Arakan Campaign (1942–1943)
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The Arakan campaign of 1942–1943 was the first tentative Allied attack into
Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...
, following the
Japanese invasion of Burma The Japanese invasion of Burma was a series of battles fought in the British colony of Burma (present-day Myanmar) as part of the Pacific Theater of World War II. The initial invasion in 1942 resulted in the capture of Rangoon and the retre ...
earlier in 1942, during the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
and
British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
were not ready for offensive actions in the difficult terrain they encountered, nor had the civil government, industry and transport infrastructure of Eastern India been organised to support the Army on the frontier with Burma. Japanese defenders occupying well-prepared positions repeatedly repulsed the British and Indian forces, who were then forced to retreat when the Japanese received reinforcements and counter-attacked.


Prelude


Situation in 1942

In May 1942, the Allies retreated from Burma, accompanied by many refugees, mainly Indian and Anglo-Burmese. Although the Japanese halted their advance on the
Chindwin River The Chindwin River (), also known as the Ningthi River (), is a river in Myanmar and is the largest tributary of the Irrawaddy River. Sources The Chindwin originates in the broad Hukawng Valley of Kachin State of Burma, roughly , where the Tanai, ...
(mainly because the heavy
monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...
rains descended at this point and made the roads and tracks through the mountainous frontier between India and Burma impassable), the leadership of the
British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...
feared that they would attack again after the monsoon ended. The Government of India and the state governments of the eastern provinces of
Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
,
Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
and
Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...
faced widespread disorder and a growing famine which would eventually become the disastrous
Bengal famine of 1943 The Bengal famine of 1943 was a famine in the Bengal province of British India (present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal and eastern India) during World War II. An estimated 800,000–3.8 million people died, in the Bengal region (present-day Ban ...
. The British reorganised their command in eastern India. The headquarters of Eastern Army, under Lieutenant General Charles Broad, were at
Ranchi Ranchi (; ) is the capital city and also the largest district by population of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern ...
in Bihar. This army command was originally a peacetime administrative headquarters for depots and units stationed in Eastern India. It unexpectedly found itself in control of a very large rear communications area, and the troops on the frontier with Burma, roles for which it had not prepared in peacetime. Its fighting formations were the
IV Corps 4 Corps, 4th Corps, Fourth Corps, or IV Corps may refer to: France * 4th Army Corps (France) * IV Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * IV Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperi ...
, commanded by Lieutenant General
Noel Irwin Lieutenant General Noel Mackintosh Stuart Irwin, (24 December 1892 – 21 December 1972) was a senior British Army officer, who played a prominent role in the British Army after the Dunkirk evacuation and in the Burma campaign during the Second ...
, at
Imphal Imphal (; , ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (officially known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the former Kingdom of Manipur, surrounded by a ...
in
Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
, and the newly formed XV Corps, commanded from 9 June 1942 by Lieutenant General William Slim, with its headquarters at
Barrackpore Barrackpore (), also known as Barrackpore,is a city and municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the India, Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Barrackpore subdivision. The city is a part of the area covered by Ko ...
, near
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
. XV Corps in turn commanded 14th Indian (Light) Division which was stationed around
Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...
and faced the Burmese coastal province of Arakan, and the
26th Indian Infantry Division The 26th Indian Infantry Division, was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II. It fought in the Burma Campaign. History When the Japanese invaded Burma in 1942, the various units in training or stationed around Barrackpu ...
in the
Ganges Delta The Ganges Delta (also known the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, the Sundarbans Delta or the Bengal Delta) is a river delta predominantly covering the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, consisting of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Be ...
. The 14th (Light) Division had been raised at
Quetta Quetta is the capital and largest city of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. It is the ninth largest city in Pakistan, with an estimated population of over 1.6 million in 2024. It is situated in the south-west of the country, lying in a ...
in
Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...
and was originally intended to form part of the Allied forces in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
. It was fully formed and equipped but lacked training, particularly in jungle warfare. The 26th Division was still forming, and was engaged in training and in internal security duties.


Allied plans

General
Archibald Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded ...
, the Commander in Chief in India, was making plans to mount offensives into Burma even as Allied troops were retreating into India. On most parts of the front, roads and other lines of communications had to be improved or built from scratch before attacks could be considered, a task which would take at least a year, but on the
Arakan Arakan ( or ; , ), formerly anglicised as Aracan, is the historical geographical name for the northeastern coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, covering present-day Bangladesh and Myanmar. The region was called "Arakan" for centuries. It is ...
front, distances were comparatively short and the necessary communications could theoretically be completed by the time the monsoon ended. In fact, the time required to improve the poor roads in the region delayed the start of the offensive until mid-December 1942. In July, General Broad retired and Lieutenant General Irwin was appointed to command Eastern Army. He informed Lieutenant General Slim that the headquarters of Eastern Army and XV Corps were to exchange places for the offensive. Eastern Army HQ would move to Barrackpur and take direct command of the Arakan offensive, while XV Corps HQ moved to Ranchi to restore order in Bihar, and raise and train fresh divisions for later combat in Burma. The limited goal of the British advance in Arakan in 1942 and 1943 was
Akyab Island Sittwe (, ), formerly Akyab (), is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal. As of 2019 the city h ...
. This held a port and all-weather airfield, which were prominent in Allied plans to recover Burma. Fighters and transport aircraft, operating at a radius of from Akyab, could cover most of Central Burma, and medium bombers operating from Akyab could range as far as
Rangoon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...
, the capital of Burma, distant. The island lay at the end of the Mayu Peninsula. This was marked by a narrow but precipitous and jungle-covered range of hills, the Mayu Range, which separated the narrow coastal plain from the fertile rice-growing valley of the Kalapanzin River, which became the Mayu River below the town of
Buthidaung Buthidaung (, ) is a town in Rakhine State, in the westernmost part of Myanmar (Burma). It is the administrative seat of the Buthidaung Township. Buthidaung lies on the west bank of the Mayu river, and experienced severe flooding in June 2010 and ...
. The only permanently established route across the range was a disused railway track, converted into a road, which linked Buthidaung with the port of
Maungdaw Maungdaw (, ) is a town in Rakhine State, in the western part of Myanmar (Burma). It is the administrative seat of Maungdaw Township and Maungdaw District. Bordering Bangladesh, Maungdaw is home to one of 2 official border trade posts with Bang ...
on the west coast of the peninsula. Wavell's plan to capture Akyab was codenamed Operation ''Cannibal''. It was originally planned in September 1942 that Akyab would be taken by an amphibious assault launched by the
British 29th Brigade The 29th Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade unit of the British Army. It was originally raised in 1914 and saw service during the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War. First World War The 29th Brigade was formed in August 1914 as ...
, while the 14th Indian Division mounted a subsidiary advance down the Mayu peninsula. The amphibious part of the plan was dropped because 29th Brigade (which until November 1942 was engaged in the
Battle of Madagascar The Battle of Madagascar (5 May – 6 November 1942) was an Allied campaign to capture the Vichy French-controlled island Madagascar during World War II. The seizure of the island by the British was to deny Madagascar's ports to the Imperial ...
) and the necessary landing craft could not be made available in time. Instead, it was planned that once 14th Division had reached Foul Point at the extreme southern end of the Mayu peninsula, it would improvise an attack by the British 6th Brigade across the narrow channel which separated Akyab Island from the peninsula. (By late December, five motor launches, 72 landing craft and three paddle steamers were available.)


Battle


Advance begins

The 14th Indian Division, commanded by Major General
Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd Major General Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd CBE, DSO and Bar, MC (1 March 1896 – 22 January 1944) was an officer in the British Army and the British Indian Army during the First and Second world wars. Early life Lloyd was born in York, England, on ...
, began advancing south from
Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; ; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and Cox's Bazar District, district headquarters in south-eastern Bangladesh. Cox's Bazar Beach, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangladesh, is the longest uninterrupte ...
near the frontier between India and Burma, on 17 December 1942. The Japanese defending the Arakan front were "Miyawaki Force". This consisted of two battalions of the 213th Regiment (part of the Japanese 33rd Division), a
mountain artillery Mountain guns are artillery pieces designed for mountain warfare and other areas where wheeled transport is not possible. They are generally capable of being taken apart to make smaller loads for transport by horses, humans, mules, tractors, or t ...
battalion and various supporting arms detachments, commanded by Colonel Kosuke Miyawaki. Although the forward unit (the second battalion of the 213th Regiment, known as "Isagoda battalion" after its commander) had spent fifty days digging defensive positions to cover the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road, they were ordered to pull back to join the main body of the force near the tip of the Mayu peninsula. Lloyd's division captured the road on 22 December.


Advance stalls

At this point, Miyawaki was informed that another division, the Japanese 55th Division, less a regiment which was serving in western
New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
, had been dispatched from Central Burma to Arakan. The division's commander was Lieutenant General Takeshi Koga. Miyawaki was ordered to move forward to Donbaik on the Mayu peninsula and
Rathedaung Rathedaung () is the administrative town of Rathedaung Township in Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). It is situated beside the Mayu River and is located north of Sittwe. The town is split into four quarters; Taung Ran Tan and Chaung Wa are the no ...
on the east bank of the Mayu River, to secure positions from which this division could operate. On 28 December, the "Isagoda Battalion" occupied Rathedaung and forestalled the attempt by the 123rd Indian Infantry Brigade to capture the town. On 9–10 January, renewed attacks on Rathedaung were thrown back. While most of Miyawaki's remaining troops occupied Akyab, a single Japanese company occupied the narrow front between the sea and the foothills of the Mayu Range north of Donbaik, protected by a ''chaung'' (a tidal creek) with steep banks high. They constructed well-concealed and mutually supporting bunkers of timber and earth. Between 7 and 9 January 1943, the 47th Indian Infantry Brigade attacked this line but were repulsed. The bunkers could not be penetrated by field artillery, and if British or Indian infantry reached the bunkers, the defenders could call down artillery and mortar fire on their own position. Wavell and Irwin visited Lloyd on 10 January. Lloyd asked for tanks to deal with the bunkers. Irwin in turn demanded a single troop of tanks from
50th Indian Tank Brigade The 50th Indian Tank Brigade was an Armoured warfare, armoured brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed for service in the Burma Campaign of World War II from units of the British Army and the British Indian Army. Th ...
, part of Slim's XV Corps at Ranchi. Both Slim and the brigade commander (Brigadier George Todd) protested that a complete regiment (of 50 or more tanks) would be required, but they were overruled. On 1 February, 55th Indian Infantry Brigade, supported by only eight
Valentine tank The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during World War II. More than 8,000 Valentines were produced in eleven marks, plus specialised variants, accounting for about a quarter of wartime Britis ...
s, attacked the Donbaik position. Some of the tanks became stuck in ditches, while others were knocked out by Japanese shellfire; the brigade's attack subsequently failed. A renewed attack by the Indian 123rd Brigade on Rathedaung two days later briefly gained some outlying positions, but the Brigade was forced to withdraw. The third battalion of the Japanese 213th Regiment had been sent to Arakan from
Pakokku Pakokku (, ) is the largest city in the Magway Region of Myanmar. It is situated about 30 km northeast of Bagan on the Irrawaddy River. It is the administration seat of Pakokku Township, Pakokku District and Gangaw District. Pakokku Bridge ...
in Central Burma, where it had been in reserve, ahead of the 55th Division. During February, it cleared detachments of the British irregular
V Force V Force was a reconnaissance, intelligence-gathering and guerrilla organisation established by the British against Japanese forces during the Burma Campaign in World War II. Establishment and organisation In April 1942, when the Japanese drove ...
from the valley of the
Kaladan River The Kaladan (, ) or Kissapanadi River (, ), also known as the Beino, Bawinu and Kolodyne, is a river in the eastern Mizoram, Mizoram State of India, and in Chin State and Rakhine State of western Myanmar. The Kaladan River is called the Chhimtuip ...
, where they had been threatening the Japanese lines of communication. V Force warned the British of the large numbers of Japanese approaching the battlefield.


Last British attacks

Following their defeats at Donbaik, the Indian 47th and 55th Brigades had been moved east of the Mayu Range. In the first week of March, the third battalion of the Japanese 213th Regiment crossed the Mayu River and attacked Indian 55th Brigade, forcing it to retreat. This left the Indian 47th Brigade isolated north of Rathedaung. In spite of this growing threat to the left flank of 14th Division, General Irwin demanded that another attack be made on the Donbaik position, using the powerful and well-trained British 6th Brigade. On 10 March, Lieutenant General Slim had been ordered to report on the situation in Arakan, although it was not yet intended that XV Corps headquarters take charge of the front. Slim reported to Irwin that with so many brigades to command, 14th Indian Division was unable to control the front. Morale was low in some units, reflected in unnecessary panics. However, Irwin made no changes at this point. For the next assault on Donbaik, Lloyd planned to use the 71st Indian Brigade in a flanking move along the spine of the Mayu Range, but by this time, Irwin had lost confidence in Lloyd and his brigadiers, and laid down the plan of attack himself. He diverted the 71st Brigade to the Mayu Valley and ordered the British 6th Brigade, reinforced to a strength of six battalions, to make an attack on a narrow front. The brigade attacked on 18 March. Some of the Japanese 55th Division had reinforced the defenders of Donbaik, and in spite of heavy artillery support the 6th Brigade also was unable to deal with the bunkers and suffered 300 casualties. After this repulse, Wavell and Irwin ordered the ground already taken to be held.


Japanese counter-attack

On 25 March, Lloyd ordered the isolated 47th Indian Brigade to fall back across the Mayu Range, despite Irwin's instructions to hold all ground until the monsoon. Irwin rescinded Lloyd's order and dismissed Lloyd on 29 March, taking command of the 14th Division in person until the headquarters of the Indian 26th Division, commanded by Major-General Cyril Lomax, could take over. On 3 April, while "Uno Force" (the Japanese 143rd Regiment) pressed northwards up the Mayu River valley, the main body of the Japanese 55th Division ("Tanahashi Force", consisting mainly of the 112th Regiment) crossed the Mayu Range at a point where British officers had regarded the range as impassable and cut the coastal track behind the leading British troops. They attacked on the night of 5 April and captured the village of Indin, where they also overran the headquarters of the British 6th Brigade and captured its commander, Brigadier Ronald Cavendish, his adjutant and six staff officers. Cavendish, some of his staff and some of their Japanese captors were killed shortly afterwards, probably by British artillery fire. (Cavendish had directed the British guns to open fire on Indin just before being overrun.) The 47th Indian Brigade was forced to retreat across the Mayu Range in small parties, abandoning all its equipment and ceasing to exist as a fighting force. Indian XV Corps headquarters under Lieutenant General Slim belatedly took charge of the Arakan front. Although the British 6th Brigade was still formidable in spite of its recent defeats, Slim was concerned that the other troops on the front were tired and demoralised. Nevertheless, he and Lomax anticipated that the Japanese would next try to capture the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road and planned to surround and destroy them. While the British 6th Brigade defended the coastal plain, eight British and Indian battalions were deployed to encircle the Japanese as they neared the road at a point where two tunnels carried it through the Mayu range. In late April, the Japanese attacked northwards, as Slim and Lomax had predicted. They met stiff resistance on the flanks and advanced instead in the centre. On 4 May as Slim prepared to order two Indian battalions to surround the Japanese, a British battalion defending a hill referred to as Point 551 gave way, allowing the Japanese to cut the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road. Counter-attacks failed and the British and Indian troops in Buthidaung and the Kalapanzin valley were cut off. As there was no other route for motor vehicles across the Mayu Range, they were forced to destroy their transport before retreating north up the valley. Irwin ordered Maungdaw at least to be held but Slim and Lomax decided that the port was not prepared for a siege and that Japanese artillery could dominate the
Naf River The Naf River ( ''Naf Nodi'' ; ; ) is an international river marking part of the Bangladesh–Myanmar border, border of southeastern Bangladesh and northwestern Myanmar. Geography The Naf's average depth is , and maximum depth is . Its width ...
on which the port stood, preventing reinforcements and supplies reaching it. They also feared that the exhausted troops which 26th Indian Division had inherited could not be relied upon to defend the port resolutely. On 11 May, the port was abandoned and XV Corps fell back to Cox's Bazar in India, where the open rice-growing country gave the advantage to British artillery. The British stand had also bought enough time for the monsoon rains to arrive in force (Arakan receives per annum), dissuading the Japanese from following up their successes.


Aftermath

Irwin, Slim and other officers were frank about the chief cause of failure in the Arakan. The average British and Indian soldier was not properly trained for fighting in jungle, which together with repeated defeats adversely affected morale. This was exacerbated by poor administration in the rear areas in India. Drafts of reinforcements sent to replace casualties were found in some cases to have not even completed basic training.Allen (1984), p.115 There were several contributing factors. At one point, 14th Indian Division HQ was controlling no less than nine infantry brigades (instead of the usual three) and a large line of communications area. It was not equipped to handle this enormous responsibility. The road used as supply routes were inadequate, and there were insufficient landing craft and small ships as an alternative. Lieutenant General Irwin attempted to dismiss Slim from command of XV Corps, but was himself relieved of command of Eastern Army, and returned to Britain on sick leave. His replacement at Eastern Army was General
George Giffard General Sir George James Giffard, (27 September 1886 – 17 November 1964) was a British military officer, who had a distinguished career in command of African troops in the First World War, rising to command an Army Group in South East Asia in ...
, a very different character from the abrasive Irwin. Giffard concentrated on restoring the Army's morale and improving its state of health and training. The first
Chindit The Chindits, officially known as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. ...
raid under Brigadier
Orde Wingate Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Orde Charles Wingate, (26 February 1903 – 24 March 1944) was a senior British Army officer known for his creation of the Chindits, Chindit deep-penetration missions in Japanese-held territory duri ...
concluded about this time, and its successes were widely publicised to counter the depressing news from the Arakan. As part of a general shuffle of the senior appointments in the Allied, British and Indian armies about this time, Wavell became
Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...
and General
Claude Auchinleck Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck ( ) (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), was a British Indian Army commander who saw active service during the world wars. A career soldier who spent much of his militar ...
became Commander in Chief in India. The Indian Army establishment was reorganised to concentrate on fighting the Burma campaign, with success in the following two years.


Notes


References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arakan Campaign Burma campaign (1942–1943) Battles and operations of World War II involving India Battles of World War II involving Japan Battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom