Saturday 19th August 1944
The M.T. Workshop is about half erected. So massive does it look that it has been nicknamed “Odeon”. I negotiate for the digging of a large catchment drain around the camp. We learn that our chindits are returning to us. We now go to the swimming pool each day and it is fun.
The Chindits were a British India ‘Special Force’ that served in Burma and India in 1943 and 1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. They were formed to put into effect Orde Wingate’s newly developed guerrilla warfare tactic of long-range penetration. The Chindits were trained to operate deep behind Japanese lines. Their operations were marked by prolonged marches through extremely difficult terrain by underfed troops weakened by diseases such as malaria and dysentery. There is controversy over the extremely high casualty rate and the debatable military value of the achievements of the Chindits.
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