Chindits Special Force Burma 1943-1944 (WW2, war, Romans, greatest)

[dizzybint]

A friend mentioned to me last night about the Chindits and how her father fought with this group during WW2.. I had never heard of them so looked it up..
Unit History: Chindits of Burma. The Chindits were the largest of the allied Special Forces of the 2nd World War. They were formed, named and lead by Major General Orde Wingate DSO. The Chindits operated deep behind enemy lines in North Burma in the War against Japan. They were known as the CHINDITS, a name given to them by their leader, The name was suggested by Captain Aung Thin (DSO) of the Burma Army. Chindit is a corrupted form of the suggested name of the Burmese mythical beast Chinthé ... statues of which guarded Buddhist temples." the Chindits known as the forgotten army https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/ar...-the-chindits/

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by dizzybint

A friend mentioned to me last night about the Chindits and how her father fought with this group during WW2.. I had never heard of them so looked it up..
Unit History: Chindits of Burma. The Chindits were the largest of the allied Special Forces of the 2nd World War. They were formed, named and lead by Major General Orde Wingate DSO. The Chindits operated deep behind enemy lines in North Burma in the War against Japan. They were known as the CHINDITS, a name given to them by their leader, The name was suggested by Captain Aung Thin (DSO) of the Burma Army. Chindit is a corrupted form of the suggested name of the Burmese mythical beast Chinthé ... statues of which guarded Buddhist temples." the Chindits known as the forgotten army https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/ar...-the-chindits/

I was reading the UK article, I don't think they give credit to the regional troops in use. Wiki says half were British (probably officers and noncoms) and about half commonwealth troops - burmese and indians. And I just knew before reading this that tough-as-nails Gurkha troops had to be in this as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chindits

It's like, british troops in Burmese jungles? Must have been a tough bunch. 100 degrees and 95 percent humidity? I grew up in Central Florida, I just picture all the pasty-white Brit tourists I see passing out at Disney World during a typical summer.

[msgsing]

The British were acknowledged by the US as jungle warfare experts first from operations in Burma and postwar during their suppression of the Communist Malayan uprising. They ran a jungle warfare school in Johore Bahru in Malaysia and for years during the Vietnam War trained many US soldiers. I was familiar with some of the British military especially their commando units based in Singapore and they were hardcore professional soldiers.

[Mathguy]

Originally Posted by Dd714

I was reading the UK article, I don't think they give credit to the regional troops in use. Wiki says half were British (probably officers and noncoms) and about half commonwealth troops - burmese and indians. And I just knew before reading this that tough-as-nails Gurkha troops had to be in this as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chindits

It's like, british troops in Burmese jungles? Must have been a tough bunch. 100 degrees and 95 percent humidity? I grew up in Central Florida, I just picture all the pasty-white Brit tourists I see passing out at Disney World during a typical summer.

Yeah, the brits over there were indeed a tough bunch. They didn't send overweight middle aged accountants into jungle warzones like you might see at Disney. Keep in mind that the dna of the residents of britain got a big dose of "southern dna" when the Romans showed up.

Definitely agree about the locals not getting proper credit. Heck, the greatest RAF fighter pilot of WW2 was a Canadian and the documentary on him noted how Canadians etc. were viewed as 2nd rate and lacking "proper breeding" so you can imagine taking that to the next level with non-whites in that era.

[Dd714]

Originally Posted by msgsing

The British were acknowledged by the US as jungle warfare experts first from operations in Burma and postwar during their suppression of the Communist Malayan uprising. They ran a jungle warfare school in Johore Bahru in Malaysia and for years during the Vietnam War trained many US soldiers. I was familiar with some of the British military especially their commando units based in Singapore and they were hardcore professional soldiers.

In spite of my post I do agree, they even developed there weapons for jungle fighting (shorter Enfield Jungle Carbines).
I'm curious if the Japanese were good jungle fighters. I hear differing opinions on the internet. They had no published doctrines or training for jungle fighting (Japan and northern China nothing like the Jungle), but they had good leadership and the individual IJA soldier had the ability also to live under the most brutal conditions.

[dizzybint]

Thanks for all the responses, I wasnt expecting interest in this.. https://www.wearethemighty.com/histo...3#rebelltitem3 it says they were the original SAS. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...-last-10734479

[elvis44102]

i believe frank Sinatra was in a movie about the chindits (or modeled on)...as far a original special forces..more than one person had ideas to use highly trained small groups in combat areas..the British unit that raided Dieppe on the french coast
were also one of the first units of special forces...
American forces had smaller units they used to "find" Japanese forces on some of the innumerable islands that air surveillance could not find

[msgsing]

Originally Posted by Dd714

In spite of my post I do agree, they even developed there weapons for jungle fighting (shorter Enfield Jungle Carbines).
I'm curious if the Japanese were good jungle fighters. I hear differing opinions on the internet. They had no published doctrines or training for jungle fighting (Japan and northern China nothing like the Jungle), but they had good leadership and the individual IJA soldier had the ability also to live under the most brutal conditions.

The Jungle Carbine and other British weapons floated around SE Asia for years. I recall they were used by Singapore police forces in the 1960’s. Several years ago I was in a Singapore bank. There was a guard there from a private security firm and he was armed with an old Lee Enfield revolver.