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Burma
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1943
August
01
Japan proclaims Burmese independence
On 1 August 1943 Ba Maw proclaimed the independence of the State of Burma in Rangoon. Japan recognised it the same day, and Burma declared war on the Allies.
October
03
Mountbatten takes command in South-East Asia
In early October 1943 Louis Mountbatten, appointed at Quebec in August, flew to India to take over the Allied South East Asia Command.
November
25
The raid on Rangoon
On 25 November 1943 the Americans and the RAF opened a joint air offensive against Rangoon. On day one cloud stopped the Liberators; only B-25s hit a target.
December
28
The Chinese in the Hukawng Valley
On 28 December 1943 three battalions of the Chinese 38th Division attacked the Japanese at Yupbang Ga in Burma's Hukawng Valley. Stilwell's offensive was on.
30
The end of Japanese raids on Calcutta
War chronologies end the Japanese raids on Calcutta on 30 December 1943. The last big one was the daylight attack on Kidderpore docks on 5 December.
1944
January
09
The British take Maungdaw
On 9 January 1944 the 5th Indian Division took Maungdaw, a small port on the Naf – the first gain of the second Arakan offensive, before Japan's Ha-Go attack.
March
06
Operation Thursday – the second Chindit expedition
On the night of 5–6 March 1944 gliders of the US 1st Air Commando landed Wingate's Chindits deep in Burma. The second expedition behind Japanese lines began.
07
Key event
Operation U-Go begins
On the night of 7–8 March 1944 the Japanese 33rd Division moved on Tiddim. So began Operation U-Go – the Fifteenth Army's thrust on Imphal and Kohima in India.
22
The Japanese cross into India
In late March 1944 Japanese divisions entered Manipur. At Sangshak a parachute brigade held them for a week, and the 17th Division fought its way to Imphal.
24
The death of Orde Wingate
On 24 March 1944 a B-25 bomber carrying General Wingate crashed in the hills of Manipur. The Chindits' creator died in the middle of his second expedition.
April
06
The siege of Kohima
In early April 1944 the Japanese 31st Division surrounded Kohima; Imphal had been cut off since late March. Kohima's garrison held a few hills for two weeks.
24
The relief of Kohima
Relief from Dimapur reached Kohima's defenders on 18 April 1944. In late April the fight for the ridge went on and the road to besieged Imphal stayed shut.
May
12
The Chinese cross the Salween
On the night of 10/11 May 1944 General Wei Lihuang's Chinese Expeditionary Force began crossing the Salween in Yunnan to reopen the Burma Road.
18
The Myitkyina airfield
On 17 May 1944 Merrill's Marauders and the Chinese 150th Regiment seized the airfield at Myitkyina by surprise. The town held out for almost three more months.
31
The retreat from Kohima
On 31 May 1944 Lt Gen Kōtoku Satō began, against orders, to withdraw his starving 31st Division from Kohima. The retreat from Imphal was ordered only in July.
June
22
The end of the siege of Imphal
On 22 June 1944 the British 2nd Division from Kohima and the 5th Indian Division from Imphal met at Milestone 109. The siege of Imphal was over.
August
03
The capture of Myitkyina
On 3 August 1944, after a 78-day siege, Stilwell's Chinese divisions and Americans took Myitkyina, the most important Japanese-held town in northern Burma.
22
The end of the Japanese invasion of India
In August 1944 the shattered Japanese Fifteenth Army, pursued through the monsoon by Slim's Fourteenth Army, fell back from Manipur to the Chindwin in Burma.
1945
January
05
The pursuit to the Irrawaddy
In early 1945 Japan's Fifteenth Army fell back behind the Irrawaddy; Slim's Fourteenth Army crossed the Chindwin and pursued it over the Shwebo plain.
11
The first convoy on the Ledo Road
In January 1945 the first convoy took the Ledo Road from India across northern Burma to China, leaving Ledo on 12 January and reaching Kunming on 4 February.
31
The opening of the Stilwell Road
At the end of January 1945 the Ledo Road joined the Burma Road. The first convoy from India drove into China and the land blockade of China was broken.
March
03
The capture of Meiktila
On 3 March 1945 the 17th Indian Division and 255th Tank Brigade took Meiktila, the Japanese supply hub in Burma. Fighting for it went on until late March.
20
The liberation of Mandalay
On 20 March 1945 the 19th Indian Division took Fort Dufferin, the last point of Japanese resistance in Mandalay. The royal palace burned in the fighting.
May
03
The liberation of Rangoon
On 3 May 1945 the Indian 26th Division, landed from the sea in Operation Dracula, took Rangoon unopposed; the Japanese had left a few days earlier.
August
27
The Japanese surrender in Burma
On 27 August 1945 talks with Field Marshal Terauchi’s envoys went on in Rangoon; overnight a preliminary agreement on the Japanese surrender was signed.