Operation Lux

'Lux' was the Allied overall designation of convoys sailing toward India with supplies for trans-shipment to China via the Ledo Road (1944/August 1945).

Ledo is a village in the Assam region of north-eastern India, and became significant as the railhead for a road across the Pangsau Pass into the Hukawng valley of northern Burma and through Mytkyina to connect to the old Burma Road to China. Also known as the Stilwell Road, the road was conceived as a route for supplies for the Chinese armies and the US air forces in China. However, by the time the road was completed on 27 January 1945, it had become largely irrelevant as a result of the US strategic successes in the Pacific.

Construction of the road began fully late in December 1942. The first segment of the road, 103 miles (166 km) in length, ran across the 4,500-ft (1370-m) Pangsau Pass to Shingbwiyang. The road reached the border with Burma, 43 miles (69 km) from Ledo, on 28 February 1943, but then came virtually to a halt as a result of the difficulty of bringing in supplies and the onset of the monsoon. Only 3 miles (4.8 km) were completed between the end of March and middle of August, Shingbwiyang was not reached until December 1943, and the connection to China was not completed until a time late in 1944. By then the 'hump' airlift over the Himalaya mountains had become massive in scope, and the war ended before traffic over the Ledo Road could begin to rival the tonnages delivered by air.