Battle of Toungoo - Prelude

Prelude

On March 8, 1942, advanced elements of the 200th Division arrived at Toungoo on the same day Rangoon fell. The Chinese took over the defense of this key location from a small detachment of British forces. Toungoo controlled the road north toward Mandalay and the bridge over the Sittang River that carried the road east to the Karenni States and north to Loikaw, the Shan States, Lashio and the Chinese province of Yunan. Capture of the city could threaten the flank of the Allied defensive line in Burma and open the way to a Japanese advance into Central Burma.

Major-General Dai Anlan the divisional commander, decided the city of Toungoo itself would be the main defensive position of the Chinese forces, with an outpost line to the south at Oktwin. He sent the Motorized Cavalry Regiment and 1st Company, 598th Infantry Regiment to the banks of the Kan River 35 miles south of Toungoo and 12 miles south of Pyu. The cavalry regiment plus a company of infantry pushed up to Kan River, with a platoon of cyclists taking up position near the bridge over the Sittang River at the village of Nyaungchidauk.. They were to delay the advance of the Japanese until the defenses at Toungoo were complete.

Meanwhile the 200th Division began digging in within the old city walls and at the advanced line at Oktwin. Toungoo city itself was divided into the new town to the east of the railway and the old town to the west. The old town had a well preserved ditch and fortified wall which provided a good defensive position for the Chinese. The Chinese then enhanced their defenses with carefully concealed positions built using an abundant supply of local timber. To make things more difficult for the attackers the land around Toungoo was flat and featureless, except for the Sittang River to the east.

Ten days later on March 18 the first skirmish with the leading elements of the Japanese 55th Division, began on the Kan River at Nyaungchidauk. Falling back over the next three days, the Chinese cavalry delayed the Japanese advance while the Chinese completed their defenses at Oktwin and Toungoo. When the Japanese attacked Oktwin they were held for another two days by determined Chinese resistance.