Japanese invasion of Burma

• 1. British Colonial Context

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  Before the Second World War broke out, Burma was part of the British Empire. It had been progressively occupied and annexed following three Anglo-Burmese wars in the 19th century. Initially governed as part of British India, Burma became a separate colony under the Government of India Act 1935. Under British rule, there had been substantial economic development but the majority Bamar community was becoming increasingly restive. Among their concerns were the importation of Indian workers to provide a labour force for many of the new industries. The erosion of traditional society in the countryside occurred as land was used for plantations of export crops or became mortgaged to Indian moneylenders. Pressure for independence was growing. When Burma came under attack, the Bamar were unwilling to contribute to the defence of the British establishment. Many readily joined movements which aided the Japanese.

• 2. Strategic Military Planning

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  Lieutenant General Thomas Hutton commanded the Burma Army with its headquarters in Rangoon. He had only the 17th Indian Infantry Division and 1st Burma Division to defend the country. Help was expected from the Chinese Nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek. During the war, the British Indian Army expanded more than twelve-fold from its peacetime strength of 200,000. In late 1941 this expansion meant that most units were undertrained and ill-equipped. Most training and equipment received by the Indian units in Burma was for operations in the Western Desert campaign or the North West Frontier of India rather than jungles. The battalions of the Burma Rifles which formed most of the 1st Burma Division were originally raised as internal security troops only. They were drawn from among minority communities in Burma such as the Karens. These units also had been rapidly expanded with an influx of Bamar soldiers. They were short of equipment and consisted mainly of new recruits. Japan entered the war primarily to obtain raw materials especially oil from European possessions in South East Asia. Their plans involved an attack on Burma partly because of Burma's own natural resources. These included some oil from fields around Yenangyaung but also minerals such as cobalt and large surpluses of rice.

• 3. The Burma Independence Army

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  As the threat of war grew, the Japanese sought links with potential allies in Burma. In late 1940 Aung San a Burmese student activist made contact with Suzuki Keiji in Amoy. He and several other volunteers known as the Thirty Comrades voyaged to Japan for talks. They were later given intensive military training on Hainan Island. The Burma Independence Army was officially founded in Bangkok Thailand on the 28th of December 1941. It consisted initially of 227 Burmese and 74 Japanese personnel. When the army entered into Burma it was made up of 2,300 men. As the Japanese and the BIA entered Burma the BIA gained a lot of support from the civilian population. They were bolstered by many Bamar volunteers. This caused their numbers to grow to such a level that by the time the Japanese forces reached Rangoon on the 8th of March the BIA numbered 10,000, 12,000. Eventually they expanded to between 18,000 and 23,000.

• 4. The Fall of Rangoon

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  On the 22nd of December 1941 the Japanese 55th Division based in Bangkok led by Lieutenant-General Takeshi Koga was ordered to cross the Burma frontier. They aimed to capture Moulmein. By the 17th of January the division was in Mae Sot preparing to advance on Kawkareik. On the 22nd of January 1942 the British evacuated Mergui. By the 23rd of January 1942 three important airstrips in southern Tenasserim , Tavoy Mergui Victoria Point , were all in Japanese hands. Fighter cover could now be provided for every bombing raid on Rangoon. The main body of the Japanese 55th Division began the main attack westward from Rahaeng in Thailand across the Kawkareik Pass on the 22nd of January 1942. The 16th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 17th Indian Division guarding this approach retreated hastily westward. The Japanese division advanced to Moulmein at the mouth of the Salween River which was garrisoned by the 2nd Burma Infantry Brigade. The position was almost impossible to defend with the River Salween behind it. The 2nd Burma Brigade was squeezed into a progressively tighter perimeter and eventually retreated over the river by ferry on the 31st of January after abandoning a large amount of supplies and equipment.

• 5. Catastrophic Allied Retreat

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  The retreat was conducted in horrible circumstances. Starving refugees disorganised stragglers and the sick and wounded clogged the primitive roads and tracks leading to India. At least 500,000 civilian fugitives reached India while an unknown number conservatively estimated between 10,000 and 50,000 died along the way. In later months 70 to 80% of those who reached India were afflicted with diseases such as dysentery smallpox malaria or cholera. Thirty percent were desperately so. On the 26th of April the British Indian and Burmese forces joined the civilians in a full retreat. The Burma Corps retreated to Manipur in India. The Japanese tried to cut off Burma Corps by sending troops by boat up the Chindwin River to seize the riverside port of Monywa on the night of 1/the 2nd of May. As the Corps tried to cross to Kalewa on the west bank of the Chindwin by ramshackle ferries on the 10th of May the Japanese advancing from Monywa attempted to surround them. Most of the Burma Corps' remaining equipment had to be destroyed or abandoned. On the 12th of May the Japanese occupied Kalewa having covered distance in 127 days fighting 34 battles.

• 6. Humanitarian Crisis Aftermath

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  The flow of refugees began soon after the bombing of Rangoon in late December 1941. It increased to a mass exodus in February 1922 as the Indian and Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Burmese population of Burma fled to India. Middle-class Indians and mixed-race refugees could often afford to buy tickets on ships or even planes. Ordinary labourers and their families in many cases were forced to make their way on foot. The majority of the refugees at Myitkyina were forced to make their way to India via the unhealthy Hukawng Valley and the precipitous forested Patkai Range. Many died on the way. When they reached India there were several instances in which civil authorities allowed white and Eurasian civilians to continue while preventing Indians from proceeding effectively condemning many to death. Panlong Subtownship a Chinese Muslim town in British Burma was entirely destroyed by the Japanese forces during their invasion. Ma Guanggui became the leader of the Hui Panglong self-defense guard created by the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China. The Japanese burned Panglong driving out the over 200 Hui households out as refugees. Yunnan and Kokang received the refugees from Panglong.