Robert Lyman - A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma & Britain: 1941–45

When the day comes that man gives to peace what he has given to war, then the circle can close, and the Indian Army may yet appear to be an imperfect and flawed but brilliant jewel in the now-fallen crown of empire, most valuable as a symbol of better things to come.

Roger Beaumont

This book is for Hannah.

It is dedicated to all those who those who fought and died in Burma and India between 1941 and 1945 for the four freedoms of the August 1941 Atlantic Charter freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Contents

List of Illustrations

This The brushstrokes of my story are therefore reflective, sadly, of all these realities. If, because of my choice of emphasis some aspects of the story are more general than readers might wish, or do not tarry long on areas of personal interest, I beg their indulgence. This is, after all, my story. Readers are free to take up their pens and do likewise.

My primary interest lies in the collision of armies on land in 1942 in Burma primarily British, Burmese, Indian and Japanese, but tangentially also Chinese and American and the course of their relationship in battle during the nearly four years that followed. Its the story in the main of the nexus between military strategy (the mechanism by which countries translate their grand strategies into military action) and military command, especially in its strategic and operational aspects, because while soldiers fight battles, its the generals who prepare, train, equip, lead and motivate soldiers, and who direct and command the forces that are engaged in the fighting. However, even in military histories such as this one, the meaning of war requires exploration, even if briefly. What did this war mean for the nations that fought it? For India, which started the war as a colonial supplicant of the British Empire, and yet which ended it as a soon-to-be-independent regional and industrial superpower? Of a militaristic Japan, which had foolishly gambled and lost its future for short-term, hubristic gains in 1941? Of Britain, which paid for the military unpreparedness and impoverishment of its empire with repeated humiliations at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army and then helped to bring about the defeat of its enemy irony of ironies by virtue of the commitment of 2.5 million Indians who flocked to join not the Japanese Army, or even the Indian National Army, but the Indian Army of the Raj? Of Burma, lost to Japan and a dramatic groundswell of popular anti-British support in 1942? Ironically, Burma saw no fruits of this alliance with Japan until the Japanese were defeated in 1945 and independence gained from Britain, the old colonial power in January 1948. Of China, who fought itself as well as the Japanese, at the same time as keeping at arms length the despised but necessary British ally, while holding in a close embrace the United States, its most fervent, energetic and deep-pocketed supporter?

All these subjects are examined insofar as they impinge on what was happening on the battlefield. Primarily this is an account of how the Japanese Army and Air Force swamped Burma in 1942, what the British in India were forced to do in the two years that followed to redress the military balance, and how the Japanese found themselves, in 1944 and 1945, ill-equipped on the battlefields of Assam, Manipur and Burma to deal with the consequences of the war they had so ill-advisedly and egregiously unleashed.

Writing a book is a solitary exercise. It is dependent, however, on the help and support of many people. In my case, the list of acknowledgements for this book is very long. The librarians and custodians of various libraries and manuscript repositories in the United Kingdom were unfailing in their patience, despite the ravages of COVID. I am grateful to the Keeper of the National Archives at Kew; the British Library; the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at Kings College, London; the John Ryland Library at the University of Manchester; the Master, Fellows and Scholars of Churchill College, Cambridge University; the Controller of Her Majestys Stationery Office; the National Army Museum; the Imperial War Museum; and the Trustees of the Broadlands Archive at the Hartley Library, University of Southampton, for access to material and for permission to quote from the documents and manuscripts in their charge.