D-Day in Burma?

Flying Officer Charles Anderson

During the weeks leading up to this year's remembrance of the 75th anniversary of D-Day on June 6th, 1944, I was drawn into the drama, tragedy, and pivotal importance of this day for the allied forces in Europe. I knew however that I wanted to research what was happening on the India/Burma front at that time.  The reason for that is that my dad, Charles Anderson, with the 11th Squadron of the Royal Air Force, was stationed in India at that time. He was a pilot flying a Hawker Hurricane ll C.  


The Battles of Kohima and Imphal, which my dad took part in,  took place between April 4 and June 22, 1944.  It is interesting to me that, while the allies were landing on the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944 (eventually pushing Hitler's troops back over the territories that they had recently captured), so too allied forces in India were also fighting to stop the Japanese advance into India and eventually to push them back into Burma over recently captured territory.


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On March 15 1944 Japanese troops crossed the Chindwin river in Burma and marched to the Indian border, from where they advanced more than 100 miles into British India.  They seemed at the time an unstoppable force.  

Dad recollects an incident on March 26th 2019:

"Evening when having a wash etc. -had just returned from attacking an enemy camp - when an emergency target was given over the telephone.  

An Indian Air Force Pilot returning just before dusk saw an enemy battalion suddenly move from cover making towards Headquarters in the Imphal village 8 miles away.

Pilots and ground crews had been dispersed for the night when the call came for an emergency mission.  Dressed as we ran to dispersal - time only to brief the first to arrive.  Pilots straight from their baths or supper table were airborne within 15 minutes.

A few minutes later arrived over the scrub countryside.   In darkening twilight at first saw nothing but at low level with landing lights on we saw the Japanese column and attacked.  Documents later captured showed 250 enemy killed including 37 officers.  Enemy turned back into the jungle."

By April 16, 1944, the Japanese had surrounded the hill top town of Kohima and then moved on to surround Imphal.  However, the tide started to turn and, in June, allied forces stopped the Japanese advance and started pushing them back over recently captured territory.  This was the beginning of the end of the war in Asia and my dad, as did all of the allied pilots, played an integral part in that success.  

My dad's Hawker Hurricane - with the 'buccaneer' on it, a symbol of Belize

Allied air force was critical in defending and supplying these two towns that were cut off and surrounded by Japanese forces.  

Transport aircraft flew in reinforcements, brought supplies that sustained the besieged allied forces, evacuated casualties, and softened Japanese targets,  all in very difficult flying conditions.  The fighter squadrons maintained complete superiority over the Japanese in the skies to ensure safety for the transport aircraft.

In April, dad's Pilot Log showed that he flew 35 sorties, sometimes flying 3 or more sorties a day over the Imphal and Kohima area. This pace continued into May and now included patrol and escort flights, in addition to the many straffing and rhubarb flights (rhubarb is RAF code for  fighter or fighter-bombers searching for opportunity targets such as railway locomotives and rolling stock, aircraft on the ground, enemy troops, and vehicles on roads).

In total, the RAF flew 19,000 tons of supplies and 12,000 men into Kohima and Imphal and flew out 13,000 wounded soldiers and 43,000 civilians.  Dad was involved in escorting DC3s that dropped supplies into Kohima and Imphal to re-supply allied troops.  For example, on April 21, his pilot log shows that he "escorted D.C 3s supply-dropping", and did so again on April 23, 24, and 26.

Three Canadian Pilots seated on the wing of one of the Hurricanes which their squadrom flies among the jungle-clad hills and valleys of the Central Burma Front.  F/O H. Holland (Winnipeg), W/O.1 D. Anderson (Belize, Br. Honduras), F/Sgt J. Magill (Toronto)

At the beginning of June, just before the D-Day landings in Normandy, dad contracted malaria which was a high risk during the heavy monsoon rains at that time of year.  He did not return to active flying duty until July 14th, in time for the final clean up of Japanese troops from the Kohima and Imphal area.