Map showing location of Pt 551 in the Arakan. It is south-east of the tunnels. Sorry this is not a great copy. Davies - where is Wallace's account to be found?
Am editing mothers wartime memoirs. Dad was with 109th Indian Infantry Brigade, Akyab, Manipur, Chittagong etc. Before I include the following, please is it correct, and if so who was the C.O. refered to, and what rifles? <<"“Strictly off the record, Coleman, what is your opinion of the C.O. of the ~~~~~~rifles? “Strictly off the record, said my husband, “he’d have been very good in the days of the bow and arrow, but now he is fit for nothing more than command of a garrison battalion” The next day Maurice was told by the Brigadier, “You must be wrong about~~~X~~~ -I Had dinner with him last night, and I find that we used to play hockey together.” Alas! Later that year that battalion was sent to the Arakan where, I was told, X sent his men in platoon by platoon, and platoon by platoon they were wiped out.">> If not correct then I will delete from memoirs.
Am finding it hard to sort dates but it had to be while he was Brigade Major in Mhow, before joining the 109th in Chittagong in Feb 1942. The Brigadier who asked the question was from Delhi, << Maurice was in charge of manoeuvres in Neemuch which were for inspection by a top brass hat from Delhi.>> Will try to get date of these Neemuch manoeuvres and what regiments were there. Must have been the 1st Arakan campaign if later on in 1942.
Apologies, must have missed the notification about your reply. Wallace's account in his held in the archive of The Second World War Experience Centre www.war-experience.org based in West Yorkshire.
Fantastic thread. Thank you one and all for the useful information. My Grandad fought in the 26th Indian Army Division (serving in both the 71st bde 1/18th Royal Garwhal Rifles and 36th bgd 1/8th Gurkha Rifs) and contributed to the 8th Gurkha Rifs regimental history book. I thought you would all find the attached map useful, this was my grandfathers copy which my father donated to the Gurkha Museum last year. This details point 551 west of Buthidaung, with his hand written annotations - Davies, note this refers to 'Goggles' as Captain Richard Wallace refers to.
