Page 53 - History of War - Issue 01-14

could not reinforce them. He regarded this as Operation Dracula, an amphibious and airborne
more urgent than fi nishing off Yamashita’s main assault using the British XV Corps from the TIMELINE
force in the hills of northern Luzon, since they Arakan. The monsoon arrived two weeks early,
could be bottled up and bombarded at leisure. stopping Slim’s forces 65km short of their 1943 4 FEBRUARY
One amphibious attack followed another, all objective. On 3 May, Rangoon was taken by XV US forces descend on
supported by air power. Eichelberger claimed to Corps assisted by the Burmese Independent Manila – the capital
have conducted 14 major landings and 24 minor Army, which had changed sides to join the Allies. 22 NOVEMBER of the Philippines –
ones in just 44 days. In many cases, his troops Kimura’s forces had no alternative but to retreat At a conference in on the island of Luzon.
found that Filipino guerrillas had done their work into Thailand. The remnants of the Japanese Cairo, Franklin D 19 FEBRUARY
for them, dealing with the smaller garrisons. 28th Army, now cut off behind Allied lines in Roosevelt, Winston
On 28 February, the western island of Palawan the Arakan, attempted to break east across Churchill and Chinese Day of the amphibious
was invaded. These forces discovered the the River Sittang. But the British knew of their Generalissimo landing on Iwo Jima.
charred bodies of 150 US prisoners of war, who plans. When the Japanese reached the river, Chiang Kai-shek By the time of the
landing, 450 US ships
had been doused in gasoline and set on fi re by they were ambushed by the 17th Indian Division. resolve to win back are located off the

their guards in December. On 10 March, they Only 6,000 men out of 17,000 survived. the Pacific from island and the battle
Japanese occupation.
invaded Mindanao, where US Colonel Wendell For the Japanese, the Ichigo Offensive had involves almost 70,000
W Fertig led a large guerrilla force and secured achieved its goals. They had infl icted half a 1944 US Marines and
a landing strip. C47 transports touched down million casualties on the Nationalist armies and several thousand US
before the attack, bringing two companies of forced them to withdraw from eight provinces. Navy Seabees, as well
the 24th Infantry Division. On Mindanao, the Yet it also represented a triumph for the 15 JUNE as 22,000 Japanese
cooperation between US infantry, guerrillas Communists. The Nationalists had lost not only Having already defenders. Nearly
and Marine air support forced the Japanese more food-producing areas, but also a large part regained the Solomon, 800 Marines make
a near-suicidal charge
survivors on its western Zamboanga Peninsula of their manpower reserve. However much they Gilbert and Marshall from the beaches
Islands, as well as
to take to the hills. But the operation to reduce hated the Japanese, this must have come as a the Papuan Peninsula onto the island.
the main eastern mass did not start until 17 relief to the locals. As General Wedemeyer said, of New Guinea, US
April. Once again, Fertig’s guerrillas secured an “Conscription comes to the Chinese peasant troops, backed up by 20 FEBRUARY
airfi eld and US troops advanced inland, while a like famine and fl ood, only more regularly.” a massive fleet of Having secured the

regiment on boats and escorted by subchasers After the Ichigo Offensive had destroyed the ships, invade Saipan southern tip of Iwo
sailed up the Mindanao river, taking Japanese 13 US airfi elds, two new bases were built at in the Mariana Jima, US forces begin
garrisons by surprise. Slowed by the jungle and Laoho k’ou (300km north-west of Hankow) and Islands. From here, the move to take
Mount Suribachi on
gorges, where the Japanese had destroyed Chih kiang (250km west of Heng yang). In April they will be able to the south side of
almost every bridge and mined every approach, 1945, the Japanese advanced with 60,000 men cut off Japanese the island, the centre
communications and
the fi ghting took longer than expected. It did not from the 12th Army and destroyed the airfi eld also be within range of Japanese defences.
end until 10 June, a month after the war ended in at Lao ho k’ou, but an attack by their 20th Army of an aerial offensive By the end of the
against Japan day, one third of the
THESE FORCES DISCOVERED THE CHARRED using the new B-29 island and Motoyama

Superfortress bomber. Airfield Number
BODIES OF 150 US PRISONERS OF WAR, 20 OCTOBER One are controlled
by the Marines.
WHO HAD BEEN DOUSED IN GASOLINE AND Under the overall 23 FEBRUARY
SET ON FIRE BY THEIR GUARDS command of General
Douglas MacArthur, After three days of

Walter Krueger’s intense fighting,
Europe. Yamashita, in northern Luzon, resisted, on the base at Chih kiang was less successful. 6th Army lands Mount Suribachi is

prolonging the fi ghting until the very end. He Five well-equipped Nationalist Chinese divisions triumphantly on Leyte taken. The US flag is
emerged to give himself up only on 2 September – part of the modernisation plan by General in the Philippines. raised, soon replaced
1945, the day of the offi cial surrender. Wedemeyer – with another 15 partly modernised However, the invaders by a second, larger

In China, the Ichigo Offensive had fi nished in formations were diverted to defend Chih kiang. face a much harder flag so that US forces
December 1944. Japanese forces had probed On 25 April, backed by 200 aircraft, they routed battle than they had on the other side of
the island can see
towards Chungking and K’un ming, but their the 50,000-strong Japanese force in the last anticipated, with it. The raising of the
supply lines were vastly over-extended. General major engagement of the Sino-Japanese War. intense advances flag creates an iconic

by the Japanese.
Albert Wedemeyer fl ew in the two US-trained Japanese forces in China and Manchuria picture that has been
divisions of X Force from Burma to form a defence had already been reduced by transfers to the DECEMBER reproduced thousands
line, but the Japanese had already begun to Philippines. Then Imperial General HQ felt obliged Fighting on Leyte of times, both in
withdraw. The two divisions returned to Burma to divert troops from the China Expeditionary continues well into popular media and
and, at the end of January, fi nally joined up Army to defend Okinawa. The 62nd Division, December, with the propaganda material.

with Y Force on the Salween. The remaining which took part in the Ichigo Offensive, had fiercest exchanges 25 FEBRUARY
Japanese retreated to the mountains and the already been transferred there to defend Shuri. occurring at Breakneck The 3rd Marine Division
Burma Road was open again. The fi rst convoy of Ridge in the north joins the fighting and

trucks reached K’un ming on 4 February. An armada of US Navy ships transports Marines of the island. By the begins the mission
end of the month,
Field Marshal William Slim’s advance, and supplies towards the beaches of Iwo Jima the US estimates the of securing Airfield

meanwhile, came to a temporary halt along the Japanese death toll at Two and the central
River Irrawaddy, after Lieutenant General Kimura 60,000, compared to sector of Iwo Jima.
Hoyotaro pulled the remnants of the Burma Area 3,500 of its own men. Its troops are faced
Army behind this formidable defensive barrier. with impenetrable
Slim made a great show of mounting a major 1945 Japanese defences,
crossing with the XXXIII Corps, having secretly though, including
interlocking caves,
withdrawn his IV Corps on its fl ank. A dummy 9 JANUARY concrete blockhouses
HQ remained behind, transmitting messages, and pillboxes.
while its divisions marched south under radio Following an aerial
silence, then crossed the river further down, bombardment, the FEBRUARY – 3 MARCH
unopposed, to threaten Kimura’s rear. The 6th Army conducts an The battle develops
Japanese had to withdraw and Mandalay was amphibious landing in Manila, with more
than 700,000 citizens
on Luzon. Fearing an
captured on 20 March after a hard battle. annihilation, General trapped in the war
Slim wasted no time in pushing south along Tomoyuki Yamashita zone. By the end of
the Irrawaddy Valley towards Rangoon. Admiral Getty withdraws 152,000 the conflict, 100,000

Louis Mountbatten, meanwhile, organised of his men to the hills. have been killed.

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