The Nisei, Tonkwa Burma

From Ray Mitchell's memoirs... Burma, 1944. At right, Sgt. Major Ray Mitchell in China, 1945. He was about 24 years old.

As it began to lighten up the next morning, several of the enemy wandered into our line. You can just imagine what took place. They were not prepared, we were. The slaughter began.

The ground was level so the field of fire reached a long, deadly way. The Japanese's officer began trying to rally his troops, and then lead them into a 'banzi' attack on our fixed positions. The slaughter continued.

To cause them even more confustion the Nisei shouted orders for them to fall back. This cause the troops to stop, hesitating and to begin milling around. This was complete disaster for them. Their attack failed, they were driven back, leaving many dead and wounded.

In the days to come, we saw lots of actgion and found valuable information on several of the dead Japanese officers. The Nisei could read and interpret papers guiding us as to what we should do.

We were shocked to learn that we were fighting a Division. That's between 8,000 to 10,000 Japanese to our 1,000 or less. We immediately made radio contact for assistance. The 3rd Battalion was about a hundred miles away, and they began moving to assist us. There were there in five days.

We were very lucky. The Japanese would draft men into the Army in Japan, give them a few weeks of training, then send them to fight the very poorly trained and ill equipped Chinese. Thus, they had on the job training. After the Japanese were combat trained, then they were sent into the Pacific front or other areas that were fighting trained, well-equipped men. This Division was looking to fight the Chinese, be we got in their way. With our fire power, and well-trained men, the Japanese could never penetrate our line. That was their way of fighting--over run and cause panic of the enemy, except the tables were turned here. They broke off the action and retreated from the area. We later heard that the Japanese Division had suffered more than 80 percent casualties, the Unit was deactivated and those left were sent to other units. And, the commanding officer was executed. We left our dead in a temporary cemetery, less than fifty men died, but that was still too many.

After Tonkwa, we moved into the mountain jungles. It was slow moving. Here you learned that combat will sap your strength because you donn't move around or get the exercise to keep fit. However, in a few days, you begin to adjust and your strength and stamina return and you are fine.

We moved further south and into higher mountains with more streams to cross. We had to be very careful day and night because at night we could hear the Japanese planes searching for us. We called the plane, "Bed Check Charlie". This is one of the main reasons we would leave our bivouac area in the morning before daylight. Just in case the planes had spotted us during the night, we'd be gone.

As we continued moving, we knew we were getting closer to our objective due to the restrictions imposed. No fires at any time, keep the voices low, stay in a quiet mode.

Then we moved into the stream for several days, moving all day then near dark, climbing up on the bank to attempt sleep. All of a sudden we went into a force march, moving fast.

We broke out of hte mountains and into a beautiful valley. Across the valley was a high ridge named Loi Kang. It would later be called Bull's Eye Ridge.

We attacked the ridge late that afternoon. It was necessary because we were now exposed to the enemy. We managed to make it half way up the ridge before it became too dark to move on. The next morning we reached the top of the ridge and took (occupied) about half of the long high ridge. The ridge had a 6,000 foot elevation. I know it was difficult to climb, especially with someone above you throwinng grenades down at you! From the Loi Kang ridge, we had the Burma Road in view below us.

We were separated from the Japanese by a narrowing of the ridge. We could not move across the well-defended ridge nor could the enemy move forward to attack us. It was a stalemate for the present time. The ridge was not very wide at any place, therefore, we became a good target for the enemy artillery.

Since the real estate was divided, but close, it was easy for the Japannese to direct very heavy artillery on our positions.

Part Six The Old Burma Road is here.

Burma Campaign, 1944

Editor's note: This is taken directly from Ray Mitchell's memoirs...

Why were we there?

The war in China, Burma, and India was the result of the Japanese cutting all supply lines into China. There had been fighting in China since 1937 with several million troops there. The Japanese had taken every port that could be used to import supplies except Burma.

Supplies that came into Burma through Rangoon and other ports were moved by rail, trucks and river boats up to where the Japanese invaded in 1942, running the British and Chinese troops back into India. Burma, as well as India, was British territory and had been British controlled for many years. The loss of Burma left only one source of supplies to China from the USA, which was to fly supplies from India into China over the Himalayan mountains, better known as The Hump. The flight over the Hump was treacherous, very high, snow covered, and the mountain peaks were often covered by clouds. Add to that the frequent bad weather and Japanese planes and you've got a hugely dangerous mix.

The Japanese had fighter planes based in Myitkyina, Burma that could intercept the transports going over the lower, safer part of the Hump. Thia forced pilots to fly further north into higher, and more dangerous mountains. These conditions caused so much loss of life, supplies and planes the route was often called The Aluminum Trail because of all the crashes along the trail. There were a few that had made the trip numerous times, but they had a rough time of it.

The USA needed to supply the Chinese in order to keep them fighting the Japanese. That would keep millions of Japanese occupied with China and out of the Pacific War, plus it would keep the Japanese using up valuable supplies in the China campaign.

Presient Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met and decided to try and retake Burma. The Birtish wanted this because it was their colony and the USA wanted it to make it easier to get more supplies to China. The British wanted more American supplies for their forces in India so that they could retake Burma.

So, the call for volunteers went out to all the Army camps and posts throughout the States and out laying bases in Central America.

"Wanted: Volunteers for a dangerous, hazardous mission in jungle warfare"

There was no mention of where the volunteers would be sent, only that it was for jungle warfare and that it was dangerous. The call was answered by men from many backgrounds, as well as many places.

[Ray told me on the day of our conversation that he saw that sign and knew it was where he needed to be. No cold, snow, and frozen puddles for him. Jungles were warm. Visions of sea breezes and waving palms danced in his head. So he convinced his cousin to volunteer with him to go to Burma.

He shook his head then said, "I was just a dumb teenager. Dumb and stupid to volunteer for anything!"]

This was ground work for the Units that later became the 5307th Composite Unit Provisional, better known as Merrill's Marauders. Pages have now been written in history books about this unit and their exploits in their march through Burma.

The battle for Burma involved many different Army units such as the Air Corp, Quartermaster, Medical Units, Transportation and the like. All were needed to complete this daunting task. The US Army Engineers did an almost impossible task of building roads across Burma to reach the Burma Road; and in building an oil pipeline from India to China across Burma. They worked through the dry season and through the monsoon seasons to make a road a reality.

When the Infantry was able to clear the Burma Road, their job in Burma was over. Those that were left, either went to China or to India. The group that I was with ended up in China.
Sgt/Maj Ray F. Mitchell
5307th CUP
475th Infantry


Part 3 Myitkyina Campaign Sgt. Major Ray. Mitchell is here