Battle of Elephant Point
1945 CE.
Shown on the map at 16.450°, 96.320°.
The Battle of Elephant Point was an airborne operation at the mouth of the Rangoon River conducted by a composite Gurkha airborne battalion that took place on 1 May 1945. In March 1945, plans were made for an assault on Rangoon, the capital of Burma, as a stepping-stone on the way to recapturing Malaya and Singapore. Initial plans for the assault on the city had called for a purely land-based approach by British Fourteenth Army, but concerns about heavy Japanese resistance led to this being modified with the addition of a joint amphibious-airborne assault. This assault, led by 26th Indian Division, would sail up the Rangoon River, but before it could do so, the river would have to be cleared of Japanese and British mines. In order to achieve this, coastal defences along the river would have to be neutralized, including a battery at Elephant Point. This task was given to the 44th Indian Airborne Division. However, as the division was in the middle of a reorganisation, a composite battalion was formed from two Gurkha parachute battalions. The battalion assembled and trained throughout April, and was then dropped near Elephant Point early in the morning of 1 May.
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