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▲The Japanese attacked Burma
In early May 1942, the Japanese occupied the entire territory of Burma and the Sino-Burmese border of Tengchong, Qicheng, Longling and other places, completely cut off the Burma Road, and a large number of materials and military raw materials urgently needed for the domestic war of resistance could only be transported by air by air, and they also had to fly over the steep Himalayas, which was too small. To this end, Stilwell, chief of staff of the Allied Chinese Theater of Operations, sent Chiang Kai-shek a memorandum on July 18, recommending a counter-offensive against Burma, at least to retake northern Burma, in order to build a road connecting to India and transport supplies.
▲Chen Chengrong dressed up photo
Chen Cheng went to western Yunnan to become the commander of the expeditionary force
Chiang Kai-shek, anxious to cut off international transport lines, immediately agreed to this plan and selected Song Xilian's 11th Army as the main force of the counter-offensive force. The group army was stationed in western Yunnan, facing the Japanese Kou across the Nu River, and had the 2nd Army, the 6th Army, the 54th Army, the 71st Army, and other units under its jurisdiction, and most of the divisions under its jurisdiction were units that had been tested by the flames of war. Among them, the 2nd Army, the 54th Army, and the 71st Army are all veteran units of the Central Army, and only the 6th Army has just been established.
At the end of 1942, the armies and divisions successfully assembled in the western Yunnan region and were ready to cross the Nu River to counterattack, but because most of the British and American forces were trapped in the European battlefield and could not extricate themselves, and the Chinese side was extremely short of equipment and ammunition, the counter-offensive operation could not be carried out for a long time. In April of the following year, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the establishment of the "Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters of the Expeditionary Force" in Chuxiong, Yunnan, and appointed Chen Cheng, his number one confidant and commander of the 6th Theater of Operations, as commander.
▲ Eagle Dog General Song Xilian
In western Yunnan, there are already "Eagle Dog Generals" sitting in town
At that time, Chen Cheng was not only in charge of the 6th Theater, responsible for defending the northwestern Hubei and western Hunan regions, and defending the eastern gateway of Chongqing, the capital of Chongqing, but also concurrently served as chairman of Hubei Province, director of the Luojiashan Military Training Corps, director of the Aviation Commission, director of the Central Training Commission, deputy head of the 1st Regiment of the Wartime Cadre Training Of the Central Military Commission, secretary of the Three People's Nationalist Youth League, and chief of education of the Central Training Corps.
Then, why did Chen Cheng go to Yunnan and set up an expeditionary force headquarters on top of the 11th Group Army? Is it because you are worried that the group army will not be able to catch it? In fact, Song Xilian, commander of the 11th Army, can be described as one of the few fierce generals in the Kuomintang army, and was once known as the "Eagle Dog General". Beginning with the Eastern Expedition against Chen Jiongming in 1925, he led his troops on the Eastern Expedition to the West, and rarely lost, compared with Chen Cheng, who repeatedly lost battles when "encircling and suppressing" the Red Army in Jiangxi, I don't know how much smarter he was.
▲ The expeditionary force is equipped with American weapons
The Expeditionary Force will be expanded to 30 Mechanic Divisions
Is it necessary to draw more troops to participate in the counter-offensive in western Yunnan? In the short term, it is impossible, the terrain of western Yunnan is mostly lofty mountains, the main communication line is only a Burma road, transportation and supply is very difficult; coupled with the small population and insufficient property, so only to feed the 11th Army is already the limit. In addition, the Japanese Kou facing across the Nu River had only 1 division and regiment, with a maximum strength of no more than 20,000 people, and only 100,000 men and horses of the 11th Group Army, which was fully equipped with ammunition and had enough artillery and air firepower to cooperate, and it was enough to counterattack.
In fact, the reason why Chen Cheng traveled thousands of miles to Yunnan was entirely his own struggle. Because he had received accurate information, Chiang Kai-shek had agreed with the American side that the next step would be to help equip and train 30 American mechanics. At that time, whether it was the air route over the hump or the Sino-Indian highway to be built in the future, the end point was in western Yunnan, so these 30 mechanic divisions were bound to be trained in western Yunnan, and it was likely that they were the expeditionary force units stationed in western Yunnan.
▲ "Yunnan King" Long Yun
Divide the military power of the "King of Yunnan"
In addition, Chiang Kai-shek was very uneasy about the "King of Yunnan" Long Yun, who had been the chairman of Yunnan Province for 16 years, and now concurrently served as the director of the Kunming Camp, holding the military and political power of the whole province for a long time, and if there was any disagreement, it was bound to threaten the entire southwest. In order to contain Long Yun, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the establishment of the Commander-in-Chief's Headquarters of the Expeditionary Force, and transferred Chen Cheng, who was at the same level as Long Yun, to serve as commander-in-chief, separating the command of all the armies west of Chuxiong from the Kunming camp sequence, thus greatly weakening Long Yun's strength.
Officers and men of the Expeditionary Force