Burma Campaign 1944 The fighting in the Burma Campaign in 1944 was among the severest in the South - East Asian Theatre of World War II . It took place along the borders between Burma and India , and Burma and China , and involved the British Commonwealth , Chinese and United States forces , against the forces of the Empire of Japan and the Indian National Army . British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from the United Kingdom , British India and Africa . The Allies had overcome the logistic and organisational difficulties which had crippled their earlier efforts , and they were preparing to invade Japanese - occupied Burma at several widely separated points . The Japanese forestalled them by launching their own offensive into India , and this offensive became larger in scope than originally intended . By the end of the year , the Allies had achieved significant territorial gains only in one sector , the extreme north - east of Burma , but the Japanese attack on India had been defeated with very heavy casualties . This handicapped the Japanese attempts to defend Burma against renewed Allied offensives in the following year . Rival plans . Allied plans . After the Japanese conquest of Burma in early 1942 , the Allies had launched tentative counterattacks in late 1942 and early 1943 , despite lack of preparation and resources . This resulted in a defeat in the coastal Arakan Province of Burma , and a questionable success in the first Chindit long - range raid into Burma ( codenamed Operation " Longcloth " ) . In August 1943 the Allies created South East Asia Command ( SEAC ) , a new combined command responsible for the South - East Asian Theatre . Its Commander in Chief was Admiral Louis Mountbatten . This brought a new sense of purpose and in November , when SEAC took over responsibility for Burma , the newly formed British Fourteenth Army was ready to take the offensive . The substantial improvement in the effectiveness of the troops which Fourteenth Army inherited has been credited to its commander , Lieutenant General William Slim . He enforced the use of anti - malarial drugs as part of an emphasis on individual health , established realistic jungle warfare training , rebuilt the army ' s self - respect by winning easy small - scale victories and developed local military infrastructure . Slim ' s efforts were aided by improvements to the Allied supply lines . By October 1944 , capacity on the North - East Indian Railways had been raised to 4 , 400 tons a day from 600 tons a day at the start of the war . The Allied Eastern Air Command , which consisted mainly of Royal Air Force squadrons but also several units of the Indian Air Force and bomber and transport units of the United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) , had gained air superiority and this allowed the Allies to employ new tactics , relying upon air support and aerial resupply of troops . SEAC had to accommodate several rival plans : After protracted staff discussions within India and between the Allied staffs and commanders in London , Washington and Chungking , the Allied plans for 1944 were reduced to : the offensive by Stilwell ' s Chinese troops from Ledo ; the Chindit operation in support of Stilwell ; the renewed overland attack in the Arakan ; and a rather ill - defined offensive across the Chindwin River from Imphal in support of the other operations . Japanese plans . About the same time that SEAC was established , the Japanese had created a new headquarters , Burma Area Army , commanded by Lieutenant General Masakazu Kawabe . Its subordinate formations were the Japanese Fifteenth Army in the north and east of Burma and the Japanese Twenty - Eighth Army in the south and west . By chance or design , the new commander of Fifteenth Army , Lieutenant General Renya Mutaguchi , had played a major part in many recent Japanese triumphs . He had for example been the officer immediately concerned in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in 1937 , which started hostilities between Japan and China , and stated his belief that it was his destiny to win the war for Japan . He was keen to mount an offensive against India . Burma Area Army originally quashed this idea , but Mutaguchi ' s persistent advocacy won over officers at Southern Expeditionary Army Group at Singapore , the HQ of all Japanese forces in southern Asia . Finally , Imperial General Headquarters in Tokyo approved Mutaguchi ' s plan . Officers who opposed Mutaguchi ' s plans were transferred or sidelined . Neither Kawabe , nor Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi , the commander in chief of Southern Expeditionary Army Group , were given any opportunity to veto Mutaguchi ' s plan , or to control the operation once it had started . The Japanese were influenced to an unknown degree by Subhas Chandra Bose , commander of the Indian National Army . This was composed largely of Indian soldiers who had been captured in Malaya or Singapore , and some Tamil labourers living in Malaya . At Bose ' s instigation , a substantial contingent of the INA joined in this Chalo Delhi ( " March on Delhi " ) . Both Bose and Mutaguchi emphasised the advantages which would be gained by a successful attack into India . With misgivings on the part of several of Mutaguchi ' s superiors and subordinates , Operation U - Go was launched . Northern front . Stilwell ' s forces , the Northern Combat Area Command , initially consisted of two American - equipped Chinese divisions , with a Chinese - manned M3 Light Tank battalion and an American long - range penetration brigade known after its commander as " Merrill ' s Marauders " . Three Chinese divisions were later flown from Yunnan to Ledo to reinforce Stilwell . In October 1943 the Chinese 38th Division , led by Sun Li - jen , began to advance from Ledo towards Shinbwiyang , while American engineers and Indian labourers extended the Ledo Road behind them . The Japanese 18th Division advanced to the Chindwin to stop them , but found itself outmatched . Whenever the Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions ran into Japanese strong points , the Marauders were used to outflank Japanese positions by going through the jungle . A technique which had served the Japanese so well earlier in the war before the Allies had learnt the arts of jungle warfare was now being used against them . At Walawbum , for example , if the Chinese 38th Division had been a little swifter and linked up with the Marauders it could have encircled the Japanese 18th Division . Not only were the Japanese driven back , but the Allies were able to use the trace of the track the Japanese had constructed to supply 18th Division , to speed their construction of the Ledo Road . Second Chindit Expedition . In Operation Thursday the Chindits were to support Stilwell ' s advance by interdicting Japanese supply lines in the region of Indaw . On 5 February 1944 , Brigadier Bernard Fergusson ' s 16th Brigade set out from Ledo , on foot . They crossed exceptionally difficult terrain which the Japanese had not guarded , and penetrated the Japanese rear areas . In early March , three other brigades were flown into landing zones behind Japanese lines by the USAAF 1st Air Commando Group , from where they established strongholds on most of the Japanese road and rail links to their northern front . Over the next two and a half months the Chindits were involved in many very heavy contacts with the Japanese . Brigadier Michael Calvert ' s 77th Brigade successfully defended one of the landing zones , codenamed " Broadway " , and established a road and railway block at Mawlu , north of Indaw . This position , codenamed the " White City " , was successfully held for several weeks . Not all communications to the Japanese northern front were blocked , as only a single Chindit battalion operated against the road from Bhamo to Myitkyina , beyond the range of effective Allied air support . On 24 March , Fergusson ' s brigade attempted to capture the airfield at Indaw but was repulsed , following which the exhausted brigade was withdrawn to India . On the same day , Wingate , the commander of the Chindits , was killed in an aircrash . His replacement was Brigadier Joe Lentaigne , formerly the commander of the 111th Brigade , one of the Chindit formations . On 17 May , overall control of the Chindits was transferred from Slim ' s Fourteenth Army to Stilwell ' s NCAC . The Chindits evacuated " Broadway " and the " White City " , and moved from the Japanese rear areas to new bases closer to Stilwell ' s front . They were given additional tasks for which they were not equipped . At the same time , the Japanese replaced the scratch " Take Force " which had been trying to defend their rear areas with the newly formed headquarters of the Japanese Thirty - Third Army , and deployed 53rd Division against the Chindits . The 111th Brigade , now commanded by John Masters , tried to establish another road and rail block codenamed " Blackpool " near Hopin , but were forced to retreat after 17 days of battle . The monsoon had broken , making movement difficult and preventing the other Chindit formations reinforcing Masters ' s brigade . Calvert ' s 77th Brigade captured Mogaung after a siege which ended on 27 June , but at the cost of 50 percent casualties . By July , it was clear that the Chindits were exhausted by continuous marching and fighting under heavy monsoon rains , and were withdrawn . By the end of the campaign the Chindits had lost 1 , 396 killed and 2 , 434 wounded . Over half the remainder had to be hospitalised with a special diet afterwards . The British 36th Division was transferred to Stilwell ' s command to replace the Chindits . Yunnan Front . The Chinese forces on the Yunnan front mounted an attack starting in the second half of April , with nearly 40 , 000 troops crossing the Salween River on a front . Within a few days some twelve Chinese Divisions , totalling 72 , 000 men under the command of General Wei Lihuang , were attacking the Japanese 56th Division . The Japanese forces in the North were now fighting on two fronts , against the Allies from the North West and the Nationalist Chinese from the North East . The Chinese Yunnan offensive was hampered by the monsoon rains and lack of air support , but succeeded in surrounding the garrison of Tengchung at the end of May . ( It held out before being annihilated in late September . ) After overcoming determined Japanese resistance ( in which the Japanese were helped when Chinese plans and codes fell into their hands by chance ) , the Chinese captured Lungling at the end of August . At this point , the Japanese moved reinforcements ( amounting to a further division in strength ) to Yunnan and counter - attacked , temporarily halting the Chinese advance . Siege of Myitkyina . While the Japanese offensive on the Central Front was being waged , Stilwell ' s forces continued to make gains . On 19 May , the Chinese 22nd and 38th Divisions encircled Kamaing . Two days before , on 17 May , Merrill ' s forces captured the airfield at Myitkyina after a march across the Kumon Bum Mountains which nearly crippled the already weary Marauders . If Chinese troops from Ledo had been flown in that afternoon to attack the town immediately they could have overwhelmed the small garrison , but support and logistic units were flown in first and the opportunity to capture the town easily was lost , as Japanese reinforcements arrived in the town . The resulting prolonged siege was not very well directed and cost the allies many men , particularly amongst the Marauders who were kept in the line for reasons of American prestige , and among the Chindits who were forced to remain in the field to disrupt Japanese relief attempts far longer than had been planned . However , because of the deteriorating situation on the other fronts , the Japanese never regained the initiative on the Northern Front . The long siege also resulted in heavy Japanese losses . When the airfield was captured , the Japanese in the town at first intended to fight a delaying action only , aided by the monsoon rains . On 10 June , Major General Genzo Mizukami , who had been sent with reinforcements and placed in charge of the garrison , was ordered personally to " Defend Myitkyina to the death " . The Japanese dug in and repelled several Chinese attacks . Further resistance appeared hopeless by the end of July . Mizukami evacuated the survivors of the garrison before fulfilling the letter of his orders by taking his own life inside the defended perimeter . Myitkyina was finally captured on 3 August . The capture of Myitkyina marked the end of the initial phase of Stilwell ' s campaign . It was the largest seizure of enemy - held territory to date in the Burma campaign . The airfield at Myitkyina became a vital link in the air route over the Hump . Southern front 1943 / 44 . In Arakan , XV Corps , commanded by Lieutenant General Philip Christison , renewed the advance on the Mayu peninsula . Ranges of steep hills channelled the advance into three attacks ; by 5th Indian Division along the coast , 7th Indian Division along the Kalapanzin River and 81st ( West Africa ) Division along the Kaladan River . The 5th Indian Division captured the small port of Maungdaw on 9 January 1944 . The Corps then prepared to capture two disused railway tunnels which linked Maungdaw with the Kalapanzin valley . However , the Japanese struck first . A strong force from the Japanese 55th Division infiltrated Allied lines to attack the 7th Indian Division from the rear , overrunning the divisional HQ . Unlike previous occasions on which this had happened , the Allied forces stood firm against the attack , and supplies were dropped to them by parachute . In the Battle of the Admin Box from 5 February to 23 February , the Japanese concentrated on XV Corps ' Administrative Area , defended mainly by service troops , but they were unable to deal with tanks supporting the defenders . Troops from 5th Indian Division broke through the Ngakyedauk Pass to relieve the defenders of the box . Although battle casualties were approximately equal , the overall result was a heavy Japanese defeat . Their infiltration and encirclement tactics had failed to panic Allied troops , and as the Japanese were unable to capture enemy supplies , they themselves starved . Two fresh Allied divisions ( the 26th Indian Division and the British 36th Division ) took over the front in the Mayu peninsula and resumed the offensive . However , XV Corps ' s offensive wound down over the next few weeks , as the Allies concentrated their resources , particularly transport airceraft , on the Central Front . After capturing the railway tunnels and some hills which dominated the Maungdaw - Buthidaung road , XV Corps halted during the monsoon . Some ground in the malarial Kalapanzin valley was given up to reduce losses to disease , and Japanese counter - attacks forced the isolated 81st ( West Africa ) Division to retreat up the Kaladan Valley . Central front . At Imphal , IV Corps under Lieutenant - General Geoffrey Scoones had pushed forward two divisions to the Chindwin River . One division was in reserve at Imphal . There were indications that a major Japanese offensive was building , and Slim and Scoones planned to withdraw and force the Japanese to fight at the end of impossibly long and difficult supply lines . However , they misjudged the date on which the Japanese were to attack , and the strength they would use against some objectives . The main body of the Japanese Fifteenth Army , consisting of the 33rd Division , 15th Division and the brigade - sized " Yamamoto Force " , planned to cut off and destroy the forward divisions of IV Corps before capturing Imphal . The 31st Division would meanwhile isolate Imphal by capturing Kohima . Mutaguchi intended to exploit this victory by capturing the strategic city of Dimapur , in the Brahmaputra River valley . If this could be achieved , his army would be through the mountainous border region and the whole of North East India would be open to attack . Units of the Indian National Army were to take part in the offensive and raise rebellion in India . The capture of the Dimapur railhead would also sever the land communications to the airbases used to supply the Chinese via the " Hump " , and cut off supplies to General Stilwell ' s forces fighting on the Northern Front . Preliminary battles . The Japanese began crossing the Chindwin River on 8 March . Scoones only gave his forward divisions orders to withdraw to Imphal on 13 March . The 20th Indian Division withdrew from Tamu without difficulty , but the 17th Indian Division was cut off at Tiddim by the Japanese 33rd Division . From 18 March to 25 March , the 17th Division was able to fight its way back through four Japanese road blocks , thanks to air re - supply by the RAF and U . S Troop Carrier Command crews in their C - 47 Dakota s , and assistance from Scoones ' s reserve , the 23rd Indian Division . The two divisions reached the Imphal plain on 4 April . Meanwhile , Imphal had been left vulnerable to the Japanese 15th Division . The only force left covering the northern approaches to the base , 50th Indian Parachute Brigade , was roughly handled at the Battle of Sangshak and forced to withdraw by a regiment from the Japanese 31st Division on its way to Kohima . However , the diversionary attack launched by Japanese 55th division in Arakan had already been defeated , and in late March Slim was able to move the battle - hardened 5th Indian Division , with all its artillery , jeeps , mules and other materiel , by air from Arakan to the Central Front . The move was completed in only eleven days . Two brigades went to Imphal , the other ( the 161st Indian Infantry Brigade ) went to Dimapur from where it sent a detachment to Kohima . Kohima . While the Allied forces in Imphal were cut off and besieged , the Japanese 31st Division , consisting of 20 , 000 men under Lieutenant - General Kotoku Sato , advanced up the Imphal – Dimapur road . Instead of isolating the small garrison at Kohima and pressing on with his main force to Dimapur , Sato chose to concentrate on capturing the hill station . The Japanese records indicate that Sato ( and Mutaguchi ' s other divisional commanders ) had severe misgivings about Fifteenth Army ' s plan . In particular , they thought the logistic gambles were reckless , and were unwilling to drive on objectives they thought unattainable . The Battle of Kohima started on 6 April when the Japanese isolated the garrison and tried to dislodge the defenders from their hill top redoubt s . Fighting was very heavy around the bungalow and tennis court of the Deputy Commissioner of the Naga Hills . This phase of the battle is often referred to as the Battle of the Tennis Court and was the " high - water mark " of the Japanese attack . On 18 April , the 161st Indian Brigade relieved the defenders , but the battle was not over as the Japanese dug in and defended the positions they had captured . A new Allied formation HQ , the XXXIII Corps under Lieutenant - General Montagu Stopford , took over operations on this front . The British 2nd Division began a counter - offensive and by 15 May , they had prised the Japanese off Kohima Ridge itself , although the Japanese still held dominating positions north and south of the Ridge . More Allied troops were arriving at Kohima . The 7th Indian Division followed 5th Indian Division from the Arakan , an Indian motor infantry brigade reinforced 2nd Division and a brigade diverted from the Chindit operation cut Japanese 31st Division ' s supply lines . XXXIII Corps renewed its offensive in the middle of May . Imphal . The Battle of Imphal went badly for the Japanese during April , as their attacks from several directions on the Imphal plain failed to break the Allied defensive ring . At the start of May , Slim and Scoones began a counter - offensive against the Japanese 15th Division north of Imphal . Progress was slow . The monsoon had broken , and this made movement very difficult . Also , IV Corps was suffering some shortages . Although rations and reinforcements were delivered to Imphal by air , artillery ammunition was running short . However , the Japanese were at the end of their endurance . Neither their 31st Division nor 15th Division had received adequate supplies since the offensive began , and during the rains , disease rapidly spread among the starving Japanese troops . Lieutenant - General Sato had notified Mutaguchi that his division would withdraw from Kohima at the end of May if it were not supplied . In spite of orders to hold on , Sato did indeed begin to retreat , although an independent detachment from his division continued to fight delaying actions along the Imphal Road . Meanwhile , the units of 15th Division were wandering away from their positions to forage for supplies . Its commander , Lieutenant - General Masafumi Yamauchi ( who was mortally ill ) , was dismissed but this could not affect matters . The leading British and Indian troops of IV Corps and XXXIII Corps met at Milestone 109 on the Dimapur - Imphal road on 22 June , and the siege of Imphal was raised . Mutaguchi ( and Kawabe ) nevertheless continued to order renewed attacks . 33rd Division ( under a new forceful commander , Lieutenant - General Nobuo Tanaka ) , and Yamamoto Force made repeated efforts south of Imphal , but by the end of June they had suffered so many casualties both from battle and disease that they were unable to make any progress . The Allies had in the meantime cleared large numbers of starving and disordered Japanese troops in and around Ukhrul ( near Sangshak ) north of Imphal . The Japanese Imphal operation was finally broken off early in July , and they retreated painfully to the Chindwin River . Aftermath . The attempted invasion of India was the largest defeat to that date in Japanese history . They had suffered 55 , 000 casualties , including 13 , 500 dead . Most of these losses were the result of disease , malnutrition and exhaustion . The Allies suffered 17 , 500 casualties . Mutaguchi was relieved of his command and left Burma for Singapore in disgrace . Sato refused to commit Seppuku ( hara - kiri ) when handed a sword by Colonel Shumei Kinoshita , insisting that the defeat had not been his doing . He was examined by doctors who stated that his mental health was such that he could not be court - martialled , probably under pressure from Kawabe and Terauchi , who did not wish a public scandal . From August to November , Fourteenth Army pursued the Japanese to the Chindwin River despite heavy monsoon rains . While the newly arrived 11th East Africa Division advanced down the Kabaw Valley from Tamu and improved the road behind them , the 5th Indian Division advanced along the mountainous Tiddim road , supplied entirely by parachute drops . An improvised light formation , the Lushai Brigade , was used to interrupt the lines of communication of the Japanese defending the road . As Fourteenth Army planned to use only the Kabaw Valley route for supply during the next season ' s campaign , the Tiddim Road ( which included evocatively named stretches such as the " Chocolate Staircase " ) was allowed to fall into ruin behind the 5th Division . By the end of November , Kalewa had been recaptured , and several bridgeheads had been established on the east bank of the Chindwin . Slim and his Corps commanders ( Scoones , Christison and Stopford ) were knighted in front of Scottish , Gurkha and Punjab regiments by the viceroy Lord Wavell in a ceremony at Imphal in December .