The Forgotten Army

craftman · 06-03-2006, 09:10 PM

''You call yourselves a forgotten army. Well your wrong. At home they haven't even heard of you'' Mountbatten.

Why was 14th army the forgotten army? Why is it still unheard of? We all know about Singapore and the POW's but ask anybody about the Burma campaign and you'll draw a blank. Why?

Owen · 06-03-2006, 11:07 PM

The main thrust of the British war effort was to defeat Germany.
That was why Britain went to war in 1939. Bombs and V weapons were falling on Britain. Germany was THE enemy.
Japan was far,far away. Not such an immediate threat to Britain. Lower down in the priority list.
India was threatened but not Britain itself.

Brownag · 12-03-2006, 07:49 AM

Up until 1944 there were no British victories in Burma so the theatre was ignored apart from news about The Chindits. By '44 there were a lot more interesting things happening in Europe to keep Burma off the front pages.

Another reason could be that there were relatively few British troops fighting in Burma. It was mainly an Indian Army operation with East and West Afrcan Divisions and Chinese as well

spidge · 12-03-2006, 08:59 AM

[quote=Brownag]Up until 1944 there were no British victories in Burma so the theatre was ignored apart from news about The Chindits. By '44 there were a lot more interesting things happening in Europe to keep Burma off the front pages.

Quote:

Another reason could be that there were relatively few British troops fighting in Burma.

http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/pow/general_info.htm

Read this for the result of being a prisoner of the Japanese.

Most of the Aussies that were transferred from Singapore to Burma were treated miserably.

Australian POW's of the Japanese died at the rate of 36% (8051 of 22,376 died in captivity)

craftman · 12-03-2006, 05:15 PM

We know that Europe took presedence over Burma in 1944-45 but its still an unknown war 60+ years later.We still seem to not want to know what heroic battles were fought and the conditions that those boys had to endure.
Try buying a book on the campaign and you'll have to look hard.

morse1001 · 12-03-2006, 05:40 PM

The expression "The forgotten Army" comes from the men of the 14th army who felt left out. Compared to what the troops were getting in Europe they were al but forgotten.

it shows you what Whitehall felt about the 14th, when they demanded the return of fifty Dakotas for D-Day. Luckily Mountbatten stood his ground and it allowed 5 corp to be airlifted into Imphal.

Imphal, was in many ways a decsive battle because had the Japs succeeded then they would have a open door into India. If that had happened then there was nothing that the Allies could do until they had destroyed the germans.

12-03-2006, 07:55 PM

I know a lad who was at Imphal. Unfortunately he's succumbing to mental problems brought on by old age, and his stories are being lost.
But why is it still forgotten 60 years on? Because politicaly correct Lefties are refusing to allow my generation to be taught British history, and if we do happen to get any it's always the Brits as pariahs. I am sick of it! For my GCSE's i covered women in China, the American west and the history of medecine. Where were the WW1 & 2? The Romans? Industrial revolution? Where i ask you! We got WW1 in Year 7, from the German viewpoint only, and we were the baddies! I am sick of it!
Let us march dear brothers on London, demand our heritage back from TB and The Wicked Witch! Let us take back our country and set the world to rights once more! Let us fight for the truth!
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

morse1001 · 12-03-2006, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mosquito617

I know a lad who was at Imphal. Unfortunately he's succumbing to mental problems brought on by old age, and his stories are being lost.
But why is it still forgotten 60 years on? Because politicaly correct Lefties are refusing to allow my generation to be taught British history, and if we do happen to get any it's always the Brits as pariahs. I am sick of it! For my GCSE's i covered women in China, the American west and the history of medecine. Where were the WW1 & 2? The Romans? Industrial revolution? Where i ask you! We got WW1 in Year 7, from the German viewpoint only, and we were the baddies! I am sick of it!
Let us march dear brothers on London, demand our heritage back from TB and The Wicked Witch! Let us take back our country and set the world to rights once more! Let us fight for the truth!
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

For my higher History, I had to study german History!

14-03-2006, 02:08 PM

At A levels i got 16th century Europe, which did include the Tudors, so that was fun. Seems everything was about politics, sex and war, with religion as an excuse.

spidge · 14-03-2006, 04:28 PM

We had British History because we didn't have enough.

06-03-2006, 09:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
craftman Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: UK Posts: 20	The Forgotten Army ''You call yourselves a forgotten army. Well your wrong. At home they haven't even heard of you'' Mountbatten. Why was 14th army the forgotten army? Why is it still unheard of? We all know about Singapore and the POW's but ask anybody about the Burma campaign and you'll draw a blank. Why?

14-03-2006, 04:28 PM	#10 (permalink)
spidge Legendary Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 8,047	We had British History because we didn't have enough. __________________ Spidge, ------------------------------------------------------- My Avatar is the memorial to the 22 Commonwealth Coastwatchers at the Temakin Cemetery on Betio (Tarawa Atoll) who were beheaded by the Japanese on 15th October 1942. http://www.dva.gov.au/media/publicat...mem_beito.html "You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war." (Winston Churchill made this prophetic pronouncement in a House of Commons speech in 1938, just after Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement with Hitler. Chamberlain returned from Germany with the signed agreement in hand, proclaiming that "peace in our time" had been achieved. Churchill attacked Chamberlain's "politics of appeasement" in this and many other speeches.) What did the Australians do in ww2 and other conflicts? Check out this site: http://www.diggerhistory.info/00-pag...ster-index.htm

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06-03-2006, 11:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Owen Top Moose Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Under the stairs Posts: 8,995	The main thrust of the British war effort was to defeat Germany. That was why Britain went to war in 1939. Bombs and V weapons were falling on Britain. Germany was THE enemy. Japan was far,far away. Not such an immediate threat to Britain. Lower down in the priority list. India was threatened but not Britain itself.

12-03-2006, 07:49 AM	#3 (permalink)
Brownag Member Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 59	Up until 1944 there were no British victories in Burma so the theatre was ignored apart from news about The Chindits. By '44 there were a lot more interesting things happening in Europe to keep Burma off the front pages. Another reason could be that there were relatively few British troops fighting in Burma. It was mainly an Indian Army operation with East and West Afrcan Divisions and Chinese as well

12-03-2006, 05:15 PM	#5 (permalink)
craftman Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: UK Posts: 20	We know that Europe took presedence over Burma in 1944-45 but its still an unknown war 60+ years later.We still seem to not want to know what heroic battles were fought and the conditions that those boys had to endure. Try buying a book on the campaign and you'll have to look hard.

12-03-2006, 05:40 PM	#6 (permalink)
morse1001 Very Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Wishaw, Lanarkshire, Scotland Posts: 4,686	The expression "The forgotten Army" comes from the men of the 14th army who felt left out. Compared to what the troops were getting in Europe they were al but forgotten. it shows you what Whitehall felt about the 14th, when they demanded the return of fifty Dakotas for D-Day. Luckily Mountbatten stood his ground and it allowed 5 corp to be airlifted into Imphal. Imphal, was in many ways a decsive battle because had the Japs succeeded then they would have a open door into India. If that had happened then there was nothing that the Allies could do until they had destroyed the germans.

12-03-2006, 07:55 PM	#7 (permalink)
Kitty Guest Posts: n/a	I know a lad who was at Imphal. Unfortunately he's succumbing to mental problems brought on by old age, and his stories are being lost. But why is it still forgotten 60 years on? Because politicaly correct Lefties are refusing to allow my generation to be taught British history, and if we do happen to get any it's always the Brits as pariahs. I am sick of it! For my GCSE's i covered women in China, the American west and the history of medecine. Where were the WW1 & 2? The Romans? Industrial revolution? Where i ask you! We got WW1 in Year 7, from the German viewpoint only, and we were the baddies! I am sick of it! Let us march dear brothers on London, demand our heritage back from TB and The Wicked Witch! Let us take back our country and set the world to rights once more! Let us fight for the truth! Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

14-03-2006, 02:08 PM	#9 (permalink)
Kitty Guest Posts: n/a	At A levels i got 16th century Europe, which did include the Tudors, so that was fun. Seems everything was about politics, sex and war, with religion as an excuse.

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