Burma '44

A thrilling blow-by-blow accountThe Times
A first-rate popular history of a fascinating and neglected battle... a veritable page-turner BBC History

In February 1944, a rag-tag collection of clerks, drivers, doctors, muleteers, and other base troops, stiffened by a few dogged Yorkshiremen and a handful of tank crews managed to hold out against some of the finest infantry in the Japanese Army, and then defeat them in what was one of the most astonishing battles of the Second World War.

What became know as The Defence of the Admin Box, fought amongst the paddy fields and jungle of Northern Arakan over a fifteen-day period, turned the battle for Burma. Not only was it the first decisive victory for British troops against the Japanese, more significantly, it demonstrated how the Japanese could be defeated. The lessons learned in this tiny and otherwise insignificant corner of the Far East, set up the campaign in Burma that would follow, as General Slims Fourteenth Army finally turned defeat into victory.

Burma 44 is a tale of incredible drama. As gripping as the story of Rorkes drift, as momentous as the battle for the Ardennes, the Admin Box was a triumph of human grit and heroism and remains one of the most significant yet undervalued conflicts of World War Two.

The new, sweeping World War II book from James Holland, THE SAVAGE STORM, is available now.