The Historical Significance of the Anti-Japanese War in Western Yunnan

The battle of western Yunnan lasted for 8 months 16 days, and more than 22,600 Japanese troops were annihilated, with more than 64,860 casualties in our army.

After eight months of hard fighting, the counter-offensive in western Yunnan recovered Tengchong, Longling, Songshan, mangshi, Shefang and Wan Ding, and opened the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway and India's international transportation channel from northern Myanmar to China, enabling a large number of trucks to carry a large amount of materials from allies and transport them into the mainland through the China-India Highway around the clock. At the same time, India installed pipelines along highways and imported a lot of gasoline into China.

Therefore, the counterattack in western Yunnan is a great victory.

The anti-Japanese war in western Yunnan set an example of annihilating the Japanese army and opened the first sound of recovering the country. The people of China are greatly encouraged, and the allies are also very excited.

People in western Yunnan have made great contributions.

Baoshan alone dispatched more than 200,000 former migrant workers to build roads, airports, fortifications, transport rations, send ammunition and carry stretchers, and sacrificed more than 24,600 migrant workers.

Among them, Baoshan County added more than 20,000 men, contributed more than 5.42 million working days to migrant workers/kloc-0, killed more than 3,850 migrant workers, dispatched mules and horses1190,000 working days, and carried cattle for more than 320,000 working days.

More than 5,900 cows and horses died, 35.8 million kilograms of commissary rice, 4.45 million kilograms of horse feed, more than 232,000 kilograms of pork and beef, and countless other materials were supplied.

Overseas Chinese love their country and hometown and contribute their money to the national disaster.

Chen Jiageng, the leader of overseas Chinese in Nanyang, organized more than 3,000 overseas Chinese mechanics to return to China to transport anti-Japanese munitions, and 1000 mechanics died for the country.

Liang Jinshan, the leader of overseas Chinese in Baoshan, Myanmar, mobilized overseas Chinese, donated money to build Huitong Bridge, donated 80 cars and rushed to transport anti-Japanese war materials.

1. The battlefield in western Yunnan is one of the three basic battlefields in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, China.

For a long time, a mindset has been formed in the study of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, that is, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China is composed of two battlefields, the rear and the front.

Politically, this division reflects the division of labor between the two parties in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and also conforms to the military pattern of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression before the outbreak of the Pacific War.

However, it is worth noting that the military pattern of China's Anti-Japanese War, bounded by the outbreak of the Pacific War, has undergone major changes in the overall situation, and the generally held view of two battlefields can no longer reflect the changed new military situation.

194 1 1 In February, Japan provoked the Pacific War, sent troops to Myanmar, and opened up a new battlefield in the direction of Yunnan and Myanmar in southwest China.

China was forced to put a lot of strength into the new southwest battlefield to deal with the crisis in addition to the existing battlefield behind enemy lines and the eastern battlefield (that is, the existing battlefield formed since the Anti-Japanese War), thus forming three basic operational areas, or three basic strategic directions.

The reason for this determination is that the new southwest battlefield has all the characteristics that an independent strategic direction should have.

In space, the southwest battlefield is separated from the previous two battlefields and remains relatively independent; Judging from the composition of the enemy, the two battlefields in the east are both Chinese sending troops against the Japanese army, and the southwest battlefield is facing the Burmese army belonging to the Japanese South General Army; In terms of threat degree, the rear area of China is facing a more direct and serious threat than the eastern battlefield, and the southwest direction has become the most painful and threatening direction in China. In the division of strategic tasks, the enemy's rear battlefield is responsible for disturbing the Japanese strategic rear, containing and containing the Japanese army, the east battlefield is responsible for preventing the Japanese army from advancing westward and protecting the rear area from the east, and the southwest battlefield is responsible for maintaining and connecting the most important foreign passages in China and directly guarding the rear area from the southwest.

In view of this, I think that although the southwest (including western Yunnan) battlefield was formed late, it has become another basic strategic direction of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, China and a major battlefield of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, China after 1942. China's success or failure in this new battlefield is directly related to the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War.

Second, western Yunnan is a battleground for maintaining the southwest international artery.

As we all know, after the Japanese attempt to make a quick decision went bankrupt, they changed their strategic policy to a lasting siege. The most important measure is to cut off China's international passage and form a strategic encirclement of China, thus gradually strangling China's war of resistance.

So, starting from 1938, the Japanese army successively captured Guangzhou, Shantou and Hainan Island, marched into zhina, India, and closed all external passages in China except the Burma Road.

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, maintaining the Yunnan-Myanmar Passage became the most important strategic task of China's army, and China still sent expeditionary troops to fight in Myanmar under extremely difficult circumstances.

Unfortunately, in May of 1942, the Japanese army finally invaded Myanmar and western Yunnan, cut off the southwest international artery which was of strategic significance to War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, China, and finally completed the strategic encirclement of China.

Due to the loss of the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway, a large number of materials from North America, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean were stranded in India, and could not play the role of blood transfusion for China in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

In order to solve the urgent need of China's Anti-Japanese War, the Allies had to open a hump route to transport materials.

And paid a huge price for it.

There is no doubt that the isolation of China and the closure of the southwest international passage in the Anti-Japanese War must be broken.

It is precisely because of this strategic extreme importance that after the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway was cut off, allies such as China and the United States put this southwest artery running through China on the agenda again, and China invested the most in this war. Both the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the most elite new army of American machinery are placed here. The utilization of China's anti-Japanese war resources in the later period first met the needs of this war, and China's strategic counterattack also pointed to this point in the first place.

All these fully show that the southwest battlefield, including western Yunnan, is indeed the battlefield of China's anti-Japanese war.

Third, the Yunnan-Burma counter-offensive is the beginning of China's frontal battlefield strategic counter-offensive.

Whether China had a strategic counterattack in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is a long-standing debate in the history circle.

It is not only related to the strategic counterattack itself, but also related to the understanding and evaluation of China's position and role in the Anti-Japanese War.

The position and function of the anti-Japanese war in western Yunnan are also directly related to this. If it is affirmed that there is a counterattack in the war of resistance in western Yunnan, and it is a strategic counterattack that affects the overall situation of the war of resistance, then the historical position of the war of resistance in western Yunnan will be greatly improved.

During the period of 1943, there was a favorable situation in the Asia-Pacific war against Japan.

The U.S. military turned to the Pacific Ocean for a full-scale counterattack, and the Japanese army lost sight of one thing and lost ground.

In response to the Pacific attack on the Japanese, China, which is located in the mainland, is also actively deploying counterattacks, and the southwest battlefield is listed as the first choice for counterattacks.

The reason for this choice is: first, to break the strategic encirclement of the Japanese army, open up foreign channels, obtain a large number of aid materials for China, and prepare material strength for the final stage of the war against Japan; Second, I want to use this counterattack to fundamentally remove the direct threat facing China's rear area and create conditions for the next step to concentrate on fighting in the eastern battlefield; Third, judging from the situation at that time, the Japanese army on the Eastern Front was strong and close to the strategic rear of the Japanese army, so it was easy to get support from the Kwantung Army and Japan.

If China's army rashly points its counterattack at the eastern battlefield before the threat of the flank of the southwest battlefield is lifted, there is a great risk of failure.

The southwest battlefield is located at the westernmost end of the battlefield in the Asian continent, far from the strategic rear of the Japanese army.

It is difficult for the Japanese army to invest in strategic mobile forces, and it is also difficult to supply materials. Moreover, the Japanese troops on this battlefield are relatively limited, and they have to deal with India, northern Myanmar and western Yunnan respectively.

Therefore, China's army has a greater chance of winning a counterattack on this battlefield.

Based on the above considerations, China, the United States, Britain and other allies decided that China's troops stationed in India would first counterattack North Myanmar, and then the Chinese expeditionary force would go west to Yunnan, connecting the main artery between China and India, and then recover the whole territory of Myanmar together with the allies.

To this end, China concentrated its most elite troops on the counter-offensive operations in the southwest battlefield.

1943 5438+00 In June, China's troops stationed in India took the lead in entering northern Myanmar from India, and in May of the following year, the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossed the Nujiang River.

China's two armies attacked each other and launched a fierce attack on Japanese troops entrenched in northern and western Yunnan.

By1September, 944, China's counter-offensive army had conquered the Japanese key points such as Meng Gong, Myitkyina, Tengchong and Songshan, which laid the foundation for the big counter-offensive in the southwest battlefield.

Since then, the two armies crossed east and west, and seized Longling, mangshi, Shefang, Wan Ding, bhamo, Namkham and other places with devastating force, and joined forces with Mangzhong at the China-Myanmar border in 1945+ 10.

In the first large-scale counterattack on the battlefield in China, China * * * invested 2 1 unit of American mechanics (including 5 divisions stationed in and 6 divisions of expeditionary force/kloc-0), attacked 15 months in a row, advanced more than 2,400 kilometers, completely defeated the 33rd Japanese army face to face, and annihilated the Japanese army/kloc-0.

Fourthly, the counter-offensive victory in western Yunnan and northern Myanmar has an impact on the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War.

The victory of China's army in western Yunnan and northern Myanmar not only achieved the direct strategic goal, but also had a far-reaching impact on the overall situation of the Anti-Japanese War.

First of all, before the Yunnan-Burma counter-offensive, China was in a state of being besieged by the Japanese army. However, after the First World War, the whole situation has changed greatly. It not only reversed the long-term closed situation, but also relieved the flank threat of the rear area, and the situation that the * * * combat zone was attacked on both sides no longer existed. The southwest battlefield and the southeast battlefield, which had to be dealt with separately, were reduced by one, so that China could move the new troops originally used in the southwest battlefield to the east.

This result of shortening the front and concentrating troops is undoubtedly very beneficial to 1945' s counterattack in turning to the eastern front.

Second, the strength of China's counter-offensive has been greatly enhanced.

According to the data, during the two years of 1943 and 1944 before the victory of Yunnan-Myanmar counter-offensive, Hump's total aid to China was only 316,800 tons.

After the completion of the China-India Highway, 500,000 tons of strategic materials were imported in just seven months, with an average of more than 70,000 tons per month.

The influx of aid to China promoted the formation of China's cutting-edge corps. Coupled with hundreds of thousands of victorious divisions returning from the southwest battlefield, the combat strength of China's army has made a qualitative leap.

It is precisely because of the above reasons that China made the plan of Guiliu counterattack in the spring of 1945, and began to point the counterattack at the long-term passive eastern battlefield.

1in April, 945, the Japanese army invaded Zhijiang with five divisions.

China's army, which has no worries at home, began a large-scale counterattack in early May with the supplement of new equipment from the United States and the participation of troops returning from the southwest battlefield, and defeated the Japanese army on all fronts and won the battle in Xiangxi.

The Japanese army exclaimed: China's army has taken on a new look.

Due to the strong fighting capacity of China's army, the Japanese and Chinese dispatched troops on the Eastern Front were forced to turn to strategic contraction.

The Vietnamese army seized the opportunity to pursue the victory, successively recovered Nanning, Liuzhou and Guilin, advanced into the Sino-Vietnamese border, and cut off the contact between the Japanese invaders and their southern troops.

In short, in 1945, the long-dreary battlefield in China changed and became active, and the initiative of the war began to tilt towards China, all of which originated from the victory of the southwest battlefield.

The southwest battlefield, including western Yunnan, is like the main point on the chessboard. One step is not conducive to global passivity, and one step is beneficial to the overall situation.

This is my understanding of the position and role of southwest China, including western Yunnan, in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.