XV Corps | |
---|---|
![]() Ensign XV Corps (British_India) | |
Active | 1942–1946 |
Country | ![]() |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Size | Corps |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Noel Beresford-Peirse William Slim Philip Christison |
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 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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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, 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 was redesignated HQ Netherlands East Indies Command. [1] The Netherlands East Indies Command went on to conduct operations in Java, including the Battle of Surabaya.
Field Marshal William Joseph Slim, 1st Viscount Slim,, usually known as Bill Slim, was a British military commander and the 13th Governor-General of Australia.
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 the British Indian Army and from British African colonies, and also Nationalist Chinese and United States units.
The British Fourteenth Army was a multi-national force comprising units from Commonwealth countries during the Second World War. As well as British Army units, many of its units were from the Indian Army and there were also significant contributions from the British Army's West and East African divisions. It was often referred to as the "Forgotten Army" because its operations in the Burma campaign were overlooked by the contemporary press, and remained more obscure than those of the corresponding formations in Europe for long after the war. For most of the Army's existence, it was commanded by Lieutenant-General William Slim.
The RAF Third Tactical Air Force, which was formed in South Asia in December 1943, was one of three tactical air forces formed by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was made up of squadrons and personnel from the RAF, Indian Air Force (IAF) and the air forces of other Commonwealth countries. Third TAF was formed shortly after the establishment of South East Asia Command to provide close air support to the Fourteenth Army.
IV Corps was a corps-sized formation of the British Army, formed in both the First World War and the Second World War. During the First World War the corps served on the Western Front throughout its existence. During the Second World War it served in Norway and Britain until it was transferred to India, which was threatened with attack after Japan entered the war.
The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of Burma. It was part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II and primarily involved forces of the Allies against the invading forces of the Empire of Japan. Imperial Japan was supported by the Thai Phayap Army, as well as two collaborationist independence movements and armies. Nominally independent puppet states were established in the conquered areas and some territories were annexed by Thailand. In 1942 and 1943, the international Allied force in British India launched several failed offensives to retake lost territories. Fighting intensified in 1944, and British Empire forces peaked at around 1 million land and air forces. These forces were drawn primarily from British India, with British Army forces, 100,000 East and West African colonial troops, and smaller numbers of land and air forces from several other Dominions and Colonies. These additional forces allowed the Allied recapture of Burma in 1945.
The South-East Asian Theatre of World War II consisted of the campaigns of the Pacific War in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Indochina, Burma, India, Malaya and Singapore between 1941 and 1945.
Operation Dracula was a World War II-airborne and amphibious attack on Rangoon by British and Anglo-Indian forces during the Burma Campaign.
The Battle of the Admin Box took place on the southern front of the Burma campaign from 5 to 23 February 1944, in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II.
General Sir Montagu George North Stopford was a senior British Army officer who fought during both World War I and World War II. The latter he served in with distinction, commanding XXXIII Indian Corps in the Far East, where he served under Field Marshal Sir William Slim, and played a significant role in the Burma Campaign, specifically during the Battle of Kohima in mid-1944.
The 36th Indian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during the Second World War. The division was subsequently redesignated as a British Army formation, the 36th Infantry Division in September 1944. It served in India and during the Burma Campaign. After the end of the war it was disbanded and its remaining British units were transferred to the British 2nd Infantry Division.
The 26th Indian Infantry Division, was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II. It fought in the Burma Campaign.
The 82nd Division was formed under British control during the Second World War. It took part in the later stages of the Burma Campaign and was disbanded in Burma between May and September 1946.
The U Go offensive, or Operation C, was the Japanese offensive launched in March 1944 against forces of the British Empire in the northeast Indian regions of Manipur and the Naga Hills. Aimed at the Brahmaputra Valley, through the two towns of Imphal and Kohima, the offensive along with the overlapping Ha Go offensive was one of the last major Japanese offensives during the Second World War. The offensive culminated in the Battles of Imphal and Kohima, where the Japanese and their allies were first held and then pushed back.
The Japanese invasion of Burma was the opening phase of the Burma campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, which took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign, the Japanese Army drove British Empire and Chinese forces out of Burma, then began the Japanese occupation of Burma and formed a nominally independent Burmese administrative government.
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.
The fighting in the Burma campaign in 1944 was among the most severe in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II. It took place along the borders between Burma and India, and Burma and China, and involved the British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces, against the forces of Imperial Japan and the Indian National Army. British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from the United Kingdom, British India and Africa.
The Burma campaign in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II was fought primarily by British Commonwealth, Chinese and United States forces against the forces of Imperial Japan, who were assisted by the Burmese National Army, the Indian National Army, and to some degree by Thailand. The British Commonwealth land forces were drawn primarily from the United Kingdom, British India and Africa.
The Arakan campaign of 1942–1943 was the first tentative Allied attack into Burma, following the Japanese invasion of Burma earlier in 1942, during the Second World War. The British Army and British Indian Army were not ready for offensive actions in the difficult terrain they encountered, nor had the civil government, industry and transport infrastructure of Eastern India been organised to support the Army on the frontier with Burma. Japanese defenders occupying well-prepared positions repeatedly repulsed the British and Indian forces, who were then forced to retreat when the Japanese received reinforcements and counter-attacked.
The British Indian XXXIII Corps was a corps-sized formation of the Indian Army during the Second World War. It was disbanded and the headquarters was recreated as an Army headquarters in 1945.