In early July 1944, the British army discovered an interesting thing in the Indo-Burmese battlefield: the corpse of every Japanese soldier was emaciated, and some Japanese soldiers were still stuffing dead grass and bark into their mouths when they were dying, and one by one died in a very miserable state.
In 1944, the fascist alliance was defeated, and World War II entered its later stages. People saw the dawn of victory, and news of victory came from all the east, west, south, and north fronts.
On the Eastern Front, the Soviets reclaimed the city of Leningrad, which had been under siege for so long, and now regained its free breath. The Soviets launched an ambitious "Stalin Assault," advancing westward and embarking on an all-out counteroffensive in an effort to drive the invaders back to the path they had taken.
On the southern front, the Allies decided to land on the Italian mainland, where they fought fiercely with the Germans. After the landing of Anzio, they rushed to the ancient city of Rome and launched a vigorous counterattack.
The Allies on the Western Front were preparing for an unprecedented large-scale landing. The fascist states of Europe were in jeopardy, their systems of rule crumbling, and the Allies were preparing to crush their last resistance, paving the way for freedom and justice.
In Asia, Japan is also feeling the looming crisis. The U.S. Army won many victories in the Pacific Theater, recapturing New Guinea and the Marshall Islands, while in the Chinese Theater, the Japanese were unable to take it. Faced with this dilemma, Japan decided to take a risky step, planning a large-scale offensive in China and India at the same time, hoping to turn the situation around.
This is the Japanese army's "Operation No. 1" and "Operation U" plan, an attempt to back the water and fight a war. In early 1944, the Japanese army prepared to attack India. Aware of the difficulties of transportation between India and Burma, they stockpiled large quantities of supplies and livestock, such as cattle and sheep, in advance.
Such a large-scale gathering was soon discovered by the Allies, who used the air force to carry out precise strikes on cattle and sheep supplied by the Japanese. Frightened cattle and sheep fled in all directions, and there were originally thousands of livestock, but only a few hundred were left.
The Japanese commander at that time was Muta Guchi Ryoya. Although he witnessed this predicament, he still did not see the situation clearly, still chose to go his own way, and continued to order the march to the west. He fantasized about capturing the Imphal region in northeastern India to solve the supply problem.
Under the firm conviction of Muta Guchi, the Japanese army reluctantly continued its westward march and encountered British troops stationed on the Indo-Burmese border. At that time, the British troops stationed here were only a few dozen people, facing the large forces of the Japanese army. They were soon defeated, the Japanese divided into two routes and surrounded the Imphal area, and the supply problem seemed to be about to be resolved.
The British commander, Lieutenant General Scunas, hurriedly asked for help from headquarters, which in turn turned to the United States for help. Fortunately, the United States quickly sent transport planes to assist in transporting British reinforcements and provided a large amount of supplies. When this group of British troops was deployed, the defeat of the Japanese army was already doomed.
The Japanese were subjected to sudden British air raids every day, which made them very angry. For this reason, they decided to launch a fierce attack to prepare to take the British army, although their onslaught eliminated the British troops to some extent, but they themselves suffered heavy losses.
To make matters worse, due to the long inability to seize the supply base of the British army, the Japanese army was running out of food, and the soldiers could only receive a pitiful daily ration, and their morale was low. In contrast, the British were well supplied and held out in perfect fortifications. By May, the Japanese could no longer advance.
Due to the severe shortage of food, several Japanese division commanders jointly proposed to Muta Guchi that either enough supplies should be delivered as soon as possible or they could only withdraw.
However, Muta Guchi also sat in the headquarters and said unashamedly: "The soldiers of the Empire of Japan would rather die than surrender, but you are in the dense jungle, but you say that there is no food to eat, how is this possible?" The division commanders were very dissatisfied, but Muta Guchi did not dare to say anything.
They turned to their soldiers and said, "Hold on, reinforcements will arrive soon, the grass here may be eaten raw!" ”
The soldiers were hungry at this time and had no strength to speak, and they half-believed and grabbed the leaves, grass and even branches around them and began to eat.
In June, the British launched a counteroffensive, and the hungry Japanese army retreated. In early July, the Japanese were forced to retreat back to Burma and acknowledged the defeat at the Battle of Imphal.
While clearing the battlefield, the British found that the Japanese had abandoned a large number of corpses. The corpses were skinny and looked tormented, and some of them had their mouths filled with weeds. This shows how hungry they are.
The victory in this war also completely announced the collapse of Japan's "Operation No. 1" and "Operation U" plan.
