Japanese invasion of Burma

Japanese invasion of Burma
	Part of the Burma Campaign in World War II
	; View of the Yenangyaung oil field on 16 April 1942 after its destruction ahead of the Japanese advance
Date	14 December 1941 – 28 May 1942; (5 months, 1 week and 3 days)
Location	Burma
Result	Axis victory Disruption of British rule; Start of Burma Campaign;
Territorial; changes	Japanese occupation of Burma; Thai occupation of Shan State
Belligerents
United Kingdom India; Burma; China United States (air support only)	Empire of Japan Burma Independence Army; Thailand (from 10 May)
Commanders and leaders
Archibald Wavell; Thomas Hutton; Harold Alexander; William Slim; Joseph Stilwell; Luo Zhuoying; Sun Li Jen;	Hisaichi Terauchi; Shojiro Iida; Keiji Suzuki; J.R. Seriroengrit;
Strength
95,000; ~45,000	85,000; ~23,000; 35,000
Casualties and losses
; 40,000 casualties; ; 30,000 casualties 1,499 killed; 11,964 wounded; 116 aircraft destroyed, damaged and captured (RAF); ~100 tanks destroyed, damaged or captured; ; 95 aircraft destroyed, damaged and captured (AVG);	; 7,000 killed, wounded and missing Unknown tanks destroyed or damaged; 117 aircraft destroyed and damaged;
	More than 10,000–50,000 civilians killed

The Japanese invasion of Burma was the opening phase of the Burma campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, which took place over four years from 1942 to 1945. During the first year of the campaign (December 1941 to mid-1942), the Japanese Army (with aid from Thai Phayap Army and Burmese insurgents) drove British Empire and Chinese forces out of Burma, then began the Japanese occupation of Burma and formed a nominally independent Burmese administrative government.

^ ^a ^b Bradford, James. International Encyclopedia of Military History. Routledge, 2006, p. 221
^ ^a ^b Facts on File: World War II in the China-Burma-India theater Retrieved 20 March 2016
^ Bayly and Harper, p. 170
^ Donald M. Seekins, Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar) (Scarecrow Press, 2006), pp. 123–126, 354.
^ Reynolds, Bruce E. (1994). Thailand and Japan's Southern Advance, 1940–1945. Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-312-10402-3.
^ ^a ^b ^c Japanese conquest of Burma, December 1941 – May 1942 Retrieved 20 March 2016
^ McLynn, The Burma Campaign: Disaster into Triumph, 1942–1945, p. 67.
^ ^a ^b Allen (1984), p. 638
^ Beevor, Antony (2012). "16". The Second World War. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. p. 309. ISBN 978-0-316-08407-9.
^ Tucker, Spencer C. (2003). The Second World War. Macmillan International Higher Education. p. 122. ISBN 978-0-230-62966-0.^{[permanent dead link]} (includes 15,000 missing)
^ Zaloga, Steven. "M3 and M5 Stuart Light Tank 1940–45". Osprey Publishing, 18 Nov 1999. p. 14. According to Zaloga, all but one tank of the two regiments of the 7th Armoured Brigade had been lost.
^ Air Force Sixtieth Anniversary Commemorative Edition: The Flying Tigers p. 33 Retrieved 20 March 2016
^ Black, Jeremy (2016). Air Power: A Global History. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 108. ISBN 9781442250970.