New Books
Burma ’44
Author James Holland
Publisher Corgi
Year 2017
ISBN 978-0-552-17203-5
Language English
Binding Softback
Pages 418
Size 130x197mm (5x7.75in)
Price £9.99
A few years ago, my girlfriend was quietly browsing a portable exhibition promoting The Kohima Museum (www.kohimamuseum.co.uk) at York’s Imphal Barracks. Slightly patronisingly, the man on the stand asked: “Do you know where Kohima is?”
“Yes,” she replied with a note of pride in her voice, “my dad was there.”
Absolutely nothing else she could have said would have surprised the man on the stand more. I only mention this because it bears out part of the review of the hardback edition of this book from the Literary Review, that says that “too many histories of the Second World War revisit the same old battles: Dunkirk, El Alamein, D-Day and Arnhem. It is refreshing therefore to be reminded of one of the lesser known, yet highly significant, engagements…” Following various disasters, in 1944, the British were planning on retaking Burma, the hard way; across the Indian border and through the jungle. The Japanese wanted to conquer India and played their hand first invading through Arakan, in North West Burma, through dense forest, …
