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The Round Tablette March 2008 Volume 16 Number 7 Published by WW II History Roundtable Edited by Jim Gerber www.mn-ww2roundtable.org Welcome to the March meeting of the Dr. Harold C. Deutsch World War Two History Roundtable. Tonight’s topic is the China-Burma-India Theater and we are privileged to have as our historian and guest speaker, Al Lathrop. He is a former student of Dr Deutsch’s and works in administration at the University of Minnesota. He is currently working on a book about the CBI (China-Burma-India) theater. We are also pleased to have several veterans of the CBI with us tonight who will speak of their experiences: Tim Bailey, glider pilot; Daniel Novak, photographer; Art Pejsa, B-29 pilot; and Alton Knutson, Francis Ponder, Calvin Sass, and Davis Shryer, members of the MARS Task Force. CBI The China-Burma-India Theater (CBI) is often called “the forgotten war”. It was fought over a formidable geographic area, stretching from Manchuria to India, yet details of it remain unknown and little understood in the United States. American air and ground forces in the CBI were at the end of a long and dangerous supply line stretching halfway around the world. Overshadowed by the high-priority conflicts in Europe and the Pacific, theater operations were consistently crippled by inadequate supplies of equipment and manpower. Although the CBI was primarily a British and Chinese theater of action, it was created by the Joint Chiefs in early 1942 and commanded by Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell to aid and assist America’s allies in their war against Japan. “Vinegar Joe” arrived in late February to find his immediate priorities were to organize an effective defense of Burma and provide for orderly transfer of lend-lease supplies and equipment to the British and Chinese. After the loss of Burma in May, Stilwell worked on plans for reorganizing and rebuilding Chinese forces in China and India for the anticipated campaign to retake Burma and reopen the overland transport to China. U.S. Military activity in CBI chiefly consisted of aerial combat and supply operations in support of British and Chinese forces. U.S. planes flew bombing missions and air drops throughout southeast Asia and ferried supplies and equipment over “the Hump”, the mountains that separated American bases in India from bases in China. The route was extremely risky because of the high altitudes, tricky weather, and, until mid-1944, Japanese fighters operating out of airfields in northern Burma, resulting in the loss of many planes and crews. American ground action was limited to combat engineers constructing the Ledo (later Stilwell) Road from Ledo, India to Mytikyina, Burma; Merrill’s Marauders, an all-volunteer infantry outfit with the unwieldy designation of 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional); and its successor, MARS Task Force (5307th Composite Unit [Provisional]). The Marauders, along with Chinese troops, fought through the daunting mountain terrain and enervating climate of northern Burma to secure the area in advance of Ledo Road construction in the first half of 1944. Finally, decimated by disease, fatigue, and battle casualties, the unit was disbanded by summer and replace by MARS Task Force, formed from former Marauders and replacements, who conducted combat missions as far south as Bhamo until fall. Al Lathrop Merrill’s Marauders Those 3000 ‘misfits’, as on Army officer put it, were sent to India, trained in jungle warfare and designated the 5307th Composite Unit, code name GALAHAD, Stilwell’s long-time friend, Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill, was placed in command, and the unit was ready for action by early 1944. Plans were drawn up for an offensive to begin with a Chinese-American force attacking North Burma, with the goal of taking Myitkyina, which would remove the threat of enemy fighter planes attacking allied forces flying the hump. Stilwell also planned to use Myitkyina as a bomber base for attacks on the Japanese homeland. Accompanied by two Chinese divisions, Merrill’s Marauders, which was now split into 3 battalions, began its trek through the jungle-choked terrain of Northeast Burma on February 24, 1944. They quickly struck Japanese outposts all along the Burma front, and by March 3, all battalions had reached the main Japanese line. After four days of harsh fighting, the dug-in Japanese retreated. The Marauders were reduced from the original 3000 men to less than 1400 and most of those soldiers were sick (jungle disease), ill-equipped and tired. The men were now looking forward to promised relief and a long rest behind the lines. Stilwell had other ideas. He wanted to launch a final assault to capture Myitkyina and the remaining Marauders would spearhead the operation. On May 17, 1944, after a grueling 65-mile march over the 6000 ft. Kumon Mountain range to Myitkyina, the Marauders, along with several Chinese regiments, attacked the unsuspecting Japanese at the Myitkyina airfield. Success came quickly at the airfield but the town could not be immediately taken. The Marauders successfully cut the Japanese supply line into the city and in 2 weeks the city fell to a Chinese attack. Despite constant battles with the Japanese, malaria, dysentery and scrub typhus, Merrill’s Marauders, fought their way through 700 miles of Burmese jungle over seven months. More Reading On Tonight’s Topic: Burma: The Longest War 1941 – 1945 By Louis Allen The Jungle War By Gerald Astor The Army Air Forces in World War II: The Pacific—Matterhorn to Nagasaki By W. F. Craven and J. L. Cate Spearhead: A Complete History of Merrill’s Marauders Rangers By James E. T. Hopkins The Marauders By Charlton Ogburn, Jr. Marsmen In Burma By John Randolph Stilwell and the American Experience in China By Barbara Tuchman The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II By Donovan Webster See You Next Month