Pacific
1944–1945: The fighting for Burma and India
March 1944 – August 1945 · 4 battles
In the spring of 1944 the Japanese launched their last great offensive on land – Operation U-Go against Imphal and Kohima, intended to forestall a British advance and open the way to India. It ended in the greatest defeat in the history of the Japanese army: the 15th Army lost most of its men in the mountains and jungle of the Indo-Burmese frontier, chiefly to hunger and disease. At the same time Wingate’s Chindits fought behind enemy lines, and Stilwell’s Chinese and American troops fought their way through the Hukawng Valley towards Myitkyina. After the monsoon General Slim’s 14th Army went over to the offensive: in 1945 it crossed the Irrawaddy, took Meiktila and Mandalay, and in May entered Rangoon. Burma was the only theatre in which British and Indian forces defeated the Japanese on land in an open campaign.
- 7 March – 3 July 1944Key battleBattles of Imphal and KohimaIn March–July 1944 the Japanese 15th Army tried to take Imphal and Kohima in India. Operation U-Go ended in defeat, starvation and retreat over the Chindwin.
- 11 May 1944 – 27 January 1945Salween offensiveFrom May 1944 to January 1945 China's Expeditionary Force in Yunnan crossed the Salween, took Song Shan, Tengchong and Longling and reopened the road to China.
- 17 May – 3 August 1944Siege of MyitkyinaFrom 17 May to 3 August 1944 Stilwell's Chinese and Americans besieged Myitkyina's Japanese garrison. Its captured airfield shortened the air route to China.
- 14 January – 28 March 1945Key battleBattle of Meiktila and MandalayJanuary–March 1945. Slim's Fourteenth Army crossed the Irrawaddy, took Meiktila and Mandalay and shattered the Japanese armies in central Burma.