Although often overshadowed by events in Europe or the domineering presence of the United States,

Although often overshadowed by events in Europe or the domineering presence of the United States, the aircraft of the Royal Air Force’s Eastern Air Command were active participants in the maritime conflict against Japan. This was particularly true during the first half of 1945 when the Royal Air Force significantly expanded its offensive operations in the Indian Ocean.

The best example of this was No. 222 Group (RAF), which increased in size and moved from a predominately defensive role to that of anti-shipping strikes. In the first four months of 1945 this group destroyed some 50 Japanese vessels of varying sizes along the Arakan coast. The group then moved its operations further east and, in conjunction with RAF Liberators from the Strategic Air Force, destroyed another 20 ships in the Gulf of Siam. These latter successes included the 2,760-ton depot ship *Angthong* and the 10,238-ton tanker *Toho* *Maru*, which were sunk by RAF Liberators on 1 and 15 June respectively. Finally, RAF Beaufighters of No. 224 Group continued to conduct offensive sweeps against Japanese coastal and river traffic moving along the waterways of Tenasserim and across the Gulf of Mataban to Rangoon. Their targets were almost exclusively commandeered native craft and purpose-built wooden coasters of up to 100 feet in length. From January through April 1945 the group claimed 447 such vessels destroyed with another 5,569 damaged.

Meanwhile, the RAF continued its mine laying campaign against an ever-increasing list of ports and shipping routes throughout the region. By 1945 British and American long-range aircraft ventured out as far a Singapore, Bangkok, Saigon and Cam Ranh Bay to deliver their deadly loads of aerial mines. These mining operations continued until 10 July 1945 when the British finally suspended them due to a lack of worthwhile Japanese shipping remaining in the area. During the course of the war the RAF flew a total of 697 mining sorties and laid 3,235 mines against 29 separate targets in Southeast Asia. For the loss of a mere seven British aircraft, these mines, along with another 1,345 mines laid by the USAAF over the same area, sank an estimated 65 ships totalling 53,812 tons and damaged another 39 ships worth an estimated 161,860 tons. Equally important, this mining campaign had a disruptive effect on Japanese shipping that far outweighed its materiel results. On many occasions, the presence of even a few Allied mines forced the Japanese to shut down major ports and disperse their shipping thus causing severe disruptions to an already overstretched logistical system.

Beyond these maritime triumphs, British and Allied aircraft also scored numerous interdiction successes against Japanese ground transportation and tactical targets in Burma and the surrounding region. From 1 June 1944 through 2 May 1945, Eastern Air Command claimed the destruction or damage of 3,846 motor vehicles, 432 locomotives, 364 Japanese aircraft and some 300 bridges. In regard to the latter, 112 were railway bridges and from January through April 1945 the average number of bridges out of service at any given time on the rail line between Bangkok and Pegu was 9.2. This disruption helped reduce applicable rail traffic during this period from 700–800 tons to just 100–200 tons per day. In addition to this, in March and April an estimated 524 Japanese supply dumps, predominately in the Rangoon area, were wholly or partially destroyed by Allied bombing.

These interdiction actions had a major impact on Japan’s local logistical situation and eased the way for the British Fourteenth Army, and later its successor the Twelfth Army, to reconquer Burma. Pictured here are Consolidated Liberator B Mark VIs of No. 356 Squadron RAF returning from a bombing mission in 1945. Also pictured are ground personnel arming a Bristol Beaufighter Mark X of No. 211 Squadron RAF in Ranchi, India.