Hide & Seek Warfare in the Northern Burma Jungles

Hide & Seek Warfare in the Northern Burma Jungles PDF Author: Paul R. Sung
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Hide & Seek Warfare in the Northern Burma Jungles

Hide & Seek Warfare in the Northern Burma Jungles PDF Author: Paul R. Sung
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description


War in the Wilderness

War in the Wilderness PDF Author: Tony Redding
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0750956550
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 681

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Book Description
War in the Wilderness is the most comprehensive account ever published of the human aspects of the Chindit war in Burma. The word ‘Chindit’ will always have a special resonance in military circles. Every Chindit endured what is widely regarded as the toughest sustained Allied combat experience of the Second World War. The Chindit expeditions behind Japanese lines in occupied Burma 1943–1944 transformed the morale of British forces after the crushing defeats of 1942. The Chindits provided the springboard for the Allies’ later offensives. The two expeditions extended the boundaries of human endurance. The Chindits suffered slow starvation and exposure to dysentery, malaria, typhus and a catalogue of other diseases. They endured the intense mental strain of living and fighting under the jungle canopy, with the ever-present threat of ambush or simply ‘bumping’ the enemy. Every Chindit carried his kit and weapons (equivalent to two heavy suitcases) in the tropical heat and humidity. A disabling wound or sickness frequently meant a lonely death. Those who could no longer march were often left behind with virtually no hope of survival. Some severely wounded were shot or given a lethal dose of morphia to ensure they would not be captured alive by the Japanese. Fifty veterans of the Chindit expeditions kindly gave interviews for this book. Many remarked on the self-reliance that sprang from living and fighting as a Chindit. Whatever happened to them after their experiences in Burma, they knew that nothing else would ever be as bad. There are first-hand accounts of the bitter and costly battles and the final, wasteful weeks, when men were forced to continue fighting long after their health and strength had collapsed. War in the Wilderness continues the story as the survivors returned to civilian life. They remained Chindits for the rest of their days, members of a brotherhood forged in extreme adversity.

The OSS in Burma

The OSS in Burma PDF Author: Troy J. Sacquety
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700620184
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
"One could not choose a worse place for fighting the Japanese," said Winston Churchill of North Burma, deeming it "the most forbidding fighting country imaginable." But it was here that the fledgling Office of Strategic Services conducted its most successful combat operations of World War II. Troy Sacquety takes readers into Burma's steaming jungles in the first book to fully cover the exploits and contributions of the OSS's Detachment 101 against the Japanese Imperial Army. Functioning independently of both the U.S. Army and OSS headquarters-and with no operational or organizational model to follow-Detachment 101 was given enormous latitude in terms of developing its mission and methods. It grew from an inexperienced and poorly supported group of 21 agents training on the job in a lethal environment to a powerful force encompassing 10,000 guerrillas (spread across as many as 8 battalions), 60 long-range agents, and 400 short-range agents. By April 1945, it remained the only American ground force in North Burma while simultaneously conducting daring amphibious operations that contributed to the liberation of Rangoon. With unrivaled access to OSS archives, Sacquety vividly recounts the 101's story with a depth of detail that makes the disease-plagued and monsoon-drenched Burmese theater come unnervingly alive. He describes the organizational evolution of Detachment 101 and shows how the unit's flexibility allowed it to evolve to meet the changing battlefield environment. He depicts the Detachment's two sharply contrasting field commanders: headstrong Colonel Carl Eifler, who pushed the unit beyond its capabilities, and the more measured Colonel William Peers, who molded it into a model special operations force. He also highlights the heroic Kachin tribesmen, fierce fighters defending their tribal homeland and instrumental in acclimating the Americans to terrain, weather, and cultures in ways that were vital to the success of the Detachment's operations. While veterans' memoirs have discussed OSS activities in Burma, this is the first book to describe in detail how it achieved its success—portraying an operational unit that can be seen as a prototype for today's Special Forces. Featuring dozens of illustrations, The OSS in Burma rescues from oblivion the daring exploits of a key intelligence and military unit in Japan's defeat in World War II and tells a gripping story that will satisfy scholars and buffs alike.

A Thousand Places Left Behind

A Thousand Places Left Behind PDF Author: Peter Koch Lutken
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781496845160
Category : Kachin (Asian people)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"There are a great number of books written on World War II of Europe and the Pacific, far fewer on the war in Burma (Myanmar), sometimes called the "forgotten war." This unique book, A Thousand Places Left Behind, is a personal account of the experiences of Peter K. Lutken, Jr. (1920-2014), who served behind Japanese lines in Burma from 1942 to 1945. The narrative was compiled from a series of tapes that the family recorded of Pete telling his stories, as he had told them many times over the years. It begins with his enlistment in the army after graduating from Mississippi State in 1941 and follows through to his return home in August of 1945. Pete was born and raised in Mississippi and had never been out of the country before the war. His stories carry the reader along as he sails on a troop ship to India, then treks into the mountainous jungles of northern Burma to gather intelligence and engage in guerrilla warfare with the Japanese. In his straightforward way, he describes how he developed a strong bond with the Kachin people of northern Burma, how he learned their language, their customs, and way of life, and how he fought alongside them for the course of the war. Adventures of rafting uncharted rivers, successful and unsuccessful surprise attacks, jungle diseases, feasts and ceremonies, the plight of refugees, and tragic events of war are all told from the perspective of a young soldier, who finds himself half a world away from home. The epilogue includes a description of "Project Old Soldier," a program for Kachin farmers that Pete and his fellow American veterans of OSS detachment 101 (of the Office of Strategic Services) organized in the 1990s and maintained for many years, to repay the "debt of honor" they felt they owed to the Kachin people"--

A Thousand Places Left Behind

A Thousand Places Left Behind PDF Author: Peter K. Lutken Jr.
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 1496845153
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Born and raised in Mississippi, Peter K. Lutken, Jr. (1920–2014) joined the army in 1941 and was assigned to the Coast Artillery. Originally sent to India to guard airfields, he was reassigned to the British V Force, then the American OSS (Office of Strategic Services and precursor to the CIA) after he volunteered for reconnaissance missions behind Japanese lines. Skills he had learned as a boy in the backwoods and swamps around the Pearl River stood him in good stead, and by the end of the war, he attained the rank of major, commanding an entire battalion of ethnic Kachins and other local people of northern Burma (now called Myanmar). Lutken's stories carry the reader along as he sails on a troop ship to India, then treks into the mountainous jungles of northern Burma to gather intelligence and engage in guerrilla warfare with the Japanese. In his straightforward way, he describes how he learned the language of the Kachins and much about their customs and legends, and how he fought alongside them for the course of the war. Adventures of rafting uncharted rivers, surprise attacks, sabotage, natural hazards and disease, feasts and ceremonies, the plight of refugees, and tragic events of war are all told from the perspective of a young soldier, who finds himself half a world away from home. Based on hundreds of pages of transcripts from tapes recorded late in his life, A Thousand Places Left Behind recounts the untold story not just of one soldier’s experiences, but of the little-known history of American and British forces in Burma during World War II. Supported by original maps based on Lutken’s personal travels as well as photographs from his scrapbook, the book traces Lutken’s journey overseas, his expeditions into the jungle, and his return to Jackson, Mississippi in 1945. Beyond the war, Lutken’s connection with the Kachins culminated in “Project Old Soldier,” a crop exchange program which he and other veterans of OSS Detachment 101 initiated in the 1990s and which lasted until after his death in 2014. The book tells a remarkable story of bravery, friendship, history, and the unbreakable bonds forged in times of war.

The Jungle War

The Jungle War PDF Author: Gerald Astor
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0470251840
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
Praise for Gerald Astor "No one does oral history better than Gerald Astor. . . . Great reading." -Stephen Ambrose on The Mighty Eighth "Gerald Astor has proven himself a master. Here, World War II is brought to life through the hammer blows of their airborne triumphs and fears." -J. Robert Moskin, author of Mr. Truman's War, on The Mighty Eighth "Astor captures the fire and passion of those tens of thousands of U.S. airmen who flew through the inferno that was the bomber war over Europe." -Stephen Coonts on The Mighty Eighth "Oral history at its finest." -The Washington Post on Operation Iceberg "Quick and well-paced, this will please even the most jaded of readers." -Army magazine on Battling Buzzards "A stout volume by a distinguished historian of the modern military makes a major contribution on its subject." -Booklist on The Right to Fight (starred Editor's Choice) "Today, as we lose the veterans of World War II at an alarming rate, we must not lose sight of their sacrifices or of the leaders who took them into battle. Astor, an acclaimed military historian, provides an in-depth look at one of the war's most successful division combat commanders, Maj. Gen. Terry Allen. . . . This well-written portrait makes for enjoyable reading." -Library Journal on Terrible Terry Allen

Through the Jungle of Death

Through the Jungle of Death PDF Author: Stephen Brookes
Publisher: John Murray
ISBN: 9780719554452
Category : British
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
In 1942, as war spread in the Far East and the British, Japanese and Chinese fought ferocious battles on Burmese soil, an 11-year-old Anglo-Burmese boy and his family found themselves trapped in the path of the advancing armies. Like hundreds of thousands of other refugees abandoned by the civil administration, their only hope of survival was to try to escape on foot to India through the dense jungles of Northern Burma. Stephen Brookes was that young boy, and in this account he describes the flight from his affluent home and the fearful 3000-mile journey that partially destroyed his family. It took them via China and the Burma Road, ending in a 300-mile barefoot trek across mountain ridges, where they were ambushed by Chinese soldiers, through the terrible jungle swamps of the Hukawng Valley at the height of the monsoon and into the horror of an internment camp where they were left to rot for months. Those eight months of fear, sickness and starvation turned him from a boy into a man as he witnessed the death of his father and took on responsibility for his mother and sick brother and sister until they finally reached safety at Jhansi in India.

Chindit Affair

Chindit Affair PDF Author: Frank Baines
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
ISBN: 9781848844483
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
"In March 1944, some 2,200 men of the 111 Brigade flew from India into northern Burma, landing on improvised airstrips cleared from the jungle. They were ... sent to fight the Japanese deep behind their lines. Five months later, 111 Brigade was down to 118 fit men -- eight British officers, a score of British soldiers and ninety Gurkhas. One of the officers was Frank Baines ... His account throws new light on the leadership and conduct of Chindit operations but, above all, it is a soldier's story ... This ... narrative evokes ... what it was like to be in the jungles and hills that devoured nearly all the men of the 111 Brigade"--Jacket.

Chindit Affair

Chindit Affair PDF Author: Brian Mooney
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
ISBN: 9781399085250
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
In March 1944, some 2,200 battle trained men of 111 Brigade flew from India into northern Burma to land on improvised airstrips cleared from the jungle, They were part of General Orde Wingates Chindit force sent to fight the Japanese deep behind their lines. Five months later, 111 Brigade was down to 118 fit men eight British officers, a score of British soldiers and 90 Gurkhas. One of those eight officers was Frank Baines, and in Chindit Affair he tells, in vivid language and with shrewd insight, what happened. Frank commanded two platoons of young Gurkhas and was attached to 111 Brigade Headquarters, serving under John Masters, where he had a close-up view for most of the time. His account throws new light on the leadership of the Chindit campaign, but above all it is a soldiers story. All the horrors of jungle warfare are here bodies blood-sucked by leeches and corpses impaled by bamboo; Japanese soldiers reduced to eating human flesh; a court martial and execution; soldiers falling sick and dropping by the wayside, and being killed and wounded in action. He also captures the atmosphere of the jungle, its watercourses, trees, birds and the Kachin villagers simple way of life. No other account of the Chindit operations touches the same raw nerves, and none recreates so immediately the sensations of being there in the jungle and hills which devoured nearly all of them.

The Special Operations Executive in Burma

The Special Operations Executive in Burma PDF Author: Richard Duckett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781350989276
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
"In the mountains and jungles of occupied Burma during World War II, British special forces launched a series of secret operations, assisted by parts of the Burmese population. The men of the SOE, trained in sabotage and guerrilla warfare, worked in the jungle, deep behind enemy lines, to frustrate the puppet Burmese government of Ba Maw and continue the fight against Hirohito's Japan in a theatre starved of resources. Here, Richard Duckett uses newly declassified documents from the National Archives to reveal for the first time the extent of British special forces' involvement - from the 1941 operations until beyond Burma's independence from the British Empire in 1948. Duckett argues convincingly that `Operation Character' and `Operation Billet' - large SOE missions launched in support of General Slim's XIV Army offensive to liberate Burma - rank among the most militarily significant of the SOE's secret missions. Featuring a wealth of photographs and accompanying material never before published, including direct testimony recorded by veterans of the campaign and maps from the SOE files, The SOE in Burma tells a compelling story of courage and struggle in during World War II."--