Burma 1942: The Road from Rangoon to Mandalay [ハードカバー]

Bottom line up front - there isnt a lot of NEW information in this book, but the material in this book is packaged efficiently and well written, e.g. the author has made good use of other secondary sources to produce a readable account of the campaign. BURMA 1942 is organized into eighteen relatively short chapters (average 12 - 15 pages apiece). Chapter 1 provides an overview of British Burma and Imperial Japan; Chapter 2 deals with Preparations for War (with emphasis on the British perspective); Chapter 3 is entitled "Outbreak of War in South-East Asia" while Chapter 4 delves into The Invasion of Burma. Five chapters on successive engagements and battles follow - Chapter 5 (Moulmein), Chapter 6 (Defence of the Salween River), Chapter 7 (Bilin River), Chapter 8 (Kyaikto) and Chapter 9 (Sittang Bridge). Readers will note that a great deal of air - ground fratricide took place as RAF and AVG planes regularly attacked Anglo-Indian ground units (and the Japanese too.) Chapter 10 examines the horrible fiasco that took place when the Sittang River bridge was destroyed prematurely, trapping a number of Anglo-Indian units from the 17th Division on the far bank. At this point I was surprised at the amount of fighting that took place southeast of Rangoon. Chapter 11 is entitled "Rangoon in the frontline" and Chapter 12 "Wavell takes Charge" deals with the growing involvement of the British CinC after he stepped down as head of ABDA. Chapter 13 deals with the "Retreat from Rangoon." Chapter 14 and 15, respectively "The Imperial Japanese Navy" and "Admiral Nagumo's Raid on Ceylon" change the subject to naval topics as the Japanese exploit their success in Burma. The final three chapters (The oilfields of Yenangyaung, The Retreat to India, and The Consequences of Defeat) deal with the end of the campaign and its aftermath/results. Why should this book interest students of World War II? I think most would agree, Burma is indeed a "Forgotten War." That said, the author's writing and analytical abilities, when combined with impeccable research, would make any subject he wrote about worthy of some level of interest. There is at least one map per chapter, though most (Bilin being the exception) include only geographical features and not unit dispositions. I learned a lot about both the Japanese and Anglo-British/Burma units and personalities. All in all, a good account worthy of a wider readership than perhaps it might attract otherwise.