Japanese soldiers of Kitmatsu Company, Tate 8420 Unit, 20 March 1943

Photograph, World War Two, Far East (1941-1945), 1943.

This image was found in a bunker on Ramree Island, off the south Burma coast, in early 1945, during the British Indian 14th Army's reconquest of the country. It shows members of the Burma Area Army in front of the reclining Buddha at the Shwethalyaung temple in Pegu. At the time, the Japanese occupation of the country was still secure and the wider war in the Far East still seemed to be going in Japan's favour.

Those shown are named as: Corporal Matsu, Lance Corpral Izutsu, Superior Private Kawabuchi, Superior Private Indue, Superior Private Matsumoto, Superior Private Miyazaki, Private Iseki, Private Takamoto, Private Tamai, Private Yoshimitsu and Private Eguchi.

From a collection of 563 loose photographs from the Burma Memorial Collection of Maj Jim Allan.