15 January 1942
Japanese Launch Invasion of Burma
The heavily forested mountain passes of Burma were a critical line of supply through which U.S. aid had been flowing to China for years. The Japanese, therefore, decided after occupying Thailand to assign an army to conquer this British colony. They were resisted by a combination of British, Indian, Chinese, and American troops. The campaign in what became known as the China-Burma-India (C-B-I) Theater continued until August 4, 1945, when the last remnants of Japan’s Burma Area Army retreated into Thailand.

Histories:
BBC History: The Burma Campaign
The Burma Campaign
Burma, 1942
India-Burma, 1942-1945
Central Burma, 1945

Campaign Maps:
World War II: Animated Maps
Japanese Invasion of Burma, 1942
Japanese Centrifugal Offensive: Burma
Allied Third Burma Campaign, 1943-1944
Allied Third Burma Campaign, 1944-1945
Allied Third Burma Campaign, 1945

Photographs:
The object of the savage Japanese bombing was to create panic and drive the native population on to the roads and into the jungle

Personal Accounts:
Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II: Interview with Mark Addison
Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II: Interview with Carleton C. Dilatush
Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II: Interview with William Carl Heyer
Rutgers Oral History Archives of World War II: Interview with George Wray Thomas