The Forgotten Flyers
In other theatres the RAF had spurned dive-bombers in general and the Vengeance in particular. But in India and Burma the Vengeance performed heroic service with nine squadrons.
General William Slim’s leadership of XIV Army was brilliant, yet he is one of the least known of the Second World War leaders.
Slim recognized this when he wrote of his command as The Forgotten Army. His principal achievements were to defeat a Japanese invasion of India and then to reconquer Burma. Yet he was defending and recovering an empire already lost. The XIV Army was the last true British Imperial army, composed of divisions from Britain, East and West Africa, and an undivided India.
Between March and June 1944, this force broke sieges at Imphal and Kohima and then launched a gruelling...