The big picture of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese
Aggression (1937-45) is clear. China contained and wiped out a
formidable part of the Japanese military forces, considerably
weakening their economic strength in this part of World War II
against fascism.
But some details have been neglected. Few are told about the
Chinese forces in Myanmar and India, where tens of thousands of
Chinese soldiers fought the Japanese army by joining the Allied
Forces.
In January 1942, the Japanese broke through Thai-Myanmar border
and began invading Myanmar. Since all of China's seaports were
already controlled by the Japanese, Myanmar was crucial in linking
China and the Allied Forces and keeping them supplied.
In March, Chiang Kai-shek, leader of the Kuomintang, the then
ruling party of China, deployed nine Chinese divisions from Yunnan
Province to defend Myanmar. The forces were under the command of
General Joseph W. Stilwell, head of the US' China-Myanmar-India
theatre.
In May 1942, Myanmar was lost to Japan's armies and more than
half of the Chinese soldiers were killed. Some of those who
survived were ordered to retreat to Yunnan, others to India.
In India, Stilwell laid plans for retraining the Chinese army
for sustained offensive operations to retake Myanmar and take the
offensive to China itself. The plans soon got Chiang's
permission.
In June 1943, the headquarters of the Chinese forces in India
were established, with the Chinese New First Army Corps and
American Allied troops under its command. Stilwell was named
commander-in-chief.
In the following years, the Indian cities of New Delhi and
Ramgarh became the main training centers for Chinese troops. New
recruits, most of whom were university and high school students,
were also sent there. By the end of 1944, 100,000 Chinese soldiers
had received training in India, spending several years of the prime
time of their lives in the country.
In this special year of the 60th anniversary of the victory over
fascism, looking back on this almost-forgotten history, in the
English language book Under the Same Army Flag, provides new
and different perspectives on the war.
Many soldiers of the Chinese forces in India enlisted on their
own initiative.
In 1944, Chen Yongyi learned from a friend nicknamed "Han
Yanjing (Glasses)" that the government was recruiting soldiers to
India.
Chen, 20, and from a family of 11 children, worked in Chengdu in
Sichuan Province after finishing junior high school in his hometown
of Huaiyuan in Anhui Province.
Even in Chengdu, "Japanese planes often flew in the sky above
our heads, and the sound of sirens always made my heart beat fast.
The scenes of massive bombing leaving many dead, which I witnessed
one day, frequently haunted me at night," Chen recalled.
During his spare time he often went to a local army club with
his best friends Deng Shufeng, Wang Baobao and "Glasses." They met
many American soldiers, who were friendly to them.
Every time he saw the Chinese characters that read
yangren (a rather informal form of addressing foreigners in
Chinese who were here to fight with China), printed on the
soldiers' jackets, he would feel a wave of patriotism and hoped to
beat the "Japanese devils."
So he and his three friends signed up, without even telling
their families.
Yang Yuxiang, a driver corporal, said he would never forget June
5, 1944, the day of their departure from home.
Early in the morning, he and 500 other soldiers assembled at the
Wujiaba Airport in Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan. "The
sky was starry. It was so beautiful," 78-year-old Yang says. Many
of the young men about to leave frequently looked up to the
sky.
When the C-47 Skytrain carrying them was taking off, everyone
looked out of the porthole at the town of Kunming.
Hu Dongsheng, a former member of the New Sixth Army, kept a
diary when he was in India.
On the entry of November 20, 1944, the day of their arrival, he
wrote down the items each soldier was allocated: a towel, a set of
khaki army uniforms, one pair of rubber-soled shoes, a hat, a
mosquito net, a sheet of tarpaulin, blankets and a bottle of
insecticide.
Hu said funds and ammunition for the Chinese forces in India
were provided by the US government. It was the first time the
Chinese armies had been better equipped than their Japanese
enemies.
Hu said he has kept the diary through everything. "I have a very
bad memory. I can easily forget things right after I turn around.
But every time I open the diary, the past starts unfolding right
before my eyes," Hu said.
In India, many Chinese soldiers established sincere friendships
with their American counterparts after living side by side all the
time.
Wu Yuzhang, a former private, had an unforgettable encounter
with an American nurse named Louise. They taught each other their
native languages and spent many happy hours together. Every time
Louise came to Wu, she brought with her a red booklet, in which she
noted down some daily English and Chinese words.
"When we had difficulties communicating due to language, we
turned to the red booklet. Following this pattern our conversation
covered many subjects," Wu said. "I told her about the Great Wall,
the Imperial Palace, and the West Lake of my hometown
Hangzhou."
Hu Dongsheng wrote about many of his American friends in his
diary. One entry was about Adlare.
"Adlare gave me a deck of playing cards, I gave him a Chinese
stamp in return. He was very happy," he wrote.
Another time Adlare taught Hu how to play chess. It wasn't long
before Hu beat his master, a shock for the American.
For Wu and many other Chinese soldiers in India, their lives in
the military are now cherished parts of their memories.
(China Daily August 22, 2005)