On September 14, 1944, the Chinese XXth Army Group finally captured Tengchong. After fifty-one days of siege, assault, and house-to-house fighting, Chinese soldiers pushed the Japanese into the walled city’s eastern corner. In the final days of the battle, the enemy soldiers ran out of food and ammunition. Several committed suicide and a group of about two hundred attempted to escape into the countryside. The majority of the almost two thousand Japanese troops fought to the death. It was the greatest triumph of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. It was a costly victory. The XXth Army Group lost 8,671 killed, including 1,234 officers. Colonel Li Yi, a regimental commander, died on the last day of the battle. He was one of the two highest ranking Chinese officers to die on the Salween Front.