Richard Duckett - The Special Operations Executive in Burma: Jungle Warfare and Intelligence Gathering in World War II

The Special Operations Executive in Burma: Jungle Warfare and Intelligence Gathering in World War II — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Special Operations Executive in Burma: Jungle Warfare and Intelligence Gathering in World War II" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...64

Richard Duckett is a lecturer in History at Reading College and a specialist on the Burma Campaign. He holds a BA from the University of Essex, an MA from the University of Reading and a PhD from the Open University. This is his first book.

Drawing on declassified files, Richard Duckett finally lifts the lid on the exploits in Japanese-occupied Burma of Britain's Special Operations Executive. This is an excellent account of an important but long-hidden chapter of SOE's history, and essential reading for anyone wishing to fully understand Britain's involvement in Burma during World War II and SOE's global contribution to the Allied war effort.

Roderick Bailey, University of Oxford, SOE Historian

Long neglected by the prevailing narratives and histories, the experience of guerilla fighters and their officers in Burma in WWII comes alive in Duckett's outstanding new book. No one has previously devoted the necessary days and nights amidst dusty files in the archives, or uncovered the links between the official record and the private memoirs/memories of the key actors. His unique work establishes a new standard for research in this complex field.

It is all here the suspicious attitude in 1941 of the British military establishment in Asia toward irregular warcraft as planned by SOE, the tension between the American, British, Indian, and Chinese armies, the complicated mobilisation of Kachin, Karen, and Chin fighters (and many others) in small stealth units to fight in 19423 against much better-equipped Japanese forces, the total dependence on uncertain air supply, and the gradual development of deep loyalties between foreign and local soldiers, through the deadly risks of combat. They gathered valuable intelligence, as originally intended, but also became ambush-hardened combat units. Thus, they became a model for the future.

Equally important, Duckett skilfully uncovers the complex 194550 landscape in which the SOE had to disentangle from the new Burmese state, while many SOE officers, now well-informed, remained alert against a high policy in which their former comrades on the ethnic frontiers were marginalised (some said abandoned) by their leaders in London. The stage was thus set for the emergence of more fighting in an indigenous Burmese cold war on the Chinese frontier. In some senses that is where we are today, thus giving Duckett's book a disturbing but brilliant contemporary relevance.'

Robert Anderson, Professor at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver

Although long considered the forgotten front, the war in Burma has been receiving increasing attention of late as archival discoveries have raised new questions and required attention to be given to actors at work behind the scenes. The present study of the Special Operations Executive in Burma from 1941 until 1945, drawing upon under-examined archival sources, will change how historians will view the place of the SOE in this campaign, as well as its supposed connections to postwar Burmese ethnic insurgents.

This very important book offers new insights into how the SOE helped to shift the campaign from a miserable defeat in May 1942 to a victorious drive to Rangoon just three years later. Well-written and steady in its analysis, the book will appeal to both the general reader and the military historian. It is certainly a welcome and significant addition to the literature on the Burma Campaign.'

Michael W. Charney, SOAS The University of London

Published in 2018 by

I.B.Tauris Co. Ltd

London New York

www.ibtauris.com

Copyright 2018 Richard Duckett

The right of Richard Duckett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions.

References to websites were correct at the time of writing.

International Library of Twentieth Century History 106

ISBN: 978 1 78453 912 2

eISBN: 978 1 78672 272 0

ePDF: 978 1 78673 272 9

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

For Kara and Emily, my two wonderful girls
and
In loving memory of my uncle, Sapper Arthur Clifford Wilson,
208 Field Company, 2 Division
21 December 19194 October 2002

And the grandfather I never knew, Staff Sergeant Victor Lloyd
Cruttenden, also 208 Field Company, Royal Engineers
29 July 190213 March 1952

CONTENTS

NOTE ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION

For the sake of clarity, names of places and countries have been spelt as they were used at the time, and how they appear in the documents. For example, Rangoon is used instead of Yangon, and Siam for Thailand. Where Chinese names have been used, the Wade Giles transliteration has been employed rather than the more modern Hanyu Pinyin; hence readers will find Kuomintang as opposed to Guomindang. In addition, soldiers' ranks have been given for the time discussed, rather than their final rank.

ABBREVIATIONS

ABDA Command	American, British, Dutch, Australian Command
AFO	Anti-Fascist Organisation
AFPFL	Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League
ALFSEA	Allied Land Forces, South East Asia
AVG	American Volunteer Group
BCS	Burma Country Section
BCMS	Bible Churchman's Missionary Society
BDA	Burma Defence Army
BFF	Burma Frontier Force
BIA	Burma Independence Army
BNA	Burma National Army
Burif	Burma rifles
CAS(B)	Civil Affairs Service (Burma)
CBI	China, Burma, India
CCAO	Chief Civil Affairs Officer
CEF	Chinese Expeditionary Force
C-in-C	Commander in Chief
COS	Chief of Staff
Det. 101	Detachment 101, the American OSS unit in Burma
DMI	Directorate Military Intelligence
DSO	Distinguished Service Order
EWS(B)	Eastern Warfare School (Bengal)
EWS(C)	Eastern Warfare School (Ceylon)
EWS(I)	Eastern Warfare School (India)
FEM	Far Eastern Mission
FIC	French Indochina
FO	Foreign Office
Force 136	The cover name for SOE's India Mission from March 1944
GOC	General Officer Commanding
GSI	General Service Intelligence
GSI(K)	The cover name for SOE's India Mission until March 1944
HMG	His Majesty's Government
IM	India Mission, the SOE office set up in India in 1941

Next page

1234567...64

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Special Operations Executive in Burma: Jungle Warfare and Intelligence Gathering in World War II»

Look at similar books to The Special Operations Executive in Burma: Jungle Warfare and Intelligence Gathering in World War II. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Ian Herrington

Special Operations in Norway: SOE and Resistance in World War II

Lionel Pender

The Spy Game

Major Steve A. Fondacaro

Strategic Analysis Of U.S. Special Operations During The Korean Conflict

Richard ONeill

Suicide squads : the men and machines of World War II special operations

Troy J. Sacquety

The OSS in Burma: Jungle War against the Japanese (Modern War Studies (Paperback))

Richard J. Samuels

Special Duty: A History of the Japanese Intelligence Community

Richard Dunlop

Behind Japanese Lines: With the OSS in Burma

Great Britain. Special Operations Executive.

Churchills secret warriors: the explosive true story of the special forces desperadoes of WWII

Great Britain. Special Operations Executive.

A life in secrets: Vera Atkins and the missing agents of WWII

J. P. Cross

Jungle warfare : experiences and encounters

Macklin

Warrior elite : Australias special forces, Z force to the SAS intelligence operations to cyber warfare

Kevin Major

Armored Warfare In The Jungle Environment

Discussion, reviews of the book The Special Operations Executive in Burma: Jungle Warfare and Intelligence Gathering in World War II and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.