Changes

[[Image:Cbi-Ledo-road3.jpg|thumb|350px|Ledo road near Myitkyina, Burma]]

[[Image:Cbi-Ledo-road3.jpg|thumb|350px|Ledo road near Myitkyina, Burma]]

The Ledo Road project started in October 1942, but it made little progress during 1943. Stilwell's Northern Combat Area Command offensive between October 1943 and August 1944 cleared the Japanese from northern Burma and enabled construction to go forward. The capture of Myitkyina, Burma, in August 1944, meant completion was possible.  The Ledo Road opened in late January, 1945. The combined highways were officially named the '''Stilwell Road,''' although Stilwell himself had been relieved of command in October, 1944.<ref>See [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0060746386/ref=sib_dp_bod_ex?ie=UTF8&p=S00L#reader-link Webster (2004) p 335]</ref>  

The Ledo Road project started in October 1942, but it made little progress during 1943. Stilwell's Northern Combat Area Command offensive between October 1943 and August 1944 cleared the Japanese from northern Burma and enabled construction to go forward. The capture of Myitkyina, Burma, in August 1944, meant completion was possible.  The Ledo Road opened in late January, 1945. The combined highways were officially named the '''Stilwell Road,''' although Stilwell himself had been relieved of command in October, 1944.<ref>See [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0060746386/ref=sib_dp_bod_ex?ie=UTF8&p=S00L#reader-link Webster (2004) p 335]</ref>  

The Ledo road was engineered by 17,000 Americans, half of them in all-black units, under Gen. Lewis A. Pick; the fatalities totaled 1,133 men, 625 of whom died in combat. Over 35,000 Chinese soldiers worked in the project as well.  "Pick's Pike" cost $150 million. Sixty-four truck companies—far short of the 375 planned to operate convoys—delivered 150,000 tons of heavy artillery, 25,000 trucks, and miles of gasoline pipeline to parallel the road to Kunming.

The Ledo road was engineered by 17,000 Americans, half of them in all-black units, under Gen. Lewis A. Pick; the fatalities totaled 1,133 men, 625 of whom died in combat. Over 35,000 Chinese soldiers worked in the project as well.  "Pick's Pike" cost $150 million. Sixty-four truck companies—far short of the 375 planned to operate convoys—delivered 150,000 tons of heavy artillery, 25,000 trucks, and miles of gasoline pipeline to parallel the road to Kunming.

==Combat==

==Combat==

There were many minor battles along the way; none of great size.  In the siege of Nhpum Ga, a thirteen-day ordeal in June 1944, some 800 Japanese marines attacked with mortars the 1100 Americans of the Second Battalion of "Merrill's Marauders."  Surrounded atop an exposed hill, short of water and almost everything except courage and disease, the Marauders shot up the Japanese at all ranges under appalling conditions marked by the overwhelming stench of dead mules and humans decomposing in the jungle heat.<ref>In the midst of their ordeal the Raiders received and consumed an airdrop of fried chicken. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B0009309A4/ref=sib_dp_pt# Webster (2003) pp 192-95 online]</ref>

There were many minor battles along the way; none of great size.  In the siege of Nhpum Ga, a thirteen-day ordeal in June 1944, some 800 Japanese marines attacked with mortars the 1100 Americans of the Second Battalion of "Merrill's Marauders."  Surrounded atop an exposed hill, short of water and almost everything except courage and disease, the Marauders shot up the Japanese at all ranges under appalling conditions marked by the overwhelming stench of dead mules and humans decomposing in the jungle heat.<ref>In the midst of their ordeal the Raiders received and consumed an airdrop of fried chicken. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/B0009309A4/ref=sib_dp_pt# Webster (2003) pp 192-95 online]</ref>

==Controversy==

==Controversy==

* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Mission to China'' (1953), official U.S. Army history [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/index.html online edition]

* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Mission to China'' (1953), official U.S. Army history [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/index.html online edition]

* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Command Problems'' (1956) [http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////USA/USA-CBI-Command/index.html online edition]

* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Command Problems'' (1956) [http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////USA/USA-CBI-Command/index.html online edition]

* Tuchman, Barbara. ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45,''  (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is ttiled ''Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,'') [http://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-45/dp/0802138527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214005449&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Tuchman, Barbara. ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45,''  (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is ttiled ''Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,'') [https://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-45/dp/0802138527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214005449&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Ven, Hans Van De. "Stilwell in the Stocks: the Chinese Nationalists and the Allied Powers in the Second World War." ''Asian Affairs'' 2003 34(3): 243-259. Issn: 0306-8374 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]], revisionist argument that Stilwell was incompetent, had no command training or experience, and did not appreciate air power. Ven suggests that Roosevelt's needs in the presidential election of 1944, the strategic decision to defeat the Nazi menace in Europe before giving full attention to Japan, and the unwise yielding to the needs of the Soviet Union during World War II all led to the defeat of the Chinese Nationalists.

* Ven, Hans Van De. "Stilwell in the Stocks: the Chinese Nationalists and the Allied Powers in the Second World War." ''Asian Affairs'' 2003 34(3): 243-259. Issn: 0306-8374 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]], revisionist argument that Stilwell was incompetent, had no command training or experience, and did not appreciate air power. Ven suggests that Roosevelt's needs in the presidential election of 1944, the strategic decision to defeat the Nazi menace in Europe before giving full attention to Japan, and the unwise yielding to the needs of the Soviet Union during World War II all led to the defeat of the Chinese Nationalists.

===Primary Sources===

===Primary Sources===

* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Mission to China'' (1953), [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/index.html online edition]; ''Stilwell's Command Problems'' (1956) [http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////USA/USA-CBI-Command/index.html online edition]; ''Time runs out in CBI'' (1959) [http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////USA/USA-CBI-Time/index.html online edition]; highly detailed official U.S. Army history

* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Mission to China'' (1953), [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/index.html online edition]; ''Stilwell's Command Problems'' (1956) [http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////USA/USA-CBI-Command/index.html online edition]; ''Time runs out in CBI'' (1959) [http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar////USA/USA-CBI-Time/index.html online edition]; highly detailed official U.S. Army history

* Tuchman, Barbara. ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45,''  (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is ttiled ''Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,'') [http://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-45/dp/0802138527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214005449&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Tuchman, Barbara. ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45,''  (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is ttiled ''Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,'') [https://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-45/dp/0802138527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214005449&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]

* Webster, Donovan. ''The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II'' (2004) 400pp, the best history.  [http://www.amazon.com/Burma-Road-Story-China-Burma-India-Theater/dp/0060746386/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214018386&sr=1-7 excerpt and text search]

* Webster, Donovan. ''The Burma Road: The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II'' (2004) 400pp, the best history.  [https://www.amazon.com/Burma-Road-Story-China-Burma-India-Theater/dp/0060746386/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214018386&sr=1-7 excerpt and text search]

==See also==

==See also==