Burma '45: The Forgotten General

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We had all settled down and I had just marked out the area for each company when three jeeps arrived.

Out of the first one got the famous General Stilwell, Vinegar Joe, who had come to greet the British.

The general was a small, thin man dressed in American combat uniform with a rifle slung over his shoulder.

We fell in on parade and he asked me the name of my regiment.

When I said it was the Gloucesters, he said he was mighty pleased and then gave us a most comprehensive talk on the county of Gloucestershire in general, and about Broadway down to the last detail.

We were all dumbfounded.

Then he said to me, Say, how many of you boys come from Gloucestershire?

Now this was a very awkward question to be asked suddenly, as my party was composed of five members from each company.

It was a wartime battalion, and I had only seen the other company's representatives the night before.

I did not wish to tell the general that I didn't know, so I said fifty per cent, sir.

With that the old devil turned towards my party and said All those boys that come from Gloucestershire, put up their hands.

I hardly dared look up to see the result, but when I did, I was very glad to see exactly fifty per cent with their hands up.

Vinegar Joe then went round and counted them himself.

This guess really impressed the general, and he could not have given us a more cordial farewell.

After he had gone, I complimented my advance party on getting the percentage exactly right.

I had a a feeling that they must have overheard the general's conversation.

That was by Major Richard Butler of the 10th Battalion of the Gloucesters and describing his encounter with Vinegar Joe Stilwer.

Welcome to We Have Ways of Making You Talk with me, Al Murray and James Holland.

This is an additional episode in our Burma series.

And Jim, thank you for bringing Major Butler to life.

Well, I hope we did him credit.

Well, for this, we're going to take an intimate look at the 10th Gloucesters, who are a battalion within the Forgotten Army, fighting a forgotten campaign.

In the forgotten bit of the forgotten campaign.

Exactly, who deserve not to be forgotten.

And Richard Butler ends up commanding 10th Battalion the following year in 1945, though, is then sacked.

And I'm relying on his account.

It's a series of excellent accounts in a book from 1947.

And what's very interesting is because he's fired, the book has this sort of melancholy tone of...

You know, me and the boys, in the end, we were kind of let down, really, and we fought really well.

And it's a bittersweet account.

And what we'll do is we'll look at 10th clousters what they get up to who they are and a crucial battle that they fight at the end of 1944 so i know we are doing burma 45 but you're just going to have to swallow this one everybody i'm afraid just this is a little outlier but it's an interesting outlier and it's it's a little flavor of the experiences that some of these british battalions had um during the very wide broad and complicated um burma campaign And also, we'll be meeting a fighting general that no one's ever heard of,

in keeping with the rest of our Burma series so 10th clusters who are they what are they they've been formed in 1940 so they arrive in burma in night in february of 1944 and they come from india and they're fed into the um arakan fighting in burma but they've been formed in 1940 but in april 1942 they're converted into 159 regiment royal armoured corps and they're a tank regiment so they've they've been set up as infantry then they're converted and you know showed rangers yeomanry of course yeah spend a period of time as artillerymen don't they so they go from cavalry to guns and back essentially to horse in the form of tanks right so this is the glucose experience they're converted to um uh tanks they arrive in india um and they join 32nd indian armoured division but then in march 43 they're converted back into infantry oh my goodness it's hard to keep up i know but also just think of the the headache if you're the say the adjutant uh or the or even the colonel commanding this you've gone through that sort of complete rebadge new set of training.

And maybe you thought when you were going into tanks, you think, brilliant, we're not PBI anymore and we've escaped that particular possible destiny.

And now you're now your infantry again.

But by the time we're talking about them, they're part of 72nd Brigade with the 6th South Wales borderers and the 9th Royal Sussex.

And 72nd Brigade come under the command of 36th Division, who are led by Major General F.W.

Festing.

Fantastic.

What a name.

Yeah.

Frontline Francis Wogan Festing.

Frontline Frankie.

Now, who's he?

36th Division are a British division, aren't they?

Interestingly, they were an Indian division and then they're reconstituted as a British division.

So they're a British division within the Indian, within 14th Army.

And this is a peculiar division.

36th Division only has these two brigades.

So it's a small, but it's a small division.

With a kind of runt of the litter feel, I think.

Yes, yes, yes.

And what do we know about Festing?

He sounds tremendous.

Frontline Frankie, Francis Wogan Festing, Winchester.

He's born in 1902, Winchester, and then Sandhurst.

He's commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1921.

Then he's at Chanak and Aldershot.

So he's an inter-war professional soldier, you know, guy who misses the First World War.

Quite young from

Divisional Command of O, compared to.

Yeah, this is, you know, this is entirely normal for people in 1944.

He's briefly, he was the air liaison officer in the campaign in Norway.

Then he goes to the war office.

He's appointed to command 29th Infantry Brigade and he gets a DSO for his work in ironclad.

So the invasion of Madagascar.

Oh, amazing.

So this is a guy who's, you know, been in the thick of it.

He knows what's going on.

And he's promoted to Major General and he's sent to India.

And then he's given command of 36th Division.

And he's a personality.

He wears the uniform he wants to wear.

You know, he's a chap.

And there's one occasion in the second Arakan, because they're involved in the end of Second Arakan, where basically a platoon commander is killed and Frankie Festing then leads the platoon, which I think is quite interesting.

Oh, I'm looking at him now.

He looks quite the fellow.

Ruddy-cheeked and kind of

cashy and hearty.

Absolutely.

And he ends up chief, he's the last chief Imperial General Staff in 1958.

He's the last CIGS.

And it's...

No, so he really does pretty well.

Yeah, but no one, have you heard of him?

No.

No.

He's the last SIGs, right?

And no one's heard of him.

And it's his job, when he is Chief of Imperial General Staff, he has to end conscription and reduce the size of the army.

And he retires as a field marshal in 1961.

No,

I would bet my bottom dollar that a handful of our listeners have ever heard of frontline Frankie Festing.

How can he be twice knighted?

I think you go up the order, don't you?

You get order of...

one order and then you get bath or garter or whatever, isn't it?

Right, right, yeah, I suppose so.

Yeah, Yeah, but that's amazing.

And no, I've never heard of him.

You've never heard of field marshal festing, Jim?

No.

As JR says, festing, not festung.

Well, of course.

And what's interesting about him as well

is he's a practicing Roman Catholic and he took great delight in the fact that he was the first practicing Roman Catholic to have headed the British Army since the reign of James II.

That's very strong.

But no one's ever heard of him.

No.

Had you heard of him?

No, of course not.

No, I only know about him from poking around in this

36 Div stuff, 10th Clusters.

Anyway, back to the division.

Of course they are.

Yes, they're in the admin box, aren't they?

Exactly.

They're part of the relief of the admin box.

They've been in the reserve for Arakan.

They're one of these divisions that are hanging around waiting for a purpose a bit.

And, you know, it's his first divisional command and all this sort of stuff.

But after admin box, the division is then involved in the resumed offensive.

And this involves the capture of two railway tunnels.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right?

Hambone Hill near 0.551.

On the Buttedong Road.

On the Buttedong Road, exactly.

So there's the capture of Hambone Hill near 0.551.

And

the fighting is the kind of fighting we've been talking about.

So there's a Lieutenant Gardner in 10th Gloucesters who describes the fighting.

Then the leading scout, a private Venn, who received the military medal for his part of the battle, looked over the top and saw two Japs stark naked sitting in the edge of a trench.

He coolly walked over the top and shot them both and then advanced towards a bunker position beyond.

Grenades started to rain on him but miraculously did him no harm.

He then in turn threw his grenades at the slits in the bunker but unfortunately failed to hit them.

The rest of his section came up and fired a bit but owing to the proximity of darkness they decided to withdraw as the position was a very strong one.

This they did and in such good order that there were no casualties and no one was even lost.

So literally lost in the darkness.

They then consolidated and consolidated the north feature and waited for darkness.

The Japs' first effort was a bold advance down the saddle between the features, throwing grenades which proved to be comparatively harmless, being used more for the noise effect.

Apparently, the attack was easily beaten off, as were all the rest of the attacks which were put in on and off all night.

Thanks to their thorough consolidation, no casualties at all were received.

Although daylight showed no Jap bodies, they knew several had been shot, point-blank range, and a good deal of groaning, etc., had been heard.

Japs must have removed all their casualties as they went back.

So, I mean, it's this close encounter stuff in the jungle.

And what you see there, though, is that their jungle training is really good, right?

Yeah.

They know how to handle themselves.

And it's the thing we've talked about in the series, that the jungle is the third party in the fighting in Burma.

And you can regard it as oppressive and your enemy, or you can use it.

And if

you know how to handle yourself in it, then its problems become the enemy's problems.

Now, they're a battle-hardened, jungle-toughened.

They're classic English county wartime regimental battalion, which means, as Richard Butler pointed out, not everyone is from Gloucester,

but let's not get hung up on that.

And here's an interesting thing.

Every Saturday, the adjutant has to fill in the field return of the Viceroy's Commissioned Officers, other ranks, British and Indian and non-combatants enrolled.

So there's a form they have to fill in for their strength, right?

And they have to do this every weekend.

I dug up the one that's from the month before the battle for Pinway that we're going to talk about.

So it's from October the 7th.

It's Army Form W3009, page one, modified for India.

And it says at the top of it, to be made up up to and for Saturday in each week.

So warrant officers class one, there's one.

Warrant officers class two, there's seven.

There's staff sergeants, six.

Sergeants, Daffodils, Havildars, there's 22.

Corporals, Lance Daffodils, Nikes, there's 60.

Non-combatants enrolled, 415.

non-combatants unenrolled four.

Right?

And I think

this document's quite interesting because they are under strength that's only 511 rather than 850.

yes and then you've got one sergeant fitter in fact a bunch of people from the remi so there's a field ambulance 22 um field ambulance other ranks you've a fitter an armorer um a couple of lower rank fitters a sergeant fitter sergeant armorer lance corporal fitter and so on so the people adjacent to the battalion there's two signalmen and what's interesting is is that you then also alongside that, you have a nominal role of officers on strength, which keeps track of who's around and who's on leave.

And what's interesting about this as well is you have their substantive rank, so what their rank is, and then their higher temporary rank, if held.

They're all temporary.

Everyone's temporary.

So the Lieutenant Colonel.

Or acting.

Exactly.

So Lieutenant Colonel

H.C.R.

Hose,

who's from the Beds and Hearts, so he's been brought over to the Gloucesters.

And that's the other thing you see in this lots of these battalions are essentially ad hoc organizations and people have been brought into

i mean look at this so you look down it you've got you've got um

beds and hearts you've got one guy from the royal sussex you've got another guy from the beds and hearts one from the north yorks

and one from the gordons yep uh someone from the sli yep somerset light infantry yeah

King's Zone Yorkshire Light Infantry.

Yeah.

Royal Armour Corps.

I mean, it's just amazing.

So this is absolutely classic make and do amend, isn't it?

Yeah, completely.

And these are all acting captains.

They're all acting captains.

So the company commanders, and one of them, so there's Richard Butler, Major Richard Butler, and he is a major who's a major.

So he's not on a temporary rank.

Captain Temporary Major A.L.

Stedman,

McLaurin,

who's

the OC of C Company.

Acting Major, GEF Weatherid,

who's the OC of A Company.

And we're going to hear about these people as we go forward.

And then you've got who's on leave?

Oh, your friend Butler's on leave, then?

Butler's on leave when this is taken, when this nominal role of officers is taken.

So J.J.

Pratt, who's a Royal Sussex Regiment guy who's been, again, seconded to the Gloucesters, he's on leave.

And I think...

What's so interesting is, you know, then you've got other officers attached from other groups as well.

And these tend to be REMC people.

And the adjutant has to sign off on this.

So one of the fascinating things about this is what you start to see is that these battalions, as they go and as they're composed, are in a permanent state of flux, right?

So they can be really well trained and they can be very coherent because Stebbins been a company commander for three years.

You know, everyone knows him.

He's a battalion figure.

But nevertheless, they are in flux.

And sickness really, really adds this, as we'll see.

So anyway.

10th Gloucesters as part of 36th Division, as part of 76th Brigade.

They come under the command of of Stilwell's Northern Combat Area Command, which explains why,

isn't it?

Yeah, which is why we saw that Stilwell comes to visit.

And I love the idea that he knows all about Gloucestershire.

You could just see it.

But he's meticulous and he's a details man.

Well, and he's mugged it up, hasn't he?

On the way, he's mugged it up and he's and he's.

Why does he do that?

You can't sort of go on to Wikipedia, can you?

No, I suppose not.

I mean, goddammit, somebody find out about Gloucester.

Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire.

Gloucester.

It's exactly Gloucester.

Gloucestershire.

He'll have got his equivalent to Perkins.

Does anyone here know anything about Gloucestershire?

I gotta meet these Gloucester guys later.

Anyway.

Gloucesters or Gloucesters?

God to hell with them.

Yeah.

But anyway.

But his task is obviously as we've talked, as we've discussed, is to keep the Lido Road open.

Yeah.

Well, we should just explain what the Lido Road is.

This is a northern route which has been built through the jungle there's a brilliant aerial photograph of the lido road where it's just all you can see is jungle and you just see this white strip just going straight in a straight line straight through it so you imagine those sort of logging roads that you see in the amazon yeah exactly this this gets you from northeast burma into china exactly he's covering covering himself more so his chinese divisions are sent to occupy the barmo area which is south of mitokinya where the irrawaddy does another one of its bends um to the west.

And on their right, on the right of the Chinese, so to the west,

36th British Division are to advance down the Mitikinya-Mandalay Railway to the area of Naba Junction, which is at Katta.

Now, Kata is an important nodal point for Japanese supply up the Irrawaddy.

So it's kind of where the railway, the railway runs between two ridges of hill, like a pair of fingers that run kind of south-southwest.

And there's a valley that runs down it.

And the railway runs down that valley.

And it's known as the Railway Corridor.

and they've set the railway up the allies are running the railway as a jeep railway line so they use jeeps as locomotives where they've put axles on them so they can drive jeeps down oh yes yes this is that famous picture isn't there it's that famous but we should also say that the lido road is also known as the stillwell road yeah well there so it starts in it starts in what is now manipur state doesn't it in in and then goes across burma then into china Yeah, exactly.

So you're making the most of that northeast Indian railhead, effectively.

And a railway line in this set of circumstances is priceless, right?

If you can get your hands on one.

So anyway, as we've said, 36th Division only have two brigades, 29th, 72nd, and the 10th Gloucesters are in 72nd.

72nd are commanded by Brigadier Alfred Rambo Aslett, who is a former England rugby international.

He sounds like such a chap.

He does his trial for England whilst he's at Sandhurst.

He plays centre three-quarter.

He plays six matches for England.

And in the 1926 Five Nations, he scored two tries against France at Twickenham.

So I'm 100% with Brigadier Alfred Aslitt.

Yeah,

he sounds absolutely fantastic.

Solid fellow.

So the brigade is flown from Lido to the airstrip near Mitokinya.

Yep.

Right.

They're inserted by air.

And there's a story about them pointing Bren guns out the door of the C-47 because they're nervous about Japanese air attack.

Yeah, and Lido to Mitokinha is about...

400 miles, 500 miles per road, isn't it?

You know, maybe not as much as that, 300 miles, maybe.

And they're going to end up facing the

Japanese 18th Division who are in on the conquest to Singapore.

So they know what they're doing.

And the 18th Division who we were talking about, of course, for Mictila.

Exactly.

They get transferred from this corner of the theatre down to Mictila.

Exactly.

So in August,

they're moving down this corridor, and the two brigades are leapfrogging one another as they go.

29th will go forward, they'll do a bit, then 72 will come through, and so on.

And they're hopping their way down down the railway corridor.

And Stillwale, in August, says he wants them to take a place called Tung Yi.

And the Gloucesters are leading the march to Tung Yi.

And on their way, D Company are ambushed.

Captain J.

Allen and Lieutenant R.

Wright.

And 13 men are killed as they approach at very, very, very close range.

And Major Pope and six men are wounded.

So it's sticky, sticky stuff.

And

D Company's forward platoon, they bypass the opposition.

And with Bren's support from C C Company, they have to bayonet charge the railway station.

Right.

Then they do what you do.

You form a defensive box where the attack has been made, but there's no further incidence.

So it's this very, very close, personal,

everything comes down to hand-to-hand in the final push, if you're PBI in

this environment.

So after that, they're sent back to a place called Mingon for rest and to protect the dropping.

So where's Mingon then?

Well, this is halfway down the corridor towards taongyi the men have been advancing through flooded paddy fields so they're wet everyone's wet through leeches yeah leeches jungle sores and by the middle of august their battalion strength is 286 people the the losses are from the you know yeah yes there has been that disease

yeah yeah it's mainly disease so we talked about you know the two officers 15 men being killed on the in the advance on tangyi but actually

you know, you're looking at a battalion strength, a headcount that's that's halved basically by illness.

And what's interesting about this is

that they have air support from the Americans, they have gunnery support from the Chinese sometimes, so they're calling on Chinese gun batteries, and that they're going fantastically well with the Americans, particularly because the Americans make great effort to evacuate the wounded, right?

Yeah, in sharp contrast.

In sharp contrast.

I mean, this is absolutely incredible.

So Butler relates at Taungni, the battalion found a huge bomb crater into which the Japanese had thrown their wounded before retreating and had tossed in hand grenades to finish them off.

That bomb crater with 200 putrefying corpses was very horrible.

God, I should say so.

Yeah.

This is what the day-to-day...

fighting is like in this little one little push that's got to happen to seize the railway line.

Well, we were talking, weren't we, in, I think, the second episode about the Arakan and we were saying how remote it is there in these, you know, these chongs and these mangrove swamps and all the rest of it in that backhouse of nowhere.

this place is just yeah you know i mean grikey if you're from gloss of gloucestershire i mean just imagine

how far away you would feel i mean it doesn't just feel like another world it feels like another planet doesn't it it does it it really really really does feel like another another planet i mean trust me if you were to go up there now this would feel unbelievably remote yeah to this day i mean but even more so back in 1944 yeah yeah just incredible and you know you're you're looking at such close country that you know you have to observe complete silence at night when you stop and patrol relentlessly because that's the other thing when you look at the battalion war diary it's patrolling everyone's out that there's always a patrol out when you look at their letters back they're going got in got in from a patrol you know it's all about patrolling so that you know where the enemy are so you're in touch with the enemy and that's of course in slim's jungle fighting thing train to patrol and patrol relentlessly there's a couple of good stories about the americans so they'll swap cigarettes and beer with the Americans for whiskey and gin because the Americans aren't allowed spirits.

So there's a good trade.

And then there's an anecdote in Butler's thing about there's a British general who's passed by a Jeep doing 50.

The general's doing the regulation 15 miles per hour.

The Jeep zips by him.

The general decides to have a word, so he orders his driver to catch up.

And he tries to dress down the American, who replies, say, General, you'll never win award 15 miles per hour.

it's just absolutely brilliant well obviously he's a man after my own heart i mean i can't i can't be doing with slow drivers

i basically want to get i want to get everywhere as quickly as possible way to be

it's the american engineers who they really like because they build airships dead quick so you can get your wounded out and i think one of the one of the interesting things when you get right into a battalion like this it's the evacuation of the wounded that is the absolutely key thing to morale yeah yeah right and when you consider that you know um uh in the chinded expeditions particularly the first one, Wingate leaves the wounded behind.

Everyone knows what's going to happen to the wounded if they're captured.

So now they're rested up.

The 10th Gloucesters' next task will be to take Pinway, which is now I think called Pinbore, but may have several or Pinlibor, several other names.

But there's a railway junction, and this will be what happens in November 1944 for 10th Gloucesters, and it will be a very, very, very tough encounter.

So, join us in part two, and we'll tell you about 10th Gloucesters at Pinway.

Welcome back to We have Ways and Make You Talk with me, Al Murray and James Holland.

And we're looking at 10th Battalion, the Gloucesters, and their battle for Pinway, a forgotten campaign within the forgotten campaign that must not be forgotten.

Yeah, Jim?

I like that.

I mean, the thing is.

Frankie Festing, head of the chief of the Imperial General Staff, the last one.

I think he's been forgotten, but I don't think he should be forgotten.

No, he's vanished from the record.

I think he should also be another part of the

forgotten army and the forgotten campaign that should not be forgotten.

Exactly.

Right.

Now, on the 7th of November, so we're moving up to Pinway, which is a railway junction.

So, you know, it's obvious to everyone that you need to take this place.

And

this is all part of the sort of ongoing NCAC operations, but they're also tying in with generally with Slim's plans for kind of pushing down through the north

of Burma and down towards the Chindwin and the and the Irrawaddy.

Which also demonstrates that really, you know, the fact that there's a British division here involved in this says you can't really tease apart Stilwell and Slim's efforts.

You know, everyone's working together.

And yes, he's vinegar Joe who'll bore you out and all this sort of stuff and who hates Chiang Kai-shek and so on.

But actually, he's working in concert with 14th Army as much as anyone else.

Oh, and by the way, I mean, you know,

he's an absolute top-draw fighting commander.

I mean, he might not be great at diplomacy, but he is really good.

He knows what he's about.

He gets the whole picture.

He's a general that understands strategic, operational, tactical.

Stillwell deserves a really good reputation, I think.

I agree.

Yeah.

You know, and it's just his misfortune is he ends up, I mean, he is completely the wrong person to be liaison kind of, you know, guy with...

Chiang Kai-shek, but then literally so would anyone else be because Chang's so completely impossible.

Well, and also because

the Americans are bitten off more than they can chew in China.

And if you're the emissary, what you've got to basically say to Chiang Kai-shek the whole time is, no,

no, not really.

You might want that, but you're not going to have it.

And Chiang Kai-shek, he knows he's at the back of the queue.

You know, he's trying to save China as he sees it.

And the Americans are going, yeah, of course, we'll help.

And then don't anything like as much as he needs them to.

So you can also see why, from the other end, it's an impossible gig for him, too.

uh uh

anyway so on the 7th of november 72nd brigade they take the lead to mualu um for the advance onto qatar and this is teak forest yes very very dense visibility is generally 30 yards so and this is this is the 10th glouces brigade so on the right 9th royal sussex advance down the railway track yep six south wales borderers go down the dirt road which is 800 yards to their left basically you've two battalions kind of advancing on a mile-wide front.

And 10th Gloucesters are in reserve.

And the forward battalions, there's a position at Gyobin Chong, which is north of Pinway.

It's a brook, it's a stream, and of course, Chongs flow at different rates at different times of year, depending on the rainfall.

This time of year, it's less so.

And again, it's Japanese 18th Imperial Division, and Butler says its patrolling was first class, and for the Japanese, its shooting was very accurate.

So they're not underestimating who they are up against.

And so the plan is, Brigadier Aslick conceives this plan that what they're going to do is that the Gloucesters are going to go round through the jungle on the left flank while the other two battalions are holding the front, go round behind Pinway, and then

the rest of the brigade will attack across the river.

So it's hammer and anvil stuff.

And the idea is you use this very, very thick countryside, this teak forest, to get in close, go round, and then crush the Japanese in the jaws of the three battalions.

Got it.

So on the 15th of November, 10th Gloucesters with 70 mules, they start out over the foothills on their left flank.

And they're steep hills.

Their men are heavily laden with weapons, full kit, three days' rations on their backs.

And it's hard going.

You know, this countryside is difficult.

After two days, they've made it to the rear of the enemy position, but they're still some three miles from Pinway with two or three miles of unreckied jungle to be penetrated before they get to the village.

And then the news reaches them that the South Wales borderers aren't going to be able to put their attack.

They've had to withdraw at Gyo Bincheon.

So what do you do?

You've got this far.

You've made your way down to Pinway.

Pinway's possibly within your grasp.

What do you do, Jim?

Probably put the attack in anyway, I think.

And you're right.

So the idea is they're going to put the attack in anyway.

They'll form a box.

They'll rely on air supply because that will disrupt the Japanese, get the job done while the rest of the brigade comes up.

So they wait in complete jungle silence that night.

Except for the insects and the blizzards and the ticking of birds.

Exactly.

Then on the 17th,

they advance purely on a compass bearing.

Oh my goodness, me.

I mean, would you believe your compass in the jungle in the peak forest?

Exactly.

And in the afternoon, they run into heavy enemy opposition.

So, Jim, do you want to read the diary entry?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So the diary says.

B Company, C Company, TAC HQ and A Company, Main HQ, D Company.

Leading company moving on a bearing of 245 degrees, leading elements of B Company reported contact with the enemy, estimated at platoon strength, with several LMGs.

The leading platoon under command of Lieutenant Gordon put in an immediate attack.

Heavy LMG and rifle fire was experienced and Lieutenant Gordon's platoon was pinned down.

Major A.C.

Stedman, B Company Commander, then led the remainder of the company in a left-flanking attack, encountering further LMG and MG fire, which ultimately pinned the company.

Further left-flanking attack by the second company, C Company, met with the same result.

At this stage, considerable LMG fire and sniping was experienced on both flanks, threatening to split three leading companies.

I mean, that's a bad start, right?

Yeah, that sounds like they've come under very, very heavy small arms fire and pinned down, and they don't know where they are, and it's all getting very, very brought, to put it mildly.

There's no water in the area, and dusk's approaching.

they pull back to the foothills back to their original position they think well that that's not that's not worth it the next day the 18th there's a patrol because they're patrolling you patrol patrol patrol patrol to find out what's going on because that's part of the problem with what happens on the 17th is that they've basically reconnoitered in force as a battalion and it's come unraveled and that what they've not done is really really been sure of where they're going.

So there's a patrol

on the 18th and Lieutenant Gordon, who we heard about in that.

Yes, he was in B Company, wasn't he?

That's right.

He's killed.

So things are tense, but they still need to take Pinway.

They've committed to taking Pinway.

And on the 19th, there's a change of plan.

New orders come to prepare for a frontal attack as part of the brigade effort to catch the Gyobin Chong and Pinwell railway station.

So this sort of probing thing.

and the Gloucesters going alone has been basically been sacked off.

Two British field artillery regiments are going to put in a barrage and an airstrike's arranged for the Gyobinchong area.

So they've brought a bit more muscle to this and they're not going to be able to do it purely by infantry probing.

On the 21st of November, patrols are sent out and the battalion moves up to its assembly area and they can't find the enemy because the jungle's so thick.

Oh my goodness.

I mean, just imagine you'd be so on edge, wouldn't you?

Yeah.

These are the day-to-day problems that you can't locate the enemy because the jungle's so thick.

and so you can see why maybe on the 17th they thought well let's go in as a battalion because if it's a platoon of japanese we'll overwhelm it it'll be all right but actually all your companies can come undone if the resistance is good enough and if you don't know where the rifle fire machine gun fire is coming from so 22nd of november after a short bombardment the battalion advances at 100 hours dna companies lead on the right and left of the road and the other companies are close behind them so you know that all seems fine doesn't it but here we go again here we go again take

Jim, do you want to do D Company?

D Company kept up with the barrage and, in spite of difficult ground, owing to the bamboo having been broken up by the bombardment, reached the Gyobin Chong, dealing with the enemy positions they encountered.

Two platoons crossed and caught the Japanese defenders on the run, killing most of them.

The reserve platoon wiped out an enemy position, but then came under heavy machine gun fire and suffered casualties.

That platoon then escaped and rejoined the rest of D Company on the Chong.

Right.

So D Company had done reasonably well.

It's sticky stuff, yeah, but it's still sticky.

Now, C Company, they escape, aren't they?

Exactly.

The reserve platoon

having to get involved.

So immediately

you're not shooting your bolt, but things are tight.

C Company then come under heavy fire from a well-concealed machine gun post that was protected by a ring of snipers among the trees on the left of the road.

They can't find a machine gun in the maze of fallen bamboo.

So it's that thing that bamboo is a problem when it's standing because it's close and you can't see in front.

But when it's fallen, how can you pick out a target?

How can you make out what you're looking for?

So C Company then dig in and Major McLaurin is wounded in the advance, right?

And then the fighting takes on this characteristic.

Captain O.M.

Shriver, he crawls forward in the open to pull back one of his men who's wounded and he's killed by a sniper.

And this means the company has no officers.

So Captain Wills is called back from T Company to take command.

They eventually reach the Chong, the depleted company, dig in as darkness falls.

And then A Company, who, as we said, are on the right of the road, they run into an enemy bunker position, which is dealt with by a two-platoon attack.

And during this attack, A Company's commander, who's a major guy Weatherid, he suffers a jammed sten gun, and he's reported as having killed the last Japanese with his steel helmet.

Oh, my goodness.

Because this is this up close and the fighting's this bitter.

And Weatherid is the son of a former commander.

So he's just taken off his helmet and just whammed it into a used it as a sort of a scythe, effectively.

I don't know, bash someone's brains in with it.

I mean,

whatever.

Now, he's the son of a forming commanding officer in the Gloucesters.

So his father commanded a Gloucesters battalion in the First World War.

Yep.

He's a big boy.

Yeah, six foot five.

He's a magnificent athlete, a great runner.

He has an Oxford blue in relays and a half mile, and in fact, had beaten an Olympic record in trials when running.

And he's killed shortly afterwards, attempting to get his wounded men away.

And,

well, and this is, it's interesting, isn't it?

The wounded is such a feature.

Looking after the wounded.

Don't leave the wounded with the Japanese.

Don't leave the wounded with the Japanese at the cost of a company commander's life.

He cares about it that much, right?

And in repelling Japanese counter-attacks, all of A Company's officers are killed or wounded.

So

the same situation basically as C Company.

So they're getting hammered, really.

They are really getting hammered.

Maybe they've bitten off more than they can chew.

So B Company follow up.

They find more of the enemy are coming round back into their original position on the Chong behind A Company.

So B Company then have to dislodge them.

Basically, as soon as they wipe out one set of Japanese or Japanese posts, another one will spring up.

Two big counter-attacks, but it's bans I charges.

And the accounts will say, thank goodness, because they scream and they shout.

They tell us they're coming.

We can hear which dragons are coming.

You can hear them coming.

You can see them coming.

Exactly.

And there are snipers still in the trees, but B Company hold on.

But their company commander was killed, and he, as well as two,

yeah.

And that's Major Stedman, who we talked about in the officer's role, who's company commander for three years.

And what we've got here is officers getting in there, obviously leading from the front, and making sure that their men are not left behind, the wounded are not left behind for the Japanese.

I mean, this story is rather good, Jim.

Do you want to

relate this?

So, this one,

the story goes

that after this, the sole remaining officer provides some comic relief.

That's actually brilliant.

The company's position is consolidated.

He reports back to the battalion

headquarters, fully equipped and armed, but without any trousers.

Apparently, he's lost these while struggling through the jagged and broken bamboo during the advance.

And he complains of feeling rather very vulnerable.

Well, you would do, wouldn't you?

Let's face it.

You would.

I feel very vulnerable, so

they wouldn't want to leech on the old chap.

I mean, it's it's extraordinary.

So the next day,

you know, they've got 23rd of November by this point.

23rd of November.

They've got their box.

They're patrolling.

Yeah.

You know, more enemy attacks repulsed.

Enemy shelling on the Gloucester's positions during the day.

Yeah.

The regimental aid post is hit by a heavy mortar.

I suppose reminding me this is reminding me of Autona, the sort of scale of losses.

Yeah.

Battalion's being gutted.

Yeah.

The doctor, Captain A.D.

Gould, is killed.

Five of his staff as as well.

Three others wounded.

And in the afternoon, some of the South Wales borderers attack and dig in on the left of A Company.

So they're getting relief from the rest of the brigade.

Do you think one of the problem is they're just they've got no kind of real sort of spatial understanding where they are because it's jungle and bamboo and you can't really see anything.

So you're stumbling into these Japanese positions without really knowing where you are.

Yeah.

And no one can really see what's going on.

So not only do you not know where you are, you can't really organise yourself particularly because it's all so disorientating.

Well, yes, and exactly.

That's what's going on.

And well, you might be attacking in battalion strength, but if four of you are 20 yards ahead of the rest of everyone else and you can't see one another or speak to one another or hear for the gunfire, you know, you're not a battalion strength.

You're half a section suddenly.

Yes.

And it only, it can only make piecemeal attacks of even battalion attacks, right?

Yeah.

And, you know, the thing we've talked about again and again and again in this Burma series is if you do things in piecemeal, you've got real problems because you can be outnumbered automatically.

And I think

the officers aren't being

targeted.

It's the fact that they're leading.

Yeah, they're leading for them.

So they have to be omnipresent.

They have to check all their positions.

They're clearly determined to defend the wounded and rescue the wounded.

And we know why.

So the next day, the 25th of November, the 10th Gloucesters are ordered.

They're going to be relieved the following day.

And

they are relieved on the 26th.

D Company spots an enemy patrol in the open and kill most.

Meanwhile, you know, South Wales borders and Ninth Royal Sussex have been putting in, as the accounts say, very gallant attacks on other positions.

The Japanese are hanging on and making them pay as well.

Two days later, the Japanese retire from Pinway.

Give it up.

Right.

So it's all over.

Yeah.

Campaign casualties in the other ranks.

So aside from the officers, 32 killed.

70 wounded, one missing.

So 103 in total with officers.

And they count 51 enemy dead in the battalion area.

Seven officers and 32

other ranks.

Goodness.

I mean, seven officers in an infantry battalion is a lot.

It is.

It's bad stuff.

And the battalion then concentrates at a place called Hapapen to collect, to protect lines of communication.

So, yes, you are resting.

Yes, you are reorganising.

Yes, you're fighting fit again.

But obviously, you're protecting your LOC, which will mean patrolling.

But the companies are reformed on a two-platoon basis on account of casualties, and a number of new officers join.

and you've got a very personal reason for this haven't you why have we looked at this battalion aside from the fact that this is part of the burma war that gets overlooked that they're with still well it's a clearing operation it's not madley or it's because guy weatherhead major guy weatherid six foot five trying to save his wounded men yeah was my great uncle yeah amazing and my my grandmother's brother and i've been reading his letters All I'll say is that the day before the 22nd, he writes to his sister and his mother and to my mum and says, just to let you know that I am flourishing.

We've moved again.

Not much is going on.

Wow.

So just no hint of this terrible, small scale, but turning out, you know, murderous battle.

He's certainly not going to let them know.

He doesn't want them to worry.

And the tone of all his letters is that real.

But do you get a quite, do you get, I mean, because one of the things I think is

the joy of reading these wartime letters is when you get a sense of the character and the personality comes through.

Does it come through?

What kind of bloke is he?

Well, the sense from the letters is he doesn't want people to be flapped by what's going on.

He really wants to see his niece.

He's very keen on news of

her and of home.

And he's...

he just i can't wait to get back to dear old marlowe again and see marlowe again yeah so he's homesick he feels a long way from home This is a dirty business and someone's got to do it.

And, you know, crikey.

I mean, so he's just he, so he's just a good bloke, isn't he?

He's just like an ordinary,

thoroughly decent chap.

They're sending him tobacco and the thing he's worried about is that they're spending their money on it.

And I'm being paid more now.

I'm a company commander.

So please do use my money because I can't really spend any out here in the jungle.

What he's saying to them.

Oh, he sounds like a lovely fellow.

And he gets in and he'll say, How wonderful.

There was some stuff waiting for me when I got in from patrol.

I mean, you think what getting in from patrol means in that countryside, the tension, the

effort.

And, you know, and he's quite clearly a completely hands-on lead from the front company commander as well.

And I think these actions, when you get

inside what it's like being in an infantry battalion in particular, in this part of the world, in this campaign, because after all, we've just on this Burma series, Burma 45 series, we have talked about this absolutely extraordinary crushing victory that Slim inflicts,

a defeat over the Japanese, that Slim inflicts on the Japanese.

It's extraordinary, but what's it like being PBI?

What is it actually like fighting the Japanese?

And this is what it's like.

The countryside, particularly in the jungle, and I know when we get to Mandalay and McTilly, it's a different countryside, but what's it like fighting these people who won't surrender, who won't give up?

The only way you're going to defeat them is with this kind of leadership and the men responding to that leadership and being as in it as the officers are.

And I think to look at a county battalion a wartime county battalion and their exploits is is a is a refreshing way of coming at this it's it's fantastic it's it's it's so interesting and i think it's the funny thing is although it's this really remote bit and bit that everyone's forgotten in the forgotten army and the forgotten campaign i i i do think this this description is kind of in a way what everyone imagines the war in burma is like yeah I think it must have just been utterly, utterly terrifying.

And that sense of dislocation from home and from, you know, everything that's familiar must just be so.

And the privations are just so.

And you might as well be on the moon if you're from Marlow.

Lovely old Marlow with a river running through it, which is all rather genteel.

And then to be to be in

this

hellish environment with an enemy, again, that wants to take a give no quarter.

Well, I think that's a very good way to end this Burma 45 series and wrapping up the the Burma campaign.

It's been fascinating.

It really has, the whole thing, and so much more complex than I think most people

would expect.

You know, this isn't just a case of, okay, we've got, you know, we now know what we're doing and we know how to defeat the Japanese.

This is still an unbelievably complicated campaign, you know, over

extreme distances in extremely remote corners of the globe.

in extremely difficult conditions.

And hats off, really, to all those guys.

And, you know, it's interesting that Slim is always very lavish in his praise of his commanders.

And I think that's right.

I mean, you know, it is ultimately his victories, his vision.

It's him steering the whole thing and driving the whole thing.

But, you know, my goodness, some of those divisional commanders, the Pete Reese, Douglas Gracie, Punch Cowan, you know, these, these are, you know, and even Philip Christensen at 15 Corps.

I mean, these are, these are seriously, you know, and Frank Mesovy and so on.

Yeah.

You know, these are seriously good, good people aren't they good commanders who deserve to be better remembered and better recognized for their um you know their extraordinary achievements and of course all the men involved well and it runs all the way down the pole because it's all you you can you know obviously and we've we've we have talked about this haven't we before that it's like a merbia strip you know that the the the Confidence in the commander creates confidence in the men.

If the commander has confidence in his men, he can have confidence in his ability to command because

they'll do what he thinks they're capable of, but they're only capable of what they're capable of.

And

it just goes round and round and round and round and round.

But if you don't have people like Lieutenant Gordon, people like Major Stedman, people like Major Weatherid, who are prepared to lead in the way you need them to,

these campaigns are impossible,

no matter how good your forgotten generals are, without your forgotten colonels and majors and so on.

And these men plucked from county towns and wherever, who don't want to be there.

Gloucestershire.

I mean, there you are.

Guys from Buckinghamshire, and he's ended up in the Gloucesters.

But

it's a familial connection, which is why he's with that battalion.

But there we are.

Anyway, thanks, Jim.

No, thank you.

That's a great story, Al.

I absolutely love that.

I thought that was a really, really fantastic way to end the series.

So I hope everyone's enjoyed it.

I hope people haven't been too lost with all the names and stuff.

We've got a bevy of maps now, haven't we, so that we can sort of keep those up, perhaps?

Well, and there is a there is a map of the Pinway action that's in the war diary that is completely incomprehensible.

I can imagine.

It's just no use to anybody.

It's tiny.

Could be anywhere.

It could be anywhere.

Could literally be anywhere.

In fact, it is anywhere.

Well, exactly.

Anyway, thanks everybody for listening.

We hope you've enjoyed our Burma 40 45 with a bit of 40 series.

And we'll see you again very soon.

Cheerio.

Cheerio.

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