Slicing the Throat

Men of the 3rd and 6th Burma Rifles were about to experience their baptism of fire. The Japanese were coming. They were coming not from the south, but from the east. British plans for the defence of Burma and Malaya were partly predicated on the ability of the Royal Air …

1942-01-19

AP085

Men of the 3rd and 6th Burma Rifles were about to experience their baptism of fire. The Japanese were coming. They were coming not from the south, but from the east. British plans for the defence of Burma and Malaya were partly predicated on the ability of the Royal Air Force to maintain air superiority, and to interdict Japanese ship and troop movements. Indeed, until 1941 the RAF was primarily responsible for the defence of the British Far East, with the army relegated to guard duties at air and naval installations. In the Tenasserim district of Burma—a slender strip of land sandwiched between the Andaman Sea and Thailand—priority was given to the construction of aerodromes. The most important landing strips in the district were located at Moulmein, Tavoy, Mergui, and Victoria Point. Generally speaking, roads in the Tenasserim were bad. The only all-weather routes ran north south. Below Moulmein, only intermittent mountain tracks headed east toward Thailand. Even the road from Moulmein to the Burmese frontier post at Miyawadi was interrupted by an 80-kilometre stretch that was reportedly little better than a track. However, Major Oki, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment was a determined fellow. While the 2/143rd still held Victoria Point, Major Oki and his battalion departed Bangkok on 3 January. The target was the seaside town of Tavoy. The purpose of the tortuous trek was to cut the Tenasserim in two.

Tavoy, Burma

The Burma campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign, the Imperial Japanese Army with aid from Burmese insurgents had driven British forces and Chinese forces out of Burma, and occupied most of the country. From May to December 1942, most active campaigning ceased as the monsoon rains made tactical movement almost impossible in the forested and mountainous border between India and Burma, and both the Allies and Japanese faced severe logistical constraints. When the rains ceased, the Allies launched two offensives. One, an attack in the coastal Arakan Province, failed, with severe effects on Allied morale. This was restored partly by improvements to administration and training, and partly by the much-publicised results of a raid by troops under Brigadier Orde Wingate. This raid may also have goaded Japanese commanders into launching major offensives the following year, which failed disastrously.

Japanese

British

Scenario Type = Standard