Credits

The war in Burma was fought differently to that in Europe.

The possibility of fighting in the jungle had hardly been considered. The plan was for the RAF and Royal Navy to sink ships carrying invading troops, the infantry were to man the beaches and kill any Japanese who got ashore.

As the troops were unable to stop the Japanese landing, they had to fight instead, in the jungle. They were badly trained and had little support which explains the soldiers cynical attitudes.

At the end of the campaign, 130,000 allied troops were lost, most having been captured as prisoners of war (POW's).

In 1906 the Geneva Convention reached an agreement on the treatment of POW's, including the provision of Red Cross parcels, rudimentary healthcare and no torture. The Japanese did not recognise the convention and POW's suffered terribly. In The Long and The Short and The Tall, Macleish's desire to see the Japanese prisoner as a normal person, is because he doesn't want to believe that what they have heard about the Japanese is true.

The British soldiers considered the jungle as much their enemy as the Japanese. Everything from the sights, sounds, smells and environment were terrifying and alien. Nothing was the same, even the food was strange, while their rations often melted in the heat before they could eat them. The conditions the soldiers had to fight in were horrendous. The monsoon between May and October turned primitive roads into quagmires. The climate produced a threat of disease and infection and their clothes and boots quickly rotted away.

The Conflict in Malaya

The Britain at War website provides good background information on all conflicts as well excellent resources on the specific attack in Malaya, including maps.