“There were hundreds of air-filled rubber rafts and many more made of bamboo. We had a ferry with long rope tethers that was primitive and very difficult to pull back and forth across the river. It took countless trips across the Nu River Crossing to make all the preparations.  A unit of more than 100,000 troops, over 10,000 mules and donkeys and 20,000 porters was scattered along a rugged, twisting trail pass, following the mountain road heading towards the raging currents. The sounds of weapons clanking together and the ringing of the mules’ bells echoed inside that 7, maybe 8 thousand-yard deep gorge.”
    -Memoirs of American military advisor to the China Expedition Army’s U.S. Joint Chief of Staff Frank Dorn
    One stifling hot afternoon, I struggled through the vast crowds of Kunming City to find Mr. Chen Baowen. He was one of the more than 10,000 Expedition Army soldiers following the mountain road heading towards the raging currents’ that May 11th day in 1944. Mr. Chen was a campaign staff officer to China’s 11th Unit Expedition Army Corps.
    When the sun rose upon that historic morning, the young Chen Baowen crossed the Nu River feeling full of pride and glory-same as the thousands upon thousands of young Chinese soldiers there with him. For the first time in China’s history since the Opium Wars, a strategic counterattack to oppose foreign dishonor had begun!
    It was just twenty-five days after they crossed the Nu River that allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy France on June 6th 1944. Just as the attack at Normandy was the deciding factor on the European front, crossing the Nu River changed the course of the Sino-Burmese-India campaign. What differs is this: Since the banner of allied triumph was lowered, each year on the memorial day marking the Normandy invasion, allied veterans are extended the respect of the entire world. But every year on May 11th all of China and Yunnan Province and both sides of the Nu River Gorge remain perfectly silent. The most heroic expedition in the modern history of China’s people falls silently into the dense forests of Gaoligong.
     Chen Baowen is 90 years old this year. He walks with a wavering tremble. From start to finish, old folks speak in a gentle and quiet tone as they tell of his eight years fighting every single day on the front lines of the resistance. They speak also of the hardships and humiliation he has endured in the many years since.
    In the loneliness of his later years, Chen has translated some segments of General Dorn’s memoirs. No one asked him to do this and he doesn’t no exactly what he intends to do with it. But he has already translated it twice. After the first translation was finished and then someone lost it, he started translating it again, one word at a time.
    Chen Baowen does not agree with Dorn’s opinions of his superiors. But these memoirs are the only complete records of the Nu River battles existing to date. In this campaign, the China Expedition Army had one unit of over 4,000 American Army troops. They worked together with Chinese troops, and they gave their lives together with Chinese troops. They were called ÒY-ForceÓ. Though Y-Force did not directly command the Chinese troops, they did train the Chinese commanding officers and establish the counter-attack strategies. The U.S. Army supplied weapons and ammunition as well as medical supplies and other equipment and trained Chinese troops on the use of American arms and even surface to air communications. Brigadier Dorn was the Y-Force Chief of Staff. Commander in Chief was General Stilwell. Being a Staff Officer, Chen Baowen had very close contact with the American advisors.
    Just before leaving, Chen took out the translated manuscript and said to me, “if you can make some use of this, than take it. It already means nothing to me.’
    On May 11th 2005, sixty full years since the end of the war, I took a step back into history to follow the path of the Expedition Army’s counter-offensive.  Though the banks of the Nu River are silent, in the eyes of the Chinese, those 60 years have merely felt like one long day.
    “The first time I saw that frightful Nu River Gorge, its cliffs seemed as massive and towering as our Colorado RiverÕs Grand Canyon, but yet still more rugged and treacherous. The water was 60 yards deep and 400 yards wide.  Between its shores a raging current racing at 15 miles per hour crashed in massive waves on either shore. You could hear its roar for miles in either direction. It was here were crossed the river- 100,000 men heading towards the Japanese army to engage in battle.”
    -Memoirs of Frank Dorn
    I understand why General Dorn misinterpreted the Nu River and called it “wrathful.” I’ve seen the most terrifying segments of the Nu River- its upper regions. The roar of its seething current floods out all sound along its two high banks. Standing on a suspension bridge I tossed a stick down and in a blink it was carried out of sight. Perhaps it is the effect of changes in the global environment, but the Nu River I saw in May of 2005 did not have the temper of the Nu River of 1944. A rainy season that never arrived has left the river running flat and tired now.
    The Nu River flows from its source in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It winds through the Hengbang Mountain range and flows finally into the Indian Ocean.  On it’s western bank stands the imposing fortress-like Mt.Gaoligong. The shores of the river sit at an altitude of over 700 meters. There are only three roads one can take to cross over this mountain. They are ancient trade routes dating back one thousand years- Northern Zhaigongfang, Souhern Zhaigongfang and Fenshui Pass.  In May of 1944, the China Expedition Army 11th and 20th Group Army split into a left and right wing on the Nu River’s 200 Kilometer-long battlefront. They crossed the Nu River at two ports heading into battle with Japanese troops. The right wing 20th Group ‘s principal attack force crossed the river in Mongolia at Lichaibei. Their attack objectives were enemy troops at Northern and Southern Zhaigongfang and Tengchong. Left wing’s 11th Group attacked as one unit from Huitong Bridge striking at defense troops in Song Mountain, Longling and Xiangda.
    On a clear day, Mt. Gaoligong is beautiful bathed in light. The main route, an ancient road cutting through the state nature preserve is a mountain road twisting through a sea of ancient trees. Flowers bloom everywhere according to season. But when it rains, the mountain becomes a most frightful place.  The roads turn to flowing creeks, rugged stone passes turn to deep rivers.  In the sludge and mud even four-legged mules can’t hold their ground. Snakes, leeches and mosquitoes are everywhere.       The battle at the Nu River was a battle for a very important road. When the Burma Road was cut, Chinese and Japanese troops stood face to face, separated by the Nu River for over two years. During that time Chinese munitions and supplies were completely reliant on a cross-mountain air route called “The Hump.” But the 44,000 tons of supplies flown in each month was to the Chinese forces merely a drop in the bucket. At the same time America was fighting both in Europe and in Asia. All they could do for China was delay the force of one million Japanese troops. To take back the road connecting China and Burma, rebuild the Liduo and Burma Roads and thus aiding in the opening of China’s supply routes from India, was what came to be called, “stilwell’s Dream.”
   In a news conference before the counter-attack at Nu River, General Dorn told a reporter, “Any hope at all for the success of this campaign lies upon the Chinese Army.”