Burma Road Archives

On September 12, 1943, at Vella Lave, New Caledonia, Major John Burden and Nisei soldiers of the 25th Division Language Section, attached to G2 (Military Intelligence), interrogate a Japanese prisoner of war in a temporary stockade.

Burma Road

Speaking the Enemy’s Language

By Dr. Carl H. Marcoux

American soldiers of Japanese ancestry made remarkable contributions to the Allied victory during World War II. Read more

A Navy corpsman gives a drink of water to a wounded Marine on the island of Guam in the Pacific. In addition to the thousands of casualties treated by U.S. Army medical personnel, the U.S. Navy also trained many for the war effort. (All photos: National Archives)

Burma Road

The U.S. Army Medical Corps: Caring for the Casualties in World War II

By Glenn Barnett

For centuries wounded soldiers of every nation were responsible for much of their own care. Medical attention was primitive and often not a high priority for military planners beyond the officer corps. Read more

Preparing for an invasion by the Japanese, Indian troops, which comprised a large number of the British Commonwealth forces in Burma, march past a pagoda toward defensive positions. (Imperial War Museum)

Burma Road

The 17th Indian Division in Burma: Disaster on the Sittang

By Marc D. Bernstein

The Japanese looked unstoppable. Two divisions of the 15th Army had crossed from Thailand into Burma in mid-January 1942, bent on capturing Rangoon before the British could land reinforcements and block the seizing of the Burma Road. Read more

May 1944: Chinese troops advance through the streets of the ancient city of Tengchung, held by the Japanese for two years. The Japanese garrison at Tengchung was wiped out.

Burma Road

The Salween Offensive: Blundering to Success in Burma

By Marc D. Bernstein

After launching an invasion of Burma (today Myanmar) not long after Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Army went on to overrun much of China by May 1942 and closed the Burma Road—the vital, 717-mile-long mountain highway built in 1937-1938 that ran from Kunming in southern China to the Burmese border. Read more

Burma Road

A Burmese Jungle Masterstroke: Commonwealth Troops in Meiktila

by Jon Latimer

The battles of Kohima, Imphal, and the Admin Box saw the comprehensive defeat of the Japanese armies seeking to invade India during 1944 and sent them reeling back into Burma in early 1945, pursued by the revitalized British 14th Army under Lt. Read more

Burma Road

Siam Secrecy: The Thai Resistance in World War II

By John W. Osborn, Jr.

Thailand was perhaps the least known, though surely more scenic and exotic, covert battleground of World War II. Read more

Burma Road

Operation Tsuzigiri: Japan’s Ki-43s vs Allied ATC

by Jon Diamond

Why was Myitkyina such an important objective in the reconquest of Burma in 1943 through 1944 for the Allies and especially among them, Lt. Read more

Burma Road

Blunder or Deception? Stilwell at Myitkyina

by Jon Diamond

General Joseph W. “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell and his Sino-American Myitkyina Task Force (MTF), in a coup de main attack, seized the vital Japanese-controlled airfield just west of the town of Myitkyina on the great Irrawaddy River in northern Burma on May 17, 1944. Read more

Burma Road

Vinegar Joe and the Burma Road

By William Stroock

When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, Joseph Stilwell was already a highly regarded officer. Read more

From Around the Network

Savage Struggle for Peleliu

﻿WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott and the 6888th Central Postal Battalion

Jacobite Victory at Prestonpans

Former Marine John “Chick” Donohue went to South Vietnam in 1968 not to fight, but to take messages of support to his friends, as well as to bring them beer.

WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott and the 6888th Central Postal Battalion