The Battle of Tanlwe Chaung took place in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

on 26 April 1945. It was fought between the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

's 22nd East African Brigade, including the

Rhodesian African Rifles The Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) was a regiment of the Rhodesian Army. The ranks of the RAR were recruited from the black African population, although officers were generally from the white population. The regiment was formed in May 1940 in the ...

(RAR), and forces of

Imperial Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

. The battle resulted in the deaths of 14 RAR men and an unknown number of Japanese, with the RAR overrunning the Japanese and gaining vital ground.

RAR Preparations

In March, the 22nd East African Brigade assisted the

4th Indian Infantry Brigade The 4th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in September 1939, as the 7th Indian Infantry Brigade and renumbered 4th in June 1940, The brigade was assigned to HQ Rawalpin ...

, in advancing south towards the town of

Taungup Taungup, Toungup or Toungok ( my, တောင်ကုတ်မြို့) is a principal town of the Taungup Township in the Rakhine State of westernmost part of Myanmar. As of May 2020, there is one case of COVID-19, one of two cases in not ...

. On 17 April, command of Taungup was handed over to the 22nd East African Brigade. The

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

was split into four companies, their HQ was established on 20 April 1945. It was protected by A company, the other three companies took up defensive positions around the Chaung.

Battle Reconnaissance

At 1300 on 20 April, Japanese forces began to fire mortar and artillery rounds on the RAR positions, along with horrific rain. The morale of the RAR was weakened. Two

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

patrols were sent to survey two features codenamed "Bergner" and "Valerie". The patrol from D company encountered Japanese

light machine gun A light machine gun (LMG) is a light-weight machine gun designed to be operated by a single infantryman, with or without an assistant, as an infantry support weapon. LMGs firing cartridges of the same caliber as the other riflemen of the sam ...

fire, confirming that both features were held by concealed Japanese. On 24 April, three more RAR patrols were sent to pinpoint machine gun placements, one from each company. During which B company suffered their first fatality of the battle, after a

heavy machine gun A heavy machine gun (HMG) is significantly larger than light machine gun, light, medium machine gun, medium or general-purpose machine guns. HMGs are typically too heavy to be man-portable (carried by one person) and require weapon mount, mountin ...

opened up on B Company's

Bren The Bren gun was a series of light machine guns (LMG) made by Britain in the 1930s and used in various roles until 1992. While best known for its role as the British and Commonwealth forces' primary infantry LMG in World War II, it was also used ...

gunner.

The battle

On the morning of 26 April, two West African 4.7-inch howitzer batteries began to fire on ''Bergner'' and ''Valerie'' assisted by Hawker Hurricanes. A company's mortar platoon began to fire on ''Bergner''. From their positions A and D company advanced on ''Bergner''. Artillery fire was then focused on ''Valerie'', which caused confusion among the Japanese. Soldiers dug in on ''Valerie'' abandoned their foxholes and went to the aid of their Japanese comrades on ''Bergner''. At this point A company advanced catching the Japanese in open ground. The Japanese withdrew to the lower slopes. A and D company then dug in on ''Valerie'' and ''Bergner''. This allowed the HQ to be moved to the north of ''Bergner'', giving the HQ a good view of the surrounding area. That night the Japanese mortared the RAR's newly won positions and killed 3 men after hitting A company's trench. Japanese forces then attacked from the rear, causing unrest among the RAR soldiers and four men lost their lives through friendly fire.A monthly publication for the Rhodesian Services Association Incorporated

References

{{coord missing Tanlwe Chaung Tanlwe Chaung 1945 in Burma Military history of Southern Rhodesia during World War II Battles and operations of World War II involving India