15 June 1945
Allied Forces Holding a Victory Parade Along Shwedagon Pagoda Road
people Louis Mountbatten General Aung San
On 15 June 1945, Allied forces under Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten held a victory parade over the Japanese Empire. Lord Louis Mountbatten took the salute together with other Allied commanders including General Aung San, who had just been given the rank of "Deputy Inspector General".
The march past included units of the Indian Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the US Army, the Chinese Army, and the "Patriotic Burma Forces" under General Aung San. The new flag of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League was allowed to fly alongside the flags of the UK, France, Netherlands, and other United Nations members.
This photograph, from the UK's Imperial War Museum collection, shows Mountbatten taking the salue as Allied forces march past the reviewing stand, which was near the intersection with Montgomery Road, close to Jubilee Hall and the Anglican Cathedral (Holy Trinity). The Cathedral on Commissioner's Road (now Bogyoke Aung San Street) is visible behind the reviewing stand.