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  • Published: 3 July 2017
  • ISBN: 9780552172035
  • Imprint: Corgi
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $28.00
Categories:

Burma '44

The Battle That Turned Britain's War in the East




The untold story of one of WW2's most extraordinary and significant battles which marked the turning of the tide of the war in the jungles of Burma

'A thrilling blow-by-blow account' The 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 Slim's Fourteenth Army finally turned defeat into victory.

Burma '44 is a tale of incredible drama. As gripping as the story of Rorke's 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.

  • Published: 3 July 2017
  • ISBN: 9780552172035
  • Imprint: Corgi
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $28.00
Categories:

About the author

James Holland

James Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including Battle of Britain, Dam Busters, Burma ’44 and, most recently, Big Week, he has also written nine works of historical fiction, including the Jack Tanner novels.

He is currently writing an acclaimed three-volume new history of the Second World War, The War in the West. He has presented – and written – many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, History and Discovery Channels.

He is also co-founder of the Chalke Valley History Festival and co-founder of WarGen.org, an online Second World War resource site, and presents the Chalk Valley History Hit podcast. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he also has a weekly podcast with Al Murray, We Have Ways of Making You Talk: Al Murray and James Holland Talk World War II. He can be found on Twitter as @James1940.

Also by James Holland

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Praise for Burma '44

Holland is good on the mechanics of warfare and gives a thrilling blow-by-blow account of the fighting, which will please military buffs. There are also crisp vignettes of the commanders . . . But it is the voices of the fighting men that lift this book above the level of a simple battle narrative. Holland has a good ear.

The Times

Up there with Rorke’s Drift . . . in rescuing the Battle of the Admin Box from oblivion, Holland has performed a signal service for all the men who fought – and died – in its defence

Telegraph

A gripping account of one of the war’s lesser-known episodes

Soldier

Holland is excellent at conjuring up the sights, sounds and smells of combat in the Arakan’s inhospitable terrain . . . Too many histories of the Second World War revisit the same old battles: Dunkirk, El Alamein, D-day and Arnhem. It is refreshing, therefore, to be reminded of one of the lesser known yet still highly significant engagements. Burma ’44 is a brilliant exploration of how and why the British turned the tide in the East

Literary Review

This book not only reveals previously unknown facts, it also makes one proud of the British achievement, both by the ‘clerks and orderlies; and by senior commanders

Country Life

Vivid . . . military historian James Holland conjures the heroism and horror of this gallant stand by a motley force of doctors, clerks and other base troops against highly trained Japanese infantry.

Daily Mail

A smashing battle history . . . The fear and tension of jungle combat are tangible in this pacey narrative of how British and Indian troops won their first decisive victory over the Japanese

BBC History Magazine

In this superb account of an obscure but decisive battle fought in almost indescribably difficult jungle terrain, the always excellent James Holland tells a tale of heroism and grit to match any in the annals of war

The Mail on Sunday