Author:
Lyman, Robert, author.
ImprintOxford, UK ; New York, NY : Osprey Publishing, 2021.
Description560 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Note:Part one. Hubris, 1942 -- Burma at the Intersection of History -- Defending Burma (Badly) -- A Hurried and Ill-Considered Plan -- The First Shots -- 'We Could at Any Rate Send a Man' -- A Slim Chance to Save Burma -- The Battle for Lower Burma -- Exodus -- Independence Armies -- The Reason Why -- Part two. Hiatus, 1943 -- Aftermath -- Taking Stock -- Arakan Round One -- Bharat Choro! -- Vinegar Joe's Travails -- Trying to Crack the Donbaik Nut -- Irwin's Blame Game -- 'Our New God, Orde Wingate' -- Re-thinking Training -- Building a Base -- 'A Blind Man Searching for a Black Cat in a Dark Room' -- Part three. Resurrection, 1944 -- Arakan, Again -- Ha-Go -- Okeydoke -- Sinzweya -- The March on Delhi -- Cock-up on the Tiddim Road -- The Chindwin -- Thermopylae in the Naga Hills -- The Spokes of the Wheel -- Forty-Seven Days of Battle: Kohima -- Seventy-Six Days of Siege: Imphal -- Down the Hukawng Valley to Myitkyina -- The Road of Bones -- Part four. Redemption, 1945 -- What to Do About Burma? -- A Change of Plan -- Third Time Lucky in Arakan -- Meiktila and Mandalay -- Extract Digit! -- The Empire Strikes Back -- Appendix 1: The Indian and Gurkha Infantry Regiments of the Indian Army -- Appendix 2: Indian Army Structure and Numbers- 9 September 1943 -- Appendix 3: Definitive Numbers for Indian Army in SEAC -- Appendix 4: Estimates of Japanese Soldiers in Operation U-Go.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:In 1941 and 1942 the British and Indian Armies were brutally defeated and Japan reigned supreme in its newly conquered territories throughout Asia. But change was coming. New commanders were appointed, significant training together with restructuring took place, and new tactics were developed. A War of Empires retells these coordinated efforts and describes how a new volunteer Indian Army, rising from the ashes of defeat, would ferociously fight to turn the tide of war. But victory did not come immediately. It wasn't until March 1944, when the Japanese staged their famed 'March on Delhi', that the years of rebuilding reaped their reward and after bitter fighting, the Japanese were finally defeated at Kohima and Imphal. This was followed by a series of extraordinary victories culminating in Mandalay in May 1945 and the collapse of all Japanese forces in Burma. The Indian Army's contribution has been consistently forgotten and ignored by many Western historians, Robert Lyman proves how vital this hard-fought campaign was in securing Allied victory in the east, defeating Japanese militarism and ultimately redrawing the map of the region with an independent India, free from the shackles of empire, all but guaranteed.
