XXXIII Corps ( British India ) The British Indian XXXIII Corps was a formation of the British Indian Army during World War II . It was disbanded and the headquarters was recreated as an Army headquarters in 1945 . Formation . The Corps was created at Bangalore in India on 15 August 1942 . Its first commander was Lieutenant General Philip Christison . On 15 October 1943 , Christison was transferred to command Indian XV Corps , which was then about to go into action in the Burma Campaign , and replaced as commander of XXXIII Corps by Lieutenant General Montagu Stopford . For much of its early history , the Corps was stationed in Southern India , preparing troops for several planned amphibious operations against the Japanese in the Indian Ocean . Fourteenth Army . The corps was added to the order of battle of Fourteenth Army during the crisis of spring 1944 . Japanese forces were besieging the British force at Imphal , with a detachment blocking the only road by which they could be relieved at Kohima . XXXIII Corps was dispatched to command the relief effort mounted from Assam . Its units were first concentrated around Dimapur , a vital railhead and logistic depot . Once sufficient troops had arrived , the British 2nd Division relieved the surrounded Indian 161st Brigade , which in turn relieved the defenders of Kohima . For several weeks , 2nd Division , joined later by the 7th Indian Infantry Division made repeated attacks to drive the Japanese from the positions they had captured on Kohima ridge , while the British 23rd Brigade ( a Chindit formation ) cut the Japanese lines of communication . Once the Japanese were forced into a retreat , the corps drove south to relieve Imphal . On 22 June 1944 , troops from XXXIII Corps met Indian forces advancing north from Imphal , relieving the siege . The Corps then undertook the elimination of Japanese forces around Ukhrul , and the administration of several divisions resting after the battles . Late in 1944 , a general offensive to liberate Burma began . At the start of the operation ( Operation Capital ) , the XXXIII Corps was the right flank striking force of Fourteenth Army , with IV Corps on its left . After it was realised that the Japanese had forestalled the attack by withdrawing behind the Irrawaddy River , the corps became the left flank formation , attacking into the Shwebo Plain between the Chindwin River and the Irrawaddy . It consisted of the British 2nd Division , the Indian 19th and 20th Divisions , the motorised Indian 268th Infantry Brigade and the Grant and Stuart tanks of the 254th Indian Tank Brigade . During late February , the corps captured bridgeheads over the Irrawaddy on a wide front , distracting Japanese attention from the main thrust by IV Corps . During March , it launched its own offensives . The city of Mandalay was captured by the 19th Division , and the Japanese armies on the Irrawaddy were shattered . After a brief period of reorganisation , the corps was switched once again to the right flank of Fourteenth Army . The British 2nd Division was returned to India , and the Indian 20th Division took over its vehicles . During April , the corps ( now consisting of the Indian 7th and 20th Divisions ) advanced south down the Irrawaddy River valley . In early May , it linked up with other Indian troops who had captured Rangoon , the capital . Transformation . The Allied command in Burma was rearranged in May , shortly after Rangoon fell . The Headquarters of XXXIII Corps was transformed into that of British Twelfth Army , with responsibility for further operations in Burma , with Stopford promoted to the new command .