Arakan massacres in 1942

Arakan massacres in 1942
Part of the Burma Campaign in the South-East Asian theatre of World War II
LocationArakan, Burma (present-day Rakhine State, Myanmar)
Date1942
TargetRakhine Buddhists, Rohingya Muslims
Deaths20,000 Rakhinese deaths
40,000+ Rohingya deaths[1]
VictimsRakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims
PerpetratorsRakhine and Rohingya people
Imperial Japanese Armed Forces

During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Burma (now Myanmar), which was then under British colonial rule. The British forces retreated and, in the power vacuum left behind, considerable violence erupted between pro-Japanese Buddhist Rakhine and pro-British Muslim villagers. As part of the 'stay-behind' strategy to impede the Japanese advance, the Commander-in-Chief of forces in Delhi, Wavell, established "V-Force", which armed Rohingya locals in northern Arakan to create a buffer zone from Japanese invasion when they retreated.[2]

The period also witnessed violence between groups loyal to the British and Burmese nationalists.[2]

  1. ^ "Racism to Rohingya in Burma" (PDF). Burma Library. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  2. ^ a b Field-Marshal Viscount William Slim (2009). Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942–1945. London: Pan. ISBN 978-0330509978.