically much smaller, they successfully delayed the enemy attack and managed to evacuate, at the cost of fewer than two thousand lives. The Battle of Toungoo was the hardest battle the Japanese fought in Burma.
In the next edition of our programme, we’ll hear how the Chinese Expeditionary force saved 7000 British soldiers in the Battle of Yenangyaung.