The Burma Independence Army (BIA) was the founding armed movement of young Burmese nationalists during World War II and the forerunner of the modern Burma army, or Tatmadaw. The BIA was formally inaugurated in Bangkok, Thailand, on 28 December 1941 by a meeting of the famed "Thirty Comrades," including Aung San (1915–1947) and Ne Win (b. 1911), who had been trained on Hainan Island by Imperial Japan. Shortly afterward, the first BIA troops entered Burma with the Japanese Fifteenth Army. In the next few months, the BIA expanded to around 23,000 soldiers under arms, fighting one major battle with retreating British forces at Shwedaung near Prome (Pyay). But against the backdrop of war, the BIA was later accused of abuses against Karen civilians and local Muslims. In August 1942, the BIA was replaced by the Burma Defense Army, which in 1943 was superceded by the Burma National Army (BNA). On 27 March 1945, the BNA joined the uprising against the Japanese, and later became the Patriotic Burmese Forces under the interim British administration (1945–1948). It formed a central element of the Burmese army at independence in 1948.
Further Reading
Ba Than, U. (1962) The Roots of the Revolution. Rangoon, Myanmar: Government Printing Press.
Becka, Jan. (1983) The National Liberation Movement inBurma during the Japanese Occupation Period (1941–1945). Prague, Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences.
Callahan, Mary P. (1996) "The Origins of Military Rule in Burma." Ph.D. diss. Cornell University.
Izumiya, Tatsuro. (1981) The Minami Organ. Rangoon, Myanmar: Universities Press.
This section of the Burma Road in China photographed in June 1944 contains 24 switchbacks. (BETTMANN/CORBIS)
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