Operation Longcloth 1943: The First Chindit Campaign

The Chindits were special operations units formed by Brigadier Orde Wingate as long range penetration forces against the Japanese in Burma. In February 1943 a 3000-man patrol crossed the Chindwin into Burma in an operation codenamed Longcloth, attacking enemy positions, cutting the north–south railway and disrupting communications. A third were killed, taken prisoner or died of disease before the survivors limped back into India in May but their exploits, highly publicised, provided a tremendous boost to Allied morale.

The Chindits were special operations units formed by Brigadier Orde Wingate as long range penetration forces against the Japanese in Burma. In February 1943 a 3000-man patrol crossed the Chindwin into Burma in an operation codenamed Longcloth, attacking enemy positions, cutting the north–south railway and disrupting communications. A third were killed, taken prisoner or died of disease before the survivors limped back into India in May but their exploits, highly publicised, provided a tremendous boost to Allied morale.

Dr Robert Lyman MBE is the author of A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma and Britain 1941-45. Commissioned into the Light Infantry from Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he left the army as a major. His other books include Kohima 1944, Slim: Master of War and Operation Longcloth 1943 (2027).

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