BRITISH ARMY IN FIERCE BATTLE IN BURMA

Central Burma · March 4, 1945

The British Fourteenth Army was a multinational force that took part in the Burma Cam­paign (January 1942 to July 1945). Units were drawn from the British Army and the Indian Army, with signi­fi­cant con­tri­bu­tions from Ghurkha and West and East African regi­ments. The Four­teenth Army has often been referred to as the “For­got­ten Army” because its theater of oper­a­tions had long been written off as a “side­show,” since fighting there did not con­tri­bute to the defeat of Japan.

For most of the Army’s exis­tence, it was com­manded by Lt. Gen. William Slim, one of the most extraor­dinary generals of his genera­tion. After the March 7, 1942, fall of Ran­goon (or Yang­on), capi­tal and port city of the Brit­ish colony of Burma (also known today as Myan­mar), the Allies attempted to make a stand in the north of the coun­try. Oper­a­tions in upper Burma over the remainder of 1942 and 1943 were a study in mili­tary frus­tration due largely to the “Ger­many First” approach adopted by policymakers in London and Washington.

In 1944 the Japa­nese Army in Burma attempted to invade British India (the Imphal and Kohima cam­paigns named after two small towns that were home to British front­line garri­sons). The Imphal oper­a­tion, when finally broken off early in July 1944, was the greatest mili­tary defeat on land to that date in Japa­nese history, a defeat brought on partly by dis­ease that ravaged Japa­nese ranks and partly by superior Bri­tish intel­li­gence.

On this date in 1945, after a four-day fero­cious battle, Gen. Slim’s Four­teenth Army took the central Bur­mese town of Meiktila, an im­por­tant line-of-commu­ni­cation center for the Japa­nese. Man­dalay, the old royal capi­tal of Burma, was the Four­teenth Army’s next objec­tive, and it fell on March 20, 1945, though the Japa­nese held the former cita­del, called Fort Dufferin, for another week. Much of the his­torically and cul­turally signi­fi­cant portions of Man­da­lay were burned to the ground in scenes remi­nis­cent of the des­truc­tion the Japa­nese in­flicted on the Philip­pine capital of Manila in the same month. Between the two Bur­mese battles—Meiktila and Mandalay—most of the Japa­nese forces in the British colony were destroyed, allowing the Allies to later recap­ture Ran­goon, which the Japa­nese had eva­cu­ated, and reoccupy most of the country with little organized opposition.

1942 Japanese Conquest of Burma and the British Fourteenth Army’s Retaking of Meiktila in March 1945

Japanese inroads in Burma, April–May 1942

Above: Map showing Japanese inroads in Burma (heavy red lines) and British
routes of withdrawal (thin blue lines), April–May 1942.

Burma Campaign: Tanks and trucks, Meiktila, Burma, March 1945Burma Campaign: British Indian Army, Meiktila, March 1945

Left: Sherman tanks and trucks of Gen. William Slim’s Fourteenth Army advance on Meiktila, Burma, March 1945. (Meiktila, south of Man­da­lay, is to the im­me­diate left of the middle red arrow in the map above.)

Right: Men of the British Indian Army (6/7th Rajputana Rifles) advance behind Sherman tanks during the assault on Meiktila. Over­coming immense logis­ti­cal pro­blems, Slim’s armored dash behind enemy lines seized Meiktila, cutting Japa­nese supply lines. At the end of March 1945, the spent Japa­nese 15th Army with­drew south, leaving Ran­goon to the British on May 2–3, 1945, while making their way east to Thai­land. On Septem­ber 12, 1945, the British accepted the sur­ren­der of 680,000 Japa­nese soldiers still left in Southeast Asia.

Scenes from the Allies’ Two-Prong Burma Campaign, 1944–1945