By the end of 1942, Britain was reeling from a series of devastating defeats at the hands of a rampant Japanese offensive, most significantly losing the fortress city of Singapore and retreating from Burma. However, in 1943 Brigadier Orde Wingate launched the first of several special forces raids into Burma from neighbouring India, targeting Japanese positions and infrastructure. Japanese high command set in place a plan, Operation U-Go, to invade Manipur, north-east India. Capturing key strategic positions in the region would cripple any hope of the Allies recapturing Burma, and could even galvanise a significant Indian Nationalist movement, keen to see the back of British rule.
What were Japan’s aims in Operation U-Go?
When in early 1944 Tokyo authorised Operation U-Go and its associated feint towards Chittagong (Operation Ha-Go), the avowed purpose was to deny the princely state of Manipur to the Allies for any future operations into Burma. It was from Imphal, the capital of Manipur, that the then-Brigadier Orde Wingate had led… the first Chindit operation in February 1943.
The strategic rationale for Operation U-Go was
