How to get successful Japanese entry into India in WW2?

TBH, I think an out an out Japanese conquest of India is only really possible in the event of an out and out British collapse, with the Japanese moving in to fill the vacuum rather than invading in the face of coherent resistance.

And an out and out British collapse is perhaps not ASB but certainly a low probability outcome.

On the possibility of a defeat of the Chinese government freeing up troops. Well, yeah it would, but logistics... well, if we assume the war is similar to OTL and the yanks are in, then the Japanese would be rather reluctant to devote much of their navy to the Indian Ocean long term, meaning even the limited British forces devoted to the Indian Ocean IOTL will be adequate to prevent the large-scale use of sea transport. On land? Pushing over the Himalayas is totally insane and logistically unworkable; pushing up from Burma is better but still difficult.

Even with a British collapse, why would India welcome a new overlord. India has a strong enough internal government to resist any other external takeover.
 
Taking the OP at face value - if the Anglo-Japanese Treaty is maintained you could get Japanese troops entering India on their way to support their British allies in some European conflict, although probably not OTL's WW2.
 

nastle

Banned
Taking the OP at face value - if the Anglo-Japanese Treaty is maintained you could get Japanese troops entering India on their way to support their British allies in some European conflict, although probably not OTL's WW2.
But the Indians will unlikely submit meekly to the japs , there is just too much territory and too much people for japs to control by brute force
 
Its logistically impossible, no matter how many men the IJN has available.

You either have to supply a LARGE army from Burma (with basically a non-existant road/rail network), or along the Burma road, which is a series of ambushes some 500 miles long waiting to happen. In a few places a goodly supply of dynamite will destroy it.

Then, one you get to India, you have to face the British, and their Indian army. The size of which is only limited by how much of it they can arm. Sitting on top of their supply base (India was a major weapons manufacturer), supplied by an excellent rail network.

An attack by sea is equally unlikely. Japan had no amphibious attack force. Its possible a port might be taken. Now you have to run the supply ships (er, WHAT supply ships, the Japanese were already short of shipping in OTL) past air and submarine attacks. Then you get the fun of trying to move out across India, a country which is NOT jungle, facing British armour which might not be as good as the German panzers, but will take apart the Japanese tanks like so many tin cans. Of course, the Japanese have this little fuel issue too, so they are on foot while the British/Indians have all the fuel they need from the Gulf.

Look at the problems they had in China, with vastly easier logistics, facing an incompetent, badly led and supplied Chinese army. And even if by some miracle Japan has won in China, and has a believable number of troops available, they will still need to garrison China (which was the whole point in the first place).

Its not technically ASB, since its possible. Its still a fantasy though. It would have made trying to occupy Australia look simple.
 

Fenlander

Banned
I think best case scenario they win at Imphal (perhaps Percival is assigned there rather than Singapore?) then outstrip their supply lines and get chewed up on the way to Calcutta. Postwar that might lead to friendlier Anglo-Indian relations on a "British soldiers fought and died defending a major Indian city" thing, or it might lead to angry recriminations about the British letting things get that far and failing to protect the Indian people a la the 1943 Bengal Famine.
 
But the Indians will unlikely submit meekly to the japs , there is just too much territory and too much people for japs to control by brute force

I meant the Japanese were just passing through by invitation on their way elsewhere.
 
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