The CBI Theater: Southeast Asia

World War II Ledo Road
Figure 1.--The heart of the CBI Southeast Asia capaign as Burma. It was hear that the Japanese managed to cut off China's Burma Road lifeline. The Allies had twin objectives in rentering Burma. The British wanted their colony back. The Americans wanted to reopen the Burma Road. That required retaking Burma. So instead, the Americans began building a road from Ledo in India to link up with the the northern section of the Burma Road in Chinese hands. Click on the image to see a photogrph Sergeant Marvin Lawrence who was a photographer attached to the U.S. Air Force Air Transport Command (ATC) took somewhere along the Ledo Road.

The second half of the CBI was Southeast asia. The BI stood for Burma and India. And the heart of the of the BI was the British colony of Burma. The colony had important natural resources as well as the rice Japan neede to feedits industrial cities. But its primary importance for Japan was to cut the Nationalists off from outside support ny cutting the Burma Road. China after all was why Japn launched the war and cme into conflict with the americans. The theater also included Malaya and Singapore, but because they both fell in the first few months of the War, the fighing occurred primarily in Burma and on the Burmese-Indian border as the Japanese attempted to invade India and the British attempted to take Burma back fromk the Japanese. with the exception of Thailand, the territories involved were colonies of Britain and France. With France defeated by the Germans (1940) it was the British that was the recipient of the full force of the Japanese offensive after Pearl Harbor (1941). The result was the rapid loss of all those colonies in Southeast Asia and by a smaller force than that of the British defenders. Within only a few months, the Japanese were on the borders of India. Britain's 'protected' sunjects were shocked by the ease and rapidity of the Japanese conquest. Some were elated by the defeat of the British, but soon found themselves in the hands of a more brutal and rapacious conquerer. The British managed to repulse Japanese efforts to invade India. It was the most poorly reported theater of the War and the lowest priority on the Allied order of battle. For the Chinese, Burma was more important because it was the only route through which they could obtain American supplies and equipment. Supply was alo a major problem for the Japanese. For the Japanese, early victories came by seizing British supplies. When the British prevented that during the defense of India (Imphal and Kohima) , the Japanese began to starve. Soldiers in the CBI fought against a backdrop of intractable jungle, tropical diseases, and nationalist unrest. America aided Britain to an extent, but American military planners were determined not to commit major forces to the Asian continent. The Japanese perpetrated attricities against POWs and civilian interness as well as the indigenous population. And Britain's valiant war-time reputation was sullied by the horendous Bengal famine which could have been prevented.

Japanese Invasion of China (1937)

The CBI campaign began before Japan launched the Pacific War. The Nationlists during the 1920s and much of the 1930s could import modern weapory and ordinance from the West, to the extent they could afford to purchase them. Unlike Japan, China did not the industrial or tehnological capaity to manufacture its own advanced weaponry. After the Japanese invaded China (1937), the Imperial Navy helped seize Chinese ports, ealing China off from outside support. Chuna was a huge country. Japan did not have the forces needed to seize and occupy the entire country. Japan did nnot seize southern China, but it did seize the ports of southern China and isolate Hong Kong. Eventually there were only two supply lines open. And this led the Japanese into Southeast Asia. This ws also prt of the Southern Resoure Zone (SRZ) the Japanese coveted. There was a rail line in French Indochina, linking the port of Hanoi to the Chinese interior. There was also the Burma Road linking the port of Rangoon with Chunking. The war proved longer and more costly than the Japanese militarists anticipated. As the war in China dragged on, the Japanese became more and more concerned with cutting off China's remaining supply lines in an effort to bring the War to a conclussion.

French Indo-China

American support was a first diplomatic. This shifted to financial and eventually material support. Indo China. Indochina was the French colonly that included what is now Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. See those countries for a discussion of what happened in each colony. France administered Vietnam as separate regional districts. Indochina featured hgeavily in the developing American policy, and embargoes against Japan which officias were able to follow in detail with the development of cracking the Japnese purple diplomstic code. The Japabese seized Indiochina in two separate steps after the fall of France (June 1940). The Yunnan–Vietnam Railway after Japan seized the southern ports of China was the only rail line linking Nationalist China with the outside world. The section within China from Kunming to Hekou is known as the Kunming–Hekou Railway. It extended 466 kilometers. The section within Vietnam was 389 km long. It was part of Hanoi–Lào Cai Railway. The railway used 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge due to the mountainous terrain along the route. Today it is the only main line in China using metre gauge.

Thailand

Thailand or Siam was at the time of World war II was the only independent country of Southeast Asia. A military leader with Fascist like leanings had seized control of the country. Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun) sought to benefit from the war in Europe and staged attacks on the French in Indo-China. He saw more clearly than many the growing power of Japan and fecided to negotiate with them, essentilly bcoming part of the Axis and Japan's Greter east Asia Co-prosperity Zone. They would allow the Japanese military free passage and thus provide a route into Burma (February 1942). After the Japanese defeat at Midway (June 1942), the Japaneseno no longer had the naval power to supply their forces in Burma and offense into India through the port of Ranfoon. Their answer was the Thai-Burma railway.

Pearl Harbor and Japanese Naval Offensive December 1941-June 1942)

With the American fleet imobilized at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were able to sweep through the Southwest Pacific and Southeast Asia. Guam was quickly taken. Resistance at Wake sland suprised the Japanese, but after the initial assault was repulsed, a second assault took the island. MacArthur's defense of the Philippines was compromised when most of his planes were destroyed on the fround at Clarke Field. General MacArthur commanded the most important American military force west of Pearl. His handlong of the defense of the Philippines wasdisapponting at best, bordering on incompetence. He failed to strike back at the Japanese in the hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor by bombing Jpanese bases in Formosa. He also allowed much of the available aircraft to be destroyed on the ground. [Schom] The horror of the Batan Death March created an impage of the Japanese military in the American mind that fueled a hatred for the Japanese. [Schom] Hong Kong quickly fell. The Japanese also seized the oil-rich Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). Allied naval forces fought a series of engagements to stop the Japanese, but could not match the powerful Japanese naval forces. Animitz and Halsey tried to distract the Japanese with hit an run carrier raids. The Japanese moved south from IndoChina, seizing Malayia and then the bastion at Singapore. The Repulse and Prince of Wales are lost in the defense of Singapore. Then they moved west through Thailand and defeating the British in Burma. Within a few months the Japanese had carved out the huge empire with enormous resources that they had long coveted. The Japnese then targeted New Guinea in preparation for a move south to Australia. All that remained to stop them were four American carriers. The CBI campaign began with the Japanse carrier attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941). The Japanese struck both in the Pacific and in Southeast Asia. Both were only possible because of the power of the Imperial Fleet, especilly the First Air Fleet which struck at Pearl. The Fleet insured the success of both the island conquests and the Malay and Singapore campsigns. This was the beginning of the Japanese seizure of Soitheast Asia.

Malaya

Britain in the late 19th and early 20th century established contol over Malaya through a variety of treaties. Agricultural input was of minor importance in the 19th century. Planters experimented with different crops. Then in the early 20th century rubber cultivation began to take off. Along with rubber plants, the British brought Indian workers to man the new plantations. This occurred just as the development of the automobile created a vast demand for rubber. Malay which had been an economic backwater rapidly became one of the most valuable British colonies. One part of the Japanese offensive following Pearl Harbor was the invasion of Malaya. The Japanese 25th army commanded by Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita launched the invasion of Malaya (December 8, 1941). Yamashita's 25th Army was smaller than the defending British force. Yamashita commanded only 30,000 men, but he had a well thoughout campaign, an adequate air cover, and naval support. Yamashita landed a small force in the nort. English commander General Arthur Percival when of the landings was advised to set up a defensive line and famously is sad to have worried about the effect on morale. A staff office is said to have replied, "It would be bad for morale when the Japanese start running all over the island." Yamahita moved down the Peninsula in a stunning 8-week campaign. Sinapore had substantial defenses. There were 15-inch gun implacements and a 88,000 man garrison. It was called the "Gibraltar of the East". The garrison, however, was undersupplied. The shore guns had anti-ship ammunition and could not be turned back on jungle roads that the Japanese were using to approach from the land. The RAF had 158 aircraft, but many were obsolete types, including biplanes and the retreating units could not hold major airfields Yamashita after taking most of the Malay Peninsula commenced the assault on Singapore (February 2). Lieutenant General Arthur Percival surrendered Singapore (February 15). This was the greatest defeat ever suffered by the British Army. Percival surrendered 130,000 Allied troops. Churchill was staggered. The Japanese held Singapore and Malaya for the duration of the War. Conquest of Malaya not only gave the Japanese tin mines, but the great bulk of the world's rubber resource. Tin was important, but the Allies had altermative resources. There was no real alternative to Malaya as a source of natural rubber. The Allied could not have fought World War II unlss a new source of rubber was found.

Borneo

Borneo is an island, at the time of the war divided between the Dutch and British. Theoretically the island is thus part of the Pacific war and Oceania, but because of theclose association with the British ans Malays, we also mention it here. This largely primitive island was actually a primary objective of the Japanese war effort because of the oil resources that both the British and Dutch were developing. The Japanese landed first on the west coast near Miri in Sarawak (mid-December 1941). The Japanese completed the conquest when they seized Balikpapan in the Dutch portion of Borneo along the eastern coast (January 23, 1942). The Japanese did not penetrate into the jungle interior, but occupied the coastal area and the oil fields. One of the first actions they took was to intern the European officials. The missionaries working with the local people were targeted. The Japanesein many cases simplly killed them rather than kinterning them--meaning whole families, including the women and children. This horified the indegenous people like the Dyaks who had come to love the missionaries.

Singapore

Singapore was the keystone of Britain's military position in the Pacific. Japan took the large well supplied British garison at Singapore with surprising ease. British General Percival has been sharply criticized. The defense of Singapore was bady planned. The Japanese offensive down the Malay Peninsula was briliantly executed. The key factors were that the Japanese were able to achieve aerial and naval mastery that was never anticipated in British defense planning combined with the surprising mobility of Japanese ground forces. Pearl Harbor left the American Pacific Fleet unable to respond to the defense of the Philippines, let alone Singapore. Two of Britain's most powerful ships Prince of Wales and Repulse were sent without air cover and sunk by Japanese bombers. [Gilbert] Churchill was outraged and Percival's surender. It was Percival's seeming willingness to so quickly surrender that enraged Churchill. The British 8th Division had been rushed to Singapore after it was already too late. The fall of Singapore was a military catastrophy of emense proportions. Japanese forces within 6 months moved through Burma to the border of India in the West and New Guinea in the South. Australian trops had garisoned Singapore, after previously sending forces to North Africa, left the country virtually undefended. Only the intervention of American carriers in the Ciral sea blocked Japanese expansion further south. The Japanese conquest of Malay also presented the Allies with a critical problem. The world's rubber production was centered on the Malay Peninsula. And rubber was a vital war material. Singapore's fall would have consequences after the War. The prestige of the British Empire has been irreperably damaged.

Japanese Conquest of Burma

Burma was an scene of vicious fighting between Japan and the Allies. At the time of World War II, it was a British colony. The British hard-pressed in North Africa could not afford either the men or equipment to properly garison eiher Burma or Singapore. Japan after the fall of France (June 1940) demanded that French officials in Indochina permit them to occupy the colony. The French delayed the Japanese, but in the end were forced to acede to Japanese demands. The Japanese occupation took place in two stages, first north and then south Indochina. The Japanese had a number of goals in Indochina. The first was close the port of Haiphong which had been a major conduit of supplies to the Chinese Nationalists. Indochina also provided staging areas for planned invasions of of the Southern Resource Area (Burma, Malaya, Singaporte, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines). For this reason this brought the Japanese into increasing conflict with the United States whose Pacific Fleet was the only force capable of effectively resisting Japan. From Indochina, Japan pressured Thialand to grant them free passage for an invasion of Burma. This was accomplished through both threats and offering a slice of Indochina. The Japanese invaded Burma through Thailand. The Japanese Atmy rapidly advanced against the poorly prepared British. The American Flying Tigers arrived just before the War, but was too small a force to blunt the Japanese offensive. The British surrender at Singapore (February 1942) and the American surrender in the Philippines (April 1942) allowed the Japanese to strengthen their drive through Burma. The major problem for the Japanese as they moved west was keeping their army supplied. The Japanese defeated both the British Army which included Indian units and the Chinese Army in India (CAI) commanded by an American general, Vinegar Joe Stilwell. The British position was also undermined by the organization of Burmese nationalist forces. The Allied forces had to make a forced retreat into India under terrible conditions. The Japanese not only succeeded in occupying Burma, but in doing so cut the Burma Road, the last remaining route to supplying the Chinese Nationalists. The Japanese then begn to plan an invasion of India. For this they needed a way of transporting supplies through Thailand and Burma. The American carrier victory at Midway mean that supplying troops in Burma could not be done by sea. The result was a decession to build a railway through Thailand and Burma using local labor and Allied POWs.

Midway (June 1942)

Admiral Yamaoto's plan to ambush the surviving carriers of the U.S. Pacific flet failed as a result of a comination of American code breakers and U.S. naval detrmination. Instead of destroying the American carriers, the Japanese lost four of their First Line carriers-the heart of First air Fleet. Midway ended the Japanese rampage through the Pcific and Southeast Asia. The Japanese still had a sizeable fleet and for time superior aircraft. This meant that they were a formidable in the Pacific and a vicious navl war would follow in the South Pacific. But the Japanese no longer had the capabiliyy to maintain a major presence in the Indian Ocean, evn the eastern Indin Pcean. Thus they were unable to supply their army in Burma by sea and move and supply firces for an offensive into India. This was the origin of the Thaoi-Burma Railroad.

India

The British and Americans fell back into India as the Japanese seized Burma. The Chinese forces split. Some moved north ito China. Others joined the British and Americans in India. The retreating Allies were closely pursued by the Japanese. Once reaching India, the retreating Allied forces from Burma had access to supplies and Indian forces that the Japanese could not overcome, The allies in Burma had no access to suplies once the Japanese seized Rangoon. In India they had access to the supplies flowng into Indian ports and the extensive Indian rail system. The Japanese with their inadequate supply lines were unable to continue the pursuit into India. But they began building up their forces and constructing the Burma-Thai Railway which could be used to supply and build up their forces for an offensive into India. They did not have the naval forces to supply their Burma Army bu sea. The Allies di and supplies and reinforements pored into Insua. The CBI was at th ottom of allied manpower ad supply resources. But whar came unto the thearer was vastly superior to what the Japanese receved. Much of what America shipped into the theater was supplies for the air camoaign in China. As the Burma road was closed, this all had to be flown over the Himalayas--The Hump.

The Hump: The Air War in China


Allied Reconquest of Burma

Once reaching India, the British and American commanders began to assess just what had happened and to plan how to not only defend India, but to retake Burma. For the Allies, the China, Burma, India Theater (CBI) was the most remote and lowest priority. The focus from the beginning was on defeating NAZI Germany and even in the campaign against the Japapanese the CBI was of low priority. Even so, the far greater resorces of the Allies meant that more resources were available to the Allied forces than to the Japanese who were hard pressed to move men and equipment forward to the front. The disaster at Midway and subsequent losses in the South Pacific meant that the Japanese could not supply their forces in Burma by sea. This led to the counstruction of the Thi-Burma rail line. The major British interest was taking back their colony. The Americans who attached an importantce to the Chinese Nationalists with the British did not share were intent on reopning the Burma Road to Chunking China. The British planed a series of drives into Burma using mostly Indian units. They believed as a result of their experience in Burma that their own units needed training in jungle fighting. The 14th Indian Division attacked along the southern coast (January 1943), but failed to disloge heavily entrenced Japanese troops at Akyab. Stillwell's CAI was among the most effective in the Nationalist Army. While Chaing's poorly led and supplied Army in China itself declined to attack the Japanese, the CAI was both well led and well supplied. They proved themselves a competent force. It was composed of units left in Burma after the Japanese cut the Burma Road. Stillwell was an irascable, but effective commander. He spoke Chinese and earned the respect of his Chinese soldiers. Stilwell trained the CAI along American lines. Officers were expected to train as well as men and he emphasized discipline. He also made sure that commanders did not engage in corupt practices. Thus the men were well equipped and fed. The officers as well as the men were Chinese, unlike the British Indian Army. Given the effectiveness of the units, conflict developed betweem Chaing and Stillwell. Field Marshal Sir Archibald Wavell decided tht the British troops needed to learn to fight with the Japanese in the jungel. Ge gave an eccentric British officer, Orde Wingate, the opportunity to carry out a jungle warfare campaign behind Japanese lines in Burma, The force became known as the Chindits, these were the name of the stone tigers that guarded temples in Burma. The Chindits adopted classic guerrilla tactics. They attacked Japanese forces where they were unprepared and did not expect an attack. Along with the British were the Gurkhas, experts at hand to hand combat. The Chindits used deep-penetration tactics. They operated in small groups and were supplied by air. The Americans formed a comparable force. The Chindit operations seemed to have convinced the Japanese that remaining static in Burma made it vulnerable . They decided on an offensive which aimed to attack Imphal, a strategic position where the British were building up their supplies for the planned drive into Burma. The fighting around Imphal was some of the most vicious of the War, Although cut off, the British refused to surrender, In the end the attacking Japanese force was decimimated, in part because they attacked without supplies, planning to seize what they need from the British. This was followed by the Allied invasion of Burma. The American/Chinese Army in the north. This enabled the Americansto build the Ledo Road which reached the nothern part of the Burma Road and reopened an overland supply deliveries to China. The British Indian Army attacked in the south and after hard fighting reached Mandalay. Rangoon soon fell.

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Created: 2:05 AM 4/23/2016
Last updated: 2:06 AM 4/23/2016