Long Range Penetration Group - From the Indian Archives

Funnily enough, I recently finished reading that beaty of a file PackRat!! The main report was a good read and so too Peter Fleming's 14 page account of his glider's landing and his party's subsequent escape back into India.

 

Fleming's narrative features as an Appendix in Mike Calvert's book, Prisoners of Hope.

 

Here are the details of two other files that carry detailed summaries of the operations carried out on Operation Thursday:

"Outlind Account of Operations of Special Force" (Ref: NAIDLF00858994) which is indeed an 80 page account of the operations of Special Force between March and August 1944.

"A Report on Operations Caviried Out" (Ref: NAIDLF00858994) which is a 61 page report on the operations carried out by Special Force between October 1943 and September 1944.

"Report on Operations Caviried Out" (Ref: NAIDLF00858995) appears to be a duplicate of the previous file in that it contains the same report albeit one whose Chindit badge has been nicely hand coloured!

The file "Long Rang Penetration" (Ref: NAIDLF01008006) contains a spruce 23 page report entitled "What is the Real Value of LRP?". The audience for this article/lecture is not recorded nor is the author named but it appeared in the United Services Institution Journal in 1947 where the anonymous author stated that it was "written in 1944, the author having served in both the first expedition of 1943 and of 1944". Joe Lentaigne subsequently expended an equal amount of ink disparaging it!

 

It does but I couldn't recall having seen the list of other folks in the glider and those singled out for special mention before.

 

I can't remember either Col. I just come in from watering my garden pots and being bitten by the many mosquitos that frequent my garden. I'll have a look later.

 

I can confirm that in my copy (the '71 reprint) the final paragraph of Fleming's report is the same as in the file copy mentioning the same five men for outstanding devotion to duty.

Just in case anyone is interested, here are the names of the party that shared Fleming's glider that night.

 

Thanks for posting Col. Brilliant to have it written out in such a way. It is interesting to see the five batmen listed, probably all attached to the various officers on board. The other thing that comes to mind is having six officers in one glider and quite big players in Fleming, Pringle and Faulkner. That's a lot of expertise lost if the aircraft goes down....which in effect it did.

 

Here's an Op Thursday related file that might benefit from a re-name "Narrative of Operations Patiols" (Ref: NAIDLF00859112). It's a large file (112 pages) containing wireless transcripts and reports dated between November 1943 and February 1944 (with much duplication) related to Special Force reconnaissance patrols beyond the Chindwin.
There is also a first-hand account of the loss of A/Capt. Charles Macdonald whose patrol inside Burma was ambushed on 17 January 1944. Macdonald was not immediately taken following that encounter but was captured a few days later, eventually finding himself in a POW camp in Malaya.

 

The file "Relativer usufukness of special force document full narrative" (Ref: NAIDLF01012816) contains a brief account (16 pages) of the operations of the brigades, including Morris Force and Dah Force, during Operation Thursday.

There is also a note highlighting documents the compiler found particularly useful but sadly no indication of which files they were in. However, document #7078 seems to be that found in the file "A Report on Operations Caviried Out" (Ref: NAIDLF00858994) mentioned in post 63 above.

 

A few more Longcloth related files looked at recently:

"Longcloth" (Ref: NAIDLF01012840) contains a collection of wireless transcripts and notes from March and April 1943 relating to Longcloth W/T procedures.

"Long cloth W. T. Diary" (Ref: NAIDLF01012819) contains 15 pages; a copy of the Longcloth W/T Diary covering the period from 29 March to 29 April 1943.

"Longcloth Log Important Messages" (Ref: NAIDLF01012799) contains the Longcloth Wireless Summary covering the period from 29 March 1943 to 5 May 1943. It is some 112 pages but the scanning process can make it a challenging read as the log pages have been split-up and sometimes page columns have been missed.

"Long Cloth Communications" (Ref: NAIDLF01012839) contains a report on Longcloth W/T Equipment by Major Bromhead, dated 12 April 43 as well as various message handling complaints and minutes on the Pigeon Service Experiment.

"77th Indian inf Bde operations except policy" (Ref: NAIDLF01012815) holds just seven Longcloth related wireless transcripts dating from between 28 February 1943 and 6 May 1943. Perhaps the most interesting being a request by IV Corps HQ for more information on a report of a party of 500 British troops sighted NE of Bhamo on about 22 April 1943 (nb. there was no further information forthcoming!).

Regards,
Col

 

One of the largest Longcloth-related files I have so far encountered is "Long cloth Persorinal" (Ref: NAIDLF01012841). This 256 page file contains copies of various reports, orders and W/T transcripts relating to Operation Longcloth. Documents include a note from October 1942 on the Organisation and Role of 77 Ind Inf Bde; note on Arrangements for moving to Imphal and between Imphal and the Chindwin, dated 1 December 1942; Administrative Arrangements for move to IV Corps area including staffing tables, stores and equipment, animals, ammunition etc, dated 6 December 1942; exchanges that month regarding an increased Supply of Currency (and a copious amount of opium!) for the expedition; Longcloth Movement Order, dated 18 January 1943 and Progress Report, dated 31 January 1943; details on the Issue of Light Scale Rations and Clothing, dated 14 April 1943.

There are also some post-operation papers, mainly dealing with the medical arrangements to be made for returning Longcloth personnel, dated 4 May 1943 and a note about the care needed to ensure the correct scale of rations for recovering men, dated 23 May 1943. There is also a Movement Order of 77 Bd from Imphal, dated 30 May 1944 and a fair amount of correspondence surrounding the dispersal of Longcloth men to leave stations around the country and the onward despatch of late arrivals across the Chindwin.

Regards,
Col

 

Thanks for all these file identifiers Col. I will take some time this evening collating them all and entering the details about the Longcloth men mentioned in the other files you sent over.

 

You are most welcome Steve. I have a few more files that I have been through but I will put up their descriptors on another day as the forum has been a difficult beast to load today.

 

I've noticed it is slow to accept attachments lately, perhaps we are overloading it ourselves. The Walsh/Rowbottom file you sent has five new British soldiers for me and tidies up details on many of the others listed. A real gem.

 

That's really encouraging Steve. Given the experience last week, I had wondered how many of the names in yesterday's batch were misspelt. For instance, I could find no trace of a Capt. Reyten (Renton?) or Capt. Oil but Capt Machen could be the former CQMS George Herbert Machen ex-D.W.R. (# 22267754) who was commissioned into the Indian Army on 25 April 1943?

EDIT: Machen's obituary in the Regimental Journal notes that he served with V-Force.

 

Probably many of them Col. I've had a lot of experience with misspelt names over the years, so I can tell you that, Captain Machen is Captain Harold Machin of the 15th Punjabis, who was attached the Brigade HQ on Longcloth for his knowledge of the Japanese language. He was captured in April 1943 and eventually ended up at the Changi Prison Camp with a small group of other officers from Chindit 1.

Lt/Acting Captain Alfred Peyton was an Army Vet attached to 77 Brigade who was lost on the 15th April 1943 and not seen again.

Captain David Kenneth Oldrini was an officer with No. 4 Column on Longcloth and survived the journey back across the Chindwin in 1943. I've seen his name misspelt many times, but mostly by the Gurkhas who served under him.

 

Very, very impressive detective work!!!!

 

Another two Longcloth related files, for info:

"Military Operation 77th Bde" (Ref: NAIDLF01012510) contains some 166 pages of documents beginning in November 1942, including Administrative Arrangements for Move to IV Corps Area including staffing tables, stores and equipment, animals, ammunition etc, dated 6 December 1942; supply of currency for Longcloth (same documents are found in NAIDLF01012841); exchanges in December 1942 regarding required animal rations and their supply; wireless transcripts relating to sitreps, supply drops, Southern Group’s radio silence, arrangements for dropping of new Wireless Operators (many of the same docs in NAIDLF01012840), etc.

Interesting to see that, even into March, Longcloth stragglers were being picked-up in India and that the suspected W/O deserters mentioned in post 29 above were apprehended fairly quickly. Also worthy of note is a message noting that Capt. A T Sloan of the Burma Intelligence Corps [who subsequently led Operation Astol in April 1943 - see post 46 above] had originally been destined for Longcloth but arrived too late to join! There is also an interesting Report of the Engagement between 2 Column of Longcloth and the Japanese near Kyaikthin during the night 2/3 March 1943, compiled from statements by personnel who have returned, dated 15 March 1943.

"Military Operations 77th Bde" (Ref: NAIDLF01012511) contains more unique material than the above file with about 115 pages of documents beginning in March 1943. These mainly consisting of a considerable number of wireless transcripts related to sitreps, supply drops, the withdrawal of Columns towards the Chindwin and the return of parties into India.

Two particular items of note include a Revised Account of the Engagement between 2 Column of Longcloth and the Japanese near Kyaikthin during the night 2/3 March 1943, compiled from statements by personnel who have returned, dated 22 March 1943 – more BOs and BORs had returned with fresh insights in the intervening week since the first report was drafted. Also, a very readable report by Major RGB Bromhead, Royal Berkshire Regt, on Incidents Leading up to the Withdrawal of 4 Column Longcloth from Operations in Burma during March 1943, dated 29 March 1943.

Regards,
Col

 

Thanks as always Col. I was interested to read about Sloan and Maclean and their Longcloth near misses.

 

Thank you Steve! Sloan is pretty easy to follow but have not been able to nail down Maclean although there is a potential match in the records of the Burma Star Association.