Battle of Mount Song

Battle of Mount Song
Part of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Chinese Nationalist soldiers fighting near Salween River
Date June 4, 1944 – September 7, 1944 Location Mount Song, Yunnan Result Decisive Chinese victory
Belligerents
National Revolutionary Army United States Air Force	, Imperial Japanese Army
Commanders and leaders
Li Mi	Hisaichi Terauchi
Strength
20,000	3,000+
Casualties and losses
4,000 killed 7,774 injured	3,000 killed 7 captured

The Battle of Mount Song (松山战役) in 1944 was the largest campaign in southwestern China during the Second World War. Chinese Nationalist forces aimed to retake control over the Burma Road. The Japanese were losing the war in Burma and aimed to block off the highway for as long as they could. They used slave labor from Thailand and Burma to construct a series of tunnels and bunkers in order to turn the mountain into a fortress. The Chinese forces were unaware of the depth of the Japanese defenses, and their underestimation led to heavy casualties. Chinese artillery strikes and US bombing runs had little effect against Japanese forces underground. Japan also set up a series of hidden pillboxes to ambush the Chinese forces. After three months of bloody battle, the Chinese forces finally retook Mount Song through the use high-powered explosives and flamethrowers and the Burma Road could be used once again.

References

• 《陆军第八军松山围攻战史》，国民党陆军第八军司令部参谋处编撰，重庆陆军大学1947年编印
• 《陆军第八军第一零三师围攻松山战斗详报》，第二历史档案馆馆藏资料
• 《陆军第八军第一零三师滇西阵中整训日记》，第二历史档案馆馆藏资料

• 《滇西作战实录》吴致皋著，台北文星书店中华民国五十一年（1962年）5月第一版
• 《中国远征军战史》徐康明著，纪念抗日战争及世界反法西斯战争胜利50周年丛书，军事科学出版社1995.7
• 《中缅印战场抗日战争史》徐康明著，解放军出版社2007.7第一版
• 《1944:松山战役笔记》余戈著，生活.读书.新知三联出版社2009.8

• 《凤凰大视野》
• 《探索发现》
• 图解松山战场
• 滇西1944
• 戈叔亚博客日文翻译：松山之战
• 凤凰网 勿忘远征军
• 互助抗日老兵论坛