Story
The series is about the Chinese National Revolutionary Army Expeditionary Force in Burma fighting the Imperial Japanese Army during the 1942 Battle of Yunnan-Burma Road at the Second Sino-Japanese War.
The Chinese troops landed in Burma to support the British allied forces operations. The aim was to protect the road since it served as an important supply route after China's ports fell under Japanese control. When the British forces withdrew their support and surrendered, part of the remaining Chinese troops was forced to abandon their heavy equipment and retreat in loose formations through the harsh Burmese jungles, experiencing constant enemy pursue and ambush. Of the 100,000 strong Chinese Expeditionary Force sent to fight, only around 40,000 returned home.
The story follows a small group of soldiers being refuged in Yunnan, and is narrated through the eyes of a limping young Beiping student-turned-soldier named Meng Fanliao (孟烦了). After experiencing various NRA defeats during the battles of the China proper, the battle-weary soldiers had lost hope and largely forgotten by their superiors. When the 1st Burma Campaign went away, these pessimistic men from all parts of China were again conscripted into the newly regrouped "Sichuan Regiment" and airlifted into Burma. However, before they could be properly armed and supplied, a general retreat was ordered and the group was left fleeing from the enemy. Cornered and stranded, they ran into a mysterious man named Long Wenzhang (龙文章), who claimed to be a lieutenant colonel and their regiment commander. Under Long's command, the group rallied other scattered fellow troopers, regained their honor and hope, and fought back fiercely against the superior Japanese forces. Within one day and night, the encircled men drove the Japanese off a hill top and repelled 17 counterattacks, enduring constant artillery barrages and a bloody nocturnal tear gas bayonet assault, earning time for the Nu River defence to be organized.
When the only 11 survivors of the 1,000-strong regiment made it alive back to the friendly side, they were shocked to discover that Long was not their chief at all, but merely a lowly lieutenant logistics officer (the rank was achieved through bribery), who stole the insignia and uniform of a fallen commander. After court-martial, they all believed that Long was certain to be executed for the felony, but to their surprises Long was later appointed their genuine regiment chief. The new detachment was disfavored by other regular troops and was badly undersupplied, and Long's unorthodox leadership style (which upset the divisional command) only added salt to injury. The disesteemed "Cannon Fodder Regiment", as expendable "fuel of war", was then put in charge of a high-risk assault operation on a strongly fortified mountain occupied by the Japanese forces.
Read more about this topic: My Chief And My Regiment
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