NigG (#243),
A thoughtful analysis of the critical campaign in the WWII Burma war. But in the early days, before the tide turned, it was a desperate affair, with our only objective being to stem the Japanese advance with whatever we'd got - which was not much. Indeed, when we were sent out in autumn 1942, India was widely regarded at home as a probable lost cause. We were intended to fly anything there was to hold off the Japs in a "last stand" to enable as many Europeans as possible to be evacuated before we were overrun.
Now we know that the line
was held, and from 1944 we got on top of the Japs to carry the war to its sudden conclusion the next year. I have read that more Japanese soldiers were killed in Burma by British and Indian troops than in all the American Pacific island battles put together (but have no authority for this).
One small cavil:
.... It's rather doubtful that they had the means to conduct an effective fighter air defence...
They hadn't. But all it would take was a single pair of Oscars, well handled, to destroy a box of six Vengeance. Of course there was no radar, and no other early warning systems, and Burma is a big place. But our strikes on their defensive bunkers were so regular and predictable, that you would think it worth their while to put up a pair on patrol "on spec" for a day or two.
Our chosen tactic was to stick together, stand and fight. But half our six rear twin 0.303s were handled by navs with no gunnery training at all, or by ex-Blenheim turret chaps who'd last fired a round the year before. The omens were not good.
And the Hurricanes, who'd done the fighter affiliation exercises with us at Dum Dum, said that our box of six was so unhandy that they would have no trouble in keeping us in their sights.
Very occasionally we had an escort of a section of Hurricanes. One pair would fly high cover, and the other guard our tails. We said these huddled close to us to enjoy the protection of our rear guns ! Obviously, a better idea would have been for us to scatter and run ! The Oscars might get one (or two), but otherwise they'd bag the lot. It was always "on the cards" - but luckily it never happened, but nobody knew why.
Danny.