Spring 1944: The Turning Point in the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II

In the spring of 1944, the conflict in the China-Burma-India Theater (CBI) began to turn in favor of the Allies. The Japanese, in two offensives: ICHIGO (Operation Number 1) in China; and, U-GO (Operation C) in India, endeavored to take China out of the war and drive the British from India. General William Slim’s 14th Army successfully defended at Kohima and Imphal and quickly launched a counterattack into Burma. General Joseph Stilwell’s forces from the Chinese Army in India supported this effort along with Orde Wingate’s Chindits and American advised Chinese forces from Y-Force headquartered in Kunming. In China, Chiang Kai-shek’s forces eventually turned the tide on the Japanese attempt to knock out airfields in China capable of hitting the mainland and secure a landline of communication from Korea to Southeast Asia. The final Allied victory in mainland Asia began with the destruction of Japanese forces in China, Burma, and India in the spring of 1944.

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Dr. Geoff Babb

Dr. Joseph G. D. (Geoff) Babb is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel currently serving as an Associate Professor of History at the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Dr. Babb holds a BA from Bowdoin College, a MPA from Clark University, a MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Kansas. Dr. Babb served as a China Foreign Area Officer educated in Hong Kong and Beijing. He served in Washington D.C. at the Defense Intelligence Agency and on the Joint Staff. He also was a regional desk officer in Hawaii at US Pacific and Army Pacific Commands. He has written on the American military’s role in China in Volumes I and II of Through the Joint, Interagency, and Multinational Lens: Perspectives on the Operational Environment. His most recent publication is a chapter on the Korea War published in Weaving the Tangled Web; Military Deception in Large-Scale Combat Operations issued by Army University Press.