- 10 hours ago
Experience the powerful story of wartime determination in Road to Victory (1945), a classic World War II documentary showcasing military strategy, courage, and the historic battles that shaped history. Featuring rare black-and-white footage, dramatic moments from the front lines, and inspiring wartime storytelling, this vintage film offers a fascinating glimpse into one of the most important periods of the 20th century. A must-watch for fans of classic war documentaries and historical cinema.
Category
π₯
Short filmTranscript
02:27For months, some 200,000 Chinese labored, and many died, so that blockaded China could fight
02:35on it.
02:38Late in 1938, the road was completed, following the ancient trade route used in the Middle
02:44Ages by caravans bearing silk and jade, amber and ivory.
02:50Now that route was to be traveled by caravans of guns and fuel, ammunition and food, across
02:56the land bridge of Burma to China, to keep that country alive in its struggle against
03:01Japan, just as Russia had been kept alive in its battle against Germany by the land bridge
03:07of Iran.
03:09The Nazis tried to destroy that lifeline, but Iran was saved by the British at Al Alamein and
03:15by the Russians at Stalingrad.
03:18China was not as fortunate.
03:20China was not as fortunate.
03:21One month after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese struck at the land bridge of Burma.
03:27This is the story of the destruction of that bridge, and of the men who fought and died to rebuild
03:33it, so that China could fight on.
03:38A defeated China would mean India invaded and increased pressure on General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz in the Pacific.
03:47The invasion started in January 1942.
03:51Both on the ground and in the air, the Japs had overwhelming superiority.
04:00On the Allied side, General Alexander headed small forces of British, Indians and Burmese.
04:06And General Stilwell commanded Chinese troops sent by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
04:12The Japanese sought to cut off China's supply line from Rangoon to Mandalay, and then to the Burma Road, running
04:19from Lashio to Kunming.
04:22They struck from the border of Thailand toward the vital port of Rangoon.
04:28Chennault and his American volunteer group, the Flying Tigers, together with small units of the RAF, helped to hold off
04:34the events.
04:39The Japs attacked Rangoon in force.
04:51The Japs attacked Rangoon in force as one of οΏ½ EastiralΠ½ΠΈΠΌ hinter six and ludzi or mass Americans Mortal IceBash
04:58.κ·ΈοΏ½mbol
05:02takes the adventure of its command room . Rangoon
05:04fell. Rangoon
05:16fell. The enemy swept
05:19down to Central Burma.
05:20Along the road to Mandalay, where by air and ground, and with the aid of fifth columnists and looters, they
05:27destroyed that city.
05:50Despite Chinese resistance, they overran the Salween River area on Tulasio, terminus of the Burma Road.
05:57By the end of April, they captured the strategically important town of Michina.
06:01The Burma Road was cut. Thousands of refugees choked the roads as Alexander and Stilwell were forced to retreat with
06:08what was left of their armies.
06:20Last to leave were the demolition squads who scorched the earth, destroyed equipment, and put fire to oil supplies.
06:49As the Allies retreated, they joined with them an ever-growing mass of refugees.
06:55Burmese, whose homes and lives had been shattered.
07:04The Allies did what they could for these refugees, and through brilliant leadership and individual fortitude, managed to keep ahead
07:11of the chaps.
07:18They retreated along elephant trails, through jungle, across rivers and mountains, to the safety of India.
07:39Stillwell said the last word on the campaign.
07:42I claim we got a hell of a beating.
07:45We got run out of Burma, and it's humiliating as hell.
07:49I think we ought to find out what caused it, go back and retake the place.
07:58Burma covers approximately the same area as Texas.
08:02On its western border lies India, on its eastern, China, Indochina, and Thailand.
08:12To many, Burma is a land of legend, a shrine of Buddhism with its pagodas, its fabled road to Mandalay,
08:19its colorful cities and villages, its strange and picturesque people.
08:32To the Allies, however, who were to fight there, Burma is a land of perpetual struggle against nature, with jungles
08:38so thick that whole armies can pass within a short distance of each other without detection.
08:46Wide and turbulent rivers that are almost impassive, mountain barriers reaching their greatest height in the Himalayas, the highest range
08:55in the world.
08:58It's a land of extreme climate, intense cold, heat, and monsoon.
09:04Rainfall as great as anywhere on earth.
09:13Its swamps are breeding grounds for malarial mosquitoes.
09:17Cholera, beriberi, typhus, dysentery, tropical fevers and sores plague its inhabitants.
09:23This was the land where we were to fight.
09:34The task of reopening the land bridge of Burma was a tremendous one.
09:38General Stilwell's first act after the Japanese invasion was the formation of an American command known as CBI, China, Burma,
09:46India.
09:47From China came thousands of Chinese.
09:54They were carried over the Himalayas by planes of the American Air Force to Ramgar in India.
10:02Here, under CBI, a huge training station had been started.
10:18On the British side, the commander-in-chief of India Command was Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell,
10:23later to become viceroy and to be succeeded in his military leadership by General Sir Claude Auchinleck.
10:29On the shoulders of these men there fell the responsibility of raising and training huge armies for the defense of
10:35India.
10:49It wasn't long before India became a vast armed camp.
11:07From the independent kingdom of Nepal came the Gurkhas.
11:11From the Naga Hills, Naga headhunters joined forces with the Allies.
11:14From East Africa and West Africa came more troops.
11:18From Burma came the Burma rifles.
11:20And from the Chin Hills, Chin and Kachin tribesmen.
11:23Scots, Irish, English, Welch, Australian, New Zealander, Indian, Gurkha, Burman, African, Chinese, American.
11:33Never was there such a polyglot army.
11:38In the meantime, in China, roads packed with refugees gave evidence of the terrific struggle against the Japanese advance.
12:05There were attempts to push through other trails.
12:08Mule packs were driven over the Himalayas to China at freezing altitudes.
12:12But the cargo they could carry was pitifully small.
12:14And the time it took incredibly long.
12:22The first step was the construction of an air bridge across which supplies were to be flown by flyers of
12:27the American Transport Command.
12:29Shuttling back and forth over what they called the Hump.
12:32It was a slow process.
12:34Equipment had to be taken apart so that it could be loaded aboard planes.
12:47It was flown across Burma over the Himalayas to Kunming in China.
12:51Enemy interception, particularly from the important air base at Michinaw, denied them a direct line and forced them north over
12:58a much higher route.
13:09They flew across jungles.
13:13Through mist and fog.
13:23Over mountains, often at heights of over 20,000 feet, with the menace of Japanese planes ever present.
13:31They made a sky bridge 525 miles long over the roof of the world and carried across in unarmed transport
13:39planes the vital supplies needed by the American and Chinese air forces and the Chinese armies.
13:46But it wasn't enough.
13:48There was still desperate need for a land bridge.
13:51So at the end of 1942, a road was started.
13:56The Lido Road.
13:59Starting at Lido in northern India, the plan was to drive through jungles, rivers, mountains and Jap opposition to a
14:07juncture with the Burma Road.
14:08A supply route would then be forged from Calcutta to Lido by rail across the Lido Burma Road to Kunming
14:15and thence to Chongqing in China.
14:19Burma's mountains, rivers, railways and highways extend from north to south.
14:24To push through this new road, the allies would have to fight against the grain from west to east.
14:31The Lido Road was begun by a handful of men facing a task that had been called impossible.
14:45And so with inadequate machinery and tools, a few American engineering units with a detachment of Chinese engineers and what
14:53Asiatic labor could be had, started one of the greatest road building jobs in history.
15:15Again and again they saw their work collapse as the monsoon washed away whole stretches.
15:20But the road inched along.
15:36At the docks in Calcutta, second largest city of the British Empire, supplies from America and Great Britain and the
15:42factories of India were piling up.
15:43Waiting to be hauled to the Lido Road and the Hump.
15:51Some of the supplies were sent by water up the Hooghly River to the Brahmaputra in primitive flat boats and
15:57barges.
15:58Almost as cumbersome a route was the Bengal-Hassam Railway.
16:02It traveled a circuitous road, making long detours to outlying tea plantations, switching three times to different gauge rails over
16:10road beds that had to be constantly repaired as a result of the monsoon.
16:14The fastest method was by cargo plane from Calcutta.
16:18But as yet there were too few planes available for this purpose.
16:25During this time there was a secret expedition that came to light when a small group of worn and haggard
16:31men emerged from the Burmese jungle.
16:33They were called the Chindits.
16:35Their name was taken from the Burmese name for a legendary animal that symbolized protection.
16:41Almost as legendary was their leader.
16:43Brigadier, later Major General Charles Ord Wingate.
16:47Professional soldier, pioneer jungle fighter.
16:53In the beginning of 1943, with complete secrecy, he had led British and Indian troops behind the enemy lines into
17:01the heart of Burma.
17:02Across the Chindwin River to the Irrawaddy.
17:05A distance of 200 miles on foot.
17:17About this time, the first Quebec conference took place between Roosevelt, Churchill and the American and British chiefs of staff.
17:25Here, new plans were evolved for the war against Japan.
17:29A new command was formed.
17:31Southeast Asia Command, combining the British and American operations.
17:36The appointment of Supreme Allied Commander went to Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, former chief of combined operations in Britain and
17:43leader of the commandos.
17:45General Stilwell was appointed deputy Supreme Allied Commander, in addition to his duties as chief of staff in China and
17:52head of CBI.
17:55Back in Southeast Asia, Mountbatten set up his Allied headquarters, choosing as its emblem the Phoenix.
18:01The symbolic bird that emerged from the ashes of a destroying fire.
18:07Meanwhile, on the Lido Road, construction was progressing, with Colonel later to become Major General Louis A. Pick, in command
18:14of the engineers.
18:16The Lido Road is going to be built, said Pick. Mud and rain and malaria be damned.
18:22As the bulldozers and tractors cleared away obstructions, Chinese infantry and artillery, trained by the American army in Ramgar, India,
18:30moved ahead to clear away enemy opposition.
18:51The Lido Road
18:52Along this route, another great engineering project was starting.
18:54A fuel pipeline, a fuel pipeline, then from India, across Burma to China.
19:00Over 2,000 miles of pipe was laid, like a huge artery across the savage terrain to carry a transfusion
19:07of gasoline, diesel oil and lubricating oil.
19:10Each in its turn, for the trucks and tanks, the machines and the planes that were fighting in China.
19:24The Lido Road
19:36During this time, a campaign was being waged against another enemy in Burma.
19:40The enemy of disease, with its deadly spearhead, the malarial mosquito, which had taken a huge toll on the fighting
19:47men.
19:48It was necessary to cut these communication lines too.
20:05Another problem was the treatment of casualties from enemy gunfire.
20:08Wounded men were sometimes carried miles by foot, by raft, mule, jeep, truck, ox cart.
20:28One of the great heroes of this campaign was Colonel Gordon Seagrave, formerly an American medical missionary, who was with
20:36Stilwell on his retreat from Burma.
20:38And went back to that country with a group of nurses of various native races and a series of mobile
20:43hospital units.
20:46Seagrave and his men and women performed operations under the most primitive conditions.
20:55The conquest of disease made huge strides.
20:58Now the conquest of the Japs had to keep pace.
21:03More and more Chinese were being trained at Ramgar in India and at Kunming in China.
21:07These were to become part of the Yunnan force that were to strike at the enemy from the China-Burma
21:12border across the Salween River.
21:16In northern India, the Chinese-American composite wing had been organized by Major General Claire Chennault for the Generalissimo.
21:23A picked group of American volunteers was instructing Chinese pilots and crews to fly the latest types of planes.
21:48At another base in India, Brigadier, later Major General Frank Merrill, was training the Marauders.
21:54A force of experienced American jungle fighters sent to CBI by General Marshall.
21:59There were less than 3,000 of them.
22:06At a secret airfield in Assam, planes and gliders assembled for another American unit.
22:12The first air commando force sent by General Arnold.
22:15It was commanded by Colonel Philip Cochran, known to millions as Flip Corkin in Terry and the Pirates.
22:22And by Colonel John Allison, formerly of the Flying Tigers.
22:30Cargo planes shuttled back and forth over the hump to China.
22:34Advanced troops in the Lido Road Drive were supplied from the air by the Troop Carrier Command.
22:42Supplies were carefully packed according to weight, size and breakableness.
22:49Then they were loaded on planes with parachutes attached.
22:53Now to find the men hidden in the jungles that needed these supplies.
23:19The Allied air force of British and Americans in the newly formed Eastern Air Command bombed and strafed Jap strongholds.
23:26The Allied air force of British and Americans in the newly formed Eastern Air Command bombed and strafed Jap strongholds.
23:32In India and in China, huge air bases were being built for a new and powerful weapon, the B-29
23:38Super Fortress.
23:40Thousands of Asiatic laborers, men, women and children, used whatever tools they could find, no matter how primitive.
24:04On the enemy side, the Japs gathered reinforcements into their Burmese garrisons and airfields to meet the growing strength of
24:11the Allies.
24:14In China, the struggle continued. The reopening of the land bridge had to be accomplished.
24:24In the early part of 1944, the Supreme and Deputy Supreme Allied commanders met and laid out a plan of
24:31action for this reopening.
24:35The British Indian 14th Army in the Arakan, in order to hold the Southern Front more effectively,
24:40was to extend its frontier lines down the Akyab Peninsula.
24:45Simultaneously, Stillwell's Lido forces of Americans and Chinese were to speed up the Lido Road campaign with a drive on
24:51the strongholds of Mogong and Michinac.
24:54To aid in this purpose, the American marauders, led by Merrill, were placed under Stillwell.
25:00A third coordinating operation was a penetration from the air, in which Wingate's British and Indian Chindits were to be
25:07flown into the heart of Burma to land behind and cut enemy supply lines.
25:12For the fourth and last phase of the plan, the Chinese Yunnan force would strike from the China-Burma border
25:19across the mountains and jungles of the Salween River area in order to reopen the Burma Road for a departure
25:24with the Lido Road.
25:26Now the plans were laid, and the stage set for the reopening of the Burma land bridge.
25:32The first step was taken on the Arakan Front, when the 14th began its march down the Akyab Peninsula.
25:39The army moved rapidly toward the towns of Mongdaw and Buthadong.
25:44However, the Japs succeeded in carrying out a flanking movement on our lines of communication.
25:48And, moving by night, seized the Nagyaduk Pass, through which went the main road connecting our forward troops with the
25:55rear.
25:56For some time, it looked as though they had succeeded in cutting off a complete advanced division.
26:02From the air, RAF bombers opened an attack on the Jap positions in the Nagyaduk Pass.
26:14Meanwhile, the 7th Indian Division, using tanks for the first time in this campaign, attacked the same objective in that
26:21vital pass.
26:48The 7th Indian Division
26:50The mission finally succeeded in clearing the pass and relieving the beleaguered troops.
26:55Once again, our lines of communication were reopened.
27:00By the time the monsoon broke on the southern front in June, the 14th Army had destroyed nearly 7,000
27:06of the Japs' finest troops.
27:07And it extended allied lines to form a powerful defense block.
27:12The second blow for the reopening of the land bridge was struck by the Lido Force, in an offensive to
27:17push the Lido Road through Mogong to Michinac.
27:21To aid in the drive on Michinac, the American marauders acted as a flanking force, harassing the enemy in a
27:27series of left hooks.
27:30These marauders were seasoned jungle fighters, veterans of Guadalcanal, New Britain and New Guinea.
27:36Men gathered together by a message which read,
27:39The President of the United States has called for volunteers from experienced jungle troops for a dangerous and hazardous operation,
27:48somewhere.
28:01On March 5th came the third blow, an aerial penetration of Burma.
28:06The plan was to fly a detachment of American engineers in gliders 200 miles into enemy-occupied territory and land
28:14them on jungle strips, which they would convert into airfields.
28:18Once these airfields were prepared, transport planes would fly in a force of Chindits.
28:24Patrols would then fan out, cut Jap communication lines and harass the enemy from the rear.
28:30British General Wingate, in command of the Chindits, arrived at Laligat to discuss final plans with American Colonel Phil Cochran
28:38of Number One Air Commandos.
28:43D-Day.
28:44Tylon tow ropes were carefully laid out ready to take off of dozens of twin-toed gliders.
28:50Supplies of all kinds were loaded, including bulldozers and equipment for the use of the American engineers in constructing airstrips
28:57in the jungle.
29:03The pilots and crews gathered to hear final instruction from Colonel Cochran.
29:08Now, is there anything anybody doesn't know? If there is, let's get it straight now.
29:12Okay. Now, just before I came over here, I had our final meeting with the British ground troops that you're
29:16going to take in there tonight.
29:17And I talked to the guy that's got the red flare that you know is going to be shot off
29:20if there's too much interference with the first few gliders that land.
29:23And he tells me that that flare is in an awful deep pocket and it's going to take somebody an
29:27awful lot of finding to get at it.
29:29So, if those guys have got that kind of heart and they've got that kind of guts, it's up to
29:34us to get them in there so they can do their job and get them in right.
29:36Now, tonight, your whole reason for being, your whole existence is going to be jammed up into a couple minutes
29:42and it's just going to balance it there and it's going to take your character to bring it through.
29:46Now, nothing you've ever done before in your life means a thing. Tonight, you're going to find out you've got
29:51a soul. Good luck.
29:52The transport stood ready for takeoff. Gliders were lined up. Suddenly, there appeared in the sky above a plane returning
30:00from a last minute reconnaissance flight.
30:03Something was wrong. Photos revealed that the main field was hopelessly obstructed.
30:08Tree trunks and logs had been strewn over it so the glider landings on this field were impossible.
30:13The troops waited for Cochran and Wingate to make a decision. It wasn't long in coming.
30:18Within 15 minutes, they were climbing into the gliders. An alternative strip known as Broadway was now to be the
30:25main air base.
30:29At dusk, the first planes took off, each transport towing twin gliders.
30:43And within them, men sat silently, grimly, waiting for what lay ahead.
30:55When the sun rose over Broadway, it revealed a field littered with wounded gliders.
31:01There were wounded men, too. And some beyond wounds.
31:11The first glider had bumped to a halt on a field rutted by buffalo bogs and elephant footprints.
31:16And strewn with large teak wood logs, hidden from the eyes of reconnaissance cameras by the tall grass.
31:22A second glider came in, then a third.
31:26They followed one another so fast that it was impossible to clear the field of obstructions and the wrecked gliders.
31:35The wounded were tended on the field.
31:40Patrols fanned out through the jungle to give protection to the small band of engineers and wounded.
31:46They buried their dead in the Burmese jungle.
31:49Their Burmese padre read the last rites.
31:52And his words mingled with the sound of bulldozers and tractors leveling the field.
31:56With the arrival that night of the first flight of transports carrying the remainder of the airborne troops.
32:03By that afternoon, the engineers had completed their work.
32:06Broadway was open for business.
32:11That night, and for six successive nights, RAF and American pilots of the Troop Carrier Command, led by Brigadier General
32:18William D. Old,
32:20flew back and forth between Lallegat and the Jungle Strip of Broadway,
32:24which became a base from which patrols of Chindis fanned out in all directions.
32:30With the arrival of RAF Spitfires and American P-51s on Broadway, air protection was made available to cover operations.
32:38But the enemy struck back.
32:40Eight days after our troops had landed, Broadway was attacked by Zeros in a series of raids.
32:54American and British planes landed and took off within close range of the Japs.
32:58The enemy succeeded in capturing the far end of the field,
33:01but were held there by Allied ground and air fighters, their wings armed with bazookas.
33:33The battle raved and died down as the guns of the enemy were silenced.
33:37The battle raved and died down as the guns of the enemy were silenced.
33:37And its troops forced back into the jungle.
33:41General Wingate had paid one of his many visits to Broadway about this time.
33:45On his return flight to his base, his plane crashed in the jungle in Assange.
33:54Broadway, an airfield carved out of the jungle, stood as a fit memorial to General Charles Ford Wingate.
34:02Early in March, the Japs made an attempt to regain the initiative.
34:05They moved three divisions to the Chindwin River, crossed it, and struck it in fall in India,
34:11in a powerful pincher movement aimed at cutting the Bengal Assam Railway,
34:15carrying supplies to the Allied troops in northern Burma.
34:19Headlines all over the world blazed the news that Jap armies were on Indian soil,
34:23that India had been invaded.
34:25The announcements, as usual, were premature.
34:28But the Allied situation, nevertheless, was extremely grave.
34:31Under!
34:34Under!
34:36Under!
34:38Under!
34:38Under!
34:39Reinforcements were desperately needed.
34:43Once again, transports of the American Troop Carrier Command were called in.
34:54An entire Arakan Division, with mules and supplies, were carried 230 miles by air,
35:00from one fighting front to another.
35:08By the beginning of April, one Japanese force was eight miles from Impo,
35:12while another had advanced on Kohima.
35:14They cut the roads surrounding Kohima, including the Manipur Road,
35:18the 14th Army's main supply line.
35:21At Kohima, a small hill station,
35:23a garrison of British and Indian infantry dug in and held on to a hill position overlooking the town.
35:37In serving ammunition, the garrison held on.
35:42Daily transports brought over ammunition, food, water, and vital medical necessities.
35:52The hill soon became known to the troops as Parachute Hill.
35:55For 13 days, the garrison held out against a force three times its strength.
36:08Slowly, relieving forces began to arrive.
36:20Until finally, the infantry could take the initiative.
36:44The Japs had suffered a costly defeat.
37:00However, before the Jap attempt to cut their supply lines failed,
37:03the Lido force and the marauders had continued their drive.
37:07The Chinese were now in the Mogong Valley, advancing on the important enemy supply base of Mogong.
37:13The marauders in their 700-mile march were moving on the town of Michinau,
37:17with its strategically valuable air base.
37:21The attack on Mogong began at dawn of the 23rd of June.
37:33The Chinese forces advanced from the north.
37:41While a chin-dip force, that had pushed up from Broadway, struck from the southwest.
37:59By the second day, the railway station was occupied.
38:02Then, on the third day, the Chinese and Chin-dip forces linked up.
38:12Meanwhile, the marauders, reinforced by Chinese troops, had marched for days in their drive toward the airfield at Michinau.
38:40The enemy was apparently taken by surprise and withdrew to the town two miles east.
38:49Over the air went two words.
38:52Cafeteria lunch.
38:53A code signal indicating that Michinau Air Base was in allied hands.
39:02Within one hour of its capture, gliders flew over, bringing engineers to repair and improve the field.
39:08They floated down to make rough and dangerous landings under fire from the town.
39:34The engineers went to work as Chinese troops manned defense positions around the field.
39:42The monsoon started and driving rain made the task of the engineers doubly difficult.
39:55Stillwell arrived for a conference with Merrill.
40:00Now, with the elimination of enemy interception from Michinau, cargo planes could fly to Kunming in China, on the southerly
40:07and more direct route, at lower altitudes and with increased tonnage.
40:13However, before the air base could be operated effectively, the enemy had to be routed from the town.
40:23Michinau was pounded from the air by fighters and bombers.
40:29On the ground, American marauders and Chinese troops pounded the town with what little artillery they had.
40:47miaug yetter debris were poisoned.θ‘
40:53plosons would task at reservoirs and ΠΠ°ΠΆΠ΅ drivingnes. Vergleich for
40:55Painter debris. Were a
40:55land in prayer. Magat
40:55gun. cerc but to make
40:55hope. Please move. Leave
41:05behind all encro
41:05shaders.
41:25It was a long siege, 78 days, which finally ended in the complete destruction of the
41:31Jap forces defending the town. While the advance on Michinau was taking place, the fourth
41:41Allied blow was struck, a thrust from the China-Burma border through the Solween River
41:45area by the Yunnan Chinese Expeditionary Force. The object of this blow was to clear the way
41:51for the eventual linking up of the Burma and Lido roads. To accomplish their task, two
41:57Jap strongholds, Lung Ling and Teng Chung, had to be taken. On the morning of May 11th, the
42:08offensive started. Five Chinese columns, together with the U.S. Army operations
42:12staff, crossed the Solween River, and moved on to the world's highest battleground, the
42:30Kaoli Mountains, spur of the Himalayas. For days, they struggled up precipitous slopes, until they
42:39sighted one of their goals, Teng Chung. The siege began.
43:36Japs soldiers, driven from pillboxes, streaked for cover. The soldiers, driven from pillboxes,
43:39but machine guns, picked them off as they ran.
44:08But machine guns, picked them off as they ran.
44:26Chinese wounded were carried back over the wrecked walls. There were no Jap wounded, only dead.
44:39except for a handful of prisoners. Teng Chung fell, then Lung Ling, and the Chinese and
44:52American flags flew over these two key strongholds. The B-29s that had come to China and India
45:05were striking at Burma, Sumatra, Java, and Manchuria, flying the longest missions ever undertaken.
45:18Finally, they struck at the heart of the Japanese homeland and dropped their bombs on Tokyo.
45:33But the Japs struck back in a new China offensive. The American air bases that had been built in that
45:49country with such vast effort were in danger of being overrun by the enemy.
45:54There was barely time to destroy supplies and installations.
46:17One air base after another fell before the onslaught.
46:30Once again, roads and rails were packed with fleeing refugees.
46:33One air base.
46:39One air base.
47:14The offensive grew in strength until it had cut China in half.
47:21Now, unless supplies could be rushed through as never before, China faced total defeat.
47:27Tonnage over the hump was increased at a terrific rate.
47:31The pipeline that was already feeding the Allies in northern Burma pushed on so that it could
47:36feed the Allies in China.
47:44And on the Lido and Burma roads, with enemy opposition being cleared away, the engineers
47:49raced at top speed to reach the point where the two roads would meet.
48:22And on the flight was
48:41On a historic day in January, Brigadier, later Major General Pick,
48:46Commander of the Lido Road Construction, met Lieutenant General Dan I. Sultan,
48:51who had succeeded General Stilwell as commanding officer of the India-Burma Theater.
48:54General Sultan, the Lido Road's open. We have a convoy formed. I'd like your permission to take you through to
49:03China.
49:17The first convoy was on its way from India to China, across the 1,044 miles of the newly completed
49:24Lido-Burma Road,
49:26now called the Stilwell Road, in tribute to the man who had dedicated himself to the building of this great
49:32project.
49:45After a 24-day journey, the convoy arrived safely in Kunming.
50:15The Allies, British, Indian, China.
50:19Chinese, American, had fought, toiled, and bled.
50:24And now at last, China's land bridge had been rebuilt.
50:29Abe had come to China.
50:56And now at last, China's land bridge had been rebuilt.
Comments