A Japanese soldier was killed in a trench on the Burma front in 1944 during the Greater East Asia War of World War II. A Japanese soldier jumped out of his trench and attempted a suicide bomb attack on a British Allied tank. The Japanese soldier was shot dead by British troops just before he was about to carry out his harrowing suicide mission, clutching an aerial bomb to destroy a passing tank. The bodies of the slain Japanese soldiers remained in the trenches in an attempted jumping out position.
The Japanese occupied Rangoon, the capital of Burma, in March 1942 and expelled the British troops from the country. To avoid being surrounded by Japanese troops, the British troops traversed difficult terrain. In a horrible war situation, the British troops began to retreat through the Irrawaddy and Sittang valleys in the worst dry and hot weather conditions. on May 15, 1942, just after the typhoon passed and collapsed, the defeated British troops finally withdrew across the Indian border. It was the longest retreat in history for British troops to be defeated over a distance of about 1,610 kilometers.
After the withdrawal of the British forces, the British forces in India immediately launched an operation to retake Burma. In early 1943, an Indian infantry brigade of about 3,000 men, called the Chindets, crossed behind the Japanese forces and invaded the center of Burma. They supported the Burmese resistance by destroying railroad tracks to restrict the movement of Japanese troops. However, about 818 Indian soldiers were killed and many more were wounded or missing.
Beginning in late 1943, British forces took over the offensive against the Japanese, and in March 1944 the Japanese attacked British bases behind the Indian border at Imphal and Kohima. For the Japanese, it was one of the worst battles of World War II. At the same time, a second Chindit Indian army invaded the country. It was the second largest airborne invasion in World War II, with about 20,000 British Commonwealth troops supported by air support from the U.S. Air Force. At the Indian base at Kohima, about 2,500 British Indian troops defended Garrison Hill against about 15,000 Japanese troops.
With determined defense and typhoons by British and Indian troops, the Japanese were overthrown and collapsed in fierce multiple battles, ending the occupation of Burma in March 1945 when the central Burmese cities of Mae Te La and Mandalay were also captured. The southern coastal city of Rangoon was occupied on May 4, 1945, with the support of the Royal Navy. Burma was a most difficult situation and the British forces won a tremendous victory, overcoming not only the Japanese forces but also the difficult climate and geography. Although the Battle of Burma has been called the "Forgotten War," it is clear that there were enormous sacrifices that deserve to be remembered.
