Defeat in Burma

In addition to acquiring the natural resources, the Japanese invaded Burma to cut communication between the Allies and Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese by occupying the Burma Road. In Allied strategy, Chiang had to be kept in play in order to engage as many Japanese divisions as possible which otherwise might be used elsewhere. The British High Command underestimated the Japanese threat and overestimated the natural strength of the frontiers. The Japanese invasion of Burma lasted from 11 December 1941 till 20 May 1942. Stilwell blamed the defeatist attitude of the ‘Limeys’ (snooty upper-class British officers) and ‘G-mo’s’ (Generalissimo Chiang) interference among other reasons for the defeat in Burma. Stilwell himself did not take any share of the blame for being defeated by the ‘arrogant little bastards’ (Japanese). Both in Malaya and Burma, the British officers disdained training for jungle warfare. And they paid heavily for that. Most of the Indian units in both these theatres consisted mainly of raw, untrained recruits, and the battalions were heavily milked due to rapid expansion of the Indian Army.