| Original caption: “Crossing the Salween River. The temporary suspension bridge was built to replace the permanent bridge here, which was blown up in 1942 by the Chinese as a defense measure against the Japanese advance. While Allied forces advanced on Myitkyina, Chinese troops crossed the Salween River from the east. The two forces met at Teng-chung in September 1944, establishing the first thin hold in northern Burma.” The Huitong Bridge was completed on January 14, 1935, as a crossing for pack animals over the Salween (Nujiang) River at Yindeng Mountain. For centuries, the pass was considered impractical to bridge. Design and construction were financed by Liang Jinshan (1882 – 1977) in 1931. In 1937, the bridge was expanded into a suspension bridge capable of supporting 10-ton trucks on the Burma Road to Yunnan. Between December 1938 and May 1942, more than 450,000 metric tons of supplies passed over the highway and bridge, accounting for more than 90 percent of all international aid. Liang Jinshan paid for 200 Dodge trucks to be driven from Rangoon. The Imperial Japanese Army 55th Infantry Division crossed the Thai-Burmese frontier on December 22, 1941. Using unopposed air attacks, they rapidly outflanked and infiltrated Allied positions. A mass exodus of refugees clogged roads to India. The civil government broke down in Allied-held areas. Chinese Armies were shattered in the Battle of the Yunnan-Burma Road. At 0800 Hours on May 5, 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force blew up Huitong Bridge to block the advance of the Japanese army into Yunnan, utilizing the natural barrier of the Salween River to stop them. The Chinese commander blew up the bridge when he suspected that Japanese soldiers were trying to cross dressed as refugees. Liang Jinshan was said to be emotional, but understood it was necessary. He hoped that after the war, the bridge would be rebuilt. The Allies, led by the Chinese Y Force, reoccupied the Yindeng Mountain on June 6, 1944. By June 20, a light-duty bridge for ground troops spanned the Salween River, and the Kuomintang 8th Army crossed to take up the defense of Lameng. A ferry began operating on June 23. A suspension bridge, including the rebuilding of the demolished eastern tower, opened on August 18. The new bridge had a pipeline for gasoline added in 1945. By early July, after 2 months of campaigning, the Chinese offensive was bogged down around the Japanese strongholds of Tengchung, Lungling, Sungshan, and Pingka. The Imperial Japanese Army’s 56th Infantry Division, while receiving limited reinforcements, was successfully fighting a brilliant delaying action against vast Chinese numerical superiority. Japanese air support was virtually nil, but their use of concrete and log bunkers and pillboxes was extraordinary. At Tengchung, for example, in addition to the 35-foot (10-meter) high wall surrounding the city, the Japanese had constructed hundreds of defensive strongpoints. Chinese tactics were often wasteful, unimaginative, and unsuccessful. Compounding their difficulties, on June 24, a Chinese transport plane carrying codes, ciphers, and order of battle information en route from Chungking to Paoshan had mistakenly landed at Tengchung and was captured by the Japanese. Later in July, the Chinese did launch a well-coordinated attack on Laifengshan, a heavily fortified hill just south of Tengchung. In taking this position, the Chinese followed a plan drawn up by the Americans. After thorough reconnaissance, they attacked en masse instead of in the usual piecemeal fashion. As an American report also noted, “Having captured the point, the troops continued the advance instead of the usual pause for consolidation and looting.” Flamethrowers were used here for the 1st time in the Salween campaign. The Japanese suffered an estimated 600 casualties in the attack, and the Chinese by then had moved within a half-mile of Tengchung’s walls. But the city’s fall did not occur swiftly. As the campaign dragged on, the weight of Chinese numbers, plus the continuous application of American airpower, slowly ground down the Japanese. Sungshan finally fell on September 7, after engineers detonated 6,000 pounds of dynamite in tunnels dug under the mountaintop. Tengchung was taken on September 14 and Pingka on September 23. Lungling held out longer but was finally occupied by the Chinese on November 3. With the capture of Lungling, the Chinese were able to advance down the Burma Road toward Wanting on the China-Burma border, taking that city on January 20, 1945, and ending the Salween campaign. The connection between the Ledo and Burma Roads was completed, and the 1st truck convoy in almost 3 years arrived in Kunming on February 4, 1945. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1628.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.28 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4330 x 3512 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | July 1, 1944 |
| Location | |
| City | Baoshan |
| State or Province | Yunnan |
| Country | China |
| Archive | United States Army Center of Military History |
| Record Number | United States Army in World War II Pictorial Record, The War Against Japan, Page 427 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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