ABOUT 74 years ago, months before Pearl Harbor in Hawaii was shattered by Japanese bombs, American soldiers were sent afield to China, defending against Japanese invaders. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, American soldiers were officially authorized to set foot on the Chinese battlefield.

    During the last four years of resistance against the Japanese, soldiers from the United States and China fought together as allies with great success.

    The American Volunteer Group (AVG), also known as the Flying Tigers, and the 14th Air Force were the main U.S. forces that supported China.

    Under the command of Claire Lee Chennault, the AVG unit of 100 P-40 fighters was divided into three squadrons — two were stationed in Kunming and one was stationed in Burma (Myanmar today) to protect China’s passage to the sea.

    The AVG first saw combat on Chinese soil on Dec. 20, 1941, when 10 Japanese heavy bombers raided Kunming.

    On July 4, 1942, the AVG was replaced by the American air force. AVG won 50 air battles in China, destroying 299 enemy planes at the cost of only 12 allied planes.

    In 1943, the U.S. China Air Task Force was incorporated into the newly formed U.S. 14th Air Force. Chennault continued to direct it and based it in Kunming. By the end of the war, it had more than 20,000 men and 1,000 planes, and they destroyed 2,135 enemy aircraft, 10 enemy planes for each allied one lost.

    One of their most famous missions was flying “the Hump” from April 1942 to August 1945. Pilots made daily fights over the eastern Himalayan Mountains from India to China. Around 650,000 tons of items were delivered to China at the cost of 594 lost planes and 1,314 crew and passengers.

    To commemorate the sacrifices of American soldiers supporting China, we will publish a series of rare photos taken during the war.

    Most of the photos were provided by the U.S. Consulate General Chengdu.(Tan Yifan)