Fighting with the Fourteenth Army in Burma: Original War Summaries of the Battle Against Japan 1943–1945

By James Luto and John Grehan

The Fourteenth Army was one of the most successful British and Commonwealth forces of the Second World War. It was not only the largest of the Commonwealth armies but was also the largest single army in the world with around half a million men under its command. Operating in the most inhospitable terrain, it drove the previously undefeated Japanese Army from the Indian border and out of Burma in an unrelenting offensive.The Fourteenth Army, often referred to as the Forgotten Army, was made up from units that came from all corners of the Commonwealth and was composed of thirteen divisions from East and West Africa as well as Britain and India. After the defeat of the Japanese these divisions compiled a summary of its actions and it is these unique documents that form the basis of this new book.Presented here together then for the first time is the story of war against the Japanese as told by each of the divisions that fought in that bitter conflict the original and authentic accounts untouched by the pens of historians.These accounts can never be supplanted and will be an invaluable source of information for generations to come. It will also help the many millions of relatives of those men that fought with the Fourteenth Army understand the complex campaign of 1943-1945.The Fighting Divisions of the Fourteenth Army is completed with citations for those actions which saw the award of the Victoria Cross and detailed Orders of Battle throughout the Fourteenth Army's existence to make this the most detailed study of its kind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781473831476

Book preview

An embroidered cloth and metal formation badge for Fourteenth Army. The sign was designed by Lieutenant General Sir William Slim, red and black being the colours of the British and Indian Armies. The sword points downwards, in defiance of heraldic convention, because Slim knew he would have to reconquer Burma from the north. The hilt forms the ‘S’, for his own name.

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

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Copyright © James Luto, 2013

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Contents

List of Plates

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Map

1.    2nd British Division – India and Burma, 1942–44

2.    5th Indian Division – The Fighting Fifth

3.    7th Indian Division – Golden Arrow

4.    11th (East African) Division

5.    17th IndianDivision – Black Cat

6.    19th Indian Division – The Dagger Division

7.    20th Indian Division – A Happy Family

8.    23rd Indian Division – The Fighting Cock

9.    25th Indian Division – Ace of Spades

10.    26th Indian Division – Tiger Head

11.    36th British Division

12.    81st (West African) Division – Jungle Commando

13.    82nd (West African) Division – Arakan Assignment

Appendix I: Orders of Battle

Appendix II: Fourteenth Army Victoria Crosses

List of Plates

Troops of 19th Indian Division, more commonly referred to as the Dagger Division, firing 3-inch mortars in support of the advance along the Mawchi Road, east of Toungoo in Burma between March and July 1944.

Transport and a towed 25-pounder of the British 36th Division passing a Burmese temple on way to Tigyiang.

Men of the South Wales Borderers, of the British 36th Division, move forward along a swampy jungle road under sniper fire.

A battery of 25-pounders firing on Japanese positions in Pinew in support of operations by 36th Division, 30 November 1944.

A photograph of Major Scott of the 8th Frontier Force Rifles, 19th Indian Division.

A noticeboard warns the occupants of a Jeep of the dangers ahead on a stretch of the Mawchi Road during the advance by elements of Fourteenth Army in June 1945.

An aerial view of a Bailey bridge being constructed across the Chindwin river at Kalewa.

Men of 11th (East African) Division on a ferry crossing the Chindwin river to Kalewa in January 1945.

The difficulties of fighting in the jungles of Burma are all too evident in this photograph of a Sherman tank that has slid off a track during the advance southwards.

A jungle patrol of Fourteenth Army, armed with rifles and a mortar, moves forward towards Japanese positions during the fighting in Burma.

Chindwin air drop: the detachment of a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun of 11th East African Division watch as an RAF Dakota drops supplies on the western side of the Chindwin river, 8–11 December 1944.

A typical British infantryman of Fourteenth Army: Private George Maguire, who hailed from London, of 19th Indian Division.

The drive on Mawchi. A Japanese 150mm gun, knocked out by Sherman tanks, is examined by two Indian soldiers of Fourteenth Army on the Mawchi Road, June 1945.

British gunners in action at night on the Burma Front: a 7.2-inch howitzer firing near Ondaw, 26 February 1945.

The infamous corkscrew road, rising from the Beltang Lui towards Tiddim, which was known to the men of Fourteenth Army as the ‘Chocolate Staircase’.

Royal Artillery Gunners firing on Japanese positions on the Imphal Plain whilst supporting the operations of 17th Indian Division, also known as the ‘Black Cats’.

Men of 6th Gurkha Rifles go into action at Singu on the Irrawaddy bridgehead, February 1945.

A battery of 3.7-inch howitzers, commanded by Major Hackett, fire at enemy positions on Burma Hill whilst supporting 36th Division.

A 3-inch mortar detachment of 2nd Bn, Royal Berkshire Regiment during the fighting for Mandalay.

Mandalay Hill was assaulted and captured by men of 98 Indian Infantry Brigade, part of 19th Indian Division.

Troops of 98 Indian Infantry Brigade advance past burning buildings in a village near Mandalay.

The Sultan’s Palace in Mandalay on fire during the fighting for the city in March 1945.

Days of grim fighting for Fort Dufferin – the last Japanese stronghold in Burma – ended with a bloodless occupation on 21 March 1945.

Landing craft on the beach at Akyab Island, during the Arakan Campaign, on 4 January 1945.

The first wave of assault troops land at Ramree Island on 21 January 1945.

Men of the RAF’s Advance Assault Party pictured on Ramree Island examining a dummy Japanese tank, the gun being nothing more than a length of bamboo.

Major Sant Singh of 4/14th Punjabs, 7th Indian Division, at the division’s headquarters.

The Japanese Thirty-third Army surrendered to 17th Indian Division at Thaton, north of Moulmein, in the last week of October 1945.

Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten gives a public address from the steps of the Municipal Buildings in Singapore during the surrender ceremony on 12 September 1945.

Lieutenant General Sir William ‘Bill’ Slim with the insignia of Fourteenth Army behind him, in a portrait created at the instigation of the Ministry of Information.

Foreword

They called it the Forgotten Army, its exploits overshadowed by the war in Europe. Yet the men who fought in that harsh environment thousands of miles from home did not see it that way. For those men had learned to live in the jungle, surrounded by their comrades. Their section, their platoon, their commander – that was all that really mattered in that difficult war. The Fourteenth Army was a proud army, emboldened by its success. I know these things because my father fought in its ranks. Bernard Grehan was an NCO with 17 Platoon, D Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Fusiliers, part of 36th Division. It formed what Churchill called ‘the steel tip to the lance’ which was thrust into Burma in the long offensive to recapture that country from the Japanese.

My father was shipped out of Burma before the end of the war. Racked with dysentery and malaria, when he was discharged from the British Army in 1946 his records show that he was considered to be 40 per cent disabled. He remained, however, proud of the Forgotten Army, and wore his Burma Star with pride when occasion demanded.

This sense of belonging to a special force was not confined to the British troops of the Fourteenth Army. I recall the celebrations on the 60th Anniversary of VE Day in London in 2005. I was there with my father, still going strong after all he had endured. Amongst the thousands of veterans, I noticed in particular a magnificent-looking old Indian. A Sikh, his brilliant white turban was a sharp contrast to his black regimental blazer. On his chest was a dazzling display of polished metal and multi-coloured ribbons. I could not refrain from asking him about his medals. He was only too pleased to tell me about them.

Alongside the medals he had been awarded for his service with the British Army were those he had earned after the Second World War with the Indian Army. The Burma Star lay prominently on his chest next to the Indian Independence Medal. He saw no contradiction with this. He was as proud of his independence as he was of his service in that special force, Fourteenth Army.

So, I am happy to endorse this book by James Luto. It brings together the stories of the thirteen divisions of Fourteenth Army and, read one by one, they intertwine to form a complete history of that special force. A forgotten army? Not to the men of the Fourteenth.

John Grehan

Assistant Editor, Britain at War Magazine

Storrington, October 2012.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people for their constant encouragement to bring this book together and further the knowledge of all who read this about the brave and often understated loyalty that was shown to us during the Second World War by our British, Indian and African brothers in arms: Wesley Twigg, where it all started; Fred Crutchett DCM for his ongoing support; Martin Mace for believing; my Father for his constant support and introductions to the old breed via his sterling work with SSAFA; Mum for putting up with both of us; Nicky my wife; Paul Mangat; Dalbara Kalsi; John Grehan; Derek Archer; Richard and Janet Bow; Basil French; The Kohima Museum; Kay Hewitt; the late Philip Malins; David Banks-Broomet and Richard Doherty.

Introduction

I was only nine-years-old when my Grandfather died. Alfred Edward Luto was a captain in 102nd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Indian Artillery, and served with Fourteenth Army in the Second World War. Like so many of my generation I regretted not asking him about his wartime experiences and it was only later in life, long after he had passed away, that I realized what I had lost.

This, though, prompted me to find out more about the war in the Far East and I was fortunate to meet an old Fourteenth Army veteran, Wesley Twigg. At last there was someone who could answer all those questions I never asked. Wesley became my surrogate grandfather, fulfilling my desire for knowledge with boundless enthusiasm.

He too was an artilleryman, having spent the whole of his wartime years with one regiment and one division – 4th Field Regiment in which he served in 7 (Sandham’s) Battery with 5th Indian Division. His stories of 5th Division were inspirational and I simply had to learn more. Fortunately, 5th Indian Division had produced its own little booklet in 1946. Here were more fascinating stories and facts: Victoria Cross actions, great battles, maps and biographies.

Of course it could not rest there. If one division of Fourteenth Army had written a booklet, surely others had done the same? What other amazing actions and events were there to discover?

That was how my quest began. I found that indeed other divisions had produced their own booklets and, over a period of many years, I tracked down those booklets that had been produced. It is the combination of those booklets, collected over the course of a decade or more, which is presented here. The exceptions are the chapters detailing the history of 2nd British Division, which was provided by the Kohima Museum, and 11th (East African) Division, which was taken from original wartime XXXIII Indian Corps summaries.

Now, for the first time, the histories of the divisions of Fourteenth Army, as portrayed together in those rare, largely unknown and almost unobtainable booklets can be told.

The divisions of the Forgotten Army need be forgotten no more.

A map showing the direction of the main Allied thrusts in Burma, advances which eventually culminated in the capture of Rangoon and the defeat of the Japanese Army.

Chapter 1

2nd British Division

Crossed Keys

The 2nd Division sailed to India at the height of the U-boat campaign in April 1942, under the command of Major General J.M.L. Grover. The situation in India was far from healthy, for the Japanese had advanced through Burma to the frontiers of India, both in the Arakan and in the north-east. The Indian Army, having trained for many years on its North-West Frontier, now found itself defending its North-East Frontier in very different conditions.

After a short period in Poona, the division moved to Ahmednagar, which was to remain its base for many months to come. The division’s founder, the Duke of Wellington, would have been at home here, for it was at Ahmednagar that he had defeated the Marathas, 140 years before. The country was open and rather barren, but one brigade at a time was taken out to train in the thick forests of the Belgaum area.

There was also specialist training in combined operations. It was here that the division first met and worked with 36th Division, the only other all-British division of Fourteenth Army. The two formations followed one another through the training establishments around Bombay, and repeated one another’s exercises, thus developing a spirit of healthy rivalry that was never lost. The experience of combined operations training was to prove invaluable. The Irrawaddy, when the division came to make its crossing, would have proved a far more formidable barrier had the lessons of combined operations never been learnt.

The March on Delhi and The Battle for Kohima

Early in 1944 the Japanese pushed across the Chindwin and threatened the great base at Dimapur. This, the Japanese claimed, was the start of their march on Delhi. If Dimapur had fallen not only would the Chinese under General Stilwell have been cut off, but the Japanese would have seized sufficient supplies to enable them to launch a menacing attack upon India. To advance into India they had to occupy Kohima which stood astride the only road they could use. They very quickly surrounded the Imphal area and with 13,000 troops pushed on to invest Kohima.

Kohima was defended by a scratch force of barely 1,500 men made up of 4th Royal West Kents, from 161 Indian Brigade, supported by garrison troops from the Assam Rifles and Assam Regiment. On 5 April the Japanese threw everything they had at the defenders who were inexorably driven in on their final defensive position – the District Commissioner’s tennis court beside his bungalow. Attempts by 161 Brigade, fighting desperately to block the road out of Kohima, to relieve the garrison resulted in 1/1st Punjab Regiment reaching 4th Royal West Kents only to be besieged themselves. The siege lasted fourteen days but the defenders held on to this vital piece of ground high on the ridge dominating the surrounding area but totally surrounded. Their losses were appalling.

At that time 2nd Division was in the Belgaum area. To meet the emergency the division was rushed across India by road, rail and air. Speed was the essence because the Japanese had cut the road between Dimapur and Kohima at the thirty-seventh milestone. In Kohima itself the garrison was holding on, but was very nearly at the limit of its endurance. Between the Japanese roadblock and Kohima were 161 Indian Infantry Brigade, themselves cut off and, now, unable to reach Kohima. There was no time for a proper concentration at Dimapur and, as units of the division arrived, they went straight into action, piecemeal.

On 12 April 1st Camerons, with artillery and tank support, attacked and destroyed the Japanese position near the thirty-seventh milestone. Second Division’s operations to relieve 161 Brigade and the Kohima garrison went on rapidly. The Japanese advance had been checked and, on 19 April, 1st Royal Berkshires took over Summerhouse Hill and High Spur overlooking the Tennis Court in Kohima from the troops who had defended it so well. To do this the division had taken only thirty-one days from the time orders were received at Belgaum more than 2,000 miles away.

The immediate future, however, was forbidding, for the Japanese still held most of Kohima, and their positions, dug deep into commanding hillsides, were very strong. It was decided that the place could not be taken by direct assault and forces were despatched to turn the flanks of the Japanese defences. Four Brigade went to the west, and 5 Brigade to the east. In the centre, 6 Brigade, strengthened by 161 and 33 Indian Brigades, kept up continual pressure on the main positions.

In the monsoon rain the brigades on the flanks had to work their way along narrow muddy paths, often up slopes as steep as 1-in-1.5, through country covered by thick jungle and broken into steep chasms with sides too steep to climb. By perseverance, and with invaluable help from the Naga tribesmen who acted as porters, stretcher bearers and scouts, the two brigades attained their objectives. After some sharp engagements 5 Brigade gained control of the Naga village on the high ground which dominated Kohima from the east. In the west 4 Brigade, emerging suddenly from the jungle, attacked and took the Japanese left-hand flank positions on 4 May.

Meanwhile, in the centre of Kohima, the strongest Japanese defences were being destroyed one by one. For days, men of the 2nd Dorsets, 1st Royal Berkshires, 2nd Durham LI, 1/8th Lancashire Fusiliers, 1st Camerons and 2nd Royal Norfolks existed within a few yards of the Japanese. No quarter was given by either side. Monsoon weather conditions were appalling. Attack was succeeded by counter-attack. For days and nights the fighting was intense and critical. British and Indian endurance, however, triumphed and by the night of 16 May the battle of Kohima was won with the Japanese being driven off the tennis court by 2nd Dorsets backed up by 2nd Reconnaissance Regiment with very close support from 20 Mountain Battery of the Indian Artillery.

Mention must also be made of the superb contribution of the Gunners. Constantly in action, with their FOOs right up with the leading troops, time and time again they broke up Japanese counter-attacks, invariably only yards in front of the British and Indian positions. Their actions were backed up by constant RAF sorties, 31 Squadron (Douglas C-47 Dakotas, air supply) keeping the garrison equipped; 34 Squadron (Hurri-bombers) and 84 Squadron (Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers) backing up our gunners with constant attacks on the Japanese. This was a battle in which everyone took part and the Sappers and Signals must also be praised, as must all of the service support arms who were right in the middle of the battle.

The Battle of Kohima, in the opinion of many, was the decisive period of the Burma campaign. Had Kohima fallen it is difficult to see how Imphal could have been relieved in time.

There remained the task of clearing the heights around Kohima and opening of Imphal Road. The Japanese still held very strong positions south of Kohima and were able to prevent movement towards Imphal. The main enemy posts on the Aradura Ridge were attacked by the 1/8th Lancs and 2nd Norfolks, boldly and with great dash, but without success. Finally, the remaining Japanese were by-passed by 5 Brigade, and shortly afterwards, under pressure, left the way open for the whole division to advance towards Imphal.

The price paid by the division at Kohima was a heavy one. There were many casualties, among them were two brigade commanders killed and two wounded. The cost to the division of this fight can be seen in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery at Kohima. There on the hill slopes is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the world. The memorial to 2nd Division is still maintained by funds contributed by the division at the end of the Burma campaign.

There followed a series of running fights down the road. The enemy’s first real stand was at Viswema, nine miles south of Kohima. The battle there lasted for five days, the Japanese being dug deeply into the steep, tree-clad banks which commanded the road. They were cleared out only after a deliberate attack with heavy fire support.

After that, as 2nd Division gained momentum, the Japanese retreat became more disorganized. There were fights for Mao Songsang village and for Maram Spur (nineteen miles south of Kohima) but the delay was only a matter of hours. On 20 June a mixed column of tanks and infantry, which led the division’s advance, suddenly overran a Japanese Headquarters which was obviously taken by surprise. At dawn on the 22nd, the 2nd Durham Light Infantry and A Squadron 149th Regiment RAC broke through the last elements of Japanese opposition and, at milestone 109 from Dimapur, joined up with a company of 1/17th Dogras of 5th Indian Division which had moved up from Imphal. From that moment the road was opened and the siege of Imphal raised.

Every unit of 2nd Division played an important role in the campaign. The services all played a vital part in maintaining the division at a fighting pitch sufficient to enable it to destroy the 31st Japanese Division in the biggest battle of the Burma campaign. When the battle for the Imphal Road was at an end, 6 Brigade retired to rest in the vicinity of milestone 81, but for 4 and 5 Brigades there was little respite; 33 and 161 Indian Brigades returned to their respective divisions.

The remnants of the Japanese had made for the wild hills around Ukhrul from where they hoped to escape across the Chindwin River. Four Brigade followed in pursuit. Two long-distance patrols, one from the Lancashire Fusiliers and the other from the Royal Scots, went out to search the littleknown mountainous country as far as the banks of the Chindwin. These two columns suffered very real hardship, for they were dependent on supply drops from planes which often could not reach them because of the monsoon weather. The Royal Scots, in particular, came near to starvation and had to eat their mules and ponies. But they did not turn back until they could report that the west bank was clear of the enemy.

In the meantime, 5 Brigade had joined 23rd Indian Division who were forcing the Japanese back down the road from Imphal south into Burma. Five Brigade also suffered from supply troubles, for the rain washed the road away and the rations had to be transported by air. The brigade captured the village of Tamu, and so were the first British force to re-enter Burma on that front. Shortly after, they were withdrawn and, with 4 Brigade, returned to join the remainder of 2nd Division in its rest area. That was in September 1944, and the division had been continuously in action for five months in conditions that must have been the most trying of all theatres. The hard training of 1942–44 had certainly paid dividends.

The Battle for the Airfields

By December 1944 the hunt was on again. Fifth Indian Division and the 11th East African Division had driven the Japanese back across the Chindwin at Kalewa with the East Africans establishing a bridgehead on the east bank. About a week before Christmas, under Major General C.G.C. Nicholson who had assumed command in July 1944, 2nd Division crossed into this bridgehead and began a rapid advance down the road which leads south-east into the heart of Burma.

Their first objective was to secure the Kabo Weir which controls the irrigation works of the North Burma plain. Ruin to the crops and perhaps starvation for the people would have been unavoidable if the Japanese had been given time to destroy the weir. Secondly, the division was aiming at a group of airfields which lie near the towns of Ye-U and Shwebo. These airfields were important for the future. An attack on Mandalay by three divisions was planned and, to supply that force, great quantities of stores had to come by air. It was therefore vital to capture and hold the airfields.

The keynote of this phase of 2nd Division’s operation was speed. In twenty days the infantry marched and fought 150 miles from Kalewa to Shwebo. On Christmas Day the Royal Berkshire Regiment forced Waingrgyo Gorge which the Japanese were holding in strength. On New Year’s Eve, a column of Royal Welch Fusiliers and tanks of 3rd Dragoon Guards captured Kabo Weir intact. By 6 January Ye-U and its airfields were firmly in our hands. Against strong Japanese resistance, the Mu river was crossed by the Dorset Regiment and Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders aided by tanks waterproofed overnight by the Divisional REME. On 8 January the first transport plane landed at Ye-U. Next day Shwebo fell to the Worcesters, supported again by tanks.

For this speedy advance much credit must go to the Royal Engineers. Some 100 diversions were made around blown bridges; fifty bridges were strengthened to take heavy traffic; 500 roadblocks and many minefields were cleared and seven or eight airstrips were built. RASC, REME and Military Police worked at extremely high pressure and achieved miracles. In record time, through teamwork of the highest order, 2nd Division set the stage for the capture of Mandalay.

The Capture of Mandalay

With 19th and 20th Indian Divisions operating on its flanks, 2nd Division played a major part in the operation which took Mandalay. The Reconnaissance Regiment swiftly fanned out across the plain between the Irrawaddy and the Mu Rivers, the rest of the division following rapidly. It was the division’s task to wait until 19th and 20th Divisions were correctly positioned and then to cross the Irrawaddy to make the decisive stroke in the capture of Mandalay.

Before the crossing could be made there were Japanese strongpoints to be overcome. With powerful air support these were reduced one by one. With maximum divisional firepower assisting, the Royal Scots stormed the strongly held village of Ywathitgyi, two miles from Mandalay, on the riverbank. The Lancashire Fusiliers took Kyanse, with air support and flame-throwers, and the tanks had some good hunting on that day. At Saye, the Royal Norfolk Regiment, in spite of heavy shelling, drove out the Japanese and finally cleared the way for the river crossing.

On the night of 25 February the division began to cross the Irrawaddy. Men of the Cameron Highlanders, Royal Welch Fusiliers, Worcestershire Regiment and Manchester Regiment formed the assault group. The operation was opposed and many boats were sunk. Thanks to the determination of the infantry and the courage of the Royal Engineers and RASC, who operated the boats, DUKWs and rafts, the bridgehead was made good. Within twenty-four hours two brigades and a troop of tanks were across.

Twenty-four hours later the third brigade was also in action on the south bank and the bridgehead was being expanded. With a minimum of delay the division consolidated south of the river and turned east to Mandalay. By this time 19th Indian Division was racing so fast towards the city that it now became the task of 2nd Division and 20th Indian Divisions not to take Mandalay, but to block the escape routes to the west and south and help destroy the trapped enemy forces.

In a matter of days 5 Brigade captured Ava and the south end of the great Ava Bridge and sped on to make contact with 19th Indian Division near the centre of Mandalay. By a most rapid forced march 6 Brigade moved to the south of the city, and the Durhams cut the last main road and rail links between Mandalay and the south, by capturing Paleik railway station, complete with a train. Four Brigade crossed the Myituge river in the same area and captured the main railway workshops and depots of North Burma.

Mopping Up

For the men of 2nd Division the 110 days of their Mandalay campaign were an experience in some ways quite as gruelling as the fighting for Kohima. The pace was fast and the strain continuous. After the fall of Mandalay in March 1945, the problem facing General Leese, Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces South-East Asia (ALFSEA), was to capture Rangoon before the break of the monsoon expected in early May. His plan was rapidly to continue the advance on land through Burma with Fourteenth Army while XV Corps, based on Akyab and Ramree, carried out an amphibious operation to assault Rangoon from the sea.

General Leese selected 2nd Division to be the follow-up division in the XV Corps’ assault on Rangoon, but before the division assembled for this operation it was allotted the immediate task of clearing the Japanese out of the area of Mount Popa-Myingyan. The sweep upon Mandalay had left many Japanese in the broken country which lies south of the Irrawaddy. To help clear these out, one brigade of the division was required, while another was needed to prepare the way for an advance to the oilfields of western Burma.

The first task was undertaken by 4 Brigade who for several weeks were engaged, along with 2 Recce, in a period of intensive patrolling. They scored several successful actions and secured a further success with a classic ambush laid by the Royal Scots and the Manchesters in which a party of Japanese, some sixty strong, was completely wiped out.

After a westward move of about eighty miles to the Irrawaddy port of Myingyan, 5 Brigade began to operate to the south. They gained contact with the Japanese in the area of Mount Popa. Here was perhaps the most desolate region in which the division had yet seen action. The massif of Mount Popa was a desert of volcanic rock, hard on the feet and most difficult for digging in. There was no shade, very little water, and the sun was strong. There were two main Japanese positions to be dealt with, and they were defended as Kohima had been, mainly by machine guns sited in deep bunkers with strong artillery support.

Flank movements rapidly cut off the Japanese from their supply bases to the south, but even so it took eighteen days’ hard fighting before the area was cleared. Air strikes and concentrated artillery fire played a large part in this operation. The enemy forces were weakened by the desertion of about 400 Indians who had joined the renegade Indian National Army (INA). At length, having lost more than 200 dead, the Japanese abandoned their positions and fled over rough tracks into the hills.

Meanwhile, 2nd Division, having been assigned the follow-up task in the force detailed to capture Rangoon from the sea, began to concentrate near Calcutta. Early in April 1945, 6 Brigade flew out of Burma and, having been placed under command of 26th Indian Division, sailed with them for Rangoon. As they became free from other commitments, the remainder of the division also flew out and concentrated near Calcutta. Rangoon, however, was occupied without opposition, and the follow-up of the whole 2nd Division became unnecessary. For some weeks, the formation remained in the Calcutta area.

Rangoon was the division’s last chance of conducting operations without drastic changes to its personnel, for by that time two-thirds of all ranks had served overseas for more than three years and were therefore due to be relieved of further active service in this theatre. The remaining months of their term abroad, however, were not wasted, for men were required from all parts of India to help in mounting the operations which were planned against Singapore.

Second Division quickly supplied a large proportion of those who were needed. Although ineligible for operations as a formation, the division had the satisfaction of knowing that it was pulling its weight right up to the end. So ended a year’s fighting. It is difficult to appreciate the achievements of 2nd Division. Figures do not convey the full story, but the following give some indications. The distance as marched by the infantry from Dimapur in Assam to Mount Popa in the heart of Burma was nearly 650 miles. More than 100 guns of all calibre were captured. In all, over 4,600 Japanese dead were counted by the division and some 150 were taken prisoner. These are minimum figures, for in the jungle many dead were never found, and many wounded never seen again.

When the Japanese surrendered it was decided to amalgamate 2nd Division with 36th British. In August 1945 the respective divisional headquarters took up positions side by side at Poona where the amalgamation took place. After a month, the operation was completed and 36th Division no longer existed. The newly formed 2nd Division was placed under command of Major General Nicholson.

Malaya 1945

During this period of the amalgamation in India 5 Brigade under Brigadier McNaught was detached to form part of General Cowan’s formation which was to form the British contribution to the Commonwealth troops in Japan. In Japan it ceased to be 5 Brigade. The remainder of the division embarked at Bombay for Malaya in November 1945. The divisional artillery was left in India to re-organize and train in the vicinity of Poona. At the time of embarkation at Bombay it was uncertain as to whether the division would operate as such in Malaya or whether it would be split up to act under other formations in that theatre.

Major General Nicholson and HQ 2nd Division had been directed to take over the British troops in Siam. On arrival at Singapore, however, the arrangements were changed and the division was directed to take over Southern Malaya with its headquarters in Johore. This operation had become necessary owing to the complete breakdown of law and order throughout Malaya, following the Japanese surrender.

No time was lost in occupying key positions. Divisional Headquarters was established in the lunatic asylum at Johore Bahru – a location which all brigades considered singularly appropriate – whilst 6 Brigade occupied Singapore, 4 Brigade went to the Seremban–Port Dickson area in Central Malaya, whereas the newly formed 5 Brigade and the divisional artillery remained behind in India.

At this stage all military duties were concentrated on the protection of life and property. The Japanese had left behind them a fearful legacy of ineptitude and pillage. All public services – water, electricity, communications, and drainage – had been allowed to fall into decay. The local police had lost all authority, unemployment was widespread, each individual was a law unto himself, theft and corruption were not only rife but open, and minor street battles were almost of daily occurrence. Out of this welter of chaos, it was the stern task of 2nd Division to restore law and order.

Strangely enough, few shots were fired and the British soldier calmly assumed his traditional role. Out of his meagre rations – for these were hard and frugal days – he fed the children and organized Christmas parties with swings and roundabouts, rides in the jeep and on the pony, coconut shies and all the fun of the fair. The effect was speedy and miraculous.

These soldiers were very different from their predecessors, the Japanese, who had descended upon the locals like a plague of locusts in 1942. In a matter of weeks the administrative wheels of Singapore and Malaya began to turn, prosperity slowly took shape, a disturbed and frightened population had found peace and security. By March 1946 the immediate situation was so completely under control that the Army Council was able to withdraw Major General Nicholson. He was appointed Director Royal Artillery at the War Office. At the beginning of 1947 orders were received for the disbandment of 2nd Division in the Far East and its reforming in BAOR.

Chapter 2

5th Indian Division

The Fighting Fifth

Almost continuously in action, or in transit by land, sea and air from one battlefield to another during five years of war, 5th Indian Division was one of