Eighty years ago the Japanese and the British each launch poorly conceived attacks in Burma

 

 

The second Chindit operation (Thursday) in Burma began with the insertion of a brigade strength force by air behind Japanese lines. The force included John Masters, later a highly successful novelist. The precise military objectives were poorly defined; fortified bases were to be established from which raids would be conducted. However the commander Orde Wingate was still riding high in the favour of Churchill as someone bent on offensive action in a theatre that had seen a decicedly lacklustre performance by the British army. Its victory in the battle of the Admin Box was not enough to redeem its conventional commanders in the eyes of Downing Street.

The Japanese launched U-Go, as it proved their last major offensive in Burma, with the goal of invading India. It was a high risk plan involving two widely separated forces. The logistics were challenging and ultimately depended on reaching and capturing British depots in India. At the insistence of Subhas Chandra Bose two battalions of the INA were included but the Japanese commanders had no intention of using them as first line troops. The British anticipated the move and had already blocked a diversionary attack in the Arakan at Admin Box.

A group of Conservative MPs including the rising star Quintin Hogg wrote a letter to the The Times complaining of the lack of support that government candidates at by-elections received from the Liberal Party which was part of the coalition government. Its leader Sir Archibald Sinclair, the air minister, was singled out for criticism. The government candidate had in fact just won a by-election at Bury St Edmunds, breaking a series of defeats of government candidates. The opposition candidate still recorded a respectable poll. 

Hard on the heels of the introduction of conscription into the coal mines provoked by labour shortage, output was severely cut by a wave of industrial action: a strike in Wales and a go-slow in the Durham fields. The miners wanted more favourable piece-work rates. The government began with a show of resistance.