The Battle of the Admin Box 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.
Sikh troops of the 7th Indian Infantry Division man an observation post in the Ngakyedauk Pass area of the Arakan, Burma, February 1944
After the headquarters of 7th Indian Division is surrounded by the Japanese, allied tanks and infantry fight to break the encirclement and a number of prisoners are taken.
Entrance to one of the disused railway tunnels on the Maungdaw-Buthidaung road, captured by Allied troops in March 1944
The Burma campaign was a series of battles fought in the British colony of Burma. It was part of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II and primarily involved forces of the Allies against the invading forces of the Empire of Japan. Imperial Japan was supported by the Thai Phayap Army, as well as two collaborationist independence movements and armies. Nominally independent puppet states were established in the conquered areas and some territories were annexed by Thailand. In 1942 and 1943, the international Allied force in British India launched several failed offensives to retake lost territories. Fighting intensified in 1944, and British Empire forces peaked at around 1 million land and air forces. These forces were drawn primarily from British India, with British Army forces, 100,000 East and West African colonial troops, and smaller numbers of land and air forces from several other Dominions and Colonies. These additional forces allowed the Allied recapture of Burma in 1945.
Sikh soldiers of the 7th Indian Infantry Division at an observation post in the Ngakyedauk Pass, February 1944
Indian troops move ammunition in very muddy conditions whilst on the road to Tamu, 1943.
Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander, seen during his tour of the Arakan Front in February 1944
Lieutenant General Kawabe, commander of the Japanese Burma Area Army