Undertaken at the request of Britain, the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossed into British ruled Burma to clear the way to retake the Japanese occupied Burma Road in February 1942. Soon it won the Battle of Tungu in March 19-30, as its first step to rescue the once-arrogant British Army. April 15, two CEF regiments launched an assault leading to the encircled Yenangyaung oil field, liberated 7,000 demoralized British troops. Just 10 days later, CEF took Taunggyi. Meanwhile, the British forces kept escaping from Rongoon to India, left all the CEF’s flanks exposed to enemy attack. May 1942, the depleted CEF retreated, its 5th Army mistakenly chose the endless Kachin Jungle evacuated to China. Of the 5th ‘s 35,000 men had gone into the 114 days-long jungle ordeal, fewer than 4,000 returned. With all the edible roots and leaves finished off by the 5th, the following 5,000 of the 28th Division were even more debilitated, only hundreds survived.
Chinese had been forced to leave many of their comrades behind, dead of starvation, exhaustion, disease, giant leach, and anaconda. Tens of thousands of bodies lay scattered in the rain forest, many sufferers simply sit against a tree next to their dead and dying brothers-in-arms, waiting for the final moment. Under the monsoon, casualties became skeletons by ants and rats in hours. Though left to hunger in the unspeakable ordeal, the idea for cannibalism had never been bashed about in their mind. For centuries, Stoicism has been the highest Chinese military virtue, and that is the cultural contrast between Chinese and Japanese.
In 1987, a Japanese documentary Yuki Yuki te Shingun described dialogue with WWII Japanese soldiers who admitted to practice regular cannibalism in the New Guinea Campaign in 1942-43, first on the Allied soldiers, then murdered their own weak comrades used for rations. January 2, 1943, in the enemy positions the Allied located the bodies of captured Australians and found evidence of cannibalism. During the prior Japanese attempt to capture Port Moresby over the Kokoda Track, and during their Buna-Gona defensive, none of the Allied captives were allowed to live, and all of them had been tortured, used for bayonet practice, or eaten. Though after the Japanese retreat, the Allied uncovered significant amounts of can food and rice dumps.
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