Burma campaign
Burma campaign | |||||||||
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Part of the Pacific War during World War II | |||||||||
Sikh soldiers of the 7th Indian Infantry Division at an observation post in the Ngakyedauk Pass, February 1944 | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Medical support: | Thailand | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Strength | |||||||||
1942–1943 95,000[ii] 42,000–47,000[3] 1944–1945 1,000,000[iii][4] 250,000[iv][5][6][7] 12,000[8][v] 15,000[i][9] |
1942–1943 ~300,000[10] 35,000[11] 23,000 (1942)[12] 1944–1945 316,700 (1944)[13] 43,000 (1945) | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
~107,391 including sick
~86,600 excluding sick[18][19]
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200,000 overall Total Axis: ~210,000 | ||||||||
250,000[28] to 1,000,000[18] Burmese civilians killed[vii] | |||||||||
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The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of
The campaign had a number of notable features. The geographical characteristics of the region meant that weather, disease and terrain had a major effect on operations. The lack of transport infrastructure placed an emphasis on military engineering and air transport to move and supply troops, and evacuate wounded. The campaign was also politically complex, with the British, the United States and the Chinese all having different strategic priorities. It was also the only land campaign by the Western Allies in the Pacific Theatre which proceeded continuously from the start of hostilities to the end of the war. This was due to its geographical location. By extending from South East Asia to India, its area included some lands which the British lost at the outset of the war, but also included areas of India wherein the Japanese advance was eventually stopped. The climate of the region is dominated by the seasonal monsoon rains, which allowed effective campaigning for only just over half of each year. This, together with other factors such as famine and disorder in British India and the priority given by the Allies to the defeat of Nazi Germany, prolonged the campaign and divided it into four phases: the Japanese invasion, which led to the expulsion of British, Indian and Chinese forces in 1942; failed attempts by the Allies to mount offensives into Burma, from late 1942 to early 1944; the 1944 Japanese invasion of India, which ultimately failed following the battles of Imphal and Kohima; and finally the successful Allied offensive which liberated Burma from late 1944 to mid-1945.
The campaign was also strongly affected from the political atmosphere which erupted in the South-East Asian regions occupied by Japan, who pursued the
Japanese conquest of Burma
Japanese objectives in Burma were initially limited to the capture of Rangoon (now known as Yangon), the capital and principal seaport. This would close the overland supply line to China and provide a strategic bulwark to defend Japanese gains in British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese Fifteenth Army under Lieutenant General Shōjirō 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.
In the face of the Japanese advances, huge numbers of Indians, Anglo-Indians, and Anglo-Burmese fled Burma, around 600,000 by the autumn of 1942, which was until then the largest mass migration in history. Perhaps 80,000 of those in flight would die from starvation, exhaustion and disease.[30] Some of the worst massacres in Burma during World War II would be perpetrated not by the Japanese but by Burmese gangs linked to the Burma Independence Army.[31]
The Japanese successfully attacked over the Kawkareik Pass and captured the port of Moulmein at the mouth of the Salween River after overcoming stiff resistance. They then advanced northwards, outflanking successive British defensive positions. Troops of the 17th Indian Infantry Division tried to retreat over the Sittaung River, but Japanese parties reached the vital bridge before they did. On 22 February, the bridge was demolished to prevent its capture, a decision that has since been extremely contentious.
The loss of two brigades of 17th Indian Division meant that Rangoon could not be defended. General Archibald Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command, nevertheless ordered Rangoon to be held as he was expecting substantial reinforcements from the Middle East. Although some units arrived, counterattacks failed and the new commander of Burma Army (General Harold Alexander), ordered the city to be evacuated on 7 March after its port and oil refinery had been destroyed. The remnants of Burma Army broke out to the north, narrowly escaping encirclement.
On the eastern part of the front, in the
Japanese advance to the Indian frontier
After the fall of Rangoon in March 1942, the Allies attempted to make a stand in the north of the country (Upper Burma), having been reinforced by a
The retreat was conducted in very difficult circumstances. Starving refugees, disorganised stragglers, and the sick and wounded clogged the primitive roads and tracks leading to India. Burma Corps managed to make it most of the way to Imphal, in Manipur in India, just before the monsoon broke in May 1942, having lost most of their equipment and transport. There, they found themselves living out in the open under torrential rains in extremely unhealthy circumstances. The army and civil authorities in India were very slow to respond to the needs of the troops and civilian refugees.
Due to lack of communication, when the British retreated from Burma, almost none of the Chinese knew about the retreat. Realising that they could not win without British support, some of the X Force committed by Chiang Kai-shek made a hasty and disorganised retreat to India, where they were put under the command of the American General Joseph Stilwell. After recuperating they were re-equipped and retrained by American instructors. The rest of the Chinese troops tried to return to Yunnan through remote mountainous forests and of these, at least half died.
Thai army enters Burma
In accordance with the Thai military alliance with Japan that was signed on 21 December 1941, on 21 March, the Thais and Japanese also agreed that the Karenni State and Shan States were to be under Thai control. The rest of Burma was to be under Japanese control.
The leading elements of the Thai
Allied setbacks, 1942–1943
The Japanese did not renew their offensive after the monsoon ended. They installed a nominally independent Burmese government under Ba Maw, and reformed the Burma Independence Army on a more regular basis as the Burma National Army under General Aung San. In practice, both government and army were strictly controlled by the Japanese authorities.
On the Allied side, operations in Burma over the remainder of 1942 and in 1943 were a study of military frustration. Britain could only maintain three active campaigns, and immediate offensives in both the Middle East and Far East proved impossible through lack of resources. The Middle East was accorded priority, being closer to home and in accordance with the "Germany First" policy in London and Washington.
The Allied build up was also hampered by the disordered state of Eastern India at the time. There were violent
Nevertheless, the Allies mounted two operations during the 1942–1943 dry season. The first was a small offensive into the coastal
The second action was controversial. Under the command of Brigadier Orde Wingate, a long-range penetration unit known as the Chindits infiltrated through the Japanese front lines and marched deep into Burma, with the initial aim of cutting the main north–south railway in Burma in an operation codenamed Operation Longcloth. Some 3,000 men entered Burma in many columns. They damaged communications of the Japanese in northern Burma, cutting the railway for possibly two weeks but they suffered heavy casualties. Though the results were questioned the operation was used to propaganda effect, particularly to insist that British and Indian soldiers could live, move and fight as effectively as the Japanese in the jungle, doing much to restore morale among Allied troops.
The balance shifts 1943–1944
From December 1943 to November 1944 the strategic balance of the Burma campaign shifted decisively. Improvements in Allied leadership, training and logistics, together with greater firepower and growing Allied air superiority, gave Allied forces a confidence they had previously lacked. In the Arakan,
Allied plans
In August 1943, the Allies created
SEAC had to accommodate several rival plans, many of which had to be dropped for lack of resources. Amphibious landings on the Andaman Islands (Operation "Pigstick") and in Arakan were abandoned when the landing craft assigned were recalled to Europe in preparation for the
The major effort was intended to be by American-trained Chinese troops of Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC) under Stilwell, to cover the construction of the Ledo Road. Orde Wingate had controversially gained approval for a greatly expanded Chindit force, which was given the task of assisting Stilwell by disrupting the Japanese lines of supply to the northern front. Chiang Kai-shek had also agreed reluctantly to mount an offensive from the Yunnan.
Under British Fourteenth Army, the Indian XV Corps prepared to renew the advance in Arakan province, while IV Corps launched a tentative advance from Imphal in the centre of the long front to distract Japanese attention from the other offensives.
Japanese plans
About the same time that SEAC was established, the Japanese created the Burma Area Army under Lieutenant General Masakazu Kawabe, which took under command the Fifteenth Army and the newly formed Twenty-Eighth Army.
The new commander of Fifteenth Army, Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi was keen to mount an offensive against India. Burma Area Army originally quashed this idea, but found that their superiors at Southern Expeditionary Army Group HQ in Singapore were keen on it. When the staff at Southern Expeditionary Army were persuaded that the plan was inherently risky, they in turn found that Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo was in favour of Mutaguchi's plan.
The Japanese were influenced to an unknown degree by
Northern and Yunnan front 1943–1944
Stilwell's forces (designated X Force) initially consisted of two American-equipped Chinese divisions with a Chinese-manned
In 1943, the Thai Phayap Army invasion headed to
In October 1943 the Chinese 38th Division led by Sun Li-jen began to advance from Ledo, Assam towards Myitkyina and Mogaung while American engineers and Indian labourers extended the Ledo Road behind them. The Japanese 18th Division was repeatedly outflanked by the Marauders and threatened with encirclement.
In Operation Thursday, the Chindits were to support Stilwell by interdicting Japanese communications in the region of Indaw. A brigade began marching across the Patkai mountains on 5 February 1944. In early March three other brigades were flown into landing zones behind Japanese lines by the Royal Air Force and the USAAF and established defensive strongholds around Indaw.
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 (190 mi) front. Soon some twelve Chinese divisions of 175,000 men,[5] under General Wei Lihuang, were attacking the Japanese 56th Division. The Japanese forces in the North were now fighting on two fronts in northern Burma.
On 17 May, control of the Chindits passed from Slim to Stilwell. The Chindits now moved from the Japanese rear areas to new bases closer to Stilwell's front, and were given additional tasks by Stilwell for which they were not equipped. They achieved several objectives, but at the cost of heavy casualties. By the end of June, they had linked up with Stilwell's forces but were exhausted, and were withdrawn to India.
Also on 17 May, a force of two Chinese regiments, Unit Galahad (Merrill's Marauders) and Kachin guerrillas captured the airfield at Myitkyina.[35] The Allies did not immediately follow up this success and the Japanese were able to reinforce the town, which fell only after a siege that lasted until 3 August. The capture of Myitkyina airfield nevertheless immediately helped secure the air link from India to Chongqing over the Hump.
By the end of May, the Yunnan offensive, though hampered by the monsoon rains and lack of air support, succeeded in annihilating the garrison of
Southern front 1943–1944
In Arakan, Indian XV Corps under Lieutenant General
Unlike previous occasions on which this had happened, the Allied forces stood firm against the attack and supplies were dropped to them by parachute. In the
Over the next few weeks, XV Corps' offensive ended as the Allies concentrated on the Central Front. After capturing the railway tunnels, XV Corps halted during the monsoon.
Japanese invasion of India 1944
IV Corps, under Lieutenant-General Geoffry Scoones, had pushed forward two divisions to the Chindwin River. One division was in reserve at Imphal in Manipur. There were indications that a major Japanese offensive was building. Slim and Scoones planned to withdraw and force the Japanese to fight with their logistics stretched beyond the limit. However, they misjudged the date on which the Japanese were to attack, and the strength they would use against some objectives.[36]
The Japanese Fifteenth Army consisted of three infantry divisions and a brigade-sized detachment ("Yamamoto Force"), and initially a regiment from the Indian National Army. Mutaguchi, the Army commander, planned to cut off and destroy the forward divisions of IV Corps before capturing Imphal, while the
The Japanese troops crossed the Chindwin River on 8 March. Scoones (and Slim) were slow to order their forward troops to withdraw and the
By the end of the first week in April, IV Corps had concentrated in the Imphal plain. The Japanese launched several offensives during the month, which were repulsed. At the start of May, Slim and Scoones began a counter-offensive against the Japanese 15th Division north of Imphal. Progress was slow, as movement was made difficult by monsoon rains and IV Corps was short of supplies.
Also at the beginning of April, the Japanese 31st Division under Lieutenant-General
By now, the Japanese were at the end of their endurance. Their troops (particularly 15th and 31st Divisions) were starving, and during the monsoon, disease spread rapidly among them. Lieutenant-General Sato had notified Mutaguchi that his division would withdraw from Kohima at the end of May if it were not supplied. In spite of orders to hold on, Sato did indeed retreat. 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.
Mutaguchi (and Kawabe) continued to order renewed attacks. 33rd Division and Yamamoto Force made repeated efforts, but by the end of June they had suffered so many casualties both from battle and disease that they were unable to make any progress. The Imphal operation was finally broken off early in July, and the Japanese retreated painfully to the Chindwin River.
It was the greatest defeat to that date in Japanese history. They had suffered 50–60,000 dead,[37] and 100,000 or more casualties.[38] Most of these losses were the result of disease, malnutrition and exhaustion. The Allies suffered 12,500 casualties, including 2,269 killed.[39] Mutaguchi had already relieved all his divisions' commanders, and was himself subsequently relieved of command.
During the monsoon from August to November, Fourteenth Army pursued the Japanese to the Chindwin River. While the
Allied capture of Burma 1944–1945
The Allies launched a series of offensive operations into Burma during late 1944 and the first half of 1945. The command on the front was rearranged in November 1944. Eleventh Army Group HQ was replaced by
The Japanese also made major changes in their command. The most important was the replacement of General Kawabe at Burma Area Army by
Southern front 1944–1945
In Arakan, XV Corps resumed its advance on Akyab Island for the third year in succession. This time the Japanese were far weaker, and retreated before the steady Allied advance. They evacuated Akyab Island on 31 December 1944. It was occupied by XV Corps without resistance on 3 January 1945 as part of Operation Talon, the amphibious landing at Akyab.
Landing craft had now reached the theatre, and XV Corps launched amphibious attacks on the Myebon peninsula on 12 January 1945 and at Kangaw ten days later during the Battle of Hill 170 to cut off the retreating Japanese. There was severe fighting until the end of the month, in which the Japanese suffered heavy casualties.
An important objective for XV Corps was the capture of Ramree Island and Cheduba Island to construct airfields which would support the Allies' operations in Central Burma. Most of the Japanese garrison died during the Battle of Ramree Island. XV Corps operations on the mainland were curtailed to release transport aircraft to support Fourteenth Army.
Northern front 1944–1945
NCAC resumed its advance late in 1944, although it was progressively weakened by the flyout of Chinese troops to the main front in China. On 10 December 1944, the 36th British Infantry Division on NCAC's right flank made contact with units of Fourteenth Army near Indaw in Northern Burma. Five days later, Chinese troops on the command's left flank captured the city of Bhamo.
NCAC made contact with Chiang's Yunnan armies on 21 January 1945, and the Ledo road could finally be completed, although by this point in the war its value was uncertain. Chiang ordered the American General
Central front 1944–1945
The Fourteenth Army, now consisting of IV Corps and XXXIII Corps, made the main offensive effort into Burma. Although the Japanese retreat over the Irrawaddy forced the Allies to completely change their plans, such was the Allies' material superiority that this was done. IV Corps was switched in secret from the right to the left flank of the army and aimed to cross the Irrawaddy near Pakokku and seize the Japanese line-of-communication centre of Meiktila, while XXXIII Corps continued to advance on Mandalay.
During January and February 1945, XXXIII Corps seized crossings over the Irrawaddy River near Mandalay. There was heavy fighting, which attracted Japanese reserves and fixed their attention. Late in February, the 7th Indian Division leading IV Corps, seized crossings at Nyaungu near Pakokku. 17th Indian Division and 255th Indian Tank Brigade followed them across and struck for Meiktila. In the open terrain of Central Burma, this force outmanoeuvred the Japanese and fell on Meiktila on 1 March. The town was captured in four days, despite resistance to the last man.
The Japanese tried first to relieve the garrison at Meiktila and then to recapture the town and destroy its defenders. Their attacks were not properly coordinated and were repulsed. By the end of March the Japanese had suffered heavy casualties and lost most of their artillery, their chief anti-tank weapon. They broke off the attack and retreated to Pyawbwe.
XXXIII Corps had renewed its attack on Mandalay. It fell to 19th Indian Division on 20 March, though the Japanese held the former citadel which the British called Fort Dufferin for another week. Much of the historically and culturally significant portions of Mandalay were burned to the ground.
Race for Rangoon
Though the Allied force had advanced successfully into central Burma, it was vital to capture the port of Rangoon before the monsoon to avoid a logistics crisis. In the spring of 1945, the other factor in the race for Rangoon was the years of preparation by the liaison organisation,
XXXIII Corps mounted Fourteenth Army's secondary drive down the Irrawaddy River valley against stiff resistance from the Japanese Twenty-Eighth Army. IV Corps made the main attack down the "Railway Valley", which was also followed by the Sittaung River. They began by striking at a Japanese delaying position (held by the remnants of the Japanese Thirty-Third Army) at Pyawbwe. The attackers were initially halted by a strong defensive position behind a dry waterway, but a flanking move by tanks and mechanised infantry struck the Japanese from the rear and shattered them.
From this point, the advance down the main road to Rangoon faced little organised opposition. An uprising by
Operation Dracula
The original conception of the plan to re-take Burma had envisaged XV Corps making an amphibious assault on Rangoon well before Fourteenth Army reached the capital, in order to ease supply problems. This operation, codenamed Operation Dracula, was postponed several times as the necessary landing craft were retained in Europe and finally dropped in favour of an attack on
Slim feared that the Japanese would defend Rangoon to the last man through the monsoon, which would put Fourteenth Army in a disastrous supply situation. He therefore asked for Operation Dracula to be re-mounted at short notice. The naval forces for the attack on Phuket were diverted to Operation Dracula, and units of XV Corps were embarked from Akyab and Ramree.
On 1 May, a Gurkha parachute battalion was dropped on Elephant Point, and cleared Japanese rearguards from the mouth of the Yangon River. The 26th Indian Infantry Division landed by ship the next day. When they arrived they discovered that Kimura had ordered Rangoon to be evacuated, starting on 22 April. After the Japanese withdrawal, Yangon had experienced an orgy of looting and lawlessness similar to the last days of the British in the city in 1942. On the afternoon of 2 May 1945, the monsoon rains began in full force. The Allied drive to liberate Rangoon before the rains had succeeded with only a few hours to spare.
The leading troops of the 17th and 26th Indian divisions met at Hlegu, 28 miles (45 km) north of Rangoon, on 6 May.
Final operations
After the Allies captured Rangoon, a new
The Japanese Twenty-Eighth Army, after withdrawing from Arakan and resisting XXXIII Corps in the Irrawaddy valley, retreated into the
The Japanese had attacked too early. Sakurai's Twenty-Eighth Army was not ready to start the break-out until 17 July. The break-out was a disaster. The British had placed ambushes or artillery concentrations on the routes the Japanese were to use. Hundreds of men drowned trying to cross the swollen Sittang on improvised bamboo floats and rafts. Burmese guerrillas and bandits killed stragglers east of the river. The break-out cost the Japanese nearly 10,000 men, half the strength of Twenty-Eighth Army. British and Indian casualties were minimal.
Fourteenth Army (now under Lieutenant General
This was to be an amphibious assault on the western side of Malaya codenamed Operation Zipper. 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.
Results
Generally, the recovery of Burma is reckoned as a triumph for the British Indian Army and resulted in the greatest defeat the Japanese armies had suffered to that date.[dubious ]
The attempted Japanese invasion of India in 1944 was launched on unrealistic premises as after the Singapore debacle and the loss of Burma in 1942, the British were bound to defend India at all costs. A successful invasion by Japanese Imperial forces would have been disastrous. The defence operations at Kohima and Imphal in 1944 have since taken on huge symbolic value as the turning of the tide in British fortunes in the war in the East.
The American historian Raymond Callahan concluded "Slim's great victory ... helped the British, unlike the French, Dutch or, later, the Americans, to leave Asia with some dignity".[41]
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. Within three years both Burma and India were independent.
American goals in Burma had been to aid the Nationalist Chinese regime. Apart from the "Hump" airlift, these bore no fruit until so near the end of the war that they made little contribution to the defeat of Japan. These efforts have also been criticised as fruitless because of the self-interest and corruption of Chiang Kai-Shek's regime.
See also
- India in World War II
- Japanese occupation of Burma
- Second Sino-Japanese War
- Soviet invasion of Manchuria
References
Citations
- ^ The Burma Boy, Al Jazeera Documentary, Barnaby Phillips follows the life of one of the forgotten heroes of World War II Archived 3 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Al Jazeera Correspondent Last Modified: 22 July 2012, 07:21.
- ISBN 978-1847010476.
- ^ >Facts on File: World War II in the China-Burma-India theater Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ a b Ellis, John, World War II: A Statistical Survey: The Essential Facts and Figures for All the Combatants, 1993.
- ^ a b 中国抗日战争正面战场作战记 (in Chinese). pp. 460–461. Archived from the original on 7 January 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
- ^ 《中缅印战场抗日战争史》,徐康明 著,解放军出版社,2007年
- ^ "远征军入缅作战简介_远征军入缅作战的时间死亡人数_远征军入缅作战的意义结果损失 – 趣历史 – 趣历史". Archived from the original on 18 March 2017. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ McLynn, p. 1.
- ^ Donald M. Seekins, Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar) (Scarecrow Press, 2006).
- ^ Bayly & Harper 2005, p. 273.
- ISBN 978-0-312-10402-3.
- ^ Donald M. Seekins, Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar) (Scarecrow Press, 2006), 125.
- ^ Allen, Burma: The Longest War, p. 662.
- ^ Japanese conquest of Burma, December 1941 – May 1942 Archived 16 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ Mclynn pp. 67
- ^ Bradford, James (19 September 2006). International Encyclopedia of Military History. Routledge. p. 221.
- ^ 中国抗日战争正面战场作战记 (in Chinese). p. 476. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
- ^ a b McLynn, The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942–1945, p. 1.
- ^ Nesbit, The Battle for Burma pp. 240.
- ^ US Army Battle Casualties and Non-battle Deaths in World War 2: Final Report. Archived 22 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine Combined Arms Research Library, Department of the Army. 25 June 1953. P. 76. Includes 1,466 "battle deaths" (1,121 killed in action) and 123 who died of wounds, for a total of 1,589 killed.
- ^ Marauder.org: casualties. Archived 22 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 22 July 2015.
- ^ McLynn, The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942–1945, p. 1. Includes 144,000 dead and 56,000 wounded.
- ^ Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery Archived 16 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
- ^ USSBS Japan pp. 12 Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
- ^ Mclynn, p. 1.
- ISBN 978-0-8476-8063-4.
- ^ Lewis et al. World War II, p. 287.
- ISBN 0-7864-1204-6. p. 556.
- ^ Martin Brayley, Mike Chappell. "The British Army 1939–45 (3): The Far East". Osprey Publishing, p. 6.
- ^ Bayly & Harper 2005, p. 167.
- ^ Bayly & Harper 2005, p. 172.
- ^ Slim 1972, pp. 71–4.
- ^ Bayly & Harper 2005, pp. 247–249.
- ^ Allen, Burma: the Longest Campaign, pp. 157–170.
- ^ Allen, Burma: The Longest War, pp. 364–365.
- ISBN 978-0-8154-1022-5.
- ^ Despatch "Operations in Assam and Burma from 23RD June 1944 to 12TH November 1944", Supplement to the London Gazette, 3 March 1951, p. 1711.
- ^ Despatch "Operations in Burma 12th November 1944 to 15th August 1945", Supplement to the London Gazette, 6 April 1951, p. 1885.
- ^ Despatch "Operations in Burma and North East India 16th November 1943 to 22nd June 1944", Supplement to the London Gazette, 13 March 1951, p. 1361.
- ^ Churchill (1954), Chapter 18.
- ISBN 978-0-7067-0218-7.
Sources
- Allen, Louis, Burma: The Longest War
- ISBN 978-0-713-99463-6.
- Carew, Tim. The Longest Retreat
- Calvert, Mike. Fighting Mad has content related to the 1944 Chindit campaign
- Churchill, Winston (1954). The Second World War. Volume 6: Triumph and Tragedy. London: Cassel. OCLC 312199790.
- Dillon, Terence. Yangon to Kohima
- Drea, Edward J. (1998). "An Allied Interpretation of the Pacific War". In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army. Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-1708-0.
- Fraser, George MacDonald (2007). Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II. Skyhorse Publishing. p. 358. ISBN 978-1-60239-190-1.
- Farquharson, Robert (2006). For Your Tomorrow: Canadians and the Burma Campaign, 1941–1945. Trafford Publishing. p. 360. ISBN 978-1-41201-536-3.
- Fujino, Hideo. Singapore and Burma
- Grant, Ian Lyall, & Tamayama, Kazuo, Burma 1942: The Japanese Invasion
- Iida, Shojiro From the Battlefields
- Ikuhiko Hata, Road to the Pacific War
- ISBN 978-0-00-721982-7.
- Hickey, Michael. The Unforgettable Army
- Hodsun, J. L. War in the Sun
- Jackson, Ashley (2006). The British Empire and the Second World War. London: Hambledon Continuum. pp. 387–388. ISBN 978-1-85285-517-8.
- Duncan Anderson (1991). ISBN 0-304-36712-5.
- Latimer, Jon. Burma: The Forgotten War
- Lunt, James. 'A Hell of a Licking' – The Retreat from Burma 1941–2 London 1986 ISBN 0-00-272707-2. Personal account by a British Burma Rifles officer, who later became an Oxford academic.
- McLynn, Frank. The Burma Campaign: Disaster Into Triumph, 1942–45 (Yale University Press; 2011), 532 pages; focus on William Slim, Orde Wingate, Louis Mountbatten, and Joseph Stilwell.
- Moser, Don (1978). World War II: China-Burma-India. Time-Life. LCCN 78003819.
- Slim, William Slim, Viscount (1972). Defeat into victory (Unabridged ed.). London: Cassell. ISBN 0-304-29114-5.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - Ochi, Harumi. Struggle in Burma
- Reynolds, E. Bruce. Thailand and Japan's Southern Advance
- Rolo, Charles J. Wingate's Raiders
- Sadayoshi Shigematsu, Fighting Around Burma
- Shores, Christopher (2005). Air War for Burma: The Allied Air Forces Fight Back in South-East Asia 1942–1945 (Bloody Shambles, Volume 3). Grub Street. ISBN 1-904010-95-4.
- Smyth John Before the Dawn
- Sugita, Saiichi. Burma Operations
- Thompson, Robert. Make for the Hills has content related to the 1944 Chindit campaign
- Thompson, Julian. Forgotten Voices of Burma: The Second World War's Forgotten Conflict
- Webster, Donovan. The Burma Road : The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II
- Williams, James Howard was Elephant Advisor to the Fourteenth Army, see his Elephant Bill (1950) and Bandoola (1953)
- Young, Edward M. Aerial Nationalism: A History of Aviation in Thailand
Further reading
- Callahan, Raymond. (2017) Triumph at Imphal-Kohima: How the Indian Army Finally Stopped the Japanese Juggernaut (University Press of Kansas, 2017) online review
- Edwards, Roderick (2020). Should've Been With Me: The Wilfred Scull Story. United States: KDP Books. ASIN B095BG9N18
- Newell, Clayton R. Burma, 1942. World War II Campaign Brochures. Washington D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 72-21. Archived from the original on 28 August 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- Hogan, David W. India-Burma. World War II Campaign Brochures. Washington D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 72-5. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- Leasor, James (2012) [1955]. NTR: Nothing to Report. London: James Leasor Ltd. ISBN 978-1-908291-44-8. Archived from the originalon 19 April 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- Leasor, James (2011) [1988]. The Marine from Mandalay. London: Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-1-908291-33-2. Archived from the originalon 31 March 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- MacGarrigle, George L. Central Burma. World War II Campaign Brochures. Washington D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. CMH Pub 72-37. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
- Burchett, Wilfred G. (1943). Trek Back from Burma. Allhabad: Kitabistan.
- Pearson, Michael (2007). The Burma Air Campaign: December 1941 – August 1945. Pen & Sword.
- Spiller, David (2012). Out of Burma. Amazon Kindle.
External links
Associations
Museums
- Imperial War Museum London Archived 3 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine Burma Summary
- The Kohima Museum. A museum dedicated to the Battle of Kohima
- Royal Engineers Museum. Engineers in the Burma Campaigns
- Royal Engineers Museum. Engineers with the Chindits
- Canadian War Museum: Newspaper Articles on the Burma Campaigns, 1941–1945
Media
Primary sources
- "No. 37728". Viscount Wavell
- "No. 38274". Claude E. Auchinleck, War Office. (or see this html version)
- "No. 39195". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 April 1951. pp. 1881–1963. "Operations in Burma from 12 November 1944 to 15 August 1945" official despatch by Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese
History
- Siam goes to war
- Canadians in south east Asia
- List of Regimental Battle Honours in the Burma Campaign (1942–1945) – also some useful links