140 - Japan - One Battle from Victory? - May 2, 1942

by Panzer
You're sending them where?
Madagascar?
Are they even involved in this war?
What?
No and you wanna keep it that way.
I see.
Okay, bye!
May 2, 1942
Burma is the gateway to India and it is the supply route to China, so it is a pivotal
strategic point.
It is also home to many natural resources, including oil and gas, that can be of great
use during the war, and this week, Burma falls to the Japanese.
I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week the Japanese sent out most of their warships searching for the Allied task force
that had helped bomb Tokyo.
They did not find them, but they did generate tons of radio traffic that has further helped
the Allies crack their naval code.
Germany launched a series of air raids against tourist towns in Britain, and German and Italian
bombers also managed to destroy an entire shipment of Spitfire planes that were to help
beleaguered Malta.
An offensive ended in the Soviet Union, and the Battle for Burma basically ended when
the Allied forces realized they had to evacuate the country to survive.
And this week Burma really falls under Japanese control.
On the 29th, Shojiro Iida's 15th Army Japanese captures Lashio, the terminus of the Burma
Road, which had been the only overland supply route to Chiang Kai-Shek's Chinese Nationalist Army.
On May 1st, they take Mandalay, securing the terminus.
Well, at 2350 on the 30th, Burma Corps Commander Bill Slim gives the order to blow the Ava
Bridge across the Irrawaddy River south of Mandalay, after the British rearguard and
the last of the refugee stragglers cross.
The battle for Burma is over, but the long long retreat is far from over.
The route is up the Chindwin Valley, and Slim's men have to deal not only with trucks breaking
down and running out of gas, not only with enormous columns of refugees, but also with
constant air attacks, and they must constantly fight rearguard actions against the Japanese vanguard.
They have a long way to go.
But though they've lost Burma, the Allies are really trying to figure out where they
can fight the Japanese.
Now, the US Office of Naval Communication is seriously improving at reading the Japanese
naval codes, as I discussed last week, and after Admirals King and Nimitz have met in
San Francisco- a meeting that began at the end of last week, they're aware of the scope