Montana labor news., 1945-03-29
By CONGRESSMAN NIKE MANSFIELD

A Background
BY mid-year of 1912 the area occupied
by the japanese had been extended to
include all Burma. AS the Japanese
swept up from the south, English, Bur-
mese, Kachins, A~nglo-Indians, and a
defeated army of British, Chinese and
a few Americans escaped as best they
could into ~neighboring India. The Burma
Road was closed, and with it the last
supply route to the beleaguered Chinese
The situation was critical. In Egypt
the Germans were pounding at the
gates of Alexandra, apparently prepar-
ing to strike to the east. Toward Bur
ma. the formidable barrier of the UNI
civilized frontier beginning with the Pat
kai mountains proved itself a sturdy
bulwark, for at that moment it was all
that stood between the Japanese and
India.
In 1913, all eyes turned to the orient
The Chinese were barely able to carry
on, and only the trickle Of supplies
which crossed the Hump by plane kept
their heads above water. It was evident
that the dominant mission in the Far
East at that point was the r%eopening of
a supply line to the Chinese.
The map of India took on new impor-
lance. An inadequate railroad wan
dered lazily up the Bramaputra valley
to the furthest outpost of civilization
in the northeast corner of Assam. De-
signed to service only the normal peace
time needs of the tea plantations in
this part of India, the railroad termi-
mated at Ledo, an insignificant native
village surrounded by iungle-covered
hills. This same village had been the
end of the trail for those fugitives from
northern 3urma who fled ahead Of the
Japs in 1912. From LedO, so named by
the Italians who first opened the coal
mines in the adjacent hills, began to
unwind the road which was to make IA
nous the name Of the obscure indian
village.
Beyond the railroad lay the unbroken
barrier of the Patkai mountain range
stretching out like a giant finger from
the Himalayas, It forms both natural
barrier to communication between AS
sam and Burma, and at the same time
a boundary between these two coun-
tries which nevertheless has remained
too wild to be clearly defined or ex-
plored. Running east and west across
northern Burma, these mountains blan-
keted by a 20O-foot deep impenetrable
Jungle served as home only to the I'M
civilized tribes of Maya head-hunters
who are native to this portion of the
world. From May through September,
the warm monsoon winds which sweep
north over the plains of Burma, deposit
the terrifically heavy rainfall over the
entire area through which a road was
to be built by the United States Army
Engineers.
The whole region in which operations
were planned had the ~unsavory reputa-
ton Of being the unhealthiest portion OF
the world. Veterans of the Philippines
Central America, and the South Pacific
damned this country from Assam to
the Hukawng as the worst jungle of
them all. The Bengal tiger, king cobra
and b~lood-sucking leeches which infested
it were far less dangerous than the I'M
seen germs from which no part Of this
land was free and no man immune.
Staid Britishers dismissed the plan OF
a road as an im%possibility. Professional
soldiers had shaken their heads and said
no military vehicle will o those
mountains on its own power" and
scoffed at the thought of trucks and
tanks ever moving beyond the Ledo rail-
head. But during the final weeks OF
1912 and the early part of 1913, plans
for the project went on and the initial
effort was begun.
The undertaking has nc parallel in
military history. 1t is a combination
of building a major modern highway
through virgin jungle-covered moun
tains and valleys, and at the same time
time having to fight a first rate, we'll
equipped enemy for the ground over
which the road is to run 1t departs
from the usual strategic concepts in that
the construction phase Services of sup
Ply is the primary objective; the fight
ing Combat is secondary, to brush the
enemy aside from the road route. Al
though by comparison with other thea
tiers the number of men involved is not
large, the whole enterprise, in man
power, materials, and objective, is on
an unprecedented scale. Furthermore,
the defending Jap was capable Of being
the superior force. The situation has
not been simplified by the fact that,
in the scheme of gloDal warfare, this
theater is both at the enc of the longest
line of communication in the world and
not the highest on priorities.
The road is an ever-lengthening dra-
gon with an Unsuitable appetite. Its
mouth is at Ledo and its extending tail
pushes through the hills and down into
A triad of effort sustains it: %
Engineer: to develop the base from
which the dragon feeds and to see that
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