Over The Hump Airlift to China (Campaign Book No. 23) de Koenig, William - 1972

New York: Ballantine Books. Very Good+. 1972. 1st Edition; 1st Printing. Paperback. 034509770X . B&W Photographs; This is a trade sized papeback book. The book is in Very Good+ condition and was issued without a dust jacket. There is some light bumping and wear to the bottom edge of the book covers , along with some light fading to the spine of the book. The text pages are clean and bright. "Japanese forces held all important points in eastern China, including cities, railways, rivers, and ports. From 1937 to 1941, Nationalist China was resupplied from Russian Turkestan, with the goods passing through Sinkiang on the ancient Silk Road. That route, however, was closed down when the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact with Japan in April 1941. Chiang’s only remaining way to obtain strategic supplies from the outside world was through British-controlled Burma. War materiel and munitions passed from the port at Rangoon to the railhead at Lashio. There began the Burma Road, winding about 700 arduous miles across the Himalaya Mountains to Kunming. To get over the high passes, trucks took a perilous course. Drivers had to negotiate several miles of hairpin turns for every mile of forward progress. Protecting the Burma Road was one of the main reasons China had recruited Claire L. Chennault and his American Volunteer Group, the renowned Flying Tigers." (from Air Force Magazine (Oct. 1,2009) .