The British Army 1939-45 (3): The Far East

The lightning Japanese offensives in East Asia in 1941/42 inflicted a series of costly defeats on the ill-prepared and badly supported British Commonwealth forces in Malaya and Burma.

The 'forgotten' 14th Army on the India-Burma border slowly built up its strength and its tactical expertise; and Wingate's 'Chindits' proved that units supplied from the air could operate deep behind enemy lines. In 1944 General Slim's troops decisively smashed Japan's last offensive at Imphal and Kohima; and o...