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The Burmese front during the Second World War is often described as a 'forgotten war', despite being one of the longest active fronts of the war, and ending in one of the biggest defeats suffered by the Japanese on land.
This illustrated history of the war begins with a brief overview of the fall of Malaya and Singapore, which exposed Burma to a full scale attack. We then move onto to look at the Japanese invasion and conquest of Burma, the Allied recovery on the Indian border, the Arakan offensives, the Japanese invasion of India and the Chindit raids, as well as at the less familiar American and Chinese offensives in northern Burma. Nesbit does a good job of acknowledging the role played by American, Chinese, Indian and Ghurka troops in both the defensive stages of the fighting and in the eventual Allied victory. We finish with the British and Allied offensive that forced the Japanese to abandon Burma and that saw the liberation of Rangoon in the last days of the war.
As one would expect from a book that is subtitled as an 'Illustrated History' the text is very well supported with photographs, both within the text and in plate sections after each chapter. There is also a good number of useful maps.
The level of detail of the book is just about right for a general history, allowing the reader to gain a much better sense of the evolving overall scene than in some larger volumes. The impact of separate campaigns that overlapped in time becomes much clearer (as with the First Arakan and First Chindit campaigns).
Chapters
1 - A String of Disasters
2 - The Attack on Burma
3 - Gathering Strength
4 - The Crucial Battles
5 - Crossing the Borders
6 - Outwitting the Japanese
7 - Complete Destruction
Author: Roy Conyers Nesbit
Edition: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
Year: 2009