After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the US military suffered heavy losses and could not restore combat morale in a short period of time. The Japanese army led an offensive against southeast Asian countries and quickly achieved the fruits of the war, occupying Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Burma. After sweeping through the whole of Southeast Asia, the Japanese army turned its target of aggression to India, intending to cut off the Sino-Indian highway and block the allied strategic material relief to China, so as to achieve the occupation of all of China as soon as possible.
Therefore, the Japanese commander Mutaguchi Lian also prepared to enter the Indian state of Assam from Burma, planning to capture Imphal and achieve the purpose of the battle.
Japanese troops and captured men attacking India
A battle that is abandoned once
In March 1944, Mutaguchi also gathered more than 90,000 soldiers to march to Imphal, and arrogantly said that the Japanese army was invincible in the world and the occupation of India was just around the corner, but Mutaguchilian was later severely punched in the face. Since the road to Imphal was a large jungle, and trucks transporting ammunition and food could not pass through, Mutaguchi lian also came up with a way to use live cattle and live sheep to drag supplies on the road. Unexpectedly, Mutaguchi Lian also felt that the seamless marching method had long attracted the attention of the British and Indian troops.
Ren Mutaguchi
Because live cattle and live sheep were not domesticated and did not obey orders like soldiers, they constantly made noises during the march, and the British and Indian troops discovered the Japanese movements during the reconnaissance process and sent bombers to attack them.
After the Japanese were bombed, live cattle and live sheep were frightened and fled everywhere, supplies were sharply reduced, and after fighting with the Anglo-Indian army, ammunition and food became more and more insufficient. What made the Japanese army feel worse was that in the course of the battle, they encountered heavy rain for several days, and the Japanese army, which was short of food and bullets, was tormented by influenza cholera and other diseases.
Japanese mules and horses that were knocked down
Without the supply of combat materials, the starving and cold Japanese army had long since collapsed and its combat effectiveness was exhausted. Mutaguchi also realized that the plan to capture Imphal could not proceed smoothly, so he ordered a retreat. During the retreat, many Japanese troops, who were suffering from disease and hunger, fell one after another, and along the way they fled, they were all kinds of weapons, ammunition and corpses dropped by the Japanese army, and finally ended in a fiasco. Some people can't help but wonder why Japan's invasion of China took up to 14 years, so why did it give up attacking India once? In fact, the reason is very simple.
The Japanese army and heavy casualties on the Indian battlefield
Abandon the reason for the re-attack
First of all, before the Japanese army attacked India, it threw a large number of troops into the Chinese and Pacific theaters, and the protracted war caused the Japanese army to lose a lot, and it was no longer possible to divide the excess troops to continue to expand the battlefield. Moreover, after the Japanese army launched a war of aggression against China, the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Chinese people was high, and all parts of the country were actively organizing anti-Japanese rescue activities and establishing anti-Japanese base areas. After the Japanese army occupied an area, it had to send troops to garrison and suppress the emerging anti-Japanese forces, which made it difficult for the Japanese army to deploy troops.
Before attacking India, Japan threw a large number of troops into the Chinese and Pacific theaters
After the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan sent a large number of soldiers into the Pacific Theater, and the continuous expansion of the war caused Japan's strength to be severely reduced. After the Japanese attacked Imphal, the losses were serious, and the troops on other battlefields could not be drawn at will, and since the source of troops was insufficient, it would only be more unfavorable to attack India again. Moreover, the protracted battle has exhausted the Japanese army, the combat strength is much less than before, and there is no sufficient weapons, ammunition and food supplies, and japan is not willing to take this risk.
Old photos of the Pacific Theater
Secondly, the purpose of Japan's pacific war to occupy Southeast Asia was to obtain rich oil combat resources to support the continuation of the war of aggression in China, and since it had already pocketed southeast Asian countries, it was not so urgent to capture India. If troops are deployed to attack India, the Chinese battlefield will become less optimistic. After all, Japan's original goal was to occupy all of China, and the pacific war and the occupation of East Asian countries were all plans to continue the war in China.
A corner of the Pacific Theater
Finally, India was a British colony at the time, and if Japan invaded India again, Britain would never sit idly by. Japan saw the strength of the Anglo-Indian army in the first attack on Imphal, and the first attempt had already lost its armor and was not fully prepared to rush again, which was undoubtedly a fiasco.
Moreover, at that time, Japan was already on the opposite side of China and the United States, and if it attacked India again, Japan would face more pressure from China, the United States and Britain, and the situation would be more difficult. Based on these considerations, Japan did not have the idea of attacking India again.
Japanese forces during World War II