User Reviews

Most people are aware of the fact that the two biggest theaters of World War 2 involved troops fighting in either the Pacific Ocean or on the European continent. However, there's one location in particular that is forgotten about most of the time, even among people who like ww2 related things: Burma. This Southeast Asian country, now known as Myanmar, hosted some of the most savage and difficult fighting of the entire war. Laurence Olivier sums it up when he says what the war there lacked in scale, it made up for in difficulty. So why did Imperial Japan set its sights on this peaceful, neutral country to begin with? During this period, India was a British colony, and indian troops made up a considerable number of fighting men under british command. The british viewed burma as something of a barrier that was to protect india from japanese ambition in asia. Japan saw 3 opportunities when it came to burma: they would be able to use it to hide their amount of seized territory in Indochina (Vietnam today), control large amounts of burmese oil, and most importantly, cut off Allied aid to Chiang Kai-Shek's Chinese forces. The japanese, at war with china since the early 1930s, were especially eager to accomplish this last objective. In December 1941, japan invades burma and easily turns its inhospitable terrain to its advantage. Basically the entire country is comprised of thick vegetation and jungles, and it rains extremely heavily for months on end. Additionally, swamps are everywhere, complete with malaria-ridden mosquitoes and leeches. The rain swiftly turns entire battlefields into quagmires. British forces are completely unprepared for what they're about to face. As japan's armies move north, they find the british setting burmese oil fields on fire rather than hand them over to the enemy. After fighting very hard for some time, the british forces learn to adapt to the environment, the same way the japanese did. However, all was not well. By Spring 1942, japanese forces had chased the british past Rangoon, the burmese capital, and pushed them all the way back to the border with india, out of the country altogether. This was the longest and most humiliating retreat in british military history. Concurrently, japan's forces also pushed chinese forces right back to the southern border of their own country. Chinese forces were there in order to safeguard the Burma Road: a vital supply line keeping china fed, both in terms of food and military equipment. Britain steadily begins to turn the tide after their soldiers (alongside vicious Nepalese fighters called Gurkhas), attack targets deep in enemy territory. Late in 1943, things start to look much better. Lord Mountbatten, chief of the newly established Southeast Asia Command, arrives in burma to break the stalemate once and for all. Later, American and chinese forces advance and link up with the old burma road, forming a new "Ledo Road" in the process. Chinese forces then fight their way upwards back into china. As the ledo road supplies china, Japan's last major offensive in burma starts and consisted of two simultaneous operations to invade india and also to capture a town called Kohima, as it contained a ridge which overlooked a road supplying british forces in the city of Imphal. After much artillery fire from both sides, the japanese were defeated since they couldn't keep up with the constant stream of british supply planes replenishing their enemies. After this "Stalingrad of the East", it was clear that japan couldn't effectively threaten burma anymore. As usual, this episode of World at War is riveting. Like I said earlier, burma is a typically overlooked theater of ww2, so it was nice that this amazing series dedicated an entire episode to the great efforts of the men who fought there. We see how hard the fighting was, since not only were the japanese against the british, but so was the environment and the weather. We're also told how one person had malaria 17 times, which is probably a good reason why swampy areas are some of the worst battlefields ever. For the first time, we get to see japanese soldiers surrendering, and the myth that they're unbeatable is shattered. They despised people who gave up and preferred to fight to the death, so this was seen as the ultimate embarrassment. Overall, I feel this installment of World at War is one of the best in the series, since it's basically the only one that goes into depth about the fighting in southeast asia during the war.