Operation Longcloth

8 Feb 1943 - 27 Apr 1943

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

In late 1942, Archibald Wavell intended in launching a multi-pronged invasion from India into Burma, one of which involved Orde Wingate's brigade of irregulars. Named "Chindits", which resulted from Wingate's mistake while pronouncing "Chinthe" (Burmese for tiger), these men were trained in jungle warfare deep inside enemy territory. The invasion into Arakan Peninsula, Burma was launched on 21 Dec 1942, and by Feb 1943, meeting no success, Wavell was thinking about canceling the invasion. Wingate, however, was able to convince Wavell to continue with the plans to deploy his Chindits. Wingate's force was ordered to cross into Burma on the following day, which crossed the India-Burma border at Tonhe on 13 Feb, followed by the crossing of the Chindwin River on the following day. Divided into two groups, Northern Group and Southern Group, each with multiple columns, they destroyed railroads, bridges, and other infrastructure important to the Japanese war effort. To establish the deception that the force was much larger than it was, ie. forming the impression that it was a full invasion rather than a raid, large scale daylight air drops were conducted, while tactical bombers struck key Japanese defense installations across the area. In late Mar, as the force had ventured to the limit of air support, and with the increasing risk that the Japanese would deploy forces behind them to block movements back toward India, Wingate, who personally led Operation Longcloth, called off the operation. The return trip to India was uncoordinated, and most columns had to break up into small elements in order to do so.

Of the 3,000 men of the 77th Brigade that embarked on Operation Longcloth, only 2,182 returned; 450 of those lost were killed in action, while the rest were listed as missing in action or captured. Of the two forces, the Southern Group suffered the most, with only 260 of its original 1,000 returning to India. Of the 2,182 returned, only 600 of them were in good condition to continue to serve; the remainder were invalided out.

Many critics of this operation noted that far too many men were sacrificed on this mission for achieving so little. Wingate, however, argued that the morale boost achieved by this operation could not be easily measured.

Sources:
Frank McLynn, The Burma Campaign
Wikipedia

Operation Longcloth Timeline

7 Feb 1943	Archibald Wavell visited Orde Wingate's Chindit headquarters 7 miles north of Imphal, India. Wingate was able to convince Wavell to continue the Chindit operations despite the fact that the offensive into Arakan, Burma was soon to be canceled.
8 Feb 1943	Operation Longcloth, the long range penetration operation by the Chindits, was launched.
9 Feb 1943	The first Chindit operation began. Brigadier Orde Wingate took a force of 3,000 troops into Burma to conduct a guerrilla-style campaign behind Japanese lines.
13 Feb 1943	The Northern Group of the Chindits crossed the Indian-Burmese border at Tonhe.
14 Feb 1943	The Northern Group of the Chindits crossed the Chindwin River in Burma.
22 Feb 1943	The Northern Group of the Chindits reached Tonmakeng, Burma. Orde Wingate ordered an attack on a nearby Japanese garrison at Sinlamaung.
25 Feb 1943	After not being able to locate Sinlamaung, Burma in the past three days, the Chindit unit assigned to attack the Japanese garrison there finally found the village. They found the Japanese garrison had already departed, however.
1 Mar 1943	The Northern Group of the Chindits reached Zibyutaungdan, Burma and began to move into the Mu valley.
2 Mar 1943	The Northern Group of the Chindits marched 20 miles along a road northeast of Pinlebu, Burma.
3 Mar 1943	The No. 4 Column of the Northern Group of the Chindits was ambushed and was nearly annihilated; Orde Wingate ordered the column to return to India. Meanwhile, the two columns of the Southern Group were ambushed by Japanese troops in the Mu valley after dark; both columns lost much equipment, while one of them was nearly wiped out.
6 Mar 1943	The Chindits reached Wuntho-Indaw railway in Burma near Nankan and Pinlebu. They fought off the Japanese units guarding key points of the railway and proceeded to destroy tracks, blasted cliffs to cause rocks to fall onto tracks, mined rail bridges, and destroyed other rail bridges.
10 Mar 1943	The No. 1 Column of the Northern Group of the Chindits destroyed the rail bridge at Kyaikthin, Burma and crossed the Irrawaddy River with the help of locals.
13 Mar 1943	In Burma, the No. 3 Column of the Northern Group of the Chindits was attacked by Japanese forces whose conservative probing attacks failed to eliminate the numerically inferior Allied irregulars.
15 Mar 1943	Chindits under British Major Calvert and Major Fergusson crossed the Irrawaddy River in Burma.
17 Mar 1943	The main body of the Northern Group of the Chindits arrived at the confluence of the Irrawaddy and Shweli Rivers in Burma; they began to cross at nightfall.
18 Mar 1943	The main body of the Northern Group of the Chindits completed the crossing of the Irrawaddy River.
19 Mar 1943	The largest air drop in support of Operation Longcloth in Burma was conducted, delivering 100 tons of supplies to the Chindits.
24 Mar 1943	British General Wingate was ordered by his superiors to withdraw his Chindits from Burma.
25 Mar 1943	The No. 5 Column of the Chindits, under Bernard Fergusson, made rendezvous with Orde Wingate's main body at Shaukpin Chaung river bed in Burma.
26 Mar 1943	British General Wingate ordered his Chindits in Burma to withdraw.
28 Mar 1943	The main body of Chindit forces reached Inywa, Burma at 1600 hours.
7 Apr 1943	Orde Wingate and his small group of Chindits began to march for the Irrawaddy River in Burma en route back to India.
13 Apr 1943	Orde Wingate and his small group of Chindits crossed the Irrawaddy River in Burma by rafts built with locals' help. The final group of men were left behind on the east bank of the river as rearguard as the Japanese attack on this group intensified.
14 Apr 1943	The No. 3 Column of the Chindits crossed the Chindwin River in Burma and soon became the first column to return to India.
23 Apr 1943	Orde Wingate and his small group of Chindits spotted the Chindwin River in Burma from a high spot; they were about 30 miles away from the river.
24 Apr 1943	The No. 5 Column of the Chindits reached the Chindwin River in Burma.
26 Apr 1943	The No. 5 Column of the Chindits arrived in Imphal, India. Only 95 men of the original force of 318 returned.
27 Apr 1943	Orde Wingate and his small group of Chindits reached the Chindwin River in Burma. They were able to cross it later in the day with the help of Gurkha Rifles men from the western bank of the river.
20 May 1943	In a press conference, Orde Wingate noted the achievement by Operation Longcloth in the areas of propaganda and morale.

Photographs

A column of Chindit irregular troops crossing a river in Burma, Feb-Mar 1943

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