Beyond the Chindwin
by Bernard Fergusson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bernard FergussonEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Format: Large Print
Published: 2001-12
ISBN: 0753157071
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print
Book Reviews of Beyond the Chindwin
Book Review: Outstanding account of Chindit operations behind the Japanese Lines in WW2
Summary: 5 Stars
"Beyond the Chindwin" is the account of the adventures of Number Five Column of the Wingate Expedition (otherwise known as the "Chindits") into Burma, 1943. For those that don't know a great deal about the Chindits, they were the largest of the allied Special Forces Units of WW2, formed and lead by Major-General Orde Wingate. In 1942, following the successful Japanese attack on Burma, the British War Office offered Wingate's services to General Wavell, Commander-in-Chief India. It was thought that there would be a role for Wingate in Burma with his proven guerrilla expertise having previously carried out guerrilla operations in Palestine and Abyssinia with great success. Wingate put forward his theory that formations of troops supplied from the air could operate for long periods in the jungle. The troops would be organised into columns, each large enough to inflict a heavy blow to the enemy but small enough to evade action if outnumbered. The columns would march into enemy territory to disrupt the Japanese army's communications and supply lines and to create havoc behind its lines.
A brigade was formed from a number of different units who then trained themselves for two enemies, the jungle and the Japanese. Keep in mind that up until this time, the British had been singularly unsuccessful in jungle warfare against the Japanese - the jungle was a completely unfamiliar environment to the British soldier, one that was scary, completely foreign and in which they weren't trained to fight. One of the reasons why both Malaya and Burma had fallen to the Japanese so rapidly. Wingate set out to familiarize his soldiers with the jungle as well as using the jungle to advantage in fighting.
The original plan was that the Chindits would be part of an offensive into north Burma but this offensive was cancelled. Wingate then proposed that the operation should still proceed, but now alone, to test the theory and gain vital experience of such jungle operations, and to test the Japanese and disrupt their planned offensives. General Wavell agreed to this and the Chindits were ordered into Burma from Imphal in early 1943. The campaign was given the code name Operation Longcloth and a force of 3,000 men operated deep behind enemy lines in North Burma, for two months living in and fighting the japanese in the jungles of occupied Burma, totally relying on airdrops for their supplies. In late March, Wingate was ordered to withdraw.
By then the Chindits had penetrated to the extreme range of their air supply and the Japanese were moving larger numbers of troops to pin them down and cut them off. Despite the obstacles of both Japanese Army units and the terrain and climate, all Chindit units returned by one means or another. Of the 3,000 officers and men that went into Burma, 2,182 came back four months later. Wingate had proved that his theory worked, that allied troops could raid effectively behind enemy lines and that air supply could maintain such operations in the jungle. Additionally, the Chindits were the first troops to fight back after the defeat in Burma and the operation showed that British troops could take on the Japanese and win. The Japanese had been thought to be invincible jungle fighters, the Chindits proved that this was not so. The legend of the Japanese superman was dealt a savage blow. This had a tremendous effect on the morale of troops in India.
Subsequently, a second and much larger expedition was launched in March 1944, with a a force of 20,000 soldiers with air support provided by the 1st Air Commando USAAF. The mission was successful and started the rot, which led to the Japanese surrender. That's the history lesson and what the military histories tell you. This book is the story of one Chindit column in the first expedition, Number Five, which was led by the author. It's an antidote to the military histories and tells you what it was really like. Ferguson's column lost half its men in casualties in the course of the expedition. Supply drops were missed, little in the way of military objectives were achieved, the column broke down into smaller and smaller groups. Despite this, the morale of the survivors was high, the boost to the British was far in excess of the military accomplishments at the time and the Japanese plans for the next offensive were disrupted. Casualties were high, but no higher than other units experienced on this front experienced in fighting the Japanese on this front.
The book is a classic account of it's kind, well-written, readable and with many lessons which can still be learnt from. Not least of which is that the book was a best seller at the time it was published - a time when the survivors of the various Chindit operations were in a position to criticize the leadership of the author had they seen cause to. They didn't, which speaks volumes in itself for his leadership and personality. Ferguson led under fire and from the front, with his soldiers, taking the same risks that they did. He was from all accounts an inspiring leader and one with a certain amount of flamboyance whom his men respected and followed.
I was a boy in New Zealand when Ferguson was Governer-General there and had the honor of meeting him - I still have the copy of this book that he autographed for me. He was well-respected in NZ at the time - a time when a high proportion of NZ men had served in the NZ Army overseas. NZ being a country with no respect for posers, Ferguson wouldn't have cut the grade if he'd been an upper-class British twit. His leadership and the strength of his personality were apparent to me as a youngster and come through strongly in both this book and in "The Wild Green Earth." Read, enjoy, and respect the efforts of those who did their best to fight for the freedoms that we enjoy today.
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