Burma campaign (1942–1943): Difference between revisions

{{Infobox military conflict

|conflict = Burma campaign 1942–1943

|image = Japanese troops in Burma.jpg

|image_size = 300px

* {{flagicon|British Raj}} [[British Raj|British India]]

* {{flagicon|Burma|1937}} [[British rule in Burma|British Burma]]

| combatant2 = [[Axis powers|Axis]]:<br />{{flagicon|Empire of Japan}} [[Empire of Japan|Japan]]<br />

* {{flagicon|Burma|1943}} [[State of Burma]]

|commander1 = {{plainlist|

* {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} [[Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell|Archibald Wavell]]

===First Arakan campaign===

{{main article|Arakan Campaign 1942-1943}}

 

Japanese reinforcements, amounting to an understrength division, arrived from Central Burma. Crossing rivers and mountain ranges which the Allies had assumed to be impassable, they hit 14th Division's exposed left flank on 3 April 1943 and overran several units.{{sfn|Slim|1956|pp=156–158}} The division's headquarters was replaced by that of [[26th Indian Infantry Division|26th Indian Division]], which attempted to hold a defensive line south of the town of Buthidaung, and even to surround the Japanese as they pressed their advantage. The exhausted units which the division had inherited were unable to hold this line and were forced to abandon much equipment and fall back almost to the Indian frontier.{{sfn|Allen|1984|p=112}}

There was continual patrol activity and low-key fighting on the frontier south of Imphal, but neither army possessed the resources to mount decisive operations. [[17th Infantry Division (India)|17th (Light) Indian Division]] held positions around the town of [[Tiddim]] at the end of a precarious supply line {{convert|100|mi|km}} south of Imphal, and skirmished with units of the [[33rd Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|Japanese 33rd Division]]. The Japanese had a shorter and easier supply line from the port of [[Kalewa]] on the [[Chindwin River]] and had the upper hand for most of 1942 and 1943.{{sfn|Slim| 1956| p=284}}

 

 

===Burma Road and the "Hump"===

==Aftermath==

===Allied command changes===

 

In August 1943, the new Allied [[South East Asia Command]] was created, to take over control and planning of operations against the Japanese in Burma and the [[Indian Ocean]]. In November, Admiral [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Louis Mountbatten]] was appointed as Commander in Chief of the new command. Because the theatre was linked to the American administrative [[China Burma India Theater of World War II|China Burma India Theater]] or CBI, and because increasing numbers of American air force units and logistical resources were being dispatched to India, General Stilwell was appointed Deputy Supreme Commander.

Wavell meanwhile became [[Viceroy of India]], and immediately addressed the famine in Bengal, although the crisis was eased only when the Government in Britain was persuaded to ship relief supplies of food to Bengal. He was replaced as Commander in Chief of the Indian Army by General [[Claude Auchinleck]], who had been relieved as Commander in Chief of the [[Middle East Command]] a year previously. During the Arakan campaign it had been noted that morale among the inadequately trained Indian troops had declined to the point where many desertions had occurred, and even defections to the [[Indian National Army]]. (Similar low morale among British troops manifested itself as apathy and very high rates of [[malaria]] infection.) Auchinleck reinvigorated the Indian Army's headquarters and its rear-area and training establishments. Other reforms were made to improve the Indian Army's morale; soldiers' pay was increased, non-commissioned officers and [[Viceroy's commissioned officer]]s were given better training and more responsibility, and efforts were made to counter Indian National Army propaganda.{{sfn|Bayly| Harper| 2004| pp=303–306}}

 

 

===Japanese command changes and plans===

[[Category:1942 in Burma]]

[[Category:1943 in Burma]]