I have recently bought some photographs of the Burma campaign and amongst them were half a dozen photographs taken during Operation Thursday. These have various unit censor stamps on the back and some were captioned at the time. Many of these photographs are in the public domain and have appeared in various books. There is a wealth of detail in many of the pictures and I would welcome any comments as to location and units depicted, etc. The first picture is captioned, 'Gurkhas and their mules arrive for loading in the "Wingate" Broadway show'. It was presumably taken at Lalighat on the 5th March 1944.
If the caption is accurate they could be men of the 3/6th or 3/9th Gurkhas of 77th Bde or men of 3/4th or 4/9th Gurkhas of 111th Bde.
Notice the second glider tucked away in a clearing near the first glider. As to the American on the glider's wing, there is no evidence that his position was influenced by travelling on Indian railways.
The second photograph is also in the public domain and has been published in various books and on websites. The hand written caption states, 'another glider and its passengers'. These men may have also been in a Gurkha battalion as enlarging the photograph shows that the man on the left has what appears to be a Kukri in his side pack. Two of the men have distinctive tattoos on their forearms.
Nice photos...wish there were some of the Lancashire Fusiliers...they seem to have been remarkably camera shy!
Some wonderfully crisp images you have there HW, many congratulations and thanks for sharing them with us. A while back some of us created a thread in relation to the Chindit landing strips and strongholds; there are some very nice contemporary aerial images of Broadway on post 42 of the thread: http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/55252-chindit-2-general-maps-including-strongholds-and-landing-grounds/page-2?hl=broadway
They might yet be Lancashire Fusiliers - they all look a bit too pale to be Gurkhas. I believe lots of fashion-conscious British troops scrounged or bought themselves kukris.
Great photos High Wood, thank you for sharing. Got to say I agree with idler. I don't think they are Gurkhas, far too Caucasian in complexion and far too tall!
I take your point that they appear to be Caucasian but didn't the various Gurkha columns have Royal Signals attached? The mules appear to be carrying radio sets in the close ups of the first photographs.
These are definitely Gurkhas. This photograph has the caption in the same hand writing as the others, 'Gurkhas clearing a field for a landing strip'.
I believe that this photograph was also taken at Lalighat and probably on the 6th March as mules are being loaded onto the Dakota. What appears to be part of the towing apparatus is visible below the fuselage.
Apologies for butting in but would those particular mules have been parachuted from the Dakota? Reason for asking is because my Great Uncle developed a system for parachuting mules from aeroplanes in Burma without it actually killing them!
I have had several conversations with a film actress, whose husband was a Gurkha officer and a Chindit, regarding her husband's career. She is adamant that mules were dropped by parachute and I have always maintained that they were only ever flown in by aircraft. I have never seen any evidence that mules were dropped by parachute but I am happy to be proved wrong.
SDP, thank you for pointing me in the direction of Major Witherington. I have read his obituary in the D.T. and it seems that mules were successfully dropped by parachute in experimental trials. The obit does not make it clear whether these trials took place in India or behind Japanese lines in Burma. The article mentions that the mules were sedated with Chloral Hydrate but were ready to carry loads on landing. Are there known incidents of mules being air dropped in this fashion during Operation Thursday?
This photograph is captioned, 'Wounded men in the Broadway Show'. I think that it was probably taken on the 5th or 6th March 1944 and shows two men injured in the glider landings. The man on the right hand stretcher may be a glider pilot or navigator as there is a sheepskin flying jacket at the foot of his stretcher.
