"Breakthrough in Burma"

[jjhartwell]

I have been reading Breakthrough in Burma, memoirs of a revolution, 1939-1946 (Yale UP, 1968) by Dr. Ba Maw, who was Adipadi (Head of State) of the State of Burma established under Japanese auspices on 1 Aug. 1943. It is an interesting and very detailed memoir. Though writing in the late 1960s, Ba Maw remained very much pro-Japanese in his outlook. He was under no delusions regarding the true "independence" of his government, or about the oppression in Burma under the Japanese occupation. But, he blames that entirely on the militarists, and on wartime imperitives. If Japan had won the war, he affirms, and the occupation ended, the Japanese government would have lived up to its promises to respect the rights and soverignty of it's Greater East Asian "brethren." He assumes (somewhat dubiously, I think) that peace would have brought a return of civilian government to Japan.

He also details the creation of the Burmese army, from the legendary "Thirty Comrades" trained by the Japanese in China begining in 1940. He claims he opposed but did not betray the decision by Aung San to order the Burmese forces to change sides early in 1945 (in the end the British refused to accept their help). He held to the end that the Japanese sponsored "puppet" government he headed, represented far more self-determination and autonomy than the British Empire had ever offered, and would have been a stepping stone to true independence.

Besides many Burmese figures, he has much to say about Tojo and other Japanese officials, and also about Netjali Bose, with whom he had a close relationship.

Ba Maw's account is self-serving certainly, and more than a little egotistical. But it is also a unique look at what was going on in the upper levels of occupied Greater East Asia. And also, reading about the birth of Burmese Militarism, provides some revealing insight into that country's troubled postwar history.

Copies of this book often run from $75 to $150 -- but occasionally one turns up on eBay for a lot less.

Jno

[cortodanzigese]

Sounds excellent. Where can I find free scanned pdf of this?

[Treve]

It is an interesting book but self-serving as memoirs are apt to be.

It should be reprinted or made available.

There is not even a good biography of Ba Maw that I am aware of in English.