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Jan 11, 2024 · Beginning in January 1942, the Japanese invasion of Burma had swept all before it, driving British and Commonwealth forces out of a country that was then still part of the British Empire. The capital city of Rangoon fell in March — and the resulting 900-mile withdrawal northwards, over difficult mountain terrain and across the Indian border, achieved infamy as the ‘longest retreat in the ...
- Military History
The Far East campaign. Between December 1941 and August 1945, British Commonwealth troops and their allies fought a bitter war against the Japanese in Asia. The fighting took place in malaria-ridden jungles during drenching monsoon rains and on remote islands in searing tropical heat, but always against a tenacious and often brutal enemy.
- Searching The British Newspaper Archive
- Using Online Sources and Regimental/Unit Histories
- Ordering A Copy of A Soldier’S Service Record
- Using Unit War Diaries
- Enquiries Into Missing Personnel, 1939-1945
- Viewing Newspapers at The British Library
The British Newspaper Archive is a good resource to search if you’re looking for a photograph of a soldier. Only a fraction of the newspapers covering the Second World War have been digitized but it’s being continuously updated. The following two photographs of soldiers commemorated on the memorial are typical of the type published in newspapers of...
There are vast amounts of information online regarding the Burma Campaign online which will be very useful for adding context. The Burma Star Memorial is a good resource. However, unless you are researching a soldier killed with an infantry unit, then you’re unlikely to find a lot of information. Regimental histories can be very useful and some hav...
A soldier’s service recordprobably won’t provide you with any information regarding the circumstances of their death but can be very useful in other aspects. They are held by the Ministry of Defence and National Archives. As the soldiers on the Rangoon Memorial died in service, you don’t need to provide a death certificate when ordering a copy or h...
A war diary was written by an officer of a unit and recorded its location and activities. They often contain appendices in the form of orders, battle reports, maps etc. War diaries will be your primary source of information if you want to find out where and in what circumstances a soldier died. Though their level of detail varies and they may not r...
An important source of information, especially if you’re researching a missing soldier is WO 361: Enquiries into Missing Personnel, 1939-1945 held at the National Archives. I offer a copying servicefor these documents. They often contain eyewitness accounts of the circumstances in which a soldier was last seen. There will often be multiple files fo...
Newspapers often reported if a local soldier became a casualty and many published photographs of them. The British Library has the best collection of British newspapers in the world. Unfortunately, only a small number have been digitized but the rest can be viewed at the British Library in London or its Boston Spa site. Newspapers will be available...
Assassination of Lord Mountbatten. Map showing Mullaghmore Peninsula (red) within County Sligo, where Mountbatten was killed. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, a relative of the British royal family, was assassinated on 27 August 1979 by Thomas McMahon, an Irish republican and a volunteer for the Provisional Irish Republican ...
Jan 31, 2016 · 31 January 2016. Peter Bankes. In World War Two, British Capt Peter Robert Sandham Bankes led a company of Chin tribesmen in Burma - now known as Myanmar - in repelling the Japanese advance on the ...
Japan. The fighting in the Burma campaign in 1944 was among the most severe in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. It took place along the borders between Burma and India, and Burma and China, and involved the British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces, against the forces of Imperial Japan and the Indian National Army.
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Why did the Japanese invade Burma in 1944?
In March 1942, thousands of British and Indian civilians fled Burma when Japanese troops arrived. Their escape route would become known as 'The Road of Death'. Seventy years on, a survivor recalls ...
