1 00:00:15,849 --> 00:00:18,767 (narrator) Monsoon in Burma. 2 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:24,732 (man) If you can imagine the heaviest rain you'd ever get in this country 3 00:00:24,816 --> 00:00:30,571 going on for six to eight weeks without a break, this was monsoon period. 4 00:00:30,655 --> 00:00:33,866 (narrator) Five months in every year. 5 00:00:34,576 --> 00:00:39,663 (man #2) Squashing through mud, living in mud, lying in mud and sleeping in mud 6 00:00:39,748 --> 00:00:42,124 and drinking in mud and eating in mud. 7 00:00:42,208 --> 00:00:45,794 That was the monsoon in Burma, and it's just a nightmare. 8 00:00:47,589 --> 00:00:53,010 (narrator) War in Burma made up in ferocity what it lacked in scale. 9 00:00:53,928 --> 00:00:58,182 Here, in 1944, in these conditions, 10 00:00:58,266 --> 00:01:04,396 the British were defending the frontiers of lndia against the Japanese. 11 00:02:02,038 --> 00:02:04,039 (bird calls) 12 00:02:14,300 --> 00:02:20,097 (narrator) The Burmese jungle - a steam bath, closing out the sky. 13 00:02:20,765 --> 00:02:26,478 Dense, imprisoning... and a long way from home. 14 00:02:27,355 --> 00:02:31,066 l'd never seen a jungle. l'd seen a forest, but l hadn't seen a jungle. 15 00:02:31,151 --> 00:02:36,864 We went in there, it was dark, dirty, damp, rain, 16 00:02:36,948 --> 00:02:41,034 there were all sorts of animal noises that we'd never heard before... 17 00:02:41,119 --> 00:02:43,203 ln fact, it was really scary. 18 00:02:43,288 --> 00:02:44,997 l liked the jungle. 19 00:02:45,081 --> 00:02:50,878 lt did not have the fear it seems to have had for some Allied soldiers. 20 00:02:50,962 --> 00:02:55,007 lt was a friendly place - dark, where you could camouflage yourself. 21 00:02:58,261 --> 00:03:02,222 (narrator) Burma: jagged mountain and fetid swamp, 22 00:03:02,307 --> 00:03:07,144 clothed in jungle and scored by steep river valleys. 23 00:03:10,690 --> 00:03:16,486 Burma: endless green growth spawning every kind of disease - 24 00:03:16,571 --> 00:03:20,991 malaria, dysentery, scrub typhus, 25 00:03:21,075 --> 00:03:24,995 dengue fever, prickly heat - 26 00:03:25,079 --> 00:03:28,415 particularly in monsoon. 27 00:03:32,170 --> 00:03:36,715 Mud. lt might have been Flanders in the First World War. 28 00:03:37,926 --> 00:03:44,223 The monsoon in Burma turned camps into swamps, roads into quagmires. 29 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:54,316 Affer the rains, the country was just one great bowl of mud. 30 00:03:59,447 --> 00:04:02,449 For the British, Burma was a shield and barrier 31 00:04:02,533 --> 00:04:05,786 protecting their lndian empire. 32 00:04:05,870 --> 00:04:08,497 The Japanese saw they could use Burma 33 00:04:08,581 --> 00:04:10,749 to screen their new territorial gains 34 00:04:10,833 --> 00:04:12,459 in Southeast Asia, 35 00:04:12,543 --> 00:04:15,295 to cut the Allied supply route to China, 36 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:19,341 and to secure new sources of oil and rice. 37 00:04:19,425 --> 00:04:22,678 ln December 1941 , they invaded. 38 00:04:22,762 --> 00:04:25,055 They had the advantage of surprise, 39 00:04:25,139 --> 00:04:29,977 and, for this jungle war, they were thoroughly prepared. 40 00:04:30,770 --> 00:04:32,229 l don't think any country 41 00:04:32,313 --> 00:04:36,316 could have been more unprepared for war 42 00:04:36,401 --> 00:04:39,278 than Burma was at this particular time. 43 00:04:39,362 --> 00:04:41,488 The government was unprepared, 44 00:04:41,572 --> 00:04:46,285 the civil organisation and the people were unprepared, 45 00:04:46,369 --> 00:04:51,456 and the defence forces practically didn't exist. 46 00:04:51,916 --> 00:04:57,546 Some of the Gurkha who came along had 400 recruits straight from the depot, 47 00:04:57,630 --> 00:05:03,885 and the British had been milked of reinforcements and officers to Europe 48 00:05:03,970 --> 00:05:07,723 and, you might say, only the dull leff behind. 49 00:05:14,605 --> 00:05:18,817 (narrator) The Japanese from the start swept all before them. 50 00:05:23,698 --> 00:05:26,783 They used the jungle to outmarch and outmanoeuvre 51 00:05:26,868 --> 00:05:30,037 Britain's weak Burma army. 52 00:05:36,377 --> 00:05:39,546 The British retreated in confusion. 53 00:05:44,719 --> 00:05:51,350 lt was a crashing disadvantage to me in the 1942 campaign 54 00:05:51,434 --> 00:05:54,269 in that l hadn't got a wireless set 55 00:05:54,354 --> 00:05:59,733 which would contact my air support in Rangoon, 56 00:05:59,817 --> 00:06:02,194 and, therefore, believe it or not, 57 00:06:02,278 --> 00:06:05,989 the only thing l could do was to tap in 58 00:06:06,074 --> 00:06:10,702 onto the railway telephone line, 59 00:06:10,787 --> 00:06:15,582 get the babu in the post office in Rangoon, 60 00:06:15,666 --> 00:06:19,711 and try and persuade him that it was vitally important 61 00:06:19,796 --> 00:06:24,633 for me to be put on to air force headquarters. 62 00:06:24,717 --> 00:06:28,303 And that was really one of the reasons why, 63 00:06:28,388 --> 00:06:32,599 in our withdrawal to the Sittang, 64 00:06:32,725 --> 00:06:36,103 we were terribly badly bombed by the RAF 65 00:06:36,187 --> 00:06:39,689 as well as by the Japanese air force. 66 00:06:43,778 --> 00:06:47,072 (narrator) The Japanese had heavy air superiority. 67 00:06:47,156 --> 00:06:49,699 They bombed and strafed almost at will, 68 00:06:49,784 --> 00:06:54,162 spreading terror among raw troops and civilians. 69 00:06:59,961 --> 00:07:03,046 Only a small force of American volunteers 70 00:07:03,131 --> 00:07:05,674 and the few RAF planes that were in Burma 71 00:07:05,758 --> 00:07:09,511 challenged their dominance and rose to battle with them. 72 00:07:19,105 --> 00:07:23,650 The damage the Japanese bombers dealt was, as much as anything, psychological. 73 00:07:23,734 --> 00:07:27,904 People couldn't believe this was happening to peaceful Burma. 74 00:07:43,045 --> 00:07:47,507 Resistance, valiant at times, was swept aside. 75 00:07:52,513 --> 00:07:54,890 l was discharged from hospital at Mandalay 76 00:07:54,974 --> 00:08:00,687 having broken three ribs - leff absolutely stranded on the roadside. 77 00:08:00,771 --> 00:08:02,689 And a civilian picked me up, 78 00:08:02,773 --> 00:08:04,608 took me home to his house, 79 00:08:04,692 --> 00:08:08,612 and said what did l do? And l said, "l'm catering." 80 00:08:08,696 --> 00:08:09,905 He said, "lf you like, 81 00:08:09,989 --> 00:08:11,948 come to our house and cook for us." 82 00:08:12,033 --> 00:08:13,700 We were there two hours, 83 00:08:13,784 --> 00:08:14,993 no more than that, 84 00:08:15,077 --> 00:08:17,078 when the message came through: 85 00:08:17,163 --> 00:08:19,581 "Evacuate, the Japanese are here." 86 00:08:27,048 --> 00:08:29,883 (narrator) The Japanese march north continued, 87 00:08:29,967 --> 00:08:34,596 leaving a trail of chaos and destruction the length of Burma. 88 00:08:37,099 --> 00:08:39,643 The British retreated. 89 00:08:39,727 --> 00:08:42,479 (Bowers) l had nothing, only what l stood up in. 90 00:08:42,563 --> 00:08:48,693 l raided someone's kit, found a stout pair of boots, and we began to walk. 91 00:09:04,043 --> 00:09:08,964 (narrator) ln the mounting confusion, the wounded were a problem. 92 00:09:09,048 --> 00:09:12,551 (man) We had to leave giving treatment and just bandage up, 93 00:09:12,635 --> 00:09:15,470 do the best we could. Some we had to leave behind. 94 00:09:15,596 --> 00:09:20,433 Others we put on transport to get them on the roads - this was all we could do. 95 00:09:20,518 --> 00:09:23,770 And eventually we had to finally give it up as a bad job 96 00:09:23,854 --> 00:09:25,438 and make our own way out, 97 00:09:25,523 --> 00:09:28,858 as we were only 24 hours in front of the Japanese 98 00:09:28,943 --> 00:09:31,278 through the length and breadth of Burma. 99 00:09:40,663 --> 00:09:43,999 (narrator) The Japanese took everything in their stride. 100 00:09:44,083 --> 00:09:49,754 Ahead of them, the last recourse of a retreating army: scorched earth. 101 00:09:56,846 --> 00:10:01,016 The invaders seemed to have made the jungle their friend. 102 00:10:01,100 --> 00:10:04,686 They were racing to win the rich prize of Burma's oil - 103 00:10:04,770 --> 00:10:07,606 but found instead a blazing inferno. 104 00:10:07,690 --> 00:10:14,404 At one installation, £1 1 million worth of oil and plant went up in 70 minutes. 105 00:10:22,413 --> 00:10:26,750 Refugees: Eurasians, Chinese, lndians. 106 00:10:28,419 --> 00:10:32,339 (Bowers) lndians we saw die on the roadside - we could do nothing about it. 107 00:10:32,423 --> 00:10:36,551 We just had to think about ourselves and go on. 108 00:10:41,223 --> 00:10:43,850 (man) The Japanese were driving Burma people - 109 00:10:43,934 --> 00:10:47,937 in their thousands they came through. There were some terrible sights. 110 00:10:48,022 --> 00:10:49,606 Men were leff behind, 111 00:10:49,690 --> 00:10:53,902 and it was heart-breaking to see them being separated from their people, 112 00:10:53,986 --> 00:10:58,239 wondering whether they'd meet up again. They were dying in their hundreds. 113 00:10:58,366 --> 00:11:00,492 All you used to do was pile 'em up, 114 00:11:00,576 --> 00:11:03,161 throw petrol over them and set fire to them 115 00:11:03,245 --> 00:11:05,955 and that was the end of those. 116 00:11:14,215 --> 00:11:17,133 (man) We had to hack through virgin jungle practically 117 00:11:17,218 --> 00:11:23,181 to get out of that country, and we had to find our own way to lndia. 118 00:11:23,265 --> 00:11:27,185 l think the overall impression l had of that horrible trek out of Burma 119 00:11:27,269 --> 00:11:30,563 was that it seemed to bring the best and worst out of people. 120 00:11:30,648 --> 00:11:32,982 Some people who l'd looked up to 121 00:11:33,109 --> 00:11:34,150 and respected 122 00:11:34,235 --> 00:11:36,194 l found l couldn't respect any more 123 00:11:36,278 --> 00:11:41,366 because they became entirely different on that march. 124 00:11:41,450 --> 00:11:43,118 ln fact, l felt that it was 125 00:11:43,244 --> 00:11:45,870 a question of surVival of the fittest. 126 00:11:47,707 --> 00:11:53,795 (narrator) British prisoners - 5,000 in one engagement alone. 127 00:11:53,879 --> 00:11:57,006 The Japanese despised those who surrendered. 128 00:11:57,091 --> 00:12:00,677 They believed soldiers should fight to the death. 129 00:12:02,054 --> 00:12:05,181 (Okada) We felt the British officer was a very good fighter - 130 00:12:05,266 --> 00:12:10,937 all of the ones we captured, they always said to me, "We will win the war." 131 00:12:11,021 --> 00:12:15,442 Now this l couldn't understand, because here is a man who has surrendered 132 00:12:15,526 --> 00:12:18,528 and he still says, "We will win the war." 133 00:12:32,752 --> 00:12:34,544 (triumphal music) 134 00:12:35,796 --> 00:12:38,006 Through the deserted cities of Burma, 135 00:12:38,090 --> 00:12:40,759 the conquering Japanese marched in triumph. 136 00:12:49,101 --> 00:12:53,646 The Burmese people were now exchanging one set of imperial masters for another. 137 00:12:53,731 --> 00:12:55,648 (shouting in Japanese) 138 00:13:01,447 --> 00:13:04,365 ln five months, by May 1942, 139 00:13:04,450 --> 00:13:07,494 the Japanese chased the British up past Rangoon, 140 00:13:07,578 --> 00:13:10,079 through the lrrawaddy and Chindwin valleys, 141 00:13:10,164 --> 00:13:11,664 to the frontiers of lndia 142 00:13:11,791 --> 00:13:14,125 and out of Burma altogether. 143 00:13:14,210 --> 00:13:18,296 lt was the longest retreat in British history. 144 00:13:18,380 --> 00:13:21,382 The Japanese also drove another army, the Chinese, 145 00:13:21,467 --> 00:13:23,843 up to Mandalay towards China. 146 00:13:23,928 --> 00:13:26,679 The Chinese, at war with Japan since 1931 , 147 00:13:26,764 --> 00:13:28,807 were protecting their supply line, 148 00:13:28,891 --> 00:13:30,975 the Burma Road. 149 00:13:31,936 --> 00:13:34,979 China was allied to the western powers. 150 00:13:35,064 --> 00:13:40,235 ln command of Chinese forces in Burma was the American, General Stilwell. 151 00:13:40,361 --> 00:13:44,864 Stilwell, chief of staff to the Chinese supreme commander Chiang Kai-shek, 152 00:13:44,949 --> 00:13:48,034 watched America's interests. 153 00:13:49,078 --> 00:13:52,747 The commander-in-chief, lndia, was General Wavell. 154 00:13:52,832 --> 00:13:54,791 Transferred from the Middle East, 155 00:13:54,875 --> 00:13:59,003 he now faced a formidable foe with scanty resources. 156 00:13:59,088 --> 00:14:03,049 But while his Burma army licked its wounds, he planned a comeback, 157 00:14:03,133 --> 00:14:06,678 a limited offensive for late in 1942. 158 00:14:08,556 --> 00:14:11,641 Wavell chose to mount this offensive in the Arakan, 159 00:14:11,725 --> 00:14:14,644 on the Bay of Bengal, near the lndian Border. 160 00:14:14,728 --> 00:14:18,731 Affer a hopeful beginning, everything went wrong. 161 00:14:18,816 --> 00:14:21,818 The British were outmanoeuvred and outfought again, 162 00:14:21,902 --> 00:14:24,529 and pushed back to their starting point. 163 00:14:24,613 --> 00:14:27,198 They still had not learned to adapt to the jungle. 164 00:14:28,868 --> 00:14:35,331 ln the Burmese jungle, fortunately, there are many bamboo growths, 165 00:14:35,416 --> 00:14:38,710 and in Japan we all eat bamboo shoots, 166 00:14:38,794 --> 00:14:42,881 so there was a lot of natural food in the form of bamboo shoots 167 00:14:42,965 --> 00:14:44,507 all over the place. 168 00:14:44,592 --> 00:14:50,221 Apart from that, we all know that what a monkey can eat, we can eat too. 169 00:14:50,306 --> 00:14:53,933 So if you watch the monkeys and avoid what the monkeys avoid, 170 00:14:54,018 --> 00:14:56,019 you are fairly safe. 171 00:14:56,103 --> 00:15:01,149 Apart from that there are such creatures as bandicoots - a type of rat, you see - 172 00:15:01,233 --> 00:15:04,986 snakes, jungle lizards and tokay - small lizards - 173 00:15:05,070 --> 00:15:07,864 you cut off the head, chop them up and make into curry, 174 00:15:07,948 --> 00:15:10,825 mixed with pepper, can make good curry. 175 00:15:10,951 --> 00:15:14,329 We have our meats and Yorkshire puddings and so forth - 176 00:15:14,413 --> 00:15:16,247 they lived on rice. 177 00:15:16,332 --> 00:15:20,460 You can't get meat and Yorkshire pudding and greens and potatoes out there, 178 00:15:20,544 --> 00:15:23,129 so we had to reorganise ourselves 179 00:15:23,213 --> 00:15:26,591 and lived on the things that the army could produce for us, 180 00:15:26,675 --> 00:15:28,217 like corned beef. 181 00:15:28,302 --> 00:15:30,553 And this is the only place l know 182 00:15:30,638 --> 00:15:34,265 where you could open a tin of corned beef and pour it out like a liquid. 183 00:15:35,225 --> 00:15:38,061 (narrator) One man who was going to use the jungle: 184 00:15:38,145 --> 00:15:40,813 Orde Wingate, an experienced guerrilla fighter, 185 00:15:40,898 --> 00:15:44,734 supremely unorthodox, with a touch of the fanatic. 186 00:15:44,818 --> 00:15:51,032 Now he planned a raid deep in enemy territory, to be supplied from the air. 187 00:15:51,116 --> 00:15:54,535 He commanded the Chindits, ordinary British and Gurkha troops, 188 00:15:54,620 --> 00:15:58,039 but intensively trained. 189 00:15:58,832 --> 00:16:01,542 (Caivert) The first operation was initially 190 00:16:01,627 --> 00:16:06,631 to accompany a general advance into Burma, 191 00:16:06,715 --> 00:16:09,467 but the general advance was cancelled. 192 00:16:09,551 --> 00:16:15,014 However, Wavell wanted the expedition to go forward. 193 00:16:15,975 --> 00:16:20,561 (narrator) February 1943: the first Chindit expedition. 194 00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:22,981 The going could not have been worse - 195 00:16:23,065 --> 00:16:29,862 long distances in dense, hilly jungle, and always one more river to cross. 196 00:16:39,748 --> 00:16:43,418 The heat was extreme, drinking water was short, 197 00:16:43,544 --> 00:16:46,004 and malaria was rampant. 198 00:16:46,088 --> 00:16:49,340 But at last the British were fighting as the enemy did, 199 00:16:49,425 --> 00:16:54,220 learning to turn the jungle to their own advantage - but still hating it. 200 00:17:01,311 --> 00:17:07,400 (man) The heat and the smell of the jungle was vile. Very vile. 201 00:17:07,484 --> 00:17:14,449 You couldn't live in the jungle for an eternity - you'd never stand the smell. 202 00:17:17,536 --> 00:17:20,997 (man #2) Even when you went downhill, you knew you had to go up again, 203 00:17:21,081 --> 00:17:23,791 and we were carrying 60 to 70 pounds on our back, 204 00:17:23,876 --> 00:17:26,794 five days' rations plus arms, ammunition. 205 00:17:26,879 --> 00:17:30,006 You'd think, "Oh, will it ever end?" 206 00:17:30,090 --> 00:17:32,341 lt just went on and on and on, 207 00:17:32,468 --> 00:17:39,098 and the rain - and, of course, the fear that you would be ambushed or attacked. 208 00:17:45,314 --> 00:17:49,567 lt was absolute hell in the first Wingate expedition, 209 00:17:49,693 --> 00:17:55,281 where the jungle was the friend of the Japanese, but our enemy. 210 00:17:56,033 --> 00:17:58,117 (man #1) We were wet all the time, 211 00:17:58,202 --> 00:18:02,080 and while we were wet we got the leech onto our bodies. 212 00:18:02,164 --> 00:18:06,000 They were there all the time because of the dampness of it. 213 00:18:06,085 --> 00:18:09,337 They got onto your body, sucked the blood from your body, 214 00:18:09,421 --> 00:18:12,840 and unless you burnt them the right way with the cigarette end, 215 00:18:12,925 --> 00:18:16,677 they fell off and leff black spots all over your body. 216 00:18:16,762 --> 00:18:20,765 Once they had their fill of blood, they dropped from your body 217 00:18:20,849 --> 00:18:26,270 and burst inside your clothes, and you were smothered in blood. 218 00:18:35,405 --> 00:18:38,866 (man #2) The thought that you'd get wounded and be leff behind, 219 00:18:38,951 --> 00:18:43,121 that was always in our minds, l think - l'm sure it was in most people's minds. 220 00:18:43,205 --> 00:18:45,581 l saw chaps having to be leff behind - 221 00:18:45,666 --> 00:18:50,253 hand grenade, pistol, flask of water, 222 00:18:50,337 --> 00:18:53,214 water bottle, rations - 223 00:18:53,298 --> 00:18:56,843 and propped up against a tree, leff. 224 00:18:59,054 --> 00:19:01,681 (narrator) 450 died. 225 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:08,020 For some, a simple cross in a jungle clearing. 226 00:19:10,399 --> 00:19:14,819 ln June, affer four months, the first Chindits returned from Burma. 227 00:19:14,903 --> 00:19:20,116 Out of the 3,000 men who had gone in, less than 2,000 came back. 228 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:26,247 Weary and emaciated, most had marched a thousand jungle miles. 229 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,377 Whatever the expedition's military results, 230 00:19:31,503 --> 00:19:34,589 it did teach valuable lessons in jungle operations, 231 00:19:34,715 --> 00:19:37,425 in air supply, and in morale. 232 00:19:40,012 --> 00:19:46,809 (Caivert) This was a raid. lts tactical and strategical effect was not great. 233 00:19:46,894 --> 00:19:52,231 lts main effect was on the morale of the British and lndian troops. 234 00:19:52,316 --> 00:19:54,984 Our forces were not picked men, 235 00:19:55,068 --> 00:19:58,696 they were ordinary British and Gurkha battalions, 236 00:19:58,780 --> 00:20:01,407 and the rest of the army said, "My God, 237 00:20:01,491 --> 00:20:03,784 if those people can do it, we can." 238 00:20:04,703 --> 00:20:08,873 (narrator) Very slowly, the British were getting the measure of the jungle. 239 00:20:08,957 --> 00:20:12,418 They loathed its stench, its sticky heat. 240 00:20:12,502 --> 00:20:16,005 lt was hard for them to realise that the jungle was neutral. 241 00:20:16,089 --> 00:20:20,468 (Japanese man, calling out in English) Hello, Tommy! Where are you? 242 00:20:24,514 --> 00:20:27,683 Hello, Tommy! Where are you? 243 00:20:30,562 --> 00:20:32,897 l have been hit. Come and help me. 244 00:20:32,981 --> 00:20:37,276 (narrator) The enemy carried on a crude but effective war of nerVes. 245 00:20:37,361 --> 00:20:41,656 The troops still thought of the Japanese soldier as master of the jungle, 246 00:20:41,782 --> 00:20:44,283 a man who could go for days on a handful of rice, 247 00:20:44,368 --> 00:20:47,161 didn't seem to know the meaning of fear, 248 00:20:47,246 --> 00:20:52,416 would never surrender, was perhaps unbeatable. 249 00:20:55,128 --> 00:20:58,130 (mocking laughter) 250 00:20:59,132 --> 00:21:01,259 A sort of superman. 251 00:21:01,843 --> 00:21:05,763 The Japanese was a good soldier. He was a good soldier. 252 00:21:05,847 --> 00:21:09,684 lf he was told to do a job, he would stop there until he died. 253 00:21:10,394 --> 00:21:12,395 Animals. 254 00:21:12,479 --> 00:21:15,940 But great soldiers, great fighting soldiers. 255 00:21:16,650 --> 00:21:21,445 Their battle drill was fantastic. You couldn't help but admire them. 256 00:21:21,530 --> 00:21:25,157 lf they were ambushed, they were at you - 257 00:21:25,242 --> 00:21:28,828 in 20 or 30 seconds they were pounding you with their mortars, 258 00:21:28,912 --> 00:21:31,497 and in frontal attacks nobody could beat them. 259 00:21:31,581 --> 00:21:34,000 They would just come on and on and on. 260 00:21:34,084 --> 00:21:37,295 He hadn't the mentality, l suppose, to think for himself. 261 00:21:37,379 --> 00:21:38,838 He just obeyed orders. 262 00:21:38,922 --> 00:21:44,510 And he came at you with everything he had, even if it meant losing his life. 263 00:21:44,594 --> 00:21:46,971 He just... he didn't care about life. 264 00:21:47,806 --> 00:21:50,433 We were taught from the very beginning 265 00:21:50,517 --> 00:21:55,021 that we must... our life is the emperor's. 266 00:21:55,147 --> 00:22:00,234 For instance, when l leff for war duty, 267 00:22:00,319 --> 00:22:02,445 l had to clip my nails and hair 268 00:22:02,529 --> 00:22:04,613 and write a last will and testament, 269 00:22:04,698 --> 00:22:06,198 because from that moment 270 00:22:06,325 --> 00:22:09,076 our lives are in the emperor's hands. 271 00:22:09,161 --> 00:22:10,619 ln other words, 272 00:22:10,704 --> 00:22:13,706 my family will put that in the urn 273 00:22:13,790 --> 00:22:16,459 in case my body is not recovered. 274 00:22:16,543 --> 00:22:20,046 So our training is to die for the emperor, you see. 275 00:22:37,773 --> 00:22:40,441 (mournful Japanese song) 276 00:23:09,679 --> 00:23:15,684 We had what we called officers' clubs, where there were Japanese geishas. 277 00:23:15,769 --> 00:23:18,396 These were mostly for officer grade. 278 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:26,237 For the other ranks, we had what you might call "comfort girls". 279 00:23:27,364 --> 00:23:33,244 And, of course, in the officers' parties you all drank - 280 00:23:34,162 --> 00:23:38,082 the thing was to get drunk very quickly, sing songs, 281 00:23:38,166 --> 00:23:40,543 and because of the limitation of the girls, 282 00:23:40,627 --> 00:23:43,421 only the high officers got them later. 283 00:23:43,505 --> 00:23:45,506 But the songs would be like... 284 00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:49,260 l think the English have a song called "Roll Me Over in the Clover", 285 00:23:49,344 --> 00:23:51,554 and you go "One, two, three, four..." 286 00:23:51,638 --> 00:23:55,558 Our songs are very similar - it's always "One, two, three," like this. 287 00:23:55,642 --> 00:23:58,769 And similar in content, too. 288 00:23:58,854 --> 00:24:04,316 For the enlisted men, our entertainment... 289 00:24:04,401 --> 00:24:10,072 Because you're entertaining only between battles or on one day's leave, 290 00:24:10,157 --> 00:24:14,994 and you may die next day, we don't have much time for any lengthy entertainment, 291 00:24:15,078 --> 00:24:18,289 we go straight to the comfort girls. 292 00:24:18,373 --> 00:24:24,336 You pay your money and you come out feeling refreshed and like a new man. 293 00:24:26,256 --> 00:24:28,924 Most of the comfort girls for the enlisted men, 294 00:24:29,009 --> 00:24:30,342 many were Koreans, 295 00:24:30,427 --> 00:24:32,678 and l must say l respect all of them very much, 296 00:24:32,762 --> 00:24:35,264 because who else would come to the front line 297 00:24:35,348 --> 00:24:39,477 to give us the last entertainment 298 00:24:39,561 --> 00:24:42,980 for many of us on this earth? 299 00:24:43,106 --> 00:24:47,109 (narrator) The British had their own, very different, entertainment. 300 00:24:47,194 --> 00:24:49,361 (Vera Lynn) Burma was the furthest point 301 00:24:49,446 --> 00:24:51,989 and very few artists were going there, 302 00:24:52,073 --> 00:24:54,200 so l said, "Right, that's for me." 303 00:24:54,326 --> 00:24:58,537 They thought they were the forgotten army and l think they probably were. 304 00:24:58,622 --> 00:25:03,667 ln fact, just for them to see me was quite a lot to them, 305 00:25:03,752 --> 00:25:09,006 because that l had gone to all the trouble 306 00:25:09,090 --> 00:25:12,426 and travelled so far just to see them 307 00:25:12,511 --> 00:25:17,097 made them feel that they weren't a long way from home, you know. 308 00:25:17,182 --> 00:25:19,767 lf l could pop on a plane and nip out there, 309 00:25:19,851 --> 00:25:23,479 they weren't too far away and not forgotten. 310 00:25:23,563 --> 00:25:28,067 (narrator) ln this jungle stalemate, the message was certainly welcome. 311 00:25:28,151 --> 00:25:31,403 (♪ "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow") 312 00:25:44,167 --> 00:25:51,924 ♪ It's a lovely day tomorrow 313 00:25:52,008 --> 00:25:58,556 ♪ Tomorrow is a lovely day 314 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:05,646 ♪ Come and feast your tear-dimmed eyes 315 00:26:05,730 --> 00:26:12,611 ♪ On tomorrow's clear blue skies 316 00:26:12,737 --> 00:26:20,035 ♪ If today your heart is weary 317 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:26,333 ♪ If every little thing looks grey 318 00:26:26,418 --> 00:26:30,546 ♪ Just forget your troubles 319 00:26:30,630 --> 00:26:36,760 ♪ And learn to say 320 00:26:37,387 --> 00:26:49,815 ♪ Tomorrow is a lovely day 321 00:26:55,947 --> 00:26:59,033 (narrator) October 1943. Things are looking up. 322 00:26:59,117 --> 00:27:02,077 Lord Louis Mountbatten arrives as supreme commander 323 00:27:02,162 --> 00:27:04,955 of a newly created Southeast Asia Command. 324 00:27:05,040 --> 00:27:10,336 His mission: to end the stalemate and knock out the Japanese. 325 00:27:12,464 --> 00:27:16,133 Mountbatten's immediate aim was to rebuild morale 326 00:27:16,217 --> 00:27:21,513 in an army that felt itself forgotten and wondered why it was there. 327 00:27:21,598 --> 00:27:27,603 "We shall march, fight and fly through the monsoon," he declared. 328 00:27:28,938 --> 00:27:32,816 Another new appointment: General Bill Slim, 329 00:27:32,901 --> 00:27:36,278 commander of the newly formed 14th Army. 330 00:27:36,363 --> 00:27:40,366 He knew Burma, and he knew the Japanese. 331 00:27:46,873 --> 00:27:51,418 Bill Slim was essentially a soldier's general. 332 00:27:52,504 --> 00:27:54,880 Watchful of his troops' well-being, 333 00:27:54,964 --> 00:27:58,717 he wanted them fit and ready to go over to the attack. 334 00:28:02,472 --> 00:28:06,809 ♪ Bless 'em all, bless 'em all 335 00:28:06,893 --> 00:28:11,146 ♪ The long and the short and the tall... 336 00:28:11,231 --> 00:28:14,858 (narrator) "The long and the short and the tall" were, in this case, 337 00:28:14,943 --> 00:28:17,194 two-thirds of them lndian troops. 338 00:28:19,155 --> 00:28:23,242 ♪ Cos we're saying goodbye to them all 339 00:28:23,326 --> 00:28:27,204 ♪ As back to their billets they crawl 340 00:28:27,288 --> 00:28:31,458 ♪ You'll get no promotion this side of the ocean 341 00:28:31,543 --> 00:28:35,629 ♪ So cheer up, my lads Bless 'em all 342 00:28:36,381 --> 00:28:38,340 (narrator) Malaria. 343 00:28:38,425 --> 00:28:40,926 At the First Arakan this, and other diseases, 344 00:28:41,010 --> 00:28:45,514 had claimed 120 victims to every battle casualty. 345 00:28:45,598 --> 00:28:47,808 (man) l had malaria 17 times. 346 00:28:47,892 --> 00:28:50,602 The last time they thought l had spinal malaria - 347 00:28:50,687 --> 00:28:53,439 l couldn't walk and l couldn't even move my arms. 348 00:28:53,565 --> 00:28:58,819 And l was getting inoculations all day and every day, three times a day. 349 00:28:59,529 --> 00:29:02,030 (narrator) To stamp out the scourge at source, 350 00:29:02,115 --> 00:29:04,908 clouds of a new insecticide, DDT, 351 00:29:04,993 --> 00:29:08,328 were sprayed over the swampy breeding grounds. 352 00:29:19,174 --> 00:29:23,719 December 1943: a second offensive at Arakan. 353 00:29:24,679 --> 00:29:27,097 The Japanese counter-attacked. 354 00:29:27,182 --> 00:29:29,266 One enemy force advanced north, 355 00:29:29,350 --> 00:29:30,934 wheeled behind the British, 356 00:29:31,019 --> 00:29:33,562 and turned west to capture Ngakyedauk - 357 00:29:33,646 --> 00:29:36,398 or "Okedoke" - Pass. 358 00:29:36,483 --> 00:29:41,278 Another split the British divisions and encircled one of them. 359 00:29:48,411 --> 00:29:54,458 British and lndian units, trapped in a small enclave, fought for their lives. 360 00:29:58,213 --> 00:30:01,256 lsolated groups fought on, surrounded. 361 00:30:04,135 --> 00:30:08,013 The skeleton force held out against an entire Japanese division 362 00:30:08,097 --> 00:30:11,850 in what came to be known as "The Admin Box". 363 00:30:11,976 --> 00:30:16,897 Clerks, mechanics, drivers, even a general, joined in. 364 00:30:18,191 --> 00:30:22,236 ln the first Arakan operation, the troops had withdrawn. 365 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:27,324 Now, on Slim's express orders, there was no withdrawal. 366 00:30:28,409 --> 00:30:31,411 They were supplied from the air. 367 00:30:35,250 --> 00:30:39,962 By day and night, the planes of Troop Carrier Command flew in 368 00:30:40,046 --> 00:30:42,756 to drop essential stores. 369 00:30:50,473 --> 00:30:56,562 What seemed certain defeat was averted by this tactic of air supply. 370 00:31:05,446 --> 00:31:06,780 Casualties were heavy. 371 00:31:06,906 --> 00:31:11,159 The wounded were tended in improvised dressing stations. 372 00:31:11,244 --> 00:31:17,082 Surgeons performed major operations in sweating heat, plagued by flies. 373 00:31:17,166 --> 00:31:19,418 (flies buzzing) 374 00:31:38,062 --> 00:31:42,024 At one field hospital, doctors, medical orderlies and wounded alike 375 00:31:42,108 --> 00:31:44,943 were butchered by Japanese. 376 00:31:51,492 --> 00:31:54,161 The sufferings of prisoners taken by the Japanese 377 00:31:54,245 --> 00:31:56,538 also stirred the troops to fury. 378 00:32:04,297 --> 00:32:07,841 Thousands of Allied prisoners of war slaved and died 379 00:32:07,926 --> 00:32:10,010 building the Burma Railway. 380 00:32:10,845 --> 00:32:15,682 (man) They captured us, and from then on we were no longer men. 381 00:32:17,226 --> 00:32:22,230 (man #2) They literally despised us for giving in. 382 00:32:24,067 --> 00:32:26,401 (man #1) We didn't have the food. 383 00:32:26,486 --> 00:32:30,864 We had to work anything up to 16, 18 hours a day. 384 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:38,622 (man #2) lf you argued with one, if you hit one, 385 00:32:38,706 --> 00:32:43,293 you automatically got six set about you. 386 00:32:45,088 --> 00:32:48,799 And they thought nothing of beating you until your arm was broke 387 00:32:48,883 --> 00:32:51,885 or your leg was broke. 388 00:32:51,970 --> 00:32:56,723 (man #1) They'd stand him outside the guard room in the blazing sun, 389 00:32:56,849 --> 00:33:00,143 take a great delight in pricking him with a bayonet point 390 00:33:00,228 --> 00:33:02,604 to make him stand upright. 391 00:33:07,819 --> 00:33:10,278 (man #3) There were men with terrible ulcers, 392 00:33:10,363 --> 00:33:14,324 and the only treatment they had was dropping maggots onto the ulcers 393 00:33:14,409 --> 00:33:18,245 and letting the maggots eat out the pus and clean the ulcers out. 394 00:33:18,329 --> 00:33:21,623 That's the only treatment we had for them. 395 00:33:21,708 --> 00:33:26,962 (man #1) To find a chap that was 12 stone down to about five stone 396 00:33:27,046 --> 00:33:31,008 and crawling about trying to beg for food or scrambling for food... 397 00:33:31,092 --> 00:33:34,344 l mean, it took some living with. 398 00:33:35,054 --> 00:33:39,182 (man #4) At that time l was going to the toilet on all fours 399 00:33:39,267 --> 00:33:42,060 cos my bowels had dropped. 400 00:33:42,145 --> 00:33:45,272 (man #2) The latrines were concrete - 401 00:33:45,356 --> 00:33:49,776 the top was just one absolute sea of maggots. 402 00:33:49,861 --> 00:33:53,030 This chap in particular was in such a bad way - 403 00:33:53,114 --> 00:33:55,240 l think it was cerebral malaria - 404 00:33:55,324 --> 00:34:01,246 that they found him with his head down there. He'd committed suicide. 405 00:34:05,668 --> 00:34:08,879 (man #1) A very close friend of mine, in my own regiment, 406 00:34:08,963 --> 00:34:13,842 he'd suffered from everything from beriberi, cholera... 407 00:34:14,469 --> 00:34:21,183 When he died, he was just skin - skin over a skeleton and nothing else. 408 00:34:21,309 --> 00:34:24,394 His legs had been eaten away with ulcers. 409 00:34:24,479 --> 00:34:28,607 And there was just nothing of him. l only just recognised him. 410 00:34:33,905 --> 00:34:37,783 And there were 16,000 died just on the raigway. 411 00:34:37,867 --> 00:34:41,745 For every sleeper that was laid, there was a human life given up. 412 00:34:41,829 --> 00:34:45,749 With the proper food, proper treatment, we could have carried on, 413 00:34:45,875 --> 00:34:49,544 built their blasted railway and thought nothing of it. 414 00:34:55,468 --> 00:35:01,056 (man #2) l could never understand people being like that - 415 00:35:01,849 --> 00:35:06,311 so terrible in things that they'd done, 416 00:35:07,355 --> 00:35:10,273 and the sadistic nature of them. 417 00:35:10,358 --> 00:35:16,029 Thinking of this, l felt sorry for 'em as much as anything. 418 00:35:23,037 --> 00:35:24,371 (gunshots) 419 00:35:34,215 --> 00:35:38,343 (narrator) Japanese troops would die rather than surrender, 420 00:35:38,427 --> 00:35:41,555 dig themselves in, resist to the end. 421 00:35:42,181 --> 00:35:44,558 But now, a change. 422 00:35:45,726 --> 00:35:50,063 At Arakan, some Japanese gave themselves up. They'd had enough. 423 00:35:50,148 --> 00:35:55,902 The superman myth was exploded - these troops were not unbeatable. 424 00:35:55,987 --> 00:36:00,615 But many Japanese wounded still took the traditional way out. 425 00:36:00,700 --> 00:36:04,661 (Okada) lt was almost impossible to take care of the wounded, 426 00:36:04,745 --> 00:36:06,371 and the wounded, knowing this, 427 00:36:06,455 --> 00:36:10,876 would ask their comrades to give them a grenade so they can commit suicide, 428 00:36:10,960 --> 00:36:13,628 and maybe three or four wounded who could not walk 429 00:36:13,713 --> 00:36:17,215 could commit suicide that way. 430 00:36:23,806 --> 00:36:27,475 (man) We picked up a number of Japanese who'd been badly shot up. 431 00:36:27,602 --> 00:36:31,646 lt was quite necessary in our field hospitals to tie their hands down, 432 00:36:31,731 --> 00:36:33,440 because if you didn't do that, 433 00:36:33,524 --> 00:36:37,277 they merely tore at their bandages, opened their wounds 434 00:36:37,361 --> 00:36:40,989 and literally tried to commit suicide. 435 00:36:47,872 --> 00:36:49,456 (narrator) Late in 1943, 436 00:36:49,540 --> 00:36:51,833 from Ledo on the lndia-Burma border, 437 00:36:51,918 --> 00:36:54,211 Stilwell and the Chinese advanced 438 00:36:54,295 --> 00:36:56,504 to open the way for a new route, 439 00:36:56,589 --> 00:36:57,672 the Ledo Road, 440 00:36:57,757 --> 00:37:00,967 joining the ogd Burma Road at Bhamo. 441 00:37:03,012 --> 00:37:05,513 The Chinese had to fight to clear the path 442 00:37:05,598 --> 00:37:09,100 which would lead them back to China. 443 00:37:10,853 --> 00:37:16,358 Stilwell's two divisions went ahead, seeking out the enemy. 444 00:37:36,879 --> 00:37:43,009 Edging southeastwards, in three hard months they killed 4,000 Japanese. 445 00:37:47,765 --> 00:37:52,018 Behind them came the engineers, blasting as they went... 446 00:37:56,524 --> 00:38:02,279 and, in their thousands, the labourers who would build the highway. 447 00:38:10,454 --> 00:38:14,082 The Ledo Road, driven hundreds of miles through atrocious country, 448 00:38:14,166 --> 00:38:18,169 was to ensure continued supplies to China. 449 00:38:21,590 --> 00:38:26,219 For Stilwell's troops, conditions were as hard as anywhere in Burma. 450 00:38:35,646 --> 00:38:38,606 From Wingate, too, a new offensive. 451 00:38:38,691 --> 00:38:40,608 Promoted general, he was to lead, 452 00:38:40,693 --> 00:38:43,737 despite opposition from more orthodox colleagues, 453 00:38:43,821 --> 00:38:47,574 a second Chindit expedition to the interior. 454 00:38:47,658 --> 00:38:52,537 They flew in and were again supplied from the air. 455 00:38:53,914 --> 00:38:57,459 March 1944: Operation Thursday. 456 00:38:57,960 --> 00:39:04,299 Air transport for 10,000 men and 1 ,000 pack animals, with stores, 457 00:39:04,425 --> 00:39:08,636 to jungle sites deep in enemy territory. 458 00:39:36,540 --> 00:39:41,461 Landing so many gliders in rough, hostile country was a formidable hazard. 459 00:39:42,463 --> 00:39:45,673 Guerrilla fighting was new to most of them. 460 00:39:45,758 --> 00:39:50,053 ln spite of their training, this was a venture into the unknown. 461 00:40:24,213 --> 00:40:30,176 (Caivert) The second Wingate operation was ten times the size of the first. 462 00:40:30,261 --> 00:40:36,891 The object was, in effect, to cut the lines of communication of the Japanese. 463 00:40:37,017 --> 00:40:42,772 North Burma's like a great bowl with mountains all the way round 464 00:40:42,857 --> 00:40:48,528 and communications running to the rim of the bowl. 465 00:40:48,612 --> 00:40:53,283 We fanned out to cut these lines of communication. 466 00:40:58,038 --> 00:41:01,916 (narrator) The Chindits were on their own, marooned in mid-Burma, 467 00:41:02,001 --> 00:41:04,627 hundreds of miles from their base. 468 00:41:04,712 --> 00:41:10,717 But now it wasn't hit and run. This time they fought pitched battles. 469 00:41:37,328 --> 00:41:39,996 (aircraft overhead) 470 00:41:41,540 --> 00:41:46,711 Bombers were called in time and time again to save a tricky situation. 471 00:41:48,672 --> 00:41:53,801 Early on, the leader, Wingate, was killed in an air crash. 472 00:41:54,845 --> 00:41:57,180 The operation went on. 473 00:41:58,641 --> 00:42:02,393 (man) We just marched on our own two feet with muleteers. 474 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:06,689 lf we was taken ill, we were just sort of slung across the pony 475 00:42:06,774 --> 00:42:09,692 till such time as your temperature went down, 476 00:42:09,777 --> 00:42:12,445 and affer about two days you was slung off the pony 477 00:42:12,530 --> 00:42:16,658 and another unfortunate got put on. 478 00:42:18,702 --> 00:42:21,996 (man #2) Any units operating in those circumstances 479 00:42:22,081 --> 00:42:24,040 have to be mobile all the time, 480 00:42:24,124 --> 00:42:28,253 and wounded, of course, immediately bring you to a halt. 481 00:42:28,337 --> 00:42:32,924 Fortunately, Wingate was able to obtain assistance from the United States 482 00:42:33,050 --> 00:42:35,969 and we were given some remarkable aircraff, 483 00:42:36,053 --> 00:42:39,055 which was a very short take-off/landing aircraff 484 00:42:39,139 --> 00:42:44,811 and could get into any little valley or bit of paddy field and so on, 485 00:42:44,895 --> 00:42:47,230 and evacuate our wounded for us. 486 00:42:48,941 --> 00:42:51,109 (narrator) Long weeks in the jungle - 487 00:42:51,193 --> 00:42:56,823 weeks of dysentery, jaundice, jungge sores and magaria. 488 00:42:56,907 --> 00:43:02,829 Aircraff like this meant rescue for thousands, sick as well as wounded. 489 00:43:06,125 --> 00:43:10,211 The Chindits killed Japanese where they thought they were safe, 490 00:43:10,296 --> 00:43:15,216 and forced them to divert troops from other purposes. 491 00:43:15,301 --> 00:43:20,263 Fighting without respite in these conditions told on the toughest. 492 00:43:20,347 --> 00:43:24,225 (Caivert) Most of the brigades, through casualties and disease - 493 00:43:24,310 --> 00:43:28,896 they'd been behind the lines for four to five months - were finished. 494 00:43:29,023 --> 00:43:35,862 My own brigade had only 300 fit men out of the 4,000 who originally came in. 495 00:43:43,454 --> 00:43:49,000 (narrator) Meanwhile, pushing down from the north were Merrill's Marauders. 496 00:43:52,379 --> 00:43:55,298 Named affer their leader, Brigadier General Merrill, 497 00:43:55,382 --> 00:43:58,926 the Marauders were American volunteers. 498 00:44:02,306 --> 00:44:06,934 Among their targets, the important airfield of Myitkyina. 499 00:44:07,019 --> 00:44:11,189 But the Japanese again had launched an offensive themselves. 500 00:44:11,273 --> 00:44:15,068 ln March 1944, three divisions crossed the Chindwin 501 00:44:15,152 --> 00:44:19,489 to attack Kohima and lmphal inside lndia itself. 502 00:44:19,573 --> 00:44:21,824 One division struck towards Kohima, 503 00:44:21,909 --> 00:44:23,242 two towards lmphal. 504 00:44:23,327 --> 00:44:24,827 They advanced rapidly, 505 00:44:24,912 --> 00:44:27,747 threatening to isolate both objectives. 506 00:44:27,831 --> 00:44:30,458 (man speaking Japanese) 507 00:44:30,542 --> 00:44:33,169 (interpreter) From the Chindwin river to Michan 508 00:44:33,295 --> 00:44:35,421 there are many precipitous mountains 509 00:44:35,506 --> 00:44:37,840 sticking out like the fingers of the hand. 510 00:44:37,925 --> 00:44:43,805 We advanced, climbing up and down these steep mountains. 511 00:44:44,223 --> 00:44:48,142 On the map, the distance is only about 150 kilometres, 512 00:44:48,227 --> 00:44:51,771 but when the mountains and valleys were taken into consideration 513 00:44:51,855 --> 00:44:55,024 it was about 300 km. 514 00:44:55,109 --> 00:44:59,362 Without rest or sleep, it took us 13 days to reach Michan, 515 00:44:59,446 --> 00:45:01,989 where we cut the road. 516 00:45:03,409 --> 00:45:07,078 (narrator) For the Japanese, Kohima was a tempting prize. 517 00:45:07,162 --> 00:45:12,166 lts capture would cut the Allies' supply line to the great base at lmphal. 518 00:45:19,133 --> 00:45:24,721 The British air crews flew dangerous sorties to prevent their advance. 519 00:45:34,732 --> 00:45:37,191 (bombs explode) 520 00:45:44,575 --> 00:45:47,326 But the columns came on. 521 00:45:58,839 --> 00:46:03,176 Steadily, the enemy tightened their circle round Kohima. 522 00:46:03,260 --> 00:46:08,389 They squeezed the small garrison into a tiny central area. 523 00:46:08,474 --> 00:46:12,935 Losses were heavy, reinforcements desperately needed. 524 00:46:13,061 --> 00:46:16,606 l sent the 2nd British Division down to support 525 00:46:16,690 --> 00:46:20,276 the fighting at Kohima, and they went into Kohima. 526 00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:22,820 The front line was on either side 527 00:46:22,905 --> 00:46:26,532 of the district commissioner's tennis court. 528 00:46:26,617 --> 00:46:28,868 They stood shoulder to shoulder. 529 00:46:28,952 --> 00:46:32,205 Where they were killed, they were buried. 530 00:46:32,331 --> 00:46:36,459 Out of three British infantry brigades, 531 00:46:36,543 --> 00:46:41,631 two brigadiers killed, two brigadiers' replacements seriously wounded. 532 00:46:41,715 --> 00:46:44,383 That's what the fighting was like in Kohima. 533 00:46:44,468 --> 00:46:47,887 They attacked us at the tennis courts, 534 00:46:47,971 --> 00:46:52,433 and it was just like playing tennis - 535 00:46:52,518 --> 00:46:54,811 so much so that l believe that the area 536 00:46:54,895 --> 00:46:57,522 from one side of a tennis court to the other 537 00:46:57,606 --> 00:47:02,527 was the positions between the Japanese and the platoon l was with. 538 00:47:02,611 --> 00:47:06,823 The fighting l saw was literally hundreds at a time coming towards us. 539 00:47:06,949 --> 00:47:09,951 The manpower strength just pushed us back 540 00:47:10,077 --> 00:47:13,746 from one trench to a trench ten foot behind us. 541 00:47:13,831 --> 00:47:17,792 Eventually they kept overrunning us due to the manpower. 542 00:47:19,086 --> 00:47:22,046 (narrator) Kohima was the ordinary soldier's battle. 543 00:47:22,130 --> 00:47:26,759 Small groups of Japanese and British fought hand to hand. 544 00:47:31,139 --> 00:47:33,641 (Brown) Every one of us was frightened. 545 00:47:33,725 --> 00:47:39,021 lf we put our hands up and surrendered, our battalion would have been finished. 546 00:47:39,106 --> 00:47:43,609 We knew that if the Japs had got us, they would have shot us and tortured us, 547 00:47:43,694 --> 00:47:46,779 like they did do to some of our boys. 548 00:47:46,864 --> 00:47:50,825 So we stayed in the holes and prayed to God. 549 00:47:50,909 --> 00:47:53,870 Affer the first seven or eight days 550 00:47:53,954 --> 00:47:57,498 the ammunition, the food, was running out. 551 00:47:57,583 --> 00:48:00,126 Water was almost non-existent. 552 00:48:00,210 --> 00:48:04,839 Then we was told the 2nd All-British was on their way to get us out. 553 00:48:11,305 --> 00:48:15,474 (narrator) At last they got there. The British were now struggling 554 00:48:15,559 --> 00:48:19,020 to force the Japanese back from the ridge they had seized, 555 00:48:19,104 --> 00:48:22,648 and a continuous artillery duel went on. 556 00:48:26,194 --> 00:48:31,991 The Japanese had started with a force of 15,000 against a garrison of 3,500. 557 00:48:48,592 --> 00:48:50,593 When the British supplies dwindled, 558 00:48:50,677 --> 00:48:53,554 they were replenished entirely from the air. 559 00:48:57,351 --> 00:48:59,393 (man) l think everyone on the ground 560 00:48:59,478 --> 00:49:03,814 felt just how much they owed to these aircrews 561 00:49:03,899 --> 00:49:07,860 who were going flat throughout the day and sometimes during the night. 562 00:49:07,945 --> 00:49:10,446 And at that time of the war 563 00:49:10,530 --> 00:49:13,866 there weren't that number of spare crews around, 564 00:49:13,951 --> 00:49:19,497 so that each crew had its aircraff and that aircraff had to be kept flying, 565 00:49:19,581 --> 00:49:23,209 and they were going absolutely flat out. 566 00:49:29,007 --> 00:49:32,510 (narrator) Kohima was relieved affer seven weeks. 567 00:49:32,636 --> 00:49:35,972 The troops could now see the suicidal price 568 00:49:36,056 --> 00:49:39,684 the Japanese had paid in their bid to capture it. 569 00:49:39,768 --> 00:49:41,811 (man) They were fanatics. 570 00:49:41,895 --> 00:49:44,647 When l say fanatics, you could be holding a position 571 00:49:44,773 --> 00:49:47,358 and they're about 30 yards away from you, 572 00:49:47,442 --> 00:49:51,112 and all of a sudden they'd come flying at you, shouting and yelling. 573 00:49:51,196 --> 00:49:54,824 lt always amazed us - or amazed me, rather - 574 00:49:54,908 --> 00:49:58,703 how anybody could come flying out of the jungle expecting to kill you 575 00:49:58,787 --> 00:50:00,788 who was shouting at you. 576 00:50:00,872 --> 00:50:05,459 l know it unnerVes you and all that, but you can get used to this eventually. 577 00:50:05,544 --> 00:50:09,922 And when we did get used to it, we took a great toll of the Japanese. 578 00:50:10,007 --> 00:50:13,676 We just held fire and got aim and said, "You shout on, lad, you come on." 579 00:50:13,760 --> 00:50:17,388 And they came on and they filled up in front of our trenches, 580 00:50:17,472 --> 00:50:20,516 our little weapon pits. 581 00:50:23,061 --> 00:50:27,023 (man #2) Fighting the Japanese was totally committed war. 582 00:50:27,107 --> 00:50:32,278 There was no question of heroics, mock-heroics or chivalry 583 00:50:32,362 --> 00:50:38,075 in the sense that one read about prior to the war with Blggies. 584 00:50:38,160 --> 00:50:43,831 We were totally committed to killing as many Japanese as possible, 585 00:50:43,915 --> 00:50:48,044 probably prompted by the fact that we knew from bitter experience 586 00:50:48,128 --> 00:50:50,046 that there had been atrocities, 587 00:50:50,130 --> 00:50:52,256 and we were always fearful of the fact 588 00:50:52,340 --> 00:50:55,468 that we didn't wish to be taken prisoner. 589 00:50:57,721 --> 00:51:01,223 (Brown) l seen one of my lads tied up with Dannert wire. 590 00:51:01,308 --> 00:51:03,934 l don't want to see it no more. 591 00:51:04,895 --> 00:51:10,524 lt was impossible to feel sorry or pitiful for'em, 592 00:51:10,609 --> 00:51:14,195 because we knew what they done to our boys. 593 00:51:16,323 --> 00:51:22,119 They didn't give us a chance, and we didn't give them a chance. 594 00:51:37,135 --> 00:51:41,514 (narrator) Affer Kohima, the relief of lmphal. 595 00:51:41,598 --> 00:51:47,144 Fighting there had been as bloody as at Kohima - and as heroic. 596 00:51:47,229 --> 00:51:52,441 The Japanese now had to be cleared from the Kohima-lmphal road. 597 00:51:57,405 --> 00:52:02,409 ln July 1944, the Japanese broke off the offensive. 598 00:52:03,620 --> 00:52:08,916 Kohima and lmphal had been the high point of the Japanese effort. 599 00:52:10,168 --> 00:52:13,879 "They will never come back," said General Slim. 600 00:52:24,182 --> 00:52:27,977 On Stilwell's front, the Chinese, with Merrill's Marauders, 601 00:52:28,061 --> 00:52:30,354 had taken Myitkyina airfield - 602 00:52:30,438 --> 00:52:33,440 but with heavy casualties. 603 00:52:33,525 --> 00:52:37,945 Under monsoon skies, more wounds to be dressed. 604 00:52:41,324 --> 00:52:43,325 (thunder) 605 00:52:54,671 --> 00:52:59,633 Mountbatten had said the troops would fight through the monsoon. 606 00:52:59,718 --> 00:53:01,302 Now, in the deluge, 607 00:53:01,386 --> 00:53:04,972 they were driving the Japanese back across the Burmese frontier. 608 00:53:05,056 --> 00:53:08,726 Ahead, the long road they had come two years before: 609 00:53:08,810 --> 00:53:13,189 Mandalay, Rangoon, and much bitter fighting. 610 00:53:14,566 --> 00:53:16,609 There would be no rest 611 00:53:16,693 --> 00:53:22,615 till all the Japanese in Burma were defeated and destroyed.