X Force was the name given to the portion of the
National Revolutionary Army's
Chinese Expeditionary Force that
retreated from Burma into
India in 1942.
Chiang Kai-shek sent troops into Burma from
Yunnan in 1942 to assist the
British in holding back the Japanese. These Chinese forces became broken up, and in the retreat out of Burma part of these forces entered India. These were cantoned at
Ramgarh Cantonment in Bihar (now in
Jharkhand State), brought up to five-Division strength (Chinese New 30th, New 22nd, New 38th, 14th and 50th Divisions), and re-equipped and re-trained by
American instructors at British expense. Each of the five divisions had about 15,000 troops, for a total of 75,000 for the whole force. The New 30th and New 38th Divisions consisted of the
New 1st Army which was commanded by
Sun Li-Jen. The New 22nd, 14th and 50th Divisions consisted of the
New 6th Army which was commanded by
Liao Yaoxiang. They were named X Force and used by
General Joseph Stilwell as the spearhead of his drive to open a land route to China (the
Ledo Road). The outstanding Chinese commander in X Force was General
Sun Li-Jen, who led the Chinese 38th Division and was praised by the
British Fourteenth Army Commander General (later Field Marshal)
William Slim in his book
Defeat into Victory. The Chinese forces which re-entered Burma from
Yunnan were correspondingly known as
Y Force.