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Burma Victory: Imphal and Kohima, March 1944 to May 1945
"I thought I had read all the good books on the war in Burma, but this is the best yet." Brigadier Michael Calvert
This is the story of the Fourteenth Army in Burma and the two great battles of Imphal and Kohima, in which the Japanese suffered the greatest defeat in their history.
In 1942, following their lightning strikes on Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong, the Japanese invaded Burma.
British forces were rapidly driven out, following a swift and total defeat. The British and Indian forces retaliated with limited offences and with mixed results.
The Japanese advance continued, driving victoriously for the domination of Asia. Then came the Japanese attack of Imphal and Kohima, starting one of the most ferocious campaign of the war.
Burma Victory portrays the “forgotten war” and the Allied fight to push the Japanese out of Burma.
David Rooney – who saw war service in India and West Africa – tells the story of the campaigns of the new Fourteenth Army, under the command of the remarkable General Slim.
Rooney captures the ebb and flow of battle and the roles of Wingate, Stilwell and the Chindits. In doing so, he offers a new analysis of the role of airpower and highlights the influence of British, American, Japanese and Chinese thinking at the highest level.
Burma Victory is essential reading for anyone interested in General Slim, the Second World War and how defeat can be turned into victory.
Recommended reading for fans of Max Hastings, Antony Beevor and Andrew Roberts.
263 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
David Rooney
50 books19 followersDavid Rooney is a historian and has taught in many important institutions, including the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Amongst his previously published titles are Wingate and the Chindits, Burma Victory, and Military Mavericks. He lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 7, 2023
I read this book for a squadron heritage project I am working on at work, and have overall been excited to learn about the 80th Fighter Group’s & 88th Fighter Squadron’s involvement in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of WWII. This book, while claiming to be more accessible then other historical accounts of day by day timelines, I still found to be rather dry and disorganized. I was hoping to learn about the the overview of the theater operations, as the author and historians claim CBI to be the “forgotten theater” of WWII. Instead I felt like in the attempt to be simplistic and accessible to a wider audience, the author sacrificed clarifying details and maps that would have made a more comprehensive understanding for a novice “historian”. The book did offer some interesting anecdotes and details about the living conditions and day-to-day schedule of operations of Allied ground forces, but I was left still questioning my understanding after 150+ pages. Also maybe my opinion is biased because I picked up this book hoping to learn more about the air campaign and not as much about the ground force’s movements. If you are interested in learning more about the CBI theater(which is worth researching!), I recommend Wikipedia or other veteran curated online archives which I found to be much more informative and interesting.
January 17, 2021
Little of value.
An odd book, this has different chapters on Imphal and Kohima as if they were separate battles. In between is a section on the Chindits, where Rooney says both that British commander, Slim, misrepresented the Chindit leader Wingate in his book Defeat Into Victory and – a rather more serious charge, yet somehow it doesn’t feel like it is to Rooney – that the American Stilwell ‘caused the deaths of thousands of British soldiers’ by misusing the force.
The Chindits have always attracted the romantically-minded, from Churchill onward, and apparently that includes David Rooney because he spends a significant portion of the book arguing that they have not had a fair deal from Slim and the official historians. But in the end it doesn’t matter about the gossip and petty politics, in war what matters is results. Whoever said what about whomever, I don’t see any answer to Slim’s principal point that the Chindits absorbed resources out of all proportion to the effect they had. The whole idea of them was misconceived: a ‘long-distance penetration’ unit must have something to penetrate against, and in Japanese-occupied Burma that didn’t exist: no key yet vulnerable targets which, like in the movies, a few tough guys could blow up and thus win the war. Rooney claims that Slim got the idea for his eventual plan of advance from Wingate; if he had, would it matter? Yet in any case the plan as Wingate envisaged it would not have worked, precisely because – a fact Rooney stresses when it suits him – the Chindits were not equipped to stand up to the Japanese in a full-on battle.
It would be impossible seriously to maintain that they, any more than Stilwell’s Chinese and American forces, had any significant influence on the campaign. It could be argued that overall both groups were liabilities, with at best propaganda rather than military value. They give the impression of having thought that the Allied war effort was there to benefit them, rather than the other way round. Beyond question, all the main battles were fought by Slim’s Fourteenth Army and won not by clever schemes but hard fighting.
And these battles remain strangely elusive in Rooney’s account, perhaps because he professes that detail is confusing for the reader! Though he disparages Slim in relation to the Chindits, misquoting and misrepresenting him, and though he seems to have misunderstood it in places, Rooney’s book owes a large, obvious and unacknowledged debt to Slim’s: other than the photos and a few bits of colourful gossip, it is essentially a shortened and simplified version of it. My advice is to read the latter rather than this.
An odd book, this has different chapters on Imphal and Kohima as if they were separate battles. In between is a section on the Chindits, where Rooney says both that British commander, Slim, misrepresented the Chindit leader Wingate in his book Defeat Into Victory and – a rather more serious charge, yet somehow it doesn’t feel like it is to Rooney – that the American Stilwell ‘caused the deaths of thousands of British soldiers’ by misusing the force.
The Chindits have always attracted the romantically-minded, from Churchill onward, and apparently that includes David Rooney because he spends a significant portion of the book arguing that they have not had a fair deal from Slim and the official historians. But in the end it doesn’t matter about the gossip and petty politics, in war what matters is results. Whoever said what about whomever, I don’t see any answer to Slim’s principal point that the Chindits absorbed resources out of all proportion to the effect they had. The whole idea of them was misconceived: a ‘long-distance penetration’ unit must have something to penetrate against, and in Japanese-occupied Burma that didn’t exist: no key yet vulnerable targets which, like in the movies, a few tough guys could blow up and thus win the war. Rooney claims that Slim got the idea for his eventual plan of advance from Wingate; if he had, would it matter? Yet in any case the plan as Wingate envisaged it would not have worked, precisely because – a fact Rooney stresses when it suits him – the Chindits were not equipped to stand up to the Japanese in a full-on battle.
It would be impossible seriously to maintain that they, any more than Stilwell’s Chinese and American forces, had any significant influence on the campaign. It could be argued that overall both groups were liabilities, with at best propaganda rather than military value. They give the impression of having thought that the Allied war effort was there to benefit them, rather than the other way round. Beyond question, all the main battles were fought by Slim’s Fourteenth Army and won not by clever schemes but hard fighting.
And these battles remain strangely elusive in Rooney’s account, perhaps because he professes that detail is confusing for the reader! Though he disparages Slim in relation to the Chindits, misquoting and misrepresenting him, and though he seems to have misunderstood it in places, Rooney’s book owes a large, obvious and unacknowledged debt to Slim’s: other than the photos and a few bits of colourful gossip, it is essentially a shortened and simplified version of it. My advice is to read the latter rather than this.
May 24, 2020
I like this book. Over the years, I had read about the Japanese reaching the borders of India during World War II but never did get the chance to learn how they were defeated.
David Rooney has written an excellent book that brings the events of the times to light. David has written this book for the lay public, and not for military historians.
The writing style is concise. He has done justice to a gentleman who went named Wingate. His book inspired me to get another book called “Wingate and the Chindits.”
The only thing that I will ask for, in a later edition of the book, is that the author includes some maps. This will help to bring the events to life, as will some photographs.
David Rooney has written an excellent book that brings the events of the times to light. David has written this book for the lay public, and not for military historians.
The writing style is concise. He has done justice to a gentleman who went named Wingate. His book inspired me to get another book called “Wingate and the Chindits.”
The only thing that I will ask for, in a later edition of the book, is that the author includes some maps. This will help to bring the events to life, as will some photographs.
January 19, 2020
Excellent book.
Very interesting esp regarding Japanese blunders slightly outnumbering those of the.British. The book includes high strategy and the effect on the soldiers on the ground-breaking
Very interesting esp regarding Japanese blunders slightly outnumbering those of the.British. The book includes high strategy and the effect on the soldiers on the ground-breaking
January 14, 2021
My father fought in Burma Campaign but never ever spoke of it
reading this book has given me an insight of all those involved went through
cannot believe humans could inflict all the atrocities on each other in the name of war.
An excellent read.
reading this book has given me an insight of all those involved went through
cannot believe humans could inflict all the atrocities on each other in the name of war.
An excellent read.
May 21, 2023
This book includes many interesting insights into the Burma campaign and delivers an alternative take on the Chindits' history to that often portrayed in other volumes.
However, many of the maps don't provide particular clarification or strategic insight, and a greater use of maps to indicate progressive developments in certain key battles would be helpful.
Perhaps it also tries to encompass too much within a relatively small book; I have found others works which chronicle individual components of the Burma theatre to be more engaging.
(For example, "Kohima" by Arthur Swinsom -referenced in the bibliography- is excellent and "Burma - The Turning Point" by Ian Lyall Grant (first published a year after this book) offers, I think, a clearer account of the Tiddim Road aspect of the campaign)
However, many of the maps don't provide particular clarification or strategic insight, and a greater use of maps to indicate progressive developments in certain key battles would be helpful.
Perhaps it also tries to encompass too much within a relatively small book; I have found others works which chronicle individual components of the Burma theatre to be more engaging.
(For example, "Kohima" by Arthur Swinsom -referenced in the bibliography- is excellent and "Burma - The Turning Point" by Ian Lyall Grant (first published a year after this book) offers, I think, a clearer account of the Tiddim Road aspect of the campaign)
November 19, 2020
A well-written account of less well known but decisive battles
The defence of India against Japanese invasion from Burma is less well-known than it ought to be. Rooney's account gives a good appreciation of the battles fought in exceptionally difficult terrain. His assessment of the leaders - Japanese and American as well as British makes interesting reading but it is the heroism of the ordinary soldiers, Gurkas and Indians, British an Japanese that make the book come alive.
The defence of India against Japanese invasion from Burma is less well-known than it ought to be. Rooney's account gives a good appreciation of the battles fought in exceptionally difficult terrain. His assessment of the leaders - Japanese and American as well as British makes interesting reading but it is the heroism of the ordinary soldiers, Gurkas and Indians, British an Japanese that make the book come alive.
May 15, 2021
Lack of maps detracts from an otherwise good read.
Absence of maps and progress of war via illustrations a handicap to reader. Essential to understanding of the dynamics of an important phase of war in Burma.
Absence of maps and progress of war via illustrations a handicap to reader. Essential to understanding of the dynamics of an important phase of war in Burma.
June 29, 2020
A good, clear and readable account of the campaign. I echo what others have said about the lack of maps in the Kindle version, but it was easy enough to find some searching on the internet.
April 11, 2022
Very complicated and difficult to follow without maps, unsuited for Kindle, very pro Chindits!
March 3, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I have read many books on the Burma campaign including Defeat into Victory Viscount Slims personal account but this the best so far. Great story without to much detail
August 28, 2019
The truth of the Burma campaign
A close friend was there and he told the truth as does this book. It proved Wingate was a genius and key to the campaign.
A close friend was there and he told the truth as does this book. It proved Wingate was a genius and key to the campaign.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews