China and the United States have fought side by side for peace and justice, leaving a strong mark in the history of Sino-US exchanges. People know that China and the United States were allies in World War II, but few people know that Chinese and American soldiers actually fought side by side in a trench.
On May 11, 1944, 100,000 Chinese troops crossed the Nu River and launched a major counteroffensive against the Japanese army that had been entrenched in western Yunnan for two years. There were 4,000 U.S. military advisers who accompanied the troops into the operation. They were responsible for tactical guidance, weapons use and maintenance, ground-to-air liaison, and even direct ground combat against Japan. The commander of this U.S. army advisory force was Stilwell's aide-de-camp, General Frank Dorne.
Commander frank Dorn (second from left) of the U.S. Advisory Corps inspects positions on the Nu river front
They were divided into three routes, one team followed the 20th Group Army over The Upper Ligong Mountain to attack Tengchong, one team attacked Songshan with the 8th Army of the 11th Army, and the third team attacked Longling with the 71st Army of the 11th Army. When Ge Shuya, an expert in the history of World War II in Yunnan, first began to investigate the history of operations, he heard Zou De'an, a staff officer of the Fifth Army, talk about an American soldier named Shaber. Shabber was the head of Stilwell's headquarters, and when the Chinese Expeditionary Force went to Burma for the first time, and when it withdrew from Mandalay to India after the defeat, Zou De'an and Shaber marched together in the dense forest of Savage Mountain. At that time, the monkeys in the trees kept whining, Zou De'an felt that the monkeys were laughing at their embarrassment, and Shabel said optimistically, it was greeting us, you listen, it is called WHO? WHO？ Later, back in Kunming, they met several times. Before the counterattack in western Yunnan, Shaber deliberately found him and told him: Zou, I fight Tengchong. Since then, there has been no more news of him.
U.S. advisers handed the helmets to the Chinese soldiers preparing to charge
At the end of the 1980s, the provincial CPPCC organized veterans to go to Tengchong, and on the way, Zou De'an told the people in the same car about Shaber. When he arrived at the cemetery, a man suddenly called to him: Come and see, your Shabel is here. Zou De'an looked over, it was an Allied tombstone, erected for the American soldiers who died in the Battle of Tengchong, which read "Shabel and fourteen others." He was strange that U.S. advisers were less than a front-line fighter, so the chances of Shabber's sacrifice should be small. He asked the cemetery director about this Shabel. The director of the cemetery said that the monument was re-erected in 1985 during the restoration of the cemetery to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and the original stele had the names of fourteen people, which was smashed in 1969. When the restoration, only one name of Shabel could be recognized, so the new stele read "Shabel and fourteen others". The rest of the situation, the director of the cemetery did not know anything.
Tengchong's trip formed a knot in Zou De'an's heart--how did Shabel die? Tengchong's war history researchers also have a knot in their hearts -- who are the US troops who died in Tengchong? How did they die? They hoped to find the names of these fourteen men and re-engrave them. In 2002, Ge Shuya, an expert in the history of World War II, traveled to the United States to participate in the "Hump Route Exhibition", and the Tengchong Cemetery Management Office entrusted him to find a list of fourteen people. Gossonya contacted Stilwell's grandson, Colonel John Eastbrook, through friends in the United States.
Stilwell's grandson, Colonel John Eastbrook, came to Tengchong to pay tribute to the Allies
Eastbrook found the Hoover Institution, which preserves complete original materials from the China-Burma-India Theater. They found that the US military died not fourteen people in the counterattack in western Yunnan, but nineteen people, and the five people who were not counted were non-combat sacrifices, some accidentally fell from the hatch during airdrops, some died of illness, and one committed suicide. According to the practice of the U.S. military, non-combat casualties are not counted on the list, so the original tombstone was fourteen people.
Of the nineteen, fourteen were army and five were air force. The information was sent to Goshuya, and the first name caught his attention, the original text read: Lieutenant Kirk G. Schaible, Infantry, number 0-436603. Place of death: Ma Mian Guan, date of death: May 14, 1944
After the victory in the Battle of Tengchong, the U.S. liaison officer shook hands with General Huo Yuzhang, commander of the 20th Army Group, to say goodbye
From the troops and identities to which he belonged, Gossyah was convinced that this was Shaber.
According to the data record, Shaber followed the 592nd Regiment of the 198th Division of the 54th Army of the 20th Group Army, crossed the Nu River on May 11, and attacked Gaoligong. On the 14th, the troops were blocked by the Japanese at Mamian Pass. Gaoligong is 4,000 meters above sea level and is known as the highest battlefield in World War II. It is an ancient trade route of the South Silk Road, with rugged mountain roads that allow only one person to pass. In some places, the slope reached 60 degrees, making it difficult to climb with bare hands, while the Chinese army carried guns and ammunition, which were greeted by a rain of guns and bullets from the Japanese army.
Originally, Shaber, who was an adviser, was not on the front line, but watching the groups of Chinese soldiers fall, the young Shaber's blood boiled, the sense of dignity of the soldiers and the heroism in the bones of the Americans made him unable to sit still, Shaber took up the carbine gun, and the company commander rushed up with Xiang Meisheng, unfortunately hit by the Japanese army.
Shabber was the first American soldier to die in the Western Yunnan counteroffensive, at the age of 22, with the rank of lieutenant.
Allied monument to the restoration of the Cemetery of the National Martyrs
In 2005, the 60th anniversary of the victory in World War II, the Tengchong National Cemetery decided to rebuild the tombstones of the Allied forces, believing that whether it was combat sacrifices or non-combat sacrifices, since they were all sacrificed in the land of western Yunnan, they are worth commemorating. Thus, "Shabber and fourteen others" became nineteen with specific names.