



Operation Longcloth

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseIn late 1942, Archibald Wavell intended in launching a multi-pronged invasion from India into Burma, one of which involved Orde Wingate's brigade of irregulars. Named "Chindits", which resulted from Wingate's mistake while pronouncing "Chinthe" (Burmese for tiger), these men were trained in jungle warfare deep inside enemy territory. The invasion into Arakan Peninsula, Burma was launched on 21 Dec 1942, and by Feb 1943, meeting no success, Wavell was thinking about canceling the invasion. Wingate, however, was able to convince Wavell to continue with the plans to deploy his Chindits. Wingate's force was ordered to cross into Burma on the following day, which crossed the India-Burma border at Tonhe on 13 Feb, followed by the crossing of the Chindwin River on the following day. Divided into two groups, Northern Group and Southern Group, each with multiple columns, they destroyed railroads, bridges, and other infrastructure important to the Japanese war effort. To establish the deception that the force was much larger than it was, ie. forming the impression that it was a full invasion rather than a raid, large scale daylight air drops were conducted, while tactical bombers struck key Japanese defense installations across the area. In late Mar, as the force had ventured to the limit of air support, and with the increasing risk that the Japanese would deploy forces behind them to block movements back toward India, Wingate, who personally led Operation Longcloth, called off the operation. The return trip to India was uncoordinated, and most columns had to break up into small elements in order to do so.

ww2dbaseOf the 3,000 men of the 77th Brigade that embarked on Operation Longcloth, only 2,182 returned; 450 of those lost were killed in action, while the rest were listed as missing in action or captured. Of the two forces, the Southern Group suffered the most, with only 260 of its original 1,000 returning to India. Of the 2,182 returned, only 600 of them were in good condition to continue to serve; the remainder were invalided out.

ww2dbaseMany critics of this operation noted that far too many men were sacrificed on this mission for achieving so little. Wingate, however, argued that the morale boost achieved by this operation could not be easily measured.

ww2dbaseSources:

Frank McLynn, The Burma Campaign

Wikipedia



Last Major Update: Dec 2011

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