Battle of Meiktila and Mandalay - Crossing The Irrawaddy

Crossing The Irrawaddy

The 19th Indian Division slipped units across a narrow stretch of the Irrawaddy, 40 miles (64 km) miles north of Mandalay, as early as 14 January 1945, although they faced a stiff fight for some weeks against attempts by the reinforced Japanese 15th Division to counter-attack their bridgeheads. The crossings downstream, where the river was much wider, would require more preparation. The assault boats, ferries and other equipment for the task were in short supply in Fourteenth Army, and much of this equipment was worn out, having already seen service in other theatres.

Slim planned for 20th Division of XXXIII Corps and 7th Division of IV Corps to cross simultaneously on 13 February, so as to further mask his ultimate intentions. On XXXIII Corps' front, 20th Division crossed 20 miles (32 km) west of Mandalay. It successfully established small bridgeheads, but these were counter-attacked nightly for almost two weeks by the Japanese 31st Division. Orbiting patrols of fighter-bombers knocked out several Japanese tanks and guns. Eventually 20th Division expanded its footholds into a single firmly-held bridgehead.

In IV Corps's sector, it was vital for Slim's overall plan for 7th Division to seize the area around Pakokku and establish a firm bridgehead quickly. The area was defended by units of the 2nd Division of the Indian National Army, under Shah Nawaz Khan. The crossing by Indian 7th Division (which was delayed for 24 hours to repair the assault boats) was made on a wide front. Both the main attack at Nyaungu and a secondary crossing at Pagan (the former capital, and the site of many Buddhist temples) were initially disastrous. Pagan and Nyaungu were defended by two battalions of the INA's 4th Guerrilla Regiment, with one held in reserve. The Indian 7th division suffered heavy losses as their assault boats broke down under machine-gun fire which swept the river. Eventually, support from tanks of 116 Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (formerly the 5th Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders) firing across the river and massed artillery forced the defenders at Nyaungu to surrender. At Pagan, the defending troops, the INA's 9th battalion, took a heavy toll offering resistance to the attackers (1/11th Sikh Regiment) before they withdrew to Mount Popa.

Slim noted in his memoirs that this action was "the longest opposed river crossing attempted in any theatre of the Second World War." Unknown to the Allies, Pagan was the boundary between the Japanese Fifteenth and Twenty-Eighth Armies. This, and the increasingly uncertain relations between the Japanese and the INA, delayed the Japanese reaction to the crossing.

Starting on 17 February, 255th Indian Tank Brigade and the motorised infantry brigades of 17th Division began crossing into 7th Division's bridgehead. To further distract Japanese attention from this area, the British 2nd Division began crossing the Irrawaddy only 10 miles (16 km) west of Mandalay on 23 February. This crossing also threatened to be a disaster due to leaky boats and faulty engines, but one brigade crossed successfully and the other brigades crossed into its bridgehead.