LONGCLOTH
Operation Longcloth
On February 8 1943 in Operation Longcloth, 3000 Chindits, Wingate with them, begun their march into Burma. The original intent had been to use the Chindits as a part of a larger offensive but it was cancelled when the thrust along the Arakan coast faltered.
The chindits crossed the Chindwin River February 13 and faced the first Japanese troops two days later. Two columns marched to the north and received their air supply drops in the broad daylight to create an impression that they were the main attack. They even had a man impersonating a British general along them. RAF mounted air attack to Japanese targets to enforce the deception.
Five other columns, lead by one under the command of brigadier Michael Calvert, proceeded eastward. Three of them later turned north to attack Japanese garrisons but two, of Calvert and Bernard Fergusson, proceeded towards a valley with most railway connections. March 4 Calvert's column reached the valley and demolished the railway from 70 places. Fergusson arrived two days later to do the same.
Many times they could not take their wounded home; some were left with friendly Burmese villagers. Since there were no established paths in the jungle, they had to clear their own with machetes and kukris. A single RAF squadron of 6 planes supplied them by air and not all supply drops found their way to the troops.
When the major force of Chindits crossed Irrawaddy river in March 18, the Japanese already knew about them and had sent three regiments against them. First Japanese sent troops to cut their supply lines before they noticed the air drops; after that, those troops were sent against the Chindits.
On March 24 Wingate received an order to withdraw. By that time the men were exhausted and short of supplies. Back on the Irrawaddy River they abandoned nonessential supplies and either killed their mules for food or set them loose. The columns dispersed and proceeded back with their own routes and methods; one group built an airstrip in the jungle and evacuated their wounded by air, another continued to China. Fergusson's column tried to create a diversion by making false trails and camps. Others crossed the border rivers in one column or in small groups. Many were captured.
By the end of April, after the mission of three months, the rest of the Chindits had crossed the Chindwin river. They had lost a total of 818 men and only 600 of the survivors were regarded fit for further service.
References
Books
- Chindit by Richard Rhodes James:
Hardcover 256 pages (August 1980) Publisher: J Murray; ISBN 0719537460:
Paperback 224 pages (10 September, 1981) Publisher: Sphere; ISBN 0722151020:
Hardcover (November 1980) Publisher: Academic Pr Canada Ltd; ASIN 0719537460:
- The Road Past Mandalay by John Masters
- Make for the Hills an autobiography by Sir Robert Thompson
