Chindits

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Chindits were a special unit made up of British and Indian forces that operated in Burma during World War II as part of the Pacific War . The official names for the unit were 77th Indian Infantry Brigade (1943) and 3rd Indian Infantry Division (1944). Their main task was to carry out long-range bypassing operations behind the Japanese lines.

Most of the Chindits soldiers had been assigned from units of the British and Gurkha units of the British-Indian Army . Local Burmese served as scouts and some US soldiers supported the Chindits with the supplies of supplies over land or from the air.

Setting up the unit

Orde Charles Wingate

After the Japanese advanced into Burma in January 1942, the War Office ordered Lieutenant Colonel Orde Wingate to assist in Delhi at the request of General Wavell , the Commander in Chief in India . Wingate had successfully gained experience in guerrilla warfare in Palestine and Abyssinia , which he was now to bring to the reconquest of Burma.

During the summer of 1942 the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade was formed and known as the Chindits . The name is derived from the Burmese chinthe , the lion-like guardian figures in front of the temples and pagodas . Wingate trained his troops in the central Indian jungle near Saugor near Jhansi during the monsoon season to prepare them for the tough battle in Burma. During this time, Wingate worked with Major Michael Calvert on detailed maps of Northern Burma. On this basis his plans were based on how his troops could get behind the Japanese lines in extensive bypass operations in order to conquer and hold airfields there , destroy communication and supply lines and cause confusion and chaos. To do this, he divided his troops into smaller units that were large enough to inflict considerable damage on the enemy, but small enough to be able to withdraw quickly.

The training included jungle fighting , including survival training in bivouacs , river crossings and leading and holding donkeys . The donkeys were very important to the operation as they were used as pack animals for weapons , ammunition , radios , medicines and food . The replenishment deliveries from the air also contained food for the animals.

Wingate divided the 3,000-strong troop into seven columns, which were assigned hundreds of donkeys, oxen and elephants . The plan included breaking the railway line between Mandalay and Myitkyina , taking action against the Japanese in the Shwebo area and, if possible, crossing the Irrawaddy and also breaking the railway line between Mandalay and Lashio .

Operation Longcloth

Operation Longcloth
Chindits cross a river in Burma

Operation Longcloth began on February 8, 1943. First contact with Japanese forces was on February 15, two days after the Chindits crossed the Chindwin .

Since the Japanese believed they had smaller spy groups in front of them, there were only isolated skirmishes . It was only after two columns had destroyed the railway line in northern Burma in 70 places on March 4 that the Japanese discovered that the intruders were brigade strength. They sent three regiments to the region and began a hunt for the enemy. Not knowing that the chindits were being supplied from the air, they tried unsuccessfully to interrupt their supply lines. It was not until March 13th that the Japanese managed to attack while supplies were being dropped. The units that had been assigned to interrupt the supply lines were now also used for direct hunting.

The British units were now deep in the jungle of Burma and a retreat would have ended disastrously, as the Japanese controlled the two major rivers to be crossed. So Wingate decided to continue the operation. But on March 24th, he received the order from India to retreat after all, as the air supply route now almost exceeded the range of the aircraft. The water supplies in the individual columns also became scarce, so that the men began to dehydrate. The danger of being surrounded by the Japanese also grew noticeably.

On the retreat, the chindits took only the bare essentials and released many donkeys that were no longer needed. Since the men were exhausted and weak, many were ambushed by Japanese forces, shot or taken prisoner. One column could penetrate as far as China, another even set up a small airfield and let their sick and wounded fly out. The remainder split up into smaller groups that could slip through the Japanese ranks.

2182 men reached India after penetrating up to 2,400 km into Burma. Most of them suffered from exhaustion and tropical diseases, leaving only about 600 available for further surgery after some recovery.

Further planning

Although Wingate's use and its effectiveness was strongly criticized by various British authorities and officers in India, he found an admirer in Winston Churchill . He invited him to the Quadrant Conference in Québec in August 1943 . There, too, the tactics he used met with approval and the US Army developed its own plans for a corresponding task force (→ Merrill's Marauders ). Wingate achieved the greatest success at the conference with the fact that it was provided with its own air supply in the form of the 1st Air Commando Group .

In India, Wavell put together a new task force, the 111th Indian Infantry Brigade . Brigadier Walter "Joe" Lentaigne became their commander . When Wingate returned from Québec, he had to accept the amalgamation of his troops with the 111th Indian Infantry Brigade, two Gurkha battalions and four British brigades, although he found the new Indian soldiers too untrained for his long marches. This is how the 3rd Indian Infantry Division came into being, which continued to use the naturalized nickname Chindits .

In Washington , meanwhile, a plan of action was drawn up that should include a major offensive with extensive air landings. Wingate's force was supposed to be part of this offensive, but the problem was transporting the animals to the deployment sites. So it was decided with regard to the required size of the equipment for the construction of airfields and for the use of cargo gliders of the type Waco CG-4A Hadrian. Around 150 of them were to be used, plus a Douglas DC-3 / C-47 transport machine. But this amount of aircraft was not available, so that the major offensive was canceled in mid-November 1943. However, since there was a commitment to assemble the machines by the beginning of 1944, at least the Chindit offensive should be pushed ahead. In fact, on January 1, 1944, all emergency services and aircraft were ready on two airfields near Imphal .

The chindits were intended to operate behind the Japanese lines and cover the work on Ledo Street . They were supposed to support General Stilwell's troops and prevent the Japanese from delivering the necessary supplies to their 18th Division , which was trying to get through to Ledo Strait in northern Burma.

Operation Thursday

In preparation for the actual operation, which was to consist of extensive air landings, the 16th Brigade marched from the Indian border towards Indaw from February 5, 1944 under the command of Brigadier Fergusson . The city and surrounding area, 970 km away, was controlled by the Japanese and should be captured before the Japanese were able to send reinforcements there. On March 5th they had reached the Chindwin. Inflatable boats and outboard motors were flown in using cargo gliders to ensure a quick crossing. Due to the thick jungle to be traversed and an additional mission to eliminate a Japanese outpost in Lonkin, there were delays in the approach. The operational area at Indaw was reached on March 20 and an airfield was prepared under the code name Aberdeen .

Operation Thursday
Glider approach during Operation Thursday

In order to achieve the goals of the airborne operation, 10,000 soldiers with around 1,000 pack donkeys, divided into six brigades, had to operate in central Burma, three of them at Indaw alone. Three areas had been chosen as landing sites for the gliders, which were largely in inaccessible terrain so that Japanese ground troops could only reach them with difficulty. They were code-named Piccadilly , Broadway and Chowringhee . The approaches happened at night and three waves were planned. The first brought the units for site protection, the second more combat troops and engineers who were supposed to build a runway, and the third wave consisted of the Douglas DC-3 Dakota landing there with the remaining soldiers and equipment.

The airborne operation started on March 5, 1944. Before and during the approaches, the American air support carried out massive attacks on Japanese airfields, during which 78 aircraft were destroyed and many more damaged in the first two days. Therefore, the landings of the Chindits went largely without Japanese air raids. However, reconnaissance planes reported shortly beforehand that the Piccadilly landing site was blocked by tree trunks. The fears that the Japanese had got behind the plans were not confirmed as the other places were found vacant. Without further ado it was decided to move the main landings to Broadway .

The first wave consisted of 53 gliders, two of which were towed through a Dakota to carry as many soldiers and equipment as possible with as few flights as necessary. However, this led to the fact that the teams mostly did not reach their required flight altitude, aircraft engines overheated or even tow ropes broke. Quite a few cargo gliders therefore had to make an emergency landing and of those who got through to Broadway , many crash-landed, which was due to the trenches overlooked by the reconnaissance and two trees in the middle of the landing area. For this reason, Brigadier Michael Calvert, who was responsible for conducting the operation, prohibited further approaches in the early morning. By then there were 30 dead and 28 wounded. However, since 400 men were already on site, it was possible to clear the landing area of ​​obstacles within about four hours and to clear it for further landings. Now, however, single teams were flying and the gliders were attached with double ropes. After the runway was completed, a total of 579 Dakotas landed on Broadway over the next six nights . Therewith a complete brigade and two battalions stood behind the Japanese lines in central Burma.

Chowringhee was approached from March 6th to 7th with twelve cargo gliders and the airfield was prepared. In the days that followed, 1,200 soldiers with 200 pack donkeys landed there and left the landing area shortly afterwards. Just a few hours later, the Japanese launched an air raid on Chowringhee .

There were a total of three brigades in Burma with which Wingate could operate behind the Japanese lines. Operation Thursday was the most daring and extensive airborne operation of the Allies in World War II up to that point.

The brigade that landed on Broadway was intended to cut Japanese communications north of Indaw. A battalion advanced east to the road between Bhamo and Myitkyina. Three battalions blocked the railway line at Mawlu and the remaining units remained on the airfield for the time being. The blockade at Mawlu, known as the “White City” , was heavily attacked by the Japanese on April 6, first with large-scale artillery fire and then with 27 bombers . These attacks continued for the next ten days, but the Chindits were able to repel them with counter-attacks carried out with small groups on Japanese positions.

The remaining three brigades were originally intended for landing on Aberdeen near Indaw. Since the Japanese had meanwhile succeeded in massively strengthening their troops there, their deployment was canceled. The 16th Brigade located there was able to make out a large supply depot in the vicinity of Indaw, from which all Japanese troops in northern Burma were supplied. This camp was destroyed by a requested air strike.

On March 24th, Wingate was killed while flying back from Broadway when his plane crashed near Bishnupur . Several war correspondents who were on board also died with him. The cause of the crash remained unknown. Brigadier Walter Lentaigne received the supreme command of the Chindits.

Retreat to the north

In late April 1944, the decision was made to use the Chindits in northern Burma closer to the Japanese lines. They should now be used as an infantry unit to defend the newly built Ledo Street. In addition, they lacked equipment and artillery support and air support was only promised for 90 days and was no longer available. As a result, this led to very large losses.

A brigade set up a blockade at Hopin about 100 km south of Mogaung under the code name Blackpool . Two other brigades protected the surrounding area. Another brigade was deployed to support Stilwell's troops at Myitkyina. The men of the 16th Brigade, meanwhile, suffered from great exhaustion and were flown out of Aberdeen .

Blackpool was permanently under very strong Japanese fire. After twenty days, Blackpool had to be abandoned with great losses. Only around 600 men survived.

The battle raged for two weeks at Mogaung, until the order to withdraw was given. Around 100 soldiers were still operational at this point. The last chindits left Burma on August 27th. Operation Thursday cost the unit a total of 944 dead and 2,434 wounded. In addition, 452 men were missing. Half of the remaining men had to be hospitalized immediately because of tropical diseases. Everyone else needed rest and a special diet.

Dissolution of the unit

Back in India, new forces joined the Chindits and they began training for a new operation scheduled for February 1945. The unit was to be converted into an airborne force. Before this could be done, however, the higher ranks were assigned to the 44th Airborne Division .

The Chindits were officially disbanded in February 1945

credentials

  1. ↑ a b The Chindits - Special Force Burma 1942–1944 under
  2. ↑ The Air Invasion of Burma by John T. Correll at ( Memento from January 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ a b The Chindits - Special Force Burma 1942–1944 under
  4. ^ The Chindits - Special Force Burma 1942-1944 under

literature

  • Shelford Bidwell: The Chindit War: Stilwell, Wingate, and the Campaign in Burma, 1944. Macmillan, 1980. ISBN 0-02-510600-7 .

Web links

Commons : Chindits  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Video