November 1943 (3) – CBI

Sam Spector, radio operator, with Kachin Company C.

During the Chinese train-up and the British reconstitution of forces, bill tribes in northern Burma who refused to be subjugated — predominantly the Kachins, but also the Karens, the Chins, the Kukis and the Nagas — had been fighting a guerrilla war against the Japanese occupation forces. Other Burmese tribes, the Burmese and the Shans, welcomed the Japanese and openly collaborated with the Japanese secret police (Kempei) against the minority hill tribes. The Allies supported the guerrillas from Fort Hertz, the only remaining Allied base in Burma that had an airfield. The three regiments of guerrillas — the Karen Rifles, the Kachin Rifles, and the Kachin Levies — were natural jungle fighting units, but they lacked the tactical training and the modern equipment that were needed to effectively battle Japan’s mechanized infantry and armor.

Gen. Stilwell & Gen. Sun at Sun’s HQ. Col. Edward McNally, liason officer, seated at left.

The successes of the V-Force Kachin Rangers and the Kachin Levies, as well as Stilwell’s failure to garner support from the Chinese and from the British army for a conventional offensive against Burma, led Stilwell to expand his guerrilla operations. He directed OSS Detachment 101 to establish its headquarters m Assam, in northeastern India. Detatchment 101’s assignment was to plan and conduct operations against the roads and the railroad into Myitkyina, in order to deny the Japanese the use of the Myitkyina airfield. Det 101 would coordinate its operations directly with the British. Det. 101’s Lieutenant Colonel Carl Eifler was given a free hand in directing sabotage and guerrilla operations. All Stilwell wanted to hear was “booms from the Burmese jungle.” By November 1943, at his base in the Naga Hills of northern Assam, Eifler was preparing the first group of Allied agents for Burma.

Japanese CBI Command – L to R in front row: Generals Yanagida (33rd Div); Tanaka (18th Div); Mutaguchi (15th Army); Matsuyama (56th Div) & Sato (31st Div)

By the end of 1943, Det. 101 had established six Kachin operating bases behind the lines in northern Burma: three east of the Irrawaddy River and three west of it. Each base commander recruited and trained small Kachin elements for his personal protection, for internal defense, and for conducting limited operations–principally sabotage and small ambushes. The guerrilla forces were uniformed and equipped with air-supplied M-2 .30-cal. carbines, submachine guns (.45-cal. Thompson and 9 mm Marlin), .30-cal. light machine guns, ammunition and demolitions. Japanese arms and equipment in northern Burma were a decade behind the times, and the superior firepower of the guerrilla units was key to their success. Each Kachin camp had an intelligence officer, usually an American officer, whose principal duties were to interrogate captured enemy soldiers or agents, debrief guerrilla patrols, and direct operations of the better-educated Kachins (those schooled by Christian missionaries), who acted as low-level intelligence agents reporting information by runners or via bamboo-container message drops.

Detachment 101 insignia

Det 101 recruited potential agents from the Kachin and Karen guerrillas. The candidates slipped through Japanese lines to reach the airfield at Fort Hertz, from which they were flown to Assam for three to five months of intensive intelligence and communications training. The Kachins proved to be particularly adept at continuous-wave radio communications–most were able to send and receive 25-45 words per minute. While most returned to their former bases, a few parachuted into new areas to organize independent operations and to collect and report weather data to the 10th AF Weather Service. This data was critical to air resupply and daily “over the Hump” C-46 and C-47 transport missions to China.

Resouces from: The Kachin Net; Star & Stripes; US Army history records

###################################################################################

Military Humor – 

Watch your ass at all times!

 

###################################################################################

Farewell Salutes – 

Vincent Celuzza – Fitchburg, MA, US Army, WWII, ETO,Surgical tech.

Luis Flores – Brownsville, TX; US Army, WWII, PTO

William Gattis – Tupelo, MS; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Foster Hines – Minerva, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 408th/11th Airborne

Richard Knox – Royal Oak, MI; US Army, Korea

Victor Orchard – Northcote, NZ; RNZ Navy, WWII

Lawrence Parker – Middleton, DE; USMC, WWII Occupation, PTO, USS Atlanta

Leonard Reinhart – Wausau, WI; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Capt. (Ret.), pilot

William Tackach – Passaic, NJ; US Air Force, air traffic controller

Vernon Whitaker – Ada, OK; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO

#####################################################################################