Yenangyaung

Yenangyaung (Burmese; literally "stream of oil") is a city in Magway Division, Myanmar, on the Irrawaddy River. For centuries, the dominant industry in the area has been petroleum. It began as an indigenous oil industry, with hand-dug wells, and from 1755 onwards, early British soldier-diplomats began to note its existence. [Marilyn V Longmuir, "Oil in Burma: The Extraction of 'Earth-Oil' to 1914", Bangkok, White Lotus Press, 2001, ISBN 974-7534-60-6.] In 1795, Major Michael Symes described the indigenous industry as "the celebrated wells of Petroleum". [Michael Symes, "An Account of an Embassy to the Court of Ava in the Year 1795", Edinburgh, Constable, 1827] The following year, when Captain Hiram Cox, the East India Company Resident in Rangoon, visited Yenangyaung, he recorded there were "520 wells registered by government". [Hiram Cox, "Journal of a Residence in the Burmhan Empire", Farnborough, Gregg International Publishers, 1971.]

The oil fields at Twingon and Beme, close to Yenangyaung, were in the hands of a hereditary corporation of 24 families, each headed by a "twinzayo". In turn, these "yo-ya" families were headed by 18 males and 6 women "twinzayos", and the inheritance descended from male to male, and from female to female. [Report of a Committee Appointed to Investigate the Condition of the Twinza Reserves, Yenangyaung Oil-Field, Burma. Rangoon: Office of the Superintendent, Government Printing, Burma, 1908.] The word "twinzayo" is derived from "twin" meaning well, "za", eater or one who derives income from property and "yo" which represents the hereditary lineal bloodline [Marilyn V Longmuir, Oil in Burma: The Extraction of Earth Oil to 1914", Bangkok, White Lotus Press.] The "twinzayo" could arrange for wells to be dug on their behalf, or alternately could allocate well sites to others. In pre-British times, these individual well owners, known as "twinza" were usually relatives of the "twinzayo" and paid a small monthly rental for their well site." [Fritz Noetling, The Occurrence of Petroleum in Burma, and its Technical Exploitation","Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, "27.2 (1898), 162] The "twingyimin", the elected head of the "twinzayo" corporation controlled the fields, and though a "twinzayo" could choose the site of a well, digging could not commence until site approval by the "twingyimin". ["Report of a Committee Appointed to Investigate the Condition of the Twinza Reserves Yenangyaung Oil-Field, Burma", Office of the Superintendent, Government Printing, Burma. Rangoon, 1908, 132. ]

In World War II Yenangyaung was the location of a strategically and tactically important oil refinery. As a result of the speed and success of the Japanese advance up through Burma during the Burma Campaign and the Battle of Yenangyaung, the retreating Allied forces were forced to blow up the oil fields and refinery to prevent them falling into the hands of the Japanese. This difficult task was left to a small group of men who had experience with explosives and demolitions, some from serving with the Bombay Pioneers, part of the British Indian Army, in World War I. The oil facilities were destroyed at 2200 hours on April 16, 1942. [http://members.tripod.com/~Glosters/Burma42a.htm]

Minute details of this retreat and demolition are found in the first half of "Retreat with Stilwell", by correspondent Jack Belden, Garden City Books, New York, 1943.

This group included Lt. Col. Arthur Herbert Virgin OBE, formerly of the 2nd Bombay Pioneers, who at that time would have been a Captain or Major in the 20th Burma Rifles, which later formed part of the Fourteenth Army under Field Marshall Sir William Slim. He and the rest of the men had then to escape through enemy held territory back to Imphal and Kohima in India, a distance of nearly 1,000 miles. This escape included swimming across the Irrawaddy River, as the only bridge had been blown up to delay the Japanese advance.

References

*Defeat Into Victory; Field Marshall Sir William Slim, NY: Buccaneer Books ISBN 1-56849-077-1, Cooper Square Press ISBN 0-8154-1022-0; London: Cassell ISBN 0-304-29114-5, Pan ISBN 0-330-39066-X.
* [http://www.iwmshop.org.uk/index.html?pageTitle=Imperial_War_Museum_Book_of_the_War_in_Burma_19421945&pageDesc=Using_extraordinary_and_mainly_unpublished_material_from_the_Museums_archives_the_reality_of_combat_&action=detail&maincatID=0&catID=&prodID=10043&brandID= The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Burma 1942-1945]

External links

* [http://www.desertrat.brigades.btinternet.co.uk/7thAB1942.htm The Desert Rats website]
* [http://members.tripod.com/~Glosters/Burma42a.htm The Glosters website]