Burma

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In Burma, the Japanese renew their assault on the Sittang River Bridge. When it appears that the Japanese might take it within the hour, Brigadier Jackie Smyth, VC, faces the choice of destroying the bridge, stranding more than half of his own troops on the wrong side, or to let it stand and give the Japanese a clear march to Rangoon. He orders his sappers to blow the bridge.

 

- General Sir Thomas Hutton, who had refused to allow Smyth to cross the river when he could have without opposition, is critical of the decision and will relieve Smyth of command.  Hutton himself will be replaced by Lieutenant General Harold Alexander by the end of the month.

 

Sittang River Bridge

 

- The Japanese have the ability to effectively finish off the Indian 17th Division, but Fifteenth Army commander Shōjirō Iida wants to take Rangoon fast; so the 33rd Division disengages and heads north in search of another crossing-point.

 

- Survivors of the 17th Division are able to swim and ferry themselves over the Sittang in broad daylight. Although most of its equipment is lost, it consisted mainly of WW-I vintage 18 pounder artillery and the only AA weapons were Lewis and Bren guns. After rearming, the 17th will remain in almost constant contact with the Japanese into 1944."

[Until the middle of 1942, the 17th Indian Division's emblem was white lightning on a blue background. It was changed to a black cat on  a yellow background.

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "Six B-17 bombers of the US 10th Air Force based in Asansol, India attacked Rangoon, Burma, setting three warehouses on fire; one aircraft was lost in this attack."

 

"Japanese bombers attack Mandalay, Burma, with devastating results on 3 April 1942. While they have attacked the city previously, the Japanese are helped this time by weather conditions that create a firestorm (firestorms require certain meteorological factors and are not just the product of dropping a lot of bombs). Incendiary bombs destroy about 60% of the wooden structures in the city and kill about 2000 people. The effects are magnified by the "lucky" destruction of city firefighting equipment in the raid. Bodies lie in the street for days. Ironically, the fort which is a centerpiece of the city is largely untouched."

 

"Plans are in motion to reinforce Allied airpower in northern Burma and China. 55 new AVG pilots are flying over in A-29 (Army Hudson) light bombers that will be turned over to the Chinese Air Force. 48 P-40Es, 108 P-43 Lancers, and 34 P-66 Vanguards are on the way or already in India."

 

P-66 Vanguard

 

A-29

 

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Lieutenant Colonel Tateo Katō, a Japanese Army Air Force ace credited with 58 victories, is shot down over the Bay of Bengal. Commander of the 64th Sentai, his unit had been frustrated by extremely low level attacks by RAF Blenheims and Hudsons from India that have made surprise raids on shipping and on airfields, destroying numerous aircraft on the ground.

 

- The Ki-43 Hayabusas are unable to catch the British planes, which fly just meters above the water, too low for them to get a favorable attack position from below.

 

- After another raid in which the Japanese are determined to down the lone attacker, five pilots of the 64th pursue a single Blenheim piloted by Warrant Officer Huggard of RAF No. 60 Squadron. Huggard later relates that he is scared to death and nearly clipping the wave tops with the throttles at the stops to give the best defensive position to his turret gunner, Sergeant McLuckie.

 

 

- Sergeant Yasuda is the first to attack; his Hayabusa is badly damaged by McLuckie's twin .303 machine guns, and he peels off and returns to Akyab. The second to attack is Captain Otami, who made some hits but in turn has his fuel tank holed; he follows Yasuda back to base, where his Ki-43 is a write-off. Colonel Katō now attacks the Blenheim, to become the third Hayabusa winged by the aptly-named McLuckie. As seen by other pilots, his right wing bursts into flame and Katō rolls over, plunging into the sea.

 

- The two remaining pilots let the Blenheim escape (though some Japanese accounts claim wrongly that Katō shot it down), and return to Akyab with their account of "the hero's sacrifice." Katō’s men weep and strike their shoulders. As a Japanese historian relates, "The spirit of fighting in the Japanese air force was shaken. Everyone was crying with sadness, and the fighting spirit was down."

 

- Katō becomes the first Japanese army officer to be promoted posthumously two grades, from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general. The propaganda ministry will make a film of his career, and excerpt of which is below. (They made good use of model work and Allied aircraft captured in Malaya and the Philippines.)"

 

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The largest aerial supply to the Chindits during Operation Longcloth occurs today, with 100 tons being dropped.

 

• The Vultee Vengeance dive bomber makes its combat debut with attacks on Japanese positions to support the Chindit operations. There will be four British and two Indian squadrons equipped with the type by summer.

 

Newly arrived Vengeances in India not yet repainted in SEAC roundels"

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In Burma, American and Commonwealth aircraft carry out large scale strikes to cover the retreat of the Chindits and the Akyab forces. Mohawks and Kittyhawks knock out the rail bridges at Mogaung and Pinbaw. Eight B-24s hit the Rangoon Marshaling Yard, nine B-25s bomb the Thazi rail junction, while nine more hit rail targets in Mandalay. Bristol Blenheims attack shipping at Akyab, damaging two ships and the jetty for the loss of three bombers to Japanese fighters.

 

Blenheim downed over Akyab"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The last squadrons to use the Westland Wapiti in a war zone (Nos 7 and 8, Royal Indian Air Force), complete the transition to Vultee A-31 Vengeance dive bombers.

 

No 7 Squadron RIAF Vengeance

 

RIAF Wapiti in the Air Force Museum New Delhi"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• RAF Kohat becomes the first airbase to be commanded by an Officer of the Royal Indian Air Force, with Wing Commander Subroto Mukerjee taking over command. The RIAF squadrons operating from Kohat are flying Hurricane and Mohawk (P-36) fighters.

 

 

- Mukerjee will reach the rank of Air Marshal in the post-war Indian Air Force.

 

Mukerjee briefing pilots and Army liaison officer before a mission"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• No 1 and No 3 Squadrons Royal Indian Air Force are forward deployed at Imphal under the Command of Squadron Leader Arjan Singh. Equipped with Hurricane IIc aircraft the squadrons are tasked to carry out recce missions to gauge Japanese intentions. They carry out multiple sorties reconnoitering the upper Chindwin area right up to the Mytkyina - Mandalay rail-road. These missions discover Japanese troop buildups and river crossing equipment confirming that an offensive is imminent. During the upcoming battle, the Hurricanes will provide close air support for the 17th Indian Division.

 

RIAF Hurricane over Burma"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Chindit forces take Mawlu in central Burma in hand to hand combat. During the action, Lieutenant George Albert Cairns of the Somerset Light Infantry has his arm hacked off by a Japanese officer’s sword. Cairns kills the officer with his bayonet, takes up the sword and kills several more Japanese before falling from blood loss. He will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

 

- The Mawlu site will come to be called “White City” due to all the parachutes from supply drops, which are repurposed into tents, awnings, hammocks, and other uses.

 

West African Chindits consolidating supplies after recovering an air drop

 

• General Stilwell asks General Marshall to put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek to order the Chinese forces in Yunnan to cross the Salween River in order to relieve pressure on the beleaguered British Fourteenth Army.

 

• In northern Burma, Major Hugh Seagrim, formerly of the 20th Burma Rifles and now in the Special Operations Executive, has been organizing and leading Karen tribesmen against the Japanese. In reprisal operations, the Japanese arrest and begin torturing and killing 270 Karen villagers, demanding that they turn the Allied officer over to them. The Karens refuse to betray the man they call “Grandfather Longlegs”.

 

- To spare the Karens, and knowing his likely fate, Seagrim turns himself in. He will be executed in September, and awarded a posthumous George Cross. Hugh Seagrim’s brother Derek has been awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for actions in assaulting the Mareth Line in 1943 Tunisia."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Anglo-Indian troops attack Japanese positions at Ningthoukhong, India. [Technically, Manipur State, a principality. Part of the Imphal seige]

 

• In Burma, American P-51s and B-25s and RIAF Vengeance dive bombers attack Thetkegyin, Manipur bridge, Tiddim road and Japanese positions at Indaw. P-38s hit Kangaung Airfield near Meiktila.

 

• The first combat rescue by helicopter occurs when US Army Lieutenant Carter Harman of the 1st Air Commando Group uses a Sikorsky R-4 in Burma to recover the pilot of a downed L-1 liaison aircraft and his three British passengers. Despite the high altitude, humidity, and capacity for only a single passenger, he picks them up one at a time, flying them to a makeshift strip where Stinson L-5s then fly them back to an Allied hospital. Harman has to let the abused 200 hp engine cool between each next trip.

 

Carter Harman standing at left with R-4 and ground crew in front

 

R-4 in Burma along with a Stinson L-5"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In his diary, William Slim privately complains of SEAC commander Louis Mountbatten’s lack of vision and SEAC Chief of Staff Henry Pownall’s laziness. Pownall had been Chief of Staff for BEF commander Lord Gort in 1940.

 

• The Chinese 22nd Division cuts Kamaing Road in Mogaung Valley just SE of Nanyaseik.

 

• A week earlier, the Chinese 112th Regiment (38th Division) had penetrated the jungle unobserved and set up the “Seton Block”, cutting supply to the Japanese 18th Division. Since then they have been under continuous waves of attack by Japanese units with artillery support from 70mm, 75mm, and 150mm guns. At the end of the ordeal the Japanese are unable to break the Chinese, and are forced to abandon their vehicles and heavy equipment and escape via a crude trail cut through the jungle. By this time, only two of the 112th's officers are on their feet.

 

- In June, the Allied advance will slow as the monsoon rains begin. General Stilwell will set up programs to train the Chinese and Burmese wounded and crippled from the Burma campaign in valuable civilian skills, which is one of the reasons Stilwell is better remembered in China and Taiwan than in the United States.

 

Joseph Stilwell speaks with war-disabled Chinese soldiers from the Burma campaign at a camp in India"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In Burma, the Chinese Eighth Army conducts another assault on Sung Shan with three regiments attacking with the support of howitzers in the direct fire role. The Division commander personally directs the artillery fire, and on occasion places shells twenty-five to forty feet in front of the assaulting Chinese. Captured Japanese diaries contain praise of the artillery and of the 103rd Division's valiant infantry. By dawn the Chinese are in Japanese positions almost at the crests of the two peaks Kung Lung-po and Tayakou.

 

- Alarmed by the successful Chinese artillery fire, Major Kanemitsu pleads for Japanese air support to attack the Chinese batteries, which had been emplaced in the open so they could see to fire directly. Japanese fighters promptly respond and decimate the Chinese cannon and crews. American air support is unavailable as it's concentrated over X-Force at Myitkyina. The damage plus the morale effect will prevent the Chinese Y-Force at Sung Shan from resuming the advance for some time.

 

Chinese artillery in Burma 1944"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In Burma, American A-36s, B-25s, P-40s, P-47s, and P-51s attack Japanese held bridges, Lashio Airfield, and numerous targets of opportunity. British and Indian Hurricanes and Vengeances attack Japanese supply lines as Fourteenth Army plans for the advance to the Chindwin.

 

1st Air Commando B-25s in Burma

 

RAF or RIAF Hurricane attacking Japanese supply lines in India-Burma mid-1944"