The newly formed Burma Corps, which consisted of British, Indian, and locally raised Burmese troops, was commanded by Lieutenant General William Slim.

After Japanese forces captured Singapore and the Dutch East Indies, they were able to use divisions released due to their conquest.

The Japanese attacked the 1st Burma Division on the Allied right and the 48th Indian Infantry Brigade at Kokkogwa at night during a storm; however, casualties stopped them.

[3] General Harold Alexander, who commanded the Burma Army, asked Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, the American commander of the China Burma India Theater and Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek, to move the New 36th Division into the Yenangyaung area immediately.

The attack caused the Japanese to suffer casualties, but the Allied forces could not keep the oil fields and had to retreat to the north.

[1] According to Allen,[clarification needed] the British were "deprived of a supply port at Rangoon, [and] then of [their] source of fuel at Yenangyaung[;] the question was no longer whether to retreat, but where to?