Chindits: Long-Range Penetration Groups
special service forces chindit patrol
A Chindit column crossing a river in Burma, 1943. No. 9 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit. Source: Imperial War Museum. (Colorized by Javaughn Waller via Deep AI)
In the war against the Japanese in the Indian and Burmese theaters, the Long-Range Penetration Groups, better known as the Chindits, served as a multinational special operations force that comprised units from the British, Indian, and African forces serving under the British flag. The group was formed after the British Raj’s difficult experience combatting Japanese tactics in the region and was created by Orde Wingate to take the fight to the enemy through the use of guerilla tactics and unconventional warfare.
The Imperial Japanese Army had succeeded in pushing British forces out of Burma and occupied much of the former colonial holdings of the British empire, threatening their already tenuous positions in mainland India. The theater of operations was viewed as having secondary importance to that of Europe by London, and therefore, troops were often short of supplies, and a series of defeats had driven morale to an all-time low. Further complicated by the challenges of jungle warfare—including tumultuous weather and rampant disease, primarily the scourge of malaria—British offensive operations ground to a halt as Japanese forces pressed their advantage with continuous attacks against British lines and strongholds.
The formation of the Chindits was seen as a way for British forces to strike against Japanese lines of communication and disrupt their offensive operations through raids, interdiction, and ambushes. The Chindits served as a specialized force trained and equipped to carry out long-range patrols through the thick jungles of Burma and India. Their leader and founder, Orde Wingate, stressed vigorous training to prepare the troops for the difficult environments in which the soldiers were to fight.
A Gurkha soldier tests the cutting edge of his kukri, the silent and deadly weapon favored by the Gurkhas. Sjt. Loughlin, ca 1944. Source: Imperial War Museum (Colorized by Javaughn Waller via Deep AI)
Native Gurkhas of Northern India, now modern-day Nepal, also served as an integral force to the Chindit formations. They gained a reputation as strong and vicious fighters, as symbolized by their fighting knife, the curved-edged Kukri.
The first major operation that the Chindits carried out was codenamed Operation Longcloth. Longcloth served as a proof-of-concept operation for Wingate’s force. Despite some success behind enemy lines, the mission proved arduous and chaotic, with high casualties for the Chindits. However, it provided some offensive action for the British and illustrated the capabilities of the Long-Range Penetration concept.
After the mixed results of Longcloth, Wingate was able to reorganize his forces and prepare another expedition into the Japanese-held jungles codenamed Operation Thursday. Thursday was a much more refined operation and involved troops from British, Indian, and African units. During Operation Thursday, Chindit troops were inserted into forward positions in the jungle by gliders, and they even experienced some of the first wartime helicopter operations in the Burmese jungles during rescue missions. The long-range nature of the Chindit operation meant that they were reliant on air-dropped supplies to maintain mission readiness in the jungle.
During Operation Thursday, the Chindits held Allied airfields against unrelenting Japanese assaults. They also provided roadblocks against Japanese forces, with major hand-to-hand fighting occurring at the Chindit base known as White City. The jungle environment provided no reprieve to the combatants and made it incredibly difficult to sustain combat operations. The unit suffered a devastating blow when their leader, Orde Wingate, was killed in a plane crash.
Upon Wingate’s death, the Chindits were assigned new leadership and continued operations in Burma, culminating in their final action as a unit, supported by Nationalist Chinese forces, at the Battle of Mogaung. Mogaung proved to be an instrumental battle, serving as the first liberation of a Burmese town from Japanese occupation in the greater Burma Campaign.
By this point, the tide of war had shifted, with the Indian, African, and British conventional forces under the leadership of General Bill Slim defeating the Japanese in a series of battles and pushing their forces out of India and back into Burma. Japanese losses continued rapidly from that point, resulting in their defeat in Burma.
The fate of the Chindits after Mogaung was uncertain; the tide of war had changed and the need for unconventional forces had greatly diminished as the main army was now reconstituted and steadily defeating the Japanese in major battles. The unit was disbanded in 1945 as it became clear that the pace of operations and significant casualties had greatly reduced their fighting effectiveness, and the need for specialized troops waned as conventional forces had dealt mortal blows to the Japanese army.
The legacy of the Chindits remains one of legend today. The concept of long-range special forces is now commonplace in many militaries around the world. Currently, the sacrifice and the memory of the Chindits is honored by their memorial in London.