31 January 2016. Burma was wealthy due to the Silk Trade route and its agriculture. Its monsoon season affects roads and communications, and the climate produces dangerous wildlife and the threat of disease. Third Burma campaign, October 1943 May 1944, Third Burma campaign, June 1944 April 1945. Battle of Bilin River. Some 3,000 men entered Burma in many columns. Lord Lytton demanded several facilities from him and all of them were granted except the abolition of the practice of putting off the shoes by English officers in the presence of the king. The Untold Story of the Hero Gurkha Victoria Cross Holders Who Helped Then, during the war, Aung San's army changed sides, and fought to push out the Japanese. They then advanced northwards, outflanking successive British defensive positions. For 500 days, the Ukrainian people have endured the Russian Government's relentless attacks against homes, schools, hospitals, playgrounds, nuclear facilities, shopping malls, restaurants, and other infrastructure. The dropping of the atomic bombs forestalled this operation, but it was undertaken post-war as the quickest way of getting occupation troops into Malaya. Bert Harwood served as Sergeant Major with C Company, 4th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment during the siege of Kohima. The leading troops of IV Corps and XXXIII Corps met at Milestone 109 on the Dimapur-Imphal road on 22 June, and the siege of Imphal was raised. Meanwhile, the Chinese forces on the Yunnan front (Y Force) mounted an attack starting in the second half of April, with nearly 75,000 troops crossing the Salween river on a 300-kilometre (190mi) front. Bob, a 26-year-old miner who joined the military as a driver, was captured by the Japanese in 1941 and spent the following four years in a prisoner of war camp in Burma and Taiwan. Two brigades went to Imphal, the other went to Dimapur from where it sent a detachment to Kohima. Imperial Japan was supported by the Thai Phayap Army, as well as two collaborationist independence movements and armies. [11], The Japanese Twenty-eighth Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Shozo Sakurai, defended the coastal Arakan region and the lower Irrawaddy valley. [citation needed] The Japanese had already withdrawn the 18th Division from the northern front, to face the Fourteenth Army in central Burma. Kengtung, the main objective, was captured on 27 May. Much of the historically and culturally significant portions of Mandalay were burned to the ground. Slim had been promoted to command Allied Land Forces South East Asia (the army component of South East Asia Command). The command had considered three major plans as far back as July 1944. The Burma Campaign - Historical Sheet - Second World War - History In 1942 and 1943, the international Allied force in British India launched several failed offensives to retake lost territories. The Japanese were influenced to an unknown degree by Subhas Chandra Bose, commander of the Indian National Army. Anglo-Burmese Wars - Wikipedia Stilwell's forces (designated X Force) initially consisted of two American-equipped Chinese divisions with a Chinese-manned M3 Light Tank battalion and an American long-range penetration brigade known as "Merrill's Marauders". Map of India and Burma, 1944 Japanese offensive In March 1944, the Japanese 15th Army began an advance against India's north-east frontier to forestall a planned British invasion of Burma. Burmese guerrillas and bandits killed stragglers east of the river. Burma. As the monsoon rains ended late in 1944, the Allies were preparing to launch large-scale offensives into Japanese-occupied Burma. By the end of 1944, the Allies were ready to advance onto the central plains of Burma. The American 5334th Composite Unit, known as the "Mars Brigade", had replaced Merrill's Marauders. Key People: Maha Bandula See all related content Anglo-Burmese Wars, (1824-26, 1852, 1885), three conflicts that collectively forced Burma (now Myanmar) into a vulnerable position from which it had to concede British hegemony in the region of the Bay of Bengal. Roland Nappin interview Neville Hogan interview After the war ended, a combination of the pre-war agitation among the Bamar population for independence and the economic ruin of Burma during the four-year campaign made it impossible for the former regime to be resumed. He said: "The English beat my brother, not me. Having secured the beaches they moved inland and became involved in very heavy fighting with the Japanese. Wingate's raiding force became known as the'Chindits'. Fires in Thantlang, Chin State, caused by shelling from military forces, according to local media - October 2021. Fighting intensified in 1944, and British Empire forces peaked at around 1 million land and air forces. Although eight Japanese regiments were eventually involved, they were mostly weak in numbers and drawn from five divisions, so their efforts were not coordinated. Good to see everyone again. The Japanese evacuated Akyab Island on 31 December 1944. Diversionary measures (such as dummy radio traffic) were made to persuade the Japanese that both corps were still aimed at Mandalay. Strong Japanese reinforcements then counterattacked and halted the Chinese advance. The Japanese put up a strong resistance and the campaign fizzled out after a series of setbacks and retreats early in 1943. In such conditions of chaos, it was difficult to improve the inadequate lines of communication to the front line in Assam or make use of local industries for the war effort. Now, only XXXIII Corps was to continue the attack into the Shwebo Plain, reinforced by the one division of IV Corps which had been committed across the Chindwin, while the main body of IV Corps was switched to the right flank, changing its axis of advance to the Gangaw Valley west of the Chindwin. On 1 May, a Gurkha parachute battalion was dropped on Elephant Point, and cleared Japanese rearguards from the mouth of the Yangon River. Under pressure of events in the Pacific, Terauchi even withdrew some units from Burma during the campaign. American and Chinese forces advancing from northernmost Burma linked up with armies of the Chinese Republic advancing into Yunnan, which allowed the Allies to complete the Burma Road in the last months of the war. The rest of the Chinese troops tried to return to Yunnan through remote mountainous forests and of these, at least half died. It was the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in human history. To avoid fighting at a disadvantage on the Chindwin or in the Shwebo plain between the Chindwin and Irrawaddy River where the terrain provided comparatively few obstacles to the British and Indian armoured and motorised units, he withdrew Fifteenth Army behind the Irrawaddy, which they would defend against the British Fourteenth Army (Operation BAN). In World War Two, British Capt Peter Robert Sandham Bankes led a company of Chin tribesmen in Burma - now known as Myanmar - in repelling the Japanese advance on the . Anglo-Burmese Wars | Encyclopedia.com The Japanese Fifteenth Army under Lieutenant General Shjir Iida, initially consisting of only two infantry divisions, moved into northern Thailand (which had signed a treaty of friendship with Japan), and launched an attack over jungle-clad mountain ranges into the southern Burmese province of Tenasserim (now Tanintharyi Region) in January 1942. During January and February 1945, XXXIII Corps seized crossings over the Irrawaddy River near Mandalay. Mutaguchi, the Army commander, planned to cut off and destroy the forward divisions of IV Corps before capturing Imphal, while the Japanese 31st Division isolated Imphal by capturing Kohima. About the same time that SEAC was established, the Japanese created Burma Area Army under Lieutenant General Masakazu Kawabe, which took under command the Fifteenth Army and the newly formed Twenty-Eighth Army. Lack of resources meant that Dracula was postponed and the operation was subsequently dropped in favour of a planned assault on Phuket Island off the Kra Isthmus. A US-led guerrilla force, OSS Detachment 101, took over the military responsibilities of NCAC,[17] while British civil affairs and other units such as the Civil Affairs Service (Burma) stepped in to take over its other responsibilities. There was severe fighting until the end of the month, in which the Japanese suffered heavy casualties. THE SECOND ANGLO-BURMESE WAR OF 1852. To cover this break-out, Kimura ordered Honda's Thirty-third Army to mount a diversionary offensive across the Sittang, although the entire army could muster the strength of barely a regiment. He was replaced at Fourteenth Army by Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey. Despatch "Operations in Assam and Burma from 23RD June 1944 to 12TH November 1944". Outflanking moves by the 82nd Division and 26th Indian Division through the hills around An and Taungup were abandoned or cancelled and the Corps' divisions were withdrawn to the coast. By now, the Japanese were at the end of their endurance. In Arakan, XV Corps resumed its advance on Akyab Island for the third year in succession. The Japanese aimed to seize British supplies in Assam, inspire a rising by the Indian populace against British rule, and take pressure away from the US advances in the Western Pacific. Within three years both Burma and India were independent. United States Army Center of Military History, Imphal and Kohima, Britain's Greatest Battles, National Army Museum, Canadian War Museum: Newspaper Articles on the Burma Campaigns, 19411945, List of Regimental Battle Honours in the Burma Campaign (19421945) also some useful links, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burma_campaign&oldid=1164853940, Military history of Burma during World War II, Battles and operations of World War II involving Nepal, Campaigns, operations and battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom, Military history of India during World War II, Military history of Thailand during World War II, World War II operations and battles of the Pacific theatre, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles lacking in-text citations from December 2021, Articles needing additional references from March 2020, All articles needing additional references, Pages containing London Gazette template with parameter supp set to y, Myanmar articles missing geocoordinate data, Articles missing coordinates without coordinates on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 11 July 2023, at 13:46. Although battle casualties were approximately equal, the result was a heavy Japanese defeat. King Narathihapate is unkindly remembered in Burmese history as Taruk-Pye Min, ("the King who Fled from the Taruk "). An attempt to capture the island in 1943 had been defeated, a second attempt in early 1944 gained some ground but was abandoned because of monsoon rains and lack of resources. The break-out cost the Japanese nearly 10,000 men, half the strength of Twenty-Eighth Army. The ruler of Burma shared this feeling. The 81st Division and the 50th Indian Tank Brigade were withdrawn to India. It consisted of IV Corps under Lieutenant General Frank Messervy and XXXIII Corps under Lieutenant General Montagu Stopford, together controlling six infantry divisions, two armoured brigades and three independent infantry brigades. XXXIII Corps had renewed its attack on Mandalay. A strong force from the Japanese 55th Division infiltrated Allied lines to attack the 7th Indian Infantry Division from the rear, overrunning the divisional HQ. Efforts to improve the training of Allied troops took time and in forward areas poor morale and endemic disease combined to reduce the strength and effectiveness of the fighting units. Perhaps 80,000 of those in flight would die from starvation, exhaustion and disease. How a forgotten British captain is a hero in Myanmar - BBC News Troops of the 17th Indian Infantry Division tried to retreat over the Sittaung River, but Japanese parties reached the vital bridge before they did. During the campaign, mules became the preferred method of transporting supplies over Burma's difficult terrain.