Joseph Stilwell’s Escape from Burma During World War II

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Lieutenant General Joseph ‘Vinegar Joe’ Stilwell did not give up a fight easily. As long as there was the slightest possibility of salvaging a situation, the irascible infantryman saw himself duty-bound to try. In Burma during the dark days of May 1942, Stilwell’s stubborn insistence that an attempt be made to re-establish control over retreating Chinese troops put the general and his small staff directly in harm’s way. In the midst of the chaos of a complete Allied military collapse, Stilwell finally was forced to undergo a long march to India with the Japanese snapping at his heels.

By the end of April 1942, it was obvious that Lt. Gen. Sir Harold Alexander’s Burma army could no longer hold a defensive line against the Japanese, who were pushing northward from Rangoon to Mandalay. Three Chinese armies had moved into Burma from the province of Yunnan between February and April in an effort to restore the situation. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had placed Stilwell in command of this Chinese Expeditionary Force. Unfortunately for the Allies, however, Stilwell found his Chinese subordinates recalcitrant in following his instructions, which were frequently contradicted by Chiang’s own direct communications with his generals. The command situation was further complicated when Chinese forces were placed under Alexander’s overall command.

As Alexander attempted to hold a defensive line from Prome in the west to Toungoo in the east, in late April the Japanese smashed the Chinese 55th Division on the Toungoo front and rapidly pushed northward toward Lashio (the starting point of the crucial Burma Road) and Myitkyina. This action panicked the Allied troops, who also gave ground along the Irrawaddy River and commenced a general retreat toward Mandalay.

Stilwell himself had arrived in Burma in March, thinking to use his Chinese troops to launch a counteroffensive against the Japanese. In February he had been dispatched to the Chinese capital of Chungking with the task of improving the fighting efficiency of the Chinese army, which was already deeply involved in fighting the Japanese. Chiang Kai-shek was the supreme Allied commander for the China theater, and Stilwell had been designated his Allied chief of staff. The Chinese had been obtaining supplies from the United States through the port of Rangoon; these were then trucked into China over the treacherous Burma Road. A major Japanese aim was to cut off this means of supply to Chiang by invading Burma and seizing that route. Because of the direct threat to Chinese interests, Chiang was willing to send troops into Burma, and Stilwell sought and eventually received command of this Chinese Expeditionary Force. But Chiang refused to permit Stilwell to use the Chinese without strings attached, and this interference made Chinese armies in the field less effective than they otherwise might have been.

With the general collapse of the entire Allied position in late April, Stilwell found himself unable to control the movements of his troops. Chiang, from his headquarters in Chungking, persisted in issuing contradictory orders both to Stilwell and the Chinese generals in Burma. In one instance, Chiang sent word to Stilwell on April 29 that Mandalay (a militarily undefendable city) was to be held at all costs. The next day Chiang reversed this edict.

Frustrating as such intrusions were, Chiang’s mercurial temperament was the least of Stilwell’s problems. In late April, Stilwell had two forward headquarters in Burma–one at Shwebo (north of Mandalay) and one at Lashio. There were small American staffs at each of these headquarters, but on April 25 the Lashio headquarters was abandoned and its staff sent on to China via the Burma Road. Stilwell was at Shwebo when Alexander ordered the evacuation of all Burma. The order was simply a confirmation of what was already taking place, as British, Indian, Burmese and Chinese troops were engaged in a chaotic scramble along escape routes to India and China.

Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures, World War II

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