While the members of the British Fourteenth Army regularly referred to themselves as the Forgotten Army

 

While the members of the British Fourteenth Army regularly referred to themselves as the Forgotten Army since their exploits were often overshadowed by the conflict in Europe, a truly forgotten formation may have been the British Twelfth Army, which saw service in the last three months of the war.

 By the middle of May 1945, the Fourteenth Army had won a string of spectacular victories and re-conquered most of western Burma including the capital of Rangoon. Over the next three months the British conducted major mopping up operations to solidify their control over central Burma and destroy isolated Japanese formations trying to make good their escape.

They did this under the authority of a new headquarters as the British Twelfth Army, under the command of Lieutenant-General Montagu Stopford, assumed responsibility for operations in Burma on 28 May to free-up Fourteenth Army personnel to prepare for the upcoming invasion of Malaya. 

This command was essentially created by converting XXXIII Corps headquarters to that of an army headquarters and assigning former Fourteenth Army formations to this new army. 

The main combat formation available to Twelfth Army was IV Corps, which primarily consisted of the 5th, 17th and 19th Indian Divisions and the 255th Tank Brigade. The army also controlled the 7th and 20th Divisions and the 22nd East African Brigade as well as various static and administrative units.

The most immediate task facing Twelfth Army was the destruction of Japanese forces still west of the Sittang River. Despite their recent defeats, the Japanese still had some 100,000 men present in Burma. Most of these were in the eastern part of the country including large numbers of administrative and support personnel.

 However, the remnants of the Twenty-eighth Army along with the 105th Independent Mixed Brigade were trapped in the Pegu Yomas uplands between the Irrawaddy and Sittang Rivers.

Over the next three months the Twelfth Army conducted mopping up operations that culminated in the battle of the Sittang River (which will be covered in greater detail in a future post). 

During this period, Twelfth Army claimed 9,843 Japanese soldiers killed and 1,474 taken prisoner while guerilla and irregular formations claimed at least as many killed. Other Japanese losses included 35 assorted artillery pieces and six tankettes. Against this, British IV Corps, which was Twelfth Army’s primary fighting formation, suffered 435 killed, 1,452 wounded and 14 missing during roughly the same period.

Although unknown at the time, the battle of the Sittang River concluded operations in Burma as the remaining Japanese forces in the eastern part of the country surrendered to the British in September in accordance with Japan’s capitulation.

 Pictured here are men of the Twelfth Army in the Sittang River area on 1 August 1945. Lemon A E (Sergeant), No 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit, public domain. Also pictured is General Stopford (centre) inspecting a guard of honour from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Berkshire Regiment, at the conclusion of hostilities. 

Morris (Sergeant), Lawson, A (Captain), No 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Wilson A (Sergeant), public domain. For more information on this and other related topics, see Forgotten War, the British Empire and Commonwealth’s Epic Struggle Against Imperial Japan, 1941-1945.