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8 March in military history: Japan's march on India begins, 1944

Military history · 8 March · World War II, BurmaFull calendar

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A narrow dirt road winding in hairpin bends through steep scrub-covered hills from Imphal to Ukhrul, a single tank on one bend, April 1944, in black and white
A tank on the winding road from Imphal to Ukhrul in the hills of Manipur, April 1944. Public domain. British Ministry of Information photograph, Spaarnestad collection, Nationaal Archief.
Quick answer

On 8 March 1944 (7 March in the Japanese plan) Japan's Fifteenth Army under Renya Mutaguchi began an offensive from Burma on Imphal in north-east India that ended in one of the Japanese army's worst defeats. Cut off, British IV Corps held out, supplied by air, until 22 June. Also on 8 March: Japanese landings at Lae and Salamaua, 1942.

7 or 8 March?

The 33rd Division moved first, a week ahead of the other two, to draw the Allied reserves away from Imphal and Kohima. Mountbatten's report, the National Army Museum and the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records date the start of the offensive to 8 March, a week earlier than the British had expected, Mountbatten adds; in the British official history's account of the Japanese plan, the first columns of the 33rd Division were to move on 7 March.1

The 17th Division was slow to pull back: it began to withdraw only on 14 March and found its road to Imphal cut by the 33rd Division. The corps reserve had to be thrown in to keep the road open.2

Also on 8 March: Lae and Salamaua, 1942

On 8 March 1942 Japanese forces landed on the Huon Gulf of New Guinea and took the towns of Lae and Salamaua. The Australian official historian Dudley McCarthy writes that one Japanese soldier shot at Salamaua was probably the only Japanese casualty from land action in the landings.3

Battle of Abukir, 1801: the British landing in Egypt

8 March 1801 · 225 years ago

At Abu Qir on the Egyptian coast, a British expeditionary force under Sir Ralph Abercromby came ashore to drive the remaining French army out of Egypt. The landing pushed back the French defenders and opened a campaign in which the French were later beaten.

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Battle of Imphal, 1944: where Japan's march on India broke

8 March to July 1944 · 82 years ago

Japan's Fifteenth Army began its offensive toward Imphal in north-east India. IV Corps, mostly Indian troops of Slim's Fourteenth Army, held the Imphal plain until July with supplies flown in, while Mutaguchi's army and its Indian National Army allies were broken by battle, hunger and disease.

Read the full story of Battle of Imphal, 1944: where Japan's march on India broke ›

Frequently asked questions

When did the Japanese offensive on Imphal begin?

On 8 March 1944, according to Mountbatten's report, the National Army Museum and the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records. In the British official history's account of the Japanese plan, the first columns were to move on 7 March.

What was the aim of the Japanese offensive?

To take the British bases at Imphal and cut the road from Dimapur at Kohima, which would also have endangered the Allied supply routes to China.

How did the British hold Imphal?

IV Corps pulled its forward divisions back to the Imphal plain. Aircraft, some of them taken off the Hump route on Mountbatten's orders, flew in the 5th Indian Division and supplied the besieged corps until the road from Kohima was reopened on 22 June.

How many Japanese soldiers were lost?

The British official history gives the Fifteenth Army's losses as 53,505, of which 30,502 were killed, missing or died; the National Army Museum gives 53,000 dead and missing.

Notes

A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.

  1. S. Woodburn Kirby et al., “The War Against Japan, vol. III”; Vice-Admiral the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, “Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia, 1943-1945”; National Army Museum, “Battles of Imphal and Kohima”; Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, “Japanese forces began their advance on Imphal on March 8, 1944”. ↩
  2. Vice-Admiral the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, “Report to the Combined Chiefs of Staff by the Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia, 1943-1945”; Kohima Museum, “The Battle of Imphal”. ↩
  3. Dudley McCarthy, “South-West Pacific Area”; S. Woodburn Kirby et al., “The War Against Japan, vol. II”. ↩

Sources

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