The Indian railway example turns peacetime infrastructure choices into a wartime operational problem. Britain failed to build the cross-country connection most useful for moving supplies from one coast toward the Burma fighting. Without it, ships had to carry cargo around India and then move up a more dangerous coast. Those movements required escorts and entered waters favored by Japanese submarines. The missing railway increased naval risk while complicating the land campaign's supply chain.
Notable Point · 34:16-35:20
An Indian rail gap burdened wartime coastal shipping
Failure to build the most useful cross-India rail connection forced supplies toward the Burma front onto a longer coastal route exposed to Japanese submarines.