The wind is swirling in the clouds, and it is customary to watch the mulberry fields become vicissitudes; from ancient times to the present, how many stories are laughing!
Savage Mountain, presumably someone who knows something about China's modern history, must be familiar with this name. This mountainous area of dense forests and miasma in Myanmar has become an eternal pain in the minds of the Chinese Expeditionary Force and every Chinese.
When the Chinese Expeditionary Force first entered Burma and achieved a series of victories, because of the Counterattack of the Japanese Army and the straw bale behavior of the Allied British Army, the Chinese Expeditionary Force faced the danger of being cut off by the Japanese army and was completely annihilated. In this situation, the Chinese Expeditionary Force had to retreat. Regarding the route of retreat, there were only two routes at that time, one was to retreat to India, and the other was to retreat from Savage Mountain to return home. Then, as the actual supreme commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force at that time, why did Du Yuming choose to retreat from Savage Mountain to return to China, rather than choosing to retreat to India, which was better and closer?
Du Yuming's choice to retreat from Savage Mountain to return to China can be said to be the biggest stain on his life, and he has also been criticized by posterity. Because our expeditionary force had more than 30,000 people when it was crossing the Mountain of People, and only a few thousand people were left to come out alive. It should be known that the expeditionary force entered Burma for the first time, and the total number of casualties was only more than 50,000.
Regarding Du Yuming's choice to retreat back to China in the direction of Savage Mountain, Xiaobian felt that there was no need for everyone to accuse him too much. Yes, as the actual commander of the expeditionary force at that time, he was responsible, but from his standpoint, his choice at that time could only be to return home from the Mountain of The Mountain. Because at that time, the Chinese army could retreat on several key routes, such as Lashio and Myitkyina, which had been occupied by the Japanese army, and those who could go, in addition to going to India, were to climb the Mountain of People to return home.
First of all, at the meeting before the retreat, Stilwell asked Du Yuming to lead the Chinese expeditionary force to retreat to India, but the British army had a prerequisite, that is, the Chinese army must disarm and enter India as a "refugee", which was unacceptable to the generals at all levels of the Chinese army and Chiang Kai-shek at that time. The first time the Chinese Expeditionary Force entered Burma to fight, it was at the request of the British and cooperated with the British army, but now it is going to enter India as a "refugee" or a state of disarming, and whoever it is, no one will feel good.
Moreover, in the first operation into Burma, the performance of the British army was completely straw bale. The reason why the Chinese Expeditionary Force was so passive, and even in danger of being surrounded and annihilated by the Japanese army, was completely caused by the selfishness of the British army. Therefore, at that time, the generals of the Chinese army generally did not trust the British army, coupled with the additional conditions proposed by the British army, the heart was even more guilty. What's more, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly sent a telegram ordering Du Yuming to "not enter India without being ordered," and under all these circumstances, Du Yuming could only turn over the mountain of people without hesitation.
As for Sun Liren's choice to go to India, it was completely determined by his and Du Yuming's different life experiences. Sun Liren was a Western-style education, he graduated from the American Military Academy, but Du Yuming grew up under the traditional Chinese education, whether in the face of Chiang Kai-shek's orders or the degree of understanding of Westerners, he was not as sleek as Sun Liren.
Xiao Bian felt that For the matter of choosing to return to China, Du Yuming's greatest responsibility was to underestimate the serious underestimation of the bad situation of Savage Mountain, and if he knew that Savage Mountain was so dangerous, I am afraid that even if he risked disobeying Chiang Kai-shek's orders, he would choose to retreat to India