Special Forces in Burma

Discussion in 'Burma & India' started by Sushil Talwar, Sep 7, 2009.

  1. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Feel free to post the citation on here ;)
     
  2. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    Another bonus for me is that there seem to be other awards and citations in these NA files to Burma Rifles and Gurkha officers, relating to the 1943 Chindit operations.


    Chindits Awards List

    Here you have awards and citations for all officers and all British OR from the first Chindit expedition. Only exceptions are citations for seven Gurkha OR awarded with IDSM and one Gurkha OR awarded with BGM. They are missing.
     
    Drew5233 likes this.
  3. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Chindits Awards List

    Here you have awards and citations for all officers and all British OR from the first Chindit expedition. Only exceptions are citations for seven Gurkha OR awarded with IDSM and one Gurkha OR awarded with BGM. They are missing.
    I was just going to post the same link:p nice site isnt it.
     
  4. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    I was just going to post the same link:p nice site isnt it.

    :D

    Yes, it is. Great site. I used it very often for information and links. Citations from the 1st Chindit Expedition were added recently. I sew them for the first time couple months ago.
     
  5. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi All,

    Thanks for the heads up, the Chindits info site is where it all began for me. The gents there put me on the right road back in 2006. I had noticed the new citations just a few weeks back. However, downloading Katju's citation last night took me into a whole new area of files, which has thrown up several names relevant to the 1943 operation. Basically it gives the names of several Burma and Gurkha Rilfes men who were decorated in 1944-45, but who all served on the first operation as well. This even includes a VC winner from 1945!

    So Captain Katju has really pushed my research forward once again.

    Cheers.

    Bamboo.
     
  6. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

  7. Recce_Mitch

    Recce_Mitch Very Senior Member

    Welcome to the forum

    Cheers
    Paul
     
  8. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Thanks Ron,

    I have read some of these before, but certainly not all. Already picked up one new name, so brilliant heads up from you there! As you may have read from above, I am attempting to track down as many 'Longclothians' as possible. My list is extensive, but it has taken a good deal of reading and computer hours to compile. Need to set up my own website soon and maybe write something. It's just the usual problem of time.

    Thanks for the welcome Paul, appreciate that.

    Bamboo.
     
  9. Pete Keane

    Pete Keane Senior Member

    Hi Bamboo

    Do I still owe you a copy of the 142 Commando Co. war diary? Lost the plot a bit recently !!

    Pete
     
  10. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

  11. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Pete,

    Yes you do, email sent. Good to hear from you.

    Andy,
    I have been meaning to get up to the IWM to listen to the audio tapes from which the book has been written. I am especially interested in one of the Other ranks memoir of Rangoon Jail (my other area of great interest). It is possible (though I can't say too much on line) that it holds the secret of another mans fate in Rangoon. I was lucky enough to meet two surviving veterans from 1943 who told me some great stories about the operation and indeed training. But they made me promise not to tell, protecting the families and all that!

    Bamboo.
     
  12. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    I've not read it yet Steve..It sits on my bookshelf with three other 'forgotten' books waiting for me to find time.
     
  13. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    And I still need to buy it! as for Rangoon Jail very intresting Bamboo im intrested in finding out more on Changi and its liberation.
     
  14. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi All,

    You may have already seen this? The NA are offering free downloads at the moment online. I have just picked up some Gallantry award citations for the India/Burma theatre. 5 new names for my 1943 Chindit roll. Mostly Gurkhas who went on to gain awards in the Arakan later in WW2.

    Well worth a look, but not easy to identify where files relate to. There is something for every theatre and therefore everyones particular taste. I trawled and searched, it seems to be the only way. Try the link, hope it takes you there? You need to click on 'Digital Film' on the link page, this takes you to a list, WO373 is what you are after.

    Good Luck.

    Bamboo.

    The National Archives | DocumentsOnline | Other Record Collections
     
    dbf likes this.
  15. Paulmdenton

    Paulmdenton Junior Member

    Hi gents. I'm new to the forum. I'm trying to find out what my late grandad did during ww2. He didn't talk about it very much when he was alive. All he said that he was in Burma. Later we found out he was in D Force. His name was John Denton and was from Leeds. That's all that we know.
     
  16. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Paul,

    The War diaries for 'D' Force are held at the National Archives. The reference numbers for 1943 onwards begin with WO172/7192, then run in sequence from there.

    Otherwise, to be honest, I do not know much about there exploits. My Grandfather was an original Chindit in 1943, so both were mixed up in Special forces one way or another.

    There are a few Gents on the forum that will be able to give you more to go on.

    Good luck.

    Bamboo.
     
  17. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

    Hi gents. I'm new to the forum. I'm trying to find out what my late grandad did during ww2. He didn't talk about it very much when he was alive. All he said that he was in Burma. Later we found out he was in D Force. His name was John Denton and was from Leeds. That's all that we know.
    Hi Paul, have alook at post 11 in this link. http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/special-forces/21429-special-forces-burma-2.html
     
  18. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    There was also a Z Force that gathered intelligence in Burma (not to be confused with the Austrealian Z Force) A good account of their exploits can be found in the book The Johnnies by Geoffrey Evans, London 1964.
     
  19. whitehound

    whitehound Member

    I'm reviving this thread because it's directly relevant to my question, but to explain what my question is I first need to establish the identities of three players, to whit:

    My grandfather, Bertie Rae, a District Superintendent of Police in Burma.

    Sam Newland, Bertie's best friend from school.

    Denis Rae, Bertie's little brother (and my great uncle). This is the D.W. Rae mentioned in The Johnnies.

    Sam was Anglo-Chin, Bertie and Denis were half Shan and half Southern Irish. Sam and Denis made up one of the original five pairs of Z-Force Johnnies.

    Bertie had left Burma in spring 1942 by a circuitous route, and arrived in Darjeeling in summer 1942. He was *not* one of the ten original Johnnies. However, Sam's diaries show that in September/October 1943 Sam and Denis, as members of Z-Force, were at Sam's home town of Hakha in the Chin Hills, and Bertie joined them there briefly before heading off towards Sumgen via the Thimit Valley, then returned to Hakha three weeks later and stayed there for a week.

    Family memory is that he was sent into no man's land to collect information from Burmese resistance fighters and translate it. He was back in Darjeeling by or before January 1944.

    What I want to know is, whatever force would he have come under, that would have had him right out there in, or at least passing through, the same territory as the Johnnies, doing apparently much the same thing as them and even visiting them socially to eat dinner together, but not being one of them? [And no, he doesn't seem to have been in Force 136.]

    Denis btw got the Military Cross, Sam got the DSO and both Denis and Bertie were Mentioned in Despatches. Whatever Bertie was doing required him to have a personal signaller, and left him suffering from howling nightmares for the rest of his life.
     
  20. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi whitehound,

    I think I may have seen a previous request from you on the Burma Star Association forum?

    There are several members on this forum that may well be able to point you in the right direction for information on these types of clandestine operations in Burma. Also the citations for the various gallantry awards you mention may well be found in the file series WO373 held at the National Archives.

    Something you might want to investigate at the National Archives is the file series WO203. This contains a multitude of documents to do with the retreat from Burma and some of the early special forces and 'stay-behind' parties. WO203/299 is the only document I could find mentioning Z Force.

    Hope this helps eventually.

    Steve
     

Share This Page