Hi I know finding maps of Burma has been a topic and a challenge but yesterday I found a good stash of them in a War Diary at Kew. They are of the Indian Ordnance Survey type used in 1943, 1944. 1945 etc. They cover the area of Imphal, across to Tamu, down the Kabaw Valley to Kalewa , down the Tiddim Road to Fort White etc , Bishenpur and the Silchar track and north of Imphal to beyond Kanglatombi. There were some other areas I did not recognise. They are in the War Diary of the 3rd Carabiniers for 1944 - WO 172/4595. I took some photos of the parts which line up with my research but now need to work out whether it is possible to get good quality copies on A2/A3 paper and what the cost would be. Has anybody done this at Kew?
Well done Any chance of you posting your photos onto this forum? I'd be interested in copies of all the maps you have mentioned. I'm aware that most photo / printer businesses will reproduce in A2 or A3 but at that size, paper rather than photo reproductions would be most economical, and you could try laminating perhaps.
dear Skoyen, Kindly send me copies of the map. Whatever is relevant to Imphal and Burma would be of great help to me. thanks Raj.
I have requested an estimate of the costs of copying the war diaries in question. I will post the results when I have them
If you have requested this directly from TNA it is quite costly... Drew and Lee (amongst others) offer very reasonable rates for this service...
Current Price List According to this, a >A3 digital copy is £10. I assume that price is for a reader marking the 'pages' required and placing the order on site. I'm not sure how TNA define 'research quality' and 'high resolution'.
Many thanks for the advice re costs. I requested the free estimate in order to gauge the size etc of the archive. I am aware that Drew offers a better deal so as and when I get my information, I will be contacting him.
Had a reply from TNA. They say that this record would cost over £500 to copy! Will contact Drew and see what he can do.
I have taken jpegs of most of the file already. Apart from the maps it is interesting because it has detailed accounts of a number of the battles on the Imphal plain where the Lee tanks, split up operating in troops and squadrons, took part. I am struggling to attach them here as they are each over 2MB so I will put the jpegs in my Flickr account if that is acceptable.
One set of maps at Kew that are quite good are those contained within Barton's Narrative (4 volumes) but like all images the difficulty is getting the blasted things to lie flat and trying to avoid glare/shadows when taking the pic... not sure how positive they would be about taking a slab of non-reflective plate glass in... Like so much of my life (being somewhat disorganised) I have yet to sort out these files - 1200> files @ 4gb
Yes, you are right that photographing them is not so easy. Some of those in the Carabiniers file are two maps glued together which makes it more challenging. The big map table just inside the door near the desk has the worst light of any of the seats. I also find that they can be in focus in the centre of the jpeg and blurry to the outside. I used their camera setup to photograph and print some and that worked well but then wanted to email them to myself to share and found that you have to put your email address in to your card first! Can you give me the reference for 'Barton's narrative'. I am mainly interested in the area around Imphal/Kohima and the Kabaw valley.....is this included? There are 60 shots uploading to Flickr now - my username is Oslo1990. Feel free to copy them for personal use. If anyone wants the full file I suggest they send me an email to shazam777@hotmail.co.uk but add a fourth seven to the address before using it. A copy is going off to Raj and Lionboxer.
CAB44-182 thru 185 - it's "Special Forces", ie Chindit... I haven't pawed through these as much as some here may have done but I don't think these cross your sphere of interest directly... I went through as many of the roughs as I could and could not see anything directly "Imphal"...
I was looking through the 16th Brigade diaries at Kew last Thursday, I found what I wanted, but there were some nice maps present in the file showing traces for men lost or missing in action. Sadly, As HC has said these were very large and so creased that it proved impossible to photograph them properly. I noticed that some Burma campaign maps are currently on offer on eBay, here is an example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Burma-India-Jul-1943-Map-83H-Inch-To-4-Miles-Showing-Silchar-Jeep-Track-Imphal-/171229552622?pt=UK_Collectables_Militaria_LE&hash=item27de139fee
Thanks for the link to the maps Skoyen89! I've been looking for a decent scale proper OS map of the Tiddim Road for years, as my Dad was there just before the battle of Imphal. The pictures are awesome. Much appreciated.
Hi Cornishfern I came across some more for the Tiddim Road in my last visit. I need to check that I copied them but if you are interested please send me an email. Directions to open email are earlier in the thread. What unit was your Dad with - I presume some part of 17th Division?
Hello Skoyen 89. My Dad was a Royal Engineer with the 81st West African Division, either the 3rd or the 5th field company, I'd need to double check my notebook. Arrived in Manipur at Christmas 1943, worked on the Tiddim Rd on either side of Burma border (up to and including Milestone 84), was pulled out when the Japanese advanced and the engineers were relieved by the infantry. He went on to do infrastructure (ferries, bridges) on the Arakan. I have a National Archive visit planned on 18 April, so any extra documents that you know of, please let me know. Will email you now. BTW Dad loved the maps I downloaded from your flickr and printed off! He pointed out exactly where some of the events he talks about took place, especially which culvert they mined in case they needed to buy some time by blowing up the road...
