World War Two (1942-1945)
Burma was the site of some of the most important land battles of World War Two. It was also the setting for some of the most humiliating defeats the British would face during the war – it would take the combined powers of the Allied forces and the might of multiple armies to win Burma back from the Japanese.
While the Allied forces were ultimately victorious in Burma, the country was left in ruins. The political progress of the preceding years – the attempts at constitutional reform and the path to self-governance that had been established – was in tatters and would be replaced by a militant nationalism that has dominated the country to the present day.
The essays, stories, photographs, and battle plans included in this section explore the intersections between the global war, the military history of Burma during that time, and the local politics that emerged from the wreckage.
The Battle of the Sittang Bend
The Battle of the Sittang Bend took place from 2 July to 7 August 1945. Soon after the Allied recapture of Rangoon in May 1945, the Japanese 15th, 28th and 33rd armies under General Heitarō Kimura attempted to break out from the Pegu Yomas and move towards Thailand. It was a bloody battle as the Japanese tried to break out during heavy rains but were met by British forces. Nearly 10,000 were killed and another 5,000 wounded. This breakout attempt...
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The Allied capture of Rangoon
On 2 May 1945 United Nations forces recaptured Rangoon. Dubbed "Operation Dracula". Though the United Nations Charter would not be ratified for five more months, the "Declaration of the United Nations" had been agreed by 26 nations in January 1942, including the US, UK, and USSR. Allied forces were from then often referred to as "United Nations forces" for the rest of the war. A million-man overland invasion from both India and China had already taken Myitkyina (August 1944), Meiktila...
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