Admin Box battle

Admin Box battle, fought in February 1944, the first major British success against the Japanese during the Burma campaign.

On 4 February 1944 the 55th Japanese Division, commanded by Lt-General Hanaya Tadashi, launched an operation designed to defeat Lt-General Christison's British 15th Corps which had advanced from India into the Arakan as far as Maungdaw, and to pin down any British reinforcements which could be used against the Japanese Imphal offensive due to start that March.

To support Christison's own offensive—its objective was to capture the Akyab airfields, a vital requisite for retaking Rangoon—an administrative and supply base had been constructed near Sinzweya. It was this box, just 1,000 m. (1,100 yd.) square, that gave the battle its name, for it was here that a regiment from Hanaya's division attacked. Although the British were aware of his plan, Hanaya achieved total tactical surprise. The HQ of the 7th Indian Division under Maj-General Messervy was overrun and the Box was soon surrounded. But the British stood their ground and were soon reinforced. Tanks, which Hanaya did not have, regular airborne supplies, superior air power, and better artillery kept the Japanese at bay.

What won the day for the British, against the swift encircling tactics that had always previously defeated them, was the three-dimensional nature of their defences. The Box, defended and supplied as it was from the air, was really a cube, while the Japanese, short of fire-power and aircraft, had to rely on a two-dimensional attack. It failed, and once additional Indian Army forces had closed in from the north and west, the Japanese were themselves encircled and then destroyed. Hanaya's failure at Sinzweya enabled Slim to fly in reinforcements to defend Imphal at a crucial moment in the Japanese offensive against it. British casualties amounted to 3,506; the Japanese, according to their own sources, had 5,335 including 3,106 killed.

Bibliography

Turnbull, P. , The Battle of the Box (Shepperton, 1979).