- 1945
Aftermath of World War Two in Myanmar
Half a million American, British, Indian, Chinese, Japanese and other soldiers fought in Burma, during World War Two, leading to the devastation of almost every single city and town, every port, airport, train station, oil field and factory. Over 200,000 soldiers died, together with an unknown number of civilians. The war left behind an economy in ruins and a country awash in guns, leading directly to the civil wars that followed.
In thinking of World War Two in Burma, the role of the Chinese is often forgotten: in April 1942, as the British were in full retreat, three Chinese armies (the 5th, 6th, and 66th Armies grouped as the "Chinese Expeditionary Force (Burma)") entered the country on the orders of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to try to stem the Japanese invasion. It would be three years before Lashio was retaken by the Allied forces.
This photograph from Life magazine shows the state of Rangoon in April 1945.