|
 TERRIBLE
jungles, gorges, rivers, swamps and oceans of mud. That
is what the builders of the Ledo Road faced. That, and the mocking of
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who called the project mad and
useless. The United States of America’s army spent over US $148 million, and
exactly two years from January 1943 to construct the transport link from
Ledo, Assam Province in north-eastern India, through the northern Myanmar
state of Kachin, to the old Burma Road in Mong Yu, just south of the Chinese
border. One month after the bombing of Pearl harbour on December 7, 1941,
the Japanese attacked Burma at its most southern point. The British forces,
assisted by Curtiss P-40B/C fighters of the American Volunteer Group or
‘Flying Tigers’, were unable to defend Rangoon. The city fell to the
Japanese on March 8, 1942. Supplies from China could no longer be unloaded
in the strategically advantageous port. The US Air Force quickly set up an
air bridge from Assam to Kunming, China. Douglas C-47 Skytrain (Dakota)
transport aeroplanes, followed by Curtiss C-46 Commandos and later
four-engine aircraft started a daring shuttle between the newly-built
airfields in the two cities. But it was insufficient to bring the
immense tonnage of supplies granted by the US to China in the framework of
the Lend-Lease Act between the two countries. It was Lt Gen Joseph W.
Stilwell, who had the delicate task of acting as Chiang Kai-shek’s chief of
staff (a position a foreigner had never held before) and also the
responsibility of proper management of the supplies delivered by the US.
Chinese generals, acting as warlords, who wanted the supplies for their own
means, targeted these supplies. In October 1942 Gen Joe Stilwell and British
Gen Archibald Wavell decided to build a road that would start in Ledo, cross
northern Myanmar and connect with the Burma Road which connected Bhamo,
Kachin State, to Kunming which was the Chinese capital at the time. The
project was put under US responsibility.
The Burma Road
The British started building one end of what was to become known as the
Burma Road in the 1920’s. They constructed a route from Lashio, Myanmar to
Mong Yu, the border town. It was then extended to Bhamo, via Namkham. The
Chinese, meanwhile, had improved a mule track which snaked westward from
Kunming, through the mountains of the Yunnan province. It was a single-lane
road used as a supply route for Chinese forces striking at the invading
Japanese forces.
 The Ledo Road
Construction starts,
December 1, 1942
The Ledo Road project made use of the Burma Road, connecting China to India.
But the effort was enormous, an incredible feat of engineering and human
achievement compared to the construction of the Great Wall of China.
Plans were drawn up hastily and submitted to Stilwell on November 5, 1942.
Then, at the beginning of December, an advance contingent of American
engineers arrived in Ledo to build a base from where road construction could
start. At the beginning a British engineer unit with Indian sappers
cooperated before being pulled out of the work. The US headquarters hired
manpower through the British – Indian, Nepali and Sri-Lankan workers from
tea plantations – but also locally. As work progressed, Naga, Kachin, Shan
and Chinese workers would be involved, amongst others. Up to 25,000 men,
women and children would work alongside the engineers in the coming two
years, felling trecs, digging mountains and drainage ditches and crushing
rocks. Equipment was short, the drenching monsoons swept away camps, washed
out new roadbeds, buried bulldozers and caused landslides. A large
percentage of the engineer units were hospitalised with malaria and other
diseases. On October 3, 1943 Col Lewis A. Pick was flown from Virginia, USA
to assume command of the road construction. He summoned the key men of his
staff and said "I have heard the same story all the way from the States;
it’s always the same; the Ledo Road can’t be built. Too much mud, too much
rain, too much malaria. From now on, we are forgetting this defeatist
attitude; the Ledo Road is going to be built mud, rain and malaria be
damned!" Ledo Shingbwiyang: one year to build 100 miles Round-the-clock
schedules were drawn-up. Oil was burned in buckets when the lights gave out.
When Stilwell made his first visit to the construction site on November 3,
1943, the road had progressed barely 50 miles from Ledo. Stilwell and Pick
decided to cut a jeep trail through the Patkai Mountains to reach
Shingbwiyang. Sixty miles of the toughest mountain jungle in the world – a
technical and physical nightmare. Work progressed at a pace of roughly one
mile per day, not including bridge constructions. On December 27, 1943
– four days ahead of schedule – the lead Caterpillar bulldozer broke through
and headed towards the Hukawng Valley. The convoy of 55 GMC trucks
carrying men of the Chinese 38th Division trained in India, followed.
Double pipeline and air supply
The ensuing months saw far-reaching innovations to solve technical problems
faced by humans and equipment. A double pipeline was constructed, along an
itinerary partly following the road. The engineers built several airstrips
for liaison and light utility aircraft. Air supply by the RAF and USAAF
C-47s started with improvised methods, but soon became a necessity. The
cargo and fighter planes of the US 1st Air Commando Group, under Col Phil
Cochran, became an essential tool. They also ferried the famous ‘Chindit’
commandos of British Gen Orde Wingate behind Japanese lines.
Armoured bulldozers and Chinese tanks
The route was first cleared by combat troops and then construction workers,
cutting a path through the jungle. Armoured bulldozers of the combat
engineers, armed with one or two machine guns, later enlarged this path.
Only then did the main forces of the construction engineers follow with the
local workforce of thousands. American and Chinese combat units
secured the area by pushing the Japanese back on both flanks of the route.
However, several bulldozer drivers and engineers were killed by snipers.
With some losses the Chinese 1st Provisional Tank Unit commanded by Col
Rothwell Brown gave a hand. Two months before their training, the drivers
had never seen a train or an automobile.
The capture of Myitkyina
In early 1944, the US forces set up a Kachin Rangers unit, to serve as
scouts and guides far behind Japanese lines. Establishing road blocks and
severing Japanese communications, they proved to be invaluable to Stilwell’s
operations. After Jambu Bum fell in March 1944, Shadusup, Warazup and
Malakawng – all strongpoints in the upper Mogaung valley of Kachin State –
were quickly liquidated. The unexpected Japanese offensive against Imphal
and Kohima in northeast India threatened communications between Calcutta and
Ledo, forcing US troops to suspend operations in Myanmar to assist the
encircled British forces. The fierce fighting was a great victory for the
British XIVth Army – the ‘Forgotten Army’ – commanded by the brilliant Gen
William Slim. After Mogaung was recaptured thanks to Brig Gen Frank
Merrill’s ‘Marauders’ and a Chinese force, the main stronghold of Kachin
State could be targeted – Myitkyina, the capital. Its airfield was retaken
on May 17, 1944 and immediately Clark CA-1 airborne bulldozers were ferried
by C-47s to repair the airstrip and enable an air bridge using planes and
cargo gliders to bring reinforcements and supplies to the forces attacking
the rest of the town. The loss of Myitkyina airfield deprived the Japanese
of a base to attack the USAAF, which was flying over ‘The Hump’ (The
Himalayan mountains) between Assam and China. The recapture of the
town was achieved only after a 79-day siege, which cost many lives on both
sides. The few Japanese that escaped fled to the southeast. The
construction work of the Ledo Road could now progress, achieving them
milestone of crossing the Ayeyarwaddy River. The longest floating bridge
ever built was constructed, with new engineering systems and ideas invented
to allow the bridge to adapt to the changing water level in the monsoon
season.
Gen Wedemeyer succeeds Gen Stilwell
On October 18, 1944 Gen Stilwell finally fell victim to his long struggle
with Chiang Kai-shek and his opposition to the Chinese Generalissimo’s
operations and staff management. ‘Vinegar Joe’ was called back to the US and
replaced by Lt Gen Albert C. Wedemeyer. The Chinese 38th Division,
spearheaded by the 1st New Army under the brilliant Gen Sun Li-jen, led the
offensive toward Bhamo. The city fell on December 15, 1944; Namkham and Mu
Se followed in just over a month. The Ledo road route was now clear of
Japanese forces, and work could be completed.
And beyond
Chiang Kai-shek named the road that included the Ledo Road and the Burma
Road ‘Stilwell Road’ in honour of his former chief of staff during a
ceremony on January 28, 1945. Lashio fell on March 7, Mandalay on March 20
and Rangoon on May 1. Japanese forces surrendered on August 15, with the
official capitulation being signed a month later. From January to October
1945 more than 34,000 tonnes of supplies were trucked from Ledo to Kunming.
Stilwell Road, or mostly the Ledo Road section, served
only ten months before being regarded as useless by the US. |
