If you want to talk about a single stretch of road that was at the heart of an historic world war, the clashing of two nations and the collapse of an empire... well, that road would have to be the Yunnan-Burma Road.  In order to block this road the Japanese launched the Burma War. In order to defend it China sent 100,000 soldiers into battle. To make up for the loss of this road the American Air Force had to open up the world-famous airlift flight route called “The Hump.Ó To reopen this road America sent army engineers to construct the ‘Stevens Highway.” These engineers worked alongside American troops sent to China from their stations in India. An army with troops numbering in the tens of thousands came together from Northern Burma and Western Yunnan to initiate a counteroffensive. The China-Burma-India battle arena was to a large extent centered upon the truncation and reopening of the Yunnan-Burma Road.
    In 1937, after the “Marco Polo Bridge Incident” which triggered the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese blocked off all coastal transport routes and closed the Burma-Vietnam rail line. Thus severing all routes for foreign aide coming into China. In spring of 1938 the Yunnan government mobilized over 100,000 people to launch a road construction project. After ten months 965 kilometers of the road within the China border was opened to vehicles. From September 1938 to April 1942, the darkest period of China’s resistance war, the Burma Road alone supported all foreign aide transport into China. Already China found herself left with no retreat route. The only retreat was subjugation to a foreign invader.