I believe it deserves so much more recognition than it gets. It perfectly shows the superiority of western rationality, pragmatism and technological supremacy, over oriental barbarism and backwardness. The Japs thought that ''muh bullshito'' is going to make up for their abysmal logistics and technical shortcomings. >Slim realized that Japanese logistics had broken down, but that Japanese soldiers, motivated by Bushido, were still prepared to fight to the death as the Japanese preferred to die for the Emperor rather than surrender, which led him to the conclusion that it was better to outflank and bypass the Japanese positions, leaving the main pockets of the Japanese to starve to death rather than engaging them in combat as much as possible. The Burma Area Army had about 100,000 men while the British Fourteenth Army had only about 21,000 men, but Slim decided with superior mobility backed by proper supply lines that he could defeat the Burma Area Army, whose logistics were poor.The Brits with just 21k men basically annihilated through starvation a force almost 5 times their numbers, with minimal casualties, just by eliminating their logistics. This is how you should win wars. Much more impressive than the meat grinder on Okinawa imo.
>>16801044>Much more impressive than the meat grinder on Okinawa imo.A better comparison would be the reclamation of the Philippines. Slim handled his troops in the late stages of the Burma campaign with far more competence than Macarthur’s drive back through the phillipine islands. But otherwise, you’re right.
If I remember correctly, the Burma army under Slim was 90% colonial forces mainly from India, which also was a major handicap since they would naturally be less trained, less experienced, less diciplined, less morale, and most likely less equipt than your standard British division.
>>16801242>which also was a major handicap since they would naturally be less trained, less experienced, less diciplined, less moraleThere was a thread about this the other day but the ten divisions of Pajeets in the British army in Burma were pretty good troops.
>>16802055Those were Ghurka warriors, not some random streetshitters anon.
>>16802287>not some random streetshittersThe British Raj army was mostly comprised of Muslims, Baloches, Sikhs, Rajputs and Punjabis Anon. The Ghurkas are just the ones everybody knows about. And by all accounts, they fought pretty well.
>>16801044100,000 Japanese vs 21,000 Brits? The British divisions were about the same size as a Japanese division, and they had more of them. The British took about 21,000 *casualties* in U-Go.Funny story about the OP image. The Japanese commander, who had spent the last few years after the war running a noodle restaurant and desperately trying to avoid attention for starving several thousand Japanese soldiers to death, read this book and decided that his operational plan was actually brilliant and would have worked if only his subordinates hadn't messed things up. He spent the rest of his life trying to get the other survivors (who almost universally despised him) into recognizing his genius.>>16802287Have you ever been to Nepal? It's like India but shittier.
>>16802365>The Japanese commander, who had spent the last few years after the war running a noodle restaurant and desperately trying to avoid attention for starving several thousand Japanese soldiers to deathWhat, you mean Mutaguchi? IIRC some sources say that he passed around pamphlets at soldiers’ funerals claiming he actually won, lmao.
>>16802438Yes, that's the one. His few remaining friends begged him to shut up about it at least in public, but he didn't listen.
>>16802365>The Burma Area Army had about 100,000 men while the British Fourteenth Army had only about 21,000 men
>>16802365>Have you ever been to Nepal? It's like India but shittier.I have. Make your point retard.
>>16802438Japs were so fucking delusional that it just boggles the mind.
>>16802055I never said they were bad depending on how we define "bad", but I would still say it is likely they werent on the same level as British divisions.On the European front, Indians were mostly confined to auxilliary duties within the army, and it was simply because they were not as reliable for combat roles. On the North Africa front, the British maintained a near 50/50 ratio of British units and Commonwealth/Allied units. Not sure how many of these Commonwealth were Indian.Of the Indian divisions that existed:>9th & 44th Airborne DivisionNever saw combat>31st Indian Armoured DivisionStationed in Mesopotamia>32nd Indian Armoured DivisionNever saw combat>43rd Indian Armoured DivisionNever saw combat>44th Indian Armoured DivisionServed in Burma>4th Indian Infantry DivisionServed in N.Africa>5th Infantry DivisionServed in N.Africa. Transfered to Burma>6th Infantry DivisionStationed in Mesopotamia. Never saw combat>7th Infantry DivisionServed in Burma>8th Mountain DivisionStationed in Mesopotamia. Few birgades served in N.Africa & Italy>9th Indian Infantry DivisionDestroyed in Japans opening attack on December 1941.>10th Indian Infantry DivisionStationed in Mesopotamia. Fought in Iraq & Iran. Served in N.Africa & Italy.>11th Indian Infantry DivisionDestroyed in Singapore>14th Indian Infantry DivisionServed in Burma> 17th Infantry DivisionServed in Burma>19th Indian Infantry DivisionServed in Burma>20th Indian Infantry Division Served in Burma>23rd Indian Infantry DivisionServed in Burma>25th Indian Infantry DivisionServed in Burma>26th Indian Infantry DivisionServed in Burma>34th Indian Infantry DivisionStationed in India>36th Indian Infantry DivisionServed in Burma>39th Indian Infantry DivisionServed in Burma
>>16802828Thanks for the info dump I guess
>>16802828>but I would still say it is likely they werent on the same level as British divisionsa recall reading an archived Japanese intelligence report which mentioned the fact that they considered Pajeets to be better soldiers than white Britons. Which doesn't surprise me honestly.A lot of those aforementioned indian subcultures that the British recruited troops from like Rajputs, Muslims, Sikhs etc had/have a traditionally martial "REAL men aren't scared of dying in battle" mentality that your average London bank clerk might not have. Being extremely dirt poor pajeets who were used to hardship and starvation rations their whole lives probably also made them better attuned to extended periods of time on a battlefield.>When a British officer met a Sikh colonel whose battalion he was relieving, he noted his immaculate turban, beard glistening in the monsoon rain: ‘I saw something in him that was new to me: a real love for war. The Sikhs gave every impression of enjoying themselves. Whenever the Japs came on, they held down the trigger while giggling, happy as all hell. they wept whenever they were ordered to withdraw; it was an affront to their manliness.'
>>16803625The British used this macho tendency extremely cynically at various points of this and other wars. Get the sepoys to soak up enemy ordnance to cover a retreat and they will do it gladly. Send them headlong into entrenched enemy positions and they'll be happy about it. In both cases most of them die but the goal is achieved. Not my problem mentality.
>>16801044>The Brits with just 21k menPretty sure they had a lot more than that
>>16804514oooff I would gladly like a source on that since Britain was extemely sensitive to casualties during ww2. There is the fact that Indian battalions and divisions always had British officers leading them, officers and NCOs who were highly valuable because of their cultural and language knowledge with these colonial troops. These would also have become casualties in such scenario.The only time Britain came under fire for using commonwealth troops as cannon fodder was with the ANZAC in ww1, which there is no evidence for even tho their casualty rate was disproportionately high.If Britain did use colonial troops as cannon fodder then it would have shown in the statistics since armies like the 8th army had a near 50/50 percentage of British and commonweath/allied numbers.This would have been obvious in chaotic evacuations like at Dunkrik and Greece where some divisions simply had to be trapped in order to buy time for the others to escape.
