The Battle For Bilin - The Matrix Games version of Rising Sun

19 February, 1942
Bilin, Burma: After the Allied retreat from Moulmein a defensive line was established along the Bilin River, east of Kyaikto, beginning on 16 February. It was finally becoming apparent to the Allied high command that the Japanese were invading Burma in earnest, and with the dreadful situation in Malaya and Singapore it was also apparent that they might be able to throw the British out of the country. The battered 17th Indian Division was given the job of holding the line. Until now the division had not been assembled as a single unit, elements of it having faced the Japanese at Kawkareik and Moulmein, at both places being defeated. Even now, along the Bilin River, the division was not entirely complete; elements were stationed as far north as Papun, to guard the passes into the Shan States and a portion was west at Kyaikto, recovering from the battering already taken from the Japanese, but the larger portion, approximately two brigades worth, were on the Bilin River Line, north of Bilin. Coming upon the river, the Japanese 33rd and 55th Divisions, of 15th Army, began probing for crossing points. The 33rd Division turned it's gaze northward toward Papun while the 55th looked directly west across the river toward Kyaikto, then Rangoon. From the 16th, skirmishing was incessant and on the 19th, the Japanese were determined to eliminate the Allied blocking force. In the first major action of the campaign, the 17th Indian Division was practically destroyed.