Tank Tracks to Rangoon Read Online Free PDF Page A

and many senior officers serving today in the armies of India and Pakistan saw action as subalterns in Burma, although the VCO system has also been retained. *
    Four types of tank were used against the Japanese in Burma. First on the list comes the Stuart, which was used throughout the campaign. This was an American light tank carrying a 37-mm gun and two Browning machine guns (sometimes three if the turret AA mounting was used) whose major virtues were its high speed (36 mph maximum) and mechanical reliability. On the debit side, the Stuart often found difficulty crossing the bunds between paddy fields, and was thinly armoured.
    The British Valentine, a tank designed specifically for infantry support, was, on the other hand, slow, having a maximum speed of only 15 mph, although the armour was better arranged. Like the Stuart, the Valentine was a reliable machine mechanically, and in Burma carried a similar gun, the 2-pdr. Only a handful of Valentine gun-tanks were used during the campaign, although the scissors bridge-layer conversion was widely employed.
    A tank which could have been specifically designed for use in Burma was the Lee/Grant series, conceived by the United States Army as an infantry support weapon. This vehicle possessed a 75-mm main armament mounted in a sponson on the right side of the hull, and also mounted a turret containing a 37-mm and a co-axially mounted machine gun. The advantage of such a layout in the Burmese jungle was that the 75-mm could always be used on the target ahead, whilst the top turret could be traversed to sweep the surrounding trees clear of snipers; on a one-tank frontage the limited traverse of the 75-mm was not a liability. The Lees were respectably armoured, travelled at a maximum speed of 26 mph, possessed mechanical stamina, andperformed some of the worst hill-climbs in the history of armoured warfare. They carried a crew of six.
    Last to appear in Burma was the ubiquitous Sherman, a general purpose American design incorporating a turret-mounted 75-mm gun with co-axial machine gun, and a hull mounted bow machine gun. Speed and protection factors were similar to those of the Lee, but the crew was reduced to five.
    Towards the end of the campaign some artillery units were equipped with self-propelled 105-mm guns based on the Sherman chassis, known as Priests. Armoured cars also came into their own in the last months, Humbers carrying a variety of armaments being in the majority, reinforced by some Daimlers mounting a 2-pdr.
    Further technical information on all these vehicles can be found in Appendix B .
    Now that we have discussed briefly the contending parties in this campaign, it is necessary to look at the country itself. All that need be remembered is that Burma is a north-south country. The frontier with India follows this line, as do the river valleys of the Irrawaddy, its tributary the Chindwin, and the Sittang. The principal means of communication, by road or rail, follow these valleys, which contain the major centres of population. In the north, the country is mountainous, and covered in thick jungle, but becomes progressively less so the further south one goes. The climate is tropical, and the country has one of the heaviest rainfalls in the world, some areas recording several hundred inches. Campaigns have to be fought before the onset of the monsoon months, when the rainfall and its product, mud, bring a movement to a standstill. To high temperatures and humidity Nature has added a variety of endemic tropical diseases, and all manner of creatures great and small that fly, wriggle and crawl with little purpose but to bite and sting.
    The Burmese were not fond of the British, and many, Buddhist priests particularly, actively aided the Japanese when they invaded. On the other hand, the hill people of Burma, the Karens, Kachins, Shans and Chins, did not care much for the Burmese, and helped the British. After a couple of years of enforced Japanese Co-Prosperity, the