Tank Tracks to Rangoon by Bryan Perrett

Author:Bryan Perrett [Perrett, Bryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: WW II, World War II, Burmah, Armour
ISBN: 9781473835153
Google: dEURBQAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1783831154
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2014-04-29T23:00:00+00:00

At Bishenpur, the Japanese had also tried to infiltrate the position, but did not get the chance to settle in, and were rudely ejected by combined tank and infantry attacks before they had the chance to dig deep.

While the battles for the villages were being fought on the plain, tank troops were also supporting numerous small but vital infantry actions in the hills to the west. On 27th April a troop from YL Squadron was committed to an operation designed to clear the enemy from a hill covering the Silchar track. The attack was not successful, but is a good example of the hazards faced by the tank crews during the fighting in the hills.

The infantry succeeded in reaching the top of the hill, but the last twenty feet of the climb was too steep for the tanks, and they could not remain on the position without their support. One tank had already been lost in a sideslip and had rolled some distance down the slope, although the crew had escaped unhurt.

As the troop returned down the track, they found that the Japanese had closed in behind them, and were on the point of overwhelming a detachment of the 2nd Northamptonshire Regiment, who had placed their wounded in the lee of a bank at one side of the track. In passing these men, Sgt Cushworth’s tank naturally swung well clear, but the outer edge of the track crumbled under the weight of the vehicle, which crashed sideways some forty feet into a nullah. Shaken and bruised, Cushworth and two of his crew dragged themselves out, and clambered back up to the track, taking with them a Browning and ground mounting, and several boxes of ammunition. The additional firepower proved decisive, and the Japanese were driven off, Cushworth being awarded an immediate MM.*

‘Been wounded, chum?’ asked one of them sympathetically.

‘No, mate,’ came the reply. ‘Can’t you see – I’m a bloody umpire!’

On 23rd May YL Squadron was flown out of Imphal, and rejoined their parent squadron at Dimapur. This unit had already seen some fighting during the breakthrough to Kohima, so by a strange chance C Squadron 150 Regiment RAC became the only armoured sub-unit to fight in both the siege and the relief operations.

Throughout May, the Carabiniers were in action daily on the Bishenpur sector, climbing desperately steep slopes in support of countless infantry attacks. West of Bishenpur, Lt A. Weir of B Squadron, who had survived Nunshigum as his troop had not been committed to the summit, won the Military Cross whilst working with 1/3rd Gurkha Rifles in an attack on a feature known as Red Hill.

Before the attack could even begin, Weir had to get his tank up a track which by any normal standard would have been considered impossible. He did this by walking ahead of the tank and directing the driver by hand signals, whilst sappers worked frantically to shore up tie outer edge of the track to prevent the vehicle sliding over the edge.

Arriving just

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