Hi, I'm trying to track my Grandads RE Section as their Company war diary for March was lost during the Lion Box battles in early April '44. I'm working on information from the memoirs of a member of his section to try to piece together their movements between the end of February (when they were at MS118 Tiddim road) and 6/4/44 when their section entered the Lion Box in Kanglatongbi. From the memoirs there are two entries during this time, which have information that I'm hoping I can possibly use to pinpoint a date/timeframe for and thus, know the sections location around that time - one of them is linked to Bishenpur (please see my other post) and this one is to do with Operation Thursday - In the soldiers memoirs, he recalls an incident when the RE Section were making their way back along the Tiddim Road and were at ms80 (I'm thinking this may have been ms82, the location of the supply depot just before the road rises onto the watershed range), whereby the section officer (Captain Revell) came rushing up in a jeep to order two sappers to board a taylorcraft Auster light aircraft, which flew them into a chindit area as they needed help to repair and operate a Chindit caterpillar d4 bulldozer that had broken down. So I know that this incident occurred at ms80 (the small plain that ms82 was on) and it was to fly in to help the chindits.... - as a result, I'm thinking it must have happened on/after operation Thursday started, which was 5/3/44 I think? (I'm not a Chindit expert, so apologies if this is wrong). The bulldozer itself I would imagine must've been to help flatten and construct one of the Chindit airstrips which were being built in this time period? - The ms80/82 plain was cut off by the Japanese when they blocked the road at ms72 on 24/3/44 - The soldiers memoirs don't mention being cut off, so they must have moved off and past ms72 before the roadblock was put in place, so the window of opportunity for the chindit plane incident must be 5/3/44-23/3/44? I've started looking into Operation Thursday but I'm far from an expert. I think 77 and 111 Brigades were the ones flown in that built airstrips (amongst everything else of course)? As a result I've (hopefully) booked their HQ war diaries to see them when I go to Kew on Saturday, in the hopes that they may contain an entry about the two Sappers from my Grandads Section attaching to one of them, but I know that that is a long shot as the chances of an entry for just two sappers attaching to a brigade in the middle of a huge operation, is asking a lot. Aside from the HQ Diaries, does anyone know of any other Diaries that are worth checking too? Can anyone recall anything in any Chindit book (memoirs etc) about the airstrips being built that may have any helpful information at all? Maybe more date information on the airstrips, or any information/photos on them being built etc? I've seen one photograph of an airstrip being built but it looked like an American operator on the dozer, but that was just by the type of cap he had on, which obviously isn't a great way of identification lol. Any help with this needle in a haystack job is greatly appreciated! Thanks
Hi, You are correct in your assumption that it was 77 & 111 Brigade that were first into Burma during Operation Thursday. And your date range covers the setting up of the Chindit landing strips at Broadway, Chowringhee and eventually Aberdeen. One of the first gliders to crash-land at Broadway on the 5th March 1944 contained a bulldozer. I believe another unit was flown in the next day to replace the damaged bulldozer, which then went on to level off the landing strip. You will find the 77 HQ diary to be a difficult document to search through as it is basically a daily list of sit-reps (situation reports), rather than any real narrative. However, you never can tell with these diaries and it might mention the need for for RE assistance as you describe from the memoirs of your grandfather's colleagues. Good luck going forward. Steve
Thanks for the helpful info and advice Steve, much appreciated! I'm looking forward to getting to Kew on Saturday morning so I can take a look. Do you think it would be worthwhile me checking any other Diaries for info other than just the HQ ones? As I know there are sometimes diaries/reports for specific roles eg air ops, RE etc? I'm also intrigued about the role of the Taylorcraft Auster as that might yield information too, however I've looked through the Norman Frank's book (Air battle of Imphal) which has a list of all the squadrons operating in the area at the time, but they're all either fighter or transport squadrons with no mention of Auster's or other light aircraft. I guess maybe starting with RAF 221 group and working my way down the list might be the way to go, especially with a lot of RAF stuff available for free download on Discovery ATM, although I'm aware that's a big task, trying to locate one small aircraft or at least more info on that aircraft type, from the entire arena
I suppose it might be worth looking through the diaries of the regimental battalions that made up 77 and 111 Brigade, but that would be leaning towards a 'needle in a haystack' scenario. If you take this route, don't bother about ordering the 1st King's (Liverpool) diary for 1944, as it is a five-page light-weight document. The HQ diaries are your best chance really. I have not been up to Kew for ages, well before Covid came along. I miss it quite a lot really and at one point a few years back it almost became my second home!!
Thanks for the heads-up about the battalion diaries. I'm maxxed out on what I can order for my trip on Saturday (currently you can book a maximum of 12 items to view), but I'll no doubt be back again a few weeks after, so I'll spend some time rounding up the battalion diaries for that visit (and others). I'll see what its like on Saturday with slightly eased restrictions, but last time I went in may, it was really nice! Aside from wearing a facemask, you had an entire table area to yourself and every table had a camera stand, so it was a really nice experience (not that it wasn't pre-covid, but you know what I mean!) I've had a bit of luck digging around for information on the Auster light aircraft - I was browsing through pics of them on IWM and one of them had information about an RAF AOP Squadron - AOP=Aerial Observation Post, essentially a squadron of light aircraft primarily used as spotters for artillery but also used for many other jobs. So I've dug a bit more and found there were 13 AOP RAF Squadrons (651-663, with an extra 3 flown by Canadians - 664-666). I then looked up the history of them all and aside from a couple that had time in India in late 1945, the only one to operate extensively in India, Imphal and Burma, was 656 Squadron. And at the time of this thread (March '44), they flew Auster's....so I've pulled out their Squadron records and appendices files from Discovery and will go through them later. I just need to find some place names in and around ms80ish on the tiddim road and also the Chindit airstrips, as having a quick look, it seems most of the flight entries give locations rather than units eg very few mention divisions, or even ALGs etc.
Bit late in the day but I have war diaries for March 1944 for 652 Coy and 671 Coy. They both mention moving to Sengmei Box 21st - 23rd March with 864 ME Coy. I don't know if they were together prior to this in March. Maybe their February diaries would help. They may help with your research. They also mention 65 Coy. My uncle was in Section 36 of 864 ME Coy so have researched a few war diaries but as you say, March 1944 is missing. Probably destroyed during evacuation of Kanglatongbi.
