This memorial is to commemorate the evacuation of 30,000 troops and 100,000 tons of material and supplies from Yichang further upstream, after Wuhan had fallen to the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War in October 1938. As the Japanese advanced further west and had taken Wuhan, lots of material, weaponry and personnel crucial to the Chinese war effort stranded in Yichang.
Knowing of the further advance of the Japanese, but also the time constraints on river navigation due to the water levels, the incredible task of moving out 30,000 troops and 100,000 tons of material was achieved in only 40 days.
This retreat has been compared to the ‘Dunkirk Retreat’ of the French and British forces early in the Second World War.