Burma Campaigns: Battles Over Lines Of Communication

By Lieutenant Colonel Kurt M. Frey

On 19 January 1942, two Japanese divisions invaded Burma and within five months defeated a numerically superior Allied Army. The Japanese conquest of Burma completely isolated China from lend-lease equipment support provided to it via the Burma Road. Over the course of the next three years, Allied forces engaged in ground campaigns designed to re-establish this land communications link with China. This is a description of the Allied campaigns in Burma and the importance that secure supply lines played in each of those campaigns. Information was gathered by historical review of a variety of reference materials. The lessons of Burma related to the campaigns launched there can be applied today in that country and in similar areas of operation around the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tannenberg Publishing
• Release date: Aug 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781782897224

Lieutenant Colonel Kurt M. Frey

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Text originally published in 1991 under the same title.

© Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

Burma Campaigns: Battles Over Lines of Communications

by

Kurt M. Frey, LTC, US ARMY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 42

ABSTRACT 43

INTRODUCTION 44

BACKGROUND 45

BURMA 46

ALLIED STRATEGY 48

THE FIRST ARAKAN CAMPAIGN 49

OPERATION LONGCLOTH 50

JAPANESE PLANS FOR THE INVASION OF INDIA 52

THE SECOND ARAKAN CAMPAIGN 53

THE NORTH BURMA CAMPAIGN 55

THE SECOND WINGATE EXPEDITION 57

THE SIEGE OF IMPHAL 59

ALLIED RE-CONQUEST OF BURMA 61

CONCLUSION 63

LESSONS LEARNED 63

Strategic 63

Operational 64

Tactical 64

SUMMARY 64

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 66

BIBLIOGRAPHY 67

ABSTRACT

On 19 January 1942, two Japanese divisions invaded Burma and within five months defeated a numerically superior Allied Army. The Japanese conquest of Burma completely isolated China from lend-lease equipment support provided to it via the Burma Road. Over the course of the next three years, Allied forces engaged in ground campaigns designed to re-establish this land communications link with China. This is a description of the Allied campaigns in Burma and the importance that secure supply lines played in each of those campaigns. Information was gathered by historical review of a variety of reference materials. The lessons of Burma related to the campaigns launched there can be applied today in that country and in similar areas of operation around the world.

INTRODUCTION

In January 1942, two well led, equipped and trained Japanese divisions attacked into Burma from Thailand. The British forces defending Burma were quickly and decisively defeated at the battle of the Sittang Bridge. By early March, the Japanese captured Rangoon, the capital