Forgotten armies: the fall of British Asia, 1941-1945

Abstract

List of Illustrations Maps Some Key Characters Preface: The Many 'Forgotten Armies' Prologue, Part I: Escaping Colonialism Japan's Asian vision and the coming of war Aung San's Far Eastern odyssey 'Signor Mazzotta' flees to Berlin Mr Tan Kah Kee visits Mao Prologue, Part II: Journeys through Empire The great crescent A Malayan pastorale The 'new world' of Singapore Malaise 1. 1941: Last of the Indian and Burmese Days India on the brink Indian politics as usual? Burma unready The world of the hills and the 'tribes' Dorman-Smith reaches his 'backwater' Burmese and others Endgame: the governor and the politicians 2. 1942: A Very British Disaster The fortress that never was The arrow leaves the bow The battle of Malaya 'The modern Pompeiians' Flotsam and jetsam 3. 1942: Debacle in Burma The road to Rangoon From scorched earth to green hell Burma's false dawn Death of the innocents Would India hold? Total defence in the hills: the Lushai levies The Nagas, the Kachins and the anthropologists The monsoon of 1942: an unnoticed turning point 4. 1942: The Abyss and the Way Back The rape of Malaya The 'New Malai' Desperate journeys: Burma in late 1942 India ablaze The forgotten armies mobilize 5. 1943: Valleys of the Shadow of Death Uneasy allies Another fiasco in Arakan India in the doldrums The great starvation The slow fight back begins 6. 1943: Personal Wars Ba Maw's apotheosis The 'Spirit of Asia' and the Malay nation The second coming of the Indian National Army Life in the time of tapioca 'Life without salt' War by proxy High councils: Tokyo, Cairo and Tehran 7. 1944: The Pivot of the Fighting Japan's final throw India on the offensive Battle commences: Imphal and Kohima The politics of war Japan's forgotten army 8. 1944: The Nemesis of Greater East Asia Heroism and murder in the hills The crumbling of 'Free Burma' Roads to the death railway Silent armies The peninsular war New balls at Wimbledon 9. 1945: Freedoms Won and Lost India mobilized Ba Maw's last stand Aung San's revolt Rangoon falls again The fading light of the new Asia 10. August 1945: An End and a Beginning Final journeys down the crescent Forgotten armies, forgotten wars Notes Bibliography Index