The Burma Road

Written by Donovan Webster

A daring road through war-torn lands could change the tide of World War II.

3.9/5 Goodreads · 489 ratings

400 pages

$17.99Save 6%

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Bookroo's summary

In the chaos of World War II, 200,000 Chinese laborers carve a 700-mile lifeline, the Burma Road, only to see it severed by Japanese forces. As General Stilwell fights to reopen it, American pilots brave the Himalayas, and jungle warriors like Merrill's Marauders and the Chindit Brigades face grueling battles. Will these efforts turn the tide against Japan? Discover the untold stories of courage and survival in this epic chapter of history.

From the publisher

As the Imperial Japanese Army swept across China and South Asia at World War II’s outset, closing all of China’s seaports, more than 200,000 Chinese laborers embarked on a seemingly impossible task: to cut a 700-mile overland route – the Burma Road – from the southwest Chinese city of Kunming to Lashio, Burma. But when Burma fell in 1942, the Burma Road was severed. As the first step of the Allied offensive toward Japan, American general Joseph Stilwell reopened it, while, at the same time, keeping China supplied by air-lift from India and simultaneously driving the Japanese out of Burma.From the breathtaking adventures of the American “Hump” pilots who flew hair-raising missions over the Himalayas to make food-drops in China to the true story of the mission that inspired the famous film The Bridge on the River Kwai, to the grueling jungle operations of Merrill’s Marauders and the British Chindit Brigades, The Burma Road vividly re-creates the sprawling, sometimes hilarious, often harrowing, and still largely unknown stories of one of the greatest chapters of World War II.

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