China Burma India Theater - Timeline

Timeline

• Early 1942 Stilwell was promoted to lieutenant general and tasked with establishing the CBI.
• February 25, 1942 Stilwell arrived in India by which time Singapore and Burma had both been invaded by the Japanese Army.
• March 10, 1942 Stilwell is named Chief of Staff of Allied armies in the Chinese theatre of operations.
• March 19, 1942 Stilwell’s command in China is extended to include the Chinese 5th and 6th Armies operating in Burma after Chiang Kai-Shek gave his permission.
• March 20, 1942 Chinese troops under Stilwell engage Japanese forces along the Sittang River in Burma.
• April 9, 1942 Claire Chennault inducted into U.S. Army as a colonel, bringing the AVG Flying Tigers squadrons under Stilwell's nominal authority.
• April 16, 1942 7,000 British soldiers, and 500 prisoners and civilians were encircled by the Japanese 33rd Division at Yenangyaung.
• April 19, 1942 The 113th Regiment of the Chinese Expeditionary Force's New 38th Division led by General Sun Li-jen attacked and defeated the encircling Japanese troops rescuing the encircled British troops and civilians. This is historically called Battle of Yenangyaung.
• May 2, 1942 The commander of Allied forces in Burma, General Harold Alexander, ordered a general retreat to India. Instead of flying out, Stilwell remained with his troops and began a long retreat (he called it a "walk out") to India.
• May 24, 1942 Stilwell arrived in Delhi. Most of his Chinese troops had deserted.
• New Delhi and Ramgarh became the main training centre for Chinese troops in India. Chiang Kai-Shek gave Stilwell command of what was left of the 22nd and 38th Divisions of the Chinese Army.
• December 1, 1942 British General Sir Archibald Wavell, as Allied Supreme Commander South East Asia, agreed with Stilwell to make the Ledo Road an American operation.
• August 1943 US creates a jungle commando unit, similar to the Chindits, to be commanded by Major General Frank Merrill; it is informally called "Merrill's Marauders".
• Exhaustion and disease led to the early evacuation of many Chinese and American troops before the coming assault on Myitkyina.
• December 21 Stilwell assumed direct control of operations to capture Myitkyina, having built up forces for an offensive in Northern Burma.
• February 24, 1944 Merrill's Marauders, attacked the Japanese 18th Division in Burma. This action enabled Stilwell to gain control of the Hakawing Valley.
• May 17, 1944 British general Slim in command of the Burma Campaign handed control of the Chindits to Stilwell.
• May 17, 1944 Chinese troops, with the help of Merrill's Mauraders, captured Myitkina airfield.
• August 3, 1944 Myitkina fell to the Allies. The Mauraders had advanced 750 miles and fought in five major engagements and 32 skirmishes with the Japanese Army. They lost 700 men, only 1,300 Marauders reached their objective and of these, 679 had to be hospitalized. This included General Merrill who had suffered a second-heart attack before going down with malaria.
• Some time before August 27, 1944, Mountbatten supreme allied commander (SEAC) ordered General Stilwell to evacuate all the wounded Chindits.
• During 1944 the Japanese in Operation Ichi-Go overran US air bases in eastern China. Chiang Kai-Shek blamed Stilwell for the Japanese success, and pressed the US high command to recall him.
• October 1944 Roosevelt recalled Stilwell, whose role was split (as was the CBI):
  • Lieutenant General Raymond Wheeler became Deputy Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia.
  • Major General Albert Wedemeyer became Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek and commander of the U.S. Forces, China Theater (USFCT).
  • Lieutenant General Daniel Sultan was promoted from deputy commander to became commander of US Forces India-Burma Theater (USFIBT) and commander of the Northern Combat Area Command
• January 12, 1945, the first convoy over the Ledo Road of 113 vehicles led by General Pick from Ledo reached Kunming, China on February 4, 1945. Over the next seven months 35,000 tons of supplies in 5,000 vehicles were carried along it.