Among the countless plans upturned by the pandemic was a World War Two-themed tour around Myanmar led by a renowned British military historian.
Dr Robert Lyman even touched down in Yangon in March to begin the trip in partnership with tour operator Sampan Travel, but he managed to quickly board an outgoing plane just before international flights were suspended.
The startling turn of events was still a fraction of the drama experienced during the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1941, which the team will nonetheless bring to light through a virtual tour beginning on October 26.
From 7pm to 8pm (GMT) over a week, Lyman will take viewers from the Burma Death Railway of Thanbyuzayat to the Chindit Operations in Kachin state and the battles of Imphal and Kohima in the Naga Hills.
They will learn the stories of pivotal figures during the Burma Campaign, including the onion-munching Orde Wingate, independence hero Aung San, and Field Marshal Bill Slim, who Lyman successfully argued was “Britain’s Greatest General” in a 2011 National Army Museum debate.
Participants are encouraged to send questions to Lyman, who has written extensively on the Burma Campaign. Hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians died in Burma during the conflict, in some of the most brutal fighting seen in the Asia-Pacific threatre.
“The stories of the men who fought in the Burma Campaign continue to be of great interest,” said Sampan Travel managing director Bertie Alexander Lawson. “While it is impossible for us to bring travellers to Myanmar, we hope that this virtual tour goes some way in bringing Myanmar to them.”
The first evening centres on Moulmein (Mawlamyine) and the fall of Rangoon (Yangon) in 1942, when Allied forces crumbled under the force of an unstoppable Japanese advance. A teaser for the session illuminates the sheer desperation and turmoil felt in Rangoon at the time.
“Lunatics were released from asylums and as the city slipped into chaos there were orangutans on the loose, steadily getting drunk on discarded whiskey,” reads the description.
Ten percent of revenues from the tour will go towards the charity Help for Forgotten Allies. Recordings of each session will be sent out to registrants, who can send questions in advance if they are unable to watch the live versions. Register for the tour here.
