page_title: 178th Assault Field Regiment, Royal Artillery
section_title: Meiktila and Mandalay
hierarchical_section_title: 178th Assault Field Regiment, Royal Artillery / Burma / Meiktila and Mandalay
caption_attribution_description: English: The British Army in Burma 1944 Men of the 36th Infantry Division firing a 25-pdr field gun.
context_page_description: 178th Assault Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was a British Army unit during World War II. Formed as a conventional field artillery regiment in 1942, it was sent to Burma where it was given a range of specialist roles, ranging from operating tracked self-propelled guns to manning light howitzers parachuted into jungle clearings. After the Japanese surrender, it saw action in the Allied Occupation of Java before disbanding in late 1946.
context_section_description: 36th Division was now the only part of NCAC in action, on the left flank of Fourteenth Army, which was closing in on Meiktila and Mandalay in Central Burma. While the British Division forced a bridgehead at Myitson and then advanced south (supplied by air) to link up with Fourteenth Army, NCAC was broken up and its Chinese elements returned to China. By the end of March, Fourteenth Army had won the Battle of Mandalay and was preparing to advance on Rangoon.
  While Fourteenth Army fought the Battle of the Rangoon Road, 36th Division cleared the area east of Meiktila, supplied by road from the Mandalay airhead and by supply drops to the forward troops by US Tenth Air Force. However, the difficulty of supplying and reinforcing British formations in Central Burma meant that 36th Division was selected to be flown out before the onset of the Monsoon and the withdrawal of US aircraft to China. On 5 May 1945 178th Assault Fd Rgt was flown to Imphal, and then moved to the rest areas round Poona, arriving on 15 May.
caption: A 25-pounder of 36th Division in action in Burma, 1944.
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