‘Calling Blighty’ soldier was a hero says Lanes Director Bruce

Lanes Group Board Director and amateur military historian Bruce Crompton says ‘Calling Blighty’ soldier Frank Miller should be honoured as a hero of World War Two.

Frank Miller, who died in 1979, aged 67, was the grandfather of Lanes Operations Manager Tony Moore, and a member of the Chindits, an elite force set up by Britain to fight in the jungles of South East Asia.

He is featured in an hour-long documentary, Messages Home: Lost Films of the British Army, to be broadcast by Channel 4 on Sunday June 26, at 8pm.

Tony and his mother, Alma Moore – Frank’s daughter – also appear in the film, which reveals how the British Army set up a campaign called Calling Blighty to keep military personnel in touch with their loved ones back home.

Bruce Crompton, whose passion for military vehicles is showcased in the hit Discovery Channel TV programme Combat Dealers, said the Chindits and its soldiers, like Frank Miller, did not get the recognition they deserved after the war, and still don’t.

With that in mind, he is working with Discovery Channel on a special Combat Dealers programme dedicated exclusively to their service and sacrifice.

He explained: “The Chindits were a special branch of the British Army that served between 1943-44 in Burma and India during the Second World War.

“They fought the enemy using the newly-created tactics of guerrilla warfare, and would penetrate defences operating far behind enemy lines. As such, Tony’s granddad would have endured some of the worst conditions of any soldier during the war.

“What these brave soldiers endured were quite simply abysmal, battling the unbearable heat and incredibly difficult terrain whilst being plagued with disease while getting by on meagre rations.”

The Chindits were formed by Brigadier Orde Charles Wingate in the summer of 1942. Half of the men were British, and the rest came from the 2^nd Gurka Rifles and the Burma Rifles, a select group of colonial troops who had retreated into India in 1942.

They were trained up to operate as long-range penetration groups, and were to be re-supplied from the air in the field. Communication lines and railways were usually the main targets, achieved by storming through the jungle on foot and attacking with force.

Bruce said: “Injured soldiers were often left behind in villages, as it was so difficult to take the wounded over the incredibly difficult terrain.

“After a successful initial campaign, further operations were launched to disrupt communications and inflict the greatest possible damage and confusion to the Japanese enemy in North Burma.

“Ferocious jungle fighting ensued, often resulting in hand-to-hand combat with knives, swords and bayonets.

“The Chindits had no support from tanks or artillery, which led to heavier amounts of casualties on the following operations. As the battles dragged on for weeks even months at a time, the forces became completely and utterly exhausted.”

Most of the men contracted malaria. Many suffered dysentery and malnutrition while on operations. The Chindits also suffered heavy casualties, with 1,396 killed and 2,434 wounded.

Four Chindit soldiers received the Victoria cross, the highest award for valour in the British Army, and there is a London memorial dedicated to the Chindits next to the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall.

Bruce said: “There is an on-going debate as to whether Chindits operations were of any military significance, given the hardship these special forces endured, with minimal supplies, when they could have been used to strengthen other forces.

“Nevertheless, their propaganda value at a time when the British Army was on the defensive was a morale boost to the people of India and Britain, and I believe helped tremendously in the fight against the Japanese in Burma.

“In my personnel opinion, as an amateur historian, the heroism and devotion of Chindits, like Frank Miller, went above and beyond the call of duty, and they didn’t get the support and recognition they justly deserved.

“I hope the special Combat Dealers programme we’re planning will help, in a small way, to redress that.”