Misplaced Pages

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22-740: On 12 January 1945, troops of XV Corps and 3rd Commando Brigade launched an amphibious assault on the Myebon peninsula, with the support of tanks, aircraft and naval gunfire as part of flanking moves to intercept and defeat the retreating troops of the Japanese Twenty-Eighth Army in the Southern front of the Burma Campaign in World War II. Myebon village was attacked and secured the next day. On 15 February 2024

44-427: A poor relationship in general. Slim later commented wryly: "Stilwell ... bitterly resisted... To watch Stilwell ... shift his opposition [to Gifford] from one of ... his numerous Allied, American and Chinese offices, to another was a lesson in mobile offensive-defence." At a meeting organized by Mountbatten, to solve the problem, Stilwell surprised the others present by agreeing that, while he would direct NCAC and CEA in

66-618: A training and internal security role. On 5 April 1943, XV Corps was hastily summoned to Chittagong to resume control of operations in Arakan, where a Japanese counter-attack had driven back the British and Indian troops. It proved too late to restore the situation with the exhausted troops, and the Corps fell back to the Indian frontier before the monsoon halted operations. On October 15, Slim

88-818: The Arakan Army captured the town from the Tatmadaw during the Myanmar civil war . This Rakhine State location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . XV Corps (British India) The XV Corps was a corps -sized formation of the British Indian Army , which was formed in India during the Second World War . It took part in the Burma Campaign and

110-682: The Battle of the Admin Box . After capturing the defended area of the Mayu Range, operations in the Arakan were curtailed to allow resources to be concentrated on the central front in Assam . Fourteenth Army subsequently concentrated on the advance into Central Burma . XV Corps was removed from Fourteenth Army and directly subordinated to Allied Land Forces South East Asia so that the Corps could conduct an independent campaign through Arakan and down

132-560: The British Indian Army and from British African colonies, and also Nationalist Chinese and United States units. 11th Army Group was activated in November 1943 to act as the land forces HQ for the newly formed South East Asia Command (SEAC), Admiral Lord Mountbatten , Supreme Commander of SEAC. The commander of 11th Army Group was General George Giffard , who had formerly been Commander-in-Chief West Africa Command and Commander of Eastern Army (part of GHQ India ). The headquarters

154-644: The Ceylon Army Command . The Indian XXXIII Corps , training in Southern India for amphibious operations, also came under Eleventh Army Group for some purposes. It seemed logical that 11th Army Group should incorporate all Allied land forces, across the whole front in Burma, under a single command structure, including Northern Combat Area Command (NCAC), which was made up mostly of Republic of China Army divisions under General Joseph Stilwell ,

176-477: The 11th Army Group at the same level as the Fourteenth Army, the attacks could then be co-ordinated at Army Group level. As Stilwell was also Deputy Supreme Commander of SEAC and, technically, already Giffard's superior, this would have meant Stilwell relinquishing day-to-day field control of NCAC and CEA forces. However, Stilwell rejected this suggestion; he and Giffard had very different personalities and

198-512: The Burmese capital. Rangoon was found to have been abandoned by the Japanese. Following the capture of Rangoon, XV Corps was again subordinated to Fourteenth Army and was withdrawn from Burma to prepare for Operation Zipper , an amphibious assault to recapture Malaya . However, the operation was overtaken by the Japanese surrender, and XV Corps was disbanded on 1 October 1945. Its headquarters

220-405: The coast of Burma. When the general offensive began in late 1944, XV Corps captured Akyab Island (with a vital airfield), launched amphibious flanking moves to intercept and defeat the retreating Japanese troops, and subsequently captured the Burmese port of Taungup and the islands of Ramree and Cheduba. Finally, units of the Corps mounted Operation Dracula , an amphibious assault on Rangoon ,

242-475: The field, "I am prepared to come under General Slim's operational control until I get to Kamaing ". In effect, Stilwell would both temporarily become Slim's deputy and, de facto , temporarily vacate his role as Deputy Commander of SEAC. That is, Slim would continue to report to Giffard in regard to Fourteenth Army, but would report directly to Mountbatten in regard to NCAC/CEA. Mountbatten accepted this temporary command structure. In practice, Slim found that he

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264-581: The land command problems in South East Asia had been relieved when General Stilwell was recalled to Washington on 19 October, at the behest of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek . His replacement as commander of NCAC and the administrative HQ U.S. Forces, India-Burma Theater (USFIBT) was Lieutenant General Sultan . (Stilwell's replacements for his other responsibilities were Lieutenant General Wedemeyer as Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek and General Wheeler as Deputy Supreme Commander, SEAC.) As part of

286-608: The most senior officer among US forces in China, Burma and India . Stilwell controlled significant forces: while NCAC units were to advance from Ledo (India), towards Myitkyina (Burma), to cover the construction of the Ledo Road , Stilwell also commanded the Chinese Expeditionary Force (CEA), which would advance into Burma from the north-east, out of Yunnan . If both of Stilwell's commands were placed under

308-451: The reorganisation, NCAC was placed directly under ALFSEA, although they were also subject to directives from Chiang. Indian XV Corps , commanded by Lieutenant General Christison , was removed from command of Fourteenth Army and subordinated directly to ALFSEA. The Corps was responsible for operations in Burma's coastal Arakan Province , and had its own separate lines of communication and supply. Fourteenth Army, still under Slim's command,

330-608: Was able to work well with Stilwell and "this illogical command set-up worked surprisingly well". Once Stilwell's forces reached Kamaing on 20 May 1944, the arrangement ceased and Stilwell again took orders only from Mountbatten. On 12 November 1944, Eleventh Army Group was redesignated Allied Land Forces South East Asia (ALFSEA). General Sir Oliver Leese succeeded Giffard in command. (Mountbatten's Chief of Staff , Lieutenant General Pownall , had been lobbying for some time for Leese to be appointed, but Leese could not be relieved of command of Eighth Army for several months). Many of

352-486: Was at Barrackpur near Calcutta . The Corps had the multiple roles of defending Bengal and Orissa from Japanese invasion, maintaining internal security over a wide area of eastern India and training its raw units. In July, Eastern Army took over direct control of operations in the Burmese coastal province of Arakan (a move which in hindsight proved to be unwise), and XV Corps HQ was transferred to Ranchi in Bihar , with

374-519: Was controlled by GHQ India . The Corps badge was an arrangement of three "V"s (signifying fifteen in Roman numerals) in black on a red background. Its first commander was Lieutenant General Noel Beresford-Peirse . On 9 June, Beresford-Peirse was appointed to command India's Southern Command (an army-level administrative HQ) and Lieutenant General William Slim , former commander of the disbanded Burma Corps , took over XV Corps. At this point, XV Corps HQ

396-503: Was disbanded after the end of the war. While part of the British Indian Army, it included other commonwealth units, namely the 22nd and 28th East African Brigades. [1] When Japan entered the war and drove British, Indian and Chinese forces from Burma in early 1942, XV Corps was formed from the Assam and Bengal Presidency District HQ on 30 March 1942, to defend Bengal , under the command of Eastern Army , which in turn

418-692: Was first situated in New Delhi , eventually moving to Kandy , Ceylon . Its responsibilities were limited to the handling of operations against Japanese forces. GHQ India remained responsible for the rear areas and the training of the Army in India , although there was often overlap between the headquarters' responsibilities and (in the first year of Eleventh Army Group's existence) conflicts between their planners. The main subordinate formations of 11th Army Group were Fourteenth Army (under General William Slim ) and

440-452: Was promoted to command Eastern Army (which subsequently became British Fourteenth Army ). His replacement was Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Christison . Under Fourteenth Army, XV Corps resumed the advance in Arakan towards the end of the year. In the early months of 1944, the Corps gained the first significant success against the Japanese in the South East Asia, when they defeated a Japanese offensive in an engagement which came to be known as

462-592: Was redesignated HQ Netherlands East Indies Command. The Netherlands East Indies Command went on to conduct operations in Java, including the Battle of Surabaya . Allied Land Forces South East Asia The 11th Army Group was the main British Army force in Southeast Asia during the Second World War . Although a nominally British formation, it also included large numbers of troops and formations from

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484-588: Was the largest component of ALFSEA, making the main attack into Central Burma. After the capture of Rangoon in May 1945, British Twelfth Army was formed in Burma, and became part of ALFSEA. Indian XV Corps reverted to the command of Fourteenth Army, which was preparing amphibious operations to recover Malaya . NCAC had previously ceased active operations. Leese was relieved and replaced as commander of ALFSEA by General Slim. After Japan surrendered in August 1945, ALFSEA

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