Despite the anarchy that surrounded him, Stilwell remained calm, even after the Japanese attempted to bomb his headquarters (a traitorous Buddhist priest had divulged its location to the enemy). On April 30, Stilwell wrote in his diary: ‘Imminent danger of disintegration and collapse. We are sending 40 people to Myitkyina, 12 to Katha and leaving 20 here.’ Stilwell planned to fly to Loiwing, near Lashio, the next day in an effort to re-establish some control on the eastern front. But events were moving too fast. Loiwing, which had been a base used by Claire Chennault’s American Volunteer Group, the famous ‘Flying Tigers,’ was by then already evacuated.

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Stilwell had also requested a plane at Shwebo to evacuate part of his staff to India. That plane, piloted by Colonel Caleb V. Haynes of the U.S. Tenth Air Force, arrived at Shwebo around noon on May 1, and Stilwell put 15 members of his staff on the aircraft, which flew to Calcutta. Other planes were due in later, but Stilwell had no intention of remaining at Shwebo until they arrived. Instead, he led his small party north by truck and jeep along rough trails and roads that paralleled the Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad tracks. Initially, this group consisted of about 80 people, but it would eventually grow to 114.

Stilwell reached Zigon (headquarters of the Chinese Fifth Army) late on May 1. According to his aide, Lt. Col. Frank Dorn: ‘The floundering troops of the Chinese army were his most immediate concern. His plan was to go to Myitkyina where the airfield was still in operation. From there he could fly out all Americans but a small staff and a few doctors, who would stay with the Chinese, evacuate the sick and wounded by air, and establish a base in the Hukawng Valley from which he could launch a counteroffensive to retake Burma.’ Even at that late date, and in the face of a total Allied collapse, Stilwell was still thinking in offensive terms.

The plan for getting to Myitkyina, however, depended on the availability of rail transportation. Stilwell’s transportation officer, Captain Paul Jones, scouted the rail line to the north and discovered that a collision had blocked travel both north and south. Stilwell’s party would have to continue northward by road and trail. The general remained hopeful that the tracks to Myitkyina would eventually be cleared. His party reached Pintha on the evening of May 2 and Wuntho on May 3.

At Wuntho, additional Americans joined the general’s party. ‘It is now apparent that we can no longer be of much use’ Stilwell wrote. ‘Decided to send our crowd out.’ Frustrated that he could learn little of the real situation, Stilwell came to realize that the military situation was completely lost and that his primary duty now was to get his small party to safety.

The next day, on the morning of May 4, Stilwell wrote in his diary: ‘Disintegration at Shwebo….Japs going up Chindwin River. Civil war conditions all over again. Chinese out of control. [Fifth] column busy.’ He was still looking to take a train north to Mogaung or Myitkyina, but Jones reported that the railroad was hopelessly jammed. It would be impossible to go much farther north. There were no roads to Myitkyina that could carry vehicles. The general and his growing party would have to turn west and head for the Chindwin River. From there the group could cross the mountains and eventually reach the British base at Imphal, in India’s Manipur state. Stilwell was unsure how far he could take his vehicles after turning westward, but he knew a trek over the mountains to India would require that they be abandoned at some point.

Despite the anticipated difficulties, Stilwell was also well aware of the need to get his people ahead of the mob of retreating Chinese troops, British stragglers and refugees who were trudging northward along the only good road. His frustration with the situation was evident in his diary entry for May 5: ‘If I can only get them around the corner….Battled all P.M. to get them forward, ahead of Chinese rush….Everybody fooled around, and sure enough the Chinese began to come up and pour through. They went right thru us like Red Grange.’

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