Chindit 2 General maps, including Strongholds and Landing Grounds.

Hi arnhem44,

It certainly was a steep learning curve for the pilots, some of the transport planes were attempting double tow, this also resulted in problems and early jettison for some of the gliders. Some of the King's Regiment soldiers I have met who were in this first wave, have told me that it was the most frightening experince of their lives and that burying and indeed cremating some of their comrades lost in these crashes, the most soul destroying.

 

Great Information guys...not had a chance to look at the maps yet, but there's a lot of work there. Thank you for taking the time to post it all. I'm struggling to find a map to show India and Burma with places marked on it as they were then. But the univ of Texas maps plus google earth stuff are great.
Arnhem 44 ...I'm not sure that the casualties and deaths on landing were so high, but must have indeed been awful after all the training to not even see the next stage through.

 

Casualty list for Glider B20. The B standing for Broadway. The gliders that were originally earmarked for Piccadilly were pre-fixed 'P' and kept these prefixes even though they went in to Broadway in the end.

I believe that this glider came down well outside of the Broadway perimeter, as no men were taken prisoner from the landing base in 1944, certainly not as early as the 10th March.

Also shown is the list of 1st King's that became POW's as a result of their gliders coming down outside of Broadway and the Japanese capturing them whilst attempting to march back out to India. In 1944 very few men from Chindit 2 were taken prisoner, most were given no quarter by the Japanese and executed if captured, the favour was more or less returned by the Chindits.

 

Steve,

What a great video -- and very moving to me, too! My dear friend Khine was at her best on that journey -- she's brilliant.

At Taukkyan War Cemetery (which was not identified as such in the video) Peter is seen talking with Oscar Dewar MBE, the manager of the CWGC cemeteries in and near Rangoon. Good ol' Oscar! It is one month short of the 21st anniversary of my visit to Burma with the Royal British Legion, when Oscar went far out of his way to take me (accompanied by armed plainclothed policemen) to the remnants of the old Japanese airfield at Hlegu, just up the main road from Taukkyan.

I swear the cemetery seems so familiar to me in the video, yet it was nearly 21 years ago...astounding.

From Hlegu on the evening of 29 Feb 1944 -- just prior to when Peter's Broadway experiences began -- two Ki-43 (Oscar) fighter pilots of the 204th Sentai, Hiroshi Takiguchi and Bunichi Yamaguchi, took off in pursuit of incoming RAF Liberators bound for Rangoon. Working with the searchlights, these two aces shot down two Libs from 159 Squadron -- including the one in which Sgt George Plank, my mother's first husband, was flying. George and his eight crewmates were killed in the air battle. Six of nine aboard the second Lib were captured, and two died in Rangoon Jail, one only a month from liberation.

So, Steve, thanks for this unexpected treat. As for air photos of Broadway and other landing sites, I will come through, but it may be a bit of a slog. I haven't been able to get over to the US Nat'l Archives yet...to see what photo recon flights overflew these sites. Assuming I find imagery, I must order it, wait a few days for it to be delivered to Maryland from underground storage in the central US, and then find the time to visit the Archives to study the film. Pinpointing the correct frames of imagery can be slow, and then I must photograph them with my cheap digital camera. HOPEFULLY, in time, I will have some decent wartime photo recon shots of Broadway, Piccadilly, etc. Might be a month, two months...I can't say!

Attached is a photo of me at Taukkyan War Cem in Nov '93. I'd picked out the grave of an unknown to honor with my poppies.

Cheers,

Matt

 

Hi Matt,

No pressure mate. This thread was for you really, it has grown quite quickly, thanks mainly to Hebridean Chindit.

I met Oscar in 2008 and his counterpart at Rangoon War Cemetery, Mohan. These gentlemen are tremendous and keep those two cemeteries in impeccable order. It took me some time to persuade them both to accept a little something , 'groundskeeper to groundskeeper' shall we say, as a way of saying thank you.

Steve

 

Miracle-Gro or a selection of John Innes...?

 

As a grower myself I have used both products with fine results. Seriously HC, thanks for you're input here, it is invaluable.

 

When I finish the 230 Winter newsletter I'll start on the smaller maps within Barton's...

 

Hi, HC,

In your list of latitudes and longitudes, above in post #4, you listed the latitude twice for ABERDEEN and BROADWAY. I'm fine on Broadway, but can you provide the longitude for Aberdeen?

I'm hoping to get over to the National Archives (um, OUR N.A. here in Maryland, not YOUR N.A. at Kew!) on Saturday to see what photo recon flights hit Aberdeen, Piccadilly, Blackpool, White City, Chowringhee, and Broadway. Or whatever I can accomplish. It's only Aberdeen's longitude I lack...although Steve's posting of Aberdeen maps is most useful.

Thanks,

Matt

 

Clang...

Amended both, Matt... cheer's for the editor's work...

Kenny

 

Hi, Kenny,

Just what I needed -- thanks for the update. On to NARA (US Nat'l Archives) on Saturday, I hope! Dat's da plan. Next leap forward!

Cheers,

Matt

 

I made the first trip to NARA (US Nat'l Archives). I was able to check/photograph the microfilm overlays in relation to Aberdeen, Piccadilly, White City, and Broadway. Ran out of time, so Chowringhee and Blackpool haven't been checked yet. Am I missing any other key landing grounds?

These are only photo recon flightlines, not the actual imagery. And some of the film cans may end up missing if I order them.

In short, there seems to be a lot of coverage of White City, some of Broadway, none of Piccadilly, and one of Aberdeen. Nothing dramatic from March '44, mostly in the late summer and early autumn of '44.

It would have been great to find anything covering Piccadilly, but NARA has nothing at all among the rolls of wartime aerial photography. Maybe in other files at NARA there are photos, but I can't investigate.

Real quick, no time to get fancy, here is a 1 degree by 1 degree overall microfilm display (lower left corner: 24N, 96E), showing a 15 Oct 1944 flight that photographed White City. You'll see the Irrawaddy in blue, and a blue "+" indicating locations for White City, Piccadilly, and Broadway. I had to make my lat/long guide, with the "+" marks and the river, onto an acetate overlay, which I best positioned with tape onto the displayed microfilm for this mission. Pain in the ass...very inefficient...but at least there is film to look at and to eventually photograph FOR FREE!!

Also attached -- a closeup of the info at the top of the display. The ground scale of this imagery is 1:10,000 -- which is excellent detail. The imagery is marked "Good".

What the hell, here are two more from 15 Oct '44, for Broadway overflights rated "Good". Scale: 1:22,00 -- still very good for viewing detail.

With lots going on in the weeks to come, I don't know when I'll be able to order film to start looking for nice shots of these landing grounds. Patience is a virtue!!

The attached are pretty boring, but the air photos will be a little more exciting to the gang...

Cheers,

Matt

 

Hi Matt,

Some good work there.

Re: Piccadilly. There is a famous Chindit story that on March 4/5th, a USAAF recce plane flew over this potential landing strip and found it covered with teak logs, thus making it unfit for purpose. The discussion then pondered whether the Japanese had gotten wind of the planned invasion and whether the whole show should be called off.

I would imagine that this is why Piccadilly was never reviewed again for Chindit use.

 

Hi, Steve,

Yep, that explains Piccadilly very well. I was hoping there would be pre-Operation Thursday coverage of the Piccadilly site, however. While definitely there was air photo recce of the site, it's just that the National Archives didn't choose to save the imagery.

On Saturday I was also checking out the overflights of the Loiwing Factory airfield and the nearby Loiwing airfield (Suili), up on the border with China. The CAMCO aircraft factory had been built there in the 1930s, and the site is associated with the American Volunteer Group. I'm helping a couple of researchers pin down the geography of these two airfields, via imagery. In my notes from abuot 20 years ago I recorded that I'd looked at two cans of film covering the two airfields. But, on Saturday, I found that there are no microfilm flight line overlays for these two cans.

Either they were destroyed in the last 20 years or, more likely, some microfilm overlays are missing. In other words, it's possible that NARA does have aerial coverage of Piccadilly, but there's no way of knowing. Actually, I found this to be the case -- missing flightpath overlays -- in 2013 work I did along the Burma-Siam Railway. Very frustrating!

I'm itching to get back to NARA to order some film. I want to see Aberdeen, Broadway, and White City from above! And share with the forum...

Cheers,

Matt

 

Thanks Matt, it would certainly be interesting to see these places from above on contemporary photographic images.

Cheers

 

Blackpool imagery is somewhat like the proverbial rocking-horse droppings...

 

Matt and HC, I've sent you two an email containing a large map of 16th Brigade's marching route in 1944. It shows all the strongholds bar Blackpool unfortunately. Beware it is 9mb in size, far too big for uploading on here.

 

Steve, could you send me a copy too! Thanks

 

On it's way right now.

 

I just thought HC, you will probably already have this map won't you!