Banzai Hunters

The story of the 'Forgotten Army' - the British 14th, commanded by the brilliant but unorthodox General WJ 'Bill' Slim that took on the Japanese entrenched in Burma in 1944 - has been recorded. But Slim's bloody and fraught victory on the mainland would not have been possible without the springboard provided by a remarkable assortment of army and navy men in small boats, landing craft and even frogman suits who made their way along the rivers and onto the islands along the eastern coast of Burma to open the way for a turning point as vital as El Alamein in the Western Desert or D-Day on the Normandy beaches. In this thoroughly researched and accessible analysis, Peter Haining details the Japanese response to these insidious assaults. He tells how Lieutenant-General Sakurai instituted his own missions in which his men were told to show no mercy and take no prisoners. This book is largely based on personal stories by the men who served, and also draws on documents and information from naval and army records.