Road to Rangoon Ep2. Jungle Commandos Operation Romulus & Hill 170

A huge thank you to today's sponsor Incogni - head to https://incogni.com/hard to get 60% off an annual plan In the Arakan, turned out third time was the charm, at least for those lucky enough to survive the jungle, malaria and a coastline without maps. In this episode we return to Burma and the Arakan, where Operation Romulus turned a miserable sideshow into a strategically vital victory. We look at XV Corps’ third attempt to take Akyab, the extraordinary march of the 81st and 82nd West African Divisions, the improvised amphibious landings at Myebon, and the brutal fight for Hill 170, where the Royal Marine Commandos as we know them today, cut their teeth Featuring Operation Romulus,, Pungent, Lightning, Akyab, Myebon, Kangaw, Hill 170, the Black Tarantulas, 3 Commando Brigade, 25th and 26th Indian Divisions, and Japanese 28th Army. Sources, merch, Patreon and other bits of estate business Jo's website https://joannafallonstudio.com/ Jo's Insta -   / joannafallonstudio   My Stuff Merch Here - https://hardthrasher-shop.fourthwall.... Patreon Here - patreon.com/LordHardThrasher Follow me on Twitter @LordHardThrashe or Bluesky @lordhardthrasher.bsky.social Chapters 00:00:00 - Intro 00:02:28- Recap 00:08:15 - Operation Romulus - the Plan to take the Arakan 00:20:57 - The Attacks Begins 00:30:34 - Meanwhile in land 00:43:10 - Op Pungent and the Fight for Meybon 00:50:43 - The Final Assault 00:56:06 - Aftermath 00:57:41 - Epilouge 00:59:13 - Survivor's Club Sources 1. Bowsher & Lyman, *The Forgotten War Podcast*, Ep. 20, “Phoenix from the Ashes Part 1”, 28 mins. 2. Slim, William. Defeat Into Victory (Pan Military Classics Series), p. 478. Pan Macmillan. Kindle Edition. 3. Slim, William. Defeat Into Victory (Pan Military Classics Series), p. 479. Pan Macmillan. Kindle Edition. 4. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. *Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945*, pp. 102–103. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 5. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. *Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945*, p. 140. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 6. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. *Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945*, p. 161. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 7. IWM, Leese Despatch on Operations in Burma, LBY 78 2867. 8. Cambridge University Archive, GBR/0014/CHIE 1. 9. Lyman, Robert. *A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma & Britain, 1941–45*. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2021. Location 8679. 10. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. *Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945*, p. 247. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 11. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. *Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945*, p. 266. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 12. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. *Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945*, p. 268. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 13. Commando Veterans Archive, citation for the Victoria Cross: https://www.commandoveterans.org/book... 14. Wikipedia, “Kodandera Subayya Thimayya”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodande... 15. Betteridge-Dyson, Lucy. *Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945*, p. 288. Bloomsbury Publishing. Kindle Edition. 16. Slim, William. *Defeat Into Victory*. Braunfell Books, 2022. Kindle Edition, p. 576. 17. TNA, ADM 202/91, 3 SS — later 3 Commando — Brigade RM HQ, 1945. 18. Hyam, Ronald. *Empire and Sexuality: The British Experience*. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1990, p. 14.