March 1944 - May 1944
Burma in 1944
In March-April 1944, three Japanese divisions and one division of the Indian National Army under Subhas Chandra Bose were decisively beaten at Imphal and Kohima by British and Indian forces. Some 60,000 Japanese were killed.
In May 1944, three Chinese armies together with American special operations unit "Merrill's Marauders" attacked Myitkyina. The town and airstrip were taken only after a three-month siege and a ferocious resistance by the Japanese 33rd Army.
Over the same months, the Allies landed more than 20,000 Indian, Gurkha, and British Special Forces, the "Chindits" (from Burmese chinthe), behind Japanese lines in northern Burma - in what was the biggest Allied airborne operation in history. The Americans led air operations, which included the first helicopters ever used in war.
The Allied objective was to reopen land and air routes between India and China. By late 1944, over one million Allied troops and 300,000 Japanese troops were involved in the battles for Burma.
This archival "United News" news reel from 1944 shows scenes of combat as British, US, and Chinese troops advance against Japanese positions in Myanmar. Behind-the-scenes footage also shows the US special operations unit Merrill's Marauders in camp and being deployed by train.