United Kingdom
129-557: Second Sino-Japanese War Operation Dracula was a World War II -airborne and amphibious attack on Rangoon by British and Anglo-Indian forces during the Burma Campaign . The plan was first proposed in mid-1944 when the Allied South East Asia Command was preparing to reoccupy Burma , but was dropped as the necessary landing craft and other resources were not available. In March 1945 however, it
258-730: A full-scale battle in which Beijing and its port city of Tianjin fell to invading Japanese forces (July–August 1937). , On 11 July, in accordance with the Goso conference, the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff authorized the deployment of an infantry division from the Chōsen Army , two combined brigades from the Kwantung Army and an air regiment composed of 18 squadrons as reinforcements to Northern China. By 20 July, total Japanese military strength in
387-604: A sampan and sailed it down the river to meet the landing craft. The troops of the Indian 26th Division began occupying the city without opposition on 2 May. The British were joyfully welcomed, perhaps not universally as liberators, but certainly as they could restore order and bring in food and other assistance. When the Japanese and Ba Maw's officials left Rangoon, widespread looting and lawlessness had broken out and continued for several days. The retreating Japanese had burned down
516-504: A 400 meter football field and 1 public fitness center. The most common illness within the Township is diarrhea. Between 2017 and 2018, Bago Township saw 617 cases of HIV leading to 16 deaths. Bago also has 9 high schools and a university. Bago's larger high schools have branches within the city. There are 28 monastic schools within the Township. Bago has a school attendance rate of 99.82% and 33% attendance rate for university. Overall,
645-738: A campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare . In November 1939, Chinese nationalist forces launched a large scale winter offensive , and in August 1940, communist forces launched the Hundred Regiments Offensive in central China. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States. The US increased its aid to China under the Lend-Lease Act , becoming its main financial and military supporter. With Burma cut off,
774-540: A communist victory and the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949. In China, the war is most commonly known as the "War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression" ( simplified Chinese : 抗日战争 ; traditional Chinese : 抗日戰爭 ), and shortened to "Resistance against Japanese Aggression" ( Chinese : 抗日 ) or the "War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 抗戰 ). It
903-607: A composite Gurkha parachute battalion landed on Elephant Point at the mouth of the Rangoon River . Once they had secured the coastal batteries, minesweepers cleared the river of mines. On 2 May, the Indian 26th Division began landing on both banks of the river. The monsoon also broke on this day, earlier than had been expected. However, the Imperial Japanese Army had abandoned Rangoon several days earlier, and
1032-719: A demilitarized zone between the Great Wall and Beijing-Tianjin region. Japan aimed to create another buffer zone between Manchukuo and the Chinese Nationalist government in Nanjing. Japan increasingly exploited China's internal conflicts to reduce the strength of its fractious opponents. Even years after the Northern Expedition, the political power of the Nationalist government was limited to just
1161-598: A diversionary bombardment against Car Nicobar and Port Blair in the Nicobar and Andaman island groups Another flotilla of five destroyers was responsible for the destruction of the main Japanese evacuation convoy. 224 Group Royal Air Force , under Air Vice Marshal the Earl of Bandon , covered the landings from the airfields around Toungoo and on Ramree Island. Early on 1 May, eight squadrons of B-24 Liberator and four of B-25 Mitchells , and two squadrons of P-51 Mustangs from
1290-548: A few miles north of Pegu. Matsui's engineers laid mines (including some improvised from aerial bombs) and booby-trapped obstacles to delay the British tanks. Even more delay was imposed by torrential rain which fell on 28 April, which turned dusty tracks into mud and caused streams and rivers to rise in spate. On 28 April, the advancing troops of IV Corps cut the road between Pegu and the Sittang River, thus finally cutting
1419-406: A handful surviving. Second Sino-Japanese War [REDACTED] China [REDACTED] Japan [REDACTED] 14,000,000 total [REDACTED] 4,100,000 total Second Sino-Japanese War Taishō period Shōwa period Asia-Pacific Mediterranean and Middle East Other campaigns Coups The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between
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#17327809417611548-529: A heavy Japanese defeat at the Battle of Imphal , and other setbacks in Northern Burma. Their losses were to handicap their defence of Burma in the following year. In July, 1944, the Allied South East Asia Command began making definite plans for the reconquest of Burma. The Battle of Imphal was still being fought but it was clear that the Japanese would be forced to retreat with heavy casualties. One of
1677-458: A major seaport, the city was frequently visited by Europeans, among these, Gasparo Balbi and Ralph Fitch in the late 1500s. The Europeans often commented on its magnificence. Pegu also established maritime links with the Ottomans by 1545. The Portuguese conquest of Pegu, following the destruction caused by the kings of Tangot and Arrakan in 1599, was described by Manuel de Abreu Mousinho in
1806-514: A merchant from the Portuguese casados settlement at Cochin , landed in Bago (known to the Portuguese as Pegu) looking for new markets for pepper from Cochin. A year later, Portuguese India Governor Diogo Lopes de Sequeira sent an ambassador to Pegu. The city remained the capital until the kingdom's fall in 1538. The ascendant Toungoo dynasty under Tabinshwehti made numerous raids that
1935-732: A result of Depression -era tariffs ), and a protective buffer state against the Soviet Union in Siberia . As a result, the Japanese Army was widely prevalent in Manchuria immediately following the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, where Japan gained significant territory in Manchuria. As a result of their strengthened position, by 1915 Japan had negotiated a significant amount of economic privilege in
2064-536: A result of its victory at the end of the war. Japan had also attempted to annex the Liaodong Peninsula following the war, though was forced to return it to China following an intervention by France , Germany , and Russia . The Qing dynasty was on the brink of collapse due to internal revolts and the imposition of the unequal treaties , while Japan had emerged as a great power through its modernization measures. In 1905, Japan successfully defeated
2193-545: A shortening of Where the Hinthawan Ducks Graze ( Burmese : ဟင်္သာဝမ်းဘဲများ ကူးသန်းကျက်စားရာ အရပ် ). This etymology relies on the non-phonetic Burmese spelling as its main reasoning. Various Mon language chronicles report widely divergent foundation dates of Bago, ranging from 573 CE to 1152 CE while the Zabu Kuncha , an early 15th century Burmese administrative treatise, states that Pegu
2322-642: A small, but thriving tourism industry with many tourists from nearby Yangon. The Bago Development Committee manages 11 markets around the city. There are no airports within the township, and the city is served mostly by Yangon International Airport but the proposed Hanthawaddy International Airport serving Yangon and Bago may be located within Bago Township. There are two rail lines that pass through Bago, Yangon–Mandalay Railway and Yangon–Mawlamyine Railway . Bago also has several bus depots on its outskirts with intercity buses providing regular service. Bago
2451-779: A term used mainly in foreign and Chinese narratives. The origins of the Second Sino-Japanese War can be traced back to the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, in which China, then under the rule of the Qing dynasty, was defeated by Japan and forced to cede Taiwan and recognize the full and complete independence of Korea in the Treaty of Shimonoseki . Japan also annexed the Senkaku Islands , which Japan claims were uninhabited, in early 1895 as
2580-648: A testing zone for advanced biplane and new-generation monoplane combat-aircraft designs. The introduction of the advanced A5M "Claude" fighters into the Shanghai-Nanjing theater of operations, beginning on 18 September 1937, helped the Japanese achieve a certain level of air superiority . However the few experienced Chinese veteran pilots, as well as several Chinese-American volunteer fighter pilots, including Maj. Art Chin , Maj. John Wong Pan-yang , and Capt. Chan Kee-Wong, even in their older and slower biplanes, proved more than able to hold their own against
2709-559: A tsunami. Today, Hanthawaddy is one of the wards of Bago's city proper. The town of Bago is subdivided into 34 wards. On 9 April 2021, during the Myanmar protests , Bago became the site of the Bago massacre , during which military forces killed at least 82 civilians following a protest crackdown. The 2014 Myanmar census reported that Bago had a population of 237,619, representing 48.35% of Bago Township 's total population. As of 2019,
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#17327809417612838-623: A women's unit, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment . The only personnel remaining in Rangoon were 5,000 troops of the Indian National Army under Major General A. D. Loganathan , left by Bose to protect the remaining Indian community against attacks by lawless Burmese. Loganathan had no intention of resisting Allied attacks, and intended to hand over his men and responsibility for the city to the British when they arrived. While this evacuation
2967-520: Is a period of "total" war. This view of a fourteen-year war has political significance because it provides more recognition for the role of northeast China in the War of Resistance. On the night of 7 July 1937, Chinese and Japanese troops exchanged fire in the vicinity of the Marco Polo (or Lugou) Bridge , a crucial access-route to Beijing. What began as confused, sporadic skirmishing soon escalated into
3096-895: Is known in China as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression ( simplified Chinese : 抗日战争 ; traditional Chinese : 抗日戰爭 ). On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident , a false flag event fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo . This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including in Shanghai and in Northern China. Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces, respectively led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong , had fought each other in
3225-569: Is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. When the invasion of China proper began in earnest in July 1937 near Beijing , the government of Japan used "The North China Incident" (Japanese: 北支事變/華北事變 , romanized: Hokushi Jihen/Kahoku Jihen ), and with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai the following month, it was changed to "The China Incident" (Japanese: 支那事變 , romanized: Shina Jihen ). The word "incident" (Japanese: 事變 , romanized: jihen )
3354-551: Is served by the Yangon–Mandalay Expressway as well as the old highways going to Taungoo and Myeik. Bago has seven major bridges crossing the Bago River in and around the city. Bago has a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen Am ), similar to most of coastal Myanmar, with a hot, dry season from mid-November to mid-April and a, hot, extremely humid, and exceedingly rainy wet season from May to October. Bago has
3483-493: The 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron commanded by Commodore Geoffrey Oliver consisted of four escort carriers , two cruisers and four destroyers, and the 3rd Battle Squadron , commanded by Vice Admiral Harold Walker , consisting of two battleships ( HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Free French battleship Richelieu ), two escort carriers, four cruisers (one Dutch) and six destroyers. The 3rd Battle Squadron carried out
3612-406: The 2nd Air Commando Group United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombed and strafed Japanese defences south of Rangoon. An air force observation post, a small detachment from Force 136 and a 700-man strong Gurkha composite parachute battalion from the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade were dropped from C-47s of the 2nd Air Commando Group on Elephant Point at the mouth of the Rangoon River in
3741-657: The Central Plains War broke out across China, involving regional commanders who had fought in alliance with the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition, and the Nanjing government under Chiang. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) previously fought openly against the Nanjing government after the Shanghai massacre of 1927 , and they continued to expand during this protracted civil war. The Kuomintang government in Nanjing decided to focus their efforts on suppressing
3870-667: The Chinese Civil War since 1927. In late 1933, Chiang Kai-shek encircled the Chinese Communists in an attempt to finally destroy them, forcing the Communists into the Long March , resulting in the Communists losing around 90% of their men. As a Japanese invasion became imminent, Chiang still refused to form a united front before he was placed under house arrest by his subordinates who forced him to form
3999-558: The Chola Emperor from South India, as having conquered "Kadaram" in the fourteenth year of his reign – 1028 CE. According to one interpretation, Kadaram refers to Bago. More modern interpretations understand Kadaram to be Kedah in modern day Malaysia, instead of Bago. A Chinese source mentions Jayavarman VII adding Pegu to the territory of the Khmer Empire in 1195. The small settlement grew increasingly important in
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4128-818: The German Empire 's sphere of influence in Shandong province, leading to nationwide anti-Japanese protests and mass demonstrations in China. The country remained fragmented under the Beiyang Government and was unable to resist foreign incursions. For the purpose of unifying China and defeating the regional warlords, the Kuomintang (KMT) in Guangzhou launched the Northern Expedition from 1926 to 1928 with limited assistance from
4257-855: The Mukden incident in September 1931. Japanese soldiers set off a bomb on the Southern Manchurian Railroad in order to provoke an opportunity to act in "self defense" and invade outright. Japan charged that its rights in Manchuria, which had been established as a result of its victory in 1905 at the end of the Russo-Japanese War , had been systematically violated and there were "more than 120 cases of infringement of rights and interests, interference with business, boycott of Japanese goods, unreasonable taxation, detention of individuals, confiscation of properties, eviction, demand for cessation of business, assault and battery, and
4386-578: The Neutrality Acts of the 1930s . In addition, due to China's fractured political status, Japan often claimed that China was no longer a recognizable political entity on which war could be declared. In Japanese propaganda , the invasion of China became a crusade (Japanese: 聖戦 , romanized: seisen ), the first step of the "eight corners of the world under one roof" slogan (Japanese: 八紘一宇 , romanized: Hakkō ichiu ). In 1940, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe launched
4515-657: The Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II , and often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as "the Asian Holocaust ", in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians. It
4644-531: The Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War , gaining Tailen and southern Sakhalin and establishing a protectorate over Korea. In 1911, factions of the Qing Army uprose against the government, staging a revolution that swept across China's southern provinces. The Qing responded by appointing Yuan Shikai , commander of the loyalist Beiyang Army , as temporary prime minister in order to subdue
4773-647: The Second United Front in late 1936 in order to resist the Japanese invasion together. The full-scale war began on 7 July 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge incident near Beijing , which prompted a full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. The Japanese captured the capital of Nanjing in 1937 and perpetrated the Nanjing Massacre . After failing to stop the Japanese capture of Wuhan in 1938, then China's de facto capital at
4902-524: The Shan States . Slim ordered his forces to exploit their victory by advancing south along the Irrawaddy River and Sittang River valleys towards Rangoon. During April, Indian IV Corps under Lieutenant General Frank Messervy , spearheaded by an armoured brigade, advanced almost 200 miles (320 km) southward. They were approaching Pegu, 40 miles (64 km) north of Rangoon, by the end of
5031-668: The Shanghai French Concession , areas which were outside of China's control due to the treaty port system. Japan moved into these areas after its 1941 declaration of war against the United States and the United Kingdom. Building on the hard-won victory in Shanghai, the IJA advanced on and captured the KMT capital city of Nanjing (December 1937) and Northern Shanxi (September – November 1937). Upon
5160-520: The Shwemawdaw Pagoda . The city also has 9 churches, 6 mosques, 16 Hindu temples and 3 Chinese Mahayana temples. The main industries of Bago Township are agriculture and service sector employment. Bago city has an industrial zone with several factories, mostly in textiles and shoe-making. Smaller factories and workshops within the city also create food products, plastics, electric meters, motors, wood products, tea and halwa . Bago also has
5289-695: The Sittang River would cut the Burma Railway and several major roads which were the only viable overland links for the Japanese with their forces in these countries. If Rangoon fell, the Japanese would therefore be compelled to withdraw from almost all of Burma, abandoning much of their equipment. However, the Allied planners considered that to mount an amphibious assault on the scale required would need resources (landing craft, escorting warships, engineering equipment) which would not be available until
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5418-435: The Soviet Union . The National Revolutionary Army (NRA) formed by the Kuomintang swept through southern and central China until it was checked in Shandong, where confrontations with the Japanese garrison escalated into armed conflict. The conflicts were collectively known as the Jinan incident of 1928, during which time the Japanese military killed several Chinese officials and fired artillery shells into Jinan. According to
5547-556: The Taisei Yokusankai . When both sides formally declared war in December 1941, the name was replaced by " Greater East Asia War " (Japanese: 大東亞戰爭 , romanized: Daitōa Sensō ). Although the Japanese government still uses the term "China Incident" in formal documents, the word Shina is considered derogatory by China and therefore the media in Japan often paraphrase with other expressions like "The Japan–China Incident" (Japanese: 日華事變/日支事變 , romanized: Nikka Jiken/Nisshi Jiken ), which were used by media as early as
5676-516: The United States Army Air Forces airlifted material over the Himalayas . In 1944, Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go , the invasion of Henan and Changsha . In 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. China launched large counteroffensives in South China and repulsed a failed Japanese invasion of West Hunan and recaptured Japanese occupied regions of Guangxi . Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945, following
5805-442: The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Soviet declaration of war and subsequent invasions of Manchukuo and Korea . The war resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly Chinese civilians. China was recognized as one of the Big Four Allies , regained all territories lost, and became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council . The Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, ending with
5934-479: The 14th century as the region became most populous in the Mon-speaking kingdom. In 1369, King Binnya U made Bago the capital. During the reign of King Razadarit , Bago and the Ava Kingdom were engaged in the Forty Years' War . The peaceful reign of Queen Shin Sawbu came to an end when she chose the Buddhist monk Dhammazedi (1471–1492) to succeed her. Under Dhammazedi, Bago became a centre of commerce and Theravada Buddhism . In 1519, António Correia , then
6063-430: The 18 September 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria marks the start of the War of Resistance. Although not the conventional Western view, British historian Rana Mitter describes this Chinese trend of historical analysis as "perfectly reasonable". In 2017, the Chinese government officially announced that it would adopt this view. Under this interpretation, the 1931–1937 period is viewed as the "partial" war, while 1937–1945
6192-417: The 1921 and 1927 Imperial Eastern Region Conferences reconfirmed Japan's commitment to be the dominant power in the Northeast. The 1929 Red Army victory shook that policy to the core and reopened the Manchurian problem. By 1930, the Kwantung Army realized they faced a Red Army that was only growing stronger. The time to act was drawing near and Japanese plans to conquer the Northeast were accelerated. In 1930,
6321-401: The 1930s. The name "Second Sino-Japanese War" is not commonly used in Japan as the China it fought a war against in 1894 to 1895 was led by the Qing dynasty , and thus is called the Qing-Japanese War (Japanese: 日清戦争 , romanized: Nisshin–Sensō ), rather than the First Sino-Japanese War . Another term for the second war between Japan and China is the "Japanese invasion of China",
6450-454: The 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria . According to historian Rana Mitter , historians in China are unhappy with the blanket revision, and (despite sustained tensions) the Republic of China did not consider itself to be in an ongoing war with Japan over these six years. It is also referred to as part of the "Global Anti-Fascist War". In Japan, nowadays, the name "Japan–China War" ( Japanese : 日中戦争 , romanized : Nitchū Sensō )
6579-399: The 1937 " Sword March ", which—with slightly reworked lyrics—became the National Revolutionary Army's standard marching cadence and popularized the racial epithet guizi to describe the Japanese invaders. The Imperial General Headquarters (GHQ) in Tokyo, content with the gains acquired in northern China following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, initially showed reluctance to escalate
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#17327809417616708-424: The 26th Division moved out along the main roads to link up with Fourteenth Army. On 6 May, they met the leading troops of 17th Division, pushing their way through floods southwards from Pegu, at Hlegu 28 miles (45 km) north east of Rangoon. Fourteenth Army and the other Allied forces in Burma thus had a secure line of communication. Matsui's Kani Force joined the remnants of the Japanese Twenty-Eighth Army in
6837-422: The Beijing-Tianjin area exceeded 180,000 personnel. The Japanese gave Sung and his troops "free passage" before moving in to pacify resistance in areas surrounding Beijing (then Beiping) and Tianjin. After 24 days of combat, the Chinese 29th Army was forced to withdraw. The Japanese captured Beijing and the Taku Forts at Tianjin on 29 and 30 July respectively, thus concluding the Beijing-Tianjin campaign. However,
6966-413: The Burmese coastal province of Arakan . Indian XV Corps , under Lieutenant General Sir Philip Christison , captured Akyab Island with its important airfield on 31 December 1944. In late January 1945, Allied troops landed on the Myebon peninsula and inflicted heavy casualties on retreating Japanese troops. Also on 21 January, Allied troops landed unopposed on Cheduba Island , and on Ramree Island which
7095-436: The Burmese government renamed English place names throughout the country in 1989, Bago was known as Pegu . Bago was formerly known as Hanthawaddy ( Burmese : ဟံသာဝတီ ; Mon : ဟံသာဝတဳ Hongsawatoi ; Pali : Haṃsāvatī ; lit. "she who possesses the sheldrake "), the name of a Burmese-Mon kingdom. An alternative etymology from the 1947 Burmese Encyclopedia derives Bago (ပဲခူး) from Wanpeku ( Burmese : ဝမ်းပဲကူး ) as
7224-400: The Chinese Communists through the Encirclement Campaigns , following the policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance" (Chinese: 攘外必先安內 ). The internecine warfare in China provided excellent opportunities for Japan, which saw Manchuria as a limitless supply of raw materials, a market for its manufactured goods (now excluded from the markets of many Western countries as
7353-469: The Chinese to deploy troops in their own city. In Manchukuo there was an ongoing campaign to pacify the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies that arose from widespread outrage over the policy of non-resistance to Japan. On 15 April 1932, the Chinese Soviet Republic led by the Communists declared war on Japan. In 1933, the Japanese attacked the Great Wall region. The Tanggu Truce established in its aftermath, gave Japan control of Rehe Province , as well as
7482-489: The Japanese Army had been given orders not to advance further than the Yongding River. In a sudden volte-face , the Konoe government's foreign minister opened negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek's government in Nanjing and stated: "Japan wants Chinese cooperation, not Chinese land." Nevertheless, negotiations failed to move further. The Ōyama Incident on 9 August escalated the skirmishes and battles into full scale warfare. The 29th Army's resistance (and poor equipment) inspired
7611-408: The Japanese communications between Rangoon and Moulmein. A small Japanese truck convoy which ran into the road block was wiped out. The Indian 17th Division cleared Payagyi and several surrounding villages on 29 April. They launched their main attack on Pegu on 30 April. The Japanese held the western part of Pegu, and demolished all the bridges across the Pegu River which separated their positions from
7740-465: The Japanese intercepted most of the attack with A2N and A4N fighters from the aircraft carriers Hosho and Ryujo , shooting down several of the Chinese planes while losing a single A4N in the dogfight with Lt. Huang Xinrui in his P-26/281; the Japanese Army reinforcements succeeded in landing in northern Shanghai. The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) ultimately committed over 300,000 troops, along with numerous naval vessels and aircraft, to capture
7869-417: The Japanese rear-area troops in the Rangoon area and even some hastily mobilised Japanese civilians were formed into the Japanese 105th Independent Mixed Brigade under Major General Hideji Matsui, who had recently been appointed commander of the "Rangoon Defence Force". The units of this brigade (also called Kani Force ) included anti-aircraft batteries, airfield construction battalions, naval Anchorage Units,
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#17327809417617998-468: The Japanese strongholds in Shanghai, leading to bitter street fighting. In an attack on the Japanese cruiser Izumo , Kuomintang planes accidentally bombed the Shanghai International Settlement , which led to more than 3,000 civilian deaths. In the three days from 14 August through 16, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) sent many sorties of the then-advanced long-ranged G3M medium-heavy land-based bombers and assorted carrier-based aircraft with
8127-415: The Japanese-backed East Hebei Autonomous Council and the Hebei–Chahar Political Council were established. There in the empty space of Chahar the Mongol military government was formed on 12 May 1936. Japan provided all the necessary military and economic aid. Afterwards Chinese volunteer forces continued to resist Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and Chahar and Suiyuan . Some Chinese historians believe
8256-406: The League of Nations. No country took action against Japan beyond tepid censure. From 1931 until summer 1937, the Nationalist Army under Chiang Kai-shek did little to oppose Japanese encroachment into China. Incessant fighting followed the Mukden Incident. In 1932, Chinese and Japanese troops fought the January 28 Incident battle. This resulted in the demilitarization of Shanghai , which forbade
8385-455: The Pegu Yomas. During July, these forces tried to break out eastwards to join the other Japanese armies east of the Sittang. Matsui's men suffered slightly lighter casualties in this costly operation than most of the other Japanese units involved. However, the naval personnel in Matsui's force broke out separately from the main body and several days later, which allowed Allied units to concentrate against them. They were effectively wiped out, only
8514-439: The Rangoon River. The British 2nd Division would follow up through these beachheads several days later to launch the main assault on the city. The Indian 26th Division and other forces sailed in six convoys from Akyab and Ramree Island between 27 April and 30 April. The transporting and landing of British and Indian assault forces was entrusted to Rear-Admiral Benjamin Martin commanding Force W. The naval covering force included
8643-447: The Toungoo dynasty flee their capital to Ava . The capital was looted by the viceroy of Toungoo , Minye Thihathu II of Toungoo , and then burned by the viceroy of Arakan during the Burmese–Siamese War (1594–1605) . Anaukpetlun wanted to rebuild Hongsawadi and the glories of Bago, which had been deserted since Nanda Bayin had abandoned it. He was only able to build a temporary palace, however. The Burmese capital's return to Bago
8772-444: The account called "Brief narrative telling the conquest of Pegu in eastern India made by the Portuguese in the time of the viceroy Aires de Saldanha, being captain Salvador Ribeiro de Sousa , called Massinga, born in Guimarães, elected as their king by the natives in the year 1600", published by Fernão Mendes Pinto in the 18th century. The 1599 destruction of the city and the crumbling authority of Bayinnaung's successor Nanda Bayin saw
8901-582: The action of Matsui's troops at Pegu, but were attacked several times by Allied aircraft. The Japanese failed to provide transport for Ba Maw's staff, most of whom had to walk to Moulmein. Ba Maw himself began his journey by car accompanied by his wife and his pregnant daughter, who gave birth at Kyaikto , 16 miles (26 km) east of the Sittang. He feared that he would be assassinated if he went to Moulmein and instead fled to Tokyo. Bose regarded Ba Maw's flight as dishonourable, and marched on foot with his rearmost troops, having first arranged for lorries to evacuate
9030-502: The area of the Yangtze River Delta . Other sections of China were essentially in the hands of local Chinese warlords. Japan sought various Chinese collaborators and helped them establish governments friendly to Japan. This policy was called the Specialization of North China ( 華北特殊化 ; huáběitèshūhùa ), more commonly known as the North China Autonomous Movement. The northern provinces affected by this policy were Chahar , Suiyuan , Hebei , Shanxi , and Shandong. This Japanese policy
9159-456: The buildings. Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu ; Burmese : ပဲခူးမြို့ ; MLCTS : pai: khu: mrui. , IPA: [bəɡó mjo̰] ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy , is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar . It is located 91 kilometres (57 mi) north-east of Yangon . The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon language place name Bagaw ( Mon : ဗဂေါ , [bəkɜ̀] ). Until
9288-452: The campaign in Europe was concluded. (At the time, the Battle of Normandy was being fought, with its outcome still in doubt in some quarters). Operation Dracula was therefore postponed, and Plan Y (now codenamed Operation Capital ) was adopted instead. When sufficient numbers of landing craft and other amphibious resources became available late in 1944, they were first used in operations in
9417-609: The capital of more land and eventually the largest empire in Indochina. A 1565 rebellion by resettled Shans in Bago burnt down major swaths of the city and the palace complex and the Kanbawzathadi Palace was rebuilt. Bayinnaung, this time, added 20 gates to the city named after the vassal who built it After the 1565 rebellion by resettled Shans in Pegu, he faced no new rebellions for the next two years (1565–1567). Because
9546-404: The capture of Nanjing, Japanese committed massive war atrocities including mass murder and rape of Chinese civilians after 13 December 1937, which has been referred to as the Nanjing Massacre . Over the next several weeks, Japanese troops perpetrated numerous mass executions and tens of thousands of rapes. The army looted and burned the surrounding towns and the city, destroying more than a third of
9675-534: The city off from the sea. It never regained its previous importance. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War , the British annexed Bago in 1852. In 1862, the province of British Burma was formed, and the capital moved to Yangon . The substantial differences between the colloquial and literary pronunciations, as with Burmese words, was a reason of the British corruption "Pegu". In 1911, Hanthawaddy
9804-464: The city's large foreign community and increase China's foreign support. On 13 August 1937, Kuomintang soldiers attacked Japanese Marine positions in Shanghai, with Japanese army troops and marines in turn crossing into the city with naval gunfire support at Zhabei , leading to the Battle of Shanghai. On 14 August, Chinese forces under the command of Zhang Zhizhong were ordered to capture or destroy
9933-528: The city, and this increased to a "mass exodus" in February 1942 as the Indian, Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Burmese population of Rangoon fled, fearing both the Japanese and hostile Burmese, leaving the city with no effective administration. After occupying Thailand , the Japanese Army attacked southern Burma in March 1942. The British, Indian and Burmese forces were outmatched and were forced to evacuate Rangoon, making
10062-601: The city. After more than three months of intense fighting, their casualties far exceeded initial expectations. On 26 October, the IJA captured Dachang, a key strong-point within Shanghai, and on 5 November, additional reinforcements from Japan landed in Hangzhou Bay. Finally, on 9 November, the NRA began a general retreat. Japan did not immediately occupy the Shanghai International Settlement or
10191-563: The conflict into a full-scale war. Following the shooting of two Japanese officers who were attempting to enter the Hongqiao military airport on 9 August 1937, the Japanese demanded that all Chinese forces withdraw from Shanghai; the Chinese outright refused to meet this demand. In response, both the Chinese and the Japanese marched reinforcements into the Shanghai area. Chiang concentrated his best troops north of Shanghai in an effort to impress
10320-568: The country. China was reduced to a fractured state. As a result, China's prosperity began to wither and its economy declined. This instability presented an opportunity for nationalistic politicians in Japan to press for territorial expansion. In 1915, Japan issued the Twenty-One Demands to extort further political and commercial privilege from China, which was accepted by the regime of Yuan Shikai. Following World War I , Japan acquired
10449-618: The country. Yuan's attempts at restoring the monarchy triggered the National Protection War , and Yuan Shikai was overthrown after only a few months. In the aftermath of Shikai's death in June 1916, control of China fell into the hands of the Beiyang Army leadership. The Beiyang government was a civilian government in name, but in practice it was a military dictatorship with a different warlord controlling each province of
10578-455: The district was in Rangoon, which was also the sub-divisional headquarters. The second sub-division had its headquarters at Insein , where there were large railway works. Cultivation was almost wholly confined to rice, but there were many vegetable and fruit gardens. Bago was severely damaged during earthquakes in May and December 1930. The May earthquake killed at least 500 people and triggered
10707-501: The early hours of the morning of 2 May, almost the last day on which beach landings were possible before the heavy swell caused by the monsoon became too bad. An Allied Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft flying over Rangoon saw no sign of the Japanese in the city and also noticed a message painted on the roof of the jail by released British prisoners of war. It read, Japs gone. Extract digit – RAF slang for "get on with it". The prison had been taken over by Wing Commander Lionel Hudson, who
10836-497: The eastern part of the town. Reservoirs and flooded fields prevented the Indian Division making any outflanking moves. Indian infantry (4/ 12th Frontier Force Regiment ) scrambled across the girders of two demolished railway bridges which remained partially intact to establish precarious bridgeheads on the west bank, protected by artillery and tank fire. The 1/ 10 Gurkhas and 7/ 10th Baluch Regiment met strong resistance near
10965-545: The expectation of destroying the Chinese Air Force . However, the Imperial Japanese Navy encountered unexpected resistance from the defending Chinese Curtiss Hawk II / Hawk III and P-26/281 Peashooter fighter squadrons; suffering heavy (50%) losses from the defending Chinese pilots (14 August was subsequently commemorated by the KMT as China's Air Force Day ). The skies of China had become
11094-482: The exposed road to Hlegu . Matsui ordered a retreat into the hills west of Pegu. Although the British knew by 24 April from Signals intelligence that Burma Area Army HQ had left Rangoon, they were not aware that the Japanese were about to abandon the city entirely. It was believed that the landings would meet strong resistance. Under the modified plan for Dracula , the Indian 26th Division under Major General Henry Chambers would establish beachheads on both banks of
11223-546: The fighting and the city was left in ruins. Since Slim's forces would be in a disastrous supply situation if Rangoon was not captured before the monsoon broke, in late March he asked that Operation Dracula be reinstated, to take place before the monsoon began, which was expected in early May. On 2 April, Admiral Louis Mountbatten , the Supreme Commander of South East Asia Command, issued orders for Rangoon to be captured by seaborne invasion not later than 5 May. Before
11352-709: The investigation results of the Association of the Families of the Victims of the Jinan massacre, it showed that 6,123 Chinese civilians were killed and 1,701 injured. Relations between the Chinese Nationalist government and Japan severely worsened as a result of the Jinan incident. As the National Revolutionary Army approached Beijing, Zhang Zuolin decided to retreat back to Manchuria, before he
11481-496: The jail housing Burmese prisoners. They had also destroyed St. Philomena's Convent, which had been used as a hospital, killing 400 of their own men. After three years of war and deprivation, the city was deep in filth, many of the population had fled to escape the Kempeitai (Japanese military police) and those remaining were in rags. Dacoits (armed bandits) plagued the outskirts and various infectious diseases were rife. Units of
11610-546: The limit by the rapid advances. The monsoon was imminent, and the heavy rains would make many roads impassable and make resupply by air difficult. It was feared that the Japanese would defend Rangoon to the last man, as they had done elsewhere in the Pacific Theatre, as at Manila in the Philippines. Japanese forces defended the city for a month before they were eliminated. A hundred thousand civilians died during
11739-562: The long-term British defence of Burma impossible, as there were then no proper alternate supply routes overland from India. The British and Chinese forces were compelled to evacuate Burma and retreat into India and China. There was stalemate for a year. By 1944, the Allied forces in India had been reinforced and had expanded their logistic infrastructure, which made it possible for them to contemplate an attack into Burma. The Japanese attempted to forestall them by an invasion of India, which led to
11868-458: The main road bridge. The 1/ 3 Gorkha Rifles and 4/ 4 Bombay Grenadiers also made little progress while a deep ditch held up the tanks of the 9th Royal Deccan Horse . However, on the morning of 1 May, Indian patrols found that the Japanese had withdrawn. The 17th Division rapidly bridged the Pegu River and resumed its advance, but the monsoon had already broken. Within hours, the countryside
11997-420: The middle of the morning. They eliminated some small Japanese parties, either left as rearguards or perhaps forgotten in the confusion of the evacuation and captured or destroyed several guns overlooking the sea approaches to Rangoon, suffering thirty casualties from inaccurate Allied bombing. Once Elephant Point was secured, minesweepers cleared a passage up the river, and landing craft began coming ashore in
12126-479: The month. Pegu was one of the largest towns in Southern Burma, and was only a few miles north of the roads and railways which linked Rangoon with Thailand and Malaya. Despite these spectacular successes, Slim was uneasy. Although Messervy and several of his commanders considered there was a sporting chance that they might capture Rangoon at the beginning of May, Fourteenth Army's supply lines were strained to
12255-556: The much larger kingdom could not muster its resources against. While the kingdom would have a brief resurgence for 2 years in the 1550s, Tabinshwehti's successor Bayinnaung would firmly come to control Bago in 1553. In late 1553, Bago was proclaimed the new capital with commissioning of a new palace, the Kanbawzathadi Palace and Bayinnaung's coronation itself in January 1554. Over the next decade, Bago gradually become
12384-570: The oppression of Korean residents". After five months of fighting, Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932, and installed the last Emperor of China, Puyi , as its puppet ruler. Militarily too weak to challenge Japan directly, China appealed to the League of Nations for help. The League's investigation led to the publication of the Lytton Report , condemning Japan for its incursion into Manchuria, causing Japan to withdraw from
12513-498: The order was given to reinstate Dracula , South East Asia command had been preparing to attack Phuket Island off the Thai Kra Isthmus , as a stepping stone for an ultimate attack on Singapore . (The operation was codenamed Operation Roger .) The naval and air elements to be allocated to Dracula were therefore already in place. Indian XV Corps HQ was to control the ground forces. As a preliminary for Dracula , IV Corps
12642-545: The personnel of NCO schools and other odds and ends. They were dispatched north to defend Pegu, although they were delayed by lack of transport (which had been commandeered for Burma Area Army HQ and other units leaving Rangoon) and arrived only piecemeal. Major General Matsui was also angered by the evacuation of Rangoon, as he had not been informed of it before finding that Kimura's headquarters had been hastily abandoned on 26 April. After making unsuccessful attempts to evacuate Allied prisoners of war unable to walk and to demolish
12771-565: The port installations, Matsui then went north to conduct the defence of Pegu. Many Japanese troops left Rangoon by sea, and nine out of eleven ships of a convoy carrying a thousand soldiers fell victim to British destroyers in the Gulf of Martaban on April 30. Kimura himself left by airplane. Most of Kimura's HQ and the establishments of Ba Maw and Subhas Chandra Bose (commander of the Indian National Army), left overland, covered by
12900-587: The province. Hanthawaddy, as it was constituted in 1911, consisted of a vast plain stretching up from the sea between the mouth of the Irrawaddy River and the Pegu Range . Except the tract of land lying between the Pegu Range on the east and the Yangon River , the country was intersected by numerous tidal creeks , many of which were navigable by large boats and some by steamers. The headquarters of
13029-638: The rebellion burned down major swaths of the capital, including the entire palace complex, he had the capital and the palace rebuilt. The new capital had 20 gates, each named after the vassal who built it. Each gate had a gilded two-tier pyatthat and gilded wooden doors. The newly rebuilt Kanbawzathadi Palace was officially opened on 16 March 1568, with every vassal ruler present. He even gave upgraded titles to four former kings living in Pegu: Mobye Narapati of Ava, Sithu Kyawhtin of Ava, Mekuti of Lan Na, and Maha Chakkraphat of Siam. As
13158-477: The region by pressuring Yuan Shikai , the president of the Republic of China at the time. With a widened range of economic privileges in Manchuria, Japan began focusing on developing and protecting matters of economic interests. This included railroads, businesses, natural resources, and a general control of the territory. With its influence growing, the Japanese Army began to justify its presence by stating that it
13287-406: The revolution. Yuan, wanting to remain in power, compromised with the revolutionaries, and agreed to abolish the monarchy and establish a new republican government, under the condition he be appointed president of China. The new Beiyang government of China was proclaimed in March 1912, after which Yuan Shikai began to amass power for himself. In 1913, the parliamentary political leader Song Jiaoren
13416-562: The senseless destruction of his remaining forces. Kimura was opposed by his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Shinichi Tanaka , who had issued orders to fortify positions in Rangoon. Ba Maw , the Prime Minister of the nominally independent Burmese government, dissuaded the Japanese from turning the Shwedagon Pagoda into a gun emplacement. However, Tanaka flew north with several senior staff officers on 19 April to review
13545-517: The situation around Toungoo. While he was absent, the remaining staff drew up orders for the evacuation, which Kimura signed unhesitatingly. When Tanaka returned on 23 April, he protested, to no avail. Because the Army HQ's radios had already been moved to Moulmein, the Army could no longer control the overall battle for Burma from Rangoon. As the leading British and Indian troops approached Pegu, many of
13674-519: The sleek A5Ms in dogfights , and it also proved to be a battle of attrition against the Chinese Air Force. At the start of the battle, the local strength of the NRA was around five divisions, or about 70,000 troops, while local Japanese forces comprised about 6,300 marines. On 23 August, the Chinese Air Force attacked Japanese troop landings at Wusongkou in northern Shanghai with Hawk III fighter-attack planes and P-26/281 fighter escorts, and
13803-672: The strategic options examined by South East Asia Command was an amphibious assault on Rangoon. This originally had the working name, Plan Z. (Plan X referred to the recapture of northern Burma only by the American-led Northern Combat Area Command with the limited objective of completing the Ledo Road linking China and India; Plan Y referred to an Allied offensive into Central Burma by the British Fourteenth Army .) Plan Z, which
13932-608: The tensions in the Northeast that led to the Mukden Incident and eventually the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Soviet Red Army victory over Xueliang's forces not only reasserted Soviet control over the CER in Manchuria but revealed Chinese military weaknesses that Japanese Kwantung Army officers were quick to note. The Soviet Red Army performance also stunned the Japanese. Manchuria was central to Japan's East Asia policy. Both
14061-727: The time, the Nationalist government relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. After the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact , Soviet aid bolstered the National Revolutionary Army and Air Force . By 1939, after Chinese victories at Changsha and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat Chinese Communist Party forces in Shaanxi , who waged
14190-561: The units of the Indian 26th Division occupied the city and its vital docks without opposition. They linked up with Fourteenth Army four days later. Rangoon was the capital and major port of Burma . In December 1941, Japan entered World War II by attacking United States territory and the Far Eastern colonial possessions of Britain and the Netherlands . The Japanese bombed Rangoon on 23 December 1941. Refugees began leaving
14319-559: The urban town has 179,505 people based on the General Administration Department 's estimates. 88.73% of the Township is Bamar with a significant Karen , Mon, Palaung and Burmese Indian population. Buddhists make up 94.2% of the city with Christianity being the second most populous at 4.2%. There are 749 monasteries, 92 nunneries and 134 stupas of various sizes including the tallest pagoda in Myanmar,
14448-617: Was assassinated by the Kwantung Army in 1928. His son, Zhang Xueliang , took over as the leader of the Fengtian clique in Manchuria. Later in the same year, Zhang declared his allegiance to the Nationalist government in Nanjing under Chiang Kai-shek , and consequently, China was nominally reunified under one government. The July–November 1929 conflict over the Chinese Eastern Railroad (CER) further increased
14577-635: Was also a substantial contingent of the Indian National Army , a force composed mainly of former Indian prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in Malaya, which sought to overthrow British rule in India. Although some units of the INA had fought tenaciously in the Japanese invasion of India in 1944 and in central Burma, the morale of most of the INA was low by this point in the war. Many of its soldiers were convinced by early 1945 that Japanese defeat
14706-480: Was also called the "Eight Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 八年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 八年抗戰 ), but in 2017 the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a directive stating that textbooks were to refer to the war as the "Fourteen Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 十四年抗战 ; traditional Chinese: 十四年抗戰 ), reflecting a focus on the broader conflict with Japan going back to
14835-406: Was assassinated ; it is generally believed Yuan Shikai ordered the assassination. Yuan Shikai then forced the parliament to pass a bill to strengthen the power of the president and sought to restore the imperial system , becoming the new emperor of China. However, there was little support for an imperial restoration among the general population, and protests and demonstrations soon broke out across
14964-547: Was cleared of Japanese troops only after a severe battle . Airfields were quickly constructed on these islands, allowing Fourteenth Army to be supplied by transport aircraft as it advanced into Central Burma. During February and March, 1945, the Fourteenth Army (Lieutenant General William Slim ), fought the Battle of Central Burma . The Japanese were severely defeated. Most of their forces were reduced to fractions of their former strength, and were forced to retreat into
15093-406: Was described as a district in the Bago (or Pegu ) division of Lower Burma . It lay in the home district of Yangon , from which the town was detached to make a separate district in 1880. It had an area of 3,023 square miles (7,830 km ), with a population of 48,411 in 1901, showing an increase of 22% in the past decade. Hanthawaddy and Hinthada were the two most densely populated districts in
15222-492: Was flooded, and the advance was slowed to a crawl. Slim immediately put all of IV Corps on half rations to help the supply lines. On 30 April, Matsui had received another order from Kimura, now in Moulmein, to abandon Pegu and return to defend Rangoon to the death. Although he could have continued to resist in Pegu for some days if necessary, he accordingly withdrew. As his force did so, they came under attack as they moved along
15351-491: Was founded in 1276/77 CE. The earliest extant evidence of Pegu as a place dates only to the late Pagan period (1212 and 1266) when it was still a small town, not even a provincial capital. After the collapse of the Pagan Empire, Bago became part of the breakaway Kingdom of Martaban by the 1290s. The earliest possible external record of Bago dates to 1028 CE. The Thiruvalangadu plate describe Rajendra Chola I ,
15480-497: Was inevitable, and deserted or capitulated readily during the Allied advance on Rangoon. Kimura had already decided not to defend Rangoon, but to evacuate the city and withdraw to Moulmein in southern Burma. Although he received orders from Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi , commander-in-chief of the Southern Expeditionary Army Group , to hold Rangoon to the death, he reasoned that this would involve
15609-412: Was leading the former inmates in preparatory efforts for the British advance. Boldly, the crew of the plane tried to land at Mingaladon Airfield but damaged their tailwheel on the potholed runway preventing them taking off again. They walked to the jail, where they found 1,000 former prisoners of war who informed them of the Japanese evacuation. The air crew then went to the docks, where they commandeered
15738-575: Was most effective in the area of what is now Inner Mongolia and Hebei. In 1935, under Japanese pressure, China signed the He–Umezu Agreement , which forbade the KMT to conduct party operations in Hebei. In the same year, the Chin–Doihara Agreement was signed expelling the KMT from Chahar. Thus, by the end of 1935 the Chinese government had essentially abandoned northern China. In its place,
15867-605: Was ordered to capture the airfields at Toungoo , regardless of cost, so that air cover could be provided for the invasion. The airfields were captured by the Indian 5th Division on 22 April. The principal Japanese headquarters in Burma, the Burma Area Army , under Lieutenant General Hyotaro Kimura , was situated in Rangoon. There were no Japanese fighting formations stationed in the city, but there were large numbers of line of communication troops and naval personnel. There
15996-489: Was proceeding, the leading British and Indian troops of IV Corps (the Indian 17th Division , commanded by Major General David Tennant Cowan , with the bulk of 255th Indian Tank Brigade under command), were approaching Pegu. Messervy's leading armoured troops first met resistance from Matsui's forces on 27 April. Matsui had sent a detachment (mainly of mixed line of communication troops, but also including 138 Battalion of 24 Independent Mixed Brigade ) forward to defend Payagyi,
16125-442: Was resurrected, as it was vital to capture Rangoon before the start of the monsoon (which was expected in the second week of May) to secure the lines of communication of the Allied troops in Burma. During April 1945, units of the British Fourteenth Army advanced to within 40 miles (64 km) of Rangoon, but were delayed until 1 May by an improvised Japanese force which held Pegu . On the same day, as part of Operation Dracula,
16254-592: Was short lived as the royal capital was once again relocated to Ava in 1634 by the next king Thalun to focus on the core of the smaller Burmese empire. In 1740, the Mon revolted and founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom . However, a Bamar king, Alaungpaya , captured the city in May 1757. Bago was rebuilt by King Bodawpaya (r. 1782–1819), but by then the river had shifted course, cutting
16383-453: Was simply protecting its own economic interests. However militarists in the Japanese Army began pushing for an expansion of influence, leading to the Japanese Army assassinating the warlord of Manchuria, Zhang Zuolin . This was done with hopes that it would start a crisis that would allow Japan to expand their power and influence in the region. When this was not as successful as they desired, Japan then decided to invade Manchuria outright after
16512-484: Was to be developed into Operation Dracula, had several advantages. The loss of Rangoon would be even more disastrous for the Japanese in 1945 than it had been for the British in 1942. Not only was it the principal seaport by which the Japanese in Burma received supplies and reinforcements, but it lay very close to their other lines of communication with Thailand and Malaya . An advance by Allied forces north or east from Rangoon of only 40 miles (64 km) to Pegu or across
16641-425: Was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war . From the Japanese perspective, localizing these conflicts was beneficial in preventing intervention from other countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, which were its primary source of petroleum and steel respectively. A formal expression of these conflicts would potentially lead to an American embargo in accordance with
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