Yunnan Tengchong Travel Notes: Chinese Expeditionary Force, a soul-stirring epic of the Anti-Japanese War

Today’s travelogue is written by a breeder.

Last night, we successfully met up with Brother Yin’s family, who is also from Chengdu, and decided to travel together in Yunnan. This was the first time we met fellow riders during the trip, and we really felt cordial.

Yesterday we planned to go to the famous Memorial Cemetery in Tengchong, but we didn’t know until we arrived at our destination that it was closed on Monday. So last night, Brother Yin and his family decided to visit the Memorial Cemetery this morning.

I am ashamed to say that although I call myself a military fan, the first time I learned about the history of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was through the TV series "My Commander, My Regiment". When we were in school, there was no publicity about this history. , many anti-war veterans of the Kuomintang have remained unknown and do not receive the respect they deserve. It was not until recent years that we began to pay attention to the significance of the Kuomintang army in the war of resistance. This is also the attitude that China, as a resurgent great power, should have.

As an important base for patriotic education, the National Memorial Cemetery Scenic Area is completely free. As soon as you walk into the ticket gate of the Memorial Park Scenic Area, the first thing you see is a huge alarm bell. Its significance is to let us always remember the century-old national humiliation and show that the truth that we will be beaten if we fall behind is everlasting.

Entering the National Memorial Cemetery, we were shocked by the hall composed of more than 1,300 steel helmets worn by soldiers of the Expeditionary Force and reliefs of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. These helmets include American, British, French, and even German styles. , this also shows that although the Chinese Expeditionary Force at that time belonged to the elite of the national army, its weapons and equipment were still made by all countries, and its own armament industry foundation was really weak.

I held Brother Chen in my arms and looked at these rusty helmets, thinking that the owners of these helmets had long since been buried in a foreign land, and I had mixed feelings in my heart.

The production process contrast between the Chinese official rifle and the Mauser98K rifle is very obvious.

Pistol for expeditionary military, truly made by all nations.

The 200 Division led by General Dai Anlan was the elite of the national army. It was equipped with a full set of moral weapons and was the pinnacle of the national army's combat power at that time.

The exhibition hall on the first floor is divided into 6 parts. It first introduces the background of the establishment of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. At that time, China's mountains and rivers were shattered, Northeast China, North China, Central China, Shanghai and Nanjing - fell one after another, and Yunnan became China's rear area.

Faced with the blockade by the Japanese army, Yunnan Provincial Chairman Long Yun organized the construction of the Yunnan-Burma Highway and recruited 250,000 migrant workers from 28 counties along to build the Yunnan-Burma Highway. It took 9 months to build and there were more than 3,500 migrant workers. Died for building roads.

Among the migrant workers building the road, in addition to strong laborers, there were also lactating women and children. It can be said that this road embodies the blood and tears of the Yunnan people.

Soon after this road was built, it became China's only channel for obtaining international aid. The Japanese were furious about this and wanted to get rid of this road as soon as possible.

At that time, Myanmar was a British colony. At that time, many senior generals in our country realized the importance of the war on the Burma Road. The British were worried that the Chinese army's entry into Myanmar would have an impact on their colonial rule, so they always disagreed with the Chinese Expeditionary Force. It entered Burma to assist in defense until the outbreak of the Pacific War. The well-equipped Japanese Southern Army successively invaded the Philippines, Thailand, Malaya, Guam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, and the vast area west of Midway Island, and invaded Burma.

It was not until Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, was in emergency that the Chinese expeditionary force was allowed to enter Myanmar to fight. By this time, the war was already very passive. Moreover, the daily equipment is more suitable for jungle warfare than that of the Chinese army.

These are the samurai swords equipped by Japanese invaders.

This is the main weapon of the Japanese invaders, the 38 cover, named after the dust cover on it. Its main characteristics are that the barrel is long, the bullet has a high muzzle velocity and is relatively accurate.

These are grenades used by the Japanese invaders. Their main feature is that they can be thrown with bare hands or with a grenade.

Every Japanese soldier has jungle warfare equipment, and its adaptability to jungle warfare in Myanmar is much higher than that of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

The first battle into Burma failed with more than half of the Chinese expeditionary force casualties. The reason was that the British only wanted to hold India, while the Chinese troops had to fight to the death in Burma. The purposes of both sides were different, so it was not enough for the British to "sell out teammates" Surprisingly, coupled with the improper command of the coalition forces, failure was inevitable.

But the most regrettable thing is that the 100,000 expeditionary soldiers who entered Burma for the first time were killed. Most of the 60,000 soldiers did not die in battle, but died on the way home. Of the more than 30,000 expeditionary soldiers who crossed the Cross-Island Mountains, only 2,000 survived, including only one female soldier. Non-combat losses were as high as 86%. Did Du Yuming, who gave the order to cross the Cross-Island Mountains, regret it?

"Savage Mountain" probably refers to the vast virgin forest in the Hukang Valley and Jiangxin Slope north of Mengguan, Myanmar. Because an uncivilized Naga people, a branch of the Kachin ethnic group, live here, it was called "Savage" and "Savage Mountain" in ancient China. .

These are the daily utensils of the Naga people. It is said that they also have the tradition of headhunting.

After the failure of the first Chinese Expeditionary Force to fight in Myanmar, China's only military aid channel was cut off. At this time, China fell into great pessimism. At this time, the help of U.S. allies became a highlight in the history of China's Anti-Japanese War. Isn’t the equipment of the Flying Tigers so cool?

Chennault's Flying Tigers, backed by U.S. allied forces, helped the Chinese military gain air supremacy. The hump route opened by China-US cooperation has been maintained for another three and a half years at great cost. In the past three and a half years, the Hump Route has transported 700,000 tons of supplies, more than 1,000 transport aircraft have been lost, and 609 of them have been lost, and more than 1,500 Chinese and American pilots have died. Because there were so many crashed planes on this route, even the transport planes behind did not need navigation. They only needed to follow the debris of the crashed plane to reach their destination. This route was even called the "Aluminum Valley". Seeing this, I have to admire these US military pilots, knowing that there is a road of no return before them, but they still have no hesitation. Perhaps the U.S. troops are not a "young master's army", and their fighting will is not even inferior to that of the People's Liberation Army.

Let us remember these American pilots who sacrificed their lives fighting fascism. They fought for us far away from home and deserve our respect.

In order to allow US military pilots to get help from the Chinese people after parachuting, each pilot has a blood banner with the words "Come to China to help foreigners in the war, and the military and civilians are integrated to rescue" written in Chinese. It is said that there have been 7 American pilots Hence salvation.

All the great rivers and mountains in the west of Nujiang River were occupied by the Japanese army. In addition to massacres, the Japanese army also released chemical weapons such as mustard gas and gas, and released large amounts of plague and cholera bacteria. More than 210,000 people died from the epidemic in the occupied areas of western Yunnan. Tengchong, a beautiful city, had a population of 370,000 before the war, but only 190,000 remained after the war. Nearly half of the population died during the Japanese invasion. The crimes committed by the Japanese army in the occupied territories are even more numerous.

This is a ceramic bacterial bomb that was not broken because it fell into a swamp. If it had been broken, I don’t know how many more people would have been killed.

These gasoline barrels were used by the Japanese to cook and kill Chinese soldiers and civilians, which was absolutely cruel.

In 1944, the Chinese Expeditionary Force finally launched a counterattack. It lasted a year and a half, captured more than 50 towns in northern Myanmar, recovered 130,000 square kilometers of Japanese-occupied areas, and wiped out 33,000 enemies. The Chinese Expeditionary Force was finally proud. At this time, the equipment of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was all manufactured by the United States and Britain, and it had surpassed the Japanese army.

Thompson submachine guns and Sten submachine guns. In the later period, the number of repeating weapons and heavy weapons of the Chinese Expeditionary Force exceeded that of Japan.

The US-made 81mm mortar is much more powerful than the Japanese grenade launcher

The American 75mm artillery shells have a larger charge than the Japanese

Seeing this, I also felt excited. As long as the Chinese equipment is no worse than that of the Japanese army and the logistics and supplies can keep up, the Japanese are nothing more than paper tigers.

The smoke has cleared, but the history of the Chinese Expeditionary Force cannot be forgotten. Although the world is at peace, the ancestral precept that if you forget to fight, you will be in danger, every Chinese must bear in mind.

When I returned to the station at noon, I was going to make a meal of Xinjiang fried rice noodles for the greedy little chubby girl. She had been solely responsible for Brother Chen’s hard work these past few days and wanted to reward him.

The rice noodle set meal was bought on Taobao. I added some meat and vegetables myself, and it was no worse than the ones outside.

Brother Chen slept for another three hours at noon. When he woke up, it was almost six o'clock. Brother Yin's family just came back from Atami, so we started preparing dinner together. Everyone was talking, laughing, and busy together. It felt like a big family after a long absence.

Mrs. Yin's cooking skills are great. The twice-cooked pork salad dishes are all authentic Sichuan style, and there is also a cold chicken feet dish that was eventually eaten by the little fat girl.