Resolute, by Andrew Kilsby and Daryl Moran, traces the history of the fighting in Burma during WWII, from the initial catastrophic collapse, through the effort to steady the situation and hold the line and, eventually, turn the tide to the point where the Allies enjoyed air supremacy.
The story is viewed specifically through the eyes of the Australian aircrew and other personnel who served, and the historical narrative is interspersed with vivid first-hand accounts that provide a fascinating and often moving insight into the day to day struggles that the men faced.
This edition is printed as a 525-page paperback, and the text is illustrated with numerous well-chosen photos and captions. Along with shots of RAAF personnel, many of the photos offer a lot of useful information for aircraft modellers, as they show airfield scenes that are typical of the theatre of war and thus will be great sources of inspiration for dioramas and vignettes.
The paper stock used is quite lightweight, meaning that the book remains very manageable to read. The downside is that the paper is slightly translucent, which you really notice in the photos and maps, because the print from the far side shows through and is slightly annoying.
Here in the UK, the Burma campaign is often described as "the forgotten war" - perhaps somewhat understandable as it took place on the other side of the world from the fighting on our doorstep in Europe, and never receiving the same level of coverage as the war in the Pacific. But the Burma campaign was fought in some of the harshest conditions of WWII, with a brutal combination of inhospitable terrain, a tropical climate and the ever present threat of disease, against a ruthless Japanese enemy who initially swept all before them.
The opening chapter of the book paints a picture of the almost unimaginable chaos and sheer panic that resulted from the first Japanese attacks. Disregarding the ample evidence of how formidable a foe the Japanese were from their invasion of China and clashes against the Soviet Union in the 1930s, the British were woefully unprepared to face them, despite the strategic importance of what was treated as a something of a backwater of the Empire. Crucially, when visiting Burma in November1941, the British Minister of Information reported back to Whitehall that:
"I can find no support for the theory that war in Burma is imminent."
A month later, the Japanese onslaught descended on a complacent European community that was preparing for a lavish Christmas that was a thing of the past back home in Britain.
The impact of the first bombing raids on Rangoon is hard to imagine. Despite their small size when compared with bombing later in the war, it took just half an hour to cripple the port, and around 2,000people were killed in two attacks. In the days that followed, half a million people became refugees in the rush to seek safety in India, many on foot, with more than 50,000 dying along the way.
The few RAF units in the country fought bravely, but they were overwhelmed by the IJAAF that enjoyed superiority in both numbers and the quality of its aircraft. The debacle would have been even worse had it not been for the American Volunteer Group (the famous Flying Tigers) and their P-40B Tomahawks that could at least fight the Japanese on broadly equal terms.
Even there, the book held a surprises in store for me, not least the degree of friction between the RAF and AVG, to the point of near mutiny, in the desperate attempts to stabilise the situation. This was largely down to the choice of targets for the small for force of RAF Blenheims that relied on the AVG for escort on raids that the American pilots considered "useless bombing runs" and "near suicidal flights using aircraft that were neither airworthy nor equal to the enemy".
Amidst all this, what began as a sprinkling of Australian personnel grew steadily in importance, and critical to success was the courage of the aircrews in continuing to fly offensive missions through the monsoon season while the Japanese withdrew their air forces to bases in the rear. Facing some of the most appalling and dangerous flying conditions imaginable, the RAF squadrons gradually exerted pressure on their enemy that they would maintain as they re-equipped with more modern aircraft and expanded their forces to massively outnumber the IJAAF when it tried to re-establish its presence.
It’s difficult nowadays with the luxury of safe commercial aviation to appreciate just how lethal the conditions were that the aircrew faced, but to quote one Allied commanding officer at the time:
“You cannot train a crew to overcome weather conditions that are beyond the structural limits of the actual aircraft.”
In the course of their account, the authors cover all the major aircraft types that fought in the campaign. The importance of the Spitfire is clear from the moment of its arrival, but even this wasn't without problems as the first aircraft to arrive did so without accompanying spares due an administrative blunder. This led to aircraft being cannibalised to keep others flying.
Their were a few surprises along the way for me. I was particularly struck reading just how favourably the Allied pilots regarded the Mohawk - seeing it as the only Allied aircraft that match, and even beat, the famously nimble Ki-43 Oscar in a classic turning dogfight.
Similarly, one Australian gunner relates how he still preferred the Wellington in 1945, long after the arrival of much more advanced B-24s:
"The other boys have all changed over to Liberators, but I still like the old Wimpeys… We do mostly night intrusion work. Sometimes we attack airfields and on other nights we shoot up motor trucks and river traffic."
This illustrates the way fighting differed from other theatres, with aircraft often pressed into quite different roles to elsewhere as circumstances dictated. Typical of this is the way the RAF made its only use of dedicated dive-bombers in the Burma campaign, with the Vengeance excelling in the role.
Above all, though, the book is about the people, and it details one aspect of Australian personnel's wartime experience that I've never seen covered before - namely, the way they often felt overlooked by officialdom and the associated problems they faced at almost every turn. It's important to make it clear that the crews from various nations seem to have integrated largely harmoniously at a unit level (I'm sure there was the inevitable "banter" that's almost to be expected), but the Australian experience of the Empire Air Training Scheme appears to have been appreciably worse in many respects than that of crews from elsewhere in the former British Empire. This manifested itself in personnel being overlooked for promotion and not always even receiving the correct pay for the ranks they held.
A crucial element in the Burma campaign was that there were never any Australian-only squadrons formed in the theatre. Instead, crews were distributed among RAF squadrons and frequently "slipped through the net" in terms of recognition, so the work of the RAAF Liaison Office that is covered in some detail in the book was particularly important in ensuring the morale of the Australians fighting in Burma was maintained and that they were fairly treated.
A particular cause of concern was that what constituted an operational tour of had never been considered properly. This seems to have been calculated in terms of flying hours, not the number of sorties flown, leading to extraordinary discrepancies. So, while PR, bomber and transport crews could quickly clock up sufficient hours on long missions, one Australian Vengeance pilot flying short-duration sorties estimated that it would take him at least three years to complete one tour. One can only imagine the effect this would have on morale as a sense of hopelessness set in, and yet the crews flew on doggedly and with distinction.
Conclusion
Resolute is a thoroughly good read, packed with information that's presented in an easily digestible way, and for me it's proving a real eye-opener into aspects of WWII about which I have to admit I was lamentable unaware.
Andrew Kilsby and Daryl Moran have provided a comprehensive account of the role of the RAAF in the Burma Campaign that does a fine job providing the recognition that the Australian personnel deserve.
Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in WWII aviation and the RAAF in particular.
Many thanks to Big Sky Publishing for the review copy.
Resolute (ISBN 9781923300903) is available now from Big Sky Publishing – Price: $36.99
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