Japanese troops advance on a Burmese oil field, 1942

Photograph, World War Two, Far East (1941-1945), 1942.

Japan attacked British Burma in order to secure its oil, cobalt and rice supplies. The operation also aimed to cut the Burma Road, a supply line from Rangoon to the Chinese forces fighting the Japanese in southern China. Capturing Burma would also protect the flank of the Japanese attack against Malaya and Singapore and provide a buffer zone to protect these territories once they were occupied.

From a collection of photographs collected by Brig Walter Lunt, Royal Army Educational Corps and Maj Gen James Lunt, 1923-1990.