VICTORY IN BURMA

Lieutenant General Bill Slim had a cunning plan to unstitch the Japanese defence of Burma in 1945

- DR ROBERT LYMAN

The reconquest of Burma in 1945 was the result of Lieutenant General Bill Slim's determination to follow up on the retreating remnants of Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi's 15th Army, after their defeats at the great battles of Kohima and Imphal in mid-1944. However, until Slim actually crossed the Chindwin river in December 1944 there was no plan to reconquer Burma and to recover it in its entirety for the Allies.

This came about as the result of a brilliant campaign by the 14th Army that effectively unstitched the Japanese defence of Burma by outflanking the main force of defenders along the Irrawaddy at Mandalay. The 14th Army did this by attacking the key Japanese supply base southwest of Mandalay, all the while pretending to be attacking exclusively from the north. It was a strategy that took the Japanese by surprise and meant they were unable thereafter to mount a coherent defence of Burma.

While the rest of the 14th Army rested after its exertions at Kohima and Imphal, in August 1944 the 11th East African Division methodically pushed its way through last-ditch opposition all the way to the Chindwin. At the same time the 5th Indian Division advanced south from Imphal through the mountains to Tiddim in the remote Chin Hills.

Men, mules and elephants struggled down jungle tracks after the retreating Japanese, crossing swollen rivers and rebuilding collapsed tracks and roads. Above them, the over-stretched air forces pushed through minimal visibility to deliver their precious loads by parachute and free-drop to the troops below.