Governor of Burma
Dorman-Smith was the 2nd Governor of Burma from 6 May 1941 - 31 August 1946 and was therefore in office at the time of the Japanese invasion - and was expelled from the country by the Japanese. Between May 1942 and Oct 1945 he was in exile at Simla, India. In October 1943, Colonel Dorman-Smith lamented the fact that the Burmese had not rallied to defend British rule, saying:
Neither our word nor our intentions are trusted in that part of the globe ... We have fed such countries as Burma on political formulae until they are sick at the very sight and sound of a formula, which has come, as far as my experience shows, to be looked upon as a very British means of avoiding a definite course of action.
Major-General Sir Hubert Rance, the British military commander, took control of the country for the military after the liberation of Rangoon, but Dorman-Smith returned as Governor in 1946. Dorman-Smith considered arresting Aung San for a murder he committed in 1942. In that year, Aung San had stabbed the restrained headman of Thebyugone village to death in front of a large crowd. Dorman-Smith was convinced by his superiors not to carry out the arrest.
While Dorman-Smith was back in the UK for medical reasons he was replaced by Rance, who was supported by Lord Mountbatten of Burma and fully backed a policy of immediate unconditional independence for Burma under the leadership of the AFPFL.
Read more about this topic: Reginald Dorman-Smith
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