Longling County History
Longling County (龙陵县) is located in Baoshan Prefecture,Yunnan Province, China.The large community Longshan Town(龙山镇) is the political, commercial and cultural center of the county.The former site of the Songshan-Battleground (松山战役旧址) (1944, the Anti-Japanese War) since 2006 is on the list of monuments of the People’s Republic of China.This county has a long and monumental since it has much to do with some great battles of history.
The Battle of Mount Song (松山战役)
The Battle of Mount Song (松山战役) in Japanese “The Battle for Ramou” (拉孟の戦い） in 1944 was part of a larger campaign in southwestern China during the Second World War. Chinese Nationalist forces aimed to retake the Burma Road. The Japanese Army in Southern Yunnan was at risk of being cut off from advancing British and American troops in Northern Burma. The Japanese Army aimed to block the highway for as long as possible. Constructing a series of tunnels and bunkers over a static two-year period they turned the mountain and its immediate environs into a fortress. Songshan (in Chinese) Matsuyama (in Japanese) blocked the road immediately behind the Salween River. Although the Chinese Nationalist Arrmy crossed the river with light casualities and surrounded the Japanese garrison, they found that their offensive capability was limited because of this garrison behind their line of advance.
The Chinese forces were unaware of the depth of the Japanese defences, and their underestimation led to heavy casualties through a slow and cautious campaign. Chinese artillery strikes and US bombing runs had little effect against Japanese forces underground. Japan also set up a series of hidden pillboxes to ambush the Chinese forces.
After three months of battle, the Chinese forces finally retook Mount Song through the use of extended bombardment and an overabundance of US aid and training. Once open the Burma Road could be used to supply China with aid via a land route.
Western Yunnan Anti-japanese Battlefield—Huitong Bridge(滇西抗战战场——惠通桥)
The Huitong Bridge is located on the Nujiang river which is the boundary of Longling county(Songahn松山) and Shidian county. Its east is the tangible DengZi big mountains that is like a knife cut, ts west is the towering Lameng Songshan(腊勐松山). Among the alpines and valleys, it is known as “Tianqian(天堑)”.
This “Burma Road” bridge (Sometimes spelled as Hwei Tung), with a span of 123 metres, has been preserved as a monument because it was here that the Japanese army was stopped during World war-II. The invaders coming up the Burma road from the South were unable to cross the Nujiang river (Salween) after the bridge was blown up on the 5th of May 1942 by the Chinese defence.
The bridge was reconstructed to handle the supplies coming up the Ledo road after the Chinese recaptured Songshan mountian and the far Western part of Yunnan again at the end of 1944. The present form dates from 1950 and carries the communist star on the rebuild Eastern bridgehead.
