The War of Resistance: My Expedition, My Country

Ledo, also known as "Liduo" or "Ledo" in Chinese, is located in Assam, northeastern India. It is a border town with Myanmar and a vital route from India to Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and China. Before World War II, Ledo consisted of a tea plantation, a coal mine, and a brick kiln. Beyond the dense jungle and the occasional indigenous village, the area was visited only by the primitive Naga hunters and jade smugglers.

During World War II, Ledo prospered because it was located in a strategic position for defending against the Japanese invasion of British India, was one of the starting points of the Hump Route and the Stilwell Road, and had a large number of Allied forces (including the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India, the US Army and the British Army) stationed there.

During World War II, the Chinese Expeditionary Force's New 38th Division, led by Sun Liren, and the New 22nd Division, which later detoured through the Hukawng Valley, with nearly men, retreated into British India after suffering combat failures, reaching northeastern India. The Allies stationed a large number of troops in Ledo to prevent a Japanese invasion of British India.

After Japan cut off the Burma Road, China's only route to Allied support, the Allies opened up the world-famous Hump Route and built the significant Stilwell Road (also known as the Sino-Indian Highway). Ledo is the starting point of the Stilwell Road and holds an important strategic position.

Today, on the outskirts of the small town of Ledo, there's a huge sign marking the "Zero Kilometer" of the Stilwell Road. In English, it reads: Stilwell Road, Rejuvenate our lifeline, Revitalize our relationship, Reach out beyond the borders. Back then, there was also a sign here that read: "Zero Kilometer of the Stilwell/Ledo Road." It called on the soldiers from Ramgarh to avenge their humiliation and return home!

The Chinese Expeditionary Force, which retreated to India, was reorganized into the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India in August 1942. After two years of training, the 8 Chinese soldiers, along with 6 American engineers, began the long march from Ledo to China in October 2.5, annihilating the Japanese while building the Stilwell Road. Ultimately, the Chinese Expeditionary Force, along with the Allied forces, defeated Japan, achieving a complete victory in the China-Burma-India Theater and successfully returning home.

After the end of World War II, with the departure of the Allied forces and the abandonment of the Stilwell Road, Ledo gradually declined and returned to its pre-Allied state. For the next sixty years, Ledo was like a dead city.

Today, cattle stroll leisurely on the empty roads, vendors sleep soundly in rickety roadside shops built with teak, bamboo strips, iron sheets and oil felt; the electric poles made of steel pipes from the former China-India oil pipeline and meter-gauge railway tracks are also crooked.

Along the Stilwell Highway in the suburb of Margaret, near Ledo, lies an overgrown Chinese Expeditionary Force cemetery. Records indicate that the 2008th US Army General Hospital was once stationed here, and large numbers of Chinese wounded and sick were flown in from the Burmese front. Some who could not be saved were buried on the spot. This was the first abandoned Chinese military cemetery discovered in by the Yunnan Provincial Council for the Promotion of International Trade, led by local residents. They were delighted to have found their soldiers' graves, but also saddened by their neglect.

Now, as we push aside the dense weeds, we can still see neatly arranged graves covered by cement slabs, some of the tombstones still inscribed with Chinese characters. The cemetery is dilapidated, but untouched. Despite being surrounded by farmland and villages, local farmers have not encroached on this long-abandoned, unattended cemetery. Aside from natural collapse and weathering, there are no signs of human damage.

For many veterans of the expeditionary force, Ramgarh's most profound memories were the abundant food, excellent equipment, and the interactions with American instructors, all while feeling a deep longing for home. But what is the current state of the Ramgarh training base? Almost no Chinese have been there since the war. Veterans recall arriving there in sealed train cars and diving headfirst into training, training, and training, some never even leaving their barracks. The same was true for some American veterans.

Chinese and foreign sources are even more secretive about Ramgarh today. Not only libraries, but even the vastly more informative English websites barely mention it. We don't even know Ramgarh's exact location in India.

In March 1942, the 3-man Chinese Expeditionary Force set out from the Golden Horse and Jade Rooster Archway in Kunming to invade Burma. However, due to British fear of the enemy and poor coordination among the Allies, the expedition failed, and some troops escaped through the Savage Mountains and made their way to India. Following negotiations between China, the United States, and the United Kingdom, the British transferred the Ramgarh Camp, which housed 10 Italian prisoners of war, to the Chinese and American sides for the purpose of re-equipping and training the Chinese army.

1942年7月17日，第一批载运中国军队的列车到达蓝姆迦。他们是从缅甸撤退到印度的英帕尔的孙立人将军率领的中国新38师。随后到达的是由廖耀湘将军率领的第5军新22师的残余部队。中国部队陆陆续续来到蓝姆迦一直延续到了9月。两支部队人数不到9000人。

Between 1942 and 1945, in addition to the New 38th and New 22nd Divisions mentioned above, portions of the Chinese 30th, 50th, and 14th Divisions, transported from Yunnan via the Hump Route, along with most of the Yunnan officers, were trained at Ramgarh and provided with the finest equipment, unprecedented in Chinese history. Ramgarh trained 5368 officers and men of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India. These were subsequently reorganized into the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India, with Stilwell as Commander-in-Chief and Zheng Dongguo as Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Sun Liren was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the New First Army, and Liao Yaoxiang as Commander-in-Chief of the New Sixth Army.

The training system at Ramgarh was comprehensive. General Stilwell, drawing on his years of living in China and his close interactions with Chinese soldiers, concluded that the hard-working Chinese, with systematic training and good equipment, could rival the world's finest soldiers. Later, Chinese soldiers from Ramgarh defeated the Japanese in Burma, validating Stilwell's thinking.