 This is the story of the Pacific and its people, of the peaceful sea and the lands and lives it touches, and their meaning to us and to the generations to come. The Pacific Story, presented by the National Broadcasting Company and dedicated to a fuller understanding of the vast Pacific Basin. This Broadcast Series comes to you as another public server, with drama of the past and present and commentary by Dr. Clarence Henderson for some years resident of Burma and now associate professor of history at Redlands University. Burma, keystone to the far east. The monsoon rains are coming to an end, and soon the green fields of Burma will turn to a golden brown. The great Irrawaddy Valley will turn golden, and will match the gleaming gold on the pagodas and the monasteries throughout the land, and then over the land and through the skies will move great engines of destruction and death. For even now the United Nations and the Japanese are girding for the bloody struggle which must be fought for this doorway to China. This keystone to the far east. For centuries, Burma has been a battleground, tribe fought against tribe, people against people. More than 140 years ago, Colonel Michael Syme, envoy of the British Crown, returned with fabulous accounts of the wealth and power of Burma. The population, I should judge, is 17 million. What of its army, Colonel Syme? It has twice invaded Xi'an. It repelled the recent Chinese invasions. Strong, then. Matter of fact, they've conquered Arakhan and raided Manapur, and set up a control over parts of Essen. Then we have a powerful and ambitious neighbor next to India. I should not be surprised that the Burmans think they are invincible. This means, then, that we are ripe for trouble with Burma over the frontier between Arakhan and Bengal. It may come at any time. Burma's greatest era of expansion was taking place in the early 1800s, at the same time British power was growing next door in India. The Burmans demanded payment of toll on all British boats passing up the North Estuary, the frontier between Bengal and Burma, the British Refuge. We have parked with Bengal native infantry, General Mandela. What of the British traffic on the estuary? We have stopped it. We have halted the driven back to British at every point on the frontier. Then we'll bring up the flies and prepare to advance. Yes, General Mandela. Yes, Major. We have just received a dispatch overland. British transports are anchored off Rangoon. Off Rangoon? Yes, sir. They dropped anchor in the harbor during the night. That means they're probably in Rangoon by now. Yes, sir. The British have attacked it up back. We withdraw to the new view and they're set up a line of... The British landed and the Burmans suffered defeat after defeat. General Mahabandula was killed by a British rocket, and the Burmans sued for peace. Burma seated the coastal provinces of Erekan in Tannasarim, and Britain gained its first hold on Burma. But 25 years later, relations between the British and the Burmans again were on edge. It is with the greatest respect that we make this request of our majesty. This is Lord Dalhousie, India's Governor-General. You recall that we protested at the time Captain Shepard, a British subject, was accused by Burmese officials of embezzlement and the murder of his river pilot, who also was a British subject. We protested when Captain Lewis of the Barkantine Monarch complained of indignities in pines. Accordingly, we ask better treatment of British merchant ships. We have sent six British men of war to Rangoon to await communication with the Burmese government and to seek... No answer was forthcoming from the king, and a month later, a British boat under a flag of truce went up the Rangoon River to receive an answer from the Burmese court. This makes me nervous. You don't know who's in those jungles along the river. They know we're British. Look, there's a fort back there on the hill. Yes, so it is. And we're passing right under it's nose. We've got a flag of truce here. They can see that. They're shooting at us. They're shooting at us. They've opened fire. Lay on those oars. Over to the side of the river. Role! Role! The second Anglo-Burmese war was on, and Burma's only remaining maritime province, Pugue, was annexed by Britain in 1852. Only Upper Burma now remained under the rule of the Burmese kings. Relations between Britain and Burma were strained, and with the passing years worsened. In British political circles, it was said... What King Sibor is actually trying to do is use the French to checkmate us in Burma. In American political circles, it was said... Britain is not concerned with the heavy spy that King Sibor has levied on the Bombay-Burma trading company. What Britain is concerned about is the rumour that Sibor is encouraging France to move into Stockbridge. In Burma, King Sibor said... Britain wants full control of our cheap forests and our oil, and we should use Burma as a backdoor to China. This is why the British have sent us this ultimatum, and this is why we have replied to them unfavorably. British General Prendergast's command advanced on Mandalay, and the third Anglo-Burmese war broke out. Before nightfall, King Sibor was a prisoner of the British. He was exiled to the Bombay coast of India, and Lord Dufferin announced in a classic one-sentence proclamation... By command of the Queen Empress, it is hereby notified that the territories governed by King Sibor will no longer be under his rule, but have become part of her Majesty's dominions and will during her Majesty's pleasure be administered by such officers as the viceroy and Governor-General of India may from time to time up point. Thus, on January 1st, 1886, Upper Burma, the last independent territory of Burma, was annexed by the British. Britain now held all of Burma. Burma was incorporated into British India, although the people of Burma are racially different from the people of India. The people of Burma are basically Mondullian. The people of India are basically Aryan. There are many races and many languages in Burma, yet the Burmans are the dominant race. Observers in Burma note the outstanding characteristics of the Burmans. You should be able to pick out the Burmans from the other easily here in the market place. There are so many different types, but many are mixture of race here, of course. That fellow there is a shan from the northern hills. He looks something like a Thailander. Yes, the shans are more slender than the Burmans. They are good businessmen too. Aren't the Burmans? Not so much as a shan. You see, there is a Chinese. I should say a man of Chinese blood. There seem to be many Chinese here in Burma. Yes, and the Koreans, Chinese, Thalaians and Malay. Many of them are intermixed with Portuguese, Dutch, British and French. What a great mixture. That is because for centuries Burma has been a sort of crossroads of many people. Yes, I see. Oh, there is a Burma now. Yes, he is much darker than the Chinese. Yes, and like most Burmans, he is more vigorous than many of his neighbors in this part of Asia. That's as though he knows his own mind. Oh, that's a characteristic of Burma. He is independent and he is strong. But notice how good nature he is. Yes, it just seems to glow. They say that Burmans are never pessimistic. They are spontaneous in nearly everything they do. And most of them have very good manners. They are called the Irishman of the Easter. Then what of this notion that the Burmans are cruel and vindicated? Well, that's true in war. And they are capable of great violence and peacetime too. So, but that's true of most of them, isn't it? Yes, yes, I guess so. The Burmans is a pretty solid citizen, actually. Some people mistake their light-heartedness for lack of purpose. But the Burmans will work and work hard if he knows he's hoping himself right. You know, the strange thing is that these Burmans with all the other races around them are not absorbed. The greater likelihood is that the Burmans will Burmenize the smaller racial groups. Is that to mean then that a sort of unification of the people of Burma is slowly taking place? That's about what's happening. Many Burmans are rising to post of importance in the government. And politically, the Burmans are thinking of... Burma had been made part of British India and this rankled in her soul. In 1919 when Britain adopted the Government of India Act, providing for reforms for India, but specifically excluding these reforms for Burma, the Burmans rose in protest. Why has Burma been excluded from the benefits of these reforms? Burma is not India. Burma is prosperous, law-abiding. And since 1886 has been considered a part of India, the people of Burma belong to another race and its problems are altogether different. Burma is entitled to the same treatment as the other provinces of India. The agitation on this point continued for years. Burma was granted a measure of home rule in 1921, equal to that of the provinces of India. But politics sieved within Burma. Some shouting for separation from India, some arguing that separation would mean that if India were given dominion status, Burma might be regarded as inferior and kept a colony. In 1935, a new constitution for Burma was set forth. A document six times longer than the document under which the American government is set forth. The Burmans had gained a voice in their future. And in 1937, Burma was separated from India. Out of the political turmoil in Burma, rose Usaw, leader of the nationalist patriotic party. In 1938, Usaw was jailed as head of a civil disobedience campaign. In 1940, he became Prime Minister of Burma. We must mermanize the government services, education, and the defense forces. This is Prime Minister Usaw. Burma neither needs nor can afford a Rolls Royce administration on afford income. We shall seek national honor and home rule by evolution rather than revolution. World War II in Europe had been underway for a year when Usaw became Prime Minister. On the occasion of his taking office, newspaper men waited on him for an interview. Chances are Usaw will give Burma its best government until it was separated from India. Usaw is pretty extreme. Well, he's a nationalist. He's more than that. He's a radical extremist. The program he's announced sounds pretty good to me. But what of Britain? Is Usaw pro-British or pro-Japanese? He's pro-Burma, just as I say of all Burma. It's 20% pro-Japanese, 20% pro-British, and 60% pro-Burma. Usaw may be just pro-Burma, but I've got an idea. Usaw was interviewed on this point and his answer was, I cannot desire the defeat of Britain a little more than a year past and the crisis in the Pacific was nearing the breaking point. In November 1941, Usaw flew to London. On Usaw's mind was the third clause of the Atlantic Charter providing for the self-determination of nations which Prime Minister Churchill had announced did not apply to regions and people that spoke allegiance to the British Crown. Who's that? Looks like somebody from the Colony. What is the Indian? Doesn't look like an Indian to me. Never seen anything like it on the streets of London walking round here in the wind and cold, dressed in silk talc, a pallet skirt and an anchor ship on his head. Why doesn't he dress like a human being, I ask you. I know who he is, I know. I saw his picture in the paper last night. That's that Prime Minister from Burma. No, I mean the Inc. Usaw. Isn't it? That's it, Usaw. Come here to talk with Churchill, he did and the Piper said he brought a box of show notes for Churchill. I wonder if Churchill likes him as well as those togies of me. Days later, the discussions with Prime Minister Churchill passed. Usaw and his party prepared to fly away home by way of the United States. Before they took off from England. Have you satisfied with your discussion with the Prime Minister, Usaw? The discussions have not fulfilled the high hopes of my countrymen but I leave your shores with no bitterness. Would you say your mission to London was fruitless? The results achieved were hardly commensurate with the risks we have taken to visit London in wartime. I see. Well, Mr. Usaw, in the light of what's happened here in London, what is your attitude toward Japan? The Bermans are not vigorous, we have the Nazis. Since as Buddhists, they are not given to amateurs. I must go now. Goodbye, sir. Thank you. All aboard, please. Goodbye. Goodbye, sir. Goodbye, sir. Goodbye, sir. Usaw spent a month in the United States within this country when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He had planned to fly across the Pacific, had actually started, and his plane returned to San Francisco. He then made plans to circle the globe in the other direction to reach Burma. And with the statement that he was still hopeful, took off for home. Some reports received about Usaw's movements after his Goodwill mission to Britain. It has come to the knowledge of his Majesty's government that he has been in contact with the Japanese authorities since the outbreak of the Japanese war. This fact is being confirmed by his own admission. On January 18, 1942, a month after Pearl Harbor, Usaw was intercepted somewhere in the Middle East and returned home to Burma. And a communique announced, Usaw has been placed under surveillance. His Majesty's government has been compelled to detain him, and it will not be possible to permit him to return to Burma. Whether or without Usaw's influence, the Japanese had come to Burma. And Burma, the backdoor to China, had become a battleground. The keystone to the struggle in the Far East. Today, Japan is pouring men and money and material into Burma. North Baton is in India to direct United Nations operations in this theater of the world conflict. The strategic value of Burma to both the United Nations and Japan is enormous. This map here tells the story. The geographer points to the north of Burma. You see here on the north, Burma is bounded by Tibet and China. Over here on the east is China and Thailand. On the south, here, is the Bay of Bengal. And on the west, here, are the Bay of Bengal and British India. You notice that there are mountains on the Burma-India frontier. These are the Arakhan Yomas. Yomas meaning mountains in Burma. The Arakhan Yomas are the barrier between Burma and India. Are those mountains fairly high? Oh yes, and very rough. Covered with jungle and almost impossible. Thousands of men, women and children have made their way over these Arakhan Yomas from Burma to India. But moving a mechanized army over them would be another thing. Well, are there any roads at all over them? The roads are hardly more than trails. They cross bogs, swift rivers. They curve up into almost perpendicular, mule routes. Well, if it's difficult to send men and material from India overland into Burma, it's also difficult to send men and material from Burma into India. That's one of the military problems for both sides, isn't it Colonel? Yes, it is. But the Japanese in Burma can do the same thing to the Allies in India as the Allies in Britain are doing to the continent. You mean pinning down great enemy forces by their very presence? Exactly. Just as the Germans are pinned down to the invasion coast of the English Channel, so the Allies are pinned down to the Burma frontier in India. Of course you could say that the Japanese are also pinned down in Burma. Well, yes, except that the Japanese have the advantage of having air bases in Burma. There are only 500 miles from India's Ruhr. They are in cold and steel industrial region of India. 500 miles. That's only about two hours flying time for bombers. That's right. But it works both ways, doesn't it Colonel? No, because Burma has no heavy industries or any coal or iron on which to build it. So the advantage, as far as nearness is concerned, is the same. Burma has no heavy industries, but Burma is rich in supplies for men and the machines that are necessary for the war effort. Burma is rich in rights and oil. Before the war in the Pacific broke out, did this entire ship was raised? Yes, Burma has an excess of about 3 billion tons of rice every year. Where does this ship load going? This ship is going to India. India imports nearly 2 million tons of rice from Burma each year. And Ceylon imports some 370,000 tons from Burma each year. That's an enormous amount. Oh, there's always plenty of rice in Burma. The Burmans supply rice for a good part of the country. In addition to the rice, there are substantial amounts of fish, and vegetables in Burma. By controlling these, the Japanese forces in Burma have plenty food without having to bring it in. But more serious to the United Nations, India is denied that 2 million tons of rice imported from Burma each year. Parts of India today are suffering famine, and Japan's occupation of Burma creates another problem. You'll set your maps and you know your targets. Is there any questions before you take off? All right. Just one last thing then. In bombing these oil fields, we're doing more than blowing up a few oil wells. The oil fields of Burma are the biggest fields between Persia and the Dutch Indies. And although these fields were destroyed before the Japs got there, we know now that they've repaired them and have them in operation. Now, this means that they have oil here where they need it. Or we have to bring nearly every drop we use from the Persian Gulf. Any questions? All right. That's all. Report your planes and take off at once. By the occupation of Burma, the Japanese have barred the back door to China. By this occupation, they have severed the Burma Road, vital supply route to China. By its location, Burma has become a keystone in the strategy of the Far East. We look at the map again. What are the United Nations on the map up there? China and India have a long common frontier. The Japanese control the northeast frontier and in the northwest up there. Here, you see? There is the greatest barrier to human travel on Earth. Those mountains? Those of the Himalayas, the highest range on Earth. And no conqueror in all history has crossed those mountains in either direction to invade the country on the opposite side. The Japanese can clap a pincer's operation on China using Burma as the bottom jaw. But to clap a pincer's on the Japanese in Burma from the outside is quite another matter. Its strategic location, the character of its people, its resources and its geography, Burma has become a focal point of a world at war. And here to tell the meaning behind these factors is Dr. Clarence Henderson for some years resident of Burma and now associate professor of history at Redlands University. Dr. Henderson. Months before Pearl Harbor the Japanese were secretly training Burmans to assist them in driving the British out of Burma. 32 men were smuggled to Japan, trained and then returned to Thailand where they trained a thousand guns. These men were the nucleus of the Burma independence army. The map shows clearly the strategic value of Burma to the Japanese. Through it passed the Burma road which must be closed to complete the strangulation of China. By taking Burma the Japanese could shorten their land fronts with the west to the 500 mile bottleneck between the Himalaya mountains all of Indochina Thailand, Malaya and Burma could be defended by a front that was not only short but made virtually impenetrable for a mechanized army by a range upon range of jungle covered mountains devoid of roads. Behind this barrier were vast doors of vital raw materials for rice eating Japanese army practically all the world's exportable surplus of rice for their trucks and airplanes and ample supply of oil. For shipbuilding almost all of the world's supply of peace. In addition there were quantities of rubber, tin, tungsten nickel and other strategic materials. But as important as Burma is to our enemy it is no less so for us. Only when Burma is again in our hands can we provide the Chinese with supplies they must have to place their veteran armies on the offensive and in turn make possible for us air bases within bombing distance of Japan and of Japanese shipping lanes. Burma's rights could relieve starvation in India. Its oil could save us the long haul from the Persian Gulf but there are other important strategic factors. In the flank of Singapore it's lost by the Japanese will leave the whole of Southeast Asia open to an offensive by land. The ending this month of the southwest monsoon which had delused the country since May removed one obstacle to the invasion of Burma by Lord Mountbatten's forces but the formidable natural barriers remain. Roads are being hacked out of the jungles and carved through the mountains obviously they cannot be extended into Japanese occupied territory. Moreover, mountain roads are extremely vulnerable to bombing. The mountainous terrain between Calcutta and the Burma Frontier presents scarcely less difficulty. It is as though troops and supplies were landed at Los Angeles or San Francisco and then transported by narrow gauge mountain railway, river boats and hastily constructed roads in Utah. The Japanese, on the other hand have the advantage of convenient bases in Burma which they have had to hear and a half to establish. We hear of preparations for an amphibious invasion of Burma. If we are thinking in terms of a large scale expedition to southern Burma the logical place for such an attack. The nearest base now in a wide hand will be 600 miles distance. Moreover, throughout most of the voyage, the invasion fleet would be within easy bombing range of land based Japanese planes. That is not a pleasant prospect. The Japanese are doing everything in their power to hold Burma. A railway from Thailand is being constructed to facilitate troop transport and supplies. The Burmans are being ruled. The country has been declared independent. The Japanese are capitalizing on religion by saying we too are Buddhists. Of more practical significance, the hated land taxes it is reported are being remitted. The measure of their success in winning over the people of Burma is mooted. But some who are formally friendly to the British are cooperating with the Japanese. Fortunately for us the 16 million inhabitants of Burma are not all of one race. Two thirds of them are Burmans but the remaining third is split into numerous tribes. Some of these bear a traditional hatred toward the Burmans born of the cruelty with which they were treated in the days of the Burmese king. Among these tribesmen especially the Karens, Chins and Kachins, the British have found their most loyal friends and the bulk of the recruits for their native armies. Hundreds of these native troops accompanied Brigadier Wingate on his notable expedition into northern Burma last February. Fortunately too, these same tribes and many Burmans as well have a warm friendship for the United States. They arrive from contacts with American missionaries such as a well known doctor, Gordon S. Seagrave and agriculturalist, Brayton Case. It is our good fortune also that these friendly tribes inhabit the territory bordering India. Friendly natives may prove of invaluable assistance to our invasion forces. If meanwhile our political leaders can convince the Burmans many of whom are already working against the Japanese that their best interests lie with the democracies the reconquest of Burma will certainly be facilitated. To convince them however to acquire assurance of something more alluring than a return to the pre-war status. To complete the conquest of Burma in five or six months, that is before the next monsoon breaks may be too much to hope for but conquer it we must to open the gateway to China to secure an invaluable road to Tokyo and to acquire a base from which to drive the Japanese from Malaya, Thailand and Indochina. Thank you Dr. Henderson. Next week at the same time over most of these stations the National Broadcasting Company will present another program on the Pacific with drama of the past and present and dedicated to a fuller understanding of the vast Pacific Basin. A reprint of tonight's Pacific Story program is available at the cost of ten cents. Send ten cents in stamps or coin to the University of California Press Berkeley, California The address again University of California Press Berkeley, California Written and directed by Arnold Marquess The musical score is composed and conducted by Thomas Paluso, your narrator, Gain Whitman. This program has been presented as a public service by the National Broadcasting Company and the independent radio stations associated with the NBC network. This is the National Broadcasting Company.