Between December 1941 and May 1942, the British Empire suffered a series of humiliating defeats in the Far East. Three years later the Japanese were defeated by British and Commonwealth forces at Kohima and Imphal and in the battles for Burma. This transformation in the fortunes was in large part due to the development of jungle warfare doctrine and the resulting improvements in training, tactics and equipment. This book examines British Army conventional forces that fought in the Far East, showing how the dissemination of doctrine improved training, and helped 14th Army's infantry divisions secure victory.

En beskrivelse af engelske artillerienheders deltagelse på de krigsskuepladser i det fjerne østen, hvor engelske hærenheder var indsat i kamp mod de japanske okkupationsstyrker under 2. Verdenskrig. Bogen er forsynet med register over de enheder der deltog i krigen, troppeinddelinger, kort, og oplysninger om de chefer m.v., der førte artillerienhederne.

Some sixty years after the Far Eastern War ended, this innovative new collection brings together five distinguished UK-based scholars and five from Japan to reappraise their respective country's leadership in the Malaya and Burma campaigns. This leadership is analyzed on various levels, ranging from the grand strategic to operational. The Japanese contributors examine the reasons for their forces, brilliant advances in 1941-42, whereas the British writers have to account for the disastrous defeat, characterized by the poor leadership of senior commanders such as Bennett and Percival. Between 1943 and 1945, the tables were turned dramatically, so the failure of Japanese command decisions then comes under critical scrutiny and the British have to explain how defeat was transformed into victory. Above all, this volume should stimulate interest in different methods and styles of military leadership in view of the contrasting approaches of the British and Japanese in the Second World War.

This book provides an insight into how artillery resources were established, developed and employed during the Second World War, using the British Royal Artillery as an example. Beginning with an overview of the nature and state of readiness of the Royal Artillery on the outbreak of war, the book analyses in great detail the weapons available to the Royal Artillery, their technical functionality and their performance capabilities. With this knowledge the author then examines the organization, methods, procedures and tactics employed by the Royal Artillery. To complete this fascinating study, Stig Moberg looks at a number of key battles from the war to see how the artillery was used, and the effectiveness of its support to the British and Allied infantry, in campaigns in North Africa, Burma and Europe. British Artillery of the Second World War is profusely illustrated throughout with photographs, maps, plans, graphs, charts and diagrams to demonstrate precisely how the British Artillery was used on the battlefields around the world. Although I am an infantryman, and proud of it, I have many times said that the Royal Regiment of Artillery, in my opinion, did more to win the last war, more than any other Arm of the Service.Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery

The RAF Regiment was created in the early years of World War II for the active dedicated defense of RAF airfields and installations. This book concerns the Regiments operational history in South-east Asia Command and draws on the diaries and recollections of the men who served in that theatre. It is strongly supported by maps and diagrams from official records. The Regiment played a vital and significant role in the two major battles for Burma, Imphal and Meiktila. The struggle at Imphal ranks alongside Stalingrad and Alamein in its significance for the defeat of the Axis. From humble beginnings, the Regiment in Burma had by 1945 become a highly-trained specialist ground force capable of defensive and offensive action. The successes of the 14th Army were founded on the support of the transport, fighter and bomber squadrons. The RAF could not have done this as effectively without the confidence that its airfields and vital installations were safe under the constant vigilance of the RAF Regiment.

Put in the wider context of British imperial and diplomatic aims in 1941-1945, the book clarifies the importance of Vietnam to Britain's regional objectives in Southeast Asia; concluding that Churchill was willing to sacrifice French colonial interests in Vietnam for his all-important 'special relationship' with the United States.

Celebrated as a trading port, Hong Kong was also Britain’s “eastern fortress”. Likened by many to Gibraltar and Malta, the colony was a vital but vulnerable link in imperial strategy, exposed to a succession of enemies in a turbulent age and a troubled region. This book examines Hong Kong’s developing role in the Victorian imperial defence system, the emerging challenges from Russia, France, the United States, Germany, Japan and other powers, and preparations in the years leading up to the Second World War. A detailed chapter offers new interpretations of the Battle of Hong Kong of 1941, when the colony succumbed to the Japanese invasion. The remaining chapters discuss Hong Kong’s changing strategic role during the Cold War and the winding down of the military presence. The book not only focuses on policies and events, but also explores the social life of the garrison in Hong Kong, the struggles between military and civil authorities, and relations between the armed forces and civilians in Hong Kong. Drawing on original research in archives around the world, including English, Japanese, and Chinese sources, this is the first full-length study of the defence of Hong Kong from the beginning of the colonial period to the end of British military interests East of Suez in 1970. Illustrated with images and detailed maps, Eastern Fortress will be of interest to both students of history and general readers. Kwong Chi Man is an assistant professor in the History Department of Hong Kong Baptist University. Tsoi Yiu Lun teaches history and liberal studies at Mu Kuang English School, Hong Kong. “Armed with a range of declassified archives—many of them unpublished—Kwong and Tsoi expertly weave together military, political, social, and economic history to show how Hong Kong played a strategic role in East Asia and the British Empire from the early 1840s to the 1970s. Eastern Fortress is a must-read for anyone interested in Hong Kong and its history.” —John Carroll, author of A Concise History of Hong Kong and Edge of Empires: Chinese Elites and British Colonials in Hong Kong “This careful and well-written study does a difficult balancing act very well indeed. It connects the military history of Hong Kong to both the general Hong Kong experience and the wider military history of the region and beyond. Weaving its way with confidence from archive to library, from grand strategy to battlefield, this volume provides what we have long needed. Hong Kong’s experience was unique, but at the same time it was integrally connected to the wider circles of empire, region, and Asia. Nothing brings that trajectory out more strongly than the military dimension, and by ranging from the Opium War to the Cold War, with a critical eye, this volume does that story justice. It is the capstone that brings together a generation of good scholarship on the military history of Hong Kong.” —Brian Farrell, author of The Basis and Making of British Grand Strategy 1940–1943: Was There a Plan? and co-author of Between Two Oceans: A Military History of Singapore from First Settlement to Final British Withdrawal

What would it be like to leave your loved ones behind knowing you may never see them again? Then depart on a ship in the dead of night heading for an unknown destination and find yourself in the heat of a battle which concludes in enemy conditions so terrible that your survival in captivity is still under threat? Cultivated from a small, faded, address book secretly written by a young soldier in the Royal Army Service Corps, Captured at Singapore, is a POW story of adventure, courage resilience and luck. In 1940, Londoner Stanley Moore became Driver T/170638 and trained for desert warfare along with many others in the British Army’s 18th Division. Their mission, they thought, was to fight against Hitler and fascism in the Middle East. But in a change of plan and destination, he and his fellow servicemen became sacrificial lambs on a continent much further from home. After tough rudimentary combat training in England, Stan’s division set off on a secret overseas mission. After months at sea, and several unexpected ports of call, their convoy was redirected to the other side of the world as the Imperial Japanese Army rampaged across Manchuria, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. Singapore was under sole British jurisdiction and a large naval base had been built after the First World War to defend the island at the foot of the Malay Peninsula. The British Government believed Japan would never attack their prize territory and so left Singapore to fight for itself with limited troops and outdated equipment. But after an attack on Pearl Harbor, the under-trained and undersupplied 18th Division was redirected to fight the Japanese. Using extensive research and personal documents, the authors’ account - via their father’s small, faded, diary and his 1990 tape recording - tells of Stan’s journey and arrival in Keppel harbor under shellfire; the horrific 17 day battle to defend the island, the Japanese Admonition and the harrowing forced labour conditions after capitulation. Only a small percentage of the 85,000 British troops returned after the war. Captivity and years of trauma ultimately stole years of the young soldiers’ lives, which they were later ordered to forget by the British Government. The aim of this work is to provide information for future generations to understand how ordinary men died under horrific conditions of war, and how the lucky survived.

"World War II was a traumatising experience for those nations that were caught up in it. Nowhere was this more apparent than in Undivided India where over two and a half million Indians volunteered to serve in the armed forces and to fight against the evils of the fascist Axis Powers. Those Indians who served and fought had their own motives but a predominant one was pride and satisfaction in doing a soldier's job and earning a soldier's pay. Service in the Indian Army was respected, particularly in rural communities, and money sent home by a soldier could over time transform his family's social status. As it had done towards the end of World War I the Indian Army in World War II opened its arms wide and recruited from many varied castes and backgrounds, and few were found wanting. The demands made on India to provide servicemen and women were massive. Indian Army formations contributed significantly to the defeat of Italian forces in East and North Africa and then to the much more difficult confrontations with German troops. Dark days followed when Japan invaded Hong Kong, Borneo, Malaya and Burma. Indian troops predominated in the defence of those regions and many were killed in action or ordered into captivity by their commanders. After realistic re-assessments of the threats faced in Asia had been made, and the new training and motivation required had been delivered, the Indian Army emerged again in 1944 and 1945 as the most proficient and economical Allied force in Asia. Meanwhile Indian troops, not forgetting the large number of Nepalese serving in the Indian Army, fought Vichy French forces in Syria, nationalists in Persia and Iraq, and above all else Germans in North Africa and Europe – and they won their battles. This book will show you how the Indian Army was tested during World War II, and how it prevailed using courage, professionalism, honour and dignity. "

The harrowing, triumphant true story of an antiquated light cruiser and its crew suddenly under fire in the Pacific as WWII erupted: “An engrossing tale.” —Naval Historical Foundation The old light cruiser Marblehead was living out her final years of naval service as a member of the United States Asiatic Fleet in 1941. The small group of mostly antiquated ships based in the Philippines sailed the waters of East Asia to show the American flag in places like China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. Then the sudden eruption of World War II in the Pacific put the warship on the front lines of the conflict as Imperial Japan unleased a series of devastating attacks across the region. On the morning of February 4, 1942, the warship was surprised by Japanese planes northeast of Java. Two large bombs slammed into Marblehead, causing fires and casualties and knocking out her steering gear. A third bomb exploded close by underwater. The near miss ripped a large gash into her hull, allowing a torrent of water to rush inside the ship. Escape from Java takes us throughout the ship as the story unfolds—next to gunners toiling to keep their guns firing, with medical staff tending to the wounded, and alongside damage control sailors working in flooded compartments. The Japanese confidently radioed that they had sunk the ship—but through courage, sacrifice, and superhuman effort, Marblehead would set out on a harrowing 13,000-mile journey back to the US . . . “An engrossing tale of an obsolescent ship’s survival amid great odds set against the brutal early fighting of the Pacific War. This book will appeal to a wide audience not only as high wartime adventure but simply as a story of gritty perseverance when the odds are heavily against.” —Naval Historical Foundation