The Chindit War: Stilwell, Wingate, and the Campaign in Burma 1944

by Shelford Bidwell, John Masters (Contributor)

Early in 1944, when the war between the Allies and Japan was three years old, twenty thousand special troops invaded enemy-held Burma. Three thousand were Americans and came to be known as Merrill’s Marauders. The rest were “Chindits,” mainly British soldiers together with Nigerians, Chinese, Gurkhas, and Burmese. Trained in guerrilla warfare, they penetrated Burma by secret routes or landed on remote airfields hacked out of the jungle. Their mission: to free the land route, blocked by the Japanese, along which aid from America could reach China.
History has proven that the campaign was inspired by a serious miscalculation of the motives and reliability of the Chiang Kai-shek regime. But the indisputable heroism of the Allied officers and men in the face of some of the most arduous circumstances in military history made this one of the Second World War’s most controversial campaigns.
Drawing on previously undisclosed papers, private testimonies, and official records, renowned military historian Brigadier Shelford Bidwell recounts the Burma campaign and provides shrewd, caustic portraits of the eccentric and pugnacious Generals Wingate and Stilwell, and acute assessments of men such as Michael Calvert; Wingate’s successor W.D.A. Lentaigne; and Colonel Charles Hunter, leader of the “Marauders.”
Cool, fair, wry but objective, The Chindit War transcends the memoirs of individual participants and puts the story of the campaign in Burma into unforgettable focus.

Genres: History, War, World War II, Nonfiction, Asia, Japan

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1980

Reviews

[Greg Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bidwell writes a readable and in-depth history of the Chindit brigades in Burma in 1944. He concentrates on the commanders - Wingate, Stillwell, and, to a lesser extent, Lentaigne - their personalities, foibles, effectiveness, or lack thereof. He also paints a distinctly colonial picture of the British army and its various contingents - Nigerian, Gurkha, Indian, and British line. He compares and contrasts British and American command styles and the complications of the relationship with Chaing Kai-Shek.
He also discusses, more briefly, the Japanese command style as well as the battalion and column commanders of the Chindits. There are vignettes of the life of the Chindit; the rigors they endured, and the special esprit they felt as a unique, elite unit. He rounds out the history with a few individual stories.
All in all it is an excellent little history of a relatively unknown part of the Second World War. It is colored by the attitude of the British to their soon to be former colonies in the 1960s and is distinctly British in outlook and opinion. This is, to me, a different perspective than I am used to, being an American.
Recommended.

[Mark Thuell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read bringing home the true horror and futility of the campaign in my eyes. Bidwell has got under the skin of the main characters and the atmosphere of the action.
A bit of a ramble and very confusing on the timeframe and protagonists. It would also given more context if he had taken a broader picture of the action of Slim and the 14th army.
In my opinion 1000s of lives were needlessly sacrificed for the recklessness of Wingate who got his mandate from Churchill a politician who needed to feed his base with stories of action. The error was compounded by bowing to the muddled and misplaced American strategy towards China.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, I really enjoyed this book. It is a slender volume, but, does a good job of covering the Chindit actions, including a decent portion of the Marauders (they were eventually assigned to Stilwell's command). Pretty good detail on operations and all the major actions. I thought the author did a great job being even handed, despite all the drama on the allied side of the theater. He calls out those who deserve it, when they deserve it, and praises those same people when deserved as well. If you have an interest in Chindit operations this is definitely a good place to start. I think the maps could have been better, but, they were at least adequate.

[Chris S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing to read what the Chindits had to endure and the sheer intensity, horror and downright stubbornness of the British army in this campaign. I bagged this book in a 2nd hand book shop in Sheffield (thank you 'Rare and Racy'!) and was delighted to discover this was a signed copy by the author himself.