Chindits (1 results)
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Published by [1940s-80s], 1940
- Signed
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United KingdomPeter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB.
Contact seller5-star sellerCondition: Used
£ 7,500.00
£ 22.00 shippingShips from United Kingdom to U.S.A.Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketA superb collection documenting the Chindit campaigns in Burma through official reports, field-used artefacts, personal effects, contemporary publications, and memoirs by those who served. Named for the leonine guardians of Burmese temples, the Chindits were created by the charismatic and controversial Orde Wingate, a champion o…f long-range penetration and unconventional warfare. Their two campaigns - Operation Longcloth in 1943, a 3,000-man incursion deep into Japanese-held territory, and Operation Thursday in 1944, the second-largest airborne operation of the war - demonstrated that Allied forces could operate effectively in the Burmese jungle and played a critical role in loosening Japan's hold on the region. The collection is centred on rare primary material - most notably Wingate's Report on the Operations of 77th Brigade, the original manuscript of Major John Hedley's Jungle Fighter, and a "panic flag" - carried in the field by the Chindits and functioning as an escape map, neckerchief, and signal flag. It also includes items from the papers of serving Chindit officer Major J. E. B. Rippingale, among them intelligence reports, exceptional press photographs, and operational maps marked with use. Alongside these are privately issued commemorative works, the Chindits Old Comrades' Association's appreciation of Wingate, and a strong run of personal narratives, including signed or working copies by Fergusson, Calvert, Boyle, Brett-James, and others. A detailed listing of the items is available on request. Approximately 30 books and reports, alongside an archive of a serving Chindit officer, including ephemera, map, and "panic flag". Overall very good.
