History Internal Assessment

History Internal Assessment

Rajesh Swaminathan

Candidate Code : 001188 – cbh977

Word Count : 1948
October 17, 2004

To what extent did Indian military aid to Britain help defeat the Japanese in the
Burma Campaign?

Contents
1 Plan of investigation

1

2 Summary of evidence

2

2.1

The Situation in North-Eastern India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2

2.2

The British Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2

2.3

The Indian Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2

2.4

The Japanese Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3

2.5

The Burma Campaign (1941-1945) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3

3 Evaluation of sources

4

4 Analysis

5

5 Conclusion

7

To what extent did Indian military aid to Britain help defeat the Japanese in the
Burma Campaign?

1

Plan of investigation

This investigation will assess the significance of India’s contribution to the Burma Campaign. The investigation will connect India’s military support with Japanese defeat, and will study the effects of Indian participation in the 1942 Burma Campaign. In short, the investigation will try and answer the question as to how vital Indian aid was to Burma during the 2nd World War.
The investigation will assess only India’s military aid and not other forms of financial, industrial or raw-material contribution. This investigation will also not discuss other factors (such as British leadership, or flawed Japanese planning) that may have contributed to the downfall of Japan after the Burmese Campaign.
Most of the evidence is in the form of oral history and summary of events. Evidence is also provided in the form of primary documents which show India’s military stationing of troops during the campaign and documents that explain an increase in military

Bibliography: Allen, Louis. Burma, The Longest War, 1941-45. London: Dent, 1984. Bidwell, Shelford. The Chindit War: Stilwell, Wingate, and the Campaign in Burma. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1980. Elliott, J. G. A Roll of Honour: The Story of the Indian Army 1939-1945. London: Cassell, 1965. Lunt, James. A Hell of a Licking: The Retreat from Burma. London: William Collins, 1986. Palmer, R.R. and Colton, Joel. A History of the Modern World. 8th ed. p. 921 New York: McGraw-Hill, 1985. Rothwell, Steve. Preparations for War. The 1942 Burmese Campaign. May 8, 2004. May 25, 2004. http://www.rothwell.force9.co.uk/burmaweb/reinforc.htm 8