The recent hit movie "Chosin Lake" gives us a glimpse into the environment that the People's Liberation Army experienced when they participated in the battle: hunger, cold, threat... In such a harsh environment, they persisted only with the faith in their hearts.
Living in peacetime, we may not be able to personally experience the pain they suffered in that environment, but we can empathize with the tenacious vitality and strong willpower of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Of course, a movie is only a microcosm of war. During that era of the War of Resistance, the Chinese People's Liberation Army was undergoing countless harsh and ferocious environmental tests.
The most impressive thing is the history of the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossing the "Savage Mountain" on the China-Myanmar border. It was an experience that was reminiscent of fear, and it was also an experience of heavy casualties of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.
The historical truth that has been uncovered
Located at the junction of China and Myanmar, Savage Mountain, also known as Hukang River Valley Mountain, is a primeval forest surrounded by Hengduan Mountains with an altitude of more than 3,000 meters.
Savage Mountain was once part of China, and was later redistributed to Burma after the founding of New China. Savage Mountain is currently located in Kachin State, Myanmar, an autonomous state of the Burmese state with its capital in Myitkyina.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, an officer in Kachin State, Myanmar, once led his troops to the Savage Mountains to fight guerrillas, but it rained heavily on the way. At this time, the troops happened to see a cave, but the entrance to the cave was blocked by vines, but it was finally an invincible road.
So the officer ordered someone to take a knife to split the vine, and a miasma rushed out in an instant. Everyone covered their mouths and noses and waited for the miasma to dissipate and then went into the cave to avoid the rain. At this time, a terrible scene appeared in front of everyone's eyes.
I saw a pile of white bones in a sitting posture in the cave, and many helmets and guns scattered next to them, and from the signs of these items, it can be seen that these white bones are the Chinese expeditionary force.
The officer guessed that perhaps the army was too tired to come here, so they rested in the cave. Who knew that there was miasma in the cave, and that people were tired and hungry, so that no one woke up again. After returning to Kachin State, the officer wrote this shocking observation into his memoirs.
Later, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Baoshan Municipal Government of Yunnan Province sent people to explore the Savage Mountain, and the white bones that could be seen everywhere along the way were everywhere. The scarlets scattered on the helmets can be grasped at a time, making it difficult to imagine what kind of tribulations these warriors experienced before they died.
Behind each helmet is a living life, facing the scene of Sensen white bones, people can't help but cry. But no matter how you searched, the cave was not found. Although this group of soldiers remained in the Savage Mountain forever, this tragic history will not be forgotten.
The mission of the Expeditionary Force
This dusty history in Savage Mountain has to start with a road jointly built by China and Myanmar. In 1938, the flames of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression burned to the vicinity of China's southwest highlands, and in order to facilitate the transportation of war materials in the rear, China and Myanmar jointly built the Yunnan Burma Highway.
In 1941, Japan launched the Pacific War, and all the seaport routes from Ningbo, Zhejiang to Hong Kong were blocked, leaving only the Only Lifeline of the Yunnan Burma Highway. Subsequently, Japan occupied the Sino-Burmese border and other places, and this major transportation route was also in danger.
At that time, the Town was guarded by the British Army in Burma, but after several engagements with the Japanese Army, the British Army gradually lost. In order to protect the road, China decided to send an expeditionary force to reinforce, and Du Yuming was appointed commander of the Fifth Army.
After the Chinese and British troops assembled, the troops launched a fierce attack on Japan in three ways. The two sides fought fiercely in Tonggu for more than 30 days, but because the expeditionary force was far from the Japanese army in terms of equipment and numbers, it was finally declared a failure with the Japanese occupation of the Myitkyina region.
The international cooperation between China and Britain was also on the verge of collapse, so the Nationalist government ordered the withdrawal of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Burma. The roads back home were all blocked by the Japanese army, and in the end only the Savage Mountain road remained.
Du Yuming took 15,000 expeditionary troops on the road through the Savage Mountain, but what people did not expect was that what awaited them was not the Japanese army, but a more terrifying world.
Survivor monologue
In 2005, the reporter interviewed Yang Bofang, a survivor of the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossing the Savage Mountain. From the old man's dictation, the history that precipitated in the Savage Mountain like a fog magnified in front of our eyes like a movie lens.
On May 26, 1942, under the leadership of Du Yuming, a group of Chinese expeditionary forces marched towards Savage Mountain. Crossing Savage Mountain requires walking more than 400 kilometers of mountain forest, where the jungle is dense, the ancient trees are towering, and the subtropical climate makes the jungle full of unknowns.
After Yang Bofang's memories, at first they were always wary of the Japanese sneak attacks, never taking birds and animals in their eyes. I also feel that I have a gun in my hand, and if there is a beast that shoots directly, I may be able to eat a full meal.
However, it was not the beasts that defeated them, but the snakes, insects, rats, and ants that had been neglected. The subtropical climate of Savage Mountain makes the forest shrouded in miasma all year round, and these natural conditions also provide good breeding conditions for snakes, insects, rats and ants.
The arrival of the Chinese Expeditionary Force just opened the meat for this group of small bugs. Yang Bofang said: "There are not many things that can be eaten, but there are many things that eat people, and ants, ants and poisonous snakes can be seen everywhere."
At that time, many people in the army were bitten by unknown animals and showed a state of poisoning. Dozens of unknown diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever, swept through the entire army. Within a few days, the entire well-packed army was scattered.
Even Du Yuming contracted the disease, and according to his later memoirs, "there were corpses along the way, which was simply terrible." Perhaps he did not expect that the famous Chinese Expeditionary Force would be reduced to such a point.
In Yang Bofang's recollection, there is another fact that makes people shudder, he said: "An aide-de-camp by Du Yuming's side rested under a tree for one night, and the next day it became a pile of white bones, and countless ants and poisonous insects devoured him overnight."
In addition to dealing with the small animals, you also have to endure hunger. After tens of thousands of people entered the jungle, the food was quickly eaten, and they could only kill the war horses and eat it. When I was too hungry, I took the belt and the holster and cooked it.
After 114 days, they finally walked out of Savage Mountain. Du Yuming was carried out because of his illness, and he sacrificed more than 20 people just to carry him. Of the 15,000 men that the Chinese Expeditionary Force set out, only 3,000 came out.
Today's Savage Mountain is still an insurmountable area, as its name means in Burmese — "a devil's city." More than 10,000 Chinese expeditionary forces died here, but their names will not be forgotten.
In order to commemorate these martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the country, the People's Liberation Army erected tombstones for them near Savage Mountain. In this way, we can warn the suffering of our predecessors and let us cherish our current lives even more.