laststandonzombieisland

80 years ago today. Official caption: “The British Army in Burma. Men of 2nd Division man a position on the Irrawaddy River near Pagan, Burma, 25 February 1945.”

Note the blend of No.4 Enfield .303 rifle and M1928 Thompson along with the slouch hats, common for British troops of Lt. Gen. Bill Slim’s “Forgotten” Fourteenth Army in Burma at this stage of the war.

They would soon cross the river, a key moment in the campaign to liberate the region from the Japanese that was the equivalent of crossing the Rhine in the ETO.

The 2nd British Infantry Division– 2nd Manchester Regt, 6th Bn Loyal Regt (North Lancashire), 1st Royal Scots, 1st Bn 8th Lancashire Fusiliers, 2nd Bn Royal Norfolk, 1st Bn Queen’s Cameron Highlanders, 2nd Bn Dorsetshire Regt, 7th Bn Worcestershire Regt, 1st Bn Royal Berkshire Regt, 2nd Bn Durham light Infantry, and 1st Bn Royal Welsh Fusiliers– was a pre-war unit of regulars with a history that dates back to Wellington that had lost all its equipment at Dunkirk.

Reformed in England, with many of its original members chopped to form new units, the division was ordered to Ahmednagar, India in June 1942 where it would serve a garrison and training role until March 1944.

Then, as one of just two British infantry divisions (along with the 36th) in the CBI to fight in Burma, would slug it out in the jungle for 15 months before being sent back to India for rest in June 1945.

They were most notable for breaking the Japanese siege of Kohima and destroying the Imperial Army’s “Furious” 31st Division.

Post-war, the 2nd would serve as occupation troops in Japan and, after a few years garrison in Malaya, would be an integral part of the BAOR in West Germany during the Cold War. Since then, it was brought back as a UK-based training division only to be disbanded again in 2012.