Wednesday 27th July 2022
St John’s Place, Lower Road, Bemerton, SP2 9NP
7.30-9.30pm
On 14th June 1945 the 14th Army conducted a victory parade in Rangoon having captured the city with barely a shot fired in anger. Meanwhile the final elements of the Imperial Japanese Army were in full retreat from Burma into Malaya and Siam. Starving, dressed in rags and riddled with tropical diseases, this was no longer the Japanese Army which had so resoundingly defeated the Indian and British Army three years earlier. The fall of Singapore and the terrible retreat had been the British Army’s greatest defeat, yet these soldiers had been transformed into a victorious army. As the 14th Army, they were now able to defeat the most brutal of enemies in the most testing of climates and in the most difficult of terrain. This talk will consider why and how each army conducted warfare and why the Forgotten Army was transformed into a devastating fighting force.
Entrance for members is included in your annual subscription. For non-members, entrance is £10 (cash, card or cheque) at the door.
Lt. Col. Mike Tickner writes regularly for the British Army Review, presents to the British Army, clubs and associations on the subject of the old Indian Army and leads battlefield tours to Burma, A serving officer, he has completed operational tours in Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia.