Chindit Affair: A Memoir of the War in Burma

by Frank Baines

In March 1944, some 2,200 battle trained men of 111 Brigade flew from India into northern Burma to land on improvised airstrips cleared from the jungle, They were part of General Orde Wingate’s Chindit force sent to fight the Japanese deep behind their lines. Five months later, 111 Brigade was down to 118 fit men – eight British officers, a score of British soldiers and 90 Gurkhas. One of those eight officers was Frank Baines, and in Chindit Affair he tells, in vivid language and with shrewd insight, what happened.

Frank commanded two platoons of young Gurkhas and was attached to 111 Brigade Headquarters, serving under John Masters, where he had a close-up view for most of the time. His account throws new light on the leadership of the Chindit campaign, but above all it is a soldier’s story.

All the horrors of jungle warfare are here – bodies blood-sucked by leeches and corpses impaled by bamboo; Japanese soldiers reduced to eating human flesh; a court martial and execution; soldiers falling sick and dropping by the wayside, and being killed and wounded in action. He also captures the atmosphere of the jungle; its watercourses, trees, birds and the Kachin villagers’ simple way of life. No other account of the Chindit operations touches the same raw nerves, and none recreates so immediately the sensations of being there in the jungle and hills which devoured nearly all of them.

Genres: World War II, Biography

367 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 12, 2011

About the author

Born in 1915, the son of a prominent architect, Frank Baines ran away from school and went to sea on a Finnish four-masted grain sailing ship. He enlisted at the outbreak of the Second World War, trained as an artillery officer in India, saw action on the Northwest frontier before being seconded to 111 Brigade. After the war, he spent three years as a Hindu monk in a Himalayan monastery and he then moved to Calcutta where he set up a business repairing tea chests and started writing. Frank returned to England in 1956 and published four books, including Look Towards the Sea, a widely acclaimed account of his Cornish childhood. At the age of 62, still seeking adventure, he cycled back to India from his home in Coggershall, Essex. He died in 1987 leaving behind this unpublished memoir.

Reviews

[Josh Clubley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting account of life in combat from a different source from what you usually get. The author is very descriptive in his accounts of the conditions he lived in but also in his descriptions of the men he served with and loved. It is not often that you able to read the accounts of a gay man during this time period and it is not a perspective i had expected when i first picked up this book but it was a welcome surprise to read this very personal account. Some times in war memoirs you can tend to feel a slight detachment from the author and their emotions on what they lived through. This is not the case with this book as the author very passionately describes his thoughts and emotions throughout the chindit campaign describing love and loss in a very thought evoking way. I would recomend this book to anyone who wants a different perspective on ww2 combat and the added heartache that is instilled to it when love is involved.

[Julian Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t register the theme of this book when I bought it, but I am really pleased to have read it. 

In an open and honest approach, living up to his name, the author describes both his illicit love and missions with great humility and tremendous detail. Surprisingly, some of the parts he leaves unsaid are just as powerful due to his build up and as imagination played such a huge part in the psyche of guerrilla warfare, thus is very apt. 

This is an extraordinary book which not only lifts the lid on the horror and conditions in which The Chindits operated, but also shows the commendable levels of bravery which were common place. 

You hear a real sense of what it must have been like due to his humble yet evocative writing. 

Highly impressive. 

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly remarkable

A brilliant account of what the war in Burma was really like, together with the authors personal feelings.
Also a good insight into the mindset of the many various types of people's from that time.

[Mike Garitta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but author uses to many run on sentences thereby sometimes loosing the idea.I am by no means and English pro but sum of the vocal. was off the wall.

[Mr K Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Must read

It's completely different from any book I've read on ww2. It's interesting, informative, and really moving in many places. The authors description of the privation suffered by the troops is quite graphic.