Burma [Hardcover]

Jon Latimer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 2004

Through festering jungle and across burning plains to high mountains and lazy rivers, the Burma campaign of the Second World War involved the longest retreat in British history, and the longest advance; long-range penetration miles behind enemy lines, vicious hand-to-hand fighting, and the horrors of forced labour. Yet this strange war remains utterly fascinating with singular characters like Slim, Mountbatten, Stilwell and Wingate, while dominated by ordinary soldiers that it 'gathered to itself like a whirlpool, men from the ends of the earth': from Britain, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, West, East and South Africa, but overwhelmingly, from India. Dogras, Sikhs, Punjabis, Kumaonis, Madrassis and Nepalese, representing every race and caste on the subcontinent, were all far from home, all fighting for survival against a ruthless enemy prepared to die for his emperor, while the Burmese fought for their independence. Jon Latimer draws these disparate strands together in a gripping narrative, to describe the operations and the politics that shaped them, while illustrating the experiences of thousands of ordinary people whose lives were caught up and transformed by this south-east Asian maelstrom, many of whom feel that like Fourteenth Army they were forgotten. This book ensures that none of them are.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Jon Latimer is acquiring a formidable reputation as a military history heavyweight with a light enough touch not to put off the merely curious.' -- Soldier 20041101 'Thanks to works like Latimer's the Forgotten Army will be rightly remembered.' -- West Devon Diary 20041101 'Latimer ... expertly describes the story of the Allies' savage struggle to rid the British colony of Burma of its Japanese invaders' -- Anthony Looch (syndicated) 20041029 'This is a book to buy, read and enjoy and go back to time and again. I cannot recommend it highly enough.' -- Dekho! 20050401 'Jon Latimer breathes life into the maelstrom that ripped through the jungles of Burma during the second world war.' -- Big Issue 20050725 'A long overdue tribute to the soliders of a diverse Commonwealth force' -- Sunday Morning Post (Hong Kong) 20050724 'Well balanced between political overview and intimate details, this account deserves to be noticed.' -- Good Book Guide 'Latimer, a former British Army officer turned military writer, expertly describes the story of the Allies savage struggle' -- Birmingham Post 'Latimer is acquiring a formidable reputation as a military history heavyweight with a light enough touch not to put off the merely curious' -- Soldier 'Former soldier Jon Latimer offers a gripping narrative of the Fourteenth Army's Burma campaign' -- History Today 'One of the best accounts of the war in recent years.' -- BBC History 20050610

About the Author

Jon Latimer served for sixteen years as an officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers (TA) including as Platoon Commander, Battalion Intelligence Officer and with the staff of the 4th Armoured Brigade. He has published widely in military journals and is also the author of Operation Compass 1940, Tobruk 1941, Deception in War and the highly acclaimed Alamein.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: John Murray (October 11, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719565758
• ISBN-13: 978-0719565755
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,419,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent historical text, December 5, 2005

By 

Patrick Stott (Rolleston, Canterbury, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burma-The Forgotten War (Paperback)

Although the country itself is larger than France, the Burma campaign of World War Two has remained poorly documented. Like the Russian front for Germany in Europe, Burma proved to be a step too far for the invading Japanese force, but not before inflicting terrible casualties and destruction on the country.

Written as a narrative, Latimer outlines the basics of the war in Burma, from Imperial British roots, through to Japan's eventual surrender, but lets the men who actually fought there fill in the details. Using diary entries and interviews, Latimer paints a picture of the incredible horror, boredom and occasional humour of war, and the awful conditions endured by soldiers. For example, a soldier in the town of Phek described the natives carrying a headless Japanese body "...like a trussed pig, jolting and swaying." The victim had raided the village, but then fallen sick with dysentery. Such was the nature of war, the British would pay the natives in salt for any enemy equipment or heads. Another British quote describes how the heat caused severe sweat rashes, which became infected and bled.

The conflict is often thought of as a war between the Japanese and British, but huge numbers of natives and immigrants, speaking over 120 languages, fought on both sides of the conflict, for any number of reasons. Natives were often forced into labour for both sides. The Japanese struggled to build a railway link from Thailand to northern Burma, as preparation for an invasion of India. The British had suffered heavy defeats, but the rugged and unforgiving Burmese landscape aided their struggle to slow the Japanese advance, which eventually slowed to a bogged down stalemate. The Japanese were never defeated in Burma, but neither were they fully victorious.

Latimer presents a human side in this book, which is shocking and real, even sixty years after the war. His style is easy to read, unlike many academic texts. The detail of the various battles and personalities of the war in Burma is backed up with highly detailed maps, a number of photos, and almost 200 pages of footnotes and bibliography.