P02310.015 Accession Number: P02310.015

Description

Anaquin, Burma. 26 September 1945. A grave, believed to be of ten men, the crew of an Allied B24 Bomber, shot down by an Anti-Aircraft (AA) unit of the Indian National Army, and buried by the Japanese on 3 January 1945 in a bomb crater from a previous raid. On 4 January 1945 twelve Allied planes dropped fifty bombs on Anaquin, killing all the Japanese soldiers and two of the Indian AA crew, destroying their Bofors gun. "A" Force, Burma, calculated distances (in kilometres, km) from the starting point of the railway at Thanbyuzayat. The War Graves Commission survey party also measured the distances along the railway line from Nong Pladuk (also known as Non Pladuk), the starting point in Thailand. By these measures Anaquin (also spelt Anarkwin) is forty five kilometres south of Thanbyuzayat, or 369 kilometres north of Nong Pladuk. For additional information on this incident refer to Padre H. C. F. Babb's Diary Report dated 10 October 1945. This information was told to the War Graves Commission survey party by a Japanese interpreter, Captain Sakai who was acting as a guide: `On 3 January 1945, four planes (B24) flew in from the sea over Anarkwin. Ronsi (sixty km) and Apparon (eighty km) were bombed, and back came the planes to Anarkwin. They were flying fairly low and circled the area once. An Ack Ack unit of the Indian National Army (recruited by the Japanese) opened up with their Bofors (captured British Ack Ack guns). Two planes were hit and one crashed on the left hand side of the line coming from Thanbyuzayat. It fell some 100 yards from the Army Post Office building near the bazaar area'. The plane was burnt out, and Captain Sakai collected the bones of ten, evidently all the crew, and had them buried in a nearby bomb crater. `On 4 January 1945, twelve planes came over the Anarkwin for revenge', as he put it. They plastered the area with 50 bombs, killed every Japanese soldier except himself, knocked out the Bofors and killed two Indians of the Ack Ack Unit. Photographed by the War Graves Commission survey party. (Donor L. Cody)