Japan’s Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Circle: Japan’s Military Government and India’s Cooperation

Abstract

After the fall of Malaya, Singapore and Burma, a new political development took place in East Asia, bringing together the Japanese military leaders and the Indian leaders in the region. This growth saw the birth of the Indian National Army (INA), which collaborated with the Japanese military government to free India from colonial rule. In 1944, the Imperial Japanese Army and the INA launched a joint campaign in Northeast India. The aim of this joint operation against British-India during the Second World War was to safeguard Japan’s “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,” particularly Burma on the one hand, and to pave the way for the INA to penetrate India’s plains to stir anti-British uprisings for the country’s liberation. There was an immediate likelihood of incorporating Imphal and Kohima as the western border of the CoProsperity Sphere had the Japanese captured the Imphal and Kohima battles. Some of the toughest land battles of the Second World War at Imphal and Kohima were fought by British troops. Following months of heavy battles, the British 14th Army defeated the Japanese 15th Army and Bose’s INA at Imphal and Kohima.