https://www.youtube.com/live/WHx6drwqd5Q
His earlier look into the 14th and Burma theatre is also quite top notch:The 4th Indian Division was formed in India in September 1938 and deployed to Egypt the following year where it joined the Western Desert Force and fought in the initial desert battles against the Italians. By the time the Division arrived in Italy in January 1944, it had seen service in Sudan, Syria and across North Africa including the Battles of Tobruk and El Alamein. The Division served throughout the Italian campaign, finished the war in Macedonia and then Greece and did not finally return to Indian until July 1946. Over a 1,000 honours and gallantry awards were won, including four Victoria Crosses and three George Crosses. A truly impressive record of service, endurance and gallantry.
But who were the Indian, Gurkha and British soldiers who belonged to the Division? How was the Division organised? How were they recruited? How were they trained? How were they fight? How did they live? Join Mike Tickner and find out more about this Division.
Lt Col Mike Tickner (retd) completed a full career in the Regular Army and spent many rainy nights on the North German Plain and Salisbury Plain. He joined the Army to see the world and was fortunate to served in many beautiful countries with rich and vibrant cultures and warm and hospitable people. The Army also sent him to countries where the people were particularly unfriendly. With a long-term interest in the Indian Army, he regularly speaks to military and civilian groups, clubs and museums, writes the occasional article and has led battlefield studies to the Far East, most recently to Singapore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lID4-yp46Bg
Both well worth an hour each of your time if you are interested in the large backdrop and lineage to the modern Indian military....and the enduring intersection with Britain and its military history too.KET is delighted to present this webinar with guest speaker Lt Col Mike Tickner (retd), introduced by Dr Robert Lyman MBE.
The Burma Campaign was fought in the most demanding environment of the Second World War. Daily, the 14th Army’s logisticians resupplied Indian, Gurkha, African and British soldiers along the war’s longest, most fragile and least resourced supply chain. From factories in UK, America and India, stores were moved over the mountains, through the freezing rain of Nagaland, jungle and mangrove swamp, across mile-wide rivers and through Burma’s dry belt.
Without the infrastructure to support modern mechanised warfare, innovation and adaption were essential. Every possible means to resupply, both ancient and modern, needed to be employed. Air resupply was used more extensively than any other operational theatre yet elephants and pack animals were equally common.
To have defeated the Japanese with the level of resupply available to the Allies in North Western Europe would have been a magnificent achievement. To have achieved victory in the Far East with such limited resources stands out as a truly inspirational story of endurance, dedication, innovation and adaption.