event_note History Timeline
1 May 1945 - 7 May 1945
War-damaged Rangoon
In the first week of May 1945, Allied troops led by the Indian 17th and Indian 26th Divisions retook Rangoon from the Japanese who retreated to Moulmein. It was the same week Adolf Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered.
Many people do not realize how badly damaged Rangoon was from the war, from Allied as well as Japanese bombing, and three-and-a-half years of occupation. The dockyards, railways, factories, oil refineries, and much basic infrastructure had been completely destroyed. The city was deep in filth, buildings thoroughly looted - it was a shell of what it was before Christmas 1941 when the Japanese first bombed the city.