Burma Rifles: The Unknown Army 

The Kohima Educational Trust is delighted to welcome guest speaker, historian Steve Rothwell who, in conversation with Dr Robert Lyman, talks to us about the Burma Rifles.
In the context of the war in Burma, many people will have heard of the Burma Rifles. But who were these men? Were they the only Burmese soldiers who fought against the Japanese? Were they all Burmese? What was Burma’s contribution to its own defence and eventual re-conquest?
Perhaps known only to a few, there was a Burma Army quite separate from that of the British and Indian Armies but which fought with both. Soldiers of the Burma Army contributed their unique knowledge of the land, its peoples and its languages and gave great assistance to all Allied troops.
Soldiers of the Burma Army fought on the Indian frontier; they were present at Kohima; they operated behind Japanese lines with the Chindits; they took part in the Chinese-American struggle for Myitkyina; they supported every Anglo-Indian formation during the reconquest of Burma.