The Japanese occupation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands occurred in 1942 during World War II. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands (8,293 km2 on 139 islands), are a group of islands situated in the Bay of Bengal at about from Kolkata, from Chennai and from Cape of Nargis in Burma. Until 1938 the British government used them as a penal colony for Indian and African political prisoners, who were mainly put in the notorious Cellular Jail in Port Blair, the biggest town (port) on the islands. Today they form a Union Territory of India. The only military objective on the islands was the city of Port Blair. The garrison consisted of a 300-man Sikh militia with 23 British officers, augmented in January 1942 by a Gurkha detachment of 4/12th Frontier Force Regiment of the 16th Indian Infantry Brigade. Following the fall of Rangoon on March 8, however, the British recognized that Port Blair had become impossible to defend, and on March 10 the Gurkhas were withdrawn to the Arakan peninsula. Invasion force The Japanese, seeking to secure their seaward flank, dispatched a force to seize the islands. The force was composed of the following units and ships: Distant Cover Cruiser (flagship) Chokai Carrier Division 4 Carrier Ryūjō (although listed, she did not conduct air operations) Cruiser Division 7 – Heavy cruisers Kumano Mikuma Mogami Destroyer Division 11 Fubuki Hatsuyuki Shirayuki Murakami Close Cover Destroyer Squadron 3 Light cruiser Sendai Destroyer Division 19 Isonami Uranami Ayanami Destroyer Division 20 Amagiri Yugiri Shirakumo Invasion Force Light cruiser Yura – escort unit 9 Transports 1 Battalion from 18th Infantry Division 9th Base Force Training cruiser Kashii Escort ship Shumushu Minelayer Hatsutaka Converted gunboat Eiko Maru Minesweeper Division 1 Minesweepers W1, W3, W4 Special Minesweeper Division 91 Minesweepers: Choko Maru, [[Japanese submarine chaser Shonan Maru No. 7 (1938)|Shonan Maru No. 7]], Shonan Maru #5 Air Unit Seaplane tender Sagara Maru (operated east of the Nicobars) Japanese occupation Port Blair was occupied on the 23 March 1942. The garrison offered no resistance to the landings, and were disarmed and interned; many of the Sikh militia later enlisted in the Indian National Army. The British militia officers were sent to Singapore as POWs, whilst Chief Commissioner Waterfall, Deputy Commissioner Major A.G. Bird and the other British administrative officers were imprisoned. The Japanese released the prisoners held in the jail, one of whom, Pushkar Bakshi, became their