Fourteenth Army I.

This is coolbert:

Fourteenth Army. "Forgotten".

Proxies!

Here begins a series of blog entries on the British Fourteenth Army. That English fighting force from the Second World War [WW2] - - seeing action in the CBI [China-Burma-India] Theatre.

More correctly a combat force of Imperial England, a "commonwealth" army, contingents draw from all areas of the Empire.

A massive force, unprecedented in size:

"In 1945 not only was the Fourteenth Army the largest army in the Commonwealth, it was the largest single army in the world with about half a million men under command . . . the majority of the army was built around the British Indian Army, which was stated to be the largest all-volunteer army in history.

[the wiki entry is not consistent concerning the numbers of troops. See this: "The Fourteenth Army was the Second World War’s largest Commonwealth Army, with nearly a million men by late 1944."]

Soldiers forming the Fourteenth Army from a variety of locales and regions, to include:

* India - - British Indian Army troops.

* Africa - - West and East African troops.

* England - - Englishmen to be sure!

Please recall the rating scheme of the Japanese Colonel Tsuji as to the fighting "ability" of those combatants to be found in the Pacific theatre and CBI. [#1 equals best, ability not fully defined!]

#1 - - Japanese, #2 - - Chinese, #3 - - Russians, #4 - - Ghurkhas, #5 - - Americans, #6 - - Australians, #7 - - British Indian Army, #8 - - English!

The difficulties encountered by those fighting in the jungle environment of Burma are well known! For each battlefield casualty, TWELVE non-combat related injuries, mostly from illness! NOT even counting the difficulties of commencing and continuing military operations during the monsoon season.

Terrain, weather, a fanatical and very tough enemy made the going of Fourteenth Army very difficult. "Forgotten" but not by this blogger.

coolbert.