Operation Ravenous

'Ravenous' was the British unrealised plan within 'Plan Y' (i) and 'Plan Z' (i) for Lieutenant General G. A. P. Scoones’s Indian IV Corps of Lieutenant General W. J. Slim’s British 14th Army to advance across the Chindwin river into northern Burma in concert with the 'Cannibal' amphibious attack on Akyab and the 'Anakim' (i) seaborne descent on Rangoon and southern Burma as the major components of the British plan for the reconquest of Burma (1943).

Within this overall scheme Brigadier O. C. Wingate planned to launch 'Longcloth', the 1st Chindit Expedition, in which his Indian 77th Brigade would harass Japanese communications in front of the Indian IV Corps' advance and then fall back onto the corps as it pushed across the Chindwin river.

'Ravenous' was postponed several times for logistical and manpower reasons, and was then redesigned as a limited offensive from Assam to gain footholds in northern Burma, to improve the air supply route to China and, if the Chinese would co-operate, to push farther into northern Burma with a view to developing additional airfields and a radar chain for the protection of Assamese air bases. Further delays prevented the implementation of the overall scheme during 1943, and with the eventual abandonment of 'Cannibal' and then of 'Anakim', 'Ravenous' was eventually translated into 'Capital', itself developed into 'Extended Capital' after the Japanese had launched their own 'U' operation as a counter to the British build-up in the area of Imphal and Kohima.