ABDA-CBI-SEAC. Book thread.

Some books I read in last couple of months

Wingate's Lost Brigade: The First Chindit Operations 1943 by Philip D Chinnery

Same author wrote another book about Chindits, March or Die so he was already quite knowledgeable about the theme. But I think this is the first and, so far, the only general book entirely dedicated to the First Chindit campaign, beside, of course of biographies of those who went into Burma with Wingate in 1943. I like that that was the case as it definitely deserve book of its own. For events and people it covers it could probably be larger but still I found it quite good. Not to mention that our own Stephen (bamboo43) contributed to the book.


Road of Bones: Siege of Kohima 1944 by Fergal Keane

As title says it is about the Battle of Kohima but it is covering mostly up to relief of the garrison by 2nd British Division, situation before invasion, the Japanese moves over Chindwin River and battle along the road, the struggle in the ridge itself during the siege. But events after that are mostly briefly mentioned. So if you look after entire battle events than this books is not for you and should probably look into Edwards' Kohima: The Furthers Battle or some other books about battle itself. But for what is cover it is a really good book and easy to read.


And to go with it ... Fight Your Way Out: The Siege of Sangshak by David Allison

I never read the only other book about the battle, Harry Seaman's The Battle at Sangshak so I can not compare it it. But what I can say is that it is a really good book and if you want to learn about battle I would definitely recommend it. It is relatively short, less than 200 pages but considering the battle itself it is enough to provide lot of details about battle. On the other side one thing in the book is really annoying, at least to me. Author consistently refer to 2nd Punjab Regiment as 2nd Punjab Rifles which is probably not significant but it really annoyed me beyond belief. Still a really good book.


Finally ... Thunder Run Meiktila 1945 by Jack Bowsher

I am a simple man, if I hear about a new book about Sittang (or the Burma retreat in general) 1942, Chin Hills 1943/44 or Meiktila 1945 I am in. So not surprising I was really exited about this book and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately, the Battle of Meiktila is not well covered, neither in general or by (published) personal accounts. Sure, it was just one, altho main, part of the greater battle which also included Mandalay but even than it was still pretty obscure. Just two books before covered the battle, Osprey's Meiktila 1945 by Edward M Young and Micheal Pearson's End Game Burma 1945, between which I found former much better even being in pretty restricted 96 pages format of the Osprey's Campaign series. The only reason why battle might be somewhat familiar to people would probably be thanks to Fraser's Quartered Safe Out There but even there that many would know about its importance.

Back to the book, Thunder Run Meiktila 1945 only covers parts played by VI Corps in crossing the Irrawaddy and Meiktila. Things outside this might be briefly mentioned but they are not part of the book, so if you want to learn more about the Battle of Mandalay or battles of 7th Indian Division after break out of the 17th Indian Division toward Meiktila than you will have to look into some other sources. Similarly, operations after the battle are not extensively covered after the Battle of Pyawbwe. But I really like that books is strictly focused on the Meiktila operations as this enable it to give as much details as it can. Events like capture and defence of the Meiktila are covered in lot of details taken from documents but also by the words of those who were there and I doubt you find more info anywhere else. Also author went in great efforts to quote from some unpublished and rather rare accounts which gives additional value to the book and bring some new and interesting stuff to light. It is really fascinating book about one the the greatest (but not well known) battles of ww2, it is well written, easy to read through and definitely worth your time. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the battle but also in the Burma campaign and ww2 in general.

One nitpicking I have is that neither of the three brigadiers in the 17th Indian Division are mentioned at once in the book. Both Hedley (CO of the 48th Indian Brigade) and Burton (CO of the 63rd Indian Brigade) very were experienced officers, leading their brigades since the Battle of Imphal, Burton being with division from before retreat in 1942. For Meiktila, Burton received his second bar to DSO while Hedley got his first bar to DSO only to add second bar just one month latter. While I can understand that they might not be mentioned in the text, their missing from orbat while other brigadiers are listed is big omission in my eyes. Not a bid deal but is still bothering me.

 

Some excellent titles there sol. I must get around to reading Keane's book. It has been on my radar for a long time. Hope all is well?

 

Quick question about this title. I have his previous book from the same publisher. How is the quality of photo reproduction in this title?
Has it improved or is still the same? (Muddy images).
Thank you
Mark

 

Sorry, I got a kindle version of the book. Recently I mostly getting electronic versions of the book (mostly due lack of storage space but also to sometimes quite high shipment costs), unless book is not available in that form. And for electronic book images are mostly good, some less so but that is mostly to the quality of image itself as I doubt they were improved by any photo tool once digitalised.

 

Back to the Jack Bowsher book as an email from the KET just landed;

Thunder Run: Meiktila 1945 The greatest combined arms manoeuvre battle of WWII
Webinar: Thursday 25th September at 8pm

Bookings via: Thunder Run: Meiktila 1945 - Kohima Educational Trust

 

In the Osprey Fleet series scheduled for July 2026:
ABDA Command Striking Force 1942: The American-British-Dutch-Australian fleet that tackled the IJN

 

Due to be published in April next year



Link

Book is based on the papers of Brigadier Charles Ian Jerrard, who commanded 98th Indian Brigade or the 19th Indian Division during 1944-1945 (and after the war till 1947). It was his brigade which stormed the Mandalay Hill during the battle for Mandalay. Really excited about this one.

 

Looks like a Pen&sword publication, I have a love hate relationship with their books find they rehash old stuff as well as at times completely going of pist with the stated title and subject matter, on the flip side detailed books with great detail and and a solid book to boot hopefully this will be the latter given its subject ( Mandalay Hill in particular) is not well documented.

 

It is actually a Frontline Books publication but they are part of Pen & Sword. Yes P&S sometime reuse stuff from old books, which is some cases could be a good thing but in some really bad, especially for maps. Another point of worry is that only other James Luto's book that I am aware of is "Fighting with the Fourteenth Army in Burma" which is basically republished collection of old short divisional histories, originally published after the war in India, but almost completely gutted of all of their images, drawings, maps ... Still even if books just have transcribed Jerrard papers I will still be very happy for it. It would be also nice to compare this with details from some other books and stories I have, like John Hill's "China Dragons" which battalion, 2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment, was also part of the brigade.

Also I quite like their epubs simple as they are not require specific reader and could be opened in Kindle and IOS Books applications.

 

Died in 1977, it seems.

Always curious how and why papers come to publishers long after they were written—usually an aged son keen to cement the family legacy / do his filial duty before he shuffles off.

Variation here:

It was a casual encounter, a conversation between holidaymakers abroad. As all such discussions inevitably do with people of a certain age, the subject of children was raised. One said that his son was a military historian who specialised in the Fourteenth Army – often known as ‘The Forgotten Army’. The other said that her late father was a senior officer with that very same forgotten force. She had retained all his papers; would the other’s son be interested?

Those papers included maps, diagrams and orders compiled by Brigadier Charles Ian Jerrard. Jerrard commanded the 98th Brigade during the re-invasion of Burma in 1944, a formation which participated in the great battles which saw the Fourteenth Army crossing the Chindwin and the Irrawaddy, taking Mandalay in bitter close-quarters fighting, and, eventually, driving the Japanese out of Burma.

On 6 October 1944, Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander South-East Asia, arrived at Janori in India to inspect all the units in the 98th Brigade. On the eve of the 98th’s departure for the Burma theatre, Mountbatten concluded his address to the troops with these words: ‘The Japanese has one great advantage … his greatest pleasure is to die for his country. It is up to you to see that you give him all the pleasures he can possibly have.’ With these words ringing in their ears, Brigadier Jerrard and the men of his 98th Brigade concentrated in the Imphal area in early November 1944. The 98th was going to war and set about its task of pursuing the Japanese. The aim was to run them out of Burma.

The most remarkable document discovered in Jerrard’s papers was his personal account of these momentous operations and engagements. Told from a front-line commander’s perspective, this highly detailed and thoroughly absorbing narrative provides the reader with a unique insight into one of the key campaigns of the Second World War. It is that story which is presented by James Luto in this book. As a result, those seven dramatic months of continuous action is revealed in detail through a unique war history collated in 1946.

 

Reading In the Highest Degree Tragic about the US Asiatic Fleet. The author Donald Kehn is the historian for the USS Houston Survivors Association, hence the book is filled with survivor stories/accounts. Well written and with many interesting/new photos. Major issue is a lack of maps. He really slams the Dutch which in many ways is understandable.


Tom Womack told me I needed to find this source. Translating A.G. Vromans' Het Gevecht in de Java-Zee. This is a 1961 study that reconstructs the movements/actions of the two fleets during the battle. Vromans and his team spent three years creating a minute-by-minute chronology of the battle using American, British, Dutch, Australian, and Japanese sources titled Slag in de Java Zee which I am also translating. Het Gevecht uses the data from Slag to build the reconstruction. In the study, he compares the data from all sides and discusses where they agree and disagree. Vromans drew 17 charts all to the same scale of 1:200,000 detailing the movements and actions of the ships at various times during the battle. All the data used are from primary sources.

 

New(ish?) one to be published later this year. I guess it is just a reprint of "The Forgotten Army's Box of Lions" but still quite excited for it as I haven't read it anyway.

 

More information here sol:
Lion Box Kanglatongbi

 

Thank you, I missed it

 

No worries mate, hope all is well.

 

Sol, far from just a reprint!! Since my original privately published book in 2001, I have gleaned so much more information about this forgotten action that I had to re-write the account in much greater detail and in a more professional format thanks to Pen & Sword Publishers. Thirty years of research has gone into this, greatly helped by the use of the internet which has provided access to previously inaccessible records and also made it possible to contact some of the veterans who were involved and their families. I hope you enjoy the read and, more importantly, learn from it.
Lionboxer