ABDA-CBI-SEAC. Book thread.

Sorry, I see what you are asking now.

 

I have read only one of those, Japan's Last Bid for Victory. If you are asking about starting point between those four I would say start with Lyman book as it covers both Imphal and Kohima, basically whole battle. Then you can continue with Kohima and Road of Bones as they both covers Battle of Kohima. In the end, after you learn more about situation on the ground, I would go with Air Battle of Imphal as, in the end, main battle was on ground as major task for RAF and IAF was actually supporting ground troops and transport, in both direction, men and supplies.

Also Keane book is more recent and I guess, among other sources, is using Swinson's book as one of its sources. So I guess first go with Swinson one between those two.

 

If you are interested in Kohima read Swinson first. It is a battle history, not a memoir, but he was there. Road of Bones is excellent. Edwards' book is worth reading too.
If you are primarily interested in Imphal, Evans and Brett-James' 'Imphal: Flower of the Lofty Heights' puts everything in context. The official histories - British and Indian - are essential if you want to get a grip of the detail of what can seem too be a series of quite confusing battles.

 

Well, guess I'm well supplied then Thanks, mate.

 

Recently finished Robert Street's "The Siege of Kohima". Street served with 4th Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment in Burma and book covers his, and in great part his battalion role in Arakan, Kohima, Tiddim Road on in the Central Burma. This is his personal memories but book is also a story of his battalion as it includes experiences of other members of the battalion. It is nicely written book and well worth of reading.

I bough 2003 paperback publication by Barney Books. In 2015, Pen and Sword published "We Fought at Kohima: A Veteran's Account" by the same author. I don't have this book but it seems like the same as 2003 addition. Not sure if there is anything else added in the new book.

Also recently I was quite happy to obtain two more books, Scott Gilmore's "A Connecticut Yankee in the 8th Gurkha Rifles" and, quite rare and usually quite expensive, "Kelly's Burma Campaign: The Letters from the Chin Hills" by Desmond Kelly.

 

Nice finds sol. I have often considered Gilmore's book, now that I need to expand from Chindit 1.

 

Couple of books I found on while casually searching on amazon. I haven't read any of those but if anybody has any additional info I would like to hear it

The Good Soldier Sam: Memoirs of an East End Everyman
by Sam Berkovitz (Author), Simon Blumenfeld (Author)



This seems like general biography of Sam Berkovitz, and part of the book is covering his war service in the Far East. Preview doesn't give any info in which Regiment he served, only that he trained with Chindits.

https://www.amazon.com/Good-Soldier...keywords=burma&qid=1553243902&s=books&sr=1-62


Spidermen: Nigerian Chindits and Wingate’s Operation Thursday Burma 1943 – 1944
by John Igbino (Author)



Not sure if this book is mentioned before. Good thing is that now it is available for $5 in Kindle format. This seems like book about 3rd West African Brigade and their role in 2nd Chindits.

https://www.amazon.com/Spidermen-Ni...eywords=burma&qid=1553244157&s=books&sr=1-275


Sergeant Knight's War: or- How The East Was Won
by Tony Alan Knight (Author)



Memoirs of Tony Alan Knight who served in RAF Regiment in India and Burma. Book is available only for Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/Sergeant-Kni...eywords=burma&qid=1553244178&s=books&sr=1-299


From the Blitz to the Burmese Jungle and Beyond: A World War II Memoir by Brian Hennessy
by Brian Hennessy (Author), Karen McMillan (Author)



Author was armament artificer and seem that he served with 36th British Division and latter with 2nd British Division in Burma.

https://www.amazon.com/Blitz-Burmes...eywords=burma&qid=1553244637&s=books&sr=1-645


Two Pints and Two Bob Change
by Ted Cogdell (Author)



Another memoir. Author was enlisted in the Royal Artillery and served in Norway and in the Far East. Not sure with which particularly regiment he was in Burma.

https://www.amazon.com/Two-Pints-Bo...eywords=burma&qid=1553244838&s=books&sr=1-834

 

Some nice linkls there sol.

I was aware of the Nigerian Chindits book, and have had some feedback on it from families with West African interests.

Sam Berkovitz has been on my radar for several years and was listed on the website below, I will probably order a copy of this book soon:

Jews with the Chindits and General Orde Wingate – Burma

 

Just found a good titles on google play:

 

And another one:

 

One year later almost to the day, the second volume of Chindit Tommy Roberts' diaries:

 

Beautiful!!!

Now, it is your sacred duty to translate them for us mortals

 

I did purchase, The Good Soldier Sam Berkovitz. It is a nice little story which I found interesting. To answer the question of his Chindit heritage; he served with the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers in 1943/44, but due to his age (38) and health at the time of Operation Thursday, he was not allowed to go in to Burma that year. He served instead at rear base, assisting with compiling and loading the Dakota supply planes for his battalion.

Sam did eventually fight in Burma during 1945 with the 9th Border Regiment, where he led a infantry section in clearing villages of the enemy around Meiktila as the 14th Army advanced across the Irrawaddy.

 

While routinely surfing the net I just found out that the following book "The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal" has been published and for those preferring ebooks a pdf can be obtain at the price we all love at The operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal

 

I was looking for something on Amazon yesterday and stumbled across this little book. I am going to grab it soon:

 

Find this one on ebay. Never hear of it before



Summary:
The Grand Tour, The Road to Burma and Back - Memories of an old soldier of World War II; by William (Bill) Marland, privately published, 137 pages.
The authors was trained with 70th Battalion Border Regiment and served in Burma with 1st Bn The Royal Scots and served in 29th Brigade, 36th Division.

I guess that if Bill served in 29th Brigade, he served in 1st Royal Scots Fusiliers, not 1st Royal Scots. Seems like another super rare book as I couldn't find a single other copy of the book online.

 

I recently posted the following on another thread, but I'm also reposting here.

The following is a review of a book
Tales from the King's African Rifles by John Nunneley London Askari Books 1998

http://web.artsci.wustl.edu/tparsons/tparsons/book_reviews_2/tales_of_the_kar.pdf
Review by Timothy Parsons African Affairs, Vol. 98, No. 393 (Oct., 1999), pp. 599-600

John Nunneley was an officer in the 3/6 KAR during the Ethiopian and Burma Campaigns.

"Although the book has its share of harrowing war stories, Nunneley is also a keen observer of military life. Social historians will be particularly interested in his recollections of day-to-day life in the KAR, which include discipline, camaraderie, clothing, rations, accommodation and even the debate over sanctioned military prostitution".

"Finally, the most striking and thought-provoking sections of the book deal with Nunneley's experiences in the jungles of Burma. Where Moyse-Bartlett's official history makes little mention of African perspectives on the fighting, Nunneley provides an unvarnished first-hand account of his battalion's encounters with the Japanese".

Cheers
Maureen

 

Couple of months ago I bought nice copy of Robin Schlaefli's "Emergency Sahib", quite rare and usually not a cheep book. Robin joined the Essex Regiment when war started just to be later commissioned in to the Queen's Own Royal Regiment as 2nd Lieutenant. He opted to be transferred to the Indian Army and ended in the Sikh Regiment where he served as officer in the Machine Gun Battalion of the regiment. He served on various positions but eventually went in Burma, during 1944-45, as Adjutant of the Battalion just to be given command of the Company during the last stages of the war.

It is nice and very interesting book, one of the very few about serving in the Sikh Regiment in general and the Machine Gun Battalion in particular. It give quite a nice insight about life and service in the one of the these kind of units of the Indian Army in "peace" and war. It also tell couple of funny stories like the one when battalion was used for testing 4.2inch mortars for possible use in Burma.

Also, it is nice thing to read about experience of units in the one particular battle from different point of view. At Kabwet, MG Battalion of the Sikh Regiment was surrounded and persistently attacked by Japanese. One of the units sent to their rescue was 2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment. Reading both Robin's book and John Hill's "The China Dragon", who was company commander in the 2nd Royal Berks gives nice picture of the battle from both besieged and the rescuers.

 

Between 1966 and 1980, the War History Office of the National Defense College of Japan published the 102-volume ''Senshi Sōsho'' (War History Series). These volumes give a detailed account of the operations of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. The above is Volume 26 of the series edited and translated by Willem Remmelink 2018.

There is currently a further translated volume Volume 3 of the series The invasion of the Dutch East Indies edited and translated by Willem Remmelink 2015. The campaign to gain control over the Indonesian archipelago. Open Access oapen.org.

It is intended to translate as a final volume, volume 34 Army Air Drive to the Southern Pacific. More details from The Corts Foundation, a Dutch non profit organisation.

Cheers
Maureen

 

I finally got around to buying the above and will read it forthwith.