Battle of Ngakyedauk

Battle of the Admin Box
Part of the Burma Campaign
Sikh troops of 7th Indian Division man an observation post in the Ngakyedauk Pass area of the Arakan, Burma, February 1944
Date 5–23 February 1944 Location Arakan, Burma Coordinates: 20°55′55″N 92°26′58″E / 20.932080°N 92.449349°E / 20.932080; 92.449349 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom British India	Japan Azad Hind
Commanders and leaders
Philip Christison	Tokutaro Sakurai
Strength
at start: 2 infantry divisions 1 armoured regiment reinforcements: 2 infantry divisions	1 infantry division
Casualties and losses
3,506 total 3 Fighter aircraft	3,106 killed 2,229 wounded 65 Fighter aircraft
Sinzweya Sinzweya, Myanmar

 United Kingdom

The Battle of the Admin Box (sometimes referred to as the Battle of Ngakyedauk or the Battle of Sinzweya) took place on the Southern Front of the Burma Campaign from 5 to 23 February 1944, in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War II.

Japanese forces attempted a local counter-attack against an Allied offensive with the aim of drawing Allied reserves from the Central Front in Assam, where the Japanese were preparing their own major offensive. After initial setbacks, the Allies recovered to thwart the Japanese attack, pioneering the methods which would lead to further Allied victories over the following year.

The battle takes its name from the "administration area" of the Indian Army's 7th Division, which became a makeshift, rectangular defensive position for Major-General Frank Messervy and his staff after their divisional headquarters was overrun on 7 February.

During 1941 and early 1942, the Japanese army had driven Allied troops (British, Indian and Chinese) from Burma. During 1943, the Allies had tried a limited offensive into Arakan, the coastal province of Burma. The aim had been to secure Akyab Island at the end of the Mayu Peninsula. The island possessed an important airfield, from which the Japanese Army Air Force had launched raids on Calcutta and other Indian cities, and which also featured prominently in Allied plans to recapture Burma.

This offensive had failed disastrously. Because the British Indian Army was being massively expanded, most of the Indian (and British) units committed to the attack lacked training and experience. Exhausted units were left in the front line, and their morale declined. Allied tactics and equipment were not suited to the jungle-covered hills, and Japanese units repeatedly achieved surprise by crossing rivers and hills which the Allies had dismissed as impassable. Finally, the Allied command structure was inefficient, with a single overworked division headquarters trying to control a large number of sub-units and also a large line-of-communications area.