Author(s): Julian Thompson

History

From the end of 1941 to 1945, a pivotal but often overlooked conflict was being fought in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II - the Burma Campaign. It was the longest campaign fought by the British Commonwealth forces during the war, and the fighting was amongst the most brutal and bloody they would have to face. On the Allied side, the campaign was also one of the most multiracial in the history of warfare, with Britons, Indians, Africans, Gurkhas, Chinese, Americans, Australians and many others fighting side by side. Constrained by terrain and logistics, and the 'Germany First' policy of Roosevelt and Churchill, the Allied troops sent to Burma were initially poorly prepared and equipped. In the Japanese, they faced a powerful and well-trained enemy force, who appeared to some almost invincible amid the strange and untrammelled jungle surroundings.