The Second World War's Forgotten Conflict

Forgotten Voices of Burma

A remarkable new oral history of the World War 2 conflict in Burma

Gripping reading and a valuable history ... Excellent

Julian Thompson served in the Royal Marines for 34 years, retiring as Major General. He commanded 3 Commando Brigade, which carried out the initial landings in the Falklands conflict and fought most of the subsequent land battles. He is now Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies, King's College, London and is the author of the critically acclaimed The Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Burma 1942-1945.

From the end of 1941 to 1945 a pivotal but often overlooked conflict was being fought in the South-East Asian Theatre of World War 2 - the Burma Campaign. 
 
In 1941 the Allies fought in a disastrous retreat across Burma against the Japanese - an enemy more prepared, better organised and more powerful than anyone had imagined. Yet in 1944, following key battles at Kohima and Imphal, and daring operations behind enemy lines by the Chindits, the Commonwealth army were back, retaking lost ground one bloody battle at a time. 
 
Fighting in dense jungle and open paddy field, this brutal campaign was the longest fought by the British Commonwealth in the Second World War. But the troops taking part were a forgotten army, and the story of their remarkable feats and their courage remains largely untold to this day. 
 
The Fourteenth Army in Burma became one of the largest and most diverse armies of the Second World War. British, West African, Ghurkha and Indian regiments fought alongside one another and became comrades. In Forgotten Voices of Burma - a remarkable new oral history taken from Imperial War Museum's Sound Archive - soldiers from both sides tell their stories of this epic conflict.

Julian Thompson

Imperial War Museum

The Forgotten Voices series...show[s] a completely different side to conflicts...all the more powerful for the ordinary nature of the orators

First hand testimonies from the veterans of the heat and dust vividly conveys the physical hardships and resilient spirit of these sometimes overlooked soldiers, and this is a valuable addition to an increasingly important archive

‘Between Friday and Monday we never slept at all. Everyone’s face was one mass of sand … The guns were so hot, all the paint had gone’ Bombardier Ray Ellis 
 
Had the Allies lost in North Africa, Rommel’s Afrika Korps would have swept through the Middle East, cutting the vital supply line through the Suez Canal to Australia and India, and taking the oilfields of the Persian Gulf. Britain would have been isolated, without oil, and unable to fight. 
 
These historic battles of 1940–1943 were fought over vast distances on rugged terrain, with supply lines often stretched to breaking point. It was here that David Stirling formed the SAS to perform audacious sabotage missions, and the Long Range Desert Group collected intelligence from behind enemy lines. 
 
This is the story of the Allies’ first victory against Hitler’s army, told in the voices of the men who were there, which proved that the seemingly unstoppable Germans could be beaten.

Julian Thompson

Praise for Forgotten Voices Desert Victory

The Forgotten Voices series...show[s] a completely different side to conflicts...all the more powerful for the ordinary nature of the orators

First hand testimonies from the veterans of the heat and dust vividly conveys the physical hardships and resilient spirit of these sometimes overlooked soldiers, and this is a valuable addition to an increasingly im ...

Books by Julian Thompson

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