Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s2: India-China Transport and Communication Lines During World War II
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s2
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India-China Transport and Communication Lines During World War II
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One of the unforeseen consequences of the Japanese occupation of eastern China and the shift of the capital of the Government of China to Chongqing in western China during World War II was the revival of old transport and communication links between India and China and the development of new ones. Foremost among these were - the air link between Calcutta (Kolkata) and Kunming; the Ledo (Stilwell) Road and the old Tea Horse Road and the Calcutta-Kunming oil pipeline.
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From 1938, when the Burma Road was completed till 1942, supplies to southwestern China from outside had been routed through Burma (now Myanmar). The Japanese invasion of Burma including Lashio, the starting point of the Burma Road in April 1942 cut off this vital access. Almost immediately, the process of airlifting military supplies and personnel into southwest China from airfields in eastern India started operating. This was the famous ‘Hump’ route so called because the aircraft had to fly over the easternmost spur of the Himalayas, where the peaks rose to nearly 20,000 ft and which was hence nicknamed ‘the Hump’ by the pilots. The China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), that started the operations, was joined by the American Volunteer Group known as the Flying Tigers. From June 1942 to September 1945, a total of over 700,000 tonnes of goods and over 33,000 passengers were flown over the Hump between India and China. Because of its dangerous nature, about 1,500 people and 514 aircraft were lost on this route by the time the War ended.
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Apart from the air supply route, land-based supply routes between India and China also proved their importance for the War. Even before the Burma Road was cut off, in February 1942 an agreement had been reached between China, the US and Britain to construct an alternative road from India to China. This road (中印公路) was to run from Ledo in India’s Assam to Yunnan’s Tengchong and Longling via Putao and Myitkyina in Burma. Work on this road began in late 1942 in extremely adverse conditions. Over 12,000 Indian labourers were among those involved in the construction. The road, covering a distance of 1,568 km, was finally completed and opened in January 1945 after Myitkyina as well as Tengchong and Longling had been retaken from the Japanese. A slightly longer southern branch of this road starting from Ledo and passing through Myitkyina, Bhamo, Namkhan and Muse was also opened a few days later. The new road was named by Chiang Kai-shek in honour of the American General Joseph Stilwell,
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Stilwell Road, Communication transit between India and China during World War II
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the supreme commander of the Allied forces in the China-Burma-India theatre who had overseen the project. Although the Hump air route proved capable of carrying more supplies than the Ledo Road. Nevertheless, in the six months after it was opened to traffic, the Ledo Road carried 129,000 tonnes of material to China.
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A lesser-known route of transport between India and China during the War was the old Tea-Horse Road (茶马路), which had traditionally been one of the main commercial arteries connecting Yunnan and Tibet. With the closure of the Burma Road, even an old low-profile trade route like this one assumed strategic importance. Mainly non-military goods from eastern India, which were in short supply in China, were taken first to Kalimpong in north Bengal. From there, they were loaded onto horses, mules and yaks to be transported to Lijiang in Yunnan via Tibet. Approximately 8,000 mules and horses and 20,000 yaks were involved in what came to be known as Operation Caravan.
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The southern route of the Ledo/Stilwell Road was also the route of a critical oil pipeline that was built between the port of Calcutta in India to Kunming in China. The decision to construct such a pipeline to meet the energy demands of the War in this theatre was taken at a meeting of Allied leaders held in Quebec, Canada, in August 1943. Work on the pipeline began in December 1943 and after its completion in April 1945, it spanned a distance of 3,218 km. Over 100,000 tonnes of oil was transported along this line between June 1945 and January 1946.
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The transportation aircraft of the allied forces over the Hump flight route
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The first transport fleet team reached Kunming crossing the Stilwell Road, February 4, 1945
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These communication and transport links served the purpose of providing crucial support to China's Resistance War against Japanese occupation at a time when various other channels of assistance were closed to China. At the same time, the War had the effect of connecting India and China across their land borders in a way that had not been done before, except in a minimal fashion, for many centuries.
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*(Madhavi Thampi)*