Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont CGU Faculty Publications and Research CGU Faculty Scholarship 1-1-2001 Small Arms, Japanese Robert J. Bunker Claremont Graduate University Recommended Citation Bunker, Robert J. "Small arms, Japanese." World War II in the Pacific: An Encyclopedia. New York: Garland Publishing, 2001. 537-539. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the CGU Faculty Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in CGU Faculty Publications and Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Small Arms, Japanese 537 by Slim, the 5th and in strength. Forbidden co withdraw Irrawaddy River coward Mandalay co draw Japanese re 7th Indian Divisions found themselves isolated by the serves there. \XIhen the enemy had fully committed all irs Japanese advance. Slim demanded char they stand fast, avai lable reserves, IV Corps struck across the Irrawaddy and he put into effect the aerial resupply operation he and capwred Meikrila on March 3, 1945. The Japanese had promised. He also energetically launched relief opera were thrown off balance by this daring, li ghtning strike, tions that rescued the beleaguered troops and han1mered and as a result, :iOv"CCII Corps also captured Mandalay the Japanese Fifteenth Army. Caught betvveen rhe rwo during late March. forces, the Japanese were forced co withdraw in ratters The Japanese reacted violently co the British crossing through the jungle back inro Burma. Slim's success dem of the Irrawaddy and launched numerous counterattacks onstrated the efficacy of his operational approach, si co eliminate the British bridgehead bur suffered crippling lenced his critics, and greatly boosted troop morale.