290 HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT
gines—shells that made “a terrible mess of the human body.” After
sheltering in the jungle outside Yindaw for the day, Netaji reached Py-
inmina on February 27.^112
On his arrival at Pyinmina, Netaji put together a new fight ing bri-
gade from what remained of his first division. Calling it the “X Regi-
ment,” he placed Thakur Singh in command and asked him to take up
defensive positions at Yezin, just north of Pyinmina. He put Raja Mu-
hammad Arshad in charge of the rest of the division. The sick soldiers
were evacuated ten miles to the rear and instructed to surrender if the
British succeeded in breaking through the defenses of the X Regiment.
On March 1, Netaji told Shah Nawaz of his decision to “stop at Pyin-
mina and fight his last battle against the British there.” Shah Nawaz
persuaded him otherwise: there was no immediate prospect of such a
battle until the British consolidated their position in Meiktila. In fact,
the front in Burma remained static throughout the month of March
- Slim had taken a risk by sending a fly ing column under General
Frank Messervy to capture Meiktila, which now found itself isolated.
General Heitaro Kimura, who had replaced Kawabe as the Japanese
commander in Burma, tried to gather his forces to encircle and de-
stroy the British Indian 17th division in Meiktila. Throughout March,
Messervy’s forces barely hung on to the town and airfield east of Meik-
tila. If Kimura’s final throw of the dice succeeded, Slim might fall short
of Rangoon before the rains came and evened the odds.^113
On March 2, 1945, Bose received the dismaying news that five of fi-
cers of his second division had deserted to the British at Popa. He
rushed back to his headquarters in Rangoon. He gave Shah Nawaz,
who left Rangoon for Popa on March 7, a free hand in choosing the
best and most reliable staff of fi cers to take with him to the front.^114
March 1945 brought a further complication in the war being fought in
Burma. Now that the fortunes in the war had changed, Aung San
turned against the Japanese and offered his assistance to Slim. The Bur-
mese resistance was being conducted on Burmese soil. The arrogance
of the Japanese had not endeared them to their Burmese allies. The
Indians in Burma were still pa tri ots and would not switch sides: their
objective was to end British rule in India. The Provisional Government
had also to protect the interests of the large Indian expatriate commu-