Gladiators Of World War II

The Chindits (1x12)

Air date: Jan 19, 2002

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was the start of a formidable campaign in the Pacific. Within a few months, the Allies were driven out of Malaya abd Burma. As teh British survivors limped across the Chindwin River back into India, they despaired of ever bearing the Japanese - The masters of jungle warfare. But Lieutenant Colonel Orde Wingate had other ideas. He proposed a special force which would penetrate deep into Burma, maintained entirely by air resupply, and disrupt Japanese communications. Wingate named his force after the "Chindie", the mythical beast that guards every Burmese temple, and the Chindits were born. In their first operation the Chindits cut the vital Mandalay-Mytikyina railway. During the long march back through the jungle, Malaria, dystentary, and typhus struck the men, as they struggled through appalling weather and over rough terrain. Of the 3,000 who set out, nearly a third did not return, and 600 of those who did never returned to active soldiering. Their next operation was to precede the Arakan offensive in Burma. After three months behind enemy lines, they captured the Burmese town of Moguang in a remarkable feat of courage and endurance. This is the story of the Chindits - The Gladiators of the jungle; the first to show that the British could match the Japanese in the Pacific.